It's crude and ugly, but it's my space

I've finally started to make space for my scrapping stuff. I'm not totally in love with everything about it, but it works so far. We have an unfinished basement, and that's where I scrap. The floor is cement, and it's COLD. I have one of those oil filled electric heaters that I push under the edge of the table that I sit at and it warms the area I'm in.

I just recently went to Target and purchased 3 sets of the 6 cube wire packages. It's a good idea but they aren't perfect by any means. They often come apart. For my situation that's not a bad idea, but when the basement is finally finished and I get settled into a finished space, I want to find a way to put them together in a little more stable way. I also need to pick up a few more Cropper Hopper 12x12 holders. I have a lot of paper still on the horizontal and they get all dog eared on the horizontal from me.

OH...Target does have a paper cart thing that is made with the wire, and I hated it. It was not easy to use, and the wheels really didn't work well. I'm moving to all vertical paper storage now.

I have been told that zip ties can add more shelves to the cubes, but I think that for what I use them for they are good, and I don't want to put too much weight on these. I keep my cuttlebug, my quick kutz, and my wishblade on the shelves. I also have plastic filing chests that I got from Staples when they put them on sale ( the 6 drawer chests...). I love those things, and I'm looking forward to getting those organized even more.

So, that's my space in all of it's ugly glory! I didn't tell you all about the gigantic 54"television across from the table. We don't have cable in the basement yet, but I can watch chick flicks on the XBox while I play. It's a good place, and it's MINE! YAY!

Tagged by Aimeslee

1. Name your 2 favorite scrapbooking topics:
a. my kiddoes
b. my dogs

2. What are the 2 best places you've been to?
a. Disney World
b. San Francisco

3. Name 2 things you do every day:
a. Make Coffee
b.Cook a meal

4. Tell us 2 things that pretty much everyone knows about you.
a. I love to cook *nice* meals
b. I want to write a book, but I'm afraid.

5. 2 places you wish to visit:
a. Paris
b. Montreal

6. 2 things you may not know about me are:
a. I once had a pet cow. His name was Caesar, and he was hand raised because his mother rejected him. (I grew up in North Dakota, it's common...not.)
b. I love, love, love cool independent films.

7. 2 nicknames you've had at some time in your life:
a. Kate
b. Kitten

8. Name 2 of your favorite drinks:
a. Vanilla Seltzer
b. Warm tea.

9. What are 2 interesting (in a good or bad way) jobs you have had in your life?
a. Worst job evah... I worked in a donut shop. I had to clean the trays that the donuts sat on after they were cooked. It was a greasy, nasty mess.
b. I worked as a research assistant for a Dr. that was studying Macular Degeneration. I absolutely loved the patients, and am chomping at the bit to get into a new job where I can have patient contact again.

10. What are your top 2 fun things to do after work?
a. Make dinner.
b. Put on my slippers and maybe my jammies and bathrobe. (I'm a real party animal, I tell you!)

11. What are 2 things I would like to learn:
a. Photoshop
b. More and more about The Treaty of Versailles. I'm absolutely amazed at how much I've been learning about how much this truly affected the world that we live in.

12. What are the last 2 songs you downloaded or last 2 CD's you bought?
a. Dylan (Bob Dylan)
b. Shine (Joni Mitchell)

13. Name 2 movies you could watch or you have watched 100 times in your life and still watch again, no problem:
a. Ever After
b.The Princess Bride

14. What 2 songs will you always listen to in their entirety because they truly speak to you?
a. Both Sides Now (Joni Mitchell)
b. I can only imagine (Mercy Me)


Now, if you notice that every question has 2 answers, and the last question was added by me, that means that you get to answer these questions and add a question to the pile before sending it on. I am tagging Theresa and Helena ( although I would be surprised if this was up Helena's alley, her blog is much more graphic...and well more interesting than mine, and it's also filled with lots and lots of pictures of cool things and her pretty little girl....) I can hope, right?

Lost Seasons 1-3

For those of you who have never seen an episode of Lost and are wondering about it. You can go to ABC.com and watch seasons 1-3 in HD. Make sure you have a good video processor on your computer though!

Why I love a bad boy

I have to admit that I have a love for a bad boy. He smokes, he drinks, he swears like a chef. That's because he's a chef. His No Reservations show on television is the best thing on since the writers strike has basically trashed the television season. I can't watch his show without cringing and sometimes gagging.

That being said, for Christmas I bought us a cookbook. Anthony Bourdain's Les Halles Cookbook. It's truly a work of art. This isn't a book for those with delicate sensibilities, the author calls it's reader names like "useless screwhead" or "numbnuts". It's quiet obvious that the author is full of poetic sensibilities. This is just the most fun cook book I have ever cooked out of.

