Papaya

I bought a Papaya, some mangoes, and some peaches last weekend. The peaches were overripe to the point of being tasteless, and I have a recipe for the mangoes. Papaya...hmmm I've never made anything with papaya.

So I'm going to try this. Hopefully the fruit hasn't gone bad yet.

Meanwhile, my parrot doesn't love me anymore, I think. He's cranky. I did change around his cage layout, because I bought him a bunch of new stuff. We've started using a sleep cage in the bedroom so he isn't disturbed by us watching TV or using the kitchen. He also also needs his nails trimmed and is getting a few more flight feathers in. Yeah, his attitude sucks right now.

It manifests as squack sqUACK SQUACK-ing from the door of his cage, but then refusing to step up when I go get him. He's bad for attacking my hand if I do anything relating to his water containers, but that's all the time.

Maybe he'll like some fresh papaya.

Who?

Who?
Originally uploaded by TJ Relic

I'm trying to figure out who is in this photo. My first guess is Aunt Kay. I'd love an indication of year and location as well.

Hopefully someone in my family will get around to visiting my flickr page. There's lots there, and more every day that I don't have details for. I'd also like to see others in my family uploading what they have at home, if they can.

Note

To: Psychopath
From: TJ
Subject: Voodoo Doll Wielding

Enough with the stick in the temple already.

Regards,
TJ

And Stuff

Um. Headache. Localized in left temple, sharp, intermittent.

Physics Test 93%. Happy. Must learn 2.4 =! 240

Lab, stressful. Must not put things off. *dreams*

Parrot, tempermental. New flight feathers. Pretty.

Spring has sprung-ed in Texass. Possibly temporary.

Calculus, confusing.

Laundry....damn!

*wince*

Updated Flickr Profile

I inherited an overactive camera finger, but luckily I developed a small sense of quality over quantity all by myself. Yeah, most of my family's photos are random, an entire box of pictures of clouds taken from a moving vehicle.

Anyway, my big project right now is uploading old (mostly good) photos that I got from my Mom. They were stored in a giant plastic tub, bent up, stuck together, mixed in with a bunch that were inside our van when it caught fire about 12 years ago. I sorted the burned from the not, and then sorted by family member or scenery. When I get done uploading and tagging those that are on my computer, I need to get the rest scanned. Its alot, so if anyone knows where I can send them off (safely) to be scanned in high-quality, please send me a link or something. I sold my old crappy scanner last year, and really don't want to buy a new one.


I've been "Favoriting" alot of photos lately, too. Go check them out!

Uhhh...Moe? Ok.

Now that I've registered to vote in Texass *yack*, confirmed that I did it in time, and found my voting location (must make tinfoil hat), I suppose I should decide between Obama and Clinton. Damn it, I was really hoping one of them would royally screw up so I could make a clear choice. No such luck, as far as I can tell. Yet.

I've been reading as much as possible (to the detriment of my studies, as usual) from each candidate's website, at least 1000 political blog posts, NPR news, CNN, BBCA..., ..., ...

My brains hurt, but I wasn't much closer to a decision. I'm excited about both candidates, but I have annoyance points for both too. I think they're both great. Can we have both, please? That thought has led me directly to the following reasoning: I can see young "inexperienced" Obama as Clinton's Vice President. I cannot see things the other way around. I think if she doesn't get the nomination, she would bow out and return to the Senate to work on her own terms. I mean, a young male President and an older female VP just seems monumentally unbalanced. I also suspect she's a bit of a control freak, and I can totally relate.

So I'm voting for Clinton, in hopes that Obama will be her running mate. That way we get a double-dose of toppled white male privilege.

Either that, or I'm playing a game of Eenie-Meanie-Miney-Moe in the voting booth. And that would just be silly.

Sarah Nielson 1922

Sarah Nielson 1922 (and some petroglyphs)
Originally uploaded by bclee

Interesting. I wonder if she's any relation?

I have to defend Sarah, she was one of several who "desecrated" the petroglyphs. I say the beauty of the native art inspired many to add to the permanent record of human presence in that spot. In any case, she was the most effective compared to Dale, Killpack, Anton, Ramond, JD, Dennis, Bob, The Lindquists, MC, Sissy Bockleg, and the folks from 1886, 1951...

Six

Day .

That is all.

Artsy-Fartsy

I've had this project brewing in my mind for over a month now. I bought these 4 tiles with flowers on them, and then two more that were also floral but larger and with a square-mosaic background. I didn't want to try to line up or arrange them on the wall with nothing behind, didn't want to agonize over nail placement. So the plan was to attach the four small ones to a canvas or board painted in the same pattern as the two larger ones, so they match. Cool, eh?


