05.04.10
Posted in Family, Off the cuff at 9:00 am by loretta
Literally. Keith found a sale on DNA testing from 23 and Me, so he ordered two kits for us. After an amount of saliva that was both small seeming, but a long time to generate, we popped our samples into the mail. I am very impressed with their concern for confidentiality and privacy. I read their entire (yes, entire) user agreement and privacy statements, because I feel it’s crucial when dealing with something so personal. They have an effective screen that prevents the lab from learning whose sample is whose. I’m not sure “double blind” is the correct term, but it’s a strongly confidential system.
They are remarkably enlightened in their forthrightness and cautions. For instance, they caution that the information discovered may be upsetting, e.g. genetic markers for cancer don’t mean you have, or will even get, cancer – they’re merely an indicator that you might. The most enlightened part of the cautions recommends that we not share any of the information with anyone else, no matter how innocuous the information may seem. Because, they say, that as technology advances, seemingly innocuous information may become very telling, you never know.
So, while I will learn a lot about myself, I shan’t be sharing. ;^P
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04.13.10
Posted in Family, Fun at 9:00 am by loretta
Yesterday was Tiny Tiara Day. It happens every April 12th. On this day, my sisters and I celebrate our Mother’s birthday by wearing the tiny tiaras we all wore for her last birthday. It’s a day to celebrate our our awesomeness.
I figured it was more of a personal day, so didn’t really mention it to anyone. I’m told this was a mistake. Friends tell me that everyone should be able to celebrate their awesomeness by wearing a tiny tiara on Tiny Tiara Day. So I’ve been charged with starting a Facebook group, and Maureen with getting the day on the calendar of national holidays.
So here is my invitation to you: Please celebrate Tiny Tiara Day with me next year. I neglected to tell you about it this year, but this is the perfect opportunity to put it on your calendar for next year. If you’re adding it to a computerized calendar, you can even give yourself a warning alarm, so that you can find a tiara in time.
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04.12.10
Posted in Family, Off the cuff at 10:50 am by loretta
I need to clean up the sewing supplies in the library, so we can get it ready for Keith’s parents to arrive Tuesday. To this effect, I repacked the totes of fabric and began stacking them in the closet. To my dismay, I find that there are two too many for the usual tower of totes.
Excavating the other side of the closet led to some interesting and strange discoveries, including a plastic grocery bag with packing peanuts and markers in it, and several empty Valentine’s chocolate boxes. Two are rather nice, but the third, not so much.
The extra totes fit in there, but now I have to figure out what to do with all this other random stuff…
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04.09.10
Posted in Family, Fun at 9:42 am by loretta
The major obstacle to completing the new catcam case was the lack of finding the glue gun. I use it to hold on the velcro closures. I had fun with duck tape, and scoring plastic, and drilling tape-covered plastic with power tools and scissors (used for the pilot hole), and bending wire for the holders. I even determined the size and placement of the velcro closures, and cut it accordingly.
But I couldn’t find the glue gun. Usually it lives around Keith’s workbench in the garage. Either on or on a shelf above. No such luck for me. I even shuffled piles of stuff around to see if it was buried, but no. The other usual haunt is the library closet. It wasn’t there either, so I also looked in the drawers, the computer room, computer room closet, our bedroom, Maureen’s bedroom (only superficially, after all, why would one hide a glue gun?), the living room, the kitchen, the downstairs bathroom, and the garage as a whole. No luck.
So instead I played with worms. I harvested one tray of compost. The worms confirmed its doneness, by their lack of presence. No food left for them means it’s done. The middle tray was a bit overly wet, so I mixed in some shredded paper. (Your identity is even safer, if after you shred your documents, you feed the shreds to the worms. Even The Penguin can’t tape that back together, bwa ha ha…) The top layer was dry, so I mixed it up, sprinkled it with water, and covered with damp shredded paper. I rescued worms that had fled to the catch bin, and started on setting up the new top tray, freshly emptied of compost. It’s dirty work, but it helps assuage my environmental guilt, and gets me fertilizer.
Maureen is the magic key, apparently to finding the glue gun. When she got home, she found it in the library closet almost right away. She had put it into a cloth bag to keep it tidier. But she was the only one who knew it was there. It didn’t take me long after that to finish up the camera case. I tested it on the cat to see if he’d be OK with the extra weight. It’s nearly six ounces. He is, although less so than before. Now I just need to etch the camera.
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03.14.10
Posted in Family, Fun, Off the cuff at 12:01 pm by loretta
At least for a lazy Saturday, anyway. Shortly after awakening on the early side, I got a call from a friend I haven’t heard from in awhile. But talking to her helped push me awake. Then I got to work setting up my new computer. I kept my old keyboard because I like to 10-key my numbers.
I pushed an iron around to smooth out my test fabric for a dress, but had a tasty interruption with dinner. Then we watched Inglourious Basterds. That was definitely a long haul, especially since the time changed last night. It went more beautifully with Fortaleza and microwave popcorn, though. Tip: pour Salt and Cracked Pepper flavor into a bowl – don’t leave it in the bag. It’s too peppery that way.
