I’m not feeling so hot, so I’m going to call this a blog entry for tonight and go watch Lost.
Hasta mañana!
Archive for February, 2009
Not Well
February 26, 2009Styled Hair, Beautiful Shirt, Stunning Quilt
February 25, 2009
Hopefully that’s all you notice in this photo (taken this morning) and not the freaking HUGE.BULBOUS.RED.NOSE that I have to blow every two minutes (which isn’t helping the hugeness, the bulbousness, nor the redness!).
And yes, that’s DH’s shirt. He hasn’t worn it yet so I figured I would. Harumph…
The wall quilt in the backbround is a gift from Joansy. I ♥ it (and Joansy!)!
Out Of Minutes?
February 24, 2009You don’t have to call Pepsi, you can GO HERE and fill out an online letter that’s sent to Pepsi. Took me about 30 seconds!
Good For You Pepsi!
February 23, 2009I believe it keeping my friends close, but my enemies closer, so I belong to a couple of email lists for groups such as The American Family Association (which is CLEARY a misnomer!).
I got this email from them today. (My comments are in red…)
Pepsi produces another TV ad promoting gay lifestyle
Company combines promotion of Pepsi and homosexual lifestyle
February 23, 2009
Dear Frank,
Pepsi has produced another TV ad not only promoting Pepsi but also promoting the gay lifestyle. Click here to see the ad.
Pepsi had released a similar ad before. The ads serve two purposes for Pepsi: to sell Pepsi and to promote the homosexual lifestyle (Hey Don, it’s a LIFE, not a lifestyle!). AFA asked Pepsi to remain neutral in the culture war (much like you and your revolting organization are remaining neutral?), but the company refused – choosing to support the homosexual activists.
Pepsi has made no effort to hide their support for the homosexual agenda:
- Pepsi gave a total of $1,000,000 to the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) and Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) to promote the homosexual lifestyle in the workplace.
- Both HRC and PFLAG supported efforts in California to defeat Proposition 8 which defined marriage as being between a man and a woman. HRC, which received $500,000 from Pepsi, gave $2.3 million to defeat Proposition 8.
- Pepsi forces employees to attend sexual orientation and gender diversity training where the employees are taught to accept homosexuality. (GASP! Were they also required to participate in a hands-on lab?!)
- Pepsi is a member of the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce.
Take Action!
- Sign the Boycott Pepsi Pledge. After signing the pledge, please call Pepsi (914-253-2000 or 1-800-433-2652) and tell the company you will boycott their products until they stop promoting the homosexual agenda.
- Call the Pepsi bottler nearest you and ask it to stop supporting the homosexual agenda.
- Pepsi’s products include Pepsi soft drinks, Frito-Lay chips and snacks (800-352-4477), Quaker Oats (800-367-6287), Tropicana (800-237-7799) and Gatorade (800-884-2867).
- Print the Boycott Pepsi Pledge and distribute it.
- Forward this e-mail to your friends and family so they will know about Pepsi’s support of the homosexual agenda. Millions of people are not aware of Pepsi’s support of homosexual organizations.
Thanks for the heads-up Don! I will definitely be calling Pepsi (and Frito-Lay and Quaker Oats and Tropicana and Gatorade!) to THANK THEM for having the courage to stand up to bullies like you and your ilk!
Another Sunday
February 22, 2009Our Sunday day started with cafe au laits and freshly-baked croissants.
Nope, I’m neither crazy nor that ambitious. All I have to say is, “I ♥ Trader Joe’s!”
I took these out on Saturday night, let them sit at room temperature for about 9 hours, popped them into a 350 degree oven for about 20 minutes and Voila:
After this hearty and comforting breakfast, we all headed back to bed while Oliver took his morning nap. That was almost as glorious as the croissants!
For lunch we went to the Omelette Parlor in Santa Monica for their delicious waffles with hot banana and walnut topping. While we were waiting for lunch to arrive, we were trying to find something to entertain Oliver. The camera worked for a little bit.
After the novelty of using the Raw Sugar packets as maracas wore off, I handed him a container of half-and-half.
I don’t know if he’s had them before he put it up to his lips, pierced the top with his teeth and began to suck out the contents.
And in my infinite wisdom, I took it away, which resulted in this:
And although I’m not usually swayed by crocodile tears, given how packed the place was, I gave it back.
After he’d sucked it dry, he had to compare it to what he gets in his sippy cup.
I think he may have liked the sippy cup simply because it was easier to get to and there was more in it.
Then during nap time I opted to work on the First Block of Many and came up with this (JUST as Oliver was waking up! Talk about timing!)
Obviously I still need to do something about the outsid edges, and unfortunately there are a couple of tucks in the center that I’ll go back and rework. But overall I’m really trying to have this process be about creating and not about perfectionism.
