Week 9: best laid plans of mice and men

Last week I laid forth a plan, and it got thrown out the window the very next day.  My supposed free Saturday isn't so free any more, my mildly industrious Monday was less so, my best intentions shot by familial commitments and plain laziness on my part.  Perhaps I will find sudden inspiration to inspire industry, perhaps I wont.  At some point in time the mess in my craft room will tickle my last nerve.  In the meantime I am putting this blog on (permanent?) hiatus.

Week 8: Reality Check

I got nothing done in the craft room this week.  Technically Lent is over along with it my Lenten resolution to accomplish something every week, but honestly I made the resolution with the intention of it sticking past Lent.  It is not sticking.

I thought of making this the last post to this blog (public accountability obviously isn't working) but two things happened to make me change my mind.  One I realized that stopping the blog won't make me any more likely to finish the project.  Two I attended an in-service for work about managing time.

The presenter had a lot of tips and tricks to organize ones time in the work place and in ones personal life.  Three of these tricks were to plan the week in advance, create blocks of time for tasks that need to be completed (not just events), and to be specific in those tasks.

When I got home I created a simple spreadsheet with the days of the week across the top and the hours in the day across the side and then started filling it in.  The cells during my work hours were colored black.  When I can, I like to walk to work so I designated the hour before and after work for that.  Then dinner was marked off and a rather optimistic command to "go to bed" around 11:00 pm.  Reoccurring commitments like church and yoga made it onto the spreadsheet next, followed by plans I had made with friends.  The week filled up surprisingly fast.  The one day that didn't fill up quickly got designated for completing chores (I tend to cook one day a week and then eat left overs the rest, and my laundry has to be done sometime).  The craft room did not make it on the spreadsheet for next week.

There will be no progress to report for week 9.  This is not falling off the band wagon.  I'm not even going to try and catch it.  That does not mean I am abandoning project craft room.  In fact extending my spread sheet ahead another week shows that a week from Saturday I will have a free day that I have already marked off a chunk of to devote to my craft room.  I am also taking into account the third tip and devoting the day to cleaning up the piles of junk lying on the floor in the craft room (remnants from week 3).

What will be reported next week is a plan of action!  I am going to think up some specific tasks to complete when time is available in the coming weeks.  Instead of "work on craft room" my spread sheet will say....well next week I'll have an answer for that.

Random thoughts Monday: Ramen

Today my brother and I ventured into the world of ramen (not the .25 cent ramen, actual non-fried ramen noodles) and found it surprisingly easy and fast (we over cooked the noodles because we expected them to take longer).

I picked up the noodles at a two for one sale over the holidays for something new to play with in the kitchen.  My brother and I randomly remembered the noodles while strolling through the mall and decided to make a trip to the grocery store to get supplies.  Neither of us own smart phones, so we could only guess on what actually goes into ramen.  Generally we looked for ingredients that I could easily use in another dish if it didn't make it into the ramen.

When we got to my place I looked up a bunch of recipes to get an idea of order and cook times and what not.  Then I discarded them and we went at it.  We purchased chicken broth as a base and boiled it on the stove along with some green onions, thinly sliced carrots, and mushrooms.  We added the noodles to this and then I decided to brown some fresh ginger and garlic to add (in hindsight this should have been done first and the broth should have been added to it.  Next time).  I also found a lonely container of Chinease 5 Spice at the back of my spice cabinet which got added to the mix. All together it looked pretty, but I wasn't sure how it would taste.  I had siracha and soy sauce on the table ready to be added and neither were needed.  Definitely something I would try again.

Week 7: Fallen off the band wagon (again)

Once again I have fallen off the band wagon, and achieved nothing in relation to the craft room.  I could say it was a busy week (which is true), but in reality there was time to complete something I just didn't utilize it.  What is worse my laziness has filtered into the rest of my housework.  I haven't done laundry in weeks, my sink is full of dishes, my counters are cluttered, my fridge is empty.  I have little hope of accomplishing anything this weekend, but there is still hope.  I will strive to do something in the craft room this week.

Also, I will stop with this updating on Friday thing.  Thursday is when these are supposed to be posted.

