Two Weeks On Two Weeks Off

All Cooped Up

noreply@blogger.com (Shesten Melder) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 00:05:00 +0000

Devin ordered chickens. *sigh*

So that means we're on the hunt for chicken coop designs. I don't want a run-of-the-mill coop that looks all hickish and tacky, so I told Devin to get his thinking cap on and we'd put together a list of features that we like from various coops around the web.

The Victoriana coop to the right here is super cute, but it doesn't really have any features that I like. And let's face it, I'm not Victorian in my decor style in the least. Elizabethan? Maybe, but Victorian aw, heck no.

Another coop I like the look of, but can't bring myself to emulate is the black plantation style one. It's stylish for a chicken coop, but it's kinda plain, and really pretty big. Also, it doesn't have a slide-out bottom that would make cleaning it easier. And making this process of chickening as easy as possible is really, truly my main goal in the whole process. Seriously, man.

Another coop that I found to be super well thought out was the Omlet (ha! cute name, right?) Eglu Go! This British company thought out a whole lotta fun stuff and that's fantastic and all, but I'm pretty confident that our chickens would bake alive inside that thing when the 120°s come around. It's the inspiration for a lot of our coop plans though:

We like the slide-out ew-gross-poo drawer and the slide-out egg collection drawer. We also like that their run has wire that lays horizontally on the outside to keep predators from getting in. And since our neighborhood is full of stray cats, that's probably a really good thing. So, we decided that we'll probably incorporate those designs into the look and feel of something similar to this Frank Lloyd Wright chicken coop from Portland, Oregon.

I don't know if I can sell Devin on the siding look or not, but I'm sure trying hard. The best thing about this design is that it's made so that there can be a garden on the top of it, both serving as garden space (which we totally need because of all of the tree planting that's been goin' on 'round here) and a way to cool the house in the summer for the chicks. 'Cause having plants growing on the roof actually makes the inside temps a ton cooler. So we'll use those elements to come up with our own coop design. And I like the modern looking gray and white (of course I do, practically my whole house is gray and white) and it aligns itself with the plans we have for the back porch. Oh yeah, baby. We totally have plans for the porch. It's gonna be awesome.

Devin went to Mesa Feed Barn and bought six pounds of chicken starter feed for $2.70 today. Which is awesome because guess what? Amazon wanted $12.49 for five pounds. Woot!

I'm preparing myself for life with chickens. My urban fantasy? Ruined. I'm going to try to treat the little Easter Eggers like pets. I won't give them names like Dinner, Breakfast, and Lunch like I'd originally planned. Since the cats are all flowers (how very hippie of us, I know), maybe all of the chickens can be states? or holidays? birds of prey? Ah, I don't know. We'll think of something, I'm sure.

What We're Reading: Shesten - Freshman Year & Other Unnatural Disasters by Meredith Zeitlin
Devin - Rise of the Black Wolf by J.S. Lewis and Derek Benz

Trees & Legacies

noreply@blogger.com (Shesten Melder) — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 21:13:00 +0000

Devin spent the last couple of days planting trees. Mahan Pecan, Pawnee Pecan, 3 Georgia Native Chinquapin, Methley Plum, Santa Rosa Plum, White Pomegranate, and a Saijo Persimmon. Oh and berry bushes too: blackberries, raspberries, and tayberries. So much fun.

Biggest bummer is that the trees came about ten days early so we're not sure if any of them are going to make it or not. Willis Orchards screwed up and sent them early... of course. And while most people would be totally excited to get something early, we ordered these on December 2nd and asked for them specifically to not be delivered before January 16th. So that Devin would actually be home when they came. D. Rama. I tell you.

He also started working on cutting down the mulberry in the front yard. He really needs a chainsaw. Like bad. But our friend Greg is going to come this week and help finish the job.

Tree Inventory:
2 Dwarf Bonanza Peaches

2 Babcock Peaches
2 Garden Prince Almonds
1 Blackjack Fig
1 Italian Everbearing Fig
1 Saijo Persimmon
2 Georgia Native Chinquapins
1 Methley Plum
1 Santa Rosa Plum
1 Mahan Pecan
1 Pawnee Pecan
1 Katy Apricot
1 Tango Tangerine
1 Bearss Lime
1 Dwarf Meyer Lemon
1 White Pomegranate

And on the docket: 2 Apples, 4 Mango, Kiwi, Dragonfruit, Passionfruit, More Berries and possibly grapes.

My project this week was focused on organizing the office. I'm probably about half-way done. I might even share the befores and afters with you if I'm brave enough. The before was pretty atrocious though. It was super scary. All that stuff dumped in there from the move and waiting to be organized and gone through. No fun.

But then... *insert dun dun dun noise here* We took a jaunt out to my grandma's house to pick some citrus. And pick we did do. Six bags of tangerines, two bags of lemons, and a bag of grapefruit. Luckily Devin is planning on taking some of the tangerines with him to work. But, that'll still leave me with 4+ bags to do something with, and I'm NOT making marmalade out of all of them. {Learned a lesson about that marmalade down there on the last post - I should have cut the rinds up finer. It was my first attempt at marmalade, so I'll give myself a little bit of a pass, but next time, it'll be a lot finer and not strippy at all. The flavor turned out well though, so definitely going to keep adding juice to the water.}

My new job at church is all about planning activities for the grown-up women in our church now. This week was the first one for the year and it was all about legacy. {not my best work ever, but I did all I could with what I knew I had}

Anyway, some stuff hit home for me at this event. I didn't come away with a plan on how to establish my own legacy, but on how to pass along a legacy that was given to me.

My paternal grandmother, Faye Robie, died when I was like, eight or something. It wasn't like I didn't know her. She lived about a half mile from us, and my brother and I spent a lot of time with her. A LOT of time with her. Which was awesome. And I knew her well. One of my favorite memories of her was sitting on the back porch shucking corn (for canning) and I was helping and she found a worm... in her bra. I promptly had a similar experience (but I didn't have a bra, duh, I was too little). I remember never wanting to touch an ear of corn again.

I remember her canning green beans and pinto beans in quart jars together and how incredibly yummy I thought that concoction was. I remember her drying grapes on a wooden table to make raisins. Some of my most fond memories of her - my only real memories of her - revolve around canning and preserving. Something she apparently did a lot of. Because I got this comment from my Aunt Shirley on Facebook this week on my tree post.

If that's not an excellent, amazing, and wonderful legacy to pick up and run with and pass along to others, I don't know what is. I told Devin that after that comment, and after thinking about it for a few hours, it was the first and only time I've ever really missed my grandmother. I tend to roll with the punches and move forward through loss focusing ahead rather than behind, but in this instance, I had the opportunity to reflect and to see that I am indeed carrying on her legacy. And that I do miss her. Gosh darn it, I'm doing something right. Passing along a legacy that I inherited and was well-established before it came to me. And I plan to rock the passing along hard core, yo.