Now I’m watching the Oscar’s while I iron shirts.
The life of a trophy husband…
A Quilt Of A Thousand Pieces
February 21, 2009Begins with, well, the first piece.
This is what I have done after about an hour and a half of paper piecing (which I now remember that I despise!):
It’s laborious, requires a lot of up and down (sit to sew, stand to trim, walk to the iron, go back and trim, repeat), and it wastes a lot of fabric. But I don’t know how else to accomplish this part of the block, so paper piecing it is!
Before I could start sewing I had to clean up my sewing room, which was still a mess from making DH’s Valentine’s shirt. I hope to make one for me soon, so I needed to figure out a way to preserve the pattern pieces.
When I trace patterns from Ottobre to make stuff for Oliver, I use a thin sheet of pattern paper and then iron it onto freezer paper to make it sturdier.
One side of freezer paper is dull and the other is shiny. When you iron the shiny side onto something (like paper or fabric) it adheres to it (you can see that’s what I’m using for the paper piecing above). (Always put the iron to the dull side, otherwise you’ll have a mess!)
So I gave it a try for these pattern pieces too.
Worked like a charm! And when the freezer paper wasn’t wide enough for the patter, I just fused a thin strip on to the width of the freezer paper and it was wide enough.
Then I just rolled up all the pieces and put them by my other patterns, ready for me to use again in the future (maybe sooner than I thought given how much I’m dreading more paper piecing!).
High Hopes
February 20, 2009I’m feeling the need to start a sewing project but am not feeling the whole following-a-pattern feeling.
I’ve been perusing Etsy for ideas and have fallen in love with several quilts, all by the same artist, interestingly! In order of preference:
Of course I likely won’t be able to pull it off as perfectly as she did, but hopefully that won’t stop me from trying (notice I didn’t say “finishing”?!).
Time to gather the quilting books to figure out how the best way to make these. That’s my goal for this weekend: to have a plan for how to proceed.
Rudolph
February 19, 2009The Red-Gummed (four first molars coming in at the same time!) Reindeer!
Medical Frustrations And Relief
February 18, 2009Poor DH (Dear Husband for those not in the know) is having the most difficult time getting something done for the pain in his groin. After spending the weekend hopped up on pain killers, he spent Tuesday waiting for word from our doctor about an appointment with the urologist. Unfortunately the soonest anyone can get him in is March 7, ALMOST.THREE.WEEKS!
He tried to go to the UCLA Emergency Room today with the hope of getting to see a urologist, but after several hours was told they don’t have a urologist on staff and they couldn’t get anyone to come in to look at him. So they sent him home with a prescription for pain killers.
Unfortunately he can’t concentrate or hardly function when he’s taking the pain killers and without them he’s doubled over in pain. That’s a rather shitty decision to have to make for three more weeks!
Hopefully our doctor will be able to find him an appointment sooner.
Last Friday I got a bill from UCLA for a bunch of outpatient treatments I had when I was getting chemo. Of the 70-some-thousand dollars that was billed, they wanted me to pay about $1300. In the end I would have been fine paying it, but I was just curious why my insurance wasn’t covering that particular procedure (it had something to do with either the bone marrow biopsy or the PET/CT scan from November 20, 2008). So I called the medical center today to find out what the bill was for and if they knew why my insurance hadn’t covered it.
Turns out it was an error on their part and they needed to bill my insurance.
WHEW!
Like I said, given how much they’ve spent on me, $1300 wouldn’t have been a bad amount for me to pay, but it’s even better that I don’t have to pay anything!
Almost Homemade Mac & Cheese
February 17, 2009What’s that show on Food Network with the fake blond who insists on showing her bosoms whenever she can? Almost Ho-made or something? 😉
Anyway, this dish is almost homemade. Baked Macaroni and Cheese with Broccoli (I usually add chicken too, but this was being sent to a party (that we didn’t feel well enough to attend) where they were already having chicken).
I start with four boxes (for a large crowd) Trader Joe’s Organic Mac & Cheese (which I think is hilarious, it’s Mac & Cheese, h0w organic can it really be?!).
Boil the noodles until al dente. Drain but save about a cup of the pasta water. Put the pasta back into the pot, add the four packets of cheese sauce, 1 package of cream cheese, a bag of shredded cheese (I used a Colby-Jack mix), a stick of butter, and a splash of the reserved water. Mix it all up, add broccoli and/or chicken. Put it into a baking dish and bake until the top gets all crusty.
Voila, a super-healthy, dietetic comfort food. 😉
(When I make it for us at home, I use two packages of Mac & Cheese and a bag of shredded cheese with a couple of tablespoons of butter and it’s still really delish.)
Frank Notes 
