22 May 2009

HELLO

1. I am not great at focusing.

2. Where did the day go?

3. Partisan is so, so good. I made it to one of their shows for the first time in months, probably, and man, I have talented friends. Unfortunately, last night was their second-to-last-show, so, you know, great.

4. I started working on this thing today, this craft thing, and it is probably the most creatively ambitious thing that I've done, and so far I'm not really into it. I will probably persevere though. It definitely can't get any worse.

5. Fischberger's Variety is definitely my favorite store in Milwaukee. Apparently they're expanding their sewing notions section!

6. I finally got my Wisconsin tax refund today, and it was considerably less than I expected. Like, hundreds of dollars less. So, yeah. There's that.

7. I am going to go work on a quilt. Or waste more time. Definitely I will do one of those two things.

20 May 2009

polka dot riesling

Is what I'm drinking. I love summer. I know I'm not supposed to be thinking about school, but I'm totes getting my next degree at High Tech Institute. It's accredited and everything!

i agree with jesse ventura?

This is an amazing, AMAZING clip of Jesse Ventura on The View. Yeah, I know, I'm surprised too, but Jesse wipes the floor with Elisabeth Hasselbeck in a discussion of torture. He seriously just looks disgusted with her, but he makes some amazing points and having served in Vietnam and gone through waterboarding as part of SERE training, he knows what he's talking about. Alright, the more I write, the stranger I feel, but just watch it and be happy that someone pointed out how fucking ridiculous Hasselbeck and every other torture apologist is.

19 May 2009

holy adorable

I'm sure you've already seen this, but I'm blogging it anyway because holy shit, dude, this is fucking adorable.

And somehow it seems inappropriate to swear twice when blogging a photo of President Obama and an adorable child.

Photo is from the White House Flickr stream. Worth a look, if you haven't seen it before, but I'm sure you have. Anyway, have a good night!

first day of summer


rinsed black beans, originally uploaded by marinatina.

Today has been pretty amazing. I haven't done much, and being able to relax guilt-free is pretty amazing. I made some bread today, and I've been working on some hand-sewing, and I will probably go clean my sewing room soon so I can do some machine sewing too. I have plans tomorrow morning, and then me and Katie and others probably are going to play bingo somewhere tomorrow night. It is going to be great; I anticipate winning millions.

Photo is of my most recent attempt at black beans, post-rinsing. I made them in the slow cooker again. Two pounds this time, and I let them cook much longer. They may end up on the mushy side, but that's cool, I like refritos. I haven't actually eaten any, beyond small tastes while cooking. We're still working through some other leftover (canned) beans, and I mostly made this batch to freeze. Is that weird? That I get really excited about having food in the freezer, ready to cook? Actually, I don't care if it is, so whatever. I have beans and a loaf of bread in the freezer, and I think next I will make some cookie dough to put away. Oh, and I really want to buy some frozen fruit so I can start making smoothies again.

Ok, I'm going to stop here, all of this domesticity is freaking me out. There's a thesis topic, craft and domestic life and the feminist movement. Except I am not supposed to be thinking about thesis topics! Fuck!

18 May 2009

DONE

I just submitted my last paper for the semester, which means that I do not have to think about school or teaching or history or libraries for three whole months. The paper I just submitted sucked ass, but I am free free free. Time to go meet up with my friends and celebrate Jeb's birthday. I hope you are having a lovely day!

17 May 2009

adorable!

I don't normally watch YouTube videos (my attention span is way too short for that), but this one is totally worth your time.

15 May 2009

BURN

So I walked to the store earlier, because I am in that end-of-the-semester funk where I will run any and all errands to avoid doing the last few hours of work that I have to do, and anyway, I went to the store and bought things, and I walked out, and oh, I should have mentioned, I went to the corner store, not the supermarket, but anyway, I walked out and halfway down the block and realized I didn't buy the thing I actually wanted, so I walked back to the store and walked up the steps and into the store, and as I walked in, this douchebag standing in front of one of the registers was all "did you come back for me?" and I looked at him and tried to process what he had said, and then I said "No" very distinctly and decisively and walked to the other register, and I heard his friends laughing at him, but I didn't look back, I just paid for my shit and left.

And so the moral of the story is that being a TA has really helped me get better at thinking on my feet.

i wish it were next monday

It was (is) a cold.

Three more things to do and then I am free for the summer. Unfortunately they probably will not all be finished today.

homemade bread

I made bread two weekends ago. It was a very easy recipe; I'll write about it at some point. Probably after I finish those three things.

12 May 2009

block #3


block #3, originally uploaded by marinatina.

