margotvankapelle | Entries tagged with boe

Well, Buddy-roo went home with his new parents today. His new people are a very nice young couple in their mid to late 20's...they are thrilled with him and fell in love with Buddy at first sight.

We just can't afford 5 animals. In all honesty, we can't afford 4, but I am not willing to rehome Maggie or Princess unless circumstances absolutely demand it. Finding a new loving home for Buddy and fostering him in the meantime was the best possible thing we could have done for him, I just wish it didn't hurt Boe so badly in giving him up.

This sucks.

Here's the game plan for Christmas On The Cheap(tm):

Each of the families (Dad and Bitz, Mom, Melanie et al., and Brett et al.) is going to get a little basket of household goodies, consisting of:

1. Set of 6 napkins, folded and displayed with...
2. Wire-wrapped and beaded napkin rings
3. Set of 4 knitted cotton dishcloths
4. Set of 3 knitted and felted woolen hot pads/trivets
5. Packages of German roasted pecans and almonds
6. Homemade dog biscuits for the families with dogs
7. Catnip-filled fleece toys for the families with cats

The whole shebang should cost me less than $50. For 4 families, that's pretty damned good.

I also have a scarf knitted in seed stitch for Mom (her favorite stitch), a pair of really cute earrings for Lennie (the super awesome niece of amazingness), a cross-stitch of a cat that looks just like her cat Mittens for Lennie, and a pair of earrings for Melanie.

I was able to score Melanie's earrings for free through Swagbucks , the yarn for Mom's scarf was a gift, and I can use my employee discount for everything else except for the wool yarn I need for the hot pads. That I'll have to get from Michael's or Joann's, although Michael's will be easier for me as far as convenience goes.

Our girl Melmel (who just got her first tattoo this week!) is getting a new phone, courtesy of a contract extension that we'll be signing. I'm also going to go through my collection of romance novels and send some to her, as she has recently become a fan and by God I am glad she's getting over her Twilight obsession.

And now for the only Christmas splurge this year -- I have a Garmin GPS on layaway for Boe...shhhhh, don't tell him!

Current Mood: creative

Boe got some stuff out of my car's trunk a couple of days ago. He hasn't been able to find my keys since then. he is *just now* starting to look for my keys...I have class at 8 AM tomorrow!

My extra door key was on Boe's keyring...two sets of keys ago.

Unhappy is an understatement.

Current Mood: grumpy

Well, he's ours. His original name is Neiko, according to his owner, who contacted me through Craigslist. She even helpfully included a picture of the dog as proof that she is his owner. The owner decided not to take Neiko back, stating that her health has declined recently and she can't give him the attention he needs.

So he's ours.

Current Mood: contemplative

Regency frock is complete.

So is Boe's wizard robe.

So is my bonnet.

Huh. I guess I'll clean the sewing detrius out of the living room instead of panicking at the last minute as I usually do.

Current Mood: sleepy

Not bad for 6 hours' work. However, I remember why I HATE crushed panne "velvet": it stretches every which way and warps all over the place. UGH. Why did I pick this fabric, again? Oh yeah, Boe has a wizard hat in purple velvet and if we can't dress in a coordinating pair, we can at least wear the same color.

That, and it was the nicest-looking cheap velvet-y fabric I could find.

Current Mood: tired

You know that Halloween costume I wanted to get done by Friday? The Regency-era frock I wanted to do? It's done -- buttonholes, finished seams, trim, and all. I started about 11 am and just finished it. The sleeves aren't super-incredibly-accurate, but they're flattering and that's the important bit. I don't think I'm going to get the spencer done, as I have a paisley wrap that will do in a pinch, and if given the option, I'd like to make a really ridiculous bonnet instead.

The colors are dark purple cotton broadcloth, with a purple/lavender/antique gold trim at the sleeve cuffs, waistband, and bottom quarter of the skirt. I'm sure Bitz will take photos, which I will naturally upload for ~~criticism~~ commentary. The silhouette of the frock, so far as I can tell, is leaning towards the mid-to-late 1810s, as does the color scheme. If I get around to it, I might add some false flowers to the trim on the skirt in order to highlight the deliberately wavy trim placement like this dress, but I still have a wizard's robe to make for Boe and today was my last full day off before Saturday.