For the bargain-basement price of $56, I purchased a large canvas, 4 large tubes of acrylic paint, cheap-o paintbrushes, plaster-stuff, mega-hold glue, decorative beads **, 1/2 price Dove chocolates, and a package of gum. I bought a new spatula, sheets, and kitchen towels recently, so I had the following items at home: old asian-print sheet as drop-cloth, small brownie knife* (i have 3 more, no biggie), old metal spatula*, 6-year-old kitchen towel*, kitchen sponge*, wooden skewer for stirring, cardboard inserts from new sheets to use as a palette.

**at this point I was trying and failing to escape without buying the entire store
*for texture and spreading of plaster-stuff

I spent 4 hours painting last night, and then about an hour this morning gluing the tiles on and touching up a few spots. I'm still waiting for the glue to dry, no indications on the bottle as to how long that takes.











I might take some close-up pictures later, because the textures are really nice that I got with my spatula and brownie knife. But really, the point of the story is this: I HAD SO MUCH FUN!!!

The end for now.

PS. If you love me, you'll gift me a flickr upgrade....*bats eyelashes*
PSS. If I love myself, I'll gift me a flickr upgrade, dammit.

Chilly Willy

If you ever wondered exactly how I got to be....like I am, go ahead to this link and watch the episode titled "Hot and Cold Penguin." I actually had no idea they were that old. I loved these cartoons as a kid. Go ahead and have fun listing all the ways this cartoon imprinted itself on my personality.

Also, my parrot is having a fit over the sounds.

Ok, one more thing:

I'm Chilly Willy the penguin.
I shake until I'm blue.
My head is hot and my feet are cold.
Ha...Hee...Hachoo!
Now what about the crocodiles along the river Nile?
I'll bet they're always warm as toast.
They always seem to smile.
I'm always Chilly Willy.
I'm frozen through and through.
My nose is red and my tale is told.
Ha...Hee...Hachoo!

Evil Eye

The bird seemed uneasy this morning before school. He kept jumping off my hand and trying to fly a bit. I figured he's feeling a little off since he's getting at least 3 new flight feathers right now.

The Calculus test came back today. 64% plus 4 for a bad question. Not happy.

I returned home to pick up the dessert for today's SPS meeting. Rigel still seemed uneasy about me, wouldn't come out of the cage. This is the same bird that runs out and has to be bribed and cajoled into returning. Odd. Then I had a hunch. I went and put on my grey sweater, zipped all the way up. Happy Bird. Sweater off. He perches still but leans back off my finger like he's about to fall off. He's afraid of my new shirt. Its crisp blue, with a childish doodle of a whale, but there's a heart-shaped patch of fabric sewn on it. The pattern is circles with triangles inside. From a bird perspective I'm guessing it translates into EVIL EVIL EYES OF THE THING THAT IS GOING TO EEEEAAAAATTTTSSSS ME!

So yeah, anyway. I went to Physics and we finally got our tests back from last week. Brace yourself: 100%

I totally needed that.

People seemed to like the cake. Also, I've changed my shirt now.

Switcheroo Cake

MOCHA CAPPUCCINO PUDDING CAKE

Cake:
1.25 cups all-purpose flour
.75 cup sugar
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
1 tablespoon instant espresso powder (or 2tbs regular instant coffee)
1.5 teaspoons baking powder
.5 teaspoon salt
.5 cup skim milk (or some 2% and water)
2 tablespoons margarine or butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla

Pudding:
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
1 teaspoon instant espresso-ish powder
1.5 cups skim-ish milk heated to 120 to 130 degrees F (or, eh...slightly too warm to want to stick your finger in)

1. Preheat 350 degrees F. In medium bowl, combine flour, sugar, cocoa, espresso, baking powder and salt; mix well. Add all remaining cake ingredients; mix until blended. Spread in ungreased 9-in square pan(Or, um, whatever you have-ish). (what it doesn't say is the batter is thick, more like a moist sticky cookie batter than flowing cake, just try to spread it pretty evenly-ish)

2. In small bowl, combine all pudding ingredients except milk; mix well. Sprinkle evenly over cake batter. (NOW you can gently push on the batter to get it really even, without losing cake batter to a spoon or your hands) Pour hot milk over sugar mixture.

3. Bake at 350 degrees for 35-45 min or until center is set and firm to the touch. If desired, place foil or cookie sheet on lower over rack under cake to catch any spills.

So here's the magic: you just put the cake batter on bottom, and the pudding mix, and then the warm milk. Through the work of magic elves in your oven (no peeking, they get scared!), the finished product will be pudding with cake on top. You heard me *clicky clacky*, THE CAKE ROSE TO THE TOP.

