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lulabo (10 unread)

Please try this chicken, people. It's ...

Posted: July 12th, 2007, 8:25pm MST

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Please try this chicken, people. It's so good.

(For those not interested in clicking over to my pathetic excuse of a food blog, recipe will be below.)

So, I don't know why I feel compelled to share this, but I really, really do. I've already shown my parents, who were totally unimpressed and practical about it. From which I can only conclude they do not understand this ritual whatsoever and why I find it both aggravating and somehow cathartic.

This is my toaster. My crappy ten dollar toaster.

And I go through this most mornings. All for the sake of a delicious english muffin with peanut butter. This is just a weird brain, you know?

Also going on in here--I am TOTALLY SLEEP DEPRIVED right now, and I'm obsessing with weird things. Like: the correct grammatical use of "myself." Which is... what, exactly? Is it just as correct to say "So it was Sissy and myself" as "It was Sissy and I?" Or "What this means to myself" as "What this means to me?" I'm watching Top Chef, and people are using the word left right and center, and none of it sounds right to me--like, to me, it's fine to say "I need to worry about myself," but if you're saying "Brian and myself are working really hard," that's so noxious to my sense of what sounds right that I want to shake them all for it. Can you use myself interchangeably with "me?" Is it wrong only when it's replacing "I"? WHY IS THIS HAUNTING ME TODAY?

Blah. Also, I am considering becoming a librarian. I need to know your thoughts.

I'm so tired, you guys. I'm so tired. I haven't slept all week.

So you should make this chicken, and I will get some sleep, okay?

Spicy Honey-Brushed Chicken Thighs
2 tsps garlic powder
2 tsps chili powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp ground red pepper
8 skinless, boneless chicken thighs
Cooking spray
6 tbsp honey
2 tsps cider vinegar

1. Preheat broiler.
2. Combine spices in bowl, toss chicken to coat thoroughly.
3. Broil chicken on a broiler pan coated with cooking spray (I pressed tin foil to the pan, made it easier to turn) for five minutes on each side.
4. Combine honey and vinegar, stirring well. Pull chicken from broiler, brush top side with half the honey mixture; return to broiler for one minute. Turn, brush with honey, and broil for an additional minute or until chicken is done
two way psychic phones

Posted: July 9th, 2007, 7:26pm MST

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While witnessing Soul2Soul in its last possible incarnation was a deafeningly rapturous and truly spiritual experience (for lo, the pants of Tim McGraw, they were blessedly cut), it wasn't quite my favorite thing about the five-day weekend I had starting last Wednesday. (Though we had such good seats--SUCH GOOD SEATS.)

Nor was it Live Free or Die Hard, though that was a PG-13 tribute to the badassery of one man against countless and expendable villains (one man accompanied by a hilarious Justin Long whos should thank the Lord or his mama for his impeccable timing).

Though, it must be said, between the holy ass of Tim McGraw and my favorite New York cop John McClane, I got my fill of some of my favorite men (almost) this week, and then I got to hang out in my apartment with air conditioning, knitting, DVDs, and some very spicy french fries.

But my favorite thing about this last weekend? Two moments--in an afternoon that was the best of the whole weekend--tied, one for sheer hilarious awesomeness, and one for nostalgic value (and added I Am Cool bonus points).

The first was during my lunch with sosmitten23 and her (criminally adorable) boys, during which C. was having a phone conversation with a stuffed dog named Jack sitting a block away inside the Family Party Wagon. C. sat in his seat, one fist curled at his cheek, and listened to something the rest of us couldn't hear. When A. tried to speak to him, C. looked over at him with irritation in his eyes and said firmly, "A., I am on the phone."

And the second was building a lincoln log fort with A. for staging a rather elaborate Star Wars battle featuring various Lego figurines--the weird figures that he figured out how to give three heads needed a rooftop battle, so we had some fun arranging different guys hanging off various beams of the house.

These are very neat kids, and it was so much fun to meet them. sosmitten23 and I spent some time talking about writing and Gilmore Girls and books (I get to read about Bobbie Faye's bad day, I'm way excited) and such, and we went to a cookie bakery, which might make me move to her town some day, and I got to hear a song featuring the word "biodiversity."

