A Girl With a List

Book Club Brownies and Funfetti Fudge

2011-12-12T16:50:00.000-08:00

OK, NOT that I am supposed to have either one of these things, but I did make them this past week and I may have sampled each one...

This month, my book club read The Future Homemakers of America by Laurie Graham. I'd call it historical fiction/chick lit. One of the fun parts of this book is that the author included a recipe here and there. Some of them, like the one for the eels, I'll pass on, but on page 37 she gave us the recipe for Betty's Best-Ever Brownies. Since Betty was one of the best homemakers in the book, they were bound to be awesome. I made them and brought them to the discussion. :)

Betty's Best-Ever Brownies

2 sticks sweet butter
4 eggs
4 ounces powdered chocolate
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup sifted flour
1 teaspoon McCormick's vanilla extract*

Heat the oven to 350. Grease and flour a large baking pan.
Melt the butter over a low flame, stir in chocolate and set aside to cool.
Beat eggs and sugar until pale and creamy. Fold in the chocolate mixture and blend carefully. Gently add the flour, pour into pan and bake until just set (20-30 minutes).
Leave in pan until cool. Cut into squares for serving.

*Notice that she doesn't tell you when to add the vanilla. I added it after the flour.

This recipe was so rich and lovely. It was much more satisfying than making brownies from a box, and I have to say it didn't take much longer. It's kind of dangerous for me to have this recipe, actually, because now I will be tempted to make it again. And again... and again...

The other recipe I made this week was Funfetti Cake Batter Fudge. Clicking its name will bring you to the blog of another foodie/blogger. (Not sure I can call myself either a foodie or a real blogger at this point, but it sounds good.) I made the fudge for a Christmas party hosted by one of my friends from work. Notice that the girl who created the recipe includes 1/4 teaspoon almond extract. It's not much, but if you don't like the taste of almond, it totally overpowers this recipe. I think next time I make it, I'll skip the almond flavoring. The other party guests seemed to enjoy it, though. Let me know what you think. :)

Chicken with Creamy Mushroom Gravy

2011-12-08T16:01:00.000-08:00

I a very fond of my crock pot. I like cooking, but this makes it easier to cook and still get other things done. Last year at the library I checked out a book on healthy crock pot meals. I'm sorry that I don't know the name of it... But I copied out the recipes that fall into my guidelines. This is:

Chicken with Creamy Mushroom Gravy

1 1/2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 tsp. garlic powder
3/4 tsp onion powder
1 3/4 cups nonfat chicken broth*
1 10 3/4 can low-fat cream of mushroom soup
3/4 cup evaporated skim milk

Spray the inside of slow cooker with cooking spray. [I used EVOO from my Pampered Chef sprayer.] Place chicken breasts in slow cooker; sprinkle with garlic powder and onion powder. Combine broth, mushroom soup, and evaporated skim milk in bowl and mix well. Pour soup mixture over chicken. Cover and cook on low heat for 8-9 hours.

*The last time I made this, I felt like there was way too much sauce. I actually only used one cup of broth this time and I liked the way it came out much better.

172 calories, 2 g total fat, 538 mg sodium, 26 g protein

Ruby Tuesday Blackened Tilapia

2011-12-06T15:19:00.000-08:00

Now this was good.

I discovered Ruby Tuesday's Blackened Tilapia last month. It's just a tilapia fillet with their Cajun seasoning, topped with mango salsa. I went back for it a few times. :) SO good! But I can't afford to eat at Ruby Tuesday every night, so I figured I'd just see how easy it would be to make something comparable at home.

I found a bottle of Cajun seasoning at TJMaxx, of all places. I just spritzed the olive oil on, then sprinkled the seasoning liberally. I put it in my new Pampered Chef stoneware pan, and when it was almost done, the pan broke in half. In half! Aren't those things supposed to be indestructible? This was the first, and I guess last, time I'll use it. Anyway, I was able to quickly put the fish into a Pyrex pan to finish the cooking.

Pardon its appearance in the photo to the left. It was a lovely color, as you can see. :) I can't seem to locate my good camera, so this was taken with my iphone. The fish fell apart on the way from the Pyrex to the plate, which is just a sign that it's done! And you can see someone's nose and whiskers at the top of the photo, so you know I had to take it quickly and then whisk it away. I am an expert at defensive eating.

Anyway, it was so good. Maybe a little better because I had to deal with broken stoneware and avoid being stalked by Mittens and her radar nose. I'm not sure if it's quite as good as Ruby Tuesday, but it's good enough to keep me happily eating it at home for about 1/4 of the price.

3-Ingredient Meatloaf.

2011-12-05T14:46:00.000-08:00

3-Ingredient Meatloaf

This is my latest experiment. It's another Biggest Loser recipe, and it didn't change my life or anything, but it was easy to throw together after work one night. Turkey, barbecue sauce and feta. You can find the exact recipe by clicking above. I'm sure I'll make it again, but I'll probably switch it up, which will defeat the purpose of it only being three ingredients. ;) Maybe some finely chopped onion, or using the spicy version of the barbecue sauce or something. There you go.

She lives!

2011-11-28T13:47:00.000-08:00

My grandmother informed me on the phone yesterday that it's now been over a year since I started my diet. She asked if I was aware of that statistic. Oh, you have no idea how very aware I am. 72 pounds later, I'm glad that I've been successful so far, but with about 35 pounds left to lose, I'm becoming a bit bored.

Normally I don't like talking about the diet at all. This is mostly because people astound me with what they say; they either ask questions that are maddeningly stupid ("Aren't you hungry?" is a popular one, and I usually want to respond that of course I am, and there are days when I've been tempted to eat my own hand, but I don't think that's a socially acceptable thing to say) or bafflingly intrusive ("How much do you weigh now?" "What size are those pants?"). I don't answer those. My weight is between me, my doctor, and God.

I spend so much time thinking about this diet that it's the last thing I really want to talk about.

However, in the interest of keeping me interested in sticking with this and seeing it through to the end, I've decided to post some recipes. People do that, right?

My options are pretty limited (hence my boredom). I do need to learn to cook a variety of things in a healthy way, so if you know any good recipes that I can use, I'll be happy to try them out.

Guidelines: I'm supposed to make meals that consist of 4-6 ounces of protein and 2 cups of vegetables (but not potatoes, corn, sweet potatoes... you get it). I can also look through cookbooks that have nutrition information and make meals, but the recipes must fall within these guidelines:

300-500 calories per serving
20 grams of protein or more
5 grams of fat or fewer
500-600 mg sodium or lower

At first it didn't sound hard, but the more cookbooks I perused, I realized how strict these guidelines are. Not impossible, of course, but not easy.

So tonight I'm presenting you with the recipe for Hannah's Stuffed Peppers as seen on The Biggest Loser. You might think I would be addicted to this show, considering my focus for the past year, but the truth is that I haven't really been watching much TV at all lately. I caught an episode of this, I think, because I was waiting for Dancing With the Stars to come on. ;)

Yes, I am using the photo from NBC. ;) I don't own the photo or the recipe, but I have to tell you, they look just like they do in the picture. :) They are fantastic! And since there is no rice in them, that really cuts down on the calories and carbohydrates, and even leaves some room for cheese. In fact, because they are only 130 calories each, I can have two and still be fine. :) I added a salad of spinach, tomatoes, cucumbers and extra virgin olive oil, and that was my dinner.

Days 2, 3 and 4 of Gifts

2011-05-30T15:44:00.000-07:00

On my second day of giving things away, my friend Bert came over and took a box or two of my things. She's having a tag sale to benefit the Alzheimer's Association. There will be more boxes where those came from. Once I put a few things aside to give to her, every time I opened a drawer or a closet or looked on a bookshelf I saw things that I was willing to part with.

I also went out to a car show and gave my friend Jessica some brownies in ice cream cones. She was raising money for her son Jonathan, who is the bravest little guy I've ever met. He's been dealing with Guillain-Barre Syndrome. He's made amazing progress! I just wish I could do more for him.

