12 May 09
Long way to get here, a long way to go
Oh my word I’ve been busy. I have:
With the help of Andrew and some amazing friends ripped up the back yard and made it prettier. The garden will come in a couple of weeks though.*
I have started, but not completed, sewing 16 bags. I usually sew bags in batches of 4. But decided that I should try to sew even more bags at once. I learned that doing the exact same things over and over again for 4 bags is managable. But doing the exact same things over and over again for 16 bags requires a lot of something going on in the background to keep me busy. I think I need to find some new cool podcasts cause I’m almost caught up on CraftyPod and I’m, like, totally caught up on Dollhouse (OMG! Please don’t cancel it! Please!), Lost (who IS Jacob? hmm?), Grey’s Anatomy (are they really gonna let Izzie die?). No Reservations is the only other show I watch regularly and it is not teeny-tiny on a laptop while I’m mostly listening and not watching viewing. By the way, I’m trying to sew 16 bags at once so I can have them ready for the Constructor Craft Fair in two weekends. It’s my first suburban show, the second time these fine folks have organized it, and I’m going to be exhausted but happy to be there.
I’ll also be speaking as part of the Pilcrow Lit Festival that is organized by Leah Jones and Amy Guth. I’m excited to be talking at 5:45 about niche writing (crafty and maybe food). I’m lucky to have met these two people (at last year’s DIY Trunk Show, by the by) and am looking forward to participating in their great event.
I signed a book contract. I’ll go into it more. But I’m currently fluctuating between jumping up and down and thinking “OMG! What have I done!?!” But I’m mostly excited. And I have the organization down pat, have a lot of the base text ready for editing. Oh? What’s it about? I’m writing a cookbook. I KNOW! right? The cookbook wil have 300 recipes that are suitable for making in a cast-iron skillet. Which means I finally have to perfect things like:
Red Eye Gravy (OMG! so gooood) to go with Biscuits of course
Pan-Fried Chicken (Love this stuff.)
Pineapple Upside Down Cake (Yep. A cast-iron skillet is perfect for this. And I don’t really need to perfect it, but I know Andrew will want to test the recipe once or twice.)
And so much more but I’m going to stop before I start waving my arms and pulling out my hair. Stay tuned, though. The book won’t have photographs, but I’ll actually try my hand at some food photography to tease you all into buying the book when it comes out.
I’m going on a road-trip. A 10-day road trip. I’m a little nervous about being gone from home that long. Previously I’ve only left my home for 7 days and then only once. I’m far more of a home-body than Andrew is, so this will be hard. I’ll miss Boos something horribly. I’ll miss my bed (which I should be sleeping in right now, but these thoughts they needed release first). I’ll miss my routine. But I’ll be having fun because I’ll be driving across the country with one of the most amazing people I’ve met and her Boxer Shaun The Dog. Sadly we won’t be lollygagging and taking the scenic route that I initially envisioned. But I think that once we get to Denver things will pick up significantly. I’m also a little nervous about taking the hybrid through the mountains since other people I know who have driven their Prius through a mountain range said it was a little taxing on it’s widdle engine. But other people think I’m silly. So, we’ll see.
Andrew will be flying out with Naz and their two cats, Monty and Loki. They’ll arrive on Saturday afternoon, and hopefully we’ll arrive shortly thereafter. We’ll hang in San Francisco for a few days and then turn around, hop in Sparky, and head home, just in time for the Pilcrow Lit Festival and then the Constructor Craft Fair and then I’ll have Memorial Day to unwind, nap, cuddle with Boos, and read all the email that I’ll be missing while I’ll be travelling across the country. Twice. By car. Woot! Can you tell I’m excited? I’ve got the TripTik from AAA. Andrew got the car all inspected and checked and tomorrow I’ll be cleaning out the inside of the windows, crossing my fingers that this iPod hookup thing will work out cause there is only so much country music I can handle, (Although Alice did give us a map for NPR stations that I should take along) and getting together the rest of the items on my to-do, to-pack, to unload from brain list.
And if you happen to Tweet, feel free to follow @cinnachick on Twitter. You’ll get to see my crazy tweets from the road. I won’t be able to get tweets from my phone, but I will be able to send them.
With the help of The Cutest Little Girl in the World, I planted some seeds a while ago. I was convinced I’d killed them all. But many of them have been doing okay, and some are ready to go in the ground. Sadly the tomatoes are teeny-tiny so I’ll still plant them, but I’m not expecting much from them. Damon gave us some great seeds a few years ago. Last year we didn’t have the time to nurture them, nor did we have a garden we could safely plant them into. This year we will. A lot of the beans he gave me don’t seem to have come back but a few did. And he wrote up some amazing descriptions of them. Once I figure out what is what, I’ll be planting them in the garden, taking some pictures, and hopefully learning a thing or two. I joke that I only am good at growing plants that I can eat. But I’m not very good at even doing that. But I have found things that take very little care to grow. (Parsley, chard, thyme, and lettuce all grow remarkably easy and even self-seed or manage to survive a winter to return for another year.)
And now that my brain is dumped, I’m going to bed. I guess this is why some people refer to these things as journals instead of blogs.
Comments
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if you have the same ipod thing i do, it works. i’ll show you mine when you stop by tonight and you can borrow it if you don’t have the same one. :)
— carolyn on May 12, 06:52 am
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i will try my durndest to keep this road trip exciting. i’ll channel my sister and make herds of cattle and prisoner buses really entertaining. :)
— jen on May 12, 10:19 am
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That’s baloney about Priuses having “widdle engines.” It’s a regular Toyota four-cylinder engine, just as capable as any other Toyota of getting up and around! I myself drive my Prius like a maniac around Portland and up the surrounding mountains, paved or not, and the “widdle” engine roars, not whimpers! Never fear! Oh, and the iPod hookup is a must!
Have fun!!!
— Caroline on May 13, 01:04 am
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Good luck on the road trip! I’m the worst road tripper ever! Took me like 4 days to drive from WI to CA. I get tired after like an hour of driving.
If you need people to taste test those cast iron skillet recipes, let us know! We’ll bring wine, you make the food. haha
Dallas had to rent a car today and got a Prius. His first time in one.. he said he like it, it’s smooth!
— rachelle on May 13, 09:46 am
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