Multi-Tasking Run Amok

Here I am again: another fun reality moment, when I caught myself stirring up roasting pumpkin seeds with a seam ripper. Yes, a seam ripper. I am not well. How did this come to pass? It is the frightening result of too much multi-tasking, my friends. Exactly how many projects/tasks am I working on right now? Let's count them up.

1. My son's Halloween costume. I saw a cute knight outfit, but it cost waaaaaay too much money. So I said, "Shoot, I can make that myself!" and promptly went to Joann (coupons in hand, of course) and bought material and trimmings. Of course, I was then kicking myself when I saw a knight costume for $14 at Wal Mart two weeks later. D'oh!
2. My daughter's princess dress. Luckily for me, this is a play-clothes dress for Christmas, so I've got time. Good thing, since the pattern and all the components are still sitting in the bag.
3. Repairing four BumGenius diapers. I saw them on sale for $5 each, thought it was a cheap way to add to our stash, and bought them. I should have taken a closer look at the diapers we already had so that I fully acknowledged what it would mean to replace shot leg elastic. Each leg has three seams to rip out before I can get to the elastic. I am close to saying that Cotton Babies swindled me out of $15. Luckily the last one is merely shot Velcro, which is far easier to replace, but alas, requires seam ripping as well.
4. Canning apples & pears in many permutations. Yes, I am still sitting on a half bushel of pears and a bushel of apples. See previous entry regarding effort involved. *sigh*
5. Shopping, wrapping, and packaging all Christmas gifts for DH's family, and shipping them before it costs a small fortune to do so. That means trying to ship them sometime in the next week. We are buying gift cards for all adults save one (I already bought something for one of DH's sisters), but I still have some things to ship.
6. Putting up fall decorations. This also involves thoroughly cleaning our pigsty disaster zone *ahem* home in the process. Bwahahaha!! Yeah, it's really high on my priority list, as you can see. I'm thinking we might be skipping fall and going straight to the Christmas decorations, just so I have them up before New Year's. Heck, I'm already wrapping the presents, why not?
7. Working on our bathroom drywall seams, wall texturing, priming, and painting. And laying tile. And putting on paper the design and all the cuts required for the tub surround. Yeah. Good stuff, huh? I am now wondering if we will be done by Thanksgiving.

This is on top of my REGULAR job as, you know, housekeeper and Mom Who Keeps Her Children Intact-for-the-Most-Part-by-the-Grace-of-God. And school chaffeur, what with DD's preschool thrice-weekly. And CFO! Let's not forget CFO! Chief bill payer and budgeter extraordinaire, that's me.

And that is why I was stirring roasting pumpkin seeds with a seam ripper. Because I was keeping my son intact, having discovered him with my seam ripper from the aforementioned diapers, and raced back to stir the pumpkin seeds I was roasting from the sugar pumpkins which were already roasted and food processed and bagged, cooling on the counter (away from little fingers) before freezer storage. Does it scare you? Because it does me, and we're not even close to Christmas yet. I have visions of myself cleaning the bird cage with an empty wrapping paper roll and giving my daughter stamps to use as stickers on her crafts. Stay tuned.

Can, Baby, Can

My house is overrun with produce. Not only has the first hard frost precipitated me yanking every remaining carrot, tomato, and other edible squash from the vegetable garden, but we are also awash with free apples and pears from our neighbor's fruit trees.

You see, I had to go and order a canner. I looked for one in the thrift shops, but I think I waited too late in the season to begin hunting for one, and got stuck paying full price. However, I think it is paying for itself with the glistening jars of canned goodies that I've put up already. Canning is very easy, actually, if you stick to a boiling water canner and high acid foods. Fortunately for us, that is all that we are interested in canning, so it is working out well as a way to preserve garden largesse.

