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July 6th, 2009
08:43 pm - Snippet
talking with the boo
"are you a baby?"
"no!"
"Are you a toddler?"
"no!"
"Are you a little girl?"
"no!"
"what are you?"
"trouble!"
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June 25th, 2009
08:32 pm - Tomorrow
You should listen to WCBU tomorrow
http://www.wcbufm.org/
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June 6th, 2009
08:27 pm - too much to count
I had my final week of 6 Sigma black belt training this week. Which meant I was kind of cranky out of energy - sorry everybody.
A few fun things still - we took Wren strawberry picking Wednesday along with ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) gwyndlyn and kids. They all had a great time, although Miss R decided the tractor was too scary at the end.
We bought some rhubarb to go with our strawberries - a strawberry-rhubarb crisp should be out of the oven any minute.
Wednesday was also my birthday - I got super cool gifts this year. birchduck got me a worm compost bin complete with worms! Best Present Ever. gwyndlyn and norfacoflandra got me Making Mathematics with Needlework and a bluegrass CD. I have not had the energy to more than flip through the book, but it is full of neat stuff.
To top the week off today I took the 5 hour exam to be a CQE (Certified Quality Engineer) this morning. I'll know in a few weeks if I passed or not. Either way, I'll have my Thursdays free again.
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May 3rd, 2009
08:17 pm - Sunday
Woke up at three to a hacking toddler, slept in the recliner until 7. Gave said toddler to her Baba, went back to bed. Dyed playsilks, blogged about it here. Went on a very long walk at Forest Park.
Tired, but happy.
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April 27th, 2009
08:37 pm - Summer WomanSpirit 2009
Hey all of you that are women-types. I am teaching a drop spinning workshop at the Summer WomanSpirit 2009 August 7-9, 2009 at the Ronora Lodge and Retreat Center in Watervliet, Michigan You should come
It should be really cool, not just because there will be spinning. birchduck, Boo and I are all going.
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April 5th, 2009
05:40 pm - More Bread
This weekend I made Rye bread. Two different kinds Buttermilk Rye Whole Wheat and Heavy Sour Rye
The Buttermilk rye is a pretty standard bread recipe. 1c rye flour, 1 c whole wheat, 1 c white flour. It has molasses to help make it darker and I used thyme in place of caraway.
The Sour Rye used a starter made the night before of onions, rye flour, yeast and water left to bubble away over night. I made it into baguettes and baked it in a steamy oven as reccommended.
The buttermilk is on the left, sour rye on the right.
The buttermilk had a moist fruity flavor, the sour rye was a lighter taste, more sourdough like
They were both fairly easy to make, and Very Good.
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March 30th, 2009
06:10 pm - craft meme
A while ago I posted >a href="http://leeduck.livejournal.com/101717.html">this meme</a>
draconisregena, gwyndlyn, iknowitsasong, stacyanne09, and cercey responded.
I made cercey this
stacyanne09 this
(of course it's for you)
and
draconisregena
I need a few addresses to actually send them.
They are all "quilling" the newest hobby to catch my eye. I've decided to throw caution to the wind and start all sorts of new things. Hopefully I'll be taking a class on wire knitting sometime in April.
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March 18th, 2009
08:51 pm - Royal Hibernian Brown Loaf
gwyndlyn was making an Irish-ish dinner for family dinner tonight. So I volunteered to make soda bread. However I decided that the Royal Hibernian Brown Loaf recipe (pg 131)sounded better than the "Irish Recipe
I didn't have enough butter in the house, so I used mostly lard. Soda bread needs no raising time, so it worked ok for a weeknight. I used up all the whole wheat flour in the house too. Must add to grocery list
The house smelled so good while it was baking. It was very hard not to try some right out of the oven. But we managed to wait until dinner.
It looked beautiful with a slashed top, but I forgot to take a picture. I thought it was fabulous, sweet and chewy with a salty crust. Very good with butter and jam.
J on the other hand said "this bread tastes awful"
More for us.
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08:33 pm - Potato Bread
In the spirit of making time to do the things really enjoy in life I've decided to start making bread more often. I love to bake bread, but I often have trouble making time for it. It's not the actual time working with it, it's the elapsed time. A few years ago my mom gave me her copy of Bernard Clayton's New Complete Book of Bread.
A few weekends ago, I flipped through every page, ruled out the recipes I didn't have the ingredients for and narrowed it down to 15 or so recipes. birchduck helped me pick out Potato Bread (pg 402)
It has mashed potatoes in the dough, and uses the potato water as part of the liquid for extra starch.
The recipe suggested making one braided loaf and one round loaf, but I really like to braid bread, so I made two braids.
The bread had the characteristic moistness and crust texture that potato breads have and was super-delicious.
It took significantly longer to bake than the recipe called for, but that was my only complaint
That and just how much we ate....
This will get made again.
Next Royal Hibernian Brown Loaf
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March 10th, 2009
06:28 am - memes I like
Comment to this post and I will give you 5 subjects/things I associate you with. Then post this in your LJ and elaborate on the subjects given.
Mine from aneyah
1: Math: is the way I think.
2: String: I like it. A day that goes by without any playing with string is a sad one (see yesterday for example) Fiber arts are both a hobby and a significant part of my religious life.
3: Walking
My brain works best when I am walking. Especially for relationship-processing type stuff. It is also my favorite kind of date. Actually, maybe my second-favorite kind.
