spinning-jennie: NaBloPoMo archives

NaBloPoFAIL
Well, that went well, no? Ha. I can't overcome the fact that, at the moment, my best writing time conflicts with my hormonally-induced coma time.

I've indulged in some real coffee, so I've got some ramble in me. Let's see...

What I've been thinking about re: The Holidays: I've plotted my cookie list for December. Even though D. won't be eating any, I plan to gift some, and use some as Christmas dinner dessert. Aside from the traditional frosted cutouts, Daniel has requested gingerbread men again, and I'll be trying Swedish rye and Linzers (couldn't resist that special Wilton cutter at Michael's).

What I'm avoiding right this minute: For the second year in a row, I'm attempting to design a t-shirt for an 8th grade math field day, as part of a contest which my college department sponsors. Currently, I'm blocked and sucking. Maybe it's because I still reflect upon my own 8th grade math teacher with something very much less than like. Also, there's an XML lesson sitting open in front of me, which I am likewise attempting to ignore.

Which USPS package I'm most anticipating in eighteen days (give or take): Pre-ordered. I know, just shush.

Which holiday craft I said I would not attempt again but am because everything in stores is wholly unsatisfying/made in China/$$$$$: Making my own cards. Nothing fancy. Still probably inadvisable. I should be putting my three years of InDesign skillz to work and just having something printed up, but that runs into money, too.

What event in January am I facing with some trepidation: Speaking of ID. I'm sitting for the ACE exam, so I can flash that official Adobe Certified Expert logo and, in lieu of a Real Design Degree, feel partially legitimate when I start begging for print design e-lance stuff.
11/20/09 10:47 AM in Babble , NaBloPoMo  |  Comments


Growing Things
Not even half in and I missed two days! I'd meant to write on Wednesday night, but zonked out only to wake up minutes from midnight. And then yesterday kind of rode on the momentum of that failure. Bother. Well, I'll heave myself back on the wagon—pardon my ungainliness.

We tried out a small vegetable garden for the first time since 2004, and didn't do too badly for having such black thumbs. We're still reaping a bounty of roma tomatoes—I can't believe how many from just two plants! There were huge zucchini and yellow squash, a massive tuft of green onions, and string beans enough to have with three meals. I've been enjoying fresh mint tea, and the chives and oregano are doing well too. Half the heads of red leaf lettuce survived and thrived; but I let them get too large before harvesting and they were far too bitter even for me (lesson learned). The mini watermelon plants looked healthy enough, but never fruited.

Next year I'll add another couple of tomato plants, grow some peas, and try spinach instead of leaf lettuce. One zucchini plant yielded too much; I might try cucumber instead.

I was hoping to get a fall garden in, but didn't feel like bending over in October (still don't), and missed that window. Maybe next year!

Oh! We had several bunches of small green grapes, too. The vines came with the house. Which, aside from the intact front landscaping, was the only live and growing thing that did. Unless you count the aggressive shrubbery that had to be hacked forcibly out of the fireplace vent!

The Thujas we planted in early summer along the fence aren't dead yet, but they haven't grown much in the hot summer. Hopefully the rain will perk up even the Charlie Browniest of the nine. Today four Japanese White Birch and a Golden Locust were delivered by Urban Tree Farm (neat place to stroll). These trees are all much more mature than the Thujas, and we're hoping to see a little more shade (and a little less of our neighbors' bedroom windows) in the spring.
11/13/09 06:01 PM in Misc , NaBloPoMo  |  Comments


Zelda Pup
So I think I've talked about Zelda pretty much everywhere but here. This is Zelda:

Here's lookin' at you

Or, at least this was Zelda, a couple of months ago. She's grown and a lot less puppy-ish. I've tried to get photos more recently, but she'd rather eat the camera than anything else, and lately I'm too slow on the draw to catch her before she notices me.

She's half Jack Russell terrier, and half dachshund. When we're out, she's called either a miniature pinscher, or a chihuahua. The former I can understand, as her markings are exactly like those on a minpin, and she's roughly the same size and shape. The latter baffles me: what about her long snout, slightly stretched body, and non-bulgy eyeballs?

For a "toy" breed, she's been remarkably easy to train. At 5.5 months, she hasn't had an accident inside for over three weeks, she understands and obeys sit, stay, come, crate, outside, potty, shake, ball, and bring (she understood sit within a week after bringing her home, and she was just a tiny baby then!). We're still working on jumping, which is the most difficult because she has no lack of puppy enthusiasm and energy. It's really something we need to get squared away before we have a tiny person in the house in spring.