But then, when we were out with my so-totally-not-dead maternal grandmother picking citrus, she happened upon some drawers of vintage bakeware/serveware that she doesn't need/want anymore. So, guess who came home with that booty? Me. Inheriting some awesome pieces from the other side of my family. It's a different kind of legacy... more tangible than the other, but the same level of awesome.

So no matter which way you shake it, I'm legacied-out this week. But in a good way.

I've been busy this week:

Promised my gma I'd make her a sour orange pie and deliver? Of course I did. And yes, that's yummy meringue on top. Booya.

And I preserved some lemons using salt:

Made Lemon Vanilla Bean Marmalade:

Made Strawberry Lemonade Concentrate thereby creating the Strawberry Lemonade Incident of 2012 wherein the concentrate boiled over during the 20 seconds I stepped away and gave Devin and I about 90 minutes of clean-up. Lesson? Learned.:

Made Honey Lavender Lemon Jelly:

With the Honey Lemon Lavender Jelly I made a few changes. I swapped out 1 cup of the honey for 1 1/4 extra sugar and 1/4 cup water for the mere fact that sugar is free for us and honey is pricey. I also used 3 tbsp. of powdered pectin in 1 cup of boiling water instead of a liquid pectin pouch - same reason. Liquid pectin is pricey. But this turned out totally delicious and I'll definitely DEFINITELY make it again. My recipe is this:

Economized Honey Lemon Lavender Jelly
1 cup honey
2 1/4 cups sugar
2/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 tsp finely grated lemon zest
3/4 cup water, 1/4 cup water, 1 cup boiling water
1/8 cup dried lavender flowers
3 Tbsp powdered pectin

1. Using a non-reactive pot, bring the 3/4 cup water to a boil, add the lavender, and cover with a lid. Lower heat and let simmer for 5 min, then remove from heat. Steep for at least four hours. (I did 18 hours)
2. Strain and mesure 1/2 cup of the lavender tea and place in your preserving pot.
3. Add honey, sugar, lemon juice, and lemon zest to your preserving pot.
4. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
5. Boil 2 cups of water.
6. Add pectin to one cup of boiling water (water reduces when it boils, so that's why you boil 2 cups for 1 cup)
7. Stir in liquidized pectin and continue to stir frequently until it reaches a full rolling boil that cannot be stirred down.
8. Boil hard for exactly one minute (boiling longer risks breaking the gel).
9. Remove from heat, stir. Don't worry about the foam.
10. Pour the jelly into your hot, sterilized jars, leaving 1/4 inch head space.
11. Wipe the rims and seal the jar.
12. Process in a boiling water bath for five minutes
The End.

I'm 33 jars through my 156 jar goal and January isn't even over yet. At this rate, I'll hit my goal by June, but it's more likely that I'll just lax off for a while. I always start strong on these things.

And... that's a wrap. I'm exhausted.

What We're Reading:
Shesten - Crossed by Ally Condie {listening}
Devin - The Rise of the Black Wolf by J. S. Lewis & Derek Benz
Website of the Week: Storybird Basically, it's a way to make an online story book using art collections. Then when you're done with the story, you can publish it (aka print it) for a fee. But I think it's fun to just go through and play with it and pick out pictures and make up stories. You can collaborate as well which makes it awesome.

A Canning Plan

noreply@blogger.com (Shesten Melder) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 16:02:00 +0000

I've been reading a lot more blogs about canning and home preservation lately. A lot more. I've found some really great ones like Punk Domestics and Food in Jars that both inspire me and help me get the produce from the fridge to the jars.

I've noticed through my extensive reading that a lot of people are making plans for what they want to can and put up for the year. And since I've got my 156 jar goal for 2012, I thought that might be a good idea for me too. So here goes:

Goal #1 is to check the pantry before buying something canned. I can't tell you! Okay, okay, I will. I've bought applesauce twice since I canned my own pearsauce. Disgrace, I know. *hides face*

But I digress. So here's my wishlist for the year:

Jams/Jellies
✓Tangerine Marmalade
Honey Lemon Lavender Jelly
Lemon Curd
Prickly Pear Jelly
Rose Petal Jelly
Jalapeno Kiwi Jam
Watermelon Jelly
Mojito Jelly

Drinks
✓Lemonade Concentrate
Strawberry Lemonade Concentrate
Grape Juice

Syrups
Strawberry Rosemary Syrup
✓Tangerine Syrup

Pickles
Carrot Pickles
Pickled Garlic
Pickled Pumpkin
Pickled Asparagus
Cucumber Pickles
Zucchini Pickles
Watermelon Pickles

Pressure Canned
Canned Carrots
Canned Asparagus
Beets
Spinach
Corn
Green Beans

Water Bath Canned
Peaches
Tomatoes - Diced
Marinara Sauce
Pears
Bananas
Mandarins
Tangerines

Dehydrated
Dehydrated Carrots
Zucchini/Squash

Frozen
Basil
Rosemary

Other
Salted Lemons
Dates
Foraged Sea Salt
Vanilla Extract
Pecans

Okay. That's 42 things. Is it a realistic list? Mmmmmaybe not. But, it's a goal, right? The jellies/jams are often given as gifts, so that litany's okay. I always go a little overboard on the pickles, but I think it's fun, so I'm not going to stop. But boy, I'd better get cookin' (literally) if I want to make all this stuff, right? Aye.

But I did make some stuffs this weekend. Yays.

Tangerine Syrup

Vanilla Tangerine Marmalade

I'd rather be...

noreply@blogger.com (Shesten Melder) — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 05:45:00 +0000

... is something I've never understood. I'm a proponent of BE WHERE YOU ARE. If I'm home, have no money, and no one to hang out with, I have plenty of things to keep me busy. Does that mean I wouldn't rather be with my man? Well, of course I would, but I can be happy just hanging by myself. I like being by myself. I like where I am in life. I am happy here. And I wouldn't be happier in Turkey, Bosnia, Morocco, Tanzania, or Czech Republic, even though being in those places would be rad.

... here. Even if I wasn't where I wanted to be in life (and dude, I haven't always been here) I always thought that I was paying my dues, learning my lessons, being educated in life. And I was happy to go to the school of hard knocks. Because now? I've had awesome experiences, learned to love people for who they are and not what they can do for me, and learned to smile at adversity and apply the lessons I've learned through it to my future. I wouldn't trade that for the world.

... who I am. I wouldn't trade my trials, my hardships, my hard-learned lessons for anything. Nothing in the world. I wouldn't change me, the way I think, the way I love, or the ways I've been used for anything. I wouldn't trade my parents for any others in the world and am thankful that they minimally molded me into who I am today.

... making myself a better person. Having goals and achieving those goals. Running toward something bigger, better, but still consistent with who I am. Just because I want to improve myself doesn't mean I don't love myself and doesn't mean I'm not happy with who I am.

... smiling. Because smiling is contagious. And if I can just force a smile even when I'm down, I know the smile will pick up my spirit and make it sing.

