re-plate

i just link-hopped to replate.org, which seems to be a movement to help hungry people and waste less food. interesting idea.

indoor clothes drying system progress

i stopped at ye olde home depot on friday to see what they had in the way of drying racks to aid in the drying of laundry in inclement weather. everything they had was made in china. no joke. ALL OF IT. i was at a point where i was trying to decide whether to invest the $9.99 in a retractable clothesline, and i told myself that i'd get it if it weren't made in china... and it was. so it was a no go. i did find a cfl that fits our bedside lamp (nightlight-sized socket), also made in china, but somehow worth buying anyway (...? not sure of the logic on that).

this morning, in my quest for procrastination activities, i searched lehman's site for "clothesline" and discovered that they offer something similar to the retractable clothesline i was looking at at home depot, only better, AND it is made in the u.s.a. (by amish people, it says, but that makes no sense to me because what amish people have time to make retractable clotheslines?). it's on my desires list now. i think i may also look at their drying racks.

hey, i know her!

this weekend was one of small-worldliness.

saturday while christine and i were taking an iced chai break from thrift shopping (in a vain attempt to find some appropriate-for-work shirts for me), we were perusing the ny go! magazine. they have a page of photo montage from the various girl bars in the city, and lo and behold there was someone we knew! not only that, but it was someone we've never met in person (knowing her from oho), and someone who doesn't live in the city! erin contacted her and verified that it was indeed bridget :)

saturday night we made the drive up to putnam valley to visit liz and craig in their new place there. my god it's beautiful there! they're in a house that used to be a three-season cottage right near a lake (they have a private dock, though it's not visible from the house) with a stream in the yard and a hot tub on the deck. very nice! we didn't use the hot tub this time, but that's ok. it was lovely anyway. we all (except me) collaborated to make a delicious dinner of london broil made into philly sandwiches plus a salad. we spent much of the rest of the evening looking through pictures and playing scrabble. craig was explaining one photo to erin and said something about christine who is involved with the charm city roller girls now, and i'm like, "hey, i know her!" turns out craig and christine haven't seen each other in about 12 years. who knew!

like i said, small world; connections...

leonardo di caprio brings us 'the 11th hour'

in theaters now? i'm not sure of all the details. the trailer looks terrifying, though... in that psa kind of way.

a review from nytimes.com

electric is down

from friday morning 8/17 til friday morning 8/24, our electric meter turned 17kwh. that's less than 2.5kwh per day :D

average for the last 25 days is more like 5kwh per day, but that's still pretty good. i know that us having our water heater and cooking powered by other means puts us ahead of the game in the electricity category, but still.

reasons why it was down this week: it was cool. we didn't use the fans at all this week. also, with jake back in ohio, we're not having his ceiling fan and cd player on all night anymore. i'm sure that helps. i have been needing a light in the bedroom when i get up lately (i am up at 5:30) such that i don't look like i got dressed in the dark ;)

i've been eating better this week than last week. we did go for pizza one day, but i didn't even want it (we needed to do laundry, and going for pizza was the quickest solution to dinner so we could get down to the laundromat).

we also used the clothes dryer for the first time in FIVE MONTHS this week. wow. we didn't know how to deal with the rain we've had in more than a theoretical way. i still want to hang a line from cup hooks that criscrosses our bedroom ceiling... but we may just get another drying rack instead. i'm considering doing underwear and socks in a bucket by hand. it's still at the consideration point.

i haven't gotten sick yet, but my chiropractor asked me if i had a cold. when she was adjusting my neck, she noticed that my lymph nodes are swollen. i can feel it, too. it's just out of reach, this illness. i hope to keep it that way. airborne to the rescue! *note to self: get echinacea tea at the grocery store this weekend. and dogfood.*

thrift store compromise and sick weather

i've been looking at thrift stores lately for things to wear to work, and i keep finding the same pattern: i can find skirts (not work), pants (both work-worthy and not work), and casual tops (not work appropriate except maybe on fridays). one reason that contributes is the fact that many of the thrift shops in the city do not offer fitting rooms, and that there are many MANY ways a blouse can be ill-fitting, and it's terribly difficult for me to find work blouses used. i did manage to buy 4 pairs of slacks (2 in a size i'm in now, 2 in a size i wouldn't mind being within a couple months) and two casual tops last night. thinking about it, i've decided that a compromise of buying used things-that-i-usually-can-find used, and then going ahead and getting a few new blouses and/or sweaters at target. progress. it's like the meat thing, if you remember. plus, i think i've thought long enough to come up with an idea of how to alter my currently-too-large work blouses... if i can find a helper who will pin them on me, and if i can get myself to hand-sew the alterations.