Thus far, I have made 4 quarts of applesauce, 4 half pints of apple jelly, 2 quarts and 2 pints of apple pie filling, 2 twelve ounce and 2 six ounce jars of honey spiced peach jam, and 3 pints of honey spiced peaches. Oh and 7 six ounce jars of blackberry jelly. I have strained pulp, cooked apple peels in water (to make the apple jelly, a process which imparts a beautiful pink color to the jelly from the peels), used plenty of cheesecloth and managed to burn myself on the chin (now I know that applesauce 'burps' when it's being cooked), and I'm not even half done. I still have about four quarts of blackberries to use up in the freezer, not to mention about a bushel of pears and a bushel of apples on my kitchen floor. And I have six sugar pumpkins to roast and freeze. And carrots to clean, peel, and freeze.

I really enjoy the product, but it's a lot of work getting there. Free is good, so I hate to turn down free apples. In fact another neighbor has a tree full which I haven't even touched yet. I'm trying to plow through the rest of what I've got, and then I will hopefully get a second wind and pick more apples, to repeat the process again.

Of course my husband is all in favor of these endeavors. He said my apple pie filling tastes just like McDonalds' apple pies, which is a great compliment in his mind. I just followed the recipe from Ball's website, so if it happens to taste like Mickey-D's, that is something they will have to take up with the Ball folks. And truthfully I love all the goodies too. They are pretty in their jars, and certainly we will be (and already have been) gifting them to friends and neighbors for Christmas gifts. However, I would like to know how the old pioneer women found a way to, you know, keep the rest of their house from sliding into FILTH while they were putting up all their preserves and so forth. Our house once again is a scene of chaos and apparent bomb debris, the product of our two energetic children and my tired self. Tonight is grading night, too, since I teach tomorrow.

Wah, wah, wah. I know, I'm whining about having too much good stuff! I will be very happy when this season of harvest is over and I can put my feet up by the woodstove and relax a bit. And don't even ask about the bathroom. Quite frankly it's almost as if we don't HAVE a guest bathroom any more. I have more drywalling mud sanding to do, more drywall mudding to do, painting to do...and I just couldn't be bothered. My husband has been working like a Trojan getting the tile cut and laid on the floor, but I am just tired of dealing with it. Sometime I'm going to have to drag myself away from my apple mounds and get back in there and deal with it. Not, however, today...I am going to set up that peeler/corer gizmo, borrowed from another neighbor, and make some pear butter. With cardamom, because it's better that way. And some tawny port, since DH opened the bottle. So there. :~P

Austen Lit Reviews, for all my Fellow Austen Fans!!

Ok, I should be doing so many other things, but I have to let you know that I have discovered a new favorite (favourite, for my English friends) genre of novels, called Austen lit, or Austen fan-fiction. Basically, a bunch of crazy women (and yes, they are mostly women) who can't get enough of Jane Austen's novels have written a whole bunch of books which are spin-offs or "what if..." books centered around her famous novels and most famous characters. As you can imagine, I nearly swooned with delight to find so many books exploring my favorite novels of all time, and have devoured a bunch of them, which were handily given to me as birthday presents a month ago.

First, I have a few rules regarding these Austen spin-offs. One, I make every effort to avoid books which take Jane Austen's characters and put them into a seamy Regency romance novel. I really do not need to read vivid imaginings about Darcy & Elizabeth's sex life, thanks much. Second, I have also attempted to avoid novels which (in my very humble opinion) portray the characters in what I feel to be un-characteristic ways. I adore Fitzwilliam Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet, so it is difficult to read books which I think treat them as other than they are presented in Austen's work. Obviously this is more difficult with novels which take a "what if" approach, so I have read one of those and suspended my disbelief about certain elements (see below). Third, I have included the Austen lit novels which involve some form of time travel or play-acting regression to Regency England. Although not strictly involving Austen's characters, I found them entertaining and sometimes a satirical view of Austen addicts and JASNA members (which, by the way, gentle reader, I have not joined yet; although I would like to do so when I have older children which will permit me to attend meetings).


So, for those of you who adore Miss Austen, please find here my reviews & recommendations of some Austen lit centering on the best beloved Pride & Prejudice and the characters contained therein.