If you'd rather be...

... somewhere else? Change where you are. Move. Make a change. Find your happy place. Or learn to see where you are in a different light. See the desert's beauty, the mountain's majesty, and focus on the beauty that is already where you are and build from there. There is happiness everywhere, you just might have to pick up and turn over a leaf or two to find it.

... someone else? Learn to love you for who you are. Learn to love your quirks, the things that make you different. Learn to forgive yourself and move forward with goals and faith that you can accomplish anything you set your mind to. You are a child of God. You rock. And being you is more important than being cool, sexy, funny, or smart. Being you is the definition of being awesome, so just be awesome already.

The End.

5 down...

noreply@blogger.com (Shesten Melder) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 18:49:00 +0000

151 to go. Yes, you heard me right. One hundred and fifty-one. For the year. I'm working on my resolutions. And one of those resolutions is canning 156 jars for the year. That's 3 jars a week. Should be doable. And yes. Quarter pints count. So I started on it last night and made some lemonade concentrate from the lemons we picked at my grandma's house. I'm grateful for my new automatic citrus juicer that took away SO much of the work! Yay Cuisinart! I also made about 2 quarts of sour orange juice last night, but I'm not going to can that. I'm going to make sour orange curd and make a pie for my grandma with it. And, with the seven sour oranges I have left, I'm going to make sour orange marmalade. Should be fun, no?

Lemonade Concentrate
Equal parts:
fresh lemon juice (strain the seeds out, but some pulp is okay)
sugar

Heat lemon juice and sugar together in a pot. Bring to just a boil. Ladle into jars. Process in water bath for 20 minutes. When making lemonade, depending on taste, add 1 1/2 to 2 parts water to 1 part concentrate.

This batch yielded 4.25 pints from 5 cups juice and 5 cups sugar.
____

Yesterday, Ash and I headed out to the AJ house and did a lot of clean-up and packing of the last little things that were here and there. It feels good to be on top of that house and to have it ready for Devin to go in and work on it. When he's done with the renovations, Ash and I will go back out and finish up the painting and the deep cleaning. It'll be awesome. I can't wait to get that house rented!

I got a call this morning asking if I would put together and teach a lesson on photography tonight to a youth group at church. So fun. Now. I'm not a professional. I tinker and have fun. So I'm looking forward to teaching the rule of thirds and depth of field to these girls and helping them learn how to make a great photo.

That's the update for now. Maybe more this week, maybe not. And sorry that there are no great and grand exciting stories to tell. *sigh* If only...

What We're Reading:
Shesten - Cooties by Roman Dirge
Devin - who knows at this point?

Farewell 2011.

noreply@blogger.com (Shesten Melder) — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 21:55:00 +0000

2011? Odd year. Odd years have more downs than ups for Devin & I. And 2011 was consistent with the trend. Here's to 2012 - an even year - rockin' the socks off of us and you.

Yesterday I got up and used the persimmon I've had sitting in the kitchen since October to make persimmon bread.

It was yummers, but I used a recipe from another website called Mint Tea & Tagine... found the recipe via Pinterest. Thing was, it was in metric and weight measurements. Which was awkward since I've never really made anything by weighing flour. So, I googled, and tried to figure it out. And here's the recipe I came up with, based on the other metric one.

Persimmon Bread

1/2 cup persimmon pulp (which was one persimmon for me)
1 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 c sugar
1 1/2 c flour
1/2 c oil
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 c + 5 tsp. water

Preheat oven to 350.

Stir the baking powder into the persimmon pulp and set aside for 5 minutes. Don't worry when you get back to it if it is stiffened and gelatinous. It's okay. It's supposed to be like that.

Next, line 2 mini loaf pans with parchment.

Mix sugar, oil, eggs, spices and salt.

Alternate mixing in spoonfuls of flour and stiffened persimmon mixture into the sugar mixture.

Pour into pans. Mine were about 3/4 full.

Bake for one hour. Let cool 30 minutes, then remove from pans.

So there's that. Then today, we went with my grandma out to her place in Gilbert to pick some citrus. I thought we would get a few bags of citrus and then pick a few pecans and head home. Two hours later? I mean, wait. Three hours later? Nope. Four and a half hours later, we were finally on our way home. Devin scavenged up all the pecans he could find. Yield? About ten gallons. TEN GALLONS! Oy. And guess who's going to get to crack them all? Yeppers. That's me!

We also got quite a bit of citrus.

Tangerines

Lemons & Sour Oranges

Mandarin Oranges

So yeah, I've got some canning ahead of me. I'm going to make a sour orange pie. My grandma really wants me to do that, so I will. And I'm going to try a salty and a sweet method of preserving the lemons. And the mandarins and tangerines are going to get made into syrup and canned.

As we head into 2012, I have PROJECTS ahead of me. And I'm already exhausted just looking at them. Well, that and the fact that our waking hours have changed from noon - 3 or 4am to 5am to 9 or 10pm. Aye aye aye aye. What a shift.

Welcome, welcome, welcome even year 2012.

What We're Reading:
Shesten - Misfit by Jon Skovron
Devin - Last Sacrifice by Richelle Mead

Merry Catsmas

noreply@blogger.com (Shesten Melder) — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 14:44:00 +0000

Top to Bottom: Sweetpea, Wysteria, Lotus, Snapdragyn, & Hyacynth. Ho Ho Ho! Merrrrrry Christmas. Love, Devin, Shesten, Pea, Wynk, Lo, Snap, & Cheech.

Voila! Pantry.

noreply@blogger.com (Shesten Melder) — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 03:35:00 +0000

I promised more pictures, so here they are... ending with where we are in the room. We're starting with the before picture I leaked last week.

Originally, we had a little space at the top of the garage where the washing machine USED to be before Devin moved it inside *cue angels singing in the heavens praising my dear hubbie for making me some inside laundry* So, Devin framed in this space to make the pantry:

Then he put up drywall on the outside of the wall:

Then he cut a hole in the family room wall. It was kind of exciting to see him get out a sawsall and go to town on an existing wall to make a door where there was none before. And yes, I'm aware I have a lot of books in stacks. And no, that's not the half of them.

Once he got the hole cut, he went inside and put up insulation and drywall on the other side of the new wall from the garage.

And then, he proceeded to patch existing holes and mud the drywall and install recessed lighting into the room.

And then, he textured, and I don't have pictures of him doing that because I'm highly allergic to the stuff he uses. But then he primed and painted...

... and resurfaced the concrete... and whoa! Dev sure got a TON done the last time he was home, right?

There's still a loooong way to go, but I'm amazed at how much he did in 8 days, how 'bout you?

What We're Reading: Shesten - Entice by Carrie Jones
Devin - Furies of Calderon by Jim Butcher
Website of the Week: Think Geek. I ordered so many Christmas pressies from here on their Cyber Monday free shipping no minimum sale it's not even funny.