4: Baby: I don't have one anymore. Although maybe from the perspective of someone with older children it looks different. I have a little girl who is exploring the world with a vengeance, learning with every breath and growing into a fabulous person. I'm a sucker for little babies, but toddlers are my favorite age. So far.
5: geek: It seems to run in the family.
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February 22nd, 2009
07:56 pm - WomanSpirit Weekend
I spent my weekend at the Winter WomanSpirit 2009 which was conveniently located in Peoria. I've wanted to go to the past few, but travel and baby were not working.
Friday I had plenty of hanging out time to knit and get to know people before things really started. There was a communal weaving project being led by the Peoria Hand weaver's Guild that I spent some time at. I happened to know about half of them - shocking I know. Now I really want a floor loom. It doesn't have to be very big...
The opening ceremony, like all of the weekend, had much communal singing and was very moving.
Saturday morning I had to drive back in the snow. There was more ritual, then morning workshops. I took one on sacred dance, which was awesome and inspiring. My afternoon workshop was on Compassionate Communication. Then birchduck brought the Boo for a mommy visit. I was really missing her by then, and she me, so it was very fun. She turned her charm up all the way and visited around. They departed, and I went to Universal Dances of Peace,which I love, and never make it over to Bloomington for.
All in all, a long weekend, lots of energy, lots of singing, lots of dancing. I'm brain fuzzed today, and still have a migraine (all week? excessive I think).
And, I knit 1 sock.
I plan on going to the one this summer.
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February 16th, 2009
07:59 pm
Dear Google reader,
I have been greatly enjoying our time together and all the procrastination opportunities you provide. And until now, the new blogs you have suggested have been interesting, not always worth my reading, but in general what I am interested in. However, anything that includes this phrase
"We all agree on the end goal - a reformed America who recognizes Christ as King and Savior. An America that rejoices in Liberty above Security - and all of that."
does not overlap with my interests. I'm not sure what in my blogroll led you to think it might. Was it the preponderance of gay, male, knitting blogs? The webcomics? All the other knitting blogs? Or just the fact we both live in Peoria?
yrs,
Leeduck
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February 6th, 2009
04:20 pm - Consumerism
I need this shirt
and this one too
But I have exceeded my monthly "buying shirts off the internet" quota..
Wait! It's February now!
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February 5th, 2009
07:38 pm - Class
I'm taking a prep class for the CQE. Different people teach each week. The guy tonight could not go more than 7 syllables without pausing. It was like listening to Captain Kirk talk about Quality Information Systems. Also, you know it's a bad things when not only are you daydreaming in class, you're daydreaming about work.
Also
Dear Telemarketer who just called. Once the phone connects, I can hear your profanity laced comments to your coworker. No thanks.
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January 18th, 2009
09:36 pm - A meme that I like
The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me! My choice. For you.
This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:
- I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!
- What I create will be just for you.
- It'll be done this year.
- You have no clue what it's going to be. It may be a story. It may be poetry. I may draw or paint something. I may bake you something and mail it to you. Who knows? Not you, that's for sure!
- I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.
The catch? Oh, the catch is that you have to put this in your journal as well. We all can make stuff!
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January 12th, 2009
07:11 pm - January
I hennaed my hair again last night. Wow is it faster with short hair. This was the last of the frozen henna from gwyndlyn and my big henna extravaganza last February. I've been very impressed with how well it has held up to multiple freezings. I need to order more now however. Boo really wants to participate in the henna-ing. Maybe she can have some body art this summer. Maybe not.
It snowed again today. Any other year that would have made me happy, but this year I just want spring to come. I'm ready for some light and warm (but not too warm).
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January 11th, 2009
08:32 pm
Between Boo, birchduck, work, and the world, there's a lot going on, which means not a lot of posting from me.
I got a new backpack for our ever evolving vacation this year. Current incarnation looks like a train ride out to Seattle, hiking in the Olympic Peninsula and maybe a visit to Vancouver. Whatever it is, it will have hiking. I've wanted this backpack since the summer, and I got it free through the "reward points" from my credit card.
It's an Osprey Talon 11 size s/m I'd like it even if it wasn't orange with talons on it. It is the right length for me, which means it's far too short for Birch.
gwyndlyn and I went to a dyeing workshop last weekend. I won't go in to too much detail here, because I will elsewhere, but here's an example.
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December 16th, 2008
06:46 am - weekend update
I had a busy but good weekend. Saturday I drove out to West Jersey and went to the Bishop Fiber Guild meeting. I got mildly harassed for not bringing Boo, caught up with friends, and get elected treasurer for next year.
It's not my fault, they used my weaknesses against me. "Is there anyone who's good with Excel?"
I also got a bunch of finishing work done on gifts.
I left early to go to Sushigawa with some friends from work. I am newish to the sushiworld, but my "order-at-random" technique worked well, and I had a good time chatting with more friends. Then I went home and rescued Birch from The Toddler so she could get ready for her evening exam.
Sunday we went for a long long walk after church. taking advantage of the warm weather.
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December 14th, 2008
December 6th, 2008
12:33 pm - Birthday Cake and more Knitting
Another gift finished. Details as usual are on the knitting blog and ravelry.
Wren and I made a birthday cake for the Eldest R, who will be 12 soon.
The cake is Chocolate Eclipse from Mollie Katzen's Still Life with Food.
The directions have this line "Pour on the boiling water. It will look terrible, and you will not believe you are actually doing this, but try to persevere." This is very reassuring. Here is before the boiling water.
And after
Pretty crummy looking. Here's what it looks like after baking.
Tune in next time to see if it tastes as good as it smells and looks.
Helper girl
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