In unbelievable time-lapse video:
Posted on Kontain.com - [Flight 1549] from David Martin on Vimeo.
Originally posted on margy423.vox.com
I'm embarrassed to say that Massachusetts shat on Ted Kennedy's seat by electing a truck-driving moron to the US Senate. I didn't vote for him, but enough people are disgusted enough with the Democratic party at this point that a defeat was a disappointment rather than a surprise.
Well, we had shit for a health care reform package anyway. It's going down now. Pay up, America. We're screwed, any way you look at it. Actually, we were before, given what bullshit was in that bill...and what was left out - like a public option (which Obama said he'd fight for) and a way for people to pay for it (taxpayer subsidies, great. Another give-away, this time to big pharma).
I've decided, the hell with them. I may go Independent rather than remain a Democrat. No one's going to act on my behalf in Washington. I'd like to be proven wrong, but I haven't seen anything to contradict that feeling in the last 12 months.
Originally posted on margy423.vox.com
I went with my friend Margaret, stopping first for lunch at the Polish restaurant. From there we made our way to three delis to load up on breads, meats, cheese, noodles, pierogi, cold cuts and the inevitable cakes and other sweets: apple cake and apple pie (with a crumb topping!), dark chocolate bars and two different kinds of donuts.
It was fun, made even more so by the fact that it's been so long since I've been there. I used to go all the time, but life can get in the way sometimes. It certainly did last year. I didn't realize how long I'd been away.
It was fun, both to eat and shop, but also to catch up with Margaret, whom I haven't seen for the same amount of time. Maybe 2010 will see some rebalancing in that regard. I certainly hope so.
I finally got around to setting up a Christmas gift: a lamp made of salt, imported from Poland. It's really amazing, now that I look at it. The one I have is spherical, and a ruddy red in color. It looks like Mars, and is very contemplative and relaxing. Here's a picture:
Pretty interesting, isn't it?
Originally posted on margy423.vox.com
Well, I guess I'm rolling 2010 in on a positive note. I'm cleaning up my blasted study, which means I'm facing my checkbook and bank account statements and am putting them in order nonetheless. Most of the crap lying around are financial records, which are getting entered into my Quicken software. Quicken also has a business planning and expense/income tracking module, so - there! I'm facing the music and getting the crying out of the way. Then I'm going on from there.
I also decided to throw together a yummy, yummy soup. It's very easy, too.
Step One: Open Fridge
Step Two: Pull out your veggies
Step Three: Open cupboard
Step Four: Pull out soup stock and canned chopped tomatoes
Step Five: Go to back pantry
Step Six: Pull out lentils and barley. Grab some small pasta.
Step Seven: Go to freezer
Step Eight: Take out frozen peas and frozen corn
Chop veggies, saute in oil with a bay leaf. Dump in soup stock and canned tomatoes. Add a handful of lentils and barley and bring to a boil. Boil for 20 minutes. Add the frozen stuff and the pasta. Boil another 10 minutes.
Eat!
Happy New Year!
Originally posted on margy423.vox.com
I'm being a good girl and cleaning my room. My study's been a paper-strewn, dusty mess all year. I think it reflected my experiences of 2009, which were anything but clean and orderly. No, if I had to do it over I'd run screaming.
Granted, I've enjoyed the opportunities for my own business development. 2009 was quite fulfilling that way. I'll take that as an omen and press on.
Still, if I had to do it over again...
I'm not sure.
I'm going to look forward, not back. As Della said to Maggie, "don't go there."
Originally posted on margy423.vox.com
Quite the entertaining piece in this Sunday's Boston Globe, about the early origins of Christmas and its eventual taming over the years. Sounds like it was quite the wild time in the good old days, complete with drunkeness and debauchery:'
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/a
Originally posted on margy423.vox.com
Cold enough for ya?
Originally posted on margy423.vox.com
Now that I'm back on my feet and well fed, it's time to return to my Christmas Cookie baking. Yesterday and today were chocolate-dipped coconut almond macaroons and pecan tassies (which look and taste like miniature pecan pies). I've still got to finish the chocolate Grand Marnier truffles, but hopefully will do that tomorrow.
Still have to wrap presents!
Originally posted on margy423.vox.com
This test, since it's intestinal, requires not a little prep beforehand. About five days before you have to stop eating nuts, seeds, corn or popcorn. After that you have to stop eating raw vegetables or berry-fruit. Canned is okay, but no skins. Nothing with whole grain.
Okay, I could do that. It would only be a week. I could eat any kind of meat except fried, and could make do with mushy white bread for a few days, certainly.
Yesterday was the killer, though. I spent the day consuming clear liquids only and getting ready for a certain something I'd be taking later in the day, as part of the (lower) intestinal prep. So far, so good. I was a bit low-energy, but managed to get through the day on water, clear tea with sugar (to keep my blood levels functioning normally) and non-fat, low-salt bullion. Yes, I was hungry, but I could hold out a day and a half.
