BlogDay 2006...

Today is BlogDay. According to the website, BlogDay was created with the belief that bloggers should have one day dedicated to getting to know other bloggers from other countries an dareas of interest. On this day, every blogger will post a recommendation of 5 new blogs. In thsi way, all Blog web surfers will find themselves leaping around and discovering new, previously unknown blogs.

Ok. Five blogs from other countries and areas of interest way outside of quilting or crafting.

Scared to Health is written by an RN. Imagine seeing everyday health care from the other side of the chart. Hey, you've got to love a woman who knows all the words to SchoolHouse Rock songs.
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Laila el Haddad is a journalist and the mother of Yousif. She blogs about their life at A Mother From Gaza. I started reading her blogs and just kept scrolling down and reading more.

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Soul Kadee lost the love her life in 2005. So she decided to do a lot of inner work.. and writes about life with her new perspective. What is Soul Kadee? It's based upon a Western Indian dish known at Sol Kadi which is an appetizer or digestive. She hopes that her blog will "whet your appetite for life and give you something to ruminate on."

Check out her recent post on creativity.
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Something lighter!!

NorthernGirl is a newish blog about life in Alaska. The photos are stunning and like nothing in the lower 48. The writings good too! From a long and changing day off, that included a hike along a glacial trail:

Exit Glacier as part of the Harding Ice Field actually has this great interpretive aid for its visitors. All along the road in are signs with dates on them. If you think of the Berma Shave signs of youth, this will give you an indication of the same type of signs. But the reality is the signs hold dates. The dates? Are where the glacier used to lay. I was amazed at how much the glacier has regressed even in the past 50 years. One must see it to believe it. And even in the past few years since I was last there it has melted quite a bit.

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Hmm.. I'm a little peckish... let's wander down to the Kitchen Wench and see what this Korean-Aussie is cooking this week. Yum! I found the perfect nosh... even if she does call them golden little hockey pucks.

So we've travelled the world and seen how our lives are more alike than different. Hope a good time was had by all!!

Whatcha Doing Today? Sewing and cleaning.
What's for Dinner? Mixed green salad, BBQ brisket, biscuits and broccoli.
Steps? Wednesday: 11758

Tags: blogday2006

What to do Wednesday??

Wednesday:

1. Watch morning news while I'm reading emails and blogs.
2. Do not succumb to playing that online game that someone sucked you into this weekend.

3. Feed the dogs, feed yourself, ablutions, clean clothes.
4. Do not succumb to playing that online game that someone sucked you into this weekend.

5. Walk the dogs. It feels like a 2 mile morning.
6. Do not succumb to playing that online game that someone sucked you into this weekend.

7. Mow lawn and do some weeding.
8. Do not succumb to playing that online game that someone sucked you into this weekend.

9. Finish sewing those damn flannel squares.
10. Reward yourself by succumbing for one hour.

11. Play tonight at the Willows.
12. Home and one hour of play.

13. To bed by midnight.

Whatcha Doing Today? See above.
What's on TV Tonight? Project Runway. And I've got to Tivo it as I'll be gone.
Steps? Tuesday: 13,369

So to fight this...

Ok, so to fight this impending cold/virus/whatever.. I decided to load drink a big glass of some of the fancy juice in the fridge.

Opened the door.

I have a tiny little bit of Green Power and a pint bottle of Mango/anti-oxidant (deep orange). Those two colors blended together? Makes a khaki colored fruity juice. Very strange to look at.. but tasty and hopefully good for me.


Whatcha Doing Today? household chores
What's for dinner tonight? A breakfast supper... ham, eggs, broiled tomatoes.

Damn

That slightly sore ache in the lymph nodes in my throat. A headache that has lingered for 2 days. That "not right" stuffiness in the head.

Feels like the start of a killer late summer cold. If I had a mosquito bite, I'd probably add West Nile.

Excuse me while I mega=dose on Vitamin C and echinacea..

