Home alone

That's right. Today I'm "all by me onesie", as a certain dashing pirate captain would say. And what have I done with my alone time, you ask? Nothing, or nearly so. Today I have 0 (zero) inspiration to accomplish anything. So the fact that I have done a couple loads of laundry, vacuumed, and washed dishes puts me at over-achiever status for the day I suppose.

I watched this great instant-watch flick on netflix called Opa!  I felt so good after watching that film. It made me seriously question why I'm still living in the USA. For many years now I have dreamt of living abroad and aside from NZ there are plenty of incredibly sublime locations to choose from. Sunshine, small town living, slow pace of life, the ocean... what more would I really need? Quaintness, my friends. That is something I would like for my life. Freedom- that's another.

I harvested my green onions a couple days ago, after they had grown thus:

Yum. They went right into a stirfry and were greatly appreciated.

I cleaned out my Grandmother's loft, which has housed seasonal decorations and some old clothes/toys/luggage for many years. I'm ready for trash day as I have bags of trash in the living room, and this tower of cardboard for recycling:

It's about as tall as the top of my head. Nevermind the fact that I have to be up at 7am to move it all out to the road. (7am is early for someone who is a lazy bum.) I'm ready to reclaim all of the space that the trash and recycling are taking up inside. What a mess, but I'm glad that one part of the house is under control now. We'll have to paint the loft in the spring when we can open some windows.

I have my final interview with Verizon tomorrow. Stage 4 of 4. The interview process is at least minorly stressful in even the best of situations, so I'm ready to finalize things here as this process has been thorough- and actually, the thoroughness has made me more excited about the position and possibly working for Verizon. I have never been through such rigorous screening for any job that I've held to date.

Well, I imagine I'll continue my quiet, uneventful day. Leftovers for dinner. I've got a minor headache that's been dogging me all day.. can't be helping. Apologies for this post- it's hardly worth reading. I'll come up with some better material soon, just you wait.

Quickly

Our day: lots of bread-related creations..

 (sorry, had to sneak this in here...)

tada! pretzel bites! 

Dave commandeered some of my dough to create buffalo chicken bites 

And I have a bowl-full of dough "resting" till the morning for a loaf. What else?

We went skating again. He is a star. Neither of us are too smooth but we skated across the lake and back today. Then, we did some reading, watched an episode of Terra Nova together, and that was the day! Lots of kitchen time. Tomorrow we both have round 3 of 4 in our Verizon hiring process... a "more formal" phone interview. I read through this blog last night and .. I really miss working for a baseball team :o/

A thought from Jan 7

"I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God." -Romans 12:1

I've been really struck by a reading I encountered a few days ago. Here's what the rest of the devotional had to say about this verse:

"To be liberated in Christ, we've got some sacrifices to make. And as long as He is the one asking us for them -  not our own guilt or legalistic tendencies- any sacrifice we make in our quest for freedom will be wholly consumed by God as a sweet sacrifice. He will bless it.


"We fear making sacrifices. But the irony is that we also make a lot of sacrifices when we are not living in the will of God. How many things have we placed on the alter to Satan's kingdom? Don't we live sacrificially when we're outside the will of God, giving up all sorts of things that were meant to be ours in Christ?"

From Beth Moore's book Breaking Free Day By Day . I love the devotional because each day's entry is short, to be honest with you. That is helping me to make a habit out of it. But since it's short, I usually run through yesterday's and then read today's twice over. Long reads in and of themselves aren't the problem, but sometimes I just can't be bothered- as if that actually makes any sense! In any case, so far I've only been really truly struck by one or two readings but I'm enjoying it and getting at least a dose of scripture, in case I dont get to my Bible later that day (which I also have been doing; I've never been good with consistent reading like that). The one posted above is self-explanatory and poignant, and general in that I don't feel like I need to explain how it fits in my life as it fits everywhere (or most places), probably, in all of our lives.

I am heading into the Verizon building today to take some sort of computer-based assessment. These sorts of things are never challenging for me and so I find myself not thinking much about it. Hopefully this test is no different. Dave also has a phone interview with them in about 25 minutes- I hope that goes very well for him because if he wants the job and gets it, and I get it as well (or something else) we will be doing just fine for ourselves in our little lakeside existence up here.

