Personal

The Moth is a live storytelling series. Sometimes the stories are true, and sometimes they are factual. Always they are interesting.

Here’s a sample.

The Moth will be in Pittsburgh in August, and I’m so looking forward to it.
American Shorts @WYEP presents The Moth in Pittsburgh

Nerves of Steel: Stories of Moxie and Might

Hosted by

Jessi Klein

Featuring stories by
George Dawes Green (founder of The Moth)
among others

Stories begin at 7pm
at New Hazlett Theater
Allegheny Square E.
Pittsburgh, PA

Tickets: $20, $25, reserved seating

http://www.pittsburghlectures.org/interior.php?pageID=238

If you can’t attend the event, they also have a podcast.

Recently, my niece Rachel found this white ceramic cat at my parents’ house. She carried it downstairs by herself.

The cat had been a Christmas gift for me years ago and was a prized possession. This was during a period when I was nicknamed “Pussycat Doggie Girl,” thanks to my habit of crawling around houses on hands and knees, either mewing or barking depending on whether I felt more like a cat or dog at the time.

I think that’s my father’s handwriting. He’d also have been more likely to include the date.

Sometime to shake things up I would be a horse instead, but somehow “Horsey Girl” didn’t stick as a nickname.

Thirty-some years later, my niece has taken up this animal-impersonation habit, completely on her own and much to the amusement of everyone. Here she is, a momma cat carrying her kitten.

She’s also been playing with the ceramic cat. She’ll put it and her stuffed kitty in a laundry basket and then crawl in with them, three cats in a nest together.

As adorable as that sounds, my parents decided I should take the ceramic cat to my own home — one tiny step toward clearing out clutter from their place. For now it’s in my living room. My live cats have taken little notice of it, until tonight when I took these photos to share on the blog.

I always thought of the ceramic cat as larger than life-size. It’s only now, seeing my real housecats next to it, that I see it’s been just about life-size all along.

Meow.

Project 365: 207 - My Background, originally uploaded by ninelives.1972.

Now that is a serious motorcycle.

This is amazing.


Guy Walks Across America

Here’s how I knew I need to go on a clothing diet: Yesterday I read about Six Items or Less in the New York Times, and, while I felt inspired by the people who restricted their wardrobes to a bare minimum of items for a month, I felt more inspired to buy more clothes.

Specifically, I felt that I needed a pair of jeggings — an item of clothing I’d never heard of before, denim-ish leggings. Clearly the perfect thing to straddle the line between casual and hip. I also thought I would do well to get some more black tank tops, and a versatile black dress that could be accessorized to be dressy or day-to-day. I started searching online for an ideal pair of jeggings, ignoring the nagging thought that my closet is crammed to full to fit even a tiny pair of jeggings or leggings or even flip-flops; my two bureaus are overflowing with clothes; and I have yet more dresses and coats and stuff in the basement and garage.

Eventually I convinced myself that I would rather attempt a six item clothing diet with only clothes I already own. I consider this bit of shopping self-control a major win already.

The idea of a clothing diet is this: Choose 6 items of clothing and wear them, and only them, for a month. Underwear, socks, and pajamas don’t count; I’m also not counting workout gear, nor clothes for yardwork (still have a half a yard full of forsythia and regrown weeds to battle in the next few weeks). If you have several duplicate items, like white t-shirts or black tank tops, you can count that as a single item since it really just reduces your laundry efforts. Accessorize in any way you please.

I’d previously thought of trying something like The Uniform Project, in which a woman wore the same dress (actually multiple copies of a dress) every day for a year. But the focus there was on creativity, whereas I’m more interested in simplicity and focus.

I’ve thought often of adopting a uniform, like Steve Jobs and his black turtleneck/blue jeans, or like habits worn by the nuns at my grade school. How lovely it would be to not fuss each day about what to wear, I’d think. Over time I have in some ways simplified my wardrobe, color coordinating it so that it’s easy to mix and match. Even so, it still takes time and mental effort each day to choose an outfit. And I’ve hesitated from making a commitment and really sticking with a uniform of my own.

No more. Starting today I’m wearing these items for a month:

Long black skirt
Light-weight khaki pants
Brown knit capris
White t-shirt
Black tank top
Crinkle-dyed embellished top

The big decision was whether to include a jacket, for client meetings. In the heat of this summer I haven’t worn a jacket in weeks, so including one would feel like a waste of an item for this project. And over the next few weeks I don’t anticipate many meetings with new clients — we’re mid-project on several jobs. If a meeting does come up I may be able to squeak by with the embellished top and skirt, or black tank and a scarf.

One of the interesting points that the Six Items of Less participants made was how few people even noticed that they were wearing the same clothes over and over. In part this may show how clever folks are at accessorizing, but I think it’s also true that people on the whole don’t notice what others wear. Will anyone notice that I’m wearing the same clothes every day? I’ll let you know.

Want to join me on the diet? We can be our own support group, ready with a calming word when the compulsion to buy just this one awesome pair of pants feels too much to bear. We can do it!

Flickr does not like my panoramic shots sent from my phone.
It scales them back to the size of thumbnail. Yuck.
So I had to edit my Project 365: 204 - Gone Camping
and
Our view while drinking coffee on the dock. Relaxing.

Project 365: 206 - Winds Brewing, originally uploaded by ninelives.1972.

One of the storms as it brewed up some wicked winds from this past weekend.

