Trash

Last fall I put together a game for the family to play while they were at our house over Thanksgiving weekend. They did have a lot of fun playing. It was one of those, "Run-around-OrangeCity" kind of games. It was very competitive too, which is par for the course, I guess. Anyway, everyone had fun I'm thinking.
I am back to walking outside these mornings. (I am listening to a James Herriott novel for anyone who's interested) So on my walk this morning, you won't believe what I found! Well, it wasn't a $100 bill as my husband once found, but it was part of that game I had designed for the Thanksgiving weekend. Yup. Still in it's waterproof plastic bag. Hung up on a sewer drain. Hard to tell where it came from. (I put them up all over town after all.) Though I know where it was supposed to send the finder to next. So here it is folks: ziplock baggies keep things pretty dry even with 50+ inches of snow on top of them. And sadly, I was responsible for contributing to the general trashiness of the melting snow. Please don't tell anyone. I picked it up and took it home and threw it away. So it can be added to the trash heap properly.

Our Floor project

Our floor project is progressing. As you can see our fireplace room is almost done. It will extend out into the little hallway and I'm sure that will slow Ron down a bit as there will be more cutting. And he has to rip out the floor that's there because it is about 1/4inch higher than the other floor. I never understood why the previous owners put down a vinal floor and had such beautiful walnut woodwork. To match I'm sure. The next owners of this house will probably look at what we've done (or not done) and shake there heads and wonder what we were thinking as well. Oh well. But we're pleased so far. Come visit. Seeing things in person is even better, don't you think!

Photo fun

I used to use Adobe Photoshop for all my pictures. And for most things, I still rely pretty heavily on it. But Photoshop can be a bit complicated and I don't always have great luck with it. But I use it because I actually still get pictures printed and I don't quite trust some of the free photo fixers that you can find online with my photos. Though I have to admit, I haven't experimented with printing too many weird things....like these photos.

I have used Picasa almost exclusively for quick online fixes and resizing my pictures. And I've used a ton of other ones, too-picnik.com, picture quest,flickr, gimp...and it's fun to play around. Here's a new website that lets you fiddle with your photos, Phixr.com. Give it a try and see what you think.

The picture was taken of the library's kids' playhouse. I just fiddled with the shot. I'm sure I'm going to be able to use it somehow on our website or other literature. What do you think?

Everything I needed to know about life I learned from Tomato Paste

Ok, so I'm exaggerating just a bit. I didn't learn EVERYTHING from tomato paste. Just a little lesson....
You know, I've been cooking for 35+ years. I think I'm better than when i started, but not quite as good as some. My sister for instance. That's because my whole approach to cooking is similar to my approach to lots of other things. "Good enough" works for me. Just enough "to get by" is sometimes how I think. So when I started cooking I loved easy to cook things. Chili. Box mix cakes. Casseroles. Though I did learn how to make pie, it's not as easy as they say. Long complicated, multi step recipes I avoided or messed up on because I wouldn't read the directions thoroughly. Anyway, all that to say that when I would make soups that required tomato paste I didn't get it. Why would you put that big glop of sticky red goop in your soup? Like Chili? Who needs it? So I skipped the tomato paste. For more than 30 years no less. And we all ate fairly good chili. Well, I thought so anyway. I threw in all the other things that were required so no one really missed the tomato paste. Well, they didn't know that was missing so how could they?
But I found a new chili recipe a little while back and it called for tomato paste. I had some. And, I had the time to add it, so I did. Wow!? Was it the tomato paste that did that to the chili? Made it a bit thicker. And heartier. And it added some texture. Hmmmm. I liked this. Maybe I should do this again. Try the tomato paste that is. So I did. Same result. Well, what do you know?
So, of course, now I use the tomato paste all the time. And I got to thinking about it. My sloppiness with cooking is really a symptom of my attitude about life events. I skip things because I don't want to take the time, even though by doing so I will be missing out or affecting the flavor, and what's even worse, I won't know it. I'm impatient. I'm in too big a hurry. I rush to get to the end and skip over important stuff. How can I slow down and remember to add the tomato paste? Yes. Slow down. Be more deliberate. I am chastising myself. Ah that patience stuff again. It doesn't come easily.

Des Moines

I was in Des Moines yesterday. It was a 4 hour drive and a 1/2 day visit. I haven't been to the capitol in years. This was a visit to our local representatives. Good thing I brought my camera along. These buildings are really gorgeous.

We got a quick tour of the house chambers while they were in a brief recess. Our main meeting, though was in the law library. (the circular staircase) I wondered if the representatives or their clerks really used those books still. I could definitely imagine what it must have been like in there a hundred years ago. Wow.

It was a lovely day in Des Moines. And in the building. This is the afternoon sunshine streaming in, and the dome interior.

Floor work

We had some help this weekend with our floor project. As you can see, the grandsons arrived, and just in the nick of time! They did some measuring, and pounding, and sliding to clean things up a bit, and they played here as well, just to test things out! They did a nice job, as you can tell. We are probably 1/3 of the way across the floor and made quite a bit of progress. All that hammering and sawing does take a toll though. We are supposed to have small group at our house next weekend. Eeek. I don't think this will be finished. The goal, remember was Easter. We should make that, though. It is hickory flooring butted up against the walnut wainscoat. It is very woodsy, to say the least, but looks pretty good. You all will have to stop over and give us your opinion. Of course, if you stop over before we're done we will be glad to let you help. The boys all thought that was great fun. I think you would too!

Just One Day at Work!

We ordered new library cards today, ones that will have a picture of the library on it, and will have a key card. You know one of those little ones that fit on a key ring. We ordered 3,000 of them Wow! Exciting because they seem, well, so up to date!
I also got in some brand new battery back ups for our computers. Now these weren't the cheapest things in the world, but I didn't get too bad of a deal on them, and, and I get to send the old ones back. I'm being green because I'm recycling. What could be better than that. These things are supposed to be better than just surge protectors. I tell you, though, all these little computer peripherial stuff can just nickle and dime you to death. Don't like that much.
In other news here at the library, I found out this morning that 7 people are planning to participate in my 'outside-the-library' book club coming up. We are going to discuss Jason Wright's book The Wednesday Letter. That means I am doing two book clubs for the library. This, I remind myself, is why I absolutely love the library. Nothing is better than getting to read, and then sit down and talk about what I'm reading with other people....(and get paid for it)