Green Things

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It was Kara's idea! And I think it's grand.

Also, been plugging away at a plan for our garden. Richard isn't working the same hours during the week he'd been used to, though weekends are full— and he has a full-time job lined up for the supper. So we're planning and plotting a 20' x 20' veg garden in the east section of our fenced yard, and a compost bin. Right now, the plan is for English peas, summer squash, broccoli (I'm dubious about this one; different sites offer very different levels of difficulty for it, but whatever— worth a go), carrots, leaf lettuce, and spinach. I'm also doing tomatoes in this funky As-Seen-on-TV device thing we acquired and mint and rosemary in some large pots out front.

I want to ride more. :/ CAMPfrence is the beginning of this week, and I have a decent list of chores to tend to, but at least the hay delivery is done. Moving 104 bales a quarter mile over a windy road in little tractor frankly sucks. I am not good at "clearing my mind" or letting mindless tasks "calm me" unless they are physical. Riding the tractor is duller than can be imagined— the only upside being the opportunity to watch the herd eat, play, snooze, and kick up their heels at each other while forking the bales to and fro.

Natalie's coming in a week or two! Kelsey may be here this week! Polly and I had a good shopping trip, the first time I've bought much in ages, and it was all remarkably cheap. All clothes for the few days I need to look "Office Space" nice for work, but none of it boring. (i.e., I HATE black slacks. But grey crop pants are okay!)

Thinking on Christmas.

This isn't a very personally exploitative blog, but it's Christmas, and at Christmas (according to my favorite seasonal film, Love Actually) you tell the truth, so..

I really, really enjoyed having Richard here this year. I could not have fathomed how weird it would be to not be visiting his family in Belfast. I miss them, and for that I love their son and brother all the more. Since getting married, I have become eighty times happier and we've been more full of family and love than ever before. I've also somehow become at least twice as scatterbrained, messy, and unorganized. I've also gained fifteen plus pounds since the summer. That's painful. I don't doubt I can change that, but it's scary how quickly you can fall into a poor routine of work, play, and eating. My elderly dad is seeing some serious health problems. Making twice the money just means twice the bills for us, though we can't complain.

No, no complaints. In our current state of affairs, I am so happy.

I like to write down my Christmas exchanges somewhere, because I always have a tough time remembering months later. (What does that say about our culture? Not sure, but it's not particularly good.) So with that, I'll conclude this sporadic update.

For Richard, I bought a Gerber folding knife (which I ended up keeping, and he kept the gorgeous but large Horseman's Emerson knife he ordered for me, haha,) a soft grey bath robe, a handful of Transformers and Star Wars accessories for the new truck, some deerskin gloves and a Carhartt beanie, and to top it off, I woke him up by dumping Hopalong on our bed dressed in a Yoda costume. Which was epically cute, despite not fitting and my mom's dog, Rembrandt, desperately wanting to eat off Yoda's useless, floppy arms. He also got a motorized Lego AT-AT model (the Star Wars walking thing? idunfreakinknow..) and seemingly lots of pajamas. We also sort of consider his recent Tony Lamas a Christmas gift in extension. They're awesome, and at least well on their way to being broken in.

I received a pair of roughout chinks from my parents, plus pajamas and slippers shaped like cowboy boots! So cute. Richard bought me a fabulous Emerson blade which we decided was better for him (but the thought was awesome; it's considered "The" horseman's tool) in the long run. Still awesome. He got me the Waldemar Cookbook which I've wanted for awhile, and a card to get Hopalong DNA tested so we can figure out what makes up our fabulous best-friend mutt! Plus a little Blackaloosa (a black appaloosa.. don't ask, it went well with the Barak-Arama vanilla-scented air freshener he added)

Richard's family sent a darling compact and makeup bag and lots of our favorite Burt's Bees products. (I thought British people didn't get Burt's Bees but I guess they are pretty global. Hah.) He got a box of his favorite chocolate bars from home as well and a comedy DVD you probably wouldn't on any shelf in an American Target. I got a journal as well, and we both received a pair of beautiful, tiny silver spoons from Eve. We're a bit tore up that the present we designed and expedited to them is apparently being delivered in four days.. Richard is calling up the company (photobox.co.uk) tomorrow and raising hell. I felt awful that we didn't have something under their tree.

We also got a little money and books from my grandma. (Picked out by us, yay-- The Man With an Iron Heart for him and The Omnivore's Dilemma for me) My aunt and uncle got us a small handheld digital video recorder, good for short little clips.. I get the feeling we'll be taking LOTS of shots of Pax doing cute things. And we inherited like eight pounds of Starbucks Christmas coffee beans or something ridiculous since my family isn't completely partial to flavored coffees. I love them. So that was lucky.