Oh, and? I was able to make the frock for about $15. The fabric is $1.50/yard stuff from WalMart, and the trim is a lovely woven one given to me by

ciorstan back in the day. The little bit of lace at the sleeves came frm my stash, as did the buttons.

Current Mood: headachy

1. My birthday was yesterday...I am 34. In 4 days my brother (the youngest sibling) turns 30, and I will officially enter the ranks of The Middle Aged. I had a very nice, if quiet, birthday (Boe was asleep most of the day)...we went to breakfast together and I puttered around the house while Boe slept, then he took me to dinner when he got up and he gave me a card that told me that he's in the process of buying me an engagement ring. When we first got engaged, what we could afford was a really pretty white topaz set in white gold. It was quite the stunner and we weren't going into hock for what basically amounts to graphite gone snooty. However, it turns out that I am ridiculously hard on hand jewelry and now the corners of the facets on the white topaz are ground down to cloudiness. So I really did need a diamond in any replacement engagement ring -- you might be asking why I just didn't purchase a loose diamond and have the ring remounted; well, the white topaz was about 4 carats. No way in Hades we will ever be able to afford a diamond that large, and even if we could I would become incredibly paranoid about losing it. So the engagement ring Boe picked out was perfect -- white gold, a round solitaire, a good carat weight (large enough to be pretty and proportionate to my hand size, small enough to still be affordable). And he should have it out of layaway by Christmas!

2. Still want kids. OMG, I still want kids.

3. My next math test is Monday at 8 AM. Pray for me.

Current Mood: cold

We decorated the outside of our house for Halloween for the first time in 2 years. Boe and I picked up some glow-in-the-dark acrylic craft paint to
touch up the fake tombstones, some really adorable skeleton lights, a couple of cute little skull lawn stakes, and a large ghoul-in-a-hanging-cage to add to our fake tombstones, cemetery fencing, giant spiderweb, seven or eight giant spiders, blacklights, and orange mini lights.

I'll try to get pictures tomorrow, when I get home from school...it's a bit dark at the moment.

Current Mood: creative

In my algebra class, I am lost already, and my confusion is only getting worse. My acceptance into the nursing program is conditional upon completion of my current algebra class -- if I do not pass the class this semester, I lose my seat in the January 2012 startup and I will have to wait until the August 2012 startup to apply again.

I am already using the college's tutoring service, which is free, but I am only allowed 1 hour of tutoring per subject...I need more than that. So I have to hire a tutor. Good thing Boe has a job now.

Current Mood: aggravated

Well, i had the day off of work and school today, so mostly today I was a lump. When Boe is depressed, it brings me down too, so that's kind of a major uphill battle times two to have to trudge back into equilibrium. We're down to our last $5 until Thursday and my car is on fumes, so we are pretty limited food-wise to just what we have in the cupboards and what our imaginations can come up with.

I think I've mentioned before that Boe hates cake. HAAAAAAAAATES cake. Granted, working 9 years as a birthday party clown will do that to a person, so I think it's perfectly understandable. Anyway, you read the bit about being broke, right? Believe it or not, Boe actually craved chocolate cake today...yeah, I was stunned too. But the broke thing made it a bit of a conundrum. So I looked up a chocolate cake recipe that got a bunch of good reviews on Allrecipes.com and substituted a bunch of stuff. The major substitution was using 2 grated tablets of Abuelita (so delicious!) in place of cocoa powder (since we didn't have any cocoa powder). I also threw an additional 3 tablespoons of cinnamon into the batter, and doubled the amount of vanilla extract. Then I poured the whole shebang into a pan, put it into the oven, set the timer, and hoped for the best.

The fail occurred when the timer went off and I pulled the oven rack toward me to poke the cake with a toothpick. The entire middle was still liquid and sank. Sigh. So I put it back into he oven, set the timer for another 15 minutes, and promptly burst into tears. Boe heard me sniveling in the kitchen and came to check on me...he said that if the texture turned out more like brownies, that was okay, since he loves brownies. I love that man.