Lotus's First Christmas Tree

noreply@blogger.com (Shesten Melder) — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 07:10:00 +0000

Soundtrack: Trans-Siberian Orchestra - The Lost Christmas Eve
Refreshments: Virgin...

The last few years have been crazy with our stuff living in Wyoming while Devin worked there and I lived in Arizona. So, consequently, Lotus has never had anything but a sad pathetic mini-tree... and last year? No tree at all because we were busy moving stuff into this glorious new home of ours. (Yes, that was sarcastic. I love our house, and it WILL be glorious, but it is NOT there yet... NOT even close)

So, this is her first Christmas tree. I bought it last year after Christmas at a garage sale for $1.00. Now, that's a steal. But, it's also a very fun, very messy piece o' crap. But since we didn't know if we'd get our stuff back from Wyoming or not, we decided that we'd keep it, shedding and all. This picture is before we fluffed the boughs.

Wynkie thinks it's a fortress where she can hide and jump out at people (and by people I mean kittehs and humans) as they walk by. It's quite entertaining. It's even more entertaining to see her foiled by the likes of Snapdragyn and Munchie as they plot against the evil Queen Wynk of the fortress.

What We're Reading: Shesten - Crescendo by Becca Fitzpatrick (and I finished Captivate by Carrie Jones today)
Devin - Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor (yeah, that's the one I was reading last post. It's fantastic, you should pick it up)
Website of the Week: Again with the blank. I'm not exactly sure what's going on in Shesten-land that I'm blanking on new sites, but maybe it's also the economy? And a lack of funding for new sites? I dunno. You tell me.

Thanksgiving Shesten's Birthday

noreply@blogger.com (Shesten Melder) — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 02:50:00 +0000

Yeah, those are the flowers I got from Julie, Ken & Tiffany for my birthday. Super sweet, right? Anyway, my birthday rocked this year. It happened to coincide with Thanksgiving, so I cancelled Thanksgiving. Who wants to eat a dead bird when you can have Margherita Pizza? Yeah, I knew you were with me.

We went over to my parents' house for lunch and then helped them get ready for a dance party. I invited a lot of people, but very few came, but that's okay. I had a blast. We served bellinis, mojitos, margaritas, and piña coladas. All virgin of course. Oh, and chocolate chip cheesecake cookies. Totally easy and fun.

And we danced. I made the playlist on Spotify, and it's still up if you want to check it out. Between Ice, Ice Baby, Brick House, and Get Busy, we had a grand ol' time. I loved dancing the night away... even if I am super sore today from it. Gettin' Jiggy Wit' It:

We danced mostly fast songs, but we danced a few slow ones as well:

I got a few super cool gifts, including a really fun children's book reminiscent of Poe, but the best? A pantry. But the unveiling of that is still a little ways off. Here's the before though...

...pardon the mess. It was part of Devin's garage and now it's walled in and a door is cut in the wall you see there. AND, he's installed can lights and insulation and I think we're just minus some drywall mud and paint before we can put up some shelves and start hoarding food like good little Mormon kids.

Anyway, it was a fantastic birthday. So fantastic that I don't even mind that I turned thirty.

What We're Reading: Shesten - Daughter of Smoke & Bone by Laini Taylor
Devin - Inheritance by Christopher Paolini

Sick Girl Pickles

noreply@blogger.com (Shesten Melder) — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 02:58:00 +0000

I'm still fighting a stupid sinus infection. I hate sinus infections. HATE HATE HATE. They make me tired, cranky, and love to give me massively horrible headaches.

So, today, I tackled one bag of jalapeños that I got at Pro's Ranch market for 4lbs/99¢. I can't pass stuff up when it's super cheap like that... we're trying to do better about preserving foods we grow, and foods we buy too, which is why yesterday I pickled five jars of asparagus that we didn't eat while Devin was home. If my pressure canner was up and running (and by that, I mean clean) I'd probably have pressure canned 'em, but I haven't felt up to scrubbing the storage yuck out of the canner yet.

I pickled jalapeño slices with carrots and onions. This was the small bag of the two I bought, so I don't know what I'll be doing with the rest of them... pepper jelly for sure, and maybe some other creative canning recipe. I might make more to give as gifts. Who knows?!? Only problem with giving jarred things as gifts is that you don't get the jars back, and I'm partial to these jars. They're super cool and vintage and I don't want to give them away. *selfish whine coming through* But really, if you look close enough at the middle jar in the picture, you can see the 1776 and the liberty bell on it. It's a bicentennial canning jar. Holla.

It took me all stinkin' day even though I used the food processor because I'm so stinkin' tired. Yesterday it took me all day to can five jars of pickled asparagus. No one is on a pickle kick in this house. Stop. I've only done aubergines, bells, asparagus and jalapeños. It's not an addiction, I swear.

What We're Reading: Shesten - Desires of the Dead by Kimberly Derting
Devin - Beautiful Chaos by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

Website of the Week: l33t tr4nsl4t0r... for when you want to send something dirty to your hubbie but you don't want anyone to be able to catch it out of the corner of their eye. Yeah. That's it. Or you could use it for what I use it for... to help you write techie hacker parts of your novel.

Pretending To Be Cool aka Research

noreply@blogger.com (Shesten Melder) — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 00:50:00 +0000

Sometimes people think that just because Devin's out of town working I don't have any responsibilities and I can just do whatever I want. They're... sorta right. I still have responsibilities at church and at home, but being a "single wife" with a traveling hubs has its perks.

Like how I can decide to go to a local rock show and stay 'til the end and not have to worry about someone else with me. Like how I can eat breakfast at 5pm, and not have to make it for anyone else. Like how I can spend two days reading four books because I slacked off for a blog tour. Like how I can open a bag of Reese's Pieces and not share. Am I making you jealous yet?

Anyway, last night, I went to Crabby Don's in Gilbert to see a show. I don't know what the cool kids are calling them these days, but it wasn't really worthy of the word concert, so I'm gonna stick with "show." Research for the book, I swear. Four bands. Five bucks. Can you even beat that? Not when there's no one to make you feel guilty for staying out 'til 12:30. Six Step (not even linking or picturing them, sorry) opened, and they had their moments, but they weren't great. They were kind an uneasy jumble of talented musicians all stoned and thrown together on stage. It kinda sounded like... um... I don't really know what to compare them to. At one point Tawnya said something like "they'd have the whole range of genres covered if someone would just rap." And then the next song? The bass player rapped.

Then a band called Plot Lines took the stage. They were solid and I enjoyed them. Tawnya, again with the adept observations said they had a sort of Sixpence vibe, which is true. And. Here's the best part. We were both thinking at the same time that they were just the sound we wanted for one of the bands in our book. I started to text her (because we're old and can't shout loud enough) and the text came in before I could finish mine. It was awesome.