Whatcha Doing Today? Cleaning chores.
What's on TV Tonight? I found nothing inspiring. But we've got Friday's sci-fi shows on Tivo.
Steps? Friday: 10981.

How's your Weather??

Photo: An example of the "smudgy" clouds we've had lately. Don't know what causes this, but I love it.

Deborah B. wrote about the hot weather in Texas, and ended by saying:

Actually, I was nearly overwhelmed in my first few weeks here in TX. Not necessarily by the heat specifically, but by how much people want to talk about it.
Eventually, I decided that I would try to avoid using the crutch of complaining about the heat to make small talk or even bring it up in regular conversation unless it realted to something real in my life -- other than just the fact that it's hot. And suddenly it didn't seem like such a big deal. Suddenly it's nearly the end of August and we've survived just fine.

I'm not saying I like it. I'm just saying that our words and intentional thoughts make a difference.

So, after complaining about the heat wave a full month ago, I'm writing today to say that the weather is PERFECT. Atleast in my opinion. (The spouser will complain that it's a bit chilly).

Our humidity is in the very comfortable 40% range, our daytime high today will about 77. The fog will move in about 8:30 pm, dropping our evening temps to the mid 50s. Bad for ripening tomatoes; great for sleeping.

No need for heat, AC or even a fan.

Divine.

These are the weather days I love. Unfortunately, at the dog park we all agreed that the weather is so pleasant, that our wish is to simply sit outside in a bit of shade and enjoy. I may just do that for a while.. take a Sukodu puzzle out on the porch swing and hang.

Whatcha Doing Today? Prepping stuff for a piece of art. Piecing some small flannel squares into a top. Hangin'.

What's on TV Tonight? PBS American Master is detailing Elia Kazan, Arthur Miller and the BlackList. And if you have HBO, Thursday night they're reshowing all four hours of Spike Lee's documentary on Katrina. Definately Tivo-worthy. (can somebody make a copy for me?)

Steps? Tuesday: 12056. Today, a whole let less.

Dog Personalities.

This afternoon I took the dogs back to Carquinez Straits for a walk. We haven't been there since spring! Sorry I took no photos.. but you can revisit the last trip I blogged...except the cows and the color of the grass, it hasn't changed much.

One thing about this walk, it struck me why Jake was sold as a "pet" and neutered as puppy inspite of his impressive "Border Collie" pedigree. His "grandparents" are/were all Scottish working dogs, his parents: California working dogs. He's bred as a McNabb.. short coat, flag tail, and a working weight of 55-60#.

He just doesn't have the work mentality to be a good working BC. The other BC mixes we've owned all herded us along the way: they would walk a short distance ahead, checking the trail. Regularly these dogs would circle back around us, touching each member of the "herd" once to make sure we stayed together and nobody was lost. They would run until dropped from exhaustion.

On this walk, Jake would regularly walk way ahead of us, concentrating on his own journey, oblivious to if we were keeping up. Most of his time, he was trying to find a shady spot to lie down in. The BC "work ethic" in him seems to mainly express itself as some obsessive behaviors.

Still, he's a happy boy who loves everyone and seems to have a very effective radar: he's growled at 3 men we've walked by in 4 years. One, I found out later that day, had just assaulted a girl at a high school. So I will trust his instinct to tell me when a "potentially dangerous" person is around. But I shall need to keep him onleash

Whatcha Doing Today? Wednesday: getting our family room ready to begin painting, and doing some sewing.

What's on TV Tonight? Project Runway!!

Steps? Tuesday:11664

Lemon Chicken and Great Recovery

Tuesday for dinner I needed something inspired. I had 2 chicken breasts and little else of interest, I thought. Then I got inspired.

I marinated the boobs in lemon juice with some salt and paprika added. Then saute'd. After deglazing the pan with a little chicken stock, I added a spoonful or two of lemon curd. When the curd melted, I replaced the boobs in the sauce to coat.