On the third day, I gave a non-traditional gift. Because I've been running back and forth to Home Depot a lot, I sat down with a stack of receipt surveys and filled them out. I made sure that if anyone made a good impression on me, I mentioned them by name in the survey whenever possible. It wasn't hard to remember their names, since I've been going to the same Home Depot and I now recognize the guys behind the paint counter. I know from working there that if your manager hears good things about you they give incentives, so I wanted to help them out if I could.

And today I went up to MA to visit my family. I brought an apple pie with a secret ingredient. :) I have half of it here at home, which I can't eat, so I may just bring it to work tomorrow. And I got the recipe from my friend Sandy. As part of Day 4, I will also give the recipe to all of you. :)

Dutch Apple Pie

3 c sliced (peeled) apples

3 T. water

1/2 t. cinnamon

1 c. sugar (scant)

3 T. flour

1 9 inch unbaked pie shell

Mix ingredients all together; pour in unbaked pie crust and bake for one hour in 350º oven.

Topping:

1/2 c. sugar

1/4 c. Parmesan cheese

1/2 c. flour

3 T. butter or margarine.

Mix ingredients until crumbly. Sprinkle evenly over pie. Return to oven until topping is light brown (this takes forever, so I usually put it under the broiler).

As for the painting, I'm about half done with it. It's a lot more vibrant than I pictured. I'm not sure how much I'm going to like it when it's done, but it's too late to turn back now. It's either going to be beautiful or hideous. ;) But you know what? If I went with safe color choices, I would have always regretted not trying the color scheme in the brochure that I really, really liked. If, by the end of the summer, I don't like it, then I'll go back to the drawing board and find some safer, more subdued colors, and maybe hire someone else to do it. ;) For now, though, I have to get back to painting. The long weekend is waning and I really should get as much done as I can.

29 Gifts, and an Epiphany

2011-05-27T19:30:00.001-07:00

A new facebook friend invited me to join her and some others in a challenge to give away one thing every day for 29 days. You can read more about the challenge here. They're technically not starting their giving for a couple of weeks, but I have a lot of giving coming up anyway, so I'm starting a little early. :) Today is my Day 1, and what I gave was pretty simple. I have been giving away clothes left and right, so today I put another bag of clothes in the charity drop box on the way to the gym. :)

I also came to a realization a couple of days ago. I really dislike a lot of the furniture in my house. Most of the things I have came from someone else, whether it was a relative or a friend or the people I bought the condo from. This was because I didn't have much of my own furniture, coming from a studio apartment. However, it's important to keep in mind that the reason it was up for grabs is that other people didn't want it. Some of it is falling apart, some of it is just too big for the room, some of it is just not my style. I don't even know what my style is. ;)

So today I spent some time with a coworker who has artistic taste, and we went through some books and blogs and discussed the possibilities of different colors. Finally today, this is what I settled on:
I am so excited! I bought the turquoise, white and green paint tonight for my kitchen, dining room and living room, which are all kind of one open space. I plan to get some pillows and things in the pink color. I love that it's fun but grown-up.

And how cute will Mittens look in a turquoise room?

Livin' on a Prayer

2011-05-13T14:51:00.000-07:00

Recently I hit the halfway point in my diet. I set out in the beginning to lose 107.4 pounds, and I am now 55% of the way there! The diet has taken up more of my mental energy than I expected it to. For one thing, willpower is not a natural gift for me. I really have to work at it to not pick up things that I shouldn't. I also have to make sure that I plan my meals ahead of time, and try to space them evenly. This is easy on a weekday, when I just do the same thing every day, but on weekends, especially when I'm trying to plan around someone else, it can be more challenging. For example, if someone suggests meeting for lunch, I can time my breakfast and morning snack so that my lunch is at a good time. If they call and say they need to postpone by an hour or more, that can be a problem. It's probably more of a mental issue than a physical one, but still.

There is also the issue of people constantly asking me questions, like how much I've lost, how much more I want to lose, what I weigh now (yeah, forget it), and exactly what I'm doing. It's not a secret, and I'm happy to give out my doctor's phone number, but there are days when it all gets to be too much and I feel like a museum exhibit. Once the novelty wears off, hopefully the comments will drop off as well. It's not that I'm not grateful but sometimes I do feel a bit bombarded.

I've been reading a lot lately, but rather than post a book review for everything I've read since my last entry (which would take a long time), I'll just give you a review of the first two that come to mind.

I Think I Love You by Allison Pearson is a novel about a girl who is in love with David Cassidy during his heydey. If you've ever had a teen idol, you'll really enjoy this guilty pleasure of a novel. If you consider yourself a Cassidy fan, you'll feel like Allison Pearson is giving you a nudge and a wink when she mentions specific lyrics (like the pause before the "...but, could it be forever?") in his songs. While David Cassidy isn't at the top of my list (that honor goes to Davy Jones from The Monkees), I am enough of a fan of that era of TV and music that I've read C'Mon, Get Happy! Fear and Loathing on the Partridge Family Bus, his memoir that came out in the 1990s. (The saleswoman at RJ Julia last night confirmed that yes, that does make me a nerd. I was very proud.) The more Cassidy trivia you know, the more fun this book is to read. Even if you don't, though, please toss this book in your beach bag or take it along for your next airplane ride. :)

The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown is about unoriginal themes like sisterhood and breast cancer, but the author does a wonderful job at making them seem new. You will especially like it if you've read a lot of Shakespeare. The collective "we" narrator and quirky Andreas family are very endearing. Three adult sisters return home, ostensibly because their mother is sick, but really, they admit, "because we failed." It's about reconnecting, rebuilding and regrouping. It's also a lot funnier than it sounds.

And I've decided to undertake a reading challenge. I'm already trying to read 100 books this year (my friend Paul and I have attempted this in the past and I don't think either of us have succeeded), but since I have so many books here at the house and am running out of space for them, I've decided to join Bibliophile by the Sea's 2011 Reading from my Shelves Project. Basically what it means is that you read something you own, then pass it on to a friend or otherwise get it off your bookshelves. She only lets you count them toward the challenge once they've been passed on. However, I do plan to go see my dad at some point this summer in PA, and he owns a used book store, so that's where most of the books I own end up going (and coming from).

Loose Ends

2010-12-05T10:58:00.000-08:00

And so, if anyone actually reads this blog, you've probably picked up on the theme that I like to make lists and check them off. It just feels like a good way to stay organized. Besides the big list that I've been working on, every December I create a list of all the things I want to just get done by the time the year is over so I don't have to carry baggage into the new year. It's not possible, of course, to have a completely clean slate, but if there are any little things I can tie up and just get rid of, it's nice to get those done. It makes the bigger things seem possible.

So I've been working on some of the small things that I've been putting off all year, and some of the big ones too. The big ones sometimes turn out to be not such a big deal once I get started on them. I was kind of afraid to call a plumber, but it was something I could solve easily. How, though, I need to replace the tile in the bathroom... it was kind of poorly done by whoever did it before. But now it will be much cheaper because I can do that on my own without the help of a plumber.

As for The Big List, here's what I've made progress on:

#22: Read all of Jane Austen's novels. When I started the list, I'd only read Emma. This summer and fall I read Pride and Prejudice and Northanger Abbey. Northanger Abbey is my favorite so far. :) I have the other three sitting on the shelf in my bedroom for when I get to them. :)

#48: Learn to shop with coupons effectively. I'm still working on this, but what's made this easier is the website www.couponmom.com. Her team of experts compares coupons from Sunday papers with online coupons and current store circulars so you can get things for free or very cheaply. Of course, I'm not eating much right now, but I can still use the deals for toiletries and cleaning supplies, and my school is having a food drive, so I can always donate things there.

Oh, and why am I not eating?

A goal I've had for many years has been to lose weight. Sadly, every time I've set out to accomplish this, I've been defeated. I'm a very driven person, but no matter what method I've tried, I can't seem to get more than 10 pounds off, and then it creeps back on. I finally sought the help of my doctor, who sent me to a nutritionist. When her program didn't work for me, I asked her to refer me to an endocrinologist. When their blood tests all came back normal, they sent me to a doctor who puts together medically supervised very low-calorie diets. I'm right now eating between 800-1000 calories a day. Don't try this on your own. The foods that I'm eating are all from his office, and I'm allowed one real meal per day. The rest of the time it's shakes and bars. He said that I'll be on it for about a year, and when I heard that, I was so devastated, but it's been almost a month now, and I'm still OK. So far I've lost 7 pounds. I'm not convinced yet that this is going to work (ever the skeptic) but it's far less scary than surgery would be. If anyone is interested to know more about this, I'll write another entry about how it's going.

