this saturday & sunday! but tomorrow's the big day for us - last day to submit our poster designs. john considered calling in sick tomorrow, which i am heartily discouraging (negative karma). reminds me that i have to find out where to turn in artwork - my guess it's at the l-ville chamber of commerce, on union.
what great fun (me)/opportunity (john), all from someone at fred's urging me to get both the hubster et moi involved. in a big way, it's a good challenge for john on doing artwork that's NOT mega detailed. a real challenge that he's finding hard to deal with - my concept was that he'd keep the background & fish along the lines of what he'd do as thumbnail artwork, getting down to more details with the cat.
we'll see what we see!
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Saturday, April 23, 2011
visible & valuable
i have issues with feeling visible & valuable. it's not just that i don't, but that FEELING visible and/or valuable simply wasn't on my radar for my first 25 years.
over the decades, feeling a sense of self-worth, of natural connection with others went through incremental stages: from the eureka "ah ha!" moment of realizing having a sense of place, of value (can't have the one without the other) is the the healthy way to feel about yourself & others to misdirected attempts at developing same in myself to slowly awakening to FINALLY having my own "by jove! i think she's got it!" experience.
which is not to say i am always on the forward path. shocking, how easy it is to slide back into devaluing myself, my worth. but the times are fewer & fewer, with greater & greater ease catching myself at it & righting my path.
over the decades, feeling a sense of self-worth, of natural connection with others went through incremental stages: from the eureka "ah ha!" moment of realizing having a sense of place, of value (can't have the one without the other) is the the healthy way to feel about yourself & others to misdirected attempts at developing same in myself to slowly awakening to FINALLY having my own "by jove! i think she's got it!" experience.
which is not to say i am always on the forward path. shocking, how easy it is to slide back into devaluing myself, my worth. but the times are fewer & fewer, with greater & greater ease catching myself at it & righting my path.
Friday, April 22, 2011
progress
less than two months ago, our home insurer informed us that it's independent contractor had inspected our home/property & had a list of repairs that needed to be made before our insurance policy could be renewed. oh, and when it is renewed, the value will be increased significantly (with a related increase in premium). and we had six weeks to get the repairs underway - or else.
well, the repairs noted were things we'd meant to have done, just never seemed to have enough money. but six weeks? contractors in early spring are generally booked for all those big & small things that revealed themselves over winter ~ and here in se pa, winter 2010-2011 was darn tooting nasty!
a guardian angel apparently watched over us, as we were able to line up a good contractor who pledged to make sure everything was done right & proper within the set time frame. we were skeptical. contractors are notorious for being overly optimistic & weather factors are even more infamous for setting even the most asiduous contractor way behind promised complete dates.
thank heavens, our guardian angel (mom?) chose wisely. our contractor got all the work started within the time frame. the independent contractor was delighted with the results & gave our insurer the green light to a) renew our policy & b) increase the value of our home/property (ergo also our premium).
we'd hoped the work could be completed at or near the figure we thought seemed reasonable to us, but the more multi workers showed up throughout the week, the more we realized our prayers were unlikely to be answered. the final cost turned out to be double what we'd hoped, but (to be utterly honest) considerably lower than what the finished work was actually worth.
when you're about to shell out almost every penny you have to your name (seriously) for an unbudgeted expense that will result in other costs going up, it would be understandable to have a flip-floppy stomach & other indications of being stressed out. must be making progress, because i didn't have any stress-induced effects as i drew out literally 9/10ths of our funds to pay 2/3 of the contractor's bill. instead, i offered up thanks that the money was there & that the contractor was willing to let us pay off the balance as more money comes in (might be in dribs & drabs, but we promise to be steadfast to getting it paid off asap).
now, to get the inside of the house looking as spiffy as the outside does. that, my friends, will be PROGRESS!
well, the repairs noted were things we'd meant to have done, just never seemed to have enough money. but six weeks? contractors in early spring are generally booked for all those big & small things that revealed themselves over winter ~ and here in se pa, winter 2010-2011 was darn tooting nasty!
a guardian angel apparently watched over us, as we were able to line up a good contractor who pledged to make sure everything was done right & proper within the set time frame. we were skeptical. contractors are notorious for being overly optimistic & weather factors are even more infamous for setting even the most asiduous contractor way behind promised complete dates.
thank heavens, our guardian angel (mom?) chose wisely. our contractor got all the work started within the time frame. the independent contractor was delighted with the results & gave our insurer the green light to a) renew our policy & b) increase the value of our home/property (ergo also our premium).
we'd hoped the work could be completed at or near the figure we thought seemed reasonable to us, but the more multi workers showed up throughout the week, the more we realized our prayers were unlikely to be answered. the final cost turned out to be double what we'd hoped, but (to be utterly honest) considerably lower than what the finished work was actually worth.
when you're about to shell out almost every penny you have to your name (seriously) for an unbudgeted expense that will result in other costs going up, it would be understandable to have a flip-floppy stomach & other indications of being stressed out. must be making progress, because i didn't have any stress-induced effects as i drew out literally 9/10ths of our funds to pay 2/3 of the contractor's bill. instead, i offered up thanks that the money was there & that the contractor was willing to let us pay off the balance as more money comes in (might be in dribs & drabs, but we promise to be steadfast to getting it paid off asap).
now, to get the inside of the house looking as spiffy as the outside does. that, my friends, will be PROGRESS!
