Stressed

Yesterday morning was rough. I woke to the acrid smell of poo and ammonia. Graham had had an accident in his crate (his first). I know he was sick--he wouldn't have done that otherwise. He also must have been up most of the night in bowel-agony, because it was obvious he was tired.

As I was cleaning him off at 6:30 in the morning in the tub, I noticed his left eye was squinted shut and he had green goo coming out of it. I automatically thought poo = conjunctivits. So after calling up work and letting them know I'd be late, I stayed with Graham until I could call the vet at 9 am. In the meantime, I was looking up home-treatments for canine pink-eye with Graham sitting at my feet. Poor little thing--he already had one eye shut, and as he was sitting, his other eye would flutter closed, and his little body would leeeeean to the left. Then he'd jerk up, and a few seconds later start to nod off again. So while we waited till 9, Graham and I took a nap.

When I got up, Banfield didn't have any appointments until 3. I was only scheduled till 5 that day, and they had a 5 too, so I took that one, planning to leave work about an hour early. I was getting ready to head to work, and noticed little spots of smelly-brown-ness on the carpet and started cleaning it up. I thought I was all done until I headed to the door, and there was a nice big pile of mess there. Poor guy must have run to the door as soon as he got out of the tub and just couldn't hold it in anymore. I couldn't even be mad at him--it wasn't his fault.

Anyway, later at the vet, they discovered it was a corneal abrasion (put some orange goo on his eye and showed me under the blacklight). I got some ointment to keep his eye dialated, as well as some antibiotic drops. That visit cost me $87. Fun stuff. I'm glad it wasn't anything horribly serious though.

On the bright side, Jon surprised me with Death Cab for Cutie tickets for tonight, so I'm looking forward to that. :]

*Attention Knitters Who Love Me:

This lady is awesome, and this sweater is even more so. I love the green she uses as well.



I am, alas, a horrible knitter. I'm sure I could probably get better, but I have about a million projects going on and I am better at crocheting, so knitting needles just feel foreign in my paws.



I propose that if you are a good knitter (*ahem* mom *ahem* grandma), you should feel free to whip up this sweater for me, and I will cherish it always. In green. Oh, and a medium.

Here's the pdf download: http://www.flintknits.com/patterns/ladysweater.pdf

The Great White North

Some of you may know that I'm heading up to Alaska this month on the 26th. As of tomorrow, that's only two weeks away! I am so terribly excited; I haven't been up there in five years. My mom moved up in August of last year and moved into her newly-built house on Lazy Mountain this spring.

I was thinking about my trip up today--looking around my bedroom at the mass of clean clothes piled up on the "hobo" chair, and then panning over to my medium-sized rolling bright purple suitcase. Should I start setting things aside to pack? Do I need a heavy coat? Boots? What if we go to a glacier? It's going to be cold, and my thin Texan blood won't be able to handle it. What about my crafts? Will I have room to take some stuff to work on? I feel so neurotic. I know I'm going to have to bring an extra, empty suitcase--not only to take a few things up for my mom, but to bring a few things down as well...

Uhhhhh spasmodic.

At the same time, I've been thinking about marriage a lot lately, what with the wedding a few weekends ago, seeing several movies with weddings, and then Chuck and Ginger having their baby. It's really hard sometimes to see my peers experiencing all the things I want but am apparently not allowed to have (at least not right now). I go back and forth between jealousy, frustration with myself, and frustration with Jon. I know he was a lot younger at the time, but it's especially hard knowing that he was nearly ready to propose to his ex-girlfriend who cheated on him multiple times while he was in Iraq. He's tried to make me feel better by saying, "In Minnesota, she was as good as it got--I didn't know there was anything better." I know he means to say that he's found something better, but of course I read into the negative side of the statement and see it as him just testing the waters with me since he knows there will always be something better out there. Sometimes I can make myself feel better, and sometimes I can't.

Right now it's pretty tough going. I'm trying to hang in there, but it's hard not knowing what, exactly, I'm hanging in there for.

Ruby Ruby Ruby Ruby!!!

Chuck and Ginger had their baby Monday night! She's a girl (they were waiting to see), and they named her Ruby Nora Lynne, and she's pretty much perfect. :]

Crocheting things feeds the soul.

I stumbled across this video tutorial of how to make a crocheted neckline on a shirt. It looks really cool, and I already know how to crochet, so I think this is how I'll be spending part of my Monday.

Strawberry Cream Cake

This recipe is awesome, and sounds a lot more complicated than it really is. It is, however, pretty time-consuming.

If using a cake pan, you will need one with straight sides that are at least 2 inches high; otherwise, use a springform pan.

Serves 8 to 10.

Cake

1 1/4 cups cake flour (5 ounces)

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon table salt

1 cup sugar (7 ounces)

5 large eggs (2 whole and 3 separated), room temperature

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly

2 tablespoons water

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Strawberry Filling

2 pounds fresh strawberries (medium or large, about 2 quarts), washed, dried, and

stemmed

4 - 6 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons Kirsch (I use "Pom" pomegranate--about the same consistency/flavor)

Pinch table salt

Whipped Cream

8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature

1/2 cup sugar (3 1/2 ounces)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract (I don't ever measure the vanilla...)