Thanks to Sarah for sending me the recipe.

The end.

"Instant"

Scene: Husband putting away groceries.

MJ: I don't know where you want the coffee.
TJ: Just leave it on the counter, I'm using it in a minute to bake.
MJ: Oh, I was wondering why you bought instant.
TJ: Yeah, its not like I bought it to drink. *Yak*
MJ: Its been so long since I had instant, I don't even know how to make it.
TJ: *Blank stare* Its instant.
MJ: Yeah, but its been awhile.
TJ: *dead from Teh Stopidz*

So, for anyone who is unsure how to "make" Instant Coffee:
Conventional Directions
1. PUT one rounded teaspoonful in a cup.
2. ADD 6 oz. boiling water and stir.

the mind boggles

Bathtime

Bird Chatter

Rigel loves to chatter, sort of in the same rhythm as my voice when I talk to him. Not if I talk to him, but if I'm talking to someone else, like on the phone or to Michael or the person repairing the screens. He's all: "HI! I'm HERE! I'm part of the GROUP! This is FUN! Talking is EXTREMELY FUN!" Then I say something directly to him and he's all "Ok, I'm listening intently."

High-Larious.

He also has different voices for chatter and for whistling. He doesn't whistle. I whistle and he chatters in a lower, more breathy voice. I'm so glad I got all that orthodontic treatment, so I can whistle to my parrot.

He's now to the point where he "says" Prettybird and Step-Up. Kind of like a parent "knows" their toddler is saying Mama.

He also likes to vocalize to music and/or to me singing with him. He loves the Farscape Theme.

The key to getting any of this on video is, apparently, to make the camera invisible in some way or make the music so loud that it keeps the camera from really hearing him. I totally understand, I hate the sound of my recorded voice, too. Which is why you will not be viewing any of us singing "Shake-Shake-Shake, Shake-Shake-Shake, Shake your boo-ty." Ever.

Radio Quote

I was just listening to Air America(not exactly what I expected from the description, but anyway) on iTunes. This guy (didn't catch the name, sorry) was talking about religion and politics and said this:

"Don't go right. Don't go left. Go deeper."

Interesting.

Tired

Rodney McKay is a worthless stupid character. Fucknut.

Anyway.

So I had a Physics test on Monday, and Calculus this morning. I feel good about how I did on the Physics test, but it hasn't been graded yet. Calculus test...I swear I studied for it...

The weather has been up and down all week. 85 on Monday, 30 on Wednesday, 77 today. Meanwhile the apartment complex is renovating the exterior, starting with the wood trim. Three days of pounding outside the window, nowhere to take the bird that didn't freak him out, and now there are gouges in all my window screens and the front window frame is cracked and loose. Really, a bang-up job, guys.

Earlier this week I also cleaned the kitchen and loaded/ran the dishwasher twice, cleaned the birdcage, ran my laundry including all the bath and kitchen towels, bought new pillowcases, baked a blueberry and strawberry dessert, made lunch once, and dinner at least twice.

I spent this afternoon massively cleaning the apartment, the bed is made, the windows are washed, the dishes are done, the floor is vacuumed, belongings have been removed from the balcony in preparation for painting, and the kitchen is clean. Hell, the kitchen floor is mopped, I shit you not. I also made baked chicken and vegetable for dinner. Not that anyone appreciates that I was on the kitchen floor scrubbing before baking a kick-ass dinner and after pouring my brains into a Calculus 3 exam, because there isn't enough juice or nookie. Cause/Effect.

More Port.

Please tell me Dr Kaylee isn't flirting with Mckay. Kill me now please.

Wild Streak

I started to comment on Going Grey at Hoyden About Town, but it wouldn't send and its kinda long anyway, so here 'tis.

I've been going grey since I hit puberty, at 12. By that I mean I have had 1 grey hair on the right of my part since then. I would occasionally pluck It, because the adage is dumb. It would grow back, all by Its lonesome. I lightened my hair once, and dyed it black another, but not to cover the grey. At around 20, It started growing up high in a curve to come down and poke me in the eye, but I think that's because I was wearing my hair in an extremely tight bun with lots of hair gel (military). Either that, or it was all "Dammit, stop plucking me! Ahhh!!! I shall poke you!!!"

Oh goodness, I'm turning 25 this year. You might not think that's old, but I'm probably the only greying student in my freshman physics class. I've left the miltary and dyed my hair plum once last year.

Much to my joy, actually, my grey hair has been joined by a few close friends. I'm hoping they will get together to become one of those cute grey streaks. No way I'm dying it...unless purple strikes me again.