Good stuff!

One great thing about being married to a Brit is my introduction to some very tasty food.  Why people believe British food is bland is beyond me.  We recently began ordering food from the British Food Depot - a great source and not horribly expensive, either.  We could probably find some of these things in shops off the island, but since we rarely leave these days it makes more sense to buy online.  We've made two orders so far...

This all came about because the store we were buying malt vinegar from didn't have any.  They had every other type of vinegar you could imagine.  But no malt vinegar.

It turned out to be a good thing, because now we're getting all of the other tasty foods too!  Why we didn't do this sooner, I don't know.  As you can see, our first order was a bit timid - but the second time we ordered we meant business!  Ha.  I can only imagine what our next order will look like.  It will have many more boxes of marrowfat peas, that's for sure!

Michael made pea and ham soup for dinner this weekend, and it was scrumptious.  Nothing like split pea and ham soup, I'm told.  I'm not a fan of sp&h, and haven't tasted it since I was a kid - or maybe never!  It could be that I was disgusted by the look of it as a child that I've never let it pass my lips.  I'd probably like it now, especially if Michael made it.  But he won't, because he'll be making mushy peas and ham soup instead!

Yum!

Goodbye 2011...

Well then.  That wasn't really too bad - in fact, 2011 was a pretty good year.  A few highlights:

• Another successful garden!

• Good health (mostly)

• Two fun trips to the Olympic Peninsula

• Work at the library is very fulfilling and challenging too

• WE BOUGHT THE HOUSE!!!

• We ate a lot of good food, both at home and out

• Nolan took up mycology, which means everyone else in the family did too, with mixed results

• Clowns

So there you have it.  A nice little review of the year, in pictures.  Let's hope 2012 is even better!

Saturday Morning at the Library

The movie you requested, and in fact several of your movie requests have been REJECTED. That's the way it goes, toots.

Printer error message - turn off, turn on. And yes, your print job will come out.

Coworker found some blank "Diplomas" in the donations, and wondered if we'd like them to give to people who take our Book-a-Librarian classes.

Helped patron make reservation for a 2-hour computer, required some rigamaroling.

Helped regular patron look for speech pathologist programs - Eastern Washington University offers an undergraduate program. It was not pleasant when she emphyzema coughed in my ear.

Checked hold queue position for a man who wanted to know if he'd have time to take two other books to read before they came in. Yes (unless he reads REALLY slow).

Speech pathology patron came back - needed help setting up to write reviews through our catalog (new feature with the new system). The book she was going to review: Whites, blacks and racist Democrats : the untold history of race & politics within the Democratic Party from 1792-2009 by Wayne Perryman. Can't wait to read what she's written! (I should also mention that this woman uses the Answers in Genesis website).

Two little boys came to get their "free italian soda" cards stamped. The younger asked if only one person would win the cookie as big as your head. I told him yes, one kid from each library. He made a very strange face, than told me he knew somebody that got their italian soda already. "It was a girl." Then he ran off.

Headphones checkout

Another check for hold queue positions.

"Can you tell if this DVD is in Korean or another language?"

Nook eReaders - showed where to access ebooks on our website

Passive aggressive lady needs help getting photos onto Craigslist. Other staff member accidentally called me Jane when he pointed her in my direction. She actually said, "my heart fell, because Jane is the only one I don't like." WOW. Thanks for sharing that bit of information...

Same patron couldn't log into the computer - somebody else had it booked but fortunately they didn't show up and she was able to log in. She said she booked it by phone this morning, for 11:40 (but my records showed somebody totally different had it booked...). I'm glad it worked out because she can get REALLY pissy.

"Can I use this computer over here to check email?"

Time to help upload photos. This woman is maddening! Wrote down steps for her to save to flashdrive from email, then upload to craigslist. Her friend (the speech pathology woman) had printed out information for her that suggested uploading photos to flickr or picassa first, then using the html. WAY TOO COMPLICATED for this woman! She says "that's a cute skirt" [DON'T TOUCH ME!!! Gah!]

"I can't get this map to print, it's too big." (I had to do it from my computer, where I can be more tricksy with jpg images)

[Why am I still on the routing list for Billboard magazine? I thought I changed that months ago - it's not about music, it's about the industry sucking the musicians dry. I hate it! And man, that sub sure has a cackle laugh]

My favorite genealogy patron needed help with the new Yahoo email interface.

Time to actually upload the photos to Craigslist- I ended up doing it for her. Typical.

Afternoon librarian is stuck in construction traffic and will be late.

Favorite genealogy patron tells me about the "badger game" which is somethng criminals did to extort money from people

Phone call - need email for the KOMO 4 consumer reporter.

Summer Reading finisher

Afternoon librarian made it on time!

Lunchtime!!!

Hello and a handbasket!

Isn't that the saying - we're all going to hell in a handbasket?

