Thursday, September 19, 2013

My hair!

Today my hair straightener, which has served me well these past two years, did something absolutely horrendous.

While straightening my BANGS of all things!!

It's early in the morning, almost time to leave, good thing I'm nearly done with my hair.  Suddenly I'm standing there, holding my straightener with that feeling in my stomach that happens when you go to take the next step... and the staircase has ended. 

It should have taken much longer to straighten that piece of hair.  In a daze, still not comprehending, I open it, and a clump of hair falls into my hand.

I slowly start to recognize the smell of burnt hair.  I look up...


Ya... A whole clump of hair had just been burned off... Wow... :'(


Thursday, August 15, 2013

Femme Doctor

I shall now show you all my inner geek.  You're welcome.  haha.

As soon as James gave me a sonic screwdriver for my birthday, I knew I was going to cosplay as The Doctor at SLC Comic Con.

I really didn't think about why I had chosen The Doctor, instead of the wide array of female characters I could have chosen from.  I focused more on which doctor I would be.  My first inclination would be the 4th doctor, since he is so iconic, and because... my hair can totally do that... with ease...
However, a few things held me back... 
A. That scarf is freaking long, and would take me an eternity to crochet/knit (though I will definitely make it at some point). 
David Tennant, warning us about the Weeping Angels
B. MY sonic screwdriver is the most recent version (owned by the 10th/11th doctors). 
C. The 10th doctor is my favorite.  
D. My glasses look A LOT like the 10th doctor's glasses, and it would be awesome to be able to wear my glasses and have them fit perfectly with my cosplay.   SO I decided on the 10th doctor.


I NEED THAT COAT.  Sure, I could do the cosplay without it... but WHY WOULD I WANT TO DO THAT?!!?!  So... anyone have a butt-ugly brown overcoat/duster that is maybe even double-breasted?  I could order the "Official BBC version" but that is $360 - in the words of internet gifs/memes "aint nobody got money for that."  In case I can't find one, I've been keeping my eye out for similarly shaded wool blankets @ second hand stores, and I'll just make it.



So, next topic... Since I've started doing my research, I've realized that this 'Femme Doctor' is a thing... and not just a thing... a feminist thing...  This is a pretty good article about it http://io9.com/5887847/gender+swapped-doctors-are-our-new-favorite-form-of-doctor-who
TIME LADIES - aka - Female renditions of The Doctor's regenerations
The current doctor is played by Matt Smith, who had made it clear that he is in favor of the next doctor being a woman.  Well, we now know that the next doctor will be played by Peter Capaldi, and I am very psyched about that.  I'm definitely not bemoaning that he is old, or another white male.  I look at him and think, he IS the doctor.

However, I'm still not dressing up as River Song, or the TARDIS (though they are both perfectly awesome things to cosplay as.)  I chose a male character, and didn't even think about it.  Is it because I see so much of myself in the doctor (especially the 10th doctor), that I didn't think about the little issue of gender?  Or is it because I commonly think of The Doctor as a... nonsexual?... like Sheldon.  haha

Thursday, July 18, 2013

Cooking with tofu (aka, some yummy vegetarian porcupine 'meat'balls)

When we first started going vegetarian, I think TOFU was the most stressful thing about it.  I tried cooking the little cubes, and they turned out so spongy and bland.  I would try making things like 'meat'loaf and 'meat'balls, and they would turn into an all-day-affair.

Last night we threw these (and the spaghetti) together in about 30 minutes.  James made the spaghetti, set the table, and washed dishes - he's awesome like that - he also took the photo (coming soon lol).

You know how your grandma makes things... just randomly dumping things into a bowl and coming up with a masterpiece?  A somewhat lack of measuring and more intuition-based?  I kinda do the same thing, except I have to do my research.  I go online and look up a bunch of the same kinds of recipes, compile their similarities, and then do my own thing.  That is what this recipe will look like.  Sorry in advance.

When I'm making 'meat' dishes with tofu there are a few basic staples that I like to use.
  • Usually you want to use firm or extra-firm tofu for these types of dishes (I work with the 14oz, GMO-free block that you can find almost everywhere).  Drained and pressed.
  • A medium white or yellow onion, fully mulched by our tiny food processor. (I prefer the texture that comes with a whole fresh onion - it sounds like a lot, but don't worry, you need the whole thing).
  • A binder (usually that means an egg - sorry vegans, do you have a better idea?)
  • Something to thicken it up (I prefer breadcrumbs)
  • Spices (plenty, like double what you would usually use for a meat dish)
Other things that I like to put in depending on the dish (or if I have them):
  • MUSHROOMS - I love mushrooms.  Break them into smallish pieces.
  • Grated carrots or small pieces of celery - adds texture and taste (you can saute them first if you really want to work extra hard, might as well throw in the onion and mushrooms while you're at it...)
  • Uncooked instant rice
  • Quick-oats (a good thickener for the gluten-intolerant - obviously you have to use gluten free oats if that is your reason)
  • A clove (or two) of fresh garlic
And now, what you've all been waiting for:

Porcupine 'Meat'balls 'Recipe'

Ingredients:

  • 1 14oz block firm or extra firm tofu
  • 1 medium white onion
  • Spices (in this case, they were to go with spaghetti, so I leaned toward Italian spices).
    • Salt/Pepper
    • Parsley
    • Basil
    • Garlic Powder
    • Worcestershire sauce
    • Thyme
    • Oregano
  • 1 egg
  • 2/3 C. uncooked instant rice
  • aprx.  1 1/2 C. italian flavored breadcrumbs

Steps
  1. Start the tofu draining/pressing.  This is pretty fun.  Build a really precarious tower.  Mine (from the counter up) usually goes: A plate (to catch the mess), the upside-down tofu container (as something for the liquid to drain down), the block of tofu, another plate (to distribute the weight), and a couple random cans of food (for weight).
  2. Peel and cut the top and bottom off of your onion.  Chop it into smaller pieces so it fits into your food processor.  Destroy it in your food processor (usually I end up with a liquidy pulp).  Put it in a bowl.
  3. Add your spices to the onion, if you're used to cooking with meat, add more spices.
  4. Get your tofu (you should have at least a 1/4 c. of liquid on the bottom plate by now).  Carefully squeeze it a little more (it will start falling apart).  Put it in with your onion and spices and mix it (I use my hands).  Taste it - go ahead, it's perfectly safe - no e-coli in these meatballs.  Add more spices if needed (bland is not going to be fixed, you want it highly tasty at this point - probably even a little stronger than you prefer).
  5. Add the egg and rice.  Mix in the breadcrumbs 1/2 cup at a time until you can form balls that hold their shape well.
  6. Heat a little olive oil on MEDIUM heat, and drop them in, turning as each side gets brown.  It made about 20 for me.  We only cooked 8 (4 each was plenty when combined with spaghetti), I formed the rest into balls and put them in the freezer.

Monday, July 1, 2013

A dream, part 1

This is mainly for Krista.  She likes hearing about and sharing dreams.

I spent yesterday slacking off watching the first season of The Walking Dead, so of course my dreams were going to be trippy.

At 4am I woke up and decided I'd had enough of terrifying zombie dreams, so I deliriously opened the scriptures on my tablet.  I meant to go to the New Testament, but somehow ended up in the Pearl of Great Price, and this scripture floated around my dream memory for the next couple hours of sleep.  And also zombies.

10 And it came to pass that it was for the space of many hours before Moses did again receive his natural strength like unto man; and he said unto himself: Now, for this cause I know that man is nothing, which thing I have never supposed.


Part 1


I woke up, not quite sure where I was.  That feeling that you don’t remember going to bed here.  Yet, upon reflection, this IS my bed, it’s only logical that I went to sleep here.

James was next to me.

I needed to find the boat.

We need the boat.

Walking outside, I’m happy it’s light outside.  The heat of the sun sinks to my core, helping to dispel some of the chill.  It is late fall, and the frost has settled everywhere.

I was looking for something.

The boat.  It will be down by the river.

James walks with me to the river.  We’re almost ready, soon we’ll escape.

Hand in hand we pick our way along the frosty muddy riverbank.  I’m looking for something.

The boat.  No. Wait.

Something else.  We need the boat.

No.  Right there, just outside conscious thought… I’m looking for something else…

The boat isn’t where it’s supposed to be.  James is very upset.  Somehow I know we’ll get to it, it’s just a little further…

I urge James further.  I lie.  It probably just got unhooked and floated a little downstream.  I push a branch away from my face.  I know it’s a lie, but I need to keep looking.  What am I looking for?

I stumble and my foot slips, cracking the ice, sliding into the frigid water.  James catches me before anything else gets soaked.  He tries to convince me that we need to go back now, it’s getting to be about noon, but I just keep going forward.

My eyes scan the water.  Something. Something. What am I looking for?

James asks me a question.  I don’t know.  I don’t know what I’m looking for.

He stops me.  “Where is your ring?”  I don’t understand.   What ring?  “Your engagement ring.”  Looking down I suddenly realize I’m not wearing my ring. 

Have I been here before? 

Where is my ring?  I never take it off.  How could it be gone?  I stare at my hand in disbelief, trying to remember the last time I distinctly remember it being on my finger.

I look at James… I can’t remember.  Where is it? When did I take it off?  This feels important.  Why can’t I remember?  I don’t lose things.  I really don’t forget very often either… especially something as important as my ring.  It’s been on my finger for 7 years.  Where did it go?

Continuing to walk forward, I think.

I remember yesterday.  I think.   It was warmer.  I went on a boat ride by myself.  Wait.  By myself?  That doesn’t seem right… we’re supposed to stick together… why would I go off by myself?

Where is the boat?