1. The Last Man in the World by Abigail Reynolds. This can be placed firmly in the What If category, as this author assumes that Elizabeth is caught being kissed by Mr. Darcy on the occasion of his first proposal, and she is therefore compromised and forced to marry him. I thought the author did an admirable job of conveying Elizabeth's distress about the situation, but I did question some of her portrayal with regard to Elizabeth's behavior after the marriage and the way in which Darcy & Elizabeth felt their way around to loving each other. I just thought Elizabeth would have been more straightforward, or that she would have talked it through with Jane. I just couldn't see her keeping it all to herself. Just my two cents and all that. I would give it 2.5 out of 5 stars.


2. Mr. Darcy Presents His Bride by Helen Halstead. This book is a Sequel and follows Darcy & Elizabeth as they navigate the Polite World following their marriage, as well as the family fall-out for Darcy on his marriage. I did like the insight into the social whirl, but felt too much focus was placed on this and it sort of obscured the view of their developing marriage and trust in each other. I guess I would say it got bogged down in that as a plot device to strengthen their marriage; so much so that I had difficulty finishing it! However it does a nice job of tying up loose ends of all the other minor characters, and even Miss Bingley is redeemed somewhat. I would rate it 3 out of 5 stars and an enjoyable read.


3. Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict by Laurie Viera Rigler. If you are or have ever been a modern singleton, this is the book for you. It is definitely a Time Travel/Displacement book. It follows a Los Angeles native after she breaks off her engagement, then finds herself in Regency England inhabiting the body of a gentlewoman named Jane Mansfield. She has to pick her way around her toxic mother and through the social milieu that sees a number of suitors and potential enemies crossing her path. She has to deal with her own demons from modern times while ensuring she doesn't leave Jane in a mess, assuming she ever leaves! A few nitpicks about the book: Courtney's vulgarity seems out of place several times early in the book and it made me wonder how a supposedly intelligent woman could forget the social strictures of the time, but I supposed it was the author's way of communicating her alienation from that society. And I felt the ending was incredibly rushed and somewhat unintelligible. I would give it 3.5 out of 5 stars.


4. Austenland by Shannon Hale. This is another Time Travel/Displacement book, and definitely a great satirical view of modern Austen fans and JASNA members. Hey, if you can't laugh at yourself after reading this book, then you're taking Jane too seriously. Again we have a modern singleton, this time based in New York. Jane Hayes is in love with Colin Firth, the BBC adaptation of P&P, and Mr. Darcy as the dream man. By a curious bequest Jane is granted a trip to a fantasy theme park in demure old England, hidden in bucolic countryside at a great estate. She is given a fake name, fake hair, and a whole wardrobe to match, then introduced to the "country society" as a miss come to town to visit her aunt. Surrounded by fellow guests seeking to relive the past and actors paid to make their dream Austen experience come true, Jane confronts what she really wants in life. Really funny and well done, sort of like a modern day Emma/Elizabeth cross. I enjoyed it a lot, and would give it 4 out of 5 stars. Thumbs up.


5. Letters from Pemberley by Jane Dawkins; also More Letters from Pemberley. This book was my first introduction to Austen lit, and I have to say I adored it. Using letters from Elizabeth to several people, the reader is informed of how the new Mrs. Darcy gets on adjusting to her household, the affections of her husband, their country society and then society at large. It is a charming lens through which to view Elizabeth & Darcy after their marriage, and reading Elizabeth's letters make the reader feel like a favored correspondent of one of their favorite characters! The sequel is no less charming, if a bit more down to earth with the practicalities of being a large landowner's wife, and the realities of family life in that time. Really nicely done and so good I read them again. 5 out of 5 stars.
6. An Assembly Such as This, Duty and Desire, and These Three Remain by Pamela Aidan. This is a trilogy of novels, all subtitled, "A Novel of Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman". As you have probably guessed, they are a Spin Off, a clever take on the original Pride and Prejudice written from Mr. Darcy's perspective. Pamela Aidan does a superlative job of conveying Mr. Darcy's (presumed) motivations and thoughts throughout his meeting, courtship, and further wooing of Elizabeth Bennet. It is quite interesting to see the demands placed on Darcy by his status in society and his large estate Pemberley, as well as the care and essential rearing of his sister as she prepares for her Society debut. You can definitely see the rigid social class strictures at play, and the introduction of Fletcher, Mr. Darcy's indomitable valet, is fantastic. Fletcher reminded me of the best elements from "Gosford Park" or other peeks at the society of servants, and he is a great foil to Darcy's silent contemplations about Elizabeth. There are a few motifs that are woven throughout the novels with great aplomb, and although I was a bit annoyed with the Gothic novel aspects of Duty and Desire (Northanger Abbey was never a favorite of mine) the strength of the whole series really enchanted me. I would even venture to say that had Ms. Austen felt it within her purview to speculate about the thoughts of a gentleman, she would have written much as Ms. Aidan has. 5+ stars, my favourites of the whole genre thus far.