Last night I made Veau Viennoise (pg 148-9) from the cookbook. I kept telling myself that it just couldn't be as easy as he says. It was beautifully easy. It was wonderful. The only thing that I left out of the recipe was his garnish of anchovies on top of each cutlet. I'm not a fan of fishy anchovies, so I passed. I also made a beurre blanc for the veau. It was just perfect. We paired it with Green Beans seasoned with toasted, slivered almonds and a little lemon juice. The starch was a simple box of Rice Selects-- the tomato one that's got Paul Prudhomme's photo on the front. (There were two with his picture on the front...this is the one with the mild spices, the other was Louisiana style and hot.)

Dinner was delicious. I love capers, and this recipe calls for capers as a garnish. It was so amazing, and it was so easy. Truly, the hardest part was pounding the veal chop.

Next on the list from the cookbook is Pot-au-feu (pg 204). I will report in on this recipe. I've decided to throw in a recipe now and then too, but I can't believe how easy and amazing his recipes are now that I'm actually working my way through the cookbok and discovering that I don't mind being mocked for using prepared bread crumbs ( we don't buy bread, so making it fresh is kind of out of the picture...) I am really learning from him. Even though he tells us in the introduction that he's NOT going to teach the reader to cook.

So, you can see. Sometimes a bad boy is a good thing to love.

Belief -o-matic

So, today I was flipping through the net and I came across a Belief O Matic here.

My results were pretty comforting.

Here's how I scored:

1.	Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (100%)
2.	Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (97%)
3.	Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (80%)
4.	Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (77%)
5.	Orthodox Quaker (72%)
6.	Bahá'í Faith (70%)
7.	Jehovah's Witness (67%)
8.	Liberal Quakers (62%)
9.	Reform Judaism (60%)
10.	Seventh Day Adventist (58%)
11.	Orthodox Judaism (55%)
12.	Unitarian Universalism (55%)
13.	New Thought (54%)
14.	Eastern Orthodox (53%)
15.	Roman Catholic (53%)
16.	Islam (53%)
17.	Scientology (51%)
18.	Sikhism (47%)
19.	Mahayana Buddhism (46%)
20.	Theravada Buddhism (46%)
21.	Nontheist (42%)
22.	Neo-Pagan (40%)
23.	Taoism (39%)
24.	New Age (38%)
25.	Secular Humanism (37%)
26.	Jainism (31%)
27.	Hinduism (27%)

I was mostly curious how I would fall between Conservative and Liberal Christian faith. I am very happy that I fell into the Liberal side of the list. I know too many people who put the "mental" in fundamental.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to my friends and loved ones, and believe me, if you are reading this you fall into that category. I've met so many fun people through blogging, it's amazing how you truly get to know people through this medium.

My New Years Affirmations:
1. Be healthy. Mentally, physically and spiritually.
2. Be self supporting. Trying to not be a drain on our finances, but contributing to our finances. I can't take not working! I really enjoyed it as I was getting the house together, but now I'm ready to move on and get out a little more. I think that I really miss the patient interaction and the mental stimulation at my job in Boston. I really want to get myself in a less dependant and more independant place.
3. Be honest. I am loving life and am not going to keep my mouth shut anymore when I find injustice in my life and around the world. It's time to be honest with people and let them know that I'm not willing to play games for "the better".
4. Be self liking. I know that when the previous three things fall into place, my own self esteem will go up. I am a fat 40 year old woman, but I really like myself!
5. Be connected. I need to re-connect with my family. They are my only siblings, and I need to let them know that I want to be in their lives.

The last day of 2007

Thank goodness the man is off to work. I'm feeling very irritated today.

I woke up, took the yellow dog out so she could do her morning business, and walked around, getting some very cool photos of the 6 inches of snow that we got last night.

Anyway, I fired up the snowblower (that right now, I hate using). I used it on roughly 90% of the stuff that needed to be blown, and then Dan comes out and does the last bit. THEN I come inside after shoveling the driveway (because the blower isn't working right...it left a lot of snow behind) to find him sitting at the table, reading the paper and eating breakfast.

Did the dogs get fed?
His coffee cup was sitting in front of the coffee pot...
Was his sandwich made for lunch?

SO...I fill the water dishes, feed the dogs, pour his coffee and make his sandwich while cleaning up from dinner last night because Naomi didn't bother to finish her chore.

As he leaves he says "get a lot done around here today." It was all I could do not to scream at him. I said "I've already done a lot here today." He said, "So that's it for the day?" I just said that wasn't what I'd said. I don't feel like putting up with him right now. What a wonderful man, eh? My neighbors were all asking me where he was...I told them the truth, "In bed!". I am so freaking irritated right now. Grrrrr.

Anyway, today I'm going to "get a lot done" here today. Asshole.