Title still says it all.
24 May 2004
20 May 2004
I Still Hate Pediatric Intestinal Bugs.
Title says it all, really…. This poor child’s had twelve days of the runs; I’m hoping the stool culture will turn up something!
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14 May 2004
The Child Book of Etiquette
The Child Book of Etiquette reminds me of a comment someone made on one of my lists once, to the effect of “Francis James Child’s work is not a good guideline for healthy relationships.”
(I’m not a terminal folklore geek yet; I only recognized about 3/4 of the song classes from the letters.)
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12 May 2004
Non-writing Progress
About a month ago, I decided to take a formal break from writing; I figure, I’ve been banging my head against it and doing the butt-in-chair-but-no-words-come-out-fingers thing for long enough; it’s time to give it a break.
I’m not doing anything writing-related. I swear it. I’m just halfway through the quickie pass through Slushpile novel in preparation for withdrawing it from the publisher where it’s sat for three years and sending it to the publisher where it’ll sit three more years if it isn’t rejected outright. Just cleaning up a few minor paragraphs here and there.
Not doing anything writing-related at all.
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7 May 2004
Weird Things to Do with Greens
African Pineapple Peanut Stew, from The Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home. I’m still trying to decide what I think of it.
It looks, frankly, like barf.
The texture is on the mushy side, although really, it’s not much different from the spinach casserole at Threadgills, which I really like.
It tastes…actually, pretty good, once I get used to the weird flavor combination. But strange. Pineapple, onions, garlic, peanut butter, and swiss chard. Strange. (Probably would be better if I’d actually had cilantro on hand and used that instead of parsley, and tabasco sauce instead of an eighth-teaspoon of cayenne. Still strange.)
It uses up an amazing amount of greens at a go.
Do I want to make it again? I’m not sure.
On the other hand, I just finished the huge quantity of leftover stew that I brought for lunch, with no pain or gagging.
I have to think about this.
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6 May 2004
Tiny Stitches
One side effect of dating someone who’s eleven years older than me is that I’m actually starting to think about aging. No, not the fact that I can already see where the serious wrinkles are going to be in twenty years. The fact that most people get farsighted in their 40s. Right now I have no problem seeing tiny things, but watching my boyfriend struggle to read small print, I’m realizing that my days of good close vision are numbered.
So I started the Crossed Wings Blue Jay kit that I’ve had for five years. Silk thread over 40-count silk gauze. Tiny, tiny, tiny. But I can still see what I’m doing, even without a magnifier!
(This will probably convince me, though, that a Dazor magnifier lamp should move up a bit on the wish list.)
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5 May 2004
On Abu Ghraib
Other people have already said it for me.
My only additional thought: It’s currently unlikely that my son’s cognitive disabilities will improve to the point that he could enlist in the military as an adult. But it’s not utterly impossible, and I haven’t permanently ruled out the possibility of having another kid; twenty or thirty years from now, I could perhaps have a child serving in the military. So I shall state for the record: if a child of mine enlists in the military and ever pulls heinous shit like this, that child had better hope the firing squad gets them before I do.
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3 May 2004
Illustrated Craft Update
The latest craft progress, with a reference illustration:
No major progress on most of the cross-stitch projects; the Just Nan sampler, pentacle, and Ruby are about where they were last time. Ditto the harbor needlepoint and sunflower piece, not pictured. Flanders map — a couple more threads, but not much to look at.
The crane, however, is chugging along nicely. I haven’t quite scrolled to the bottom yet, but the next time I move the canvas, I’ll be there.
The sweater and the doily both have a lot of progress. I’m working on the sweater yoke, and I’m halfway through the doily.
Shirts — coming along; the sleeves are all attached. I have to sew side seams on three, and then all that’s left is cuffs, bottom hems, and buttons/buttonholes. A week’s work if I had sufficient sewing machine time; between my boy and my boyfriend (two good reasons to be away from the machine), it’ll probably be more like a couple months. As long as I finish these within a year of cutting them out, I’ll be happy.
Also cut out a pattern I’m trying for a sleeveless top for myself — my first attempt at drafting a pattern from an existing outfit. We’ll see how it goes. No progress on the cat quilt; I haven’t felt like changing the machine thread from the shirt blue-gray.
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