Well, there you have it--my opinions on some Austen fan-fiction. I really enjoyed re-visiting Austen's world through different viewpoints, and it inspired me to re-read Pride and Prejudice yet again. While my DH has to be somewhat relieved that my love of all things Austen has found a temporary respite in fan fiction, likewise he is probably a bit peeved that it has done nothing to curb my incessant watching of the A&E/BBC version of "P&P". Well, I suppose Colin Firth really is Mr. Darcy for me at this stage, so "Bridget Jones' Diary" and its sequel will do as well. I suspect my ardor for Jane Austen's novels and paraphenalia will continue for the rest of my life, so I am fortunate to have a husband who is amiable enough to go along for the ride with my Austen riddled viewing choices. And isn't that really what Mr. Darcy and Miss Bennet are all about in the end? Learning to live with each other's differences and embracing them.

A New Scar

While a child might find it cool to be in possession of stitches and a scar in the making, I confess I am not so thrilled. It has definitely put a crimp in my normal weekly activities; and having to explain to one hundred and one people why I am hobbling on a cane, as I had to do for the better part of the week, does not exactly make me a happy bunny. Fortunately the cane has been retired as of today, and the stitches are slated to come out on Monday. I am back to driving, which was problematic earlier since my laceration is on my right leg, just above the ankle.

I have said in seriousness that I was bitten by our lawn tractor trailer, and that is true. I was pulling the trailer by the yoke to our fire pit to dispose of blackberry vine trimmings, and it slipped out of my grip and took a zig zag path down through my skin & cutaneous tissue, mercifully stopping short of cutting my Achilles tendon. I got a split second view of said tendon, applied firm pressure as all good first aid training tells you to, and immediately sat down while my body began producing all those lovely cytokines and inflammatory molecules, completely with a healthy dose of shock. I was very, very lucky that I did not cut my tendon--according to the ER PA, I was a millimeter or so away from surgery and months of crutches and physical therapy to rehab it. I completely give the thanks for this to God, because only He could have cut away everything else and left that tendon perfectly intact.

It is not so fun to be on your tummy on a hospital table while a nurse intern scrubs your numbed wound clean. I am glad I couldn't see it, and I am glad that it didn't bleed much at all when it first happened. The sight of my own blood is never welcome. My husband got a nice view of it all, and commented that while he used to think he would love to see every bit of me, he has now been twice forced to amend that statement, as seeing bits of my c-section, and now this, have convinced him that he is far happier for my internal bits to stay intact and out of view. And I only had to endure the nasty stings of the numbing shots, which is not so bad, all things considered.

I have been reminded in a painful way of the foolishness of working on the Sabbath. And just to drive the point home for me, I have again encountered a verse attesting to this in my new Hebrews study: "There remains therefore a Sabbath rest for the people of God", Hebrews 4:9. Yes, I am that thickheaded, and God knows this and had to remind me of it again, just in case I was not convinced by the large gash and stitches. I have also been reminded that my natural carelessness/klutziness now impacts more than myself and my DH. Both of my children were very concerned about me, and both came running over when I hurt myself. They were not happy to see me being taken off, despite the kind and excellent care of a beloved neighbor. And my dear daughter was so disturbed by the whole affair that she crept into our room and into bed with us that night, wanting to make sure that a) I was there and b) that I was okay. Poor girl. She has since drawn me no less than four get well cards, as well as fussed and clucked over me like a mother hen on Monday. My son was clingy and anxious to see I was there, insisting on a long rocking chair session when I got home on Sunday night. That kid's radar is so fine tuned, he woke up the MINUTE we walked through the door and was crying for me.