So the timer went off again, and the toothpick came out clean, so I pulled the pan out of the oven. My heart sank. It looked like there was a 2-inch border of cake surrounding the sunken crackled center of brownie-textured fail. We cut into it, and Boe popped the first steaming chunk into his mouth. His eyebrows shot to his hairline, and he mumbled something around the cake in his mouth.

"Hoby schrp, of, iss z OON."

"Huh?"

He popped a second chunk of cake/brownie fail into my mouth. Fail? How could I ever think that this bliss was fail? It was moist, dense, incredibly rich, with a hefty cocoa flavor as a base note, vanilla smoothness in the middle notes, and the cinnamon really shining through at the top of the nose. It's not sticky-sweet, more like a cross between dark chocolate and semi-sweet. Unlike most chocolate and cocoa based foods, I didn't desperately want a glass of water to accompany it.

I am SO going to remember this recipe for future use.

1. Boe is never truly happy unless he has a major project in the works. We have just mailed off to the state attorney's office an application to incorporate a not-for-profit organization. What is going on? Click here!

2. Boe suprised me on Tuesday by meeting me at the door with some paperwork in hand. The paperwork was an application to regularize our marriage in the Catholic Church, and the rest of it was the schedule for the RCIA program. Boe wants to become a Catholic. I'm still stunned...this is something I never expected or looked for.

I've gotten my first round of homework done, and my abnormal psych class promises to be a lot of fun, except for the giggly Goth Lite teenage girls behind me making inane comments sotto voce the entire class. I'm trying to decide if I want to do my research paper on Reactive Attachment Disorder or on the Attachment Therapy controversy.

Current Mood: content

So to recap:

Random Gamer Guy is gone...but not before stealing a pack of Magic: The Gathering cards Boe had picked up that Friday. I don't care too much, except Boe is unhappy, and that makes me unhappy.

Boe's temp job is finished up, and now we wait to hear from the agency for another assignment.

I might have tied one on last Friday to celebrate Random Gamer Guy's departure; the hangover served to remind me that I am not as young as I once was, and that my liver hates me.

Boe and I held a little backyard barbecue on Saturday. Everything was delicious and (as is par the course for me) since I bought too much food, we'll be eating burgers and hot dogs the rest of the week. But they are delicious, and that's the important part.

My college's financial aid office is screwing around with me, and I don't like it. My account has been flagged for verification Every. Single. Year. and this year was no exception. I turned in copies of my tax return on July 18, and my account is STILL "pending, under review." This means that they have not released my financial aid to the bookstore so I can get my books. Because school starts in a week, I'm sure all of the used copies of the textbooks have been sold, so I'll either need to rent textbooks (which is what I'm considering) or buy brand new ones. I am tempted to go to the financial aid office tomorrow and break some heads.

And the only paperwork I'm waiting on to complete my nursing program applications (yes, two: one for the LPN program and one for the RN program) is my highschool transcripts. I called my alma mater a week ago Tuesday to request 2 sets of official transcripts. The said they'd be in the mail that same day. I should have recieved them by Wednesday. They are still not here. I am tempted to go down there and break some heads too.

I am so excited at the prospect of being able to work on sewing projects!

Current Mood: hungry

So, in the 48 hours that RGG has been aware that he will be moving out no later than 8 PM on August 12, he was at the computer playing some sort of fantasy wizarding game all day yesterday (we're talking well over 15 hours, here). How do I know? I was here all day yesterday. Today, he has spent what appears to be all day at the computer, playing yet another fantasy wizarding game. He was playing it when I left for work this morning, he is still playing it as we speak. According to Boe, who asked RGG, RGG has not left the house in those 48 hours.

It appears, so far as I can tell, that RGG has not even begun to look for a place to stay.

Boe and I were chatting this evening, and things really became crystal clear to me when Boe told me that RGG had tried to come to a gentleman's agreement with Boe to allow him to stay past the 12th if RGG was unable to find a new place by that time. Apparently, one of the things that RGG said to him was that I couldn't throw [RGG] out because it wasn't my house.