Yesterday we went ice skating! We donned our $7 thrift store ice skates and hit the lake. It was his first time ice skating, and though he started off by using some sort of skateboarding motion (only propelling himself forward using one foot like you would with a skateboard) he eventually got the hang of it. I grew up sliding around on ponds but never really got the hang of skating- it has been years and I have traveled to many rinks and ponds with friends only to sit out and watch as opposed to rent skates and flail about on the glassy surface. Gliding around was a surprisingly sublime experience for me yesterday, however. There are drifty patches of snow checkering the ice but even including these the lake is largely very smooth right now and there was no wind. It was nearly effortless for me to make it from the house out to the island and back (and lest I make it sound like I looked like a figure skater, let me assure you that I can't stop myself correctly and have great difficulty turning with any semblance of grace). The constant booming of the ice shifting was .. well, constantly disconcerting, but I've seen 4-wheelers out lately and so I tell myself that we should be ok. It is a very nice view once you get offshore a bit- to look and see a distant dot-figure with a hockey stick flying around on the other side of the lake, and a huddle of ice fishers farther down the shore. All that flat, open space. Dave's feet hurt afterwards but I believe that he had a great time as well :) We'll visit the other side of the lake over the next few days.

Haha.. hope you enjoyed those graceful and not-awkward-at-all photos.

And now I think it's time for a quick update...

woooowwwwwie! Check out that one stalk! I dont know why that one is shooting up so much faster than the others- they were all initially cut to the same length. As you can see, it did a lot of growing yesterday. Clearly, my measurements are subjective and I can only really keep consistent track of one stalk as they're all growing differently. Also clearly, there's an overachiever in the bunch. Anyhow, I'm having a lot of fun keeping track of my green onions. To give you a sense of how tall that big guy is, I'd say it's currently 4-5 inches high. We made stirfry last night (with a delicious orange sesame dressing/marinade by Drew's ... I'd highly recommend it) and are now down to the last little bit of the original onions, so... grow babies, grow!


And now I'm off to get ready for my meeting with Verizon. I can hear Dave on the phone downstairs, so that's in motion as well. Onwards into the windy, overcast day I go..

Baby, it's cold outside...

..Well, I guess it could be worse in the temperature department... or at least, it certainly has been at times over the past month. I'm more of a wimp each year it seems. But thankfully, I have someone else to prod me into enjoying the Maine outdoors this winter...

 so graceful ;)

 way off shore.. Dave's first time on a (frozen) lake!

I love...

...you!

We spent about 20 minutes out there sliding around and seeing who could throw rocks the farthest. The ice was about 5 inches thick or so.. and today I saw about 10 people down the lake a ways out ice fishing. Dave and I were heading into town to find some thrift store ice skates- mission accomplished, by the way. $7-a-pair. You do understand that this is going to be at LEAST moderately disastrous, don't you? I can't remember the last time I donned a pair of ice skates. We used to live near a pond and even though I would play on the ice all throughout the winter in those days, I more often than not preferred to stumble my way around in boots during our hockey games. But! If nothing else, these skates will provide another means for winter exercise. I see a family of 3 or 4 skating past the house every day, close in to shore, almost like they're doing laps around the lake (doubtful).
I was also hunting around the thrift stores we visited for an old or vintage-looking, unique wooden frame. I want to do something like this:

.. and I didn't find exactly what i was looking for. It's worth the wait to find the right one. I'll be making mine primarily for earrings, but I was also considering making a jewelry holder out of three smaller frames put together in a triangle-ish fashion (so that looking down on the contraption, the three frames would make a triangle). One side for earrings, one for rings, one for bracelets/necklaces. Maybe attach it to a lazy susan sort of rig. We'll see what I'm able to find going forward.

Tonight we had sloppy joes bundled in crescent roll dough (two tubes of the dough left over from Christmas... and it's the buttery kind, so I cant make any sort of pastry out of it; figured it would be worth a try in this capacity).