And that's where I am so far.

Does anyone else make a list in December?

Why Foursquare?

2010-08-11T12:41:00.001-07:00

I've always been kind of fascinated by little gimmicky things, especially those that appeal to my OCD side. I like checklists and progression; I like documenting what I've done and where I've been, as though it actually counts for something. This is one reason that I like my National Parks Passport so much, I think, which is another entry for another day.

The latest little game that I've been playing is Foursquare. If you have a smartphone, you can download the free app and then use it to "check in" to venues. It uses GPS technology (I think?) to know approximately where you are, so when you get to a venue like a restaurant, a museum, or anywhere else open to the public (I've checked in at a cemetery), you just open up the app and select it from the list. If you're the one who checks in to a venue the most, you become the "mayor" of that venue, and sometimes there are special deals for mayors of different venues. I currently hold 18 mayorships and get benefits for none of them. ;) The app also awards you points for checking in, sometimes with bonus points for making lots of stops in one day or for adding new venues. You can compare the points you've earned with those that the people on your friends list earn, and if you have the most points... well, as far as I can tell, you get a nice, warm feeling inside.

Finally, foursquare gives you virtual badges for checking in at certain places or for holding a certain amount of mayorships. There is a Gym Rat badge for checking in at a gym at least 10 times in a 30-day period and a Barista badge for checking in at 5 different Starbucks locations. Personally, I've been lobbying for Foursquare to add a Bookworm badge for people who have checked in at a certain number of libraries and/or bookstores, and when I submitted my suggestion I found out that I wasn't alone, so hopefully that one is coming down the road. :)

Of course, sadly, I am slightly behind the Foursquare curve. For example, I just spent three days in York, PA, including a day trip to Gettysburg, and four days in Philadelphia. I checked in at so many National Parks, museums and monuments, and then I found out last night that there is a badge for visiting certain notable PA attractions, many of which I'd been to. However, I hadn't been following the PA Tourism Foursquare page (I didn't know there was such a thing), so even though I've got all those checkins to my credit, I don't get the badge. Ditto with the History Channel badge; I found out that I had to be following the History Channel page on Foursquare in order to get the History Channel Badge, which is too bad, because only hours before I'd checked in at the Cleveland Art Museum and the Cleveland Botanical Garden, both of which would have counted.

You live, you learn. It's not a big deal, but now I know. I'm now on vacation on the shore of Lake Erie in Ohio, and I've been adding venues and even earning some mayorships up here. It doesn't seem to have caught on here, though, because there are no benefits to being the mayor around here that I've seen.

One place in PA that gives a mayor benefit, though? The York Emporium used book store in York, PA. That's my dad's store. :) Become the mayor and you'll get 20% off your purchases! I also know that the Mark Twain House and Museum in Hartford, CT will give free admission to the mayor.

Clutch in, now take third...

2010-06-12T05:43:00.000-07:00

Since I wrote the list, some things have changed. I no longer really feel the desire to make any record album journals to sell (58), for example. But I also continue to come up with new goals.

I have a very good friend who drives a manual transmission. It's just what he prefers. Me, I don't get it. Why do more work than you would have to do? My little car is so easy. You put it in drive and you zip off! He's been threatening for a while now to teach me how to drive his car, and two weeks ago turned out to be the day. We were bored. If we'd remembered that there was a new episode of Glee on that night, we probably wouldn't have sought out an empty parking lot, but we didn't, so we did. It was actually pretty scary, like learning to drive all over again. There's a lot to remember, and you have to remember to do several things all at once, but I got there. :) And speaking of learning to drive all over again, you really do need to have a friend next to you who has infinite patience for the fact that you don't really know what you're doing yet and will need to be reminded. When I stalled once at a light with people behind me I panicked, and he just calmly said, "Clutch in, start the car. Go on..."

Yesterday was the third time I've gotten behind the wheel of his car. No more empty parking lots and side streets! I drove us around to do some errands, to CVS, Target at the Home Depot, on some pretty main roads! I think I've got it now. :) I'm not perfect at it, and I'll admit that I stalled the car a couple of times, but I didn't hit anyone, and that really was the goal. ;)

Always Looking Up

2010-06-10T16:40:00.000-07:00

I'm kind of quirky with the books I read. I read quite a bit, and if I'm remembering a particular day in my life (like the plane ride to California for my grandfather's funeral) I can usually tell you what book I was in the middle of (in this case, it was Lucky by Alice Sebold) and where I got it (my friend Lizzie let me borrow it).

I just finished reading Michael J. Fox's second memoir, Always Looking Up, which I got from the Friends of the Rockville Library sale shelf one day when I was tutoring. I think I paid 50 cents for it.

Celebrity autobiographies can tend to be very self-important and leave you wondering why you read them in the first place. In fact, there is an entire off-Broadway production about them in New York City that I'd love to go see. But Michael J. Fox will strike you, from beginning to end, as a very real person with a very real passion for helping others who have Parkinson's Disease and other diseases that might be cured through stem cell research. He's a devoted family man and is very down-to-earth despite his TV and movie star status. As the subtitle to the book suggests, he's also incredibly optimistic. You can't get this guy down. If you've ever sworn not to read a celebrity memoir, I wouldn't blame you, but this one is different. :) Trust me.

How Sweet it Is...

2010-06-09T15:15:00.000-07:00

For a couple of years now, I've considered starting a home-based business. There are lots of them out there, selling products from food storage to wine to home decor, but the latest and greatest is the one that finally got me to join up: Dove Chocolate Discoveries!

If you're looking for something fun and different to do with your friends this summer, consider hosting a chocolate party. Your independent chocolatier will bring you and your friends samples of our snacks, baking products and even beverages! It's the same Dove Chocolate you know and love from the grocery stores... smooth and rich and creamy, but made into things like brownies, cupcakes, mousse and martinis!

I have to say, I've really enjoyed being a chocolatier so far. I've met some great new people and, yes, made some nice commission! If you're in Connecticut and the idea of a chocolate tasting interests you, please drop me an email! It's so much fun, and I really doubt that you'll have a hard time getting your friends together to sample our stuff. :)

chocolatebychrissy@comcast.net

#28 and #38

2010-06-09T13:39:00.000-07:00

Wow, it's been a long time. I'm a horrible blogger! So sorry!

But I've gotten a few things done. Hopefully that will make up for it. ;)

When I first moved into the condo, I was so relieved to have more room than I did in my tiny studio apartment. Finally, Mittens and I weren't tripping over one another. (We still trip over one another, but that has more to do with the fact that Mittens enjoys being underfoot than the lack of space.) I had two (TWO!) bedrooms all of a sudden, when prior to this, I'd only had a livingroom/bedroom. The thing is, though, that when you get more space, you also tend to fill it up. Hence, my guest room just became the room where everything that didn't logically go anywhere else came to collect dust. Sad but true, it was full of boxes and various and sundry items: clothes that were either too small or that I just didn't like enough to put into the rotation, scrapbooking supplies, letterboxing supplies, things that I was only keeping because they had once belonged to so-and-so, wrapping paper, blah blah blah. Finally, after watching a couple episodes of Hoarders, I was forced to take action. I sorted through the books that I wasn't likely to read (or read again) and give them to my dad's store, I bagged up clothes that I wasn't going to wear ever again and dropped them in the bins for Goodwill, and bought some organizers for the magazines and scrapbooking supplies I'd accumulated. That forced me to take a good look at the stuff I was holding onto. I had markers and glue sticks that had dried up and paper that was torn or wrinkled. I recycled what I could and tossed what I couldn't.

