Mishaps and other haps

I picked up my old journal today and added an entry. I hadn’t written in it in months. It made me think about how hard it is to write in detail about the events that happen every day, even when the events are important.

When we moved into this house a bit over a year ago, we wanted it to be a place where a lot of memories are made. We’ve already made quite a few since we moved in. So MUCH has happened in the past 14 or 15 months, I mean SO MUCH.

I guess there was always a lot happening. I remember how much a difference a year could make when I was a child. I might have different friends, be in a different school, have different hobbies and interests …

But since we have been living in our new place, it seems like that again, except that all sorts of really big emotional things have happened and instead of having Mom and Dad holding our hands as the consolation, we now have the support of friends and a home as the continuity that makes things calmer when big things happen (good or bad) and other areas of our lives seem chaotic, nutty, or aggravating.

I think I will try writing in my personal, non-online journal more often than I do. Even if I don’t write down all of the memories I have, there might be little triggers there that cause me to remember what it all was like when I am eighty-five and I don’t remember it as well.

The leaves are starting to change here. The cold spell a few weeks back was brief, but it won’t be long before we have cooler temperatures for a much longer duration.

Once again, September has been a stressful time of year for our household for various reasons and this past week was another that was not too good on several fronts.

However, toward the end of the week some good things did happen, like having our friends over for gaming on Thursday night and watching DVDs and ordering pizza on Friday night. Artie introduced me to a fabulous, simple new dessert: cut and peeled raw apples (a tart apple like Macintoshes) with cinnamon sugar. I ate a whole big bowl of them after pizza last night.

PhysOrg and I headed out to the Farmers’ Market this morning and purchased a huge zucchini (just one!), eggplant, a couple of tiny loaves of quick bread, and a carton of fresh, cage-free eggs. Then we had breakfast before settling down at our computers.

The grass needs to be mowed (and leaves can be mulched right in since they are starting to fall) and pumpkins need to be baked.

A cold is going around our household. Mlitiagrl had it most of last week and I have come down with it over the past few days. I have been taking a lot of cold medicine and feeling tired and unmotivated to do much today besides hang out with friends and move as little as possible.

PhysOrg, Becky, and I went apple picking with a group of friends at Eplegaarden Saturday morning and brought back a bunch of Macintosh and Empire apples.

We celebrated a little on Saturday night and had a nice dinner out as a couple. Re: our fourth dating anniversary

Althea, Bryan, Andrew and Terry stopped by and had lunch with us today. The Guffeys arrived in the early afternoon for gaming and we managed to accomplish a good bit in Mr. Guff’s game before watching a few episodes of Robot Chicken (PhysOrg recently decided to buy DVD copies of second season Robot Chicken and Venture Bros.). This evening we had been scheduled for Karazhan, so we were involved with that for about three hours.

And now it is bedtime and I am ready.

Grocery money is an odd sticking point for U.S. citizens, who on average spend a lower proportion of our income on food than people in any other country, or any heretofore in history. In our daily fare, even in school lunches, we broadly justify consumption of tallow-fried animal pulp on the grounds that it’s cheaper than whole grains, fresh vegetables, hormone-free dairy, and such. Whether on school boards or in families, budget keepers may be aware of the health tradeoffs but still feel compelled to economize on food– in a manner that would be utterly unacceptable if the health risk involved an unsafe family vehicle or a plume of benzine running through a school basement.

– from Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life, which I have been reading off and on as the mood strikes me

She goes on to discuss the types of things that Americans prefer to spend their money on (at the expense of their health): technological gadgets, large vehicles, fashionable clothing, etc. and how we prefer to throw money at health issues as they arise rather than prevent them via what we buy in the first place.

Having heard co-workers recently complaining about the price of food (between conversations about weekend shopping adventures), I have to agree with Kingsolver that our priorities are largely skewed.

For the past three or four years, I have baked pumpkin muffins periodically from September through December as one of my favorite Fall rituals. Weekend mornings are particularly good times to bake a couple dozen muffins.

