Tuesday, May 13, 2014

RANDOM ACTS OF BLOGGING

1) This weekend saw a "soft opening" of one of the local farmer's markets!  Woot!  I actually just sort of found out about it by accident and so I hauled my cookies out that way fairly early on Saturday and bought some stuff.  I got some tea, strawberries, lettuce and something called chard.  I didn't know what chard was, but it was pretty, so I bought it.  When I got home, I went on to Facebook to see if anyone knew what to do with chard.  I was hoping that someone out there had eaten it and had first hand experience cooking with it, and I had one or two recommendations, but mostly I just got told to Google it.  Damn it, I don't want to be told to Google something if I'm asking a question!  I wouldn't bother to ask people stuff if I was going to use Google!  I wanted actual, real help!  I swear, the Internet has turned people into non-helpful jerk-faces.

2) One thing I wanted especially from the farmer's market was lettuce from a local grower.  I've only had really fresh lettuce once, when I grew it myself in the hydroponic thing I have, but I wanted some that had been grown in the ground by a real, live farmer!  I got a honking huge head of romaine from one stall and took it home to disassemble.  It was really dirty, but it was grown in the ground, so of course it was dirty.  As I pulled the leaves apart, I started seeing these weird, prickly, orange and black bugs attached to the leaves and I couldn't rinse them off.  I also couldn't brush them off.  They had become one with my lettuce.  You know me and my feelings about bugs, so I immediately wanted to chunk the whole thing and set it on fire, but seeing that I'd gone to the trouble to buy the thing (from a real, live farmer, don't forget), I didn't want to do that.  So I threw away those leaves and started cleaning each individual leaf before I chopped them up.  Although I could have sworn that I'd gotten rid of all of the gross bugs, I kept finding them.  I soldiered on, though, just tossing away the parts that had the bugs, and chopping up the rest.  By the time I was done, the lettuce was greatly reduced, but I still had a decent amount.  I rinsed the leaves again, and I doused them in diluted vinegar just in case.  I put it all in the fridge and brought a salad to work today!  Although I couldn't find anymore of the weird, prickly bugs on the lettuce, I can't eat it. I mean, I ate the salad today, but only because I made myself.  I kept imagining that I was going to bite into a bug and that has completely ruined the whole thing for me.  I know that bugs are a part of the whole process of farming, and I know it's completely psychosomatic, but I've been nauseous ever since I ate it and keep thinking that I probably ate a prickly bug and didn't see it. Horf.

I'm a giant weenie.

3) Saturday night, Steve and I went to a retirement reception for his high school band director!  It was nice, but we didn't really know anyone who showed up.  There were a lot of the teacher's current students, but only a few past ones, and none from Steve's class. Of course, we had a lovely time trying to look casual and not be awkward, and for once, I didn't break anything or knock anything over!  Score!  :)

The reception was held at the SpRocket (ptooey) and I looked around a bit before and after the reception.  I know it's stupid, but I really miss it there.  I hadn't really thought much about the place in a while, but just walking in there brought it back.  As much as I still hate the politics and everything, I miss doing the job and just working at such a neato museum. I honestly loved my job and I have a lot of great memories of being at the place, which is why I miss it so much. I had a lot of really wonderful friends there, too. I mean, I like my job at the church, and I know that's where I am supposed to be right now, but still.  I know what the deal is.  I just have a really hard time letting things go!  Anytime anything/anyone means something to me, I just hang on with both hands.  I'm that way about friends, jobs, and all kinds of stuff...it's actually pretty pathetic!  I know people who can cut themselves off from all kinds of things without worrying about whatever it is, literally out-of-sigh-out-of-mind, and sometimes I wish I could be like that.  It would make things a lot easier!  Also, it would cut down on a lot of internet stalking of friends I haven't seen in a while. :)  Ah, well, I suppose if I'm going to love things, I might as well love them all the time and not just when they're in my line of sight.  That can't be a completely bad thing...right? RIGHT? 

4) The other day I went "Hate Shopping."  If you are unaware of what that is, it is when you get super ticked and feel the need to buy stuff.  It is one of my ways of coping.  It's probably not very healthy, but at least I'm not kicking babies or anything.  I did realize (after the fact) that when I hate shop, I spend way more money than I normally would.  So, if you want a really awesome birthday, wedding, or baby gift, piss me off before I go shopping.

5) As of today, I'm officially a notary!  Woot!  I've been attempting to become one since last year, but I kept putting things off because I wasn't clear on the process.  I asked a lot of people what to do, and almost everyone told me something different, but I can't fault them at all because I was really asking the wrong kinds of questions.  I finally found my bond (which I had gotten online and it was mailed to me, but it was misplaced until last week - oops) and I went to the courthouse this morning and now I can officially watch people sign things.  Now all I have to do is get my stampy-punchy thing (that's the scientific name for it) and I'll be in business.  Look at me...becoming a useful citizen.  I never thought the day would come.