Let me write that out again, just in case you missed it:

According to RGG, this roof over my head is not my house.

It's Boe's house, and Boe wasn't the one to write out the notice to vacate, so really, RGG just needed to pay the past due rent and everything would be okay again. Boe, bless him, just took one long look at RGG and told him that I (Krista) have made the mortgage payments on the house for the past year with money I earned, so I can damned well do as I please in a house I am paying the mortgage on. Boe finally stood up for me and told RGG that he (Boe) completely supports any and all decisions I make, especially when my happiness is at stake. So, yes, RGG would indeed have to leave no later than 8 PM on the 12th, and furthermore, Boe fully agrees with the decision to evict RGG.

Things really clicked for me when Boe was telling me this little anecdote, and I realized that every request I have made of RGG he has double-checked with Boe. And that also explains why RGG doesn't cook for himself, or clean up after himself, or anything like that...he's expecting me to do it because that's women's work.

That pathetic motherfucker's a misogynist of the first water.

I daresay that he will be stunned when Boe drops him off at the Rescue Mission Shelter the evening of the 12th and his stuff is on the front porch. Meanwhile, I will be changing the locks. I'm a smart girl and I know how to use power tools. Fear me, RGG. Fear me.

Current Mood: cranky

In my minor fit of productivity today, I sent out several applications on Boe's behalf. One of them is for a charter school here in Fort Wayne, and THAT would be ideal, so I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Oh, and I made our weekly bread:

That's just one batch -- there were 2 other batches as well, and the cell phone in the bottom right of the picture is for scale. I decided to do up our bread as large rolls so I can freeze them individually instead of taking the risk of mold growth (hot, humid environment) after a paltry 3 days. I must say, this is my best attempt yet at bread/rolls. The crumb turned out very even and just ever so slightly sweet, and the crust was nice and chewy, but not painfully so. I pretty much eyeballed everything, so there really wasn't a recipe unless you count 2 cups water, 1 package yeast (my starter got really gross and I was afraid of contamination issues, so I tossed it), 1 stick melted butter, 1 cup sugar, salt to taste, and then enough white flour to make everything come together nicely. I thnk it might have worked out to 4-6 cups of flour, when all's said and done. This was a single-rise bread, since I formed the dough into balls before letting anything rise. Dough is done rising when it doesn't bounce back after being poked gently. 15 minutes per batch in a 350 degree oven, and they came out perfectly. See?

And I just realized they look an awful lot like manchet bread loaves were/are supposed to be like...

Current Mood: accomplished

When I got off of work today, every WM in town was out of air conditioners, the same was true for Meijer's, Lowe's, Home Depot, Menard's, Target, Big Lots, and Dollar General (not like I really expected DG to have air conditioners, but I was desperate).

Boe found one -- count 'em, one -- air conditioning unit (and stood guard over it) at our local Do It Best hardware store, where I promptly dispatched myself and my debit card. It seems the unit had been on hold for someone for 5 days, but was never picked up. As an added bonus, the manager took an extra forty bucks off of the retail price since it was a discontinued model. Score!

When Boe had called me to report success on The Quest For Air Conditioning, I was stepping out of a tepid shower with three very angry cats joining me in the bathroom. See, all three of the cats were panting and had rapid breathing when I came home, which are signs of heat exhaustion. So I was a bad Mommy for their own good and took one cat at a time into the tepid shower with me, 15 minutes per cat. Now, you might think that this isa recipe for Disembowelment By Cat Claws, but one thing that I've learned about cats is that they have an innate sense of fairness. That's why my arms get turned into mincemeat when I try to bathe them, but they don't claw me when I have them in the shower with me, even though there is substantially more flesh to tear into when doing so. Sure, they struggled a bit, but nothing involving claws or teeth. I think they think that if they have to get wet, it is only Right and Proper that I get soaked too.

Anyway, I'm pretty sure we managed to buy the last available air conditioner in a three county area. We've moved the animals into the bedroom, complete with litter box, food, and water, and our bedroom is finally beginning to cool down. I might actually get to sleep tonight.