(pre-baking stage)

Pretty good. The sloppy joe mixture actually "melted" the dough as you may be able to see in the bottom righthand bundle (for instance). It held together through baking but was thin. And what would sloppy joes be like without...

..homemade sangria? :)

Actually, I think it would be delicious to lay out sangria-soaked orange slices at a party. That has been my favorite part of this current batch. Anyhow, we're having some fun in the kitchen these days.

One more thing for today, and then I'm heading to do my devotional for the day. Check this out:

I might just be in the dark here, but until very recently I was unaware that you can grow your own green onions "just like that"! Just over 24 hours ago, I chopped off the ends of a bundle of green onions and set it in a tall shot glass with a bit of water in it. The growth between then and now is already noticeable- you can see the shoots continuing to grow past where I made the chop (where the outside layer of the onion is at- everything inside/above those lines is new!!)... this is amazing and fascinating to me. So quick! I've since added a line in dry erase marker to show where they were at as of 24 hours after the initial cut. I'm very excited to watch these babies develop.

Goodnight friends!

Interviews and crafty crafting

Today was pretty low-key. Three people- a father, a young girl and a young boy- skated by on the lake this afternoon. It was the first that I'd seen of ice trekkers this year, so I suppose it's safe to go out there now. If only the temperature didn't bring out the coward in me.. this year I simply have no patience for anything that could be considered below "brisk" status.

I had an interview with Verizon Wireless for a customer rep job after lunch. It was a phone interview and it went very well- they make me so nervous, any sort of interview, but in the end I general come out unscathed and feeling (actually) confident about my ability to handle those QUESTIONS they always ask. I had a very negative-centric interview with the Atlanta Braves once (a lot of "tell me about your weaknesses/a time when you were in trouble/what you didnt like about your last boss/tell me about a major conflict that you had with a coworker" etc) and so, like an abused job seeker, I am forever waiting for a similar "barrage of  bad" to start streaming from the interviewer's mouth.
But again, this one went well. I am going in for a computer assessment on Tuesday. It's not smart to type about things having to do with employers (potential or otherwise) so I'll end it there. But no matter where I end up, I'm just about ready to get to work. It's not so much that I want to work- though I do enjoy working in a healthy and productive environment at challenging/stimulating tasks- but that I feel this weight starting to bear down on my shoulders, this implied responsibility to be productive and make money and find a "good job". It's tough up here, folks. The job market is much slower, and while there are jobs, the variety is a little less colorful than ... well, probably anywhere else. Someone with my experience and position in life will likely have to work for longer than a month to find a job in their specific field that pays as much or more as other jobs I have held (this has a 98% chance of not happening... I have worked for a salary of $42k before, and most similar jobs around here pay $8 - $12/hour). It's not discouraging, but I also know that it might not be earth-shattering, the way things turn out for me in the short run.

I also tried a rough run of making a Do It Yourself canvas:

Yes indeed. This is a terrible photo, mostly because it was taken in softer lighting with my iphone. Forgive me? I didn't follow the tutorial's rules, and while it came out ok, I'm going to try it their way next time. Very basically, I bought a plain 8"x10" canvas from Jo Ann Fabrics, along with some black fabric (nothing fancy- and just enough to cover the canvas, with an inch or two to spare on all sides), modge podge, and of course the print itself. As this was a trial run, I didn't splurge on the print, but when I do this "for real" (gifts, or to actually be displayed anywhere) I'll get my photos done at a photo shop or online by SmugMug or Snapfish.
I wrapped the canvas as tightly and neatly as I could- unavoidable were a few small folds visible on the sides of the canvas, but I don't really see a more agreeable way around this. On the back of the canvas, I securely duct taped the fabric down (no one is going to see this side of the canvas anyway... so tape away!); then, I modge podged the front of the canvas and stuck the photo on! It looks.. pretty sharp. I haven't gotten a good look yet, because where it's hanging right now is not a fitting spot for it anyway. But! It's fun to realize that I don't HAVE to dish out big bucks to have a canvas version of my favorite photos. A bit of tweaking and this will be a great tight and professional-looking money-saver! Like I said- I'm going to go with the foam board from the tutorial next time, and perhaps invest in a can of spray adhesive (while we were in Jo Ann's, Dave advised against it as it has a tendency to spray all over the place- which means everything gets sticky- but surely there is a way to proof against this sort of thing).