She's also very social and friendly, no longer showing a lick of aggression or cowardice with other friendly dogs or people. I was very, very worried that she'd be stereotypically small dog yappy or nervous by nature, but this has proven not at all the case; she rarely barks at all. And she's a terrific lap-warmer on these chilly fall evenings—a real snuggle bug.
11/10/09 01:57 PM in Misc , NaBloPoMo  |  Comments


Debut Picture Book Cover
100 Scope Notes, a kidlit blog (which was recently mentioned in School Library Journal) hosts my favorite challenges, in which you throw together book covers with elements gathered from web generators. Debut YA Novel was fun (mine); today it's picture books.

Tonia, the Tall Fish

CREATE YOUR DEBUT PICTURE BOOK COVER

1 – Go to “The Name Generator” or click www.thenamegenerator.com/

Click GENERATE NEW NAME. The name that appears is your author name.

2 – Go to “Picture Book Title Generator” or click www.generatorland.com/usergenerator.aspx?id=243

Click CREATE TITLE! This is the title of your picture book.

3 – Go to “FlickrCC” or click flickrcc.bluemountains.net/index.php

Type the last word from your title into the search box followed by the word “drawing”. Click FIND. The first suitable image is your cover.

4 – Use Photoshop, Picnik, or similar to put it all together. Gettin’ creative is encouraged.

5 – Post it to your site along with this text.

Comment on this post:

http://100scopenotes.wordpress.com/2009/11/09/create-your-debut-picture-book-cover/

to have your cover added to the gallery. And check out all the other picture book covers when the gallery is up!
11/09/09 11:57 AM in Meme , NaBloPoMo  |  Comments


Space
We love our house. But one of the things we consciously gave up for the sparkly newness and a not-scary neighborhood was space. We've no dining or family rooms, no big pantry like in the townhome, and the three non-master bedrooms are miniscule. The attic is nothing but a network of closely-packed trusses and completely unusable.

My PC and I have been camped out in one of the small bedrooms, but two children would never fit in one room, so I'll be homeless in the forseeable future. Anticipating this, I never bothered to get attached to this room, never decorated. So I'm not really emotional over the loss, so much as baffled by the logistics of it all. I've been trying to put off thinking about it with any seriousness until after Christmas, when I'll be out of class and hopefully in the easiest phase of pregnancy (not be dragging butt, but not waddling yet, either) and can work on it slowly and comfortably.

D. thinks I'll fit in his office. But those quarters are a little too close for comfort. And I don't like Rush ;-).

Luckily I'm not married to this desk, either. There's a perfectly decent large corner in the master, with nothing at all important occupying it. Hopefully I can find a computer armoire that will a) accommodate large dual monitors, b) not be a tacky veneered particleboard monstrosity, and c) cost less than a small car would. If I buckle down, I can probably compress my supplies into half of a bedroom closet (we've got three) with the help of a good shelving system.
11/08/09 01:43 PM in Babble , NaBloPoMo  |  Comments


Awake. Woo!
Still awake, amazing. Even made it through the entire RiffTrax of Titanic, when normally I'm lucky if I can stay awake through an entire episode of Fringe or FlashForward.

Not being up at 6:30 helps, I suppose. That, and I caved and had a mocha Frappuccino. Don't tell my OB (whose "Don't" list includes "Being in the same house as Windex" and "No canned foods." I'm supposed to pick and stew my own pumpkins for pie, I guess...).
11/07/09 11:49 PM in Babble , NaBloPoMo  |  Comments


14 Weeks
Slept all evening again. I'm officially in the second trimester, but the exhaustion just won't let up. I feel like I'm starting to lose strength now, because I just don't have spare energy to walk like I was (and I'm calling emphatic bullshit on "just do it and you'll have more energy!!!" because walking 1.4 miles to and from school every day usally leaves me with the strong desire to do nothing more than hibernate). The nausea is still randomly making appearances.

If I were more inclined to listen to wives' tales, I'd think that all this severity would mean I was baking a girl.

Off to pass out again.
11/06/09 11:41 PM in NaBloPoMo , Nugget  |  Comments


Better Bloodsuckers
Sparkly vampires I can do without, but more Moore vampires? I'm there! Loved Bloodsucking Fiends and You Suck: A Love Story; if you're unfamiliar with Moore, his work is laugh-out-loud ridiculous and twisted, and a great palate cleanser when you've had about all the Twijinks you can stomach. Bite Me: A Love Story doesn't release until April 1st, but yesterday he posted the first two chapters on his blog.