So a good time was had by all.

And the rest of the weekend I spent fighting with the knitting pattern that is not hard but seems beyond me still, and which I refuse to cow down to, as well as watching The Closer and the Brit The Office, and by dint of a bad decision and the compulsive need to find out how it ended, The Starter Wife. Which was SO not my favorite. Oh! and Dr. Who! To which I say, allthingsholy, I think I do like Martha, but I might still miss Rose. And I didn't love the Christmas special, because, like, nothing happened? I don't know. I'm loving The Closer more all the time--to the point that I had a dream that Brenda Leigh deputized me, and I was handling murder cases with the PHD. But, like, really badly, and they kept wanting me to do things I couldn't do, but they wouldn't believe me. I shall not delve psychologically into that.

A last thought, because I'm behind schedule and I've got some writing to do: read The Post-Birthday World if you like contemporary fiction with a strangely appealing nasty streak to it. This is one of those books that I was never sure I liked until I was done because I couldn't figure out if I liked the main character in some ways, and when I got to the end, I understood why. And it's a brilliantly constructed novel to the point of being almost-too-well-constructed-that-it-occasionally-edges-on-twee.

Mm, my stir fry was good.
i need to pee but i don't want to get up

Posted: June 28th, 2007, 10:07pm MST

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This fucking knitting pattern, you guys. The only reason I'm still awake is my need to conquer the unconquerable ROW SEVEN, which has forced me to backtrack to ROW ONE, like having to backtrack isn't humiliating enough, you have to take me BACK TO THE BEGINNING.

Me and my size fives, we're getting acquainted, and so far, we are enemy combatants. And because getting to row seven entails a time commitment that will have to wait until tomorrow. When I will stare that bitch down and make it beg.

Flah. I HATE having to undo, especially with this sort of yarn that's not very conducive to unraveling. (And there's a pause button this entry because I actually only took it down to row two, and had to undo yet another row and then throw myself off the deck.

Now: to leave the AC on when I go to bed, or save myself one painful electricity bill and turn it off?

Yeah, I'm so leaving it on. It may be expensive, but waking up and the coming home to a sweetly cool apartment? Will erase this aggravating week and possibly help me overcome my lameness with the skinny needles.
why i love sosmitten

Posted: June 26th, 2007, 8:26pm MST

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I have six more userpics than I used to! That is so awesome!

Also, go read Broken. It's such a good ending, you'll want to leave her a properly punctuated review appropriately capitalized telling her how much you love it and want her to write more of whatever she wants.

(Why the world is weird, as a side note: because I wanted to pretend that I didn't have to go to work today, I put on The Office while I ate my Rice Chex with rice milk, which is an entirely different story, and it was "Performance Review." And then I got to work and my boss told me my merit review would be this afternoon. And I was like, "Hmm. I'm actually gonna ask for a pay decrease. And then if he gives it to me, I win.")

sosmitten23 wins at everything.
martha, my dear

Posted: June 22nd, 2007, 10:57pm MST

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See, I am spoiled, because when I called my dad today to tell him that the package slip came yesterday in the mail but I wouldn't be able to get to the post office during its hours of operation to pick up the new power cord, and he said he could maybe do it for me if I couldn't get it myself? At six thirty this morning I asked him to do that, and he did, and because he is such a good dad, he even plugged in the computer and booted it up to test everything. He wins.

And while normally I would give you a breezy, tangential update on the last week of my life and how I spent it (reading: The Post Birthday World, which is fascinating and occasionally also repellent but in that way extraordinarily fascinating; watching: The Closer (LOVE), How I Met Your Mother (LOVE), The Office UK (Hold me, John Krasinski), I cannot summon the brain power. You see, I'm sitting here in the living room waiting for the resting AC to jump back on one more time before I go to bed. Because I like the AC.

So, music meme, because I'm tired and sleepy but I don't want to get up from my comfy spot yet.

I'll post, you guess, it'll be embarrassing or awesome. This is my writing playlist on shuffle, actually--25 out of 61.