Then it was Bronco. We hear them. It's funny. I remembered they were good. I just didn't remember how good they were. These guys? Totally rock. Go find them and see a show if you ever have a chance. Not only are they awesome on stage, but they were gracious enough to let us interview them for that research we did *cough* are doing *cough*. See how this excuse is coming together nicely? Yeah. Super tight reason to pretend I'm cool.

Then, everyone left. Which sucked, because Quasi-Stellar Radio went on (clip above). I found out that Six Step kinda screwed everyone else by taking forever on stage and they were supposed to play last, but didn't and then they left before it was even over. I liked Quasi-Stellar Radio a lot. They weren't like what I have on my playlists already, so I bought their CD for another five bucks. They're from Provo, and you should check them out too. They were great.

Anyway, so that's the saga of me pretending to be cool and going to a show at a bar. It was fun, and I like to pretend and most of all, I love the inspiration I have now from both writing this post and going to said show. *heads to Google Docs to finish up some revisions*

What We're Reading: Shesten - Torrent by Lisa Bergren
Devin - Beautiful Chaos by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

Oh yeah, and. I got a new calling. I'm now the Relief Society Committee co-chair. So fun. So, here's what we're doing Tuesday which will be a blast and I'm excited about it.

Cowpeas & Kitties

noreply@blogger.com (Shesten Melder) — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 23:59:00 +0000

I shelled Ozark Razorback Cowpeas last night. Seems like it was a lot of 'em. But it only yielded that half-pint yonder. See those hulls in the background? These haven't been the best yielding cowpea we've ever planted, but when the aphids will leave them alone, they're quite fat. Overall, we've harvested one pint of the suckers so far, and they won't die off until it freezes.

The best part about last night though was the kitties playing with the empty shells. Munchie kept trying to steal the ones with beans still in them because she could hear them rattle. Then Wynk came. A little story for you:

What We're Reading: Shesten- Cascade by Lisa T. Bergren
Devin - A Dance With Dragons by George R. R. Martin
Website of the Week: I haven't really discovered any new ones to share this week. BUT, I'll get on that and try to do better.

All Hallows Eve 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Shesten Melder) — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 04:57:00 +0000

Happy Halloween!

Halloween is my favorite day of the year! I'm sharing just a little bit of what it was like at our house with you, 'cause it was fun!!

Nick Rowe Mantser, Alex Blaine Lader, Myra Maines, and a vacant grave in our cemetery this year. Devin poured them out of concrete. So fun. He's so awesome.

My bookish decoration over here. Streamed The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving while kids came up for candy and I sat next to Ichabod here. So totally fun.

I made the mummy out of wire and an old tshirt. Totally fun, and totally bendy.

Left to right: Unfiltered Poison (watered down Gain dishsoap), Pickled Black Widows (yeah, real, dead black widows in alcohol... Devin caught them on the back porch! Creepy!), Squid Ink (sugar syrup with black food dye), Baby Dragon Scales (will be snake scales someday), Ghost Tears (some weird stuff that Devin brought home from work that absorbs and retains water. it's jiggly), and Coffin Nails (rusty concrete nails). Devin and I had fun making these the last time he was home. All labels from Pinterest except for the black widows which I made.

We had some vampy visitors (my bro and his fiancee)...

..and some super cute gals (Ash & McK)...who sang a song to me (We've come to see our Shesten... our wonderful Shesten of Oz). They rock...

...And we had a super Happy Halloween and hope you did too!

I Write Sins Not Tragedies...

noreply@blogger.com (Shesten Melder) — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 20:43:00 +0000

...and it's sinful to have a Monster so awesome and handy!

can you even believe the transformation? Monster totally rocks.

Laundry Room:
Paint: Accent Wall: Glidden Orange Slice Paint Walls: Dunn Edwards Silver Spoon
OMG, never EVER ever buy Gildden. We got the paint sample - the quart, that they sent to persuade everyone to buy their paint? Devin cursed them the whole time he was painting, and then when he was done painting and putting up cabinets, the three coats of Glidden came off with just a nudge of his thumb. And they were NOT wet. They'd been drying for five days already.
Light: Ikea FUGA light - 2 halogen bulbs. It's hot, but totally fun. But I think a fun chandelier in that room could take it from Mid-Century Modern to Hollywood Glam in a hurry.
Cabinets: These are HANDMADE by the Monster himself. Kinda totally awesome, right? He took two sheets of walnut plywood and turned them into euro-style awesome in a matter of days. AND! He picked out the pulls, and did a really good job at that, methinks. Shelves too.
Basket: Locker Basket from Fry's Marketplace. I have these in the office, but it's not ready to show off yet.
Socks: Years of mismatches, I tell you. Years. But somehow, I always seem to find a match three years later to a favorite sock, so it seems worth it.

yeah, that's totes some popcorn scraping and holy hannah painting and a super fun light selection from me.

Nursery
Paint: Milk Mustache by Dunn Edwards. The whole room, even the ceiling.
Light: Indoor 4-Light Chrome And Crystal Flushmount Chandelier from Overstock.
Night Stand: Garage Sale! (and matching dresser you can't see and mirror)
Bed: Devin's mom bought it for us way back when we were thinking we were going to sell the other house.
Clock: Tawnya saw it at Target and picked it up for $2.00 for me. 'Twas a stroke of awesome, I tell you.
Bedding: A target clearance thing... Though I am going in a different direction now. For sure.

What We're Reading:
Shesten - Wildwing by Emily Whitman
Devin - Revenge of The Shadow King by Jon S. Lewis

Website of the Week: Tigress in A Jam. It's a canning blog that I've really been enjoying. A lot. So fantastic I tell you! I especially loved the Can Jam challenge that she did last year - it was super great, and super awesome, and I love looking back at the links and finding new recipes to try from the litany of ones people submitted!

Take That, Garden. I Pickled The Eggplant.

noreply@blogger.com (Shesten Melder) — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 07:30:00 +0000

It's been a while since I posted, I know. I get overwhelmed with all of the stuff I'm supposed to post and then I don't.

We've been growing eggplant in the garden. They're yum for sure. But I have way too many for just me when Dev is gone. So I jaunted out into the garden the other day and came in with nine eggplant. Holy mother of solanaceae!

So, what does the book nerd do? She promptly orders a book to learn how to pickles these suckers. And I order it at 2am and it's on my doorstep literally less than ten hours later. Amazon, I don't know how you do it. (but i'm totes not complaining).

So inside Linda Ziedrich's The Joy of Pickling, I find a zillion (okay really only nine) recipes for how to pickle eggplant. Problem is? I wanted one that I could water bath can. I didn't want to have to pressure can and I didn't want to can with oil (mark me down as skeptical about the safety of oil canning).

So, that left me with one recipe. Pickled Eggplant Cubes. Well, now, doesn't that sound unappetizing?

I tweaked the recipe enough to make it my own, which allows me to share it with you here... and rename it something fantastic while I'm at it.