I am not sure what we're going to do with the money. If we split it, there'd be enough for him to get a decent flat screen and for me to maybe find a used Wintec like the one I want.. But we could also just pay off a lot of bills.. hmm. Decisions. ;) Oh and I definitely need to invest in a horse soccer ball..

It's nice to be sitting here, typing and listening to my husband very busily crashing through his trough of several thousand Lego parts. It's a different Christmas, but it's a good one.

VB6

I entirely dig this article by Mark Bittman about the VB6 —Vegan Before Six— movement. It advocates eating vegan (or nearly-vegan) until dinner, which is something I can absolutely get behind, if not strictly. It actually shouldn't take too much modification for me, as I generally eat soup/salad/PB for lunch. Just have to cut eggs out of breakfast more often, and replace the turkey in my salads with black beans, but I could very happily survive. After two years as a vegetarian, I see the benefits of the lifestyle, though they don't outweigh the personal inconveniences on a social, economic, and now marital level. (Please, vegan advocates, rip me a new, dirty, chicken-eating one if you'd like; I love what you do, it just doesn't fit me at this point in my life! We all have our ways of reducing the impact, friends.)

So anywho. New goal, after I run to the grocery store next week— learn at least one new vegan recipe a week, preferably something hearty that I could convince Richard to eat on some days. I may steal my parents' slow cooker because basically everything made in a slow cooker tastes extraordinary. I've stocked up on vegan blog readings to do and admittedly feel a little overwhelmed, but I'll aim low for the time being.

Otherwise, I can always live entirely off of hummus.

Bridal rumblings and what I ate for lunch

Sniffs
Originally uploaded by topochicovase

So I have been a good little nightowl recently and have our ceremony (and my vows) written out pretty much to the letter. Things can change, of course of course, but it feels good to have in my hand (/on my GoogleDocs account) a copy of the meat of the whole shindig. Were there no cakes or flowers or biodegradable, compostable flatware, the wedding element of the wedding is good to go and somehow that makes the sprawling list of other details feel quite managable. The words are fairly sparse and there's no indication that Arthur is "officially marrying us"— in Quaker tradition, our written vows are what marries us, ourselves, not the blessing of a pastor or priest or high witch doctor or whathaveyou. The friends and family are asked to guard over the marriage, so it's participatory in that fashion— instead of "speak now or forever hold your peace," we'll ask anyone to share their thoughts or wishes and kind of leave an open floor for speaking. I thoroughly plan on beating at least two people into speaking no matter what, so there's no super awkward silence. My guess is that at least a fraction of the La Junta counselor staff will be two and a half sheets to the wind at that point, so getting them to shut up could potentially be the issue at hand.

A happy addition to the plans is Kevin McCormick, a local classical guitarist who my boss, Dave, knows from the church community. He's going to play for the ceremony and the early, transition stage of the picnic reception (before the rowdy iPod ballads and Cupid Shuffles make their debut) as our wedding gift from the Domingues— his speciality being, of course, Catholic church music and Latin American guitar solos, which I'm quite infatuated with. Currently listening to his CD, Americas, that Dave lent me and it's fairly perfect for this rainy day. Into which I need to go to ride the last of this week's ponies.. Le sigh! Anyway, from a nonmusician standpoint and as someone who gave up the acoustic guitar by the sixth grade, I'd say the guy is good. If you've heard his stuff or look at his website and have any opinions on more upbeat/less dower recessional and processional songs, give me the heads up.

I've been eating pretty well lately and feeling better for it. Simple meals are very often my favorite— like for lunch today, I George Foreman-ed (I'm becoming a devout George follower) a skinless lean chicken breast covered in citrus pepper, covered the top with half of an avocado sliced up, and then filled 2/3 of the plate with spinach salad with Balsamic vinegarette and bleu cheese crumbles. Pretty much delish. Still nibbling a piece or two of Easter chocolate, though. Who knew that one could like Butterfinger eggs while not actually enjoying Butterfinger bars themselves?

The horses have been good, actually. As I said, I'm about to go finish up with the last three and get everyone roached and summerified before the fathers and sons show up this weekend. (Along with Kate, Drew, and Matt. Yay, friends!)

Therefore I need to clean. Boo.

As an important reminder, Stride gum in the magenta box is disgusting. Tastes like Hannah Montana perfume bought at The Limited, Too. If you can imagine how that would feel to your palette.

Also, my porch is The Dog Porch. Observe.