Nothing too new to report beyond that. After many months, we are caught up to this current season of The Office. What's next? Perhaps Arrested Development... maybe The Event, though I already know that that series leads nowhere (was cancelled right in the "heat of battle" so to speak). We visited my Grandma yesterday and brought her drunk gummi bears and a couple slices of rainbow cake. Both seemed to delight her, and I have to find out if anyone at her living community's happy hour dared to try out the gummi bears. Bucky wouldn't have any of that... but was in good spirits.


It seems like everyone is putting together reading lists for 2012, and the more I think about it, the more I am struck by the idea. Of COURSE I should have a "To Read" list as well... I'm up in Old Town in the dead of winter!
A few goals for this year, though:


-go swimming in Pushaw Lake
-garden, whether a small herb garden indoors or a revamp of the beds outside this spring
-read Scripture every day
-abstain from driving Dave insane :)

Heading north for the winter

Every unemployment-related website, blog, or posting seems to think that blogging is a great use of that extra time that we non-working folk often have an abundance of.

I get antsy. I have deeply engrained ideas of what productivity looks like, what I should be doing and accomplishing each and every 24 hours to remain in good standing as a decent and productive part of society, and I can't stand to live apart from this sort of structure for too much time before my cool and calm facade starts to chip. I've lasted this long (one month and a little less than a day) by playing the part of housewife (*note: I am nobody's wife, but you see what I'm getting at). The holidays brought a few handfuls of people to my current abode, as always, and so there was much in the way of preparation and then cleanup for the weeks before and after. My Grandma's house (which, by they way, is where I'm staying- I'm here to take care of the place until we can sell it) is on a lake in Northern Maine, a mile or so down a dirt (or muddy) lake road. Beautiful, quiet, peaceful, windy, frigid. Within 15 minutes of the house: a Dollar Tree, two grocery stores, a movie theatre, a Dunkin Donuts or two, and a smattering of local businesses that have little to nothing to do with my daily needs. All this to say, there's not a whole lot going on in the way of the entertainment I had grown accustomed to living in Boston, where anything and everything was at my doorstep.

So I have baked. And I have cooked. I have done these things excessively, actually. Much of my inspiration has come from a little site called http://www.pintrest.com . I could explain it to you here, but if you click that link you'll get an idea of what the site's purpose is much more quickly. Over the last two weeks I have tried at least six recipes that have been posted on the site. In fact, I should probably start chronicling these mini adventures here... I've made a spaghetti calzone (pasta inside of bread... didn't really realize the unnecessity of this until i was making it, but oh well), drunken gummi bears, marshmallow fondant (easy! and it keeps for months), chick-fil-a replica chicken nuggets (I didn't achieve chick-fil-a perfection but these were tasty, if a bit much in the prep and cleanup departments), and rainbow cake (SO MUCH FUN! we're about half way through the cake that I made and I am still delighted each time I see it!). Recipes I have on my radar include but are not limited to chocolate chip cookie cups, safe-to-eat cookie dough dip, three-bean soup w/ turkey meatballs and dijon mustard dumplings, chewy pretzel bites, and "crash hot potatoes". I'll keep you all posted.

Pintrest is also great for Do It Yourself crafty ideas, home decor, fashion, art, etc. I looked through a few outfits that were posted and got enough inspiration to head to the thrift stores, buy shirts and sweaters for a dollar or two each, and create some really cute, stylish looks. I have a lot of room to grow in the style area, I'll admit, but this is a start- also, having a super cheap and large thrift store in Bangor helps too.

Of paramount importance to me is that I dont lose my motivation to accomplish "things" on a daily basis. I am itching to get myself back into an exercise routine and hopefully I can get to this before I start working again (by the way- I'm job searching several times each day, every day, on about 6-8 different websites; I find that I submit 1-6 resumes/applications daily, albeit to jobs for which I'm qualified but not passionate. the job market up here is flat, but I suppose having a job at all is a blessing for the now).

So here's to a new start with this blog, I hope.