Random Thoughts Monday: More Star Trek

This post will contain my idea for the 4th Star Trek reboot movie.  I know I am jumping the gun, the 3rd movie is still a year away, but what little has been released about the 3rd movie indicates it will take place in deep space.  My idea takes place in federation space.  If I were to be absolutely honest I think this idea should have been the 2nd movie in the reboot, but I liked Into Darkness (it kicked off my current obsession with Star Trek) so I will say no more.

In my opinion the 4th movie should take place on New Vulcan.  The Enterprise is returning from their 5 year mission when they are ordered to stop by New Vulcan for memorials honoring the 7 year anniversary of the destruction of Vulcan.  As the only federation ship to survive the confrontation, and the ship that saved the elders, the Enterprise has an honored role in the ceremonies.  Unfortunately it quickly becomes evident that not all is well with New Vulcan.

I am going to backtrack a moment.  In TOS episode 47 "The Immunity Syndrome" Spock feels the death of the crew of the Intrepid, a Federation Star Ship with an all Vulcan crew.  If my memory serves me correctly, at one point during the episode Kirk asks Spock what the Vulcan's felt before they died, and Spock replies astonishment at being defeated.  Vulcan's are a peaceful, but proud race.  I don't know much about Vulcan history, but I got the impression that they were never the underdog. If they ever were they soon found a logical solution that brought them back to the top.

There was no warning and no logical reason for Vulcan to be destroyed (a Romulan from the future drunk on vengeance decided to destroy the Vulcan home world because a Vulcan ambassador failed to save the Romulan home world from a natural disaster in the future.  Can you get any more convoluted?).  If Vulcan's had never experienced a major defeat before they got hit with one to top all others with the destruction of their home world and consequently the decimation of their population.  We are talking a population in the billions unexpectedly and in a short time being reduced to thousands.  An event like that doesn't happen without effecting the cultures identity. 

The Enterprise arrives at New Vulcan to discover a cultural battle being waged over the Vulcan's identity as a people.  On one extreme you have the traditionalists who wish to carry on as if nothing had changed.  On the other extreme you have Vulcan's who are questioning Surak's teachings.  The first group is being led by some of the elders.  The second group is being led by Spock's older brother Sybok, who embraced emotionalism before Vulcan was destroyed.  Sybok survived the destruction of Vulcan because he and like minded Vulcan's were in voluntary exile.

The situation is further complicated by the younger Vulcan's (around Spock's age) being prone to emotional outburst following the destruction of their family links and the simultaneous death of billions of fellow Vulcans.  Some if this group resorted to Kolinar (removing all emotion) to cope, others chose to follow Sybok.  The remaining  find themselves marked with the proverbial scarlet letter because of their emotional outbursts.  

When the Enterprise's landing party arrives this third group rally around Spock as a Vulcan who has had emotional outbursts and yet follows Surak and holds an honored position as part of the crew that saved the elders.  Spock is blindsided by this turn of events when he realizes that the same individuals that persecuted him as a child because of his human half are now honoring him for the same trait.  He also realizes that part of the reason he was able to bounce back from the emotional outbursts was because he worked with a human crew.  While human's expect emotional outbursts after extreme events they also expect a return to the norm once all is said and done.  The Vulcan's turning to him are being treated like ticking time bombs.

There is fear that the situation will result in another split (the first being when the Romulan's split from the Vulcan's during Surak's time).  This would be illogical in that it would divide the Vulcan's dwindling population.  Additionally the destruction of Vulcan was caused by a Romulan, a species that resulted from the first split.  This feared split causes one of the opposing groups (or a Kolinar adept who seeks to find the most logical response to the situation) to unleash some kind of technology to ensure that everyone gets along.  Something that in the past would never have been considered.  (I haven't been able to define what this is, but I vaguely conceive of it as similar to the Borg collective.  Something that artificially heightens the telepathic links that bind the Vulcan race).

While all this is going on Spock is facing tangible proof of his own mortality when he visits the grave of his older self who died while the Enterprise was on it's 5 year mission.  In addition Old Spock did as he told Young Spock he would and contributed to the re-population of Vulcan, leaving behind a child.  On top of mourning his older self Spock has to figure out what his responsibility is toward this child, and at what level he wants to be part of his/her life.  To further complicate personal matters, Spock is introduced to his new step mother, and brother/sister.  As his father also did his duty in repopulating Vulcan.

Week 6: Linen Closet

I know I am late and I have the audacity to inflict more poor photography on you, but I am back on the band wagon at least.