1. Hey your glass is empty, it's a hell of a long way home; why don't you let me take you, it's no good to go alone Guessed correctly: "Good Enough," Sarah McLachlan

2. Hey, why you look so sad? (Yes, but WHICH VERSION?) Guessed correctly: I'll Stand By You, Carrie Underwood

3. If I should stay, I would only be in your way Guessed correctly: I Will Always Love You by Dolly P because I continue to be lame

4. My stupid mouth has got me in trouble, I said too much again (this is the tagline of my life) and guessed correctly: My Stupid Mouth, John Mayer

5. Hey, babe, tell me what we're gonna do, it's getting crazy and I need some help from you (how many songs do I listen to start with "hey?")

6. Ramona, where have you been? Guessed correctly: Ramona, Guster.

7. 1986 Harley, blowin' smoke and suckin' oil, my daddy said buy it and you're crazy, boy Guessed correctly: "Can't Tell Me Nothin'," Tim McGraw (t-minus ELEVEN DAYS until my concert)

8. Starry, starry night, paint your palette blue and gray, look out on a summer's day with eyes that know the darkness in my soul Guessed at 90%: Vincent, Don McLean

9. Caroline's got crazy eyes that shine, days blowing through my mind like fallen leaves (I love this song for so many reasons, but it has the word "dinosaurs" in it, and I think that's where it originally hooked me)

10. Those boon times went bust, my feet of clay, they dried to dust (I love this song with the strange fervor of a darkly emotional sixteen year old) Guessed correctly: Tymps, Fiona Apple

11. The silicon chip inside her head gets switched to overload Guessed correctly: I Don't Like Mondays, Tori Amos

12. There's a letter on the desktop that I dug out of the drawer the last truce we ever came to in our adolescent war (I don't like moody girl music when I write at all, no sir) Guessed correctly: Ghost, Indigo Girls

13. Excuse me, but can I be you for a while? Guessed correctly: Silent All These Years, Tor Amos

14. It's a long trip alone over sand and stone

15. Some boys with warm beds and cold, cold hearts can make you feel nothing at all Guessed correctly: Don't Come the Cowboy With Me, Sonny Jim, Kelly Wills

16. I drink good coffee every morning, it comes from a place that's far away Guessed correctly: I Just Don't Think I'll Ever Get Over You, Colin Hay

17. I went up to the mountain because you asked me to, up over the clouds, to where the sky was blue (I am so lame, you guys) Guessed correctly: Up to the Mountain, but the AI cover by Miss Kelly

18. You were my sun, you were my earth, but you didn't know all the ways I loved you (this song and I go way back, writing-wise. man, the times we've had) Guessed correctly: Cry Me a River, JT. Followed closely by What Goes ARound Comes Around, because some boys like to beat horses when they're dead

19. I want to drink that shot of whiskey, I want to smoke that cigarette; I want to smell that sweet addiction on my breath

20. Operator, could you help me place this call? You see, the number on the matchbook is old and faded... Guessed correctly: Operator--because I haven't loaded the Jim Croce onto my ipod yet, it's just the cover from the Everwood soundtrack by someone named Toby Lightman

21. I was only a kid when I said good-bye to you ten summers ago, but it feels like yesterday Guessed correctly: Voice Inside My Head, Dixie Chicks

22. Pulling into the fast lane on the leaving side of town, just me and the dreams I've left undone

23. From the very first moment I saw you, that's when I knew all the dreams I held in my heart had suddenly come true

24. Hey, it might never be the same, we might never live those days gone by Guessed correctly: Baby Hold On, Dixie Chicks

25. The nickel dropped and I was on my way beyond the Rubicon, what did I do? Guessed correctly: Better Version of Me, Fiona Apple

But the truly awesome playlist? My "Pep!" playlist. AWESOME. (Meaning: listened to in the car by myself for singing loudly.)

I am so glad to have the laptop back, tomorrow we're spending some quality time in Stars Hollow, I think.
flatter 'n piss on a plate

Posted: June 17th, 2007, 2:28pm MST

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I often make things more traumatic for myself than they are, because I have tunnel vision and I worry and together that leads to obsessing over things not immediately within my control. I also hate when things happen that could have been prevented were I not so clumsy/brainless/overly excited. So I got myself worked into a good lather yesterday, and today it's all ended rather mundanely with some inconvenience (on a relative scale) for the week to come.