Thursday, April 21, 2011
is my hometown a welcoming place?
this post has been moved to my new blog - stuff & nonsense - at http://yuplikepoppop.blogspot.com/
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
warning - i quote anthony bourdain without edits
be prepared for the possibility of some language that might be natural in professional kitchens yet offensive to well-refined ears. proceed with caution...
what IS meant by the french phrase mise-en-place?
it's a term used by line cooks to describe the lay out of their work station. "everything in its place." a line cook's mise (meez) is as individual as his or her dna.
as anthony bourdain describes it in his book, kitchen confidential:
Mise-en-place is the religion of all good line cooks. Do not fuck with a line cook’s ‘meez’ — meaning his setup, his carefully arranged supplies of sea salt, rough-cracked pepper, softened butter, cooking oil, wine, backups, and so on.
As a cook, your station, and its condition, its state of readiness, is an extension of your nervous system…
The universe is in order when your station is set up the way you like it: you know where to find everything with your eyes closed, everything you need during the course of the shift is at the ready at arm’s reach, your defenses are deployed.
If you let your mise-en-place run down, get dirty and disorganized, you’ll quickly find yourself spinning in place and calling for backup. I worked with a chef who used to step behind the line to a dirty cook’s station in the middle of a rush to explain why the offending cook was falling behind. He’d press his palm down on the cutting board, which was littered with peppercorns, spattered sauce, bits of parsley, bread crumbs and the usual flotsam and jetsam that accumulates quickly on a station if not constantly wiped away with a moist side towel. “You see this?” he’d inquire, raising his palm so that the cook could see the bits of dirt and scraps sticking to his chef’s palm. “That’s what the inside of your head looks like now.”
per usual, anthony b. gets right to the point. for most of my life, i've been the line cook struggling to keep up with life's demands, unable to keep up with what should be done because i had a mess instead of a mise.
enough.
something went ZAMBOOIE! inside my deepest depth when i heard anthony bourdain describe his mise as his "religion, a fundamental principle, the tao of cooking." awareness came crashing in on me, careening its way around my brain & heart & soul, extending outward to refresh, reinvigorate energies waiting to be released. having the basics in my life in good order & easily within my reach has emerged as my religion, a fundamental principle, the tao of my being.
the core dynamics of my life have realigned themselves into an order that is personalized for my outreach, natural for my grasp.
we each need to find our own mise, our own components, our own arrangements, our own level of commitment to set it up in such a way that we can find whatever we need without the burden of delay or thought ~ it's at the ready, easily within our grasp.
Anthony B. goes on to say:
What exactly is this mystical mise-en-place I keep going on about? Why are some line cooks driven to apoplexy at the pinching of even a few grains of salt, a pinch of parsley? Because it’s ours. Because we set it up the way we want it. Because it’s like our knives, about which you hear the comment: ‘Don’t touch my dick, don’t touch my knife." Kitchen Confidential
out with the mess & on with the mise!
what IS meant by the french phrase mise-en-place?
it's a term used by line cooks to describe the lay out of their work station. "everything in its place." a line cook's mise (meez) is as individual as his or her dna.
as anthony bourdain describes it in his book, kitchen confidential:
Mise-en-place is the religion of all good line cooks. Do not fuck with a line cook’s ‘meez’ — meaning his setup, his carefully arranged supplies of sea salt, rough-cracked pepper, softened butter, cooking oil, wine, backups, and so on.
As a cook, your station, and its condition, its state of readiness, is an extension of your nervous system…
The universe is in order when your station is set up the way you like it: you know where to find everything with your eyes closed, everything you need during the course of the shift is at the ready at arm’s reach, your defenses are deployed.
If you let your mise-en-place run down, get dirty and disorganized, you’ll quickly find yourself spinning in place and calling for backup. I worked with a chef who used to step behind the line to a dirty cook’s station in the middle of a rush to explain why the offending cook was falling behind. He’d press his palm down on the cutting board, which was littered with peppercorns, spattered sauce, bits of parsley, bread crumbs and the usual flotsam and jetsam that accumulates quickly on a station if not constantly wiped away with a moist side towel. “You see this?” he’d inquire, raising his palm so that the cook could see the bits of dirt and scraps sticking to his chef’s palm. “That’s what the inside of your head looks like now.”
per usual, anthony b. gets right to the point. for most of my life, i've been the line cook struggling to keep up with life's demands, unable to keep up with what should be done because i had a mess instead of a mise.
enough.
something went ZAMBOOIE! inside my deepest depth when i heard anthony bourdain describe his mise as his "religion, a fundamental principle, the tao of cooking." awareness came crashing in on me, careening its way around my brain & heart & soul, extending outward to refresh, reinvigorate energies waiting to be released. having the basics in my life in good order & easily within my reach has emerged as my religion, a fundamental principle, the tao of my being.
the core dynamics of my life have realigned themselves into an order that is personalized for my outreach, natural for my grasp.
we each need to find our own mise, our own components, our own arrangements, our own level of commitment to set it up in such a way that we can find whatever we need without the burden of delay or thought ~ it's at the ready, easily within our grasp.
Anthony B. goes on to say:
What exactly is this mystical mise-en-place I keep going on about? Why are some line cooks driven to apoplexy at the pinching of even a few grains of salt, a pinch of parsley? Because it’s ours. Because we set it up the way we want it. Because it’s like our knives, about which you hear the comment: ‘Don’t touch my dick, don’t touch my knife." Kitchen Confidential
out with the mess & on with the mise!
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