This weekend the San Diego Comic Con took place. I did not attend, but one of the panels that literally caught my eye was for the Green Lantern movie. Ryan Reynolds, who played Deadpool in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, will play the Green Lantern. Blake Lively co-stars, and she received a lot of attention due to her low cut blouse. Wow! I can not wait for the movie.

Project 365: 205 - Sun vs. Storms, originally uploaded by ninelives.1972.

This a cool background of the sun and a severe storm competing in the sky. These storms we have seen this weekend have definitely been the most severe that we have ever endured in our camper. It has survived but our Steelers canopy did not. It collapsed from heavy, heavy rainfall. But no one was injured and nothing else was damaged. We had good times with some great people.

Well, I'm going away again. Sorta. For the next week I'll be at "Butler Project." It's the youth group mission trip for the summer! Even though we'll be in our home town, we'll be staying at the church. Butler project is something like Reach Workcamp, only on a much smaller level. There are three churches involved and three work sites. We will be working on the houses, painting...putting on new roofs etc! It's such a blast. We get to serve the Lord by helping people in need, and have tons of fun at the same time. Every evening after we're done working, we do something fun like go to the movies, or have a pool party! Not to mention the best cooks EVER feed us the most amazing breakfast, lunch and dinners. You would think we might lose a little weight working every day...ha! Noooo way!
Anyway... Everyone have a great week! Please be praying for us and our safety while on the sites!


(I uploaded another roll of fisheye fun! See HERE.)

Our view while drinking coffee on the dock. Relaxing., originally uploaded by ninelives.1972.

Gone camping again. This time at Guilford Lake in Ohio. It's HOT!

This is the view from the back of our camp site.

Project 365: 203 - After (Haircut), originally uploaded by ninelives.1972.

I was so fortunate to be able to participate in a great campaign with CollectiveBias and Elmer's. Elmer's is conducting a fabulous program right now to donate school supplies to kids in need. As a way of spreading the word, they've partnered with a number of bloggers to allow them to shop for school supplies for their kids and kids in their local communities. I was given $100 to shop at Walmart for school stuff for my kids as well as to donate a backpack full of supplies to a local student. Norah and I had a blast shopping. Her big brother was away at Boy Scout camp and missed out on all the fun. We ended up with a bunch of great stuff. Prices were so low! Check out our Whrrl story below to see what we got. When Noah gets back, we'll be dropping the backpack off at their school to be given to a child who needs it. Thank you so much, Elmer's and Collective Bias! And you can help provide school supplies to kids who need them, too. I"ll tell you how in my next post.

More check-ins at Walmart Powered by Whrrl

Project 365: 202 - Before (Haircut), originally uploaded by ninelives.1972.

Wordless Wednesday - Video, originally uploaded by ninelives.1972.

WordlessWednesday

Warm lentil and lamb’s-quarter salad with feta, originally uploaded by cynthiacloskey.

Last week in the CSA share that my mom and I split, we had the option to try two kinds of wild greens: purslane and lamb’s quarters. We took a bag of each, and Mom kept the purslane to try while I took the lamb’s quarters.

Lamb’s quarters (that link includes lots of photos) are a relative of spinach. They tasted a little like spinach to me, but also like wild leaves, although not unpleasantly so. The leaves themselves are smallish — at least mine were — and a bit more tedious than spinach to pick off the stems and wash.

Mixed with warm lentils and red wine vinaigrette, topped with feta, the lamb’s quarters were delicious. Here’s the recipe, provided by the Northwest PA Growers’ Co-op and attributed to “Facts on Edible Wild Greens in Maine,” Mahmoud El-Begearmi, Extension specialist, nutrition and food safety, University of Maine Cooperative Extension; Bulletin #4060.

Warm Lentil and Lamb’s-Quarters Salad With Feta Cheese

4 cups water
1-1/4 cups dried lentils
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon dried whole oregano
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 small clove garlic, minced
3/4 cup (3 ounces) crumbled feta cheese
3 cups lamb’s-quarters, well washed

Combine 4 cups water and lentils in a saucepan. Bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to low, and cook 30 minutes or until tender. Drain and set aside.

Combine 2 tablespoons water, olive oil, vinegar, oregano, salt, pepper and garlic in medium bowl. Stir well. Add lentils, cheese and lamb’s-quarters; toss well. Serve warm or at room temperature. Makes four 1-cup servings.

For this, I used a French feta cheese, Valbreso Feta, and I need for you to know that it is the most exquisite feta cheese I’ve ever tasted. Salty and just barely tart, and somehow also wonderfully sweet, like the goats had eaten only cherries their whole lives.

Project 365: 201 - Bee, originally uploaded by ninelives.1972.

Buzz....

Project 365: -200, originally uploaded by ninelives.1972.

Yesterday, my Dad came over and cut my grass while I did the trimming. As we finished we sat on the porch consuming a beverage (beer), because it was five o'clock somewhere.....

As we sat there there, two hawks were dueling in mid air, real close to our house and garage. I grabbed a camera in hopes to catch some of these mid air acrobatics. Of course as soon as the camera was handy, they moved their air show else where, I could still here them, but they were no where in sight. Later as I was working in the garage, I heard a call that sounded very close, aha, one had landed on our roof. He sat there for quite a while. Pretty amazing!!!!

Sweet Anise, originally uploaded by mscaprikell.

PLCB User’s Group reports that Herbsaint is now available in Pennsylvania liquor stores.

Herbsaint was developed as a substitute for absinthe when the latter was banned in the U.S.

The Herbsaint now available is a replica of the original recipe, and it’s getting fine reviews from the cocktail cognoscenti. I look forward to making a Sazerac with it.