I have a bad habit of plugging my computer in wherever and putting the cord in perilous places, and on Friday night, I plugged into the outlet beside the futon, went to step over the cord to the kitchen, and tripped. Laptop flies here, Lula flies there, and cord flies out of laptop's back portwhatever. And thoroughly breaks. The little plug that goes into the socket on the back of the computer is bent in half, quite literally, and can't be shoved back onto the end of the cord to the power adapter for love or begging, and the laptop battery literally has no life in it. A trip to Radio Shack yesterday reveals a universal power cord replacement will run about $100 dollars, at which point, I flip out because the computer probably isn't worth a sawbuck anymore, and I don't have the money to spend on either the cord OR a new computer. After much whinging and hair-wrenching on my part and familial bargaining over who will help me finance a new laptop, I google the laptop model this morning, find a cord for about $45 dollars, and charge it to be delivered in four to seven business days.

Which sucks, a little, because so much of my life is in this laptop--all my writing, my main form of communication, my news and bank account and pictures, and I'm going to have to muddle through until the cord comes without immediate access to my email, which is blocked by the company I work for. (Fortunately, I can still bank and gossip online, but only in the half hour allotted for my lunch.) And it points out that while the cord replacement is a temporary stopgap, Martha My Dear Laptop is on her last and very feeble legs, and I'm going to have to find a way to get a new computer in the next few months. And I just don't have the cash for that, food, rent, and the other bills that make my world go round.

But in the way of minor inconveniences, it could be worse. I could have tripped and broken something on my person, or I could have completely wrecked the computer when it fell off the table. The money I put towards the cord was probably going to be spent on reupping my lj paid account, and if I have to go without that, I'll live (as long as I still have a place to whine about other things, and also post my episodic exhortations as I go through my Gilmore-from-the-beginning-thon From The Beginning Again). Though I will be sad to part with the many, many icons and I'm afraid of losing my banner. But in the end it's money better spent on the laptop.

Other than that, it was a good weekend of making pie (I made my first pie!), goin' to the movies (Pirates), and drinking too much wine to celebrate father's day. And watching the first season of HIMYM on DVD, which is delightful to me. But my week is going to feel a little off kilter--when you live alone and the internet gives you steady access to people you like and answers to the series of odd questions that occur to you throughout the evening, having to wait for those things might be irritating.

Oh well. At least I still have all my teeth.
what? why?

Posted: June 10th, 2007, 12:27pm MST

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Real post later, but first, a question:

canopus closed opposites-are-polar.net, so... where are all the screencaps NOW? I want to finish my new moodtheme! What ever shall AH DO?

Yeah. So, if you know where to get good screencaps, pass it on. I'm sure it wasn't an easy site to maintain or pay for or whatever, but damn if I wish I had known it would be shut down so I could save stuff. The images there were the best.

Blah. I feel like poop today.
things I have learned and/or rediscovered this week

Posted: June 6th, 2007, 8:37pm MST

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*I love wearing dresses that don't require fuss, because they're comfortable.

*Loathing vacuuming = dirty floors = dirty feet

*Getting in and out of a dress with a zipper up the back by yourself because you live alone is both undignified and humbling.

*I tend to repeat myself

*I tend to repeat myself when I'm writing, because I forget that I've already written this exact same scene in the previous three chapters, and it's not a very interesting end to anything, just staring into space like that.

*Meaning, I can write myself into a rut in under 1,000 words and keep dragging my heels there indefinitely unless someone pokes me and tells me not to be so boring.

*I love it to be entirely still and quiet when I read.

*And also when I sleep.

*I am a terrible correspondent.

*I can't stay up past ten o'clock anymore.

*With the exception of the dress thing, I have TOTALLY BECOME MY DAD.

If I start falling asleep with my head on the back of the futon and my mouth hanging open only to wake up at 2AM, startled to have fallen asleep on the couch, and only THEN get up to go to bed, I'll know I'm doomed.