Served with the greens, some cherry tomatoes and green beans.

Yummy. And completely unplanned.
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Tuesday afternoon I decided to check Katy's healing progress. She's been walking about a mile or so, I returned to a favorite path that she hasn't been on since May. The Pinole Creek path is about 1.5 miles round trip. She finished it with no problems (slowing down at the end, but no limping or lameness afterward.) So a month early, I'm declaring her fully recovered!!

Whatcha Doing Today? I've got sketches to clean up. Plus too much paperwork and laundry.

What's on TV Tonight? Rockstar Elimination Show and Project RunWay.

Steps? Tuesday: 11,237

What's for Dinner, Deb? I'm thinking pork satay, brown rice, and broccoli

Cute Shoes

I've written before that I one really bad toe. The bone spurs on my left "big toe" double the size of the joint, which makes it really hard to buy shoes. Especially cute shoes. To control the pain in the joint, I must wear unbending soles with good arch support and designed so that they don't put pressure on this joint.

Try finding cute shoes that fit that bill!!

Today I DID!!

These fabulous wooden soled sandals fit my feet like they were custom-made! In one of my favorite colors. They look fabulous with my bootcut jeans and custom-dyed shirts!!

And look!! The detailing on the top is continued on the front of the insole part of the shoe! (that stain on the toe is water, don't worry).

Best part? On sale for $10!

Whatcha Doing Today? Besides buying shoes and walking the dogs? Paper work. Ugh.

What's on TV Tonight? Eureka. If you like quirky shows (like Northern Exposure), you must be watching this.

Steps? hangs head. I took my ped. off Sunday night and didn't wear it yesterday. Today so far: 5706

Convo and Sage

Ya know when you comment on somebody's blog and you wonder what goes on next? Does the author answer your comments in the comments? Do other readers agree or disagree with you? A new extension for Firefox is being developed to help this is.

Convo is being developed to track the comments in blogs that you've commented on. .It is an extension only available at the moment for Firefox. If you use MSIE (and I've got to ask WHY??), you will have for this to be made available. I've used it for a couple weeks, and I like enough to recommend it. Go.Forth. And. Download.!!

Now to explain the photo:

When I was redoing my one garden bed this spring, I thought one of the herbs I planted was an ordinary sage. Yet as it's grown it's come in variegated instead of gray-ish; it's smell is sweeter and bit more complex than common sage. I believe that instead I've planted a pineapple sage. Anyone care to confirm?

This weekend it started begging me to use it creatively. I've thought and thought and have come up with a couple possibilities: first steeping it to flavor a simple syrup for iced teas and lemonades; second trying to figure a way to use in the pork satay we're having later this week.

Today the Sage Simple Syrup. I typically make simply syrup and keep it in the fridge during the summertime. Then I wish to sweeten a tea or make some lemonade, it's there waiting to added. No concern about getting sugar (or sugar substitute) to dissolve. One cup of boiling water + 1/4 C of white sugar and life is sweet and easy.

So to this solution I added 12 bruised leaves of the sage. At the same time, I brewed up some spiced green tea. Steeped them both for the same amount of time (about 10 minutes) and removed all the tea/spices/sage. I mixed myself a glass. YUM. The sage leaves really compliment the cinnamon/cardamom/ginger spices.. and the tea has a wonderfully refreshing flavor.

I bet the herbalists/naturalists will be able to tell me what good things this is going to body. I'm content at the moment to simply savor it.

Whatcha Doing Today? Chores, cooking,

What's on TV Tonight? Three Moons over Milford, The 4400, DeadZone

Steps? Saturday:12,335

Check out A Stitch In Time, where today I write about how simple Life Maintainence activities frees the mind to solve creative problems.

Pit. Full. Stop.

Saturday afternoon I headed up to Sacremento for my friend Clara's 50th birthday party. (fabulous, BTW). The line at the local gas station was 5 deep, I had 120 miles of gas in my tank, so I struck out knowing I'd want to stop along away the way.