It is a good reminder to me that I need to cultivate better care of my person. The older I get, the more serious it is to knock into things because I am just not that spatially aware. I can see how I could end up with a broken hip when I'm eighty, or a broken patella at 60 like my mom (who broke hers falling off a curb). I need to make a conscious effort to do better, for myself and my family. I don't want them to be worried about what I will do next. It is comic in some ways, but it's not so funny in others. Hopefully I can keep this just a blip and not another dot in a whole series of injuries!

Leg o' Lamb

I am going to put up my leg now, but I wanted you, the small crew of blog readers who might be interested, to know that I am now sporting seven stitches on my leg since Sunday. The short story is I had a fight with a garden trailer and I lost, haha. However I am feeling a bit grumpy after standing up for a good portion of the afternoon teaching, so I will go elevate my leg and allow myself a bit of misery wallowing, then give you the story proper tomorrow. Good night!

Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?

You could file this under the heading, "Things that Annoy Me". As you know, I really don't talk about politics on this blog, so forgive me for making an exception today. And really I am not discussing the candidates' political views, but moreso a fact that I believe reflects on the nature of their characters.

I was blog hopping the other day and came across a blog which asserted that Barack Obama has given less than 1% of his income to charity. Huh? Are you kidding me? This man who has put himself forward as a 'man of the people', fighting for the working poor, doesn't give even the national average to charity (7.47%, for the record through 2004, among taxpayers who itemize their deductions, like Mr. Obama)?

I thought, well, this is probably some propaganda being put forth about Obama, more election nastiness. But I googled it, and lo and behold, Obama's own stomping ground paper, The Chicago Tribune, wrote a two page story on it on Sep. 12th! According to this story, the national average of giving per household is 2.2%, which includes even those households which fall below the poverty line. Yet when Mr. Obama first ran for the Senate in 2002, they gave away only 0.4% of their income, even though their adjusted household income of $259,394 put them in the top bracket of earners. Wow. And then, after Obama signed his book deals, their household income went up substantially. Their 2006 income was $983,626, of which they donated $60,307 (6.13%). In 2005, their income was even higher, $1.65 million of which they donated $77,300 (4.68%). (Want to double-check the figures? Check out their tax returns on Obama's website here.) I suppose it should be comforting to think that they are trending in the right direction, but PEOPLE(!), shouldn't they have ALREADY been charitable, being so much better off than the many folks he worked with daily?? And they have yet to meet the national average for taxpayers in their income bracket (>$200,000), which is 7.35% (see Chart 2 here).

Ok, I thought, let's be fair. Let's look at McCain's charitable giving and see where he is at. Here the waters get more muddied, as McCain files separately from his wife, Cindy. It seems that last year he gave more than 25% of his income to charity (ref). However, most of that was to his own foundation, which donated heavily to schools his children formerly attended, as well as charities such as the Halo Trust (landmine removal) and Operation Smile (craniofacial surgeries for children). Hmmm. It seems a bit smarmy, maybe, to donate to schools that your kids attend or used to attend, but on the other hand is it any less smarmy when parents do the same things for their kids' schools? Haven't we all read about the wealthy school districts with the kitted-out schools because the mommies and daddies with six figure salaries ensure that every kiddo has a laptop, while the ghetto schools struggle for grant money for computers, and work to keep old desktops functional in a central computer lab? Heck I would know more than most about that, as my mom is a grant administrator and computer lab superintendent (and sometime vice-prinicipal) at a high school in one of the ghetto-iest districts in SoCal. So I guess I get supporting your kids' schools, even if it is more than most of us can afford. The real question is how much Cindy gives to charity, but I respect her right not to have her personal finances pawed over by the public too, since she is not running for office. It sure would be nice to get a straight answer about her charitable giving, though.