This may be naïve, but does Eli Roth resemble Zachary Quinto? Like his older brother that played football, maybe?
With help from Simple Diary.
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03.13.10
Posted in Family, My TV Show at 12:59 pm by loretta
Yesterday was irresistible. Time stood still when Keith came home from FedEx and told me the enormous box was a new iMac for me with a LOT of storage. I was afraid I hadn’t heard correctly. Now I don’t have to juggle episodes to their archival hard drives quite so quickly. Keith says editing will be faster, too. Plus, it has a slot for SD cards, so it will be even easier to convert the U-matic and VHS tapes to digital.
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03.12.10
Posted in Family, Off the cuff at 2:35 pm by loretta
Yesterday was reclusive because I’ve been working on laundry and a questionnaire for my sister. I did get out to help tape a show, SVE, but came back right after to get fuel for the car and me. Keith made grilled cheese, yum!
I learned that it’s too hard doing the questionnaire with the TV on, even if it’s a show that doesn’t need close watching. But, then, the questionnaire is hard. It requires memory and judgement. Time seems to stand still when I ponder the answers, because some memories aren’t so easy to bring out of the archives.
It’s more fun to look up links for WUWT articles, and go to bed too late, but that’s not very wise.
With help from Simple Diary.
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08.19.09
Posted in Family, Off the cuff at 8:23 pm by loretta
My boyfriend’s sister in law was kind enough to give me their neglected worm bin when I started declaring an interested in having one. I made a little container to collect vegetable scraps and coffee grounds and have been feeding the worms regularly until they are fat and happy.
When I went to add in a full container of compost this weekend, there was a new tenant inside the bin – maggots!
They turn my stomach but I tried to think about it rationally. They are also eating the garbage. I figured they would be gone within a day or two but upon feeding the worms today, they are still there and in greater numbers.
So I needed to do some research. Why were they there? Would they hurt the worms? Are they good for my worm compost then? These and other questions I researched online.
They turn out to be the larvae of the Black Soldier fly. This type of fly has larvae that feed specifically on compost. The adults are not pests. They don’t bite, sting, or even eat. Their only job is to look pretty and breed. They die in 2 days.
They and the larvae will not hurt my worms. In fact, they will help feed them with their waste. The only concern is that they have a tendency to out-eat the worms. So there should be plenty of food.
Black soldier fly larvae prefer moist composting areas. This indicates my compost bin is too wet. I had thought the catch tray would take care of excess moisture but I guess the compost is too close together to let it all drain. The solution is to fluff up and dry the compost by adding more bedding.
I use shredded paper for bedding. We shred anything with our name or address on it to help prevent identity theft. I figure if a worm eats it, that’s even better prevention. So I mixed in some more shredded paper, spread it out, and fluffed it up. Hopefully, that will help discourage the black soldier fly larva from returning.
I’m okay with some soldier fly larvae composting. In fact, some people have bins with only soldier fly larvae, but I have a worm bin and I don’t want to starve them. If I can keep the maggot level down so they don’t starve the worms, that would be okay.
But they still turn my stomach a bit.
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05.13.09
Posted in Family, Food at 9:38 pm by loretta
So I’ve got a bit of the gardening bug this year. Our yard is dark and tiny, which usually puts me off. I found a lot of shade-friendly offerings this year, so I thought I’d give it a whirl. To me, a garden isn’t a garden without some veg. I used the internet to find shade-friendlier veg, to plant in the “sunny” area of the yard.
While picking out seeds at Whole Foods, I saw this package of Micro Greens.
They are quite trendy right now, and it seemed a fun and not bitter way to add variety to salads. I dislike arugula/rocket, endive, and the other bitter lettuces. Plus they’re super easy, just scatter the seeds, let grow for 25 days, and done! This one is 20% red cabbage, 20% pak choy cabbage, 20% beets, 20% swiss chard, and 20% kohlrabi.
I used one of the window-style planter boxes upstairs for the first batch. Even though I put 1″ fencing over the top, the squirrels happily devoured anything that popped above it. The soil is fairly close to the top of the planter. So I lost perhaps half the greens that way.
I’ve fixed it for the other planters, which are downstairs. They are much deeper, so I can have the soil level about 3″ below the lip to keep the greens for ourselves. I’m spacing my plantings, so I have one batch almost half done, one I will plant tomorrow or Friday, and the one I harvested today.
Not much, but enough to top two salads, garnish two plates, or eat as a snack. I mixed in some cress seed to the next batch for a little more zing.
Since I’m still trying them out, I’m going to wait until I’ve eaten a few batches before deciding to get another packet of seeds. I should get two or three more plantings out of this one.
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12.25.08
Posted in Family at 3:34 pm by loretta
I received a lot of great gifts this year. My favorite is usually the calendar my sister, Bridget, makes for us every year with family pictures.
This year I received something better.
My sisters and I sent “care” packages to our brother while he was stationed in Iraq. In thanks, he made us these. I’m all poignant.
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