I'll read them tomorrow, because I'm going to pass out now.
11/05/09 11:02 PM in Books , NaBloPoMo  |  Comments


For Next Year
A few after-the-fact Halloween ideas to use as inspiration for next year:

  • Dexter Blood Slide Suckers. Brilliant and fantastic.
  • How much fun would a Beaker costume be? Almost too much.
  • I can strive to be as clever as Lo-Res Girl, but my chances are slim.
  • ETA: I just had to add this interactive Operation board costume. Amazing!
    • 11/04/09 11:50 AM in Link , NaBloPoMo  |  Comments


    Quick, books
    I unintentionally fell asleep at about 8:30, and woke up just now (still feeling like a zombie), so I'm going to rush this one up a bit.

    My love of YA literature has been tough to appease since Deathly Hallows came and went over two years ago. I even gave those brooding, angsty vampires a chance (anemic) and thought returning to a boarding school would fulfill (pretty empty). With a bunch of smaller, even less noteworthy disappointments between, it's been tough to see anything new as truly recommendable.

    Until I picked up Suzanne Collins upon hearty recommendation, that is.

    scollins-210-Hg--jacket.jpg

    scollins-210-Catching_fire_c.jpg

    In a dystopian nightmare of a world, the annual Hunger Games are held and televised. Think Survivor, but to the death... and with children. Two "tributes" -- a boy and girl -- are chosen randomly from each District in a Reaping ceremony. The sole survivor left in the arena (designed by a council Gamemakers to facilitate a good show) will return to his District a hero, and the starving people there showered with enough food to eat for the coming year. Viewing is mandatory, because this nightmarish spectacle, aside from being a perverse source of entertainment to the wealthy residents of the Capitol, is a sort of punishment and reminder to citizens that revolt got them exactly nowhere seventy five years ago, and certainly will again.

    Katniss Everdeen, the female protagonist tribute who steps in when her fragile younger sister is chosen at the Reaping, is tough and flawed and supportable. This is YA, so you can expect some teen angst, but it's not cloying or overarching enough to detract. I can truly say I'm looking forward to the trilogy wrap-up, due in about a year.
    11/03/09 11:24 PM in Books , NaBloPoMo  |  Comments


    Planning
    It's been our habit in past years to find the homiest restaurant possible, and make early evening reservations for our Thanksgiving dinner there. But this year we have a house with a decent kitchen, D. is on Atkins, and everything seemed so exorbitant, we decided to cancel our reservations and cook at home.

    Injecting low-carb makes things a good deal trickier. Mashed potatoes, rolls, stuffing, cranberry, and pumpkin pie are all standards (though don't think for a second I'm giving up that pie!), so... yeah.

    That leaves us with turkey, salad, and steamed green beans. But I should be up to the challenge by then (read: able to stand upright in one spot for more than three minutes without thoughts of upchuckery obliterating every speck of motivation in my body and rational thought in my head).

    I've poked around a little. A few ideas to mull over:

  • Mashed turnip is supposedly a very convincing low-carb potato replacement. I'm intrigued. See also: mashed cauliflower.
  • Blackberry tart
  • Stuffing (wonder where I can get commercially-prepared low carb bread?)


    • A palatable dinner roll would be a nice touch. Oxymoron?
    11/02/09 12:13 PM in Food , NaBloPoMo  |  Comments


    Happy November!
    And happy NaBloPoMo. Or NaNoWriMo, for the masochists out there. I'll be starting to wrap up my InDesign certificate this month, so I hope I won't have to phone in too many entries (should I be working on a skills exam right now? Naaaah).

    We really enjoyed trick-or-treating last night. Even Zelda was calm in the face of all the chaos; for such a small dog, she's pleasantly devoid of that nervous, yappy stereotype behavior that I worried about. Daniel was Link from the Zelda game—a very satisfying costume for the relatively small amount of effort and money that went into it!

    Link

    A couple tees from Michael's and some bias tape at the neck, a turtleneck (with temporary embroidered detail), part of an old broken belt, a pair of tights, and spats made of leftover stretchy vinyl from our kitchen chair pad re-covering.

    I was Minerva McGonagall:

    "Potter!"

    The robes were made of an eBayed plus-size winter robe off which I trimmed the front, neck, and wrist bands. A super inexpensive alternative to some of those costumer robes out there, at eighty bucks a pop and up! The skirt and Victorian blouse were eBayed as well. The hat was the only real splurge, since I couldn't really skimp on that part. Early pregnancy filled things out a bit more than I would've expected or liked, but I'm sure I'll have more than enough chances to wear this one again down the road.
    11/01/09 01:41 PM in NaBloPoMo , Photo  |  Comments