1/8 teaspoon table salt

2 cups heavy cream

1. FOR THE CAKE: Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour round 9 by 2-inch cake pan or 9-inch springform pan and line with parchment paper (I've found the best way to do this is just to trace the bottom of the pan on the paper and cut it out. The sides of the pan don't need to be lined). Whisk flour, baking powder, salt, and al but 3 tablespoons sugar in mixing bowl. Whisk in two whole eggs and 3 yolks (reserving whites), butter, water, and vanilla; whisk until smooth.

2. In clean bowl of standing mixer fitted with whisk attachment, beat remaining 3 egg whites at medium-low speed until frothy, 1 to 2 minutes. With machine running, gradually add remaining 3 tablespoons sugar, increase speed to medium-high, and beat until soft peaks form, 60 to 90 seconds. Stir one-third of whites into batter to lighten; add remaining whites and gently fold into batter until no white streaks remain. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake until toothpick inserted into center of cake comes out clean, 30 to 40 minutes. Cool in pan 10 minutes, then invert cake onto greased wire rack; peel off and discard parchment. Invert cake again; cool completely, about 2 hours.

3. FOR THE STRAWBERRY FILLING: Halve 24 of the best-looking berries and reserve. Quarter remaining berries; toss with 4 to 6 tablespoons sugar (depending on sweetness of berries) in medium bowl and let sit one hour, stirring occasionally. Strain juices from berries and reserve (you should have about 1/2 cup). In workbowl of food processor fitted with metal blade, give macerated berries five 1-second pulses (you should have about 1 1/2 cups). In small saucepan over medium-high heat, simmer reserved juices and Kirsch until syrupy and reduced to about 3 tablespoons, 3 to 5 minutes. Pour reduced syrup over macerated berries, add pinch of salt, and toss to combine. Set aside until cake is cooled.

4. FOR THE WHIPPED CREAM: When cake has cooled, place cream cheese, sugar, vanilla, and salt in bowl of standing mixer fitted with whisk attachment. Whisk at medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 1 to 2 minutes, scraping down bowl with rubber spatula as needed. Reduce speed to low and add heavy cream in slow, steady stream; when almost fully combined, increase speed to medium-high and beat until mixtre holds stuff peaks, 2 to 2 1/2 minutes more, scraping bowl as needed (you should have about 4 1/2 cups).

5. TO ASSEMBLE THE CAKE: Using large serrated knife, slice cake into three even layers. Place bottom layer on cardboard round or cake plate and arrange ring of 20 strawberry halves, cut sides down and stem ends facing out, around perimeter of cake layer. Pour one half of pureed berry mixture (about 3/4 cup) in center, then spread to cover any exposed cake. Gently spread about one-third of whipped cream (about 1 1/2 cups) over berry layer, leaving 1/2 inch borderfrom edge. Place middle cake layer on top and press down gently (whipped cream layer should become flush with cake edge). Repeat with 20 additional strawberry halves, remaining berry mixture, and half of remaining whipped cream; gently press last cake layer on top. Spread remaining whipped cream over top; decorate with remaining cut strawberries. Serve, or chill for up to 4 hours.

Shotgun weddings are depressing

Jon and I drove down to San Antonio last weekend to go to an old classmate of mine's wedding (Jon didn't go to the wedding itself). I've known this guy for nearly nine years (since Germany), and I've always known he was the type of person who couldn't stand to be alone, even if that meant lowering his expectations.



Well, he got the bride knocked up, before he even intended for her to be his bride. I'm not so old-fashioned that I frown on pre-marital sex or even pre-marital pregnancy, but I don't think that should be the reason why two people get married, especially if it's obvious that the bride-to-be causes some thick tension with the groom's family. So much so, that during the married couple's first dance, the groom's mom got up and left for the girls' room, conveniently arriving back just as the song was ending.



I love the groom's parents. Love them. Always have--they're great people. It upsets me that after they left, the bride stormed outside behind the church (funny they got married in a church--they're Wiccan) and started yelling and venting all of her frustrations about the groom's mother to a few bridesmaids (using more than a few choice words).

It was pretty depressing. I'm sure the fact that it was a dry reception didn't help matters any. Ken (another friend from school) and I made the best of our soberness, and at one point I had to stop myself from yelling, "Jesus!" in alarm when a wall-hung candle holder fell off the wall (I remembered I was in a church just in the nick of time).

I hope things turn out well for them. The bride seemed nice enough...at least to the groom. Maybe it's just hormones?

The rest of the trip was fun though. Ken got a bottle of Patron for being a groomsman, so the first night, he, Jon and I drank a little bit and played some cards. I zonked out after my first drink. The next night after the wedding, we met the groom's family at Piedras Negras del Noche for some dinner, then went to the Riverwalk. It was nice to get away...even though there were little curlies on the floor of the hotel bathroom when we checked in.