sunday the weather started to turn gray. we didn't do laundry. yesterday it misted all day long. today it's flat-out raining with a high of 62F. it feels coooooold. a couple of people at the office have had thick colds in the last week. christine has been home sick yesterday and today with something that hit her like a train. my head feels a bit foggy today, and i can't tell if it's because of the weather, or if i'm actually starting to catch what everyone else seems to have. i'm going to invest in some airborne just now.

i knead left-handed

on our vacation, teresa gifted me with her tassajara bread book (just like the picture!), and i'm honored to have it. the author, ed brown, puts forth that bread "makes itself, by your kindness, with your help, with imagination streaming through you, with dough under hand, you are breadmaking itself, which is why breadmaking is so fulfilling and rewarding." i really like that attitude.

he also goes through step by step with pen and ink illustrations of the steps involved in mixing the ingredients, kneading the dough, forming the loaves. and according to him, when turning the dough while kneading it, "clockwise is usually easier for right-handed persons." he later instructs when preparing the loaves, "knead the dough with your right hand. Turn and fold it with your left hand." it's interesting to me that i've always always done it the other way around.

that is all. oh yes, and i'm going back to baking bread now that jake is back to ohio for the school year. it gives me something to do with my time.

the disgusting power of plastic

floating garbage patch the size of texas resides in the north pacific ocean. it grosses me out. you?

(it doesn't show up on google maps satellite setting. maybe the oceans aren't real photos there??? *sigh* the shortcuts google takes *shakes head sadly*)

what do you mean you "have to" give me one?

8:50 a.m.

we went camping in ithaca, ny, last week. that's a four or five hour drive from nyc (though it took us a good eight hours to get there this time... don't ask).

it was getting late, we were nearly to ithaca, and we stopped at a flying j to get gas around midnight. i went in to procure some [nasty horrible bad for us and the environment] things to munch on, and when i was paying i told the cashier lady that i didn't need a bag, thank you.

she gave me this baffled look.

"i... i have to give you one," she said, quickly adding "you can use it for trash..." meanwhile stuffing my goodies into a plastic bag and shoving it at me.

i gave her a baffled look.

i've never been "required" to have a plastic bag for my purchase before. dang.


also, the times this morning reported that CARE has refused $45 million in federal funding for a very good reason.

the root of all evil

8:51 a.m.

i make a decent salary, especially for the work i do. i live pretty darn well and don't want for anything in my day-to-day. i'm 25 (and a half), and i feel like i'm starting to understand how to manage my money a little bit. i don't know how to make it grow yet, but i can get through everything i need to get through in a year without stressing (too much, at least... i AM quite a worrier and to not stress at all would be close to miraculous) including things like day camp payments for jake (which total at least $2,000 yearly) and whatever else might pop up. on top of that, i have actually started a savings account for SAVING money. i've really and truly never had one of those before. i'm thinking big and saving for land and a house. it may be a while before i have enough for even a down payment on anything. haha. but it's started, and i'm not touching that money.

in keeping with the 10-5-10-5 model of fair share international, i'm considering keeping $25 in singles in my wallet to give to street folks (musicians and performers as well as beggars), and putting $25 per paycheck toward a charitable cause.

i'm thinking also about the holidays and gifts for people i know. mostly it's going to be consumables (food!) or handmade useful items. i'm also starting a list of things i would appreciate as gifts. is august too early to start thinking about that? probably.

the conversation at lunch yesterday turned to the subconscious effects of television, which brought me around to talking about advertising and the emotionally manipulative way that companies convince you that you need what they're selling. we started to teach jake about how the purpose of advertising is to get you to buy things you don't need and weren't even thinking about until you saw the ad for them. all of a sudden he wanted mouthwash. the kid doesn't use mouthwash. i have never EVER experienced him wanting to use mouthwash... until he saw a commercial on tv for it. now that's "effective marketing".