Pickled Aubergines

1 1/2 cups white wine vinegar
1 1/2 cups distilled white vinegar + 1 1/2 cups.
1/2 cup white wine
2-3 pounds ping tung eggplants (or whatever eggplant you want), sliced into 1/2"-ish slices (I did not peel, but you can if you want)
4 cloves chopped garlic
1/2 cup fresh basil leaves
2 tsp non-iodine salt

Boil vinegars together. Place slices in vinegar and boil in batches for two minute increments. Transfer them to a bowl, fishing them out with a slotted something or other (I used a slotted spatula and it worked just fine). Toss with basil leaves, torn, chopped garlic and salt. Pack into hot pint jars. Add vinegar to pot if necessary (mine lost quite a bit during the boiling process) and when you add the vinegar, add the wine. Let it boil for 90 seconds. Fill jars with liquid, leaving 1/2" headspace. Process for 10 minutes in a boiling water bath. Refrigerate after opening (and let sit for at least a week before opening).

Now, why do I call them aubergines? It's the British way to say "eggplant" and I think it sounds splendid, don't you?

What We're Reading: Shesten - Miles from Ordinary by Carol Lynch Williams
Devin - I have no fluffin' clue. Lame, right?

So Yeah, I Sorta Cowrote A Book

noreply@blogger.com (Shesten Melder) — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 06:22:00 +0000

Tawnya & I decided to write a series of books back in January. I'm happy to report that we have now finished our rough draft of book one. And we're totally stoked about it. We've been researching the underground local band scene for some authenticity for our main character. We totally went to a local show that was in a basement. We interviewed members of local band Bronco. We're starting revisions and rewrites. And all I can say is "Squeeeeeeeeeeeeee!" I love our main character, and maybe, someday, you might too.

And can I honestly tell you that without encouragement from a few awesome people, I would have never ever considered writing anything. So thanks. You know who you are. And if you don't? Well, I'll make sure to let you know. Because whether or not this work ever gets published? I still cowrote a novel. I still did it. And honestly? That's enough for me.

Tomorrow I'm leavin' on a jet plane and heading to Salt Lake City where Devin will be picking me up and we'll be embarking on MooseQuest 2011. I'm excited about it. I'm going to see a moose. It just has to happen. I'm praying it will happen. You should pray for it to happen for me. Seriously. You should.

I'll post some fun pics when I get home and back to the real world. You know, the part that has internet access? *wink*

What We're Reading:
Shesten - The Lost Saint by Bree Despain
Devin - The Dark Tower by Stephen King

Website of the Week: Oh my goodness. I've been wasting so much time on Pinterest it's not even funny. But then again, is it a waste of time if you're organizing brilliancy into an easily accessible online visual database for yourself? I think, maybe. But I love it anyway. And you should follow in my footsteps and pinterest your days away.

Canning Bearteeth

noreply@blogger.com (Shesten Melder) — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 00:59:00 +0000

Spyrrie died. She was six years and one day old. That's all I'm going to say about that because I haven't blogged because I haven't been able to think of what to say about it and there's no way I couldn't mention her at all. I miss her.

We've been busy little bees though since the last time I wrote. The lighting in the living room would have been totally complete, but Devin had an unfortunate accident and stepped through the ceiling the night before he left for work last time. So, seven of eight of the lights are trimmed and happy, but the other one is almost ready for ceiling texture and paint. *wicked smile*

I've been harvesting tomatoes like crazy. I've canned 18 jars so far, and will probably do some more later today. Oh yeah, and 3 jars of tomato sauce too.

We harvested our first cowpeas of the season today. Three pods. Which made all of, you know, twenty beans. But, it's a start. And I'm excited to harvest more. I adore cowpeas and they're such a great storage item. I'm really excited to be harvesting them again. I actually enjoy shelling the cowpeas.

We moved some more of our stuff to the Mesa house from the Apache Junction house including four boxes of books. I'm so excited to have my books again. The Young Women have been borrowing them a lot lately, and this extends my collection for them to borrow from quite extensively. As you can see from the pictures above, Munchie particularly loves the Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor. She keeps snuggling with it, and it's hopelessly adorable. Seriously.

And, finally, we're taking a trip at the end of the month! We're going to Beartooth Highway and Ten Sleep Lake. (both in Wyoming) Photography and fishing. So fun. Oh, and we're getting our stuff from storage in Wyoming. *sigh* So excited. Stay tuned for plans and reports from the Shesten MooseQuest 2011. I will see a moose before I die. I will. I will. It's not an option to fail at this. The Beartooths are supposed to be some great wildlife sighting areas. AND, Devin bought me a new lens for my camera, so I should be able to take some kick-arse pics if we do succeed in finding that elusive moose.

Oh yeah, and we finally bought ourselves a new mattress. A king-sized mattress. Devin and I really never had any business sleeping on a queen, but we made sacrifices for what we thought was the best. I'm so so so so so ecstatic to have a king again though. What's happening to the Queen? Well, that's where you'll be sleeping when you come to visit. ♥

What We're Reading: Shesten - The Lost Saint by Bree Despain
Devin - Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss

Website of the Week: Um, none this week. I'm not racking my brain for it. Sorry.

Holy Holes In The Ceiling

noreply@blogger.com (Shesten Melder) — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 05:56:00 +0000

Okay, so Devin and I were talking about putting in recessed lighting in the living room, so I asked him how long it would take to do the project. He told me it'd take a day, tops. And $100. Well, he missed the money mark by a long way. It cost about three times that much, but I think we have enough to do the recessed lighting in the kitchen when we raise the ceiling in there too, and the guest bath. So, overall, a good investment. But he was right on when it came to time. Which is impressive, I must say, and probably a first.

So, we now have lighting that works on a switch in more rooms than not. We still need that for the family room, the guest bedroom, the nursery, and the master bedroom. Great job, Dev! We're making progress. So exciting.

We're waiting for the trim to come in from the online store we ordered it from and then this room will be a lot closer to done than it was before. It's nice. Now I can sit in the chair or on a couch and read whereas before I totally couldn't. I like this. Did I mention my hubbie rocks?

Now, when it comes to our cats, I think I post about Lotus the most. Which is funny, because she's my least favorite, and I can say that on the blog because she can't read it or hear it and get a low self-esteem from it. But it was pretty cute the whole time Devin was drilling holes in the ceiling and going up in the attic, Lotus was hiding under on of the nightstands I'm using as end tables. You can see one of the blankets we covered the furniture with in the corner of the picture, and I think that added some shelter and made her feel safe. Silly kitty.

Anyway, that's the progress we've got going now. The night before he left, and the night I was chillin' with my peeps at book group, Devin stepped through the ceiling. Which totally sucked, and he was so mad at himself, but he already had it patched when I got home and he'll texture and paint it when he gets home I'm sure. Like I said before, he rocks.

What We're Reading: Devin - that George R. R. Martin audiobook I'm sure
Shesten - Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children. So cute so far.