A less pleasant part of this preparation would involve not-small doses of Magnesium Citrate, a compound which...well, let's say the examination area is nice and clean once the doctor needs to have a look. He inserts a laparoscopic camera in an area of the anatomy best not left to discussion. If the above-mentioned Magnesium Citrate has done its job - and believe me, you'll know within two hours about that - then you should have smooth sailing for the whole thing. Short procedure, reasonable levels of anesthesia. Then dinner afterward - a dinner that will taste all that much better now that you're starving and reamed out.
Alas, Magnesium Citrate and I were not meant to meet, at least under the conditions specified for the procedure. I was supposed to drink a bottle and a half (15 oz) tonight and another bottle and a half early tomorrow morning. Not the greatest tasting stuff in the world, but I had my bottles and down the hatch they went.
For a little while anyway.
I managed to choke down the solution between glasses of regular water, which I figured would be fine, since I had to drink mucho water after taking it anyway. The stuff was heavy, very salty, and had a lemony taste. I just held my nose and decided I'd just get it over with as quickly as possible.
It looks like my stomach was not at all interested in this beverage and decided, within three minutes of my finishing the entire first dose, to return it...immediately. I didn't quite make it in time to deposit the "beverage" in the sink and ended up cleaning spilled magnesium citrate off the hallways and the runners leading to the kitchen.
Well, let's just say I was in a mess then, and in more ways than one. I'd just upchucked an entire test preparation and had nothing left in me to do the job. There's no way I'm going to be able to repeat that and, besides, I'm already a day late on this carefully timed, two-day prep job. What to do? What to do?
My stomach was grumbling and growling from its recent bold and decisive action. I was still nauseated and now weak and feeling sick. I called the clinic's after-hours phone and said I'd need to talk to them tomorrow, could they call me? Then I listened to more of my audiobook, before nausea took the better of me and I retreated upstairs to return the very last of the magnesium citrate, this time to the toilet and sink on the second floor.
That and a headache medication later, I was feeling much recovered but I don't think I'll be getting my roto rooter exam tomorrow. That sucks, because now I have to go through that once again, after deciding white alternative potion that both I, as well as the scanning machine, can tolerate.
Well, live and learn I suppose, but I'd really have preferred going in tomorrow, wrung out and starving as I'd be. At least it would get done.
Originally posted on margy423.vox.com
I started my Christmas baking with this recipe. It's fabulous. If you want to check out the original, pick up a copy of the Joy of Cooking Christmas Cookies by Irma Rombauer, et al.
Ingredients 
- 14 tbs (1 3/4 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
- 2 cups sugar
- 1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 1 1/2 cups creamy peanut butter
- 3/4 tsp vanilla
- 2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 3/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 cup coarsely chopped bittersweet or semisweet chocolate
- 3/4 cup unsalted shelled peanuts
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Combine butter, sugar and brown sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer. Mix until light.
- Add eggs gradually, one at a time.
- Add peanut butter and vanilla. Mix thoroughly.
- Add flour, baking soda and salt. Mix until just combined.
- Remove bowl from mixer. Add chocolate and peanuts by hand and stir until well combined.
- Drop rounded teaspoons of dough 3 inches apart on greased cookie sheet. Bake between 15 - 18 minutes, checking after 15 minutes.
- Transfer sheets to wire racks to cool.
Originally posted on margy423.vox.com
We're moving through the holiday season, so I thought I'd offer best wishes for a Happy Hanukkah. My nephews are going to be in town tonight to celebrate. We'll be going over to my in-laws' house for dinner and candle lighting. Then it'll be on to Western New York for Christmas with my side of the family!
Originally posted on margy423.vox.com
Well, I'm now the temporary owner of an iPhone, as part of a test to see how/where AT&T - the phone's exclusive carrier - needs to improve. I have to take a bunch of photos and videos at various locations and then email them off to a special website. Then I had the phone off to someone else.
It's taking a while to figure out how to use the device, since I've never owned one. It's fun, but the novelty is wearing off pretty fast.
Originally posted on margy423.vox.com
Thought it would never get here.
View from my window:
Originally posted on margy423.vox.com
I normally don't fuss about Christmas, but after this year I wanted a little holiday cheer to keep me going until the end of December. That meant a Christmas tree and assorted decorations, but done on the cheap and with minimal effort.
It was not an auspicious beginning. I decided to dig an artificial tree I had out of the attic, where it had sat for two years. I found the first part, the base and lower "branches," but not the top. I looked. I really looked. I even asked my husband to help me look. No go. Should we just go out and get a real tree, we wondered? Did I feel like doing that?
No. Call me a grinch, but I ended up getting another fake tree. It was cheap. It was six feet tall. Mostly, though, it was DRY. It was pissing rain most of yesterday, and tree sellers were looking a little sodden, along with their branch-ey boughs.
I set it up this morning. Not a bad little thing and my (Jewish) husband had a good time poking fun at me. He was a good sport about it, though. He came out with me in the cold and in the rain to get the thing and bring it home. Decorating it was on me, though.
But, hey, he liked it!
Add a tree with lights and ornaments, a glass of wine, and I think I might survive until 2010.
Originally posted on margy423.vox.com
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