Inside I scream.  Why can’t I remember?  I’ve never done drugs, but movies have portrayed this feeling.  This realization that you lost time, you don’t know how long you lost, or what you did.  Did I get drugged?

James stops me and points something out.  What?

He is pointing a corpse.  Strange.  There are so many corpses everywhere now, we mostly ignore them.

But he’s right, there is something strange about this one.

The river is calmer and wider here, and so clear.  At what seems the deepest point, there is a corpse of a brunette girl.  Face down in the muddy lake bed, her brown hair swirls lazily with the undercurrents.  Half buried in sediment, wearing jeans and a tee.  She has probably been down there a while.  Lucky her. 

Up here the dead get torn apart and eaten.

Maybe that’s what’s strange.  She’s intact, we haven’t seen an intact corpse in a while.  Wait.  Don’t corpses usually float in the water?

James observes that she isn’t bloated like most corpses, more like shriveled.  The extremely cold water of the river must have kept her gut bacteria from reproducing and bloating her.

Still, she entrances us.  I want to pull her up.  Examine her more closely, but there is really no way to do so.  It is much too cold to expose a person to those waters.  She is also far too deep for any clumsy attempts at knocking her loose with a rod.

A little further on we spot our canoe turned over on the far bank.  Definitely looking worse for wear.  Neither of us understand how it could have gotten so trashed in the short distance it had drifted downstream.

The days are shorter now.

Realizing how late it already is, we start back, boatless.  No way to cross the river today, we’ll have to work that out tomorrow.


The quickly gathering dusk gives us new speed, and we no longer follow the river.  Cutting through the sparse woods, we attempt to shorten our journey home.


To be continued... (no promises)

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

The monthly visitor

Yes.  This post is about periods.  If you don't want to read a blog post about periods, then you can stop reading.

That being said, I've never understood the big hush hush surrounding periods.

It's the monthly red devil.

The shame of womanhood.

Women in the new testament were so dirty while on their period, they were considered untouchable! What?!?

Heaven forbid if you have your period while on your honeymoon.  What an embarrassment!  What a disgrace!  Better plan your wedding date around your monthly cycle.

Women are uncontrollable when on their periods.  (who are you, and why do you think you have the right to control the women?)

I just don't understand.

The first time I got my period, I was ecstatic.  I had crossed the bar into womanhood.  Biology (and in my opinion, God) had just told me that I was trusted enough to create, bear, and raise a child.  I shouldn't go do it right now, but I was trusted enough to be able to choose the right time and make that decision.

Some people call children a burden or an enslavement of women.  I disagree.  As a feminist, I think that there is nothing more empowering then being told that you (with, lets face it, not very much help from a man) can create and birth another human being.  Can men do this.  No.  Sorry men.  You're not cool enough.  (sorry men, I like you, and the good ones are essential in the raising of children, but you're not doing the creating, the women are) Sorry... I digress...

Periods.

Why do people hate them.  (that's not a question, it's a statement.  Note the period.  ha!)

I don't know why, but despite all the negativity, the female-shaming, that surrounds periods, I've never been able to dislike mine.  More than that.  I appreciate and even enjoy my period.

Am I weird?  Am I the only one who looks at memes that bemoan the torment of the monthly cycle, and think... wow... I REALLY don't relate to that...  ?

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Some fun things

Her name is Des Ta Te, she had to have part of one wing removed after getting shot there.
Last week James and I went on an awesome field trip to the Ogden Nature Center with our Wolf and Bear cub scouts.  Did you know there is a bald eagle there??  I didn't.  We saw a lot of beautiful birds of prey.  One of my scouts mentioned that it was sad seeing the bald eagle in a cage where it can't really fly.  I explained that usually these animals were bred in captivity by poachers, or were found injured and are being rehabilitated.  However, I didn't tell him that it was kind of sad to me too.

Last night I built a crane out of Legos while watching my human anatomy/physiology lectures online.  James tried to break it  :'(

Right now it is raining.  Hard.  There is also a lot of thunder.  It's pretty great.








My dad is going to play Lincoln in an indy film soon.  I get to do his makeup.  I'm a little nervous.  When you do makeup for film there is a difficult balance.  You can't do the same makeup that you do for theatre, because it is too obvious.  You have to be able to use subtle effects, but still create an accurate experience (you also need to allow for the comfort and freedom of facial expression for the actor).  Luckily, he is growing his beard similarly to Lincoln's, and he doesn't look TOO different... (meaning, it's a lot easier to turn HIM into Lincoln than it is to turn ME into Lincoln.)

I think the biggest problem will be the ears... I don't know... when you think Lincoln, do you think big ears?  Maybe I'll just do some shading to make them look a little larger.

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

James Graduated!

Congratulations JAMES!!!

James doesn't read this blog.

James doesn't read blogs.

So this is for all of you.

Thank you everyone who have been his support through this...  Also... this isn't the end of the story... please know we still need your support as much as ever ;)

Thank you everyone who came to the graduation party (both in physical form and in spirit).  James even admitted that he had a good time ;)