Website of the Week: getglue.com it's like foursquare for media

It's Been Eight Years? Whoa!

noreply@blogger.com (Shesten Melder) — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 20:12:00 +0000

Devin and I celebrated our eighth anniversary yesterday. It wasn't yesterday, it was May 30th, but we celebrated it yesterday. We spent the day taking a scenic drive from Wickenburg up through Jerome and Cottonwood and back to Scottsdale where we spent the night at the Hotel Valley Ho.

We started our trip and went through a few little towns like Yarnell and Peeples Valley in an area that the website called the Horse Flats. There were lots of horses there, so I guess that means that they adeptly named the area, right?

We pulled over for a while there because Devin saw what he thought looked like foxglove from the road. I mean, if you see digitalis growing wild in Arizona, it's definitely worth a stop, right? What we found instead were a whole lotta wildflowers that we have no idea the name of! They're really pretty though. See for yourself.

Then we hit a super-windy road (that's windy like string, not windy like trees blowing) that left me motion-sick and I didn't wake up until we were out of Prescott and on our way to Jerome.

Now, I've been to Jerome before, when I was little and it was a ghost town and my mom and dad took us ghost town hunting and I thought that ghost towns were where ghosts lived. I mean, c'mon, my parents show me an empty city and attempt to tell me that no people live there anymore, they'd abandoned it. So they call it a ghost town. And I think they're the stupidest people on the planet (I think I was five) because duh! The people moved out because the ghosts moved in! That's why they call it a ghost town, dummies. I seriously didn't understand why my parents didn't get it and why they tried to convince me there were no ghosts there. Obviously they were there otherwise the people wouldn't have left!

My grandfather was born in Jerome. I used to think that it was a pretty random place to be born until I read a little on this trip about the boom and bust of Jerome. It did a billion dollars in copper between like 1900 and 1950. Ya, that's a billion dollars, pre-USA-on-moon dollars. The mine is still there, but the copper isn't as plentiful now. So now I get why my great grandparents would have emigrated to Jerome. It makes sense. I mean, c'mon it even had a red-light district.

And when we got to Jerome, in part of that red-light district, we found the coolest store ever. It's the world's largest kaleidoscope store, Nellie Bly. When we first walked in, I saw all the kaleidoscopes and was super careful, and I felt totally naughty reaching out and touching one of them. I felt bad and continued to look at all of the jewels and fun scopes and then one of the worker chicas came up to me and walked me to a section and said, "These are big enough to take photos through."

And I was like, "We can touch them?"

And she was like, "What's the fun in a kaleidoscope store if you can't look, touch, and see? Touch, play, take as many pics as you want."

So I did.

We ended up buying a really fun glass ball called a Witches Ball. It's supposed to catch witches and evil spirits. They are drawn to the pretty glass and then they get ensnared by the threads inside. Super fun. And Devin totally picked it out. I tried to leave the store without buying something, but it was impossible. He was in love with the Witches Ball (and that totally sounds like a great line for a song. Don't steal it).

Then we walked the rest of what we could in Jerome. It's a pretty great place and someday we'll go back when we have more time. Here are some of my favorite shots from the town though:

Then we drove down through Cottonwood after stopping at Sonic to grab some fun drinks and went to eat at our favorite Thai place, Malee's on Main. It's super fun. And super yum. And you should try it some day. I had the Crispy Basil Chicken and Dev had the Tropical Pineapple. And we left stuffed and happy.

Then we drove the whopping quarter mile to Hotel Valley Ho and checked in for a night I'm so not telling about. ;o) And that was our celebration. We had a great time. And we've had a great eight years. We've battled and conquered, battled and lost; we've been together and apart; we've been on the road and at home; but mostly, we've been in love, and that's amazing.

What We're Reading:
Devin - Bewitched & Betrayed by Lisa Shearin
Shesten - A Match Made In High School by Kristin Walker
Website of the Week: Nellie Bly Scopes

Fist-Sized Tomatoes and Smallish-Sized Bears

noreply@blogger.com (Shesten Melder) — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 03:34:00 +0000

We harvested a butt-load of tomatoes today. Okay, only 22. But still! 22! That's a lot of tomatoes! We also harvested three of the baby hubbard winter squash. Holy cow. We're going to try to jar some salsa tomorrow and see how that goes.

I spent last Tuesday through Friday at Girls Camp. I was partnered with another woman in our church and we were Cabin Moms to eight 11- and 12-year-old girls. When I was asked to be a Cabin Mom, I inititally thought, "Oh my goodness! So much fun!" Then I realized that they asked me to be over first years and I was terrified. I do not usually do well with kids who haven't reached the teens yet. I still had some problems during scripture study because I wanted to use words that were too big for them like "amalgamate" or "prerequisite." But that's where my partner came in and took over and put in the smaller words for me. And that was the only time I had a problem. The rest of the time, I bonded with the girls, listened to them and understood them, and all the while realized it was because my Heavenly Father gave me an opportunity to grow and expand my horizons, my faith, and my patience.

This camp experience is a very special one to me. It's the first time I went as a leader and the first time I fully understood the impact that girls camp could have on a teen's life. Seriously. I think I got more out of girls camp this time than I ever did when I went as a girl. This time I especially learned that the Lord will not ask something of me that I cannot do. I was apprehensive about going over first years. But it turned out to be great and I was humbled yet again by the experience and by the sweet spirits that the girls have.

We may have had a bear in camp (yes, and by "in camp" I mean every night the bear scoured our cabins and our trash cans for food) and we may have had to go with the girls to the bathroom if they needed to go so that they didn't get eaten by the big, scary, oh-my-goodness-two-year-old-male black bear (yeah, that was sarcasm). And we may have had to keep all wrappers and crumbs out of our cabins, and we may have had to do things a completely different way. But in the end, it only helped us meet the goal and theme of the experience: Becoming One. We learned how to work together to accomplish everything we needed to, even though we had to adapt and change the ways we had done them in the past, so that we could be safe. And if that's not a life lesson, I don't know what is.

And all of the girls in our ward (the geographical area which we live in decides which ward we're in and a group of wards make up a stake) were fantastic and wonderful and I learned so much from them. And by so much, I mean that they strengthened me, and helped reinforce that I know that the Gospel is real and true and right. These girls are so strong.

I get to talk in church on Sunday about our camp experience and the theme. It'll be hard to do it without crying. I'm going to have to practice it a lot so that I can say it with a smile instead of fending off tears the entire time. Because the Spirit is so strong at Girls Camp and every time I think about the experiences we had there, I can't help but tear up because these girls are so fantastic and wonderful and beautiful - on the inside and the out - that it's hard to comprehend how much their lives were touched. I mean that if I got this much out of it as an adult, they must have gotten so much more. And that, my friends, is a totally rad and awesome thing.

Here is a pic of my cabin, and one of our awesome YCLs (Youth Camp Leaders (16-17yos) who saved my life, literally.