I designated one shelf in my closet for my business supplies (see next entry!) and bought a spiffy new desk from Ikea that I'd been pining for ever since my friend and I took a trip there for my birthday in December. (Who knew that Ikea has the yummiest, richest, moistest chocolate cake in the world?) I kept the blue velvet chair that I inherited from my dad's friend Van Cooper and kept the little straw shelf that my friend Kristi and I obtained from an old man at a garage sale when we were furnishing our Washington apartment back in 1998. It's now for stationery. :)

There are some great Ikea lights hanging behind the white gauzy Target curtains, little stars that I bought during the aforementioned birthday trip. I think they're for Christmas, but I like them so much that I'm keeping them up. :) I have things on the wall that I've bought on vacations or otherwise have sentimental value and a shelf of books about writing.

My favorite part of redoing this room wasn't the decluttering, though. First, I painted it a nice, buttery yellow, and then talked my friend (who was helping me) into letting me paint the molding purple. We also put down a nice hardwood floor from Home Depot. I must say, it's looking pretty spiffy in here. :)

I want that horrible spaghetti.

2009-11-16T04:14:00.001-08:00

When I was a kid, one thing I liked to do was help my mom cook dinner, especially meatballs. OK, and especially any kind of dessert.

When I was in elementary school, I ordered the Betty Crocker Cookbook for Boys and Girls from one of those book-order newsletters. Do they still have those? This was an orange softcover book with some kind of 70s-looking food on the front. I don't know how else to explain it. They're cheeseburgers with faces.

One thing I always wanted to make but never did was this:
http://epicute.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/cute-food-dog-salad-betty-crocker.jpg

Because, come on.

In the section entitled "Mmmmm! Main Dishes!" was a recipe for One Pot Italian Spaghetti. You cooked it in a Dutch Oven. Betty's protocol was to brown the ground beef, then add the sauce, then add some salt, water, sugar and spaghetti, and cook it all together.

I only made it twice. I was only allowed to make it twice.

The sauce's consistency was kind of gluey. I could have probably assembled a school project with it. And the spaghetti, as I remember it, was adamantly on the al dente side.

I freaking loved it. Do not ask me why. I grew up with a mom who regularly made pasta, and made it well. My great-grandmother made fresh pasta from scratch into her 90s. My uncle makes wonderful Italian food (my uncle just makes wonderful food, actually), and my grandmother always had a pot of good spaghetti sauce on the stove when we visited her when I was young. So it's not like I've never had good home-made spaghetti. I have. And this stuff totally wasn't it.

But I freaking loved it anyway. Part of that is probably just that I made it myself, but I don't know. I can't say. I do like my spaghetti al dente, and I do like my sauce a little on the burnt side, so maybe this was something that combined my deviant tastes.

Whatever the reason, tonight, I'm craving that spaghetti. My dad is probably shaking his head in disbelief right now. He's the one who put the kibosh on me EVER making it again. When I protested and told him that my grandmother asked me for the recipe, he told me that she was just being nice.

In case any of the rest of you want it, through the magic of Google, here is the recipe for the burnt gluey sauce/crunchy in one pot spaghetti:

One-Pot Italian Spaghetti
Amount Ingredient
1 pound ground beef
2 tablespoons instant minced onions or 1/3 cup frozen chopped onion
8 ounce can tomato sauce
15 ounce can spaghetti sauce with mushrooms
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon sugar
2 cups water
7 ounce package long spaghetti
3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese (if you like)

Preparation Instructions:

1. Crumble the ground beef into Dutch oven. Cook and stir over medium-high heat until brown on all sides, about 10 minutes. Spoon out any fat and throw it away.

2. Stir minced onion, the tomato sauce and spaghetti sauce into the ground beef. Add salt, sugar, water and the spaghetti (uncooked). Heat to boiling over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking.

3. Reduce heat. Cover and simmer over low heat about 15 minutes or until the spaghetti is tender. Remove from heat and stir once. Sprinkle with grated cheese just before serving.

I know what you're all thinking. Why, Chrissy, would you want to make this, given your track record? Just go to the store and get yourself some pasta and some sauce and cook it in two separate pans, the way God intended.

I am undaunted. Just because something isn't conventionally delicious doesn't mean that it has no value.

Tonight, I'm a little cold, and a lot tired. I'm overwhelmed with the work I have to do for grad school and some of my after-work commitments. It's been one of those weeks when the check engine light comes on in your car when the cat is sick and you can't fit in a nap or a workout, but you also can't focus on the paper that you're 3/4 done with. I want some comfort food. I want my bad spaghetti.

Haunted Hartford

2009-09-21T03:02:00.001-07:00

If you're anything like me and you live in New England, then fall is probably one of the highlights of your year. The leaves change color, there's a great smell in the air, and hot apple cider gives you that delicious cozy feeling.

October is one of my favorite months of the year, and this year, I'm already starting to fill my schedule.

Two events that I highly recommend are full of local history as well as some ghosts!

Cedar Hill Cemetery will host its annual Haunted History Lantern Light tour on October 23 at 7 pm. Bring a flashlight and wear comfortable shoes. You'll be led around the cemetery grounds after nightfall (the only night of the year that the gates are open after dark!) to the graves of some of our most interesting residents. For those of you who come every year, we've added some new spots to our tour. Admission is $5, and the money benefits the ongoing restoration and preservation at Cedar Hill.

The Mark Twain House and Museum is hosting a haunted tour as well called the Graveyard Shift. Come listen to spooky stories about happenings inside the home of Connecticut's most famous writer! Strange smells, things that go bump in the night... is the mansion haunted? This will take place on October 9, 16, 23 and 30. Admission as follows:
$17/adults and seniors, $15/members, unlucky $13/children 10-16 (not recommended for children under 10!). Reservations are highly recommended! Email caitlin.thayer@marktwainhouse.org for more information.

Do you know of any other Connecticut fall events? Leave me a comment!

"Where's the flatware for going on vacation alone?" --Carrie Bradshaw

2009-09-13T18:02:00.001-07:00

This is part of a longer quote from Sex and the City: "Think about it. If you are single, after graduation there isn't one occasion where people celebrate you ... Hallmark doesn't make a "congratulations, you didn't marry the wrong guy" card. And where's the flatware for going on vacation alone?"

I'm not whining. It just made me smile, because honestly, I don't need the flatware. I have lots of flatware, actually, but that's another entry. My kitchen is kind of full at this point. I just reorganized my kitchen gadget drawer, and I found out that I own no fewer than four vegetable peelers. I texted a friend of mine who just got his own apartment and offered him one, plus a ladle, a large two-pronged fork for turning things in a pan, a rubber scraper, a corkscrew, a slotted spoon, some measuring spoons, dry-ingredient measuring cups and a can opener. Again, that's another story.

Alaska. That's the focus of this entry. :) I haven't actually written about this trip yet! I know I touched on it on Facebook, if you follow my status updates, and I posted some photos, but I haven't really blogged about it, and people (my dad) are asking me for that, so here we go. :) I'll start at the beginning of the journey and blog about Ketchikan, then pick up again tomorrow. :)

First, I drove to New Jersey. My awesome friend Dana was nice enough to let me leave my car in her driveway while I was gone so I didn't have to leave it at the airport for two weeks. Then I took a shuttle to the airport before the sun was up so I could get on my plane at 7 am. This is all the boring stuff, though, right? I ended up in Vancouver, BC, and boarded the Carnival Spirit the next day. :)

This is the second cruise I've been lucky enough to go on, and it's still kind of daunting how huge a cruise ship is. After a couple of days at sea, we finally docked in our first port: Ketchikan.

I was one of the first people off the ship, and I grabbed a self-guided walking tour brochure out of the information booth at the dock. I had the whole town to myself for a while! I had fun walking through the back roads and neighborhoods with my pamphlet, looking at the houses and churches. There were ravens everywhere, and they are loud! I heard what I thought was an alarm overhead, and it turned out to be a raven on top of a totem pole.

I also saw a huge bald eagle in a tree above the creek, which was a big deal to me, but the local man walking by me just smiled and said, "Yes, we see him every day."