Also presaging my slow descent into crotchety old-fartness: the fact that I heard and NPR story SO fascinating, I had to call him and retell it.

I had to share my weird interest in Watergate with him, which lead to said phone call, in which I detailed the interview wherein a possibly crackpot Nixon biographer called him a true paranoid personality who USED THE INSTRUMENTS OF HIS OFFICE WITHOUT A THOROUGH UNDERSTANDINGS OF THE LIMITATIONS OF HIS OFFICE because he was paranoid and SOUGHT TO TRACK AND POSSIBLY SABOTAGE ENEMIES, GOING SO FAR AS TO ILLEGALLY WIRETAP THE OPPOSING PARTY OFFICES AND OBTAIN PSYCHIATRIC RECORDS of a purported enemy. Hmm, I thought, a President who abuses the instruments of his office for personal vendettas? A President who did not understand the limitations of his office? A President who was batshit crazy and also sort of a drunk? Hmm. A President who--according to a biographer who said at the end of writing about him, she sympathized a little with him because he was psychologically a tormented man--ultimately was NOT FIT FOR OFFICE? I don't know who that reminds me of AT ALL.

I also keep tripping over my shoes because I leave them wherever I take them off, and lately I can never find my glasses when I get up in the morning. This is rapidly becoming disturbing to me.

God. All I can think now is that Dad's had a mustache for thirty years and I'M DOOMED.
my lips feel funny

Posted: June 4th, 2007, 6:47pm MST

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I'm in a mood where I want someone to pay attention to me. What makes me a fickle and infuriating girl is that I know as soon as someone started paying attention to me, I would want to be left alone to do nothing. I am antisocial and contrary, but I would still like some company while I sit here and drink some beer.

My lips feel swollen, but they are not swollen, and this is what happens when I eat raw or partially cooked jalapeno peppers. I made "enchiladas" tonight with beans I made myself, and I have to say, I thought it would be sort of a disaster, but they came out pretty fine. (Perhaps I should food-blog them.) There are these canned refried beans that I love, but I didn't buy them this week because: black beans are 89 cents and the canned beans are more than two bucks a can; the very notion of canned beans is a little disgusting, which is part of their appeal, but still. So I soaked half a bag of beans in the crock pot today (I loathe the term "slow cooker") and used my wandy blender thing to mush them with some lime juice, cumin, chili pepper, garlic, salt, and pepper. A few seasoning adjustments and a can of jalapenos later, I rolled them in some flour tortillas with a little cheese, doused them with enchilada sauce, and covered them with cheese. And the jalapenos are making my lips feel stung and swollen, and you know the remedy to this can only be beer.

So this is a good dinner. The reason I like enchiladas is the same reason I like pizza and sandwiches: bread, sauce, cheese, meat/filling. A good combination that I rarely find fault with. Today, I made myself a good lunch of half a sun-dried tomato wrap filled with grilled herb chicken and homemade pesto and spinach, and that was a damned good sandwich.

And the leftover beans went into the new fridge. New fridge! I've had water pooling under the fridge since I moved in, and the floor is buckled, completely fucked up underneath, and I called today because there were three instances this weekend where I had to mop up water or found the rug by the sink soaking wet, and that's the most that's ever happened in a three-day span. Last time I called, I told them the floor was messed up because water was coming from somewhere, and the maintenance people left a note that there wasn't any water. I called again today to ask someone to check the fridge, because I don't want to get sick from spoiled food, and I came home to see my kitchen a mess, shit everywhere. It took me a full two minutes of wandering around to figure out that they'd replaced the fridge. The only thing they replaced of the random crap stuck to the fridge door? The Christmas card my sister sent me of a red-headed angel shaking a present and freaking out with joy (which looks, it must be said, too much like me for her not to have bought it and me not to have put it on my fridge, covering the present with the picture of my Marc Jacobs weight-loss reward purse). I don't know why I thought that so funny, but it made me giggle. Also made me giggle: how anal retentive and neat they were putting everything into the new fridge. (Might have made me embarrassed: that I bought a twelve pack of Sam's Summer Ale this weekend and stocked it all in the fridge because there weren't any sixes at the store, and I look a bit like a lush.) I just hope this solves the water problem.