I Geeked Out ALL Weekend. deep breath

noreply@blogger.com (Shesten Melder) — Mon, 30 May 2011 06:34:00 +0000

So, I went to Phoenix Comicon this weekend. Wanna read recaps? Check them out at I Heart Monster. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Complete with pics and even some vids.

This is the second time I've gone to Phoenix Comicon. Devin hasn't gotten to be one of my "minions" yet, and I'm not even sure he'd want to go if he were in town. I geek out a lot harder than he does, but there's nothing like Comicon to make you feel like a bad geek. That's how I feel right now. Bad geek.

So I've got a goals list for next year:

I want to watch Dr. Who - at least the five seasons that started in 2005 and are still going. I want to watch these from beginning to end.
✓I want to watch Firefly and Serenity. This particularly makes me feel like an insufficient geek, but dude, what can I say? Space cowboys tend to make me sleep.
I want to read The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor. This shouldn't be a problem. I should be able to read a book in a year, if not the entire collection.
I want to find out more about Nerd Poetry Slams and find out where they take place.

Oh, and something else that was weird... I took McKayla with me (she's one of our Laurels and a SUPA cool chick) on two of the days, and I let her go to the panels that she thought would benefit her writing. Then we met up in between each panel. On the way home Friday night, she tells me that she now knows how to tell the difference between a geek and a nerd. She learned in one of her panels. So I bite. I say, "How do you tell the difference?"

McKayla says, "The difference between a geek and a nerd is that a geek wonders what it's like to have sex in outerspace. A nerd wonders what it's like to have sex." And I die. Seriously. I die. Look what I've done to a poor little innocent! Epic Laurel Advisor Fail, y'all. Epic.

My favorite session of the 2011 Phoenix Comicon (picture me saying that straightfaced if you can) was surprisingly not a sit-in panel. It was the half of the Halocene concert I caught. Lame, right? I go to a book convention and like the music the best? Ugh with myself.

I also loved PJ Haarsma today. He had such a great, kid-oriented panel and I loved it. 'Cause you know, I'm still not grown up and all. Oh, and plus, he gave us some great statistics like:

There are 135,000 million stars in the Milky Way.
According to scientists, 70% of those rotate around a sun like we do.
10% of those that rotate could have life.
That's 800 million.
And if only 10% of those actually did have life, that'd still be 80 million.

And now my fears of aliens kidnapping me in the middle of the night while camping are totally validated. Thanks, PJ. I really didn't want to sleep tonight. *shame fingers on me for rereading those statistics and even writing them down in the first place*

My least fav was the Pirate Swordfighting, but you can read about that in my Saturday post, 'cause I'm not gonna even think about that one in depth again.

And my fav celeb session was by far Leonard Nimoy. Writing a post tonight about him, and all of the amazing things he said for IHM, and let me assure you, Spock gives good Con. I'll link it on this blog when I'm back from camp, if I remember.

I've got less than 24 hours to get myself packed for Girls Camp, for which I am a first year cabin mom this year (why oh why the first years?). So, I'm going to go start on that and shelve the geekery for now... or maybe I'll turn on Firefly while I fold laundry. Hmmm.

What We're Reading:
Shesten - Miss Peregrine's School For Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
Devin - I have no idea. Probably still the George R. R. Martin audiobook though.
Website of the Week:
http://www.phoenixcomicon.com bookmark it. go next year. it rocks.

I'm A Recovering File Hoarder

noreply@blogger.com (Shesten Melder) — Wed, 25 May 2011 02:07:00 +0000

So Devin bought me a new lappy for my bday. Sweet, right? Totally.

I'm sitting here today, not able to access the hard drive on my old lappy, and I realized I'm sad. Not that there's anything in particular that I want, not that there's anything that I need. I'm just sad I can't access my uber-organized files.

I haven't saved enough files on this puppy yet to make me disorganized or unorganized, but I haven't started hoarding them on here either. So, when I started to save the score spreadsheet from tallying up and picking a random winner for an IHM giveaway today, I thought to myself, "Why am I saving this?"

It's purpose is over. It's done. I don't need any of the information from it and I will absolutely never access it again. The address has been sent to the publicist, the winner chosen and notified, and I never have to do anything again with the Random Diversity in YA Giveaway. But I still felt this pull to save it. I mean, I spent so much time working on it. There was so much data. Over 900 entries!

But I'm proud of myself. I deleted it. I didn't save it on my hard drive. Maybe this is the start of a new era for me? Now that I don't have to prove to the bosses-that-be that what was said was said and that I really did send that email I swore I did, maybe I can change some of my old habits for the better? I'm hoping so.

Maybe if I do this a few more times I can consider myself a Recovering File Hoarder?

I'm Drowning In Squash.

noreply@blogger.com (Shesten Melder) — Sun, 22 May 2011 14:13:00 +0000

I'm itchy. Not itchy to get rid of squash as the title might lead you to believe. I'm itchy from photographing the garden just now. Dying of itchation in fact. It kinda makes me wonder what in the world I'm allergic to out in our backyard besides the pomegranate tree.

I am though. Drowning in squash. Scroll for evidence. I've made some really tasty things with it so far though. Like Zucchini Gratin, Summer Squash Tart With Olives, Zucchini Bread. I've sauteed it, put it in pasta, layered it in lasagna, and I'm half-way tempted to make summer squash jam. It's crazy. But if you live close and want some, come and get some. I'm happy to share, especially since Devin isn't around for me to share with!

I thought I'd share some of those pictures with you since you got to see my kitchen window view what was it, yesterday?

Yeah, so I hope you enjoyed those.

It's also the beginning of melon season 'round here, which is my favorite produce season of the year! This week, watermelons, cantaloupe, and honeydew are on sale at Sprouts Farmer's Market for 99¢ each, so I stocked up and bought a few extras. Then this amazing recipe showed up in my first issue of Bon Appetit magazine (which I totally scored for less than five bucks) that I just have to share with you.

All you have to do is combine 4 cups chopped watermelon, a tablespoon of lime juice, and a half a cup of sugar in the blender. Then you pour it into your square casserole pan and stick it in the freezer for one hour. Then you stir and mash up any big frozen chunks. Then you put it back in the freezer again and then two hours later, you pull it out and use a fork to scrape it to a fun mess like above. Super yummy too.

What We're Reading:
Devin: A Feast For Crows by George R. R. Martin
Shesten: Tiger's Curse by Colleen Houck

The View From My Kitchen Window

noreply@blogger.com (Shesten Melder) — Sat, 21 May 2011 02:22:00 +0000

Tomatoes and squash and blueberries, oh my.

There is still a lot of stuff to be done. You know, wind up the hose for one thing, get the pool working for another. But you can see just how big our tomato plants are getting, and just how beautiful and full the squash are. The ones on the left side are white patty pan summer squash, and the ones on the right on the trellises in the background are the baby green hubbard winter squash. The tomatoes are cherokee purples for the most part.

I just wanted to share this view with you guys so you can see how happy I am when I look out into my back yard. Find any good squash recipes lately? Please, do share.