Current Mood: hot

I was feeling kinda down about being totally broke, so I went online a couple of nights ago and ordered us new phones from Verizon...my choice was the LG Cosmo Touch, which were offered on Verizon's website for free. Yay! It's a really nice phone with everything that I wanted on it, but since it's not a smartphone, it doesn't require the 30-bucks-a-month data package. I'm pretty pleased with it. Boe was totally surprised, too!

As soon as I finish Bluetoothing my pictures from my old phone (LG ENV2, if anyone cares) to the new one, I'm going to bed. Tomorrow, er, today is the first day of six in a row to work.

In other news, I've signed up at a couple of paid/reward points sites. One is Inbox Dollars, and one is Swagbucks. Swagbucks is the reward point one, and I'd like to earn enough points to get gift cards for family for Christmas. Then I don't have to stress so hard at the end of the year to stretch our meager budget for presents. Shoot, if I earn enough points (I'm already at 447 for 1 week of messing around), I might just "buy" myself an Amazon.com gift card and purchase gifts that way.

Current Mood: tired

I've been working, as you can probably guess from my recent posts. Sadly, this does not live me in a position to be able to do stuff for myself as far as Adria or really any reenactment goes. Part of it is time, part is the heat in the doggoned house, and a lot of it is having Random Gamer Guy in my house. How can I be completely myself when there is someone in my home with whom I do not feel comfortable?

Let me tell you what sewing means in my home. Generally, I get a wild hair at random, cut out whatever my new project will be, then spend about 12 hours at the sewing machine with my mp3 player plugged into my ears and singing at the top of my lungs. There may or may not be a certain amount of undress, depending on what I'm working on and how many times I feel the need to measure progress or check fitting issues. I might take crappy phone pictures to upload to Photobucket, might twirl around and act like a silly little kid playing dress up, but mostly it is just me, headphones in, sitting at the sewing machine, singing my lungs out and cranking out whatever my little heart tells me I need to make.

The catch is that I am extremely self-conscious about it. I generally don't even start a project when Boe is in the house -- it's okay if he's home once I'm actually working on whatever the project is, but all the anxieties and insecurities come out to play at the very beginning and it's better if I wrestle with those particular demons on my own. Once I'm started, I can generally tune the rest of the world out, and it should tell you something that as a smoker, I can forget about nicotine cravings for those 12 hours (unless something is going Horribly, Horribly Wrong). Naturally, I also forget to eat anything either, but Boe usually cuts me off at about 12 hours at the machine in order to make sure I eat something.

But with a relative stranger in my home, in my safe place to be completely and utterly myself? Well, I'll let you draw your own conclusions.

Current Mood: anxious

Memphis TN wants Boe's complete paperwork in order to schedule several interviews. Here's hopin'.

Current Mood: hopeful

Boe and I went swimming yesterday, which was sorely needed as our area hit 93 degrees! Today I have made some bread dough -- currently rising in the kitchen -- have run a couple loads of laundry, and now we are both at the library using the wifi...since Boe likes to read manga and it ate up most of our bandwidth this month.

Boe is severely depressed about the job situation. Big shock there, right? So I'm required to be the family hardass trying to get things done around here.

Random Gamer Guy somehow managed to break our toilet seat. >:-( I want Boe to get a job quickly so I can kick this guy out.

Current Mood: irritated

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margotvankapelle

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Philosophical Nonsense

Semper et Diem

Entries tagged with boe

Buddy is traveling to his new home.

Christmas gifts

Irritating. Most irritating.

And we have achieved Dog.

Done and done.

Wizard robe -- 75% complete.

I'll be darned.

Tales from the hormonal birthday girl

Teehee

Gonna have to hire a tutor.

Culinary adventures in my world = fail AND win, all at the same time

It's been an interesting week...

Been off of LJ the past few days

Countdown to Random Gamer Guy's eviction

C'mon, LJ, stop fooling around...

We have achieved air conditioning!

Did a little online shopping a couple of days ago...

Working working working and no time to myself

We have a nibble!

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