Well, the big day has come.  I'm finally going to get to try and sell some of my jams to the public!!!!  I donated some to my niece's Harvest Festival, but I was not there to represent myself.  This time I'm going to get to talk up my yummies.... All low sugar, made with seasonal fruit and the occasional spirit.

I'm looking at getting an e-business started but I haven't found the time to make all the appropriate inquiries.

If you're in the Castro Valley area, come and visit!!!

Click for details

Just returned from my cousin's wedding.  It was very nice and the fact that she had the reception in a historic place was pretty cool. 

So for the mini post- 

• My feet are happy to be home.
• Metro is about a million times better than BART (and significantly cheaper).
• The Library of Congress is simply amazing.
• We ate at Spike Mendelson's (Top Chef) burger place, which was pretty good, considering it was just a hamburger and fries, although the toasted marshmallow shake was super yummy.
• We ate a Eric Ripert's place - that was like food heaven.
• Had some family drama that I can't decide if I want to post about.  Maybe but I don't feel like typing out 20+ years of stuff just to whine about this past weekend.  It's probably not whining really;  what's going on is starting to bother me and make me very sad, so in reality, I should just do something about it. 

A few snaps:


 

   

My entrance into the Facebook community has taken me away from blogging anything.  I thought it was about time to get back to this...

Yea for bullet points:

*  I bought myself a laptop.  I love it and can't believe we were a one computer family for as long as we were.

*  Work is crazy with ups and downs.  I have no idea if I will have a job in six months but I'm sticking with it for the time being.  Biotech is always a little risky but sometimes it feels more risky than I like which is causing me to think and evaluate my options.

*  We almost have one complete month of emergency money saved, so that is making me very happy and a *little* more secure.

* I've been selling some stuff on eBay this week to get rid of some things around the house.  Things sure don't sell as well as they used to, do they?

* Been doing a lot of home improvement lately:  new blinds throughout the house, new windows and doors (taking advantage of the tax rebate and it will make the house so much warmer in the winter), and we removed the carpet in our 2nd room revealing a very nice wood floor.  The floor could stand being refinished but it's not that bad.

* Finally, the thing that it taking up the most of my free time lately - JAM!  I have over 100 jars of jam put up in my house right now.  I brought some of my very best flavor to a meeting with some croissants one night and I've been invited to sell it at multiple craft fairs around the area (Castro Valley).  I do about 3-5 batches a week so I've got jam all over the house.  People at work have been buying off of me at my cost so this will be the first time I try to actually turn a profit.  I hope it sells because 100+ jars is a LOT!  I've been developing some of my own flavors, too, so my confidence is growing.

I should feel sorry for people who have no vision and want to shit on other people's ideas but right now I'm just pissed.

Right now, I am sad.  My cousin and her husband are losing his (their) daughter within the next few hours or days.  She was diagnosed with a brain tumor February 2008 and while they've had a few months more with her than they thought, it has been a hard journey for them.   

Her dad admitted to me that he wished she would "go soon" back in October.  (They didn't expect her to see Christmas in 2008.)  He said, "I know that sounds terrible"  but I told him that I understood;  waiting for the inevitable would feel impossible.  They were very close because she was his "buddy", loving to fish, hunt and camp with him.   I told him that I had could not begin to understand how he was feeling and that I didn't know how he was getting through it.  He replied, "Xanax".  We chuckled.  There is a little truth in most humor, I guess.

I met her once so I didn't know her at all really.  But I can't imagine what it must be like for her parents.   All the promise and dreams for her life that is dying right along with her must be unbearable for them.  She is 14.  

My heart is breaking for family in Illinois tonight.

I hate it when people use Facebook status updates to preach about whatever; especially when it is, by-and-large,  propaganda.

I've also pulled by back or something and it is horrendously painful.  If this is what my mom has been feeling like for the last few months, I am elated that she's had her surgery and that she is no longer in pain.  (She's pain-free except for the healing part... but that is temporary. YAY!!)

 

We've been racking our brains (me and Lenny, that is) trying to come up with a name for a company that we are in the fledgling stages of starting.  It is REALLY hard to come up with something that is personally meaningful but doesn't sound stupid.  We've brainstormed seriously for the last two days and there is not a lot that is sticking out saying, "Pick me! Pick me!"

SO... if you were a client/ financially based organization what would you be called?  You need to sound strong yet caring, original (if possible), brand-able (depending on growth), easily spelled, with longevity so that 10 years down the road you don't sound pathetically trendy. 

We've got one, maybe, but it lacks originality.  Something might have to be sacrificed - originality looks to be it, so far. 

I'm getting antsy to get going though.  Without the name, we cannot set up the LLC, get an address, business cards or credit.

I got a bill from UPS today.  Which is wierd in the first place, but as I dig around I find that it is for something shipped from Kansas to Vermont.  WTF?  There is a shipper number assigned to my name.  I hope this is a simple mistake and not some kind of identity theft. 

 A thought provoking questionnaire this week!  I'm going to have to seriously consider the answers.  Anyone have thoughts on what they would do?


