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Month: September 2014

october one-th cometh

october one-th cometh

october is the only time of year i watch scary movies. what’s on my plate this year?
1. classics – evil dead trilogy
2. let’s watch scream again
3. i always thought the second indiana jones was kind of terrifying, so i’ll watch that one
4. do i dare attempt to watch the ring again?
5. if tucker and dale vs. evil is still on netflix, i’ll watch that one
6. if i can find the tommyknockers, i’ll watch that. not sure what the chances of that are. i remember being scared a ton watching that as a kid
7. um…hocus pocus, amirite?
8. oh what the heck – let’s add some halloween specials on there, like garfield and girls just wanna have fun.

autumn goals

autumn goals

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fall is upon us! woohoo!
my goals for this fall:
1. go to whitewater with my camera. maybe it’ll be the new SJU? (unlikely…)
2. get up really early and take a sunrise picture on CR 11 north of fountain. i found a perfect spot
3. take a bike ride on the root river trail
4. roll around in some leaves
hmmm…i guess that’s it for now… that’s weird. 
 

backsplash take II

backsplash take II

my blog post last night was lame-o. so here’s the pics from the backsplash project i did this weekend.
before pics of my counter.sink_before  stove_before
 
and after pic of just the stove part. i had to order more tiles to finish the other side, so once it’s completely finish, i’ll try to get a wide-angle of the whole shebang.
stove_after
on another note, i went to an awesome estate sale this weekend with my dad and his friend paul. i found a redwing crock that was busted and glued back together, a tray, and some blue mason jars. i would have bought more stuff, but i’m on a budget with the purchase of the backsplash now. (ugh. budget.)  i have yet to even open up the mason jars, i’ve been so busy this weekend. i think i’ll go do that now!
crock

backsplash!

backsplash!

i forgot to post a blog last night due to a work-related 5k. ugh. oh well.
i put up a backsplash today! it was peel and stick, so it wasn’t that bad, but it was still hard getting stuff cut and lined up. gotta download pics and put up before/after, but i want to make sure i get something posted today. we’lls ee if i can get an edit soon.

keep on writing

keep on writing

the best thing i ever read written by a peer was a story in the annual csb/sju artist and writer publication, lower stumpf lake review. the last essay in the book of black and white art projects and senior creative writing poems was a long-ish essay about a 22-year-old and his car, which he affectionately named blue balls. i was so enamored by the story that i sent it to my dad to read, despite the questionable name of the car. 
i have since striven to write to that level. the only thing i know that could possibly come close is my tale of a porta-potty, which i rank as one of my best pieces of writing. 
the thing is, i haven’t read blue balls’ story in years. perhaps the level or writing is not as great as i remember, or maybe the content was what really grabbed me, as it revolved around roadtrips.
*****
i got a subscription to national geographic from liz for christmas last year, which i really enjoy. as such, i read a lot about climate change, which is freaking me out (we’re going to lose the loon in MN and the current drought in the southwest is a huge thing – huge), but what i really like to read are the stories about places i’d like to go. this latest issue had an essay and photo essay on chernobyl, one place that really intrigues me. i’d like to go to machuu picchu some day. europe fascinates me. 
i’d love to go to these places, but the money issue is a huge factor. i can barely scrape enough cash together to go to the black hills this spring (which i am NOT complaining about! ha!). 
so i sit here and think, what did i spend my money on that i could have saved instead to take me to ukraine to check out the radioactive ruins? stuff for my house. a garden in the back. hopefully a deck next spring. 
i’m really a homebody, when it comes down to it. i love going places, visiting people, thinking about where to travel; but nothing beats walking in your red door at the end of it all and being in the place where you spend the majority of your time. 
******
literally, just now, i tromped downstairs to my three boxes of yet unpacked books where i knew i would find the blue balls story. true enough, “blue balls, rambo, and the open road” by john steingraeber in 1998.
(i had done a prodigious search online to no avail. apparently searching “blue balls csb sju” will result in some weird, science-y faculty blogs.)
he speaks of his navy VW rabbit (“blue”), truck stops, wall drug, and the road. it’s lovely. 
“and maybe, dear reader, maybe i’ll swing by your house, because the road never ends – you just have to figure out how to get around the place where it stops.”
may we all have a blue; better yet, may we all have a place to park blue.

septober

septober

a haiku.
darkness falls early
sucking summertime warmth, light
leaves: yellow tinges
(i love this time of year, but dang if i don’t miss the sunlight. not looking forward to SAD.)

from: http://www.tntnphotos.com/2014/06/autumn-leaves-2/
from: http://www.tntnphotos.com/2014/06/autumn-leaves-2/

pretzels

pretzels

i have caved to twitter peer pressure.
i kept seeing alton brown retweet people making his pretzels, so, naturally, i had to make his pretzels.
pretzels are pretty easy, but you have to do one weird thing: boil them in baking soda water. otherwise, it’s 6 ingredients.
pretzel pretzelsok, off to tweet my pic in hopes of getting a RT!
 

ooh ooh

ooh ooh

remember last year when my mom and i went to rochester for our annual christmas shopping trip? remember how it sucked?
well, this year, my cousin karl’s wife, brooke, is having a baby shower on veteran’s weekend. they live in sauk rapids, which means i’ll be the st cloud area! i’ve got to talk to my mom and see if this is something she wants to do, but i think we could take the weekend and get our st cloud shopping fix! 
woo!

dear caribou coffee

dear caribou coffee

dearest caribou:
you are my favorite coffee joint. when the mood strikes me for some coffee, of which i am the more-sugar-and-dairy=coffee type, yours is the place i frequent.
i try to avoid corn syrup, but i have adapted to your menu so that when it comes to high fructose corn syrup or regular old corn syrup, i know what to order. i can get a northern light turtle mocha, and if i want a cool drink, i order a hot mocha on the rocks. (caribou melts chocolate chunks for their warm mochas, while they use syrup for the cold drinks.) anything with regular caramel is a nono, but that’s ok by me.
EXCEPT.
except.
let’s talk about the pumpkin drinks. 
i looooooove love love lovvvve your pumpkin drinks. come september, i channel my inner white girl (sans uggs) and order all things pumpkin, especially a pumpkin milk chocolate mocha. so, while at caribou the other day, i asked to see the ingredients list on the pumpkin sauce. first item? HFCS. 

i realize your profit margin is at stake. corn syrup is cheap; i get it. but think how much better your pumpkin sauce would taste if you used regular sugar rather than corn syrup (high fructose or otherwise). think about supporting minnesota beet farmers. think about the countless number of people you would make happy by eliminating corn syrup. (quite frankly, i think you know you’d get some boycotts if you posted your pumpkin sauce ingredients on your website, which, surprise, i couldn’t find.)
let’s not cut corners here, caribou. i understand caramel sauce and chocolate sauce (really those could be done with sugar as well, but baby steps i keep telling myself), but for a specialty drink that you only provide two months of the year (another bone of contention)? let’s make that sauce with real sugar.