Well, there you have it. An insight into the personal character of Mr. Obama and Mr. McCain. I am not going to lie and say I am impressed by Mr. McCain's egregious giving, since his wife is an heiress who is worth millions. However, I will give him credit for not being greedy and for giving away a substantial portion of his income. Frankly, it's the minimum I would expect from a couple who is extraordinarily wealthy. I am disappointed in the Obamas' charitable giving. Dude, WE give more to charity as a proportion of our income than the Obamas, and we are not even where I would like to be! I feel that we are skinflinty and poor managers of our resources, and I am earnestly seeking God's help with being a better steward of my resources. Frankly it is appalling how wealthy we ALL are, compared to the rest of the world. It was one of the things that called me to name by blog, "Lulled by Luxury", because we are truly spoiled in this country and we don't even realize it. I guess I have determined that personal charity is one of my immutable benchmarks, a most desirable character trait...and especially in a president of this country. I guess it's pretty clear who won't be getting my vote!

P.S. I would like to make it clear that I am a registered Independent voter. The Republican Party, having completely abandoned any sense of fiscal responsibility a decade ago, lost my affiliation before I was even eligible to vote. I have voted for Democratic and Republican contenders for public office, based on my evaluation of their suitability to represent my views.

Color Me Gray...and White

Yesterday was my husband's work from home day, and I realized that if we had any hope of moving forward substantially on the bathroom this weekend, I needed to get cracking with painting the vanity and closet door. To speed things along, we bought a power paint sprayer (after trying to borrow one, but the borrowed one had missing parts). Since we have to paint our house next year, it will get plenty of use.

We have a sort of de facto equitable labor arrangement going for bathroom work. DH does the carpentry, plumbing, electrical, and heavy lifting, and I do the drywall, mudding, texturing, and painting. I have no problem with this arrangement, and it has worked well for us thus far. Plus I got to be the first to try out the new paint sprayer. Yippee!

First let me attest to the fact that there is no way you will keep a power paint sprayer looking like new. In fact, I know why they don't seal up the box with a cable tie like they do with other power tools, because if you so much as put paint anywhere in the vicinity of these things, they will get spatters of paint all over them; thus they do not have to worry about unscrupulous folks buying this particular tool for one job and attempting to return it. (As a side note I was unaware of this practice until I returned a circular saw, unused, to Home Depot, and watched the guy check that the cable tie was still in place on the box. Apparently it is not uncommon for people to buy tools, use them, and attempt to return them as new. Pathetic!)

Second, you do not want to use old primer or paint with one of these. They seem to clog with regularity of you tip the sprayer at any degree other than perfectly vertical, resulting in large, phlegm-like spatters of paint on your surfaces. This is made worse with older primer which is a bit thicker (and I know this because I did it). Just don't bother using old paint or primer, or, if you do, strain it or thin it first.

Third, to deal with the aforementioned paint phlegms, have a paintbrush handy and just brush them out over the surface. They will settle out just fine without any brush marks. Also use a stuttered trigger to combat constant clogging.

Fourth, wear a burqa or a similiar all-body covering device, or be prepared to wear paint for a few days. I have white primer and gray paint all over my legs and arms, and that's after scrubbing myself painfully with a nail brush in the shower last night. I don't want to think about what amount of sprayed paint particles got into my hair. I guess that is one advantage to having some gray hair, it is probably not that noticeable!

Fifth, if you attempt to use the tube feed and a gallon of paint, be aware that the tubes can cause the gallon of paint to tip over as you angle around spraying. This can result in the loss of a significant amount of paint. (I'm sure the grass in that area will recover...eventually...) Also, you cannot get the tubes clean without spraying water through them, so it is pointless to clean all the other parts first before attempting to clean the tubes. Just fill the container with water, stick the hoses in, and spray it out for a good five minutes before disassembling everything and cleaning it.

Lastly, beware when cleaning everything out. There are some small parts and it would be easy to lose some while cleaning. Check to make sure you have everything before closing up shop, so to speak.

Well, I hope by this weekend my paint splatters will have worn off. I will attempt further scrubbing when my skin does not feel like it's been assaulted by sandpaper. Of course as soon as I get rid of the paint, it will be thinset and grout getting stuck all over me. Thank goodness I have enough ratty t-shirts to sacrifice to this remodel. Stay tuned.