I made my first batch of Fall 2007 pumpkin muffins today from part of the pumpkin I purchased and baked yesterday (which yielded over five cups of pumpkin).

I thought I would post the recipe I use for pumpkin bread/muffins since I have made it many times and like it a lot. I found it online several years ago, but I can’t remember exactly where. I have modified the recipe to be slightly healthier than the original (less sugar) and added instructions for baking as muffins. This recipe doubles well.

Pumpkin Bread/Muffins

(makes 1 loaf of bread or about a dozen muffins. Note: for muffins, bake 20 minutes at 400 F)

1 c. light brown sugar

1 c. cooked pumpkin

1/2 c. vegetable oil

2 eggs

1/4 c. water

2 cups all-purpose flour (or whole wheat pastry flour)

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. ginger

(optional: chopped nuts, chocolate chips, raisins– whatever amount of each you prefer)

Preheat oven to 350 F for a loaf pan (or 400 F for muffins). Oil loaf pan (9x5x3) or put muffin cups in muffin pan. Combine sugar, pumpkin, oil, eggs, and water in a large bowl. Blend well. Combine flour, soda, salt, and spices in a separate bowl. Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Add optional ingredients, if desired. Pour into loaf pan or muffin pan. Bake loaf 50-60 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean (bake muffins for only 20 minutes) . Remove from pan and allow to cool.

I slept in slightly later than I intended this morning.  The alarm went off at 8:30, which was supposed to be the signal to hop out of bed, throw on some clothes, and head downtown to the Farmers’ Market.  Those things happened, but it was all a little later and after making some coffee.

PhysOrg went with me, kind of quiet today, and showed a lot of patience as we ended up in traffic near Camp Randall just as throngs of red-shirted fans were flocking to the home football game.  I wished I had a camera handy as we sat in traffic.  It’s hard to take in those massive waves of people dressed alike, moving with a shared purpose– an almost unbelievable sight.  I don’t care about going to a Badger football game, but it might be fun to run one of the little food trailers and watch all of the crazy, thronging fans sometime (particularly if I didn’t have to commit to being there every weekend).

We finally made it to the Farmers’ Market, where Macintosh apples, pie pumpkins, jam, and a couple of beef sticks were purchased.  Afterwards, we made a second trip around the square to visit Marigold Kitchen for brunch.  It is tradition now (maybe mandatory) to have coconut macaroons while waiting for our food.  Today my macaroon was followed by a huge bowl of fruit, yogurt, and nuts and a mug of chai.  I failed to finish any of it (except the macaroon).  I was pleased to see that PhysOrg finished his breakfast sandwich and pancake, though.

This afternoon he has run off to a play in Milwaukee and I am planning to run some errands and cook 15 bean soup.

We had a delicious spaghetti dinner over at the Guffeys’ new place tonight.  Thanks, guys!  We also managed to work through the first disc or so of Futurama.  Much more Futurama, gaming, and fun with friends to come!

You’ve seen the commercials for the new nano?  I snagged one (the blue one) the other day at the Apple Store.  It’s tiny and works well to take the edge off a stressful day.

Also, fall sweaters and new pajama pants have been purchased.

My belly is full of tuna sandwich this evening, one of the best comfort foods I can think of. The simple interior of my favorite tuna sandwich has remained the same since I was a kid: well-drained tuna and sweet pickle relish. No mayo, no seasonings. I used to eat the tuna & pickle filling on white bread, but now I prefer whole wheat or multi-grain bread. The best tuna sandwich I ever had was on homemade, very dense whole wheat bread made with molasses and honey. Tonight I had store-bought loaf bread on hand, which was just fine.

Mmm, tuna.

This has not been a week that I want to remember in too much detail.

I worked two days this week and that felt like a lot with everything else going on.

The visitation was last night (Alice helped me make food to take) and the funeral is this morning.