The most exciting part of Ketchikan, though, was the flightseeing tour I took. I highly recommend seeing the Misty Fjords if you ever have the chance. It was a little expensive, but it was so worth every penny. I went with Taquan Air for an hour-long tour. I really don't have the words for it, so I'll post a couple of photos for you. The pilot landed in the water for a bit and let us get out onto the pontoons so we could take more pictures. I was afraid that I was going to fall in!

Tomorrow... Juneau. :)

#70: Renew the Mensa membership

2009-09-01T18:15:00.000-07:00

Here's one I can solve by throwing money at it!

I became a member of Mensa in 2007 after I took the official test in November of 2006 and passed. I wasn't actually expecting to pass. I was inspired to take the test by a book of puzzles in one of the math classrooms at work that was published by Mensa. I had fun working them out between classes and decided to give this a shot.

I was a member for about a year and went to some of the social functions, but when my membership was up for renewal, I just never rejoined. I'm not sure why.

But I'm willing to give it another shot. :) So tonight I renewed my membership.

Check. :)

#63: Send a postcard to Post Secret

2009-08-28T18:58:00.000-07:00

I love the Post Secret Blog. It's a place you can go every Sunday and read the secrets of perfect strangers from around the world who create postcards that contain the darkest (or sometimes happiest!) secrets they have that they can't tell anyone. Some are store-bought and embellished, and some are made from scratch. Most of them will bring up some kind of emotion in you.

I've always wanted to send one in. The idea is that once it's out there, it's not a secret anymore. You unburden yourself, even if it's anonymously, and then you don't have to carry it around with you. You let it go.

So I made one tonight about something that's been bothering me for a while. It's not elaborate, but I think it gets my point across. I'm going to drop it in the mail tomorrow and let it go.

And if I told you what it was, it wouldn't be a secret!

I'm just a girl who can't say no...

2009-08-21T13:36:00.001-07:00

Here's something that should be on the list: saying no when I want to.

For a very long time, I wouldn't say no to people. If someone needed a favor, I would do it no matter what. Sometimes that meant loaning money that I never saw again, sometimes it meant giving people rides or loaning out books or "helping" someone with their work. But whatever it was, for a very long time, I just said yes because I felt bad saying no. There was guilt, but there was also the fear that whoever I said no to would be mad at me, and I don't like that feeling. Besides, karma is good, right? Help someone out and they'll help you?

When I turned 30, something in my head clicked. I've seen a pretty significant change, in a good way. I don't know if anyone else has noticed it, but I've mellowed a little. I've started keeping the house a little neater (just a little!) and I've stuck up for myself more.

Without going into detail, a friend called last week and asked me for a favor that was set to happen yesterday. I said that I didn't think it would work out, hoping he would get the hint. He did, but he didn't take it the way I was hoping. He became indignant when he realized that I was about to say no, and started pouting, so I relented.

For days, I berated myself. I'm a Jersey girl, for God's sake. I don't say yes when I mean no! I'm a professional, I almost have a masters degree, I've been a homeowner for almost five years. I teach high school. I can't let myself be bullied.

Yesterday, he called me and said he'd be at my house in about two hours. I said OK, but then I said that since I'd already said yes, it was fine, but in the future, when I say that something isn't going to work out, he needs to respect that. He became incensed and said that there's no good reason for me to say no to him unless I'd had pre-existing plans. I did offer a few reasons, but he countered each of them. Finally, he became so angry with me that he said he wouldn't be coming after all.

I don't think he's speaking to me right now. And honestly, I'm OK with that. Look at me being fine with that. Because a friend who tries to bully you isn't actually a friend.

So let's pretend that saying no and sticking to it when it's important was on the list. :) Check!

#6: Bike 20 Miles of CT's Rail Trails

2009-08-18T08:48:00.000-07:00

Check! Sort of.

Last summer, a good friend of mine inspired me to buy a bike. He's always riding his and always talking about how much he loves it, and I used to love to ride my bike as a kid, so I decided to go for it. I went to Dick's Sporting Goods and brought home a light blue bike (and a light blue helmet to go with it). When my friend saw her for the first time, he Christened her Beatrice, which now usually gets shortened to just Bea. Now whenever I ride her, I feel like Bea Arthur is with me, which isn't a bad thing. :)

Anyway, Bea (the bike) spent the winter and spring in my storage closet, and I was coaxed to unlock her and bring her out recently. We went to the rail trail in Vernon, starting at Valley Falls park and riding west to Manchester. Then we rode back. The thing about trail is that you can't see it, or even feel it when you're walking it, but it has a very slight uphill slope when you're going east. So when we were riding west, I was flying, and then the way back to the car, I was huffing and puffing. Round trip, roughly 6 miles.

I did the same ride solo the next day, but I went in the other direction so I could do the work and then have the easy part at the end.

And then yesterday, I parked at the Manchester trail head and rode all the way out to Bolton. At the site of the former train station in Bolton is a sign that tells you that you've gone 6.9 miles. So round trip, almost 14!

And now I've biked 26 miles of Connecticut's rail trails. The reason that I say "sort of" is that they're not exactly 20 unique miles... It's the same bunch of trail a few times. But since I didn't qualify it in the list, I guess it counts. We're going on another ride tomorrow, so maybe we can cover some new ground.

In other news, I'm covered in primer from last night's venture into the guest room (#28). This afternoon there will be more yellow going up. I can't wait to get that room done (#38)!

I also have an audition scheduled for an a capella group (41). I'll let you know how that goes. :)

Having a list really seems to be helping, because it's easier to see where my goals are, rather than just keeping them in the nebulous "someday maybe" cloud in my head. :)

While I was gone...

2009-08-14T16:13:00.000-07:00

I know it's been a while since I've written an entry here about accomplishing my goals, but I promise, I've been working on it! Here are some of the exciting (and not so exciting) things that I've accomplished:

13. Get a new stamp in my passport
I just got back from a beautiful two-week vacation in Alaska. :) In order to get to Alaska, you have to go through Canada (at least, on the cruise I was on). So while I've been to Canada before (and actually, I've been to Vancouver before), I didn't have my passport stamped last time I was in Vancouver. So there you have it. :) A brand-new stamp!

25. Read 15 books on the 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die list
I'd already read about 30 of these before I set this goal, so I figure I need to read 15 *more*. It's not like there's a shortage of them.
Since I set this goal, I've read:
-Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
-The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
-Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel

I've read a lot more books than that, but nothing else on the list. Maybe I should make them a priority. ;) I'm currently in the middle of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain.

30. Get the dishwasher fixed
I can't really take a lot of credit for this one. While I was in Alaska, my friend Josh was feeding my cat for me. He knew that the dishwasher wasn't working, and one day while he was spending quality time with Mittens, he took a look at it. He figured out that the gasket was worn out, so he took $13 out of the petty cash I left him for any Mittens-related expenses that might crop up and bought me a new one. Then he fixed the dishwasher and texted me about it when I was in Anchorage. I can't tell you how grateful I am for that. He saved me about $250 in parts and labor. I've run the dishwasher several times already since I've been back, and it works PERFECTLY.

31. Use a re-usable cup when I go to Dunkie's
Thanks to my coworker Chris, I am now a coffee-drinker. Thanks to Jillian Michaels, I actually believe it might be good for me. Now I go through the Dunkie's drive-through (that's Dunkin' Donuts, for those who don't know) a few days a week before work. I've started to feel pretty guilty about all the cups I was throwing away, so when I went to Disney World (see #17 on February 20), I picked up a travel mug off the clearance table in our hotel's gift shop. Now I feel like I'm saving the planet, speeding up my metabolism, and I get a good feeling from remembering the Port Orleans resort every time I use it. Good stuff. :)

33. Freecycle 20 items
In a fit of de-cluttering, I had a very low-cost tag sale. I rounded up all the things in the house that I didn't want or need anymore, just some kitchen things, some old craft items, even some extraneous furniture. And I posted it on Freecycle. Over the course of two weeks, I was able to shed well over 20 things. The people who got free stuff were happy, and I got some space back, which made me happy. :) I spent YEARS as a pack rat, holding on to anything that had any sentimental value whatsoever. Finally, I'm learning to let go, and its' really empowering to have some empty space in my guest room.

