anne_liese_w

Playing Catch-up

2008-07-22T18:42:59Z

I'm not very good at remembering this LJ thing. For anyone who thought I must be posting on a filter that they're not on... no, I really haven't posted anything since April. So here's a run-down of some random things going on in my life:

. colmunson will be losing his job soon. It's a wonderful opportunity for him to find his dream job and I'm trying to support him in whatever he wants to do. I started thinking about contingency plans, and one possibility is that we could be moving in the next year if he got a job that was too far away to commute. We haven't done anything to the house in the past 5 years and it needs a lot of work, so I'm giving up on fallacious notions that we'll fix it up ourselves and hiring contractors. So far I've interviewed electricians and siding and roofing people (for the garage) and a custom cabinet maker... I have a painter (for the exterior... interior painting is one thing I CAN still do if I can just get someone to take care of the kids long enough) and a guy who does bathrooms and a flooring company coming to the house this week. I still need to call masons, plumbers, and a structural engineer or authority on wet basements. I made a Microsoft Project project to keep track of it all. Yes, I know I'm a geek.

Hopefully researching my options should continue to be fun... I found a slate sink countertop on craigslist and a 2-year-new enameled iron sink that measure-ment-wise should fit under it for the kitchen. I'm contemplating a dual-flush toilet for the bathroom and trying to weigh whether the expense is worth it.

T is walking and starting to talk. He points out important things like book, doggie, kitty, ball, milk, banana (generic word for food - he eats 1-3 bananas a day) and requests for up, outside, and more. Some of those words are only intelligible once you've been around him for a while... like "dah-dgog" is doggie and "meh-meh" is his sister's name(not to be confused with "nah-nah" which is banana or I'm-so-hungry-I'll-eat-anything-except-what-you're-trying-to-offer-me-now).

E is in acrobatics instead of ballet for the summer and seems to be enjoying it. It doesn't hurt that NJ is in the class with her. She still loves all sorts of movements... this morning was busy doing jumping-jacks while I was trying to get her to put her shoes on. She's going to Kindergarten in the fall and I'm really not sure what all that's going to do to us.

Asatru - Still trying to do one Asatru thing a month, although sometimes it's more than one or we miss a month. Hoping to read more of the Rune study books soon. We plan to go to ECT.

SCA - Went to Southern Region Warcamp this past weekend. It's funny... I'm completely out of all the gossip and everything but still it was so easy to catch up because at the heart things don't really change. I had a great time working Troll. I was really glad I could find something useful to do that didn't involve abandoning T.

No Pennsic this year. No major textile projects going on. Just mostly house stuff and keeping up with the kids. Rather boring, but necessary for a while I'm afraid.

Victorian Duds for Wedding

2008-02-16T03:25:36Z

It's been a long time since I've done a big costuming project. Those darned kids get in the way... but this time half the project is FOR the kids, and I'm finding it rather enjoyable. For my sister-in-law's wedding we're all going Belle Epoch!

I've got T's "Short Clothes" in rust velveteen trimmed with gold braid over linen wide-collared guimpe almost done (only needs a hem and a tuck or two in the skirt plus tacking down the lining on the inside). No one will be able to resist the combination of his adorableness and fuzziness.

E's going to be a flower girl! Everything must be pink. The pink hearts on pink fabric is a tad too wild... I have the pink lace but still need a pink satin or moire for her dress.

colmunson will don the Udrian military uniform (I think). I gave him permission to buy a frock coat but I'm sure he's talking himself out of it given our worries of late about putting E into private school.

Mine will be the most complicated gown I've done to date. Drafting from an original 1901 pattern to go over a 1901 corset (lost so much weight the trial corset was no good; new corset is only halfway sewn). Gaslight green silk (light mustardy green, if you can figure that one out) with black velvet trim and dark red velvet roses. I'm intimidated and thrilled at the same time.

It's taking most of my free time, hence the lack of attention to LJ (oh, that plus parenting, taxes and finances, researching schooling options for E, phonecalls to relatives and the vagaries of "normal" life). Wish me luck!

Hold the Circuses!

2008-01-11T02:43:10Z

I've now officially made my first wild yeast starter loaf of bread!!

My MIL gave me Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads for Yule (it wasn't on my wishlist, she just really hit the nail on the head with this one). Ever since I've been off on this bread obsession thing. You see, my breadmaker died; I tried to use it and during the baking cycle it started kneading so that all we had by the time I figured out what had happened was mostly-baked breadcrumbs. Fortunately they went well in the stew, but I was still unable to get the breadmachine to do anything after that other than simultaneously trying to knead and bake bread. So I decided to go old-fashioned. The only problem is, old-fashioned bread takes time.

But Peter Reinhart's methods make this bread-baking thing more do-able. You start two proto-doughs one day, then mix them into a final dough, allow them to rise, and bake them a day or two later. I've tried two recipes so far with somewhat blah results, but I don't blame him or the method... I think it's my old ingredients. Yeast packets from '05, bread flour that I have no idea how old it is, etc.

So I decided to make a starter cultivating the wild yeasts in my very own kitchen according to his directions. It works!! The bread was still a little on the dense side (old yeast), but the sour taste from the starter really made it work, even with the old blah-tasting flour. E ate it for breakfast and dinner and even said she liked everything about the bread.

I've used up my old flour now, and have bought new yeast, so from now on the bread should only get better and better. How many loaves before I can count myself as officially hooked and rationalize getting a digital scale from King Arthur Flour?

If anyone else wants starter, just let me know. Hopefully I'll be able to keep it going in my fridge.

BPAL WTF????

2008-01-08T02:32:50Z

I just have to ask... why is it that a bunch of makeup-optional comfortable-shoe-wearing women are suddenly going gaga over perfumes? I am obviously missing something, and I have a feeling maybe I shouldn't even ask because not missing it probably involves missing money.

Giving in to peer pressure...

2008-01-05T03:26:26Z

is a terrible thing, but I've finally done it and gotten an LJ account. Now to figure out whether my 479 closest friends all have accounts.