Nice one, eh?

People's taste in yard decor never ceases to amaze me.

But that's not what I was planning to talk about. I'm not sure where I'm going here tonight. So I'll just RUN with it!

Today was my third anniversary with the most wonderful Michael Dustdevil - creative genius, both musically and epicuriously - he takes much better care of me than I deserve. I grow the food, and he cooks it! It's a perfect partnership in every way.

I love him so very much.

Of course, being madly in love with your spouse doesn't really fall into the category of "going to hell in a handbasket."

I think that has more to do with the world in general. I've been too busy to pay close attention to the debt "deal" and that's probably a good thing - I'd be so pissed off I was really paying close attention. If I was paying attention, I wouldn't say "paying attention" so many times in two sentences! Sheesh!

Have another margarita, why don't you, silly girl?!! Only I don't drink margaritas every day. Probably a good thing.

Ignorance is bliss. I love my husband so much. I love my job. I have wonderful friends, both new and old, near and far, in person and online. You're all wonderful.

Thank you.

And now... something completely disturbing, because what else would you expect from me?

Polish Cauliflower and Sausage Soup

Now that we have all that cauliflower, we need to do something with it! Fortunately Michael has several great recipes tucked away in his genius mind - here's one of our favorites.

Ingredients

One head cauliflower
Two carrots
2 1/2 cups chicken stock (homemade is best)
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 pound kielbasa, roughly chopped
3 Tbs butter
1/3 cup flour
Salt & pepper to taste
Cheese - as much as you see fit (Tillamook medium cheddar is our choice)

The recipe, as dictated by Michael:

Head of cauliflower, cut into florets
Two carrots, thinly sliced

In a saucepan, with 2 1/2 cups of chicken stock (preferably homemade); cover and simmer until tender.

Lightly blend and set aside.

In same saucepan, brown one chopped onion, 3 cloves of minced garlic, and about a pound of kielbasa (roughly chopped)

When browned, add 3 Tbs butter, 1/3 cup flour, salt & pepper to taste - mix well and cook for about a minute, remove from heat and slowly stir in 2 1/2 cups of milk

Heat until it thickens and is bubbly, on medium high - stirring continuously - simmer for two minutes

Add as much cheese as you see fit (we use Tillamook medium cheddar)

Over medium heat, add cauliflower carrot mixture and heat for ~5 minutes

Serve with buttered and salted baguette slices for mopping up the soup!

ENJOY!

Google+, giant veggies, and an amazing kid...

So. Google+ is live and it seems that everyone is stampeding over there to give it a try. That includes me. The jury hasn't rested yet, but I am leaning in a pretty positive direction. With a few more improvements, I can see moving most of my social network operations in that direction. If only they'd allow html in posts and comments! PLEASE!!!!!!! I'm begging you, great Google gurus!

A couple of things I've noticed already:

• You can edit your posts! (hey now, there's a concept!)
• There doesn't seem to be a limit on how long your post is (hey now, there's a concept!)

That's a couple, right? What's missing - the ability to use html in posts and comments. That's the biggest thing missing from most of the social sites. What if I want to embed a video or photo as part of my comment? Oh sorry, you can only post a link... the visual impact is lost because people have to visit another page to see it. There is definitely potential...

And on to giant veggies... and giant teen boys. I look at this picture, and Nolan looks even more grown up than ever - is that possible?!!! Look at that face - he's not a little kid anymore! When did this happen? He'll be 17 in a couple of weeks, and a senior next year in school. It's been a damn fine ride with this kid - I couldn't have asked for a better parenting experience with him. I'm so proud of the young man he's become, despite the constant motherly worry when he's out there in the wilds (like tonight... camping at Mount Baker and split boarding tomorrow). It's good that he has healthy interests!

What a cute little guy he was!

Oh yeah - back to the veggies. They're growing like mad this year! I took a few risks and put starts out when the weather seemed a bit dodgy - cold and rainy. It seems to have really worked out! We're getting tonnes of broccoli, and the first head of cauliflower was perfect. PERFECT.

That's no keychain swiss army knife, nosiree! This first lovely head of cauliflower was turned into the most scrumptious cauli-cheese-sausage soup ever.

Time to go digest.

All that is lost...

Can eventually be found - or so they say.

Today, I lost 68GB of my music collection when my external hard drive died during transfer to a new drive. Only 11GB was saved. I could be depressed, heartbroken, or despondent! But no. I'm am just annoyed. Annoyed that it happened in the summer, and not the winter when I have more time to futz around with it. Annoyed that I have to go through everything and figure out what made it and what didn't. Annoyed that it will take time away from other things that are more important!

But really, it's not that bad. I'll be able to clear out the crap I don't really want, and add plenty more new music. It's one of those freeing moments...

It's a pain, but life will go on.

Any suggestions for music I should try?