We Got the Ax

It feels strange to have gotten a promotion and be moving on when I know that there won’t be anybody to fill my shoes. Sigh. I move on and my department gets the ax. Even so, I am very excited to be doing something different at the library and am ready for the change. I had to get re-fingerprinted this week and even have my new shiny badge, but no start date and no schedule. I guess I will just continue to report to my old office until they tell me otherwise.

I am very excited that Niko has joined the world in NY, and we are waiting for baby Lily in MO. Would love to go and visit and cook for the new families, but not sure I will have a chance to do so anytime soon. So I did what I could and made quilts.

I have another quick and easy baby quilt that is awaiting borders and quilting, and fabric on the way from the internets for another one. I have also finished up a little holiday knitting (already!) despite the missing double pointed size eight needles and almost running out of yarn. Now I just need to plan my halloween costume…

Page Numbers

In the Why-Not deparment: What can I say? It was a slow morning, and I was the only person in the office. We found out yesterday that our department was being cut due to the city budget which makes it a little hard to be super motivated. So I spent about 15 minutes or so figuring out how many pages I’ve read so far this year. Yep. 8,113. And that doesn’t include the books that I’ve listened to on CD (another 3,431 pages), or the 100 or so pages that I am into my current book (Regeneration by Pat Barker…so good so far).

This weekend? Celebrating, tennis, and interview practice.

Hottest Ever

Lest you think I am a big whiner complaining constantly about the heat…there was an article in the paper this weekend reporting that this August was the HOTTEST EVER IN RECORDED HISTORY OF SAN ANTONIO. Hottest. Ever. Gah. With an average temperature (including highs and lows) of 88.5 degrees, we made history. I can’t tell you how thrilled I am to be a part of it. Oh, and we also had .03 inches of rain, which really helps. Good thing the “cold front” moved through. It was only 93 today. And “they” are “predicting” rain tomorrow.

Lest you think I am all bitter all the time, I was a happy little tennis watcher this weekend, and also I rode my bike, read, at tofu dogs, and played Bridal Bingo. I love three day weekends. If you like film noir, I recommend renting Brick. And if you like…well…laughing, I recommend Little Miss Sunshine.

Finally, Friday is test day!

SAD

I wonder if it possible to have Seasonal Affective Disorder in the middle of summer? This has been an awful summer (stretching back to March) in south Texas what with the 97+ degrees. Every. Single. Day. I do think that it has been affecting my moods, energy level and overall happiness. On the plus side a “cold front” should be here by late this week…bringing the highs down to 93. Yep. 93.

I would love to break reading 52 books a year, but find it hard to always find the time. And I don’t run a country. Anyone believe that Bush has read 60 books so far this year? Including Camus’ The Stranger? Would it be wrong to ask he write book reports on these 60 to prove he read them?

Morguers

In light of recent airport security, I am so glad I got in all my summer trips already. My trip last weekend to Detroit Rock City was fantastic. It was so nice to see Cyn and Suzy in person and get in some good laughs and memories. We shopped in Birmingham (MI), ate all middle eastern food, saw Canada from across the river, went to the Ribs -N- Soul festival (Where my ladies at??), met Johnny Knoxville, saw the Tigers win in outstanding fashion (Pudge 2 run homer in the bottom of the 9th), checked out Ford Field, drank in Plymouth and in general had a great time hanging out.

This week at work has been…um…interesting. Interesting, disappointing, sad and frustrating. But I’ve not been fired, and it isn’t the end of the world. I have been thinking though that it is funny that through times when you feel the most down, you can also have many moments of extreme hysteria and laughter. I’m not sure the staff at the coffee shop/bar down the street wants us back after some work people got together last night to “knit”, bitch and blow off steam. It was also a farewell get together for Becka. Have fun in Chicago…we hardly knew ye.

I can’t believe my birthday is next week!

The Plague

Yesterday it was dragonflies. Not pretty petite blue dragonflies, but big fat ugly dragonflies…swarming our yard. I’ve never seen so many! They fly around really quickly, never seeming to pause. Today? Little bitty butterflies. Everywhere. On the last stretch of my drive, I hit 10 of them. Smack. Right into the windshield. I wonder a little bit what tomorrow will bring.

Regina and I have been talking about starting our holiday knitting…and I finally figured out what I am going to do this year. I hope this isn’t eliciting groans from my friends. But I came up with a great (well, great to me) idea and actually started last night. Actually I started four times last night, once my tail wasn’t long enough for the cast on, then again when I cast on the wrong number of stitches for the pattern, then again when I realized I was using the wrong sized needles. This pattern calls for almost 100 stitches, these weren’t quick mistakes. But I finally got it right, and now just have to get busy on it this weekend and next.

