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Waiting game

emily — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 23:44:27 +0000

One of my favorite quotes from a book reads, “it does not to do dwell on dreams and forget to live.” Lately, I confess, I’ve been dwelling on dreams. I try so hard to live in the now, as it were, but I feel as though I’m failing entirely. With my dissertation safely in the hands of my committee members, and the dissertation status meeting more than a month away, I’ve got some time on my hands. Sure, I’m working on potential articles and dabbling in dissertation-related work, but I also find myself dreaming a lot. Maybe too much. About where we’ll be a year from now, about what kind of job (if any) I’ll be able to land, and, mostly, about what our life will look like When We Get Where We’re Going (TM). It doesn’t do to dwell on dreams, of course, but I can’t help but dwell a little bit. Especially in the middle of all this waiting.

Seven years

emily — Mon, 31 May 2010 23:51:29 +0000

I have no idea who these people are (no, seriously). But they sure are happy that John and I got married. And so am I. Happy seven years, John!

Crunchy granola

emily — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 02:38:35 +0000

Here’s something I bet you didn’t know about me (well, okay, some of you knew this, but most of you didn’t): I make our own cereal. The cereal we eat for breakfast most days of the week, I make every two weeks or so. We made the decision a couple years ago to stop eating processed foods and, more importantly, to know more about what’s in the food we eat (read In Defense of Food, yo, and never look at your grocery store the same way again). What we learned was more than a little alarming. The crap that gets put into the food we Americans eat (is it the same elsewhere? I honestly don’t know) is horrifying. And no, I’m not talking about fingers and whatnot, a la The Jungle, but it’s still scary. And to what end? To support the corn industry? Because it’s cheaper? Because the FDA can’t say no to Big Soy? (I’m making that up; I don’t know if there’s a Big Soy.) Whatever the reason is that there’s HFCS, for example, in just about everything, I refuse to believe that it’s because it’s good for us. The ingredients in most commercial processed foods was enough to push us to make a change. And we started with cereal. I like knowing what, exactly, is in the food we eat. I like knowing that we’re in greater control of what goes into our bodies. And I like providing for our family, as banal as that sounds. Anyway! I didn’t mean to turn this into a soapbox discussion; I was just blogging about what I’m doing right now. So! ::clears throat:: What are you doing?

On priorities, the reshuffling thereof

emily — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 02:21:39 +0000

My parents came for a visit this weekend and it was so wonderful to see them. I’ve written before about how hard it is to be so very far away from home, but what has surprised me even more is that this hasn’t gotten easier despite the fact that we’ve been in Florida for seven years. (Which: seven years, GAH!) I guess I always thought that I’d develop thicker skin and the hurt would subside after a time and then, ultimately, disappear. But it hasn’t. It’s as hard as it always has been. Yesterday morning, after dropping my parents off at the airport, I felt like my heart was literally breaking in two. We get to see them for a grand total of about six days a year. And I’ve come to the conclusion that that’s just not acceptable to me. But I’m not supposed to think that (much less say that), am I? As an academic, I’m supposed to go where the job is. I’m supposed to be willing to sacrifice everything on the alter of publish or perish. I’m supposed to happily live hundreds of miles from the people and places I know and love, so that I can raise my flag in the ivory tower. But I want a better life than that, a fuller life than that. I want to have more than a passing relationship with the people in my heart. I don’t know how I’m going to make it happen, and I don’t know if I’ll wind up in academia on the other side. But I think it might be time to rethink my priorities.

That’s it

emily — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 13:30:58 +0000

That’s it. We’re not leaving. Nope. Not gonna happen. Not after all the work (and, well, money) we’ve put into this house. First there was the water heater (the original one, that could have killed us, but thankfully did not). Then the fence. Then there was the central heat and air. Then the bamboo flooring. Then the marmoleum. Then all the new appliances. Then new gutters (or just gutters, since there weren’t any to begin with). Then the master bathroom remodel. Then the attic insulation. Then the new decks. And now… now… now a new roof? Serenity now!

In hot water

emily — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 01:09:33 +0000

“Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.” –Yoda

“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.” –Benjamin Franklin

“You take hot water for granted until your water heater craps out.” –Me

Know what sucks? Having your water heater go out on a weekend. Plumbers will gladly repair a water heater on Sunday… for $200 an hour. Or you can wait until Monday and pay $89 an hour. Naturally, the frugal among us (well, at least John and I) would opt to save $111 an hour, even if it means cold showers. In truth, I only took one cold shower: the shower Sunday morning that led us to realize the water heater had gone out. Aieeeee! And then I took a lukewarm bath this morning. Directions: fill a tub with about two inches of ice-cold water, then add two pots of boiling water. Step in, decide you can live through anything once, and commence bathing. Regret the decision halfway through, once it’s too late to change your mind. A few hours after my disappointing bath, the plumber showed up. One and a half hours (and $130) later, our water heater was back in business. I took a celebratory shower just to bask in the gloriousness of hot water for a while, and I’ll never take hot water for granted again. Amen.

What am I?

emily — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 05:08:39 +0000

I’ll give you three guesses as to what the main ingredient in this chocolate cake is:

Pear apple cake

emily — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 14:14:07 +0000

Forgive the lousy picture, but I simply had to share my thoughts on this lovely pear apple cake. I’ve made it a couple times and it’s simply divine. The pears are sliced and fanned out across the top of the cake (technically in the bottom of the pan, before it bakes) and the apples comprise part of the cake portion. After it’s baked, it gets a gloss of caramel sauce:

And although I’m not a fan of caramel, I have to say that the sauce is really nice. Recipe here.

Made to break

emily — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 13:45:01 +0000

Last week we had a repairman come out to the house to check out our dishwasher. We’ve had it three years this April and recently, it started making noises that suggested it was in dire need of medical assistance. Or at least a large martini. For $80, the repairman clucked and shook his head as he disassembled the dishwasher and promptly told us that the motor was on its way to the motor graveyard. Could we have it fixed? He laughed; sure, he could fix it. For about $275. But that wouldn’t do us much good, he explained, since the computer board would be the next to go. And when you consider that we spent $500 on the dishwasher in the first place… well, that just doesn’t make good economic sense. So, we’re well on our way to buying a new dishwasher to replace the one that was brand-new not even three years ago. Does this strike anyone else as completely effed up? My grandmother has had the same toaster since at least the 1960s. It works just like the day she bought it, which is to say perfectly. In the time we’ve been enjoying toast in this household, we’ve replaced our toaster no fewer than four times. And sure, it’s easy to chuckle and say, “well, they don’t make ‘em like they used to!” But why is that? Why are things made so cheaply these days? And, more importantly, is there anything we can do about it?

Trying new things

emily — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 14:06:26 +0000

One great thing about getting away from grocery store food (other than avoiding CAFO meat and processed foods, that is) is that we get to try things that are a little more unusual. Sure, we can still get chicken and beef. But we can also get things like wild boar, heritage turkeys, and, well, water buffalo. Our weekly CSA share has brought us lettuce, tomatoes, strawberries and the like, for sure. But we’ve also gotten collard greens, kale, habanero peppers, and more. I know we can always go to the chain grocery store around the corner and pick up the same thing day after day. But why, when there’s such great variety to be had? I certainly didn’t intend to turn this post into a call for action, but I can think of no better way to conclude it than to say: try new things! Support your local farmers and see what variety you can get!