Okay, I need another enchilada to go with my beer, a half hour watching the third season of 24 that just came from Blockbuster, and then a good hour of writing before I retire to the boudoire with a book or one of the back issues of the New Yorker I'm catching up on. (I just read this comparative review of The Office last night, one I'd saved, and it's an interesting look at how the Brit and US versions differ and what that might mean. Highly recommended reading.) And I need not to psychotically check my email. It's demoralizing.
tyra gonna take you out

Posted: May 31st, 2007, 6:36am MST

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How much do I love this icon? A lot.

So the other day, sarita_m said something off handish about The Better Sarah Summer Plan, and I perked up because I liked the way that sounded. It doesn't sound as alliterative and smooth with my name, because I've got that hard consonant in the middle.

(Aside: Which is probably the only criticism I've ever made of my name since I turned twenty, when I decided I liked it, and now I'm egotistically fond of being an Erica. Because E is the fifth letter of the alphabet (count it, you know you want to), and my name is five letters. And it's in America. I was trying to get a rise out of my mom over Mother's Day Weekend, and I told her I'm going to name my kids America and Veronica, because if you take out enough letters from Veronica, you end up with Erica, in the right order. And Veronica was her mother's name, so she thought that was sort of nice, and she said, "Will you call her Vera [like your grandmother]?" And I said, "Nope. I'm gonna call her Erica. And we're gonna live in Billerica. And go to baseball games in Comerica Park." And while my dad laughed and my brother-in-law was highly amused, my mom and sister were totally not having it.)

But I liked the Better Living Summer plan, so this week I've tried to be a little more conscientious about things. I'm eating things that are good for me, and drinking water. I'm trying to do fifteen minute work outs when I wake up and when I get home from work, because fifteen minutes is all I can do right now before I get dizzy. I'm also trying to fit in there some more writing/reading time, which is actually working out rather awesomely in the THREE DAYS since I started this thing sort of informally. (And I really still want that Marc Jacobs bag, and I'm so broke right now having the picture of it on my fridge reminding me how much money I spent and how little I can afford to waste money on junky food and another purse, that's got me going again too.) I generally don't have the best history with Better Living Life Plans, but I think if I take it on a day-to-day, I can deal with a Better Living Summer Plan and see what happens from there. I just know I'm the heaviest I've ever been, I (as my therapist so kindly put it) self medicate with food, I live alone, and I when I'm bored, and there are better ways for me to spend my time, my money, and all that stuff. So, I'm trying. I'll see how it goes. I am trying to share as little as possible about this plan with my family, because they stress me out about it, and I don't know that I even want to talk about it that much in general, but I wanted to a) write something this morning, and b) put off getting ready for work, and c) use my kick-ass Tyra icon. So there you go.

Other things this has led to: finishing chapter four of the reunion fic, digging out old unfinished non-fandom stories that I want to restart and revamp, because before they had no plots and a plot might be a good thing if I ever want to finish them, preparing to write the rest of Babylon, and chattering about ideas for other stories to people who will listen. And finally reading Buzz Bissinger's book so I can watch FNL the Movie again, and then rewatch the series. (I might also be rewatching Heroes while I work on other things, and maybe sampling Brothers and Sisters while I work on other things, but I might not be. How would you know? You would not, right?)

Also, I'm trying to be less negative. Zen. Serenity NOW, y'all. SERENITY NOW, because I'm about to get off my ass and get ready for work. Serenity NOW.

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lulabo (10 unread)

Posted: July 12th, 2007, 8:25pm MST

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Posted: July 9th, 2007, 7:26pm MST

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Posted: June 28th, 2007, 10:07pm MST

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Posted: June 26th, 2007, 8:26pm MST

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Posted: June 22nd, 2007, 10:57pm MST

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Posted: June 17th, 2007, 2:28pm MST

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Posted: June 6th, 2007, 8:37pm MST

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Posted: June 4th, 2007, 6:47pm MST

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Posted: May 31st, 2007, 6:36am MST

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