Tim and I have now done the vegetarian thing for over a month (which was the original trial period), and I am thinking of not turning back. I feel great, am happy about my choice and have rediscovered my love for making food. Maybe I was in a dinner rut…but since we’ve done this, I have been pretty ambitious in my meal planning, while having fun with it. A noodle casserole that takes two hours to prepare? No problem! Making two new recipes in one night (something I never did before), piece of cake (well, an hour and a half later). I have been wanting to make sp

Taupe 3, Eggshell Interior

My four day weekend is flying by! That is what happens, I guess, when you spend 2 1/2 days of it painting. We started off with the idea to finish painting the hallways, but gosh we bought so much paint. And had all the stuff out…so we started painting the living room. And anyone who has been to our house know what the living room is like. The huge almost 2 story wall with the skylight? Yep. It looks amazing and I love the color, but we are wiped out. Almost everytime we paint, I am amazed at a)how long it takes, but also b)how much I love it afterwards and can’t believe that we took so long to get around to it.

And because becoming vegetarians wasn’t enought of a lifestyle change, we also downgraded out cable today to basic. Yep, 25 channels insead of the 100+ whatever we had before. On the down side, Tim will miss his SportsCenter, but on the plus side, we still have HGTV and Bravo (when does the new Project Runway start anyway?).

Speaking of the veggie bit, it has been going incredibly well. We have spent more time cooking together, planning together and having fun making food than we had in a long time. Today, we had marinated grilled portabello mushroom burgers, grilled corn on the cob, and some fresh tomatoes and cucumbers out of our garden. So good! We’ve done a 20 minute tofu stirfry, grilled veggies in pita, veggie pizza and soy corn dogs (really good! well if you like corn dogs…). I can’t wait for colder weather (for many reasons), but so I can start making chili and soups!

Hope everyone has a great holiday tomorrow!

Who had the Cobb Salad?

My last minute trip to Colorado was great. While Colorado and the Denver area are changing dramatically (some of it good, some of it baaaaaad), there is something refreshing and restorative about driving by our old hangouts, sleeping in my old room, and in general being home. I also saw an old friend briefly and we ate at a restaurant that is part of a chain that I once worked (Red Robin, which I can highly recommend based on daily cleaning tasks. Also the recent site for some funny trip memories, one involving a Cobb Salad…). Sometimes it feels like going back in time. We also went to several quilt shops, a quilt museum, a cycle shop, caught a Rockies game, watched World Cup Soccer, and made the ritual trip to the mountains. And of course, the food, drink and company (including AJ!)were excellent.

Since I’ve been back, I took a long bike ride with my new cycling shoes, which I would highly recommend to anyone who rides! It took me a few tries in the yard and two trips around the block to get used to the lock and release thingy, but makes a huge difference on a ride. I am also taking a special quilt class where I will learn some new techniques (mitered borders, scalloped edging), I had sorely underestimated how long it would take me to make 63 3 1/2″ pinwheel blocks. The blocks are adorable (so tiny!), but I may have to take a make up class somewhere in there. I have my book group tonight. While I resisted joining a book group for soooooo long, I quite enjoy attending and discussing. Even (or especially) when I am a lone dissenter.

We planned to start in July, but have started early. Tim and I are changing our diets…vegetarian (ovo-lacto vegetarian to be precise). I am excited to try some new recipes, and make some changes in our (already pretty healthy) diet. We talked about trying it for a month and reevaluating from there. It has been a week, and so far, so good.

Socket Error

I rarely blog about work, only one time in the past have I even really mentioned work (three days before Staff Development Day, 2005). I have no idea if there is a city directive banning blogging about work or not, but I’m sure there is some vague statement somewhere effectively covering the city if they wish take action (firing me). Not that I expect that the city manager is reading my blog, but several work people know my address and you never know who might be the mole (ha!). Anyway, I was on a committee and it was…hard. I keep thinking it is over, but then something else comes up.

So it is a good thing I am leaving tomorrow at the break of dawn for a few days in Colorado! Tim will be kicking it with Loki at home while I visit old friends, head to the mountains, catch a baseball game, get stuffed with mom’s baking and dad’s cooking, catch up with AJ and in general hang about in my childhood home. While I am gone, I will miss Tim’s birthday (Sunday!). I’m sure he will have a wild party.

When I come back I must get busy on some quilts!

Daily Photo Blog

Because I love blogs. Because this city can sometimes be beautiful. Because I love taking photos of random things.

I give you the San Antonio Daily Photo Blog!