As I mentioned in past posts the only way, in my opinion, to clean up my craft room was to find permanent homes for the stuff stored there. (FYI the before picture looks particularly empty because there was a minor problem with the kitchen sink that involved all my towels that week).  My linen closet was ripe for redevelopment into new homes for my junk.

The first problem I tackled was the small stuff:

I measured my shelves and purchased a storage compartment to collect my extra makeup, spare toothbrushes and toothpaste, and other such small toiletries.  I paid a little extra for this one because it had adjustable compartments.  All of this was in my craft room in random bags and containers.  I might actually use eye shadow again now that I can find it.

The next problem was the dead space created by the tall shelves:

Notice the leaning tower of hand towels under the p?  This particular problem I solved with a shoe rack (again I carried the measurements of my shelves with me to make sure it would fit).  The shorter shelves allowed me to fit all my hand towels, extra dish towels, and wash clothes on one shelf with room to spare.

Next my cleaning supplies moved in.  I am still debating the best location for these.  In their current home anything that leaks or spills will dribble down to my towels, and if anything should fall out there is a chance of spatter hitting my face.  These would be less hazardous on the bottom shelf, but also more accessible to small hands.  I don't have children but I have friends and relatives who do. (I tend to over think things.)

The rest moved into their most logical locations.  The large toiletries (shampoo, spare hand soap, spare mouth wash, etc.) moved in next to my small toiletries.  My photo albums and memorabilia from my college band trips found homes on the top most shelf, and my bath towels found there way out of the laundry and back to the linen closet.

That only leaves one thing displaced, my spare blankets.  They moved into my craft room (it sounds like a worse idea than it is).  In its finished state the craft room will have more than one function.  One of which will be its continued existence as a storage space.  One thing that will be stored in the craft room is my luggage.  Which also happens to be the new home of my spare blankets (see not as bad an idea as it originally sounded).  

Random Thoughts Monday: on Cooking

It's Lent, the 40 days before Easter where practicing Catholics give something up.  Most often meat on Fridays, but sometimes something else as well.  I don't participate in the New Years resolution, but I like to make a resolution for lent (40 days is much less daunting than 365).  This year I have several, one of which is getting my craft room in order, another is to go partially vegetarian (or pescatarian to be more precise).  Partially meaning I cook vegetarian meals at home, and eat what ever is put in front of me everywhere else. 

Don't use meat products when cooking seems easy enough, but I did it all wrong.  I didn't realize how many of my winter dishes depended on sausage or fat to taste good.  I found myself eating half my egg salad sandwich, not being able to finish the pasta and canned vegetable marinara sauce, or  resorting to peanut butter and jelly.  The food just wasn't appetizing.  It would have been a great diet plan if I didn't make my way through half a box of girl scout cookies (tis the season) a few hours after dinner each evening.  I realized I needed to change things up.  A trip to the grocery store to buy fresh vegetables and fruit and reinstating Monday cooking sprees (where I make several large meals that I can eat off the rest of the week) was the plan.  It was a successful plan, minus a few hick-ups.

I first made carrot and ginger soup.  It caused a big mess.  First, I learned not to put carrot shavings down the garbage disposal.  There is standing water in both my sinks and a plumber will likely need to be called.  Second, I used my immersion blender to puree it.  Anyone who has used an immersion blender knows that having enough liquid to be able to move the blade up and down without breaking the surface is key to a successful result.  My pot was two wide, the liquid too shallow, and I was covered in carrot splatter.  My stove, my counters, my walls, my paper towels and toaster, even my refrigerator (a good few feet away) was splattered in carrot soup.  On the bright side it tastes quite good (much more appetizing than the canned marinara sauce).

My pumpkin bread was a success.  I just don't have anything to store it in to keep it from drying out.  And, then there was the tilapia casserole.  The tilapia has been in my freezer for an unknown number of months.  I suspect it is coming up on a year, so using it up was a priority.  I found the easiest recipe possible on line (tilapia, canned cream soup, and cracker topping) and added some frozen vegetables to the mix.  The problem arouse when I decided to take one of the suggestions from the recipe's reviews to broil it a few minutes to crisp the topping.  I forgot it.  The topping was crisp and black as coal, smoke was tumbling out of the oven, and I was scrambling to get things back under control.  On the bright side once the blackened top was removed it looked pretty good.

This week should be more appetizing, and hopefully a more successful vegetarian diet.