34. Get that @#*($ bathroom wall fixed
Finally! This past April, my bathroom wall was fixed. There was a lot of damage to the ceiling and wall when the pipe in the bathroom of the unit upstairs broke and there was a leak. This happened two Octobers ago, but my upstairs neighbors were taking forever to get it fixed. Unfortunately, I had to file a small claims lawsuit in order to get it done. I felt bad about doing that, but as soon as they got the notice in the mail, they gave me the money, and I hired the father of one of my students to get it done. He did such an amazing job that you can't tell that there was ever any damage. When I got home that day, I was greeted with the smell of fresh paint and the most beautiful green wall I've ever seen. The ceiling looked great too. :) I was disappointed in myself, though, because I remembered that my kitchen ceiling had a couple of screw holes in it from my old light fixture, and I'd meant to ask Kyle's dad to fix that for me too, but I'd forgotten. I instinctively looked up at the screw holes when it occurred to me, and I saw that he'd fixed it without being asked. Awesome!

37. Make copies of the car key and give them to friends
I don't really want to tell the story that prompted this, but here we go. I was at a gas station one slushy night in January. I left the keys on my front seat while I was pumping gas, and I guess I'd instinctively locked the doors when I got out of the car. Bad instinct. Anyway, a gust of wind blew the door shut, and I was stuck. The only copy of the key that I have was inside. Oh. My. God. I called the police from inside the gas station, and a Cromwell cop showed up. He asked me if I had side airbags, and I said I didn't know. He told me to check the owner's manual. The owner's manual was in the glove compartment. In the car. He made me sign a waiver and started to use this tool thing to pop the door open, but he had to leave midway because there was an accident somewhere else. He wished me luck.

I called Geico to see if they could send me someone, and they had me on hold for 45 minutes. During this time, I reflected on my lovely situation and realized that the door wasn't totally shut, but the latch had caught. In other words, there was a little space. I walked over to the Walgreens across the street and bought some wire hangers. I unwound one and threaded it through the door and tried in vain to hook the loop of my lanyard on the end of the hanger. I asked hte Geico guy in the meantime if "comprehensive glass coverage" included my driver's side window, just in case, somehow, the window broke. You know. I don't know how that would happen, but on the off-chance that I found a brick or something...
A guy at the next pump heard me and came over to see if he could help. I said, "How are you at carnival games?" He took the hanger from me and after about 10 minutes and two false alarms, was able to hook the keys. We held our breath as he pulled them out through the crack in the door, and then he gave me a bear hug before he drove off. Straight out of a contrived Sophie Kinsella novel, right? Except if this was a chick-lit novel, he and I would be engaged at this point. Que sera.

In any case, I decided I needed extra keys, NOW. So I made some and gave one to Josh (the awesome cat-sitter/appliance repairman above) and one to Wendy, one of my coworkers. I still have a couple. My goal is to have one copy of my car key in every town in Middlesex, Hartford and Tolland Counties. ;)

76. Release 10 books on bookcrossing.org
I released two more on the cruise, so now I'm up to 6/10. :)

Who Stole the Celebrated Jumping Frog?

2009-08-08T21:00:00.000-07:00

I have so much to blog about. I've been absent from here for a long time, but that's not laziness; that's because I've been busy. I know, excuses, excuses.

I promise to write a nice update about the progress I've made on the list (and I have made some!) and my recent Alaskan odyssey, but first, I have to plug an event that I'm very excited to host.

As a volunteer at Hartford's Cedar Hill Cemetery as well as the Mark Twain House and Museum, I'm pleased to be heading up their first-ever joint event. They're both historical gems from the Victorian era, which really was a wonderful time in Hartford's history.

Cedar Hill Cemetery was established in 1864 as part of the rural cemetery movement and quickly became the most sought-after burial spot for Hartford's elite. It's still an active cemetery, encompassing 270 acres of land, with over 100 of them undeveloped. The cemetery regularly hosts tours and events to showcase its impressive historical section.

Sam Clemens's "steamboat gothic" Hartford mansion was completed in 1874. There, he and his wife Olivia raised their three daughters and he wrote seven of his best-loved novels, including The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Although he and his family are buried in Elmira, New York, many of his friends and neighbors from Hartford are now interred at Cedar Hill.

This Saturday, August 15, Cedar Hill Cemetery presents its second annual mystery scavenger hunt. The scenario is this: Someone stole Twain's Celebrated Jumping Frog! Which of his companions and cohorts is it? We'll start our hunt at 10 am, so don't be late! Run around in teams of four, each team with its own unique route, to piece together the puzzle. Once you've gathered all your clues and been to each site, be the first team to meet us at the end location and give us the correct answer! There are some great prizes donated by the Mark Twain House and Museum as well as the Cedar Hill Cemetery Foundation. Admission is $5 per person, which benefits Cedar Hill's ongoing restoration and preservation.

Special thanks to both sites for their generosity! I hope to see lots of people there. :)

In my own back yard

2009-04-17T19:42:00.001-07:00

IMG_9030
Originally uploaded by chrissypan

I live in a condo complex. It sounds boring, I know, but I think I'm pretty lucky. I don't know if it's typical of condo and apartment complexes, but we have a big lake and a bike trail out back. Today was beautiful, so I went outside and read on the island for a while, and then took a bunch of pictures. For four years, I've been trying to get a decent shot of one of the beavers in the pond, and tonight I did! How cool is he? He didn't even seem to care that I was there. He was just chowing down on his sticks happily. Move over, National Geographic.

In other news, a good friend of mine was in a horrid car accident last night. She's OK, but her car isn't. In a nutshell, she had to swerve to avoid being hit by the inconsiderate, inattentive driver in the lane next to her, and then swerve again to avoid hitting the person on the other side of her, and her Jeep flipped three times. I was a few minutes behind her on the highway, and I'll never forget coming up on the accident scene and seeing her car, so afraid for a second that she was inside it. But thanks to some bystanders, she'd been helped out of the car before I got there, and was standing up, talking to police when I pulled over. How she got out in one piece is a miracle. The worst part is that the man who caused the accident didn't even stop. How do you cause someone's car to flip with your negligent driving and not even stop?

I am one step closer to accomplishing another item on the list... getting the bathroom wall fixed! My neighbors are telling me that they will be giving me the money tomorrow night! And then I can call the repairman. :) I can't wait to have a decent-looking bathroom again. :)

Nancy Drew and the Case of the Missing Graves

2009-04-01T05:52:00.000-07:00

When I was a kid, I loved Nancy Drew. Actually, I still do. I just haven't read her books in a while. ;) But I love the idea of sleuthing, puzzle-solving (puzzles for fun or real-life mysteries) and searching for things in general. I'm sure she's where I get that from.

In my last entry, I discussed Hannah Wright, and why she intrigues me. Finding her grave made me want to find the rest of her family, but so far, the only one I could find was her sister Olive, buried right next to her. As you may recall, in 1777, her father's first wife and five of their children were killed by smallpox. They had to be buried somewhere in Mansfield.

A while back, I checked out the Hale Index, a group of cemetery transcriptions from the 1930s. There are nearly twenty cemeteries in Mansfield, many of them inactive and historic. There were a few Wrights listed in the Hale Index, but nobody in this family. I'd reached a dead end.

Yesterday was a beautiful day for a drive, so after work I drove out to Mansfield Town Hall. They have burial records there, but those records are only as early as the 1830s. I did find some land records, so I know now what land Hannah's father Elisha owned. Unfortunately, the land descriptions are things like "the land that extends from the chestnut tree to the pile of stones." This will require more investigation, but the town clerk's office was closing at 4:30, so I snapped some photos with my trusty cell phone. I'll have to go back later.

At the library down the road, I decided to scour the cemetery lists again, as long as I was in town. The reference librarian gave me two binders: the big Hale Index, and a small Center Cemetery list. At the very end of the Old Center Cemetery list was the grave of Parthena Wright. Parthena was one of the original children who died of smallpox. It had to be her, because the subsequent one married a man named Jesse Gurley and moved away. There was also a hand-drawn diagram of the cemetery (the one above). The little #4 is Parthena's grave. It sounds weird that she's by herself, but she's actually not. When I got there I found a small group of graves there, but sadly, most were unreadable, and they probably were unreadable in the 1950s when this was transcribed. But now I'm pretty satisfied that I've found the Wrights. I took photos of a couple of the stones and plan to Photoshop them to see if I can bring out any of the words.