Up near Vacaville I pulled off at a very convenient stop: a gas station right next to the freeway with a Starbucks there, too. Light Mocha Frappacino was calling my name. (what?).

I fill up the pupmobile quite easily. Gas was even about fifteen cents cheaper a gallon than at home. I should have stopped there, though.

Go inside the StarBucks. Two women standing outside the restroom (I do have my priorities), so I decide to place my order first. The one man standing in front of me to get a drink? Slow. Slow. Slow. His order had been placed and still about 2 minutes yammering at the only clerk working the counter.

Finally my turn, I make a quick order and pay. The guy grabs my cup, puts it on the counter (empty) and starts filling the order of the folks behind me. Who don't know what they want. Two women who appear to working the drive through together have no customers, and are busily congratulating themselves on handling their "rush". Nobody, you notice, is making my drink.

I point this out to all three.

The clerk who took my order explains that he'll do mine with the ones behind me. I can wait so he can be "efficient".

OK. Time. I head off to the restroom again. Same women there... yes the restroom is open but there isn't any paper. Knock on the men's room, empty. Like a dummy, I go in and just grab me some paper (why didn't I use it? mid-afternoon, no nap and no caffiene. my mind wasn't working clearly.) Stand in line for the women's restroom (someone had slipped in there while I was in the men's).

Get inside, sit down and fail to hike my long dress sufficiently up. Yep. Pee on the hem of my skirt. People wonder why I live in jeans!!

Back out to the counter (I'm spending way to much time going back and forth in the place... I will soon have to fill out a change of address form). My drink is sitting on the counter, but...

The twits who ordered after me somehow thought it was THEIR DRINK. They both ordered teas!! But it didn't stop them from sipping some of mine. Ok. So the clerk is making me another drink.

"It will just take a second..."


Whatcha Doing Today?Straightening the studio and weeding the garden.
What's on TV Tonight? A new show on ABC Family: Moon over Milford.
Steps? Saturday: 11, 367

Prjoect Runway

First... Cheater Keith. Ya know, I'm not surprised. He just seemed too smooth and manipulative. Or that's how they edited him!! I wonder if he didn't make an outfit for the dog last week because he couldn't figure out how to draft the patterns?

Second.. Angela winning a spot as team leader? Who saw that coming? Especially since she doesn't sketch.

A curiosity: I'm noticing that a number of the forms have lines taped on them. Are these lines to help see design lines and pattern placements? Anyone know? Earlier this season I did notice several of the designers very carefully placing the tape lines.. so I'm just wondering.

During the work sessions:

I'm getting really tired of Vincent.. admired the way Laura reigned in Angela. "looking a little diaper-y"... does not bode well for Robert's design!!

If a team of two can compete with teams of three... doesn't that imply that those two are front runners for the final three?? Yes. I. Think. So.

The runway rundown:

Angela's team: That was a cute outfit!! Everything fit and looked so modern. A considered lining, and those rosettes were the perfect detail.

Robert's Team: what was with that COAT?? Oh. My. Goodness!! And the fit of the skirt was unreal.

Bonnie
Grandma goes to Safeway. It might have worked better if the model had taken out the jacket.

Keith's Team:
Everything fit and looked great, but what was with that shirty thing hanging down over the pants?? Slippy.sloppy. Points off. The pants were fabulous!!

I can't believe I'm writing this, but Angela should win. And did.

Going home: Bonnie. Although she can sew, I'm not sure her vision is hip enough to have lasted much longer.
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Whatcha Doing Today? I hear my studio calling my name.

What's on TV Tonight? Summer Sounds in the Park tonight!! Nothing worthwhile on TV

Steps? Wednesday: 12,659

Check out my other blog, where today I wrote about Five Bonuses of BlogHer.

Tags: ProjectRunway, RealityTV