1. Last year, around this time, my eyes would get watery sometimes, and the top of my mouth would get kind of itchy, and I thought to myself "maybe I am developing allergies." Today, I have been sneezing all day and my nose is runny and my mouth is itchy and my eyes are watery and OH WOE IS ME. So yes, I am pretty sure I have seasonal allergies.

2. I have written 1.5 of the 14 pages I have left to write this semester. That is actually pretty good, as I still have 6 days.

3. I told you I had finished another block. I am a damn quilting machine. I think that maybe I will make at least 5 quilts this summer. That is a totally realistic goal, right?

4. Pretend that I added something interesting here.

11 May 2009

overslept overslept late late late

Nathan: Why hasn't Obama been on TV lately?
me: He can't be on everyday.
Nathan: Yes he can. Five minutes a day, that's all I'm asking.

10 May 2009

freak


freak, originally uploaded by marinatina.

I'll have photos soon from Day 2 of the Freaks Come Out. Also other photos, including another completed block for my grandmother's flower garden quilt, which is seeming more and more like something I will actually finish.

Photo is of Shoot the Freak at Coney Island, taken on the day I went to the Mermaid Parade with a bunch of great people.

09 May 2009

golden gate bridge


golden gate bridge, originally uploaded by marinatina.

So in my continuing half-assed effort to get my Flickr account organized, I've been searching my photos via tags. Almost everything is tagged; I think that was my goal last time I tried to get things organized. Apparently I was less concerned with making anything public. This is from way back in 2006, when I went to California with Kira and Sonia. Sonia & I hung out at the Sutro baths, which is in... some park. Google it and then tell me which one. Wherever they are, they are awesome and totally worth the trip, if you're out San Francisco way.

This weekend has been pretty sweet so far. Nathan set up this two-day show called The Freaks Come Out. Last night was the first night, and it went swimmingly. I am pretty impressed with him.

I have gotten very little of my own stuff done lately; this is going to have to change very quickly, as deadlines are fast approaching.

07 May 2009

cool


cool, originally uploaded by marinatina.

Nothing much has been going on; at least, nothing that's interesting enough to write about here. Lot's of waiting for things to happen. So you look at this photo from California, and I will continue to tolerate this stupid week.

06 May 2009

completely off topic

Michelle Bachman is fucking insane. I know, duh, everyone knows that, but seriously--how did she get reelected? I mean, yeah, she represents the Stillwater area, so... that's probably all the answer you need, but still--she is just crazypants.

Related, barely--want to know a great way to get your coworkers to respect you? Refer to someone as "a liarface." Definitely proves that you are a very mature person with a totally impressive vocabulary.

05 May 2009

more soon

Alright, so, many things are going on, time for blogging is short, but at some point I will tell you about how I made this apron as part of Tie One On, which is an apron group thing run by Amy Karol, who wrote this awesome book called Bend-the-Rules Sewing. And I have a whole bunch of words about making it and submitting it (late, because I am an idiot) and how cool it is to be involved with something run by Amy Karol, who is just fucking awesome, but that will have to wait. What is important right now, or at least interesting enough that I am writing a run-on sentence of a blog post about it, is that my apron is now posted in the Flickr pool of aprons, and someone left a really nice comment, which is awesome and totally made my day.

04 May 2009

where did the weekend go

How is it already Monday? I had an action-packed weekend, and really I would be fine with having another day to recover. Jason & Sarah were here Saturday for the Aeros-Admirals game. We walked around by the lake in the afternoon, got beers & food beforehand, and then got more beers after. We went to Klinger's, which was surprisingly pretty awesome. I woke up very... tired on Sunday and left almost immediately to go to the Brewers game with a shit ton of people. We tailgated before the game, watched the Brewers kick the Diamondbacks collective ass, and then went back to Jason's house and drank more. So, uh, when I say "action-packed," I guess I mean "beer-filled." Anyway. I had a pretty awesome time this weekend; sometimes it's nice to not spend all of my time alone.

02 May 2009

apple cinnamon muffins


apple cinnamon muffins, originally uploaded by marinatina.

I made these last weekend, from a recipe in cookbook I bought at Downtown Books. It's called The Cookie and Biscuit Bible. It's available from a few sellers on Amazon; it's from the same publisher as this cookbook I got at Costco last time I was there, so I'm guessing that's where my used copy originated. These muffins turned out really well. As soon as I can manage to go grocery shopping, I'm going to make some more. They weren't super sweet, which makes me think that maybe they would be healthy enough that I could justify baking them on a regular basis.

01 May 2009

dear astronaut


dear astronaut, originally uploaded by marinatina.

Dear Astronaut is playing tonight at the Borg Ward. Be there or be square!