If that doesn't work, there are ways of making graves "talk." Some are more controversial than others. There's the flour method, which involves sprinkling flour over the faded carvings on a dark stone. The thought is that the flour fills in the cracks and makes the writing easy to read. There's the shaving cream method, which is similar. Some people rub chalk on stones, thinking that it will rinse off in the next rain. And of course there's the paper/crayon rubbing method. Serious taphophiles will tell you that these are all potentially damaging to an already fragile stone and that they should never be used. The flour and shaving cream are said (by some) to contain chemicals that will erode the stone, the chalk doesn't always rinse off, and pressure from a rubbing can cause a brittle brownstone to chip or crack.

I've never done any of these, but one that I would love to try is the mirror method. It seems to make a world of difference. And so, during spring break in two weeks, I'll be heading back out to Mansfield with a mirror on my back seat. :) Wish me luck!

#71... or, "Have you planted those flowers yet?"

2009-03-27T19:41:00.000-07:00

Last night, I got a call from my friend Mike. Mike and I met in high school and lost touch shortly after he graduated, but through the magic of Facebook, we've reconnected. He's been very supportive of my writing, since I emailed him the manuscripts of a couple of my unfinished novels a few months ago. One of those books is about a girl named Hannah Wright, and it was inspired by this tombstone.

In my story, Hannah Wright was a teenage girl growing up in the late 1800s with a few obstacles to overcome. It's a ghost story that's interwoven with a present-day cast.

I discovered this grave when I was letterboxing with my friend Chris in Exeter Cemetery in Lebanon, CT. Her epitaph was enough to make me stop for a minute and write it down, then go back later with my camera.

Although among strangers thy lov'd dust is laid,

And strangers hands thy funeral rites have paid,

Yet where thy worth was known, they name was dear,

And o'er thy dust shall fall the flowing tear.

After doing some research on the real Hannah Wright, I can tell you this about her: She was born in nearby Mansfield, Connecticut to Elisha and Chloe (Spafford) Wright. She was the 11th child for Elisha; the first for Chloe. Before she was born in 1880, Elisha had been married to Hannah Baldwin, and that couple had 10 children. In 1877, smallpox came through the town and killed many people, including Hannah (Baldwin) Wright and five of the children. Elisha remarried to Chloe and they had three more. Elisha died in 1785, crushed by a cart wheel.

This Hannah Wright was named after one of the original children and died at the age of 30, unmarried, in Lebanon. Records at her church state that she was in Lebanon "visiting a friend," and became ill. The mystery deepened a bit, but then I noticed a grave nearby. It was that of her younger sister Olive and her husband, Timothy Williams. Now I know why she was buried in Lebanon and who she was visiting! But how did she die? I'm not sure that I'll ever actually find out, but if you'd like to read my fictionalized account, you'll have to wait for its publication. It's based on the facts above, but I took plenty of artistic license.

Today was an absolutely beautiful day. It was 62 degrees, which was such a welcome change from the months of miserable snow and cold. I drove out to Exeter Cemetery with gladiola and lily of the valley bulbs and planted them around the graves of Hannah, Olive and Olive's daughter Betsy, also nearby. Hopefully in the next couple of weeks I'll have time to drive out there again and see if they've come up.

Yesterday I Will...

2009-03-26T02:38:00.000-07:00

Back in September, I entered a writing contest. The rules were that entrants were all to write to the title "Yesterday I Will," and submit either a short story, a play or a poem. The winners of the contest would be published in an anthology to be sold at book stores in central Pennsylvania and online. I worked for weeks on some kind of gothic, Edgar Allen Poe-esque poem that fell flat. Finally I threw that away and wrote a short story instead.

I just found out that the story made it into the book! I'm so excited. I've never had anything published before, so it's pretty exciting. I'll be heading down to PA in April to attend the York Book and Paper Fair, see my dad, and get myself a copy.

While getting a short story published isn't on my 101 list, finishing a novel is. Maybe this will help to push me to finish that goal.

Some progress

2009-03-26T02:24:00.000-07:00

It would probably seem that since I haven't updated this blog in a while, I haven't done anything on this list, right? I've actually made some progress on it, but have been so busy that I haven't had time to update any of you on it, and for this I feel very guilty, because I know you've all been on the edges of your respective seats, yes? ;)

First of all, I solved the Rubik's Cube. Yes, I did. I will post photographic evidence soon. That means I can cross off #69.

What else have I done?

-I restarted the Couch to 5K program. I'm on week 2, actually. My ultimate goal is to participate in the 5K at Cedar Hill Cemetery in November. I may even be able to compete in the 5K portion of the Hartford Marathon in October, but let's not push it, shall we? ;) Slow and steady wins the race... Oh, and by the way, when I say "win," I don't mean win. I mean finish in one piece so as not to be interred in said cemetery. (#1)

-Release 10 books on bookcrossing.org. I've actually released 9, as of three days ago when I left one in an ATM vestibule (sans Jill Goodacre... 10 points if you get that reference). One more and I can cross this off the list! (#76)

-I finished another class toward my masters degree. (#59)

-I started to repaint my guest room. It takes a lot of primer to cover bright blue paint! (#28)

-I've tried three new vegetarian recipes (#2). The fake ice cream made with sugar free pudding and fat-free Cool Whip is amazing. The pasta using shiratake noodles instead of actual pasta is not so amazing.

-I have one and 1/2 Star Wars movies to go. :) (#49)

-And I've finished season one of Six Feet Under (#50).

So I've made some progress, but I think the only thing I've actually completed is the Rubik's Cube. ;)

Stay strong, Matt.

2009-03-05T14:45:00.001-08:00

staystrongmatt
Originally uploaded by chrissypan

About 3 weeks ago, one of my juniors was in a serious car accident. He was in the car with a driver who had been drinking, and the car struck a utility pole.

He's still in the hospital, but he's been showing signs of progress. This is the sign in front of our school. The kids asked our principal to put this up the day after the crash.

This is just an entry to ask everyone to keep him in their prayers. He has a very long recovery ahead of him. Thank you!

#54: Finish the Bermuda scrapbook, and an endorsement

2009-02-26T15:29:00.001-08:00

bermudabook
Originally uploaded by chrissypan

I went to Bermuda in June, and I printed the photos soon after. I started a scrapbook for it in July, and then for months it sat untouched on my bookshelf in the living room, a constant reminder that I hadn't finished it yet. Just another unfinished project in my life! Finally, I sat down and finished the scrapbook, and then redeveloped the photos I'd cut up and printed out. Done!

This next paragraph has nothing to do with the 101 list, but I have to post a glowing endorsement of a book that I have called Dare to Repair. The concept is a bit sexist, but I'll let that go. It's a home-repair book for women who might normally just call someone to come out and fix the broken things. Three days ago, my garbage disposal got stuck. A piece of the little hose head that goes with the sink sprayer fell off and went down the drain as I was disposing of some foodscraps, and it made the disposal grind to a halt. I followed the book's directions and was able to fix the disposal, saving myself at least $200 for a service call. I am very, very proud of myself.

Rockaway Art

2009-02-23T02:34:00.000-08:00

In 1989, my family moved to Rockaway, New Jersey. What Rockaway is known for, among other things, is that it has a pretty big mall. From the ages of 15 to 20, I worked at that mall in various stores. It was my home away from home.

When we first moved there, the mall had lots of abstract sculptures displayed throughout. I never really thought about them after the first time I saw them, to be honest. They were just there as part of the scenery. But as the mall was redecorated and updated over the years, some of the artwork was taken out or moved around.

On a recent Facebook survey, my friend Mike, who was also no stranger to the mall, mentioned the big yellow sculpture, and then added, "Is that still there?" So when I visited Rockaway this weekend, I snapped a photo of it. It's now standing outside the mall, demoted to a parking lot across the street but still inside the mall complex. I sent the photo to Mike and to my sister with the caption, "Can you identify this sculpture?" They both wrote back, "Oh my God! You're at the Rockaway Mall!"