ETA- I can't believe I spelled questionnaire right on the first try! 

Swipped from dagnabit .  Looks like I've still got some reading to do!!

Instructions:
1) Look at the list and put an 'x' after those you have read.
2) Add a '+' to the ones you LOVE.
3) Star (*) those you plan on reading.
4) Tally your total at the bottom.

 ( All things bookish... )

Friday I came home to a kitchen full of soaked towels because our water heater decided to burst.  (Yes, my water heater is in the house, in my kitchen.  Silly, I know but it's an old house.)  We wanted to re-locate it anyway but were hoping to do it on our schedule.  

We've been without hot water since then, but it hasn't been too bad since we saw family all weekend ( free showers) and our gym has private facilities.  The only thing that is suffering are the dishes but that's livable.  Eventually, I'll boil some water and get those cleared out too.

I was able to stay home from work during the day and wait for plumbers and estimates so that's what I did today.  (I'm working now in order to get some data done by the end of the week - waiting for plates to come off machines = time to ramble about my day.)

Our broken heater is electric, tabletop and right next to the W/D.  It just doesn't make any sense.  It looks like a big white box in the middle of the kitchen.  We also found out today that it's 18 years old.  We asked for estimates for gas, cylinder heater,relocated to a pantry closet and gas, tankless heater,  located outside.  Would you believe the tankless estimates are cheaper????  I never thought that would happen.  We're still looking a about $3000 but that still beats $3500 for an indoor one that would cause me to lose a pantry until we can get the kitchen remodeled. (Oh happy day, how you elude me!) 

You might ask why we are going with gas instead of just using the electric outlet... well, our choices were to update the electric box from 20 to 40 amps or plumb for gas.  I vote plumb for gas. 

Anyone out there have a tankless water heater?  I think that's what we're going to opt for.  It's cheaper and saves/adds some room in my already-small house.  However, I have heard mixed reviews. Anyone?

I'd heard about 6 word stories but I thought this might be a fun exercise: a six-word love story.

Mine is:

Ten years later, we're like newlyweds.

What's yours?

I signed up for the Camp Pendleton Mud Race.  I have been thinking about it for a while and a friend sign up our team over our holiday break.  Basically, it's a 10K run with obstacles at the Marine base down in the San Diego area.  The climbing wall was causing me the most anxiety, then I found out there are two.  Now that I'm looking over the course, I'm nervous about the tunnels and the steeple jumps.  Essentially, I'm fairly conviced that I can't get over the 2' steeples and that I'll get my fat ass stuck in the tunnel and embarass the hell out of myself.

I plan on training for the run but, as of right now, I'm having some serious doubts.

Will post any pictures, including those involving a chain saw to get me out of the tunnel.

Lenny and I went to the Hut the other night for some a salad.  (I happen to love their creamy Italian dressing and I hate the pizza.)

Anyway...

At the booth across the way was a couple with a kid, I'd guess around 2-ish or younger.  The kid was eating the ketchup bottle top.   They eventually left and all I could think about was the next person coming in to use the ketchup and having kid-slobber and germs all over it.  Fucking gross.  Then I thought about all the people who used the bottle ahead of said child  and was grossed out even more. 

Mini-barf.






I believe I might be abstaining from condiments at restaurants from now on.

Well, I'm not going to make my goal of 12,000 pages read, but I did read more than last year.  I managed to get over 10K, so 85% of my goal isn't too bad.

Since, there is no need to read like crazy for the rest of the night, here's this year's accomplishment:

( 2008 Reading List )
So I got sucked into Twilight.  I will blame it on the fact that I went to high school with Stephanie Meyer (nee Morgan).  I also was majorly sidetracked with reading and researching  financial books.  And since I'm making excuses here, I was a fool to think that I could get through War and Peace (which would have put me over 12k) in ten days.

Recommendations from this year include What it Takes, Fahrenheit 451, Sophie's Choice and The Tightwad Gazette. 

I'm in the middle of a number of books.  I got really distracted this year and  lost focus on "The List" but I'm not that worried about it.   I did manage to get 14 from the list read and at one point this year I hit 33.33% finished.  That was a decent milestone.

On my nightstand and currently reading:

War and Peace -Tolstoy
The Weekend Millionaire Mind-Set  -  Summey and Rodgers
The One-Minute Millionaire  - Allen and Hansend
The Frugal Duchess - Rosenberg
The Rainbow - DH Lawrence
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society - Shaffer and Barrows

Up next: Ender's Game  - I hear it's great.

I'm bumping up next year's goal to 15k pages read.  Even though I didn't meet the 12K from this year, with more focus I know I could have.

This is an amazing article about the last surviving, American WWI soldier and a high school class with a phenomenal teacher. I wish the papers were filled with more of these kinds of stories.   What a difference this teacher and experience will make in the kids' lives.

Fromthatgaychick :



1. Open paint
2. Close your eyes.
3. Draw a cat.

I submit for your viewing, A Cat in Three Parts