Curious person that I am, I started Google-searching when I got home. Where did these sculptures come from? When did they get there? Someone must have created them and named them, right?

The sculptures are the work of an artist named Rita Blitt. They were installed in the mall in the 1970s. The big yellow sculpture is called Stablitt 55. Even more interesting, though, is the orange sculpture, named Nessie. I know that lots of artists will tell you that their creations are like their children, and they can't choose favorites. However, it's clear that Nessie is Rita Blitt's favorite sculpture. In fact, on her web site is a virtual storybook about Nessie's creation and a downloadable pattern for making your own personal 3-D paper Nessie, suitable for keeping on your desk. Most interesting to me is that the paper pattern has a copyright date of 2001, almost 20 years after the actual statue was created and installed in the mall. This clearly shows that the artist is very attached to this sculpture not as an object but as a character.

Nessie now stands outside the mall as well, on the side near the Food Court.

This entry won't be interesting to most people outside of Rockaway, I'm sure, but to the generation of kids who grew up in the area in the 1980s and 90s, the sculptures are pretty synonymous with our childhoods.

Is this really necessary?

2009-02-21T07:47:00.001-08:00

clinique
Originally uploaded by chrissypan

A few years ago, I became a hiker. In the process, I've visited most of the state parks and forests in Connecticut and hiked miles and miles of trails. I never tried to count up exactly how many miles, really, but maybe I should start keeping track.

Spending so much time outside makes you more aware of your environment. You learn how to tell trees apart, you appreciate your luck when you stumble on a cute little Jack-in-the-Pulpit flower on the side of the trail, and seeing a wild animal (from a safe distance) is very exciting no matter how many times you've seen it.

Because of this, I've become a bit environmental myself. I'm not a nut about it, but I do recycle, use a reusable water bottle instead of buying water, drive a tiny little car and use cloth grocery bags. Since I've become more aware of things like packaging and landfills, I get a little horrified when I see resources being blatantly wasted for no reason at all.

I went to the mall the other day to pick up a bar of soap (I was out of step 1 of my 3-step skin care regime, which I need to stick to religiously now that I'm... gak... 30...) and I was given a free gift because I let the makeup lady put some mascara on me. I do enjoy a free gift.

However.

Take a look at the size of the products they gave me. Itty bitty. That's not what I'm complaining about. I mean, free is free. But those three tiny little vials are wrapped in plastic with an instruction manual (who needs instructions for lip balm?) and then packaged in a box that's big enough to fit 15 of those little packets, easily. So what gives? Is Clinique trying to make the consumer think that the free gift is bigger than it is? Because looking at those three little tubes inside the box makes them look even smaller than when they're in my hand.

I'm saving the box, along with a few others, to add to my future compost pile, which you can read about in a later entry. I'm sure that Clinique will be happy to know that their pretty box will soon become worm poop. ;)

17. Visit Disney World Again

2009-02-20T20:46:00.001-08:00

Epcot
Originally uploaded by chrissypan

I actually created this list and posted it to my Facebook page back in early January, so the trip I took the weekend of January 19 counts for this goal. My sister tried to tell me that it wasn't really in line with the project to write down things I was going to do anyway, but sometimes I'm a bit of a slacker, so there you have it.

My incredibly thoughtful and generous aunt and uncle took me to Disney World to commemorate my 30th birthday. Is there really a better place on Earth to be if you have to face 30?

On the last day of our trip, I gave my uncle a CD I'd clandestinely bought for him in the America gift shop in Epcot of the Liberty Singers (he loves them) and I gave my aunt a stuffed Sully (from Monsters Inc) that she'd been admiring in sundry gift shops throughout the parks. Yeah, I'm sneaky. ;) They acted like that was so thoughtful and generous of *me.* I don't think I'll be able to repay them for that trip for a long time.

This shot was taken outside the refurbished Living Seas building. The ride has been hijacked by Finding Nemo, and it's really just a clam car (like a Doombuggy but pink and scalloped) that moves on a conveyer belt while you watch scenes from Nemo float by. There were, however, some actual fish for you to see after you got off the ride, plus some manatees and sea horses.

The plastic seagulls you see in the foreground are the "Mine! Mine!" ones from the movie, and they do talk and move randomly as water spits out at unsuspecting passers by. Good times. :)

101 in 1001!

2009-02-20T16:36:00.000-08:00

Last year, I learned about the concept of the 101 list. The idea is simple but ingenious: You write down 101 of those things you're really going to do someday, but you never get around to doing. Big things, little things, medium-sized things. And then you do them, one by one.

Since I was inspired by the Internet, I thought it only fitting that I publish my 101 list here, for all to see, and as I accomplish the items, I'll document them, possibly with photos. If anyone is actually reading this, they can probably expect to read little sidebars about the other things going on in my life as well. Lucky you!

So here is my list. You will notice that there are not quite 101 items on the list, but I'm sure I'll find more things to fill this in with as time goes on.

Health:

1. Complete the Couch to 5K (www.coolrunning.com)

2. Learn 5 new vegetarian recipes

3. Give blood 5 more times

4. Learn to meditate

5. Do yoga once a week for 6 months

6. Bike 20 miles of Connecticut Rail Trails

7. Run a 5K

8. Get another hot stone massage

9. Learn reiki

Travel:

10. Walk the Freedom Trail

11. See the mansions in Newport, RI

12. Complete 3 of CT's blue trails

13. Get a new stamp in my passport

14. Road trip to Montreal

15. Visit the Tenement Museum in New York City

16. Walk across the Brooklyn Bridge

17. Visit Disney World again

18. See the Grand Canyon

19. Go camping again

20. Visit the Edward Gorey Museum

21. Drive across the country

Books:

22. Read all of Jane Austen's novels (1/6)

23. Finish writing a novel

24. Finish writing another novel

25. Read 15 books on the 1000 Books to Read Before You Die list

26. Complete The Artist's Way course

27. Participate in NaNoWriMo in 2009 and 2010

Home:

28. Repaint the guest room

29. Plant a productive container garden

30. Get the dishwasher fixed

31. Use a reusable cup when I go to Dunkie's

32. Learn to clean with vinegar and baking soda

33. Freecycle 20 items

34. Get that @*#($* bathroom wall fixed.

35. Take a class in sewing

36. Take the remaining classes in cake decorating

37. Make copies of the car key and give them to friends

38. Make the guest room into a functional writing room/office

Music:

39. Learn 3 new songs on the violin

40. Perform in another play

41. Join a choir

42. See another Broadway play

43. Learn 3 more songs on the piano

Money:

44. Pay off my car

45. Put another $1000 in savings

46. Save 10% of each paycheck for 6 months

47. Set up an etsy.com account for my pumpkins

48. Learn how to shop with coupons most effectively

TV/Film:

49. Watch the Star Wars movies

50. Finish watching Six Feet Under

51. Watch Carnivale

52. Watch at least 10 Katharine Hepburn films

53. See AFI's Top 100 Films (19/100)

Art:

54. Finish scrapbooking Bermuda

55. Scrapbook the Disney World trip

56. Hold a scrapbooking party

57. Create a charm bracelet

58. Make and sell some record album journals

Professional:

59. Finish my masters degree

60. Begin another certification

Misc:

61. Go to church every Sunday for 3 months

62. Participate in Gimme Your Stuff (http://www.gimmeyourstuff.blogspot.com)

63. Send a postcard to Post Secret

64. Fill 20 photo requests for findagrave.com

65. Get Mittens's teeth cleaned

66. Learn to firewalk

67. Go a month without cursing

68. Finish my state quarter collection

69. Learn to solve a Rubik's Cube

70. Renew Mensa membership

71. Plant flowers on Hannah Wright's grave

72. Plant flowers on relatives' graves in Fitchburg

73. Create my vision board and keep it updated

74. Write a letter to myself on where I think I'll be in 10 years. Seal it and don't open it for 10 years.

Additions so I don't have to renumber:

75. Hook up the stereo

76. Release 10 books through www.bookcrossing.org (4/10)

77. Start to compost