Down at the Protest

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Gaming groups, care and feeding of.

No, not literal snacks and stuff, although I could post a recipe for fried cheerios this week...
But, I digress. Tomorrow, we'll be hosting the first game night here at the Abyss. Apparently the former gaming venue has become unsuitable, and as they wanted us in, it was all-around easier for me to say "Sure, c'mon over!" Not to mention that even if I'm unwell, I can sit on my own couch and game without having to worry about going out. At any rate, I'm excited. Moonies are gregarious animals, after all, and I'm usually cooped up here by myself.

Little sketches of the gamers I know for certain are coming.

The GM:
Has known the Troll practically since puberty. Brash, crass, obnoxious, and a complete sweetie. Reminds me muchly of el hubbito. Has some interesting ideas of how this game is going to go, and I must say I'm looking forward to living in his mind.
The Other Chick:
Reminds me of another girl gamer I know, but not as prim. She and I get along swimmingly, and it's nice to have another girl as gross as I am, or can be.
The Enigma:
Tall, dark, easy to look at. That's about all I know right now, other than his name, as he's not a real big talker. Yet. I'm willing to bet he'll open up more once he gets to know us.

+Moonies and the Troll makes 5.

Squee! The new Dax Riggs album, We Sing of only Blood or Love came out on tuesday. I bought it. You should too.

Beans, rain, and paper hippie lights

I felt like starting with a recipe this month, so here we go:

Chicken and Turtles
Turtles as in turtle beans!
1 1/2 c cooked black beans
OR
1 can black turtle beans, drained and rinsed
1 1/2 c cooked chicken
1 c cooked rice
1/2 c chopped green pepper
1/2 large onion, chopped
2 tb oil
4 cloves garlic, chopped very fine
2 tb lime juice
2 tb water
1 tsp each oregano, chili powder and cumin
hot sauce to taste

In a large skillet, heat oil and saute onions, 1/2 the garlic and the green pepper until the onions are translucent. Stir in black beans, chicken, lime juice, water, spices, the rest of the garlic and hot sauce. simmer, stirring often till heated through. serve over hot cooked rice with shredded cheese. Nummy!

As I write this, Sully has screwed off forthwith for the land of Underbed. Why? Because the sky is making loud noises and bright lights and there is wet out there. Not a big deal when we lived in NH, but here it hasn't rained for weeks, and I am really glad it finally has. I probably won't be so glad when it's icky sticky muggy tomorrow, but for now, YAY THUNDERSTORM!

Crap. I was gonna go smoke...where's that bumberchute?

Feh. Fooey on expensive lamps and lighting! Get yourself a long cord with a lightbulb socket at one end, and a paper hippie lantern. $15.95 including tax for overhead lighting for the living room. Oh...plus $0.87+tax for a box of ceiling hooks.
I can't wait till Friday! We're hosting the game night. Eeee! Geektopia!

She's Baaaaa-aaaack!

Ah, yes. It's been a while, has it not, my little chickadees?

The move went splendidly, the only black marks on an otherwise uneventful trip were first, the dumbass that rear-ended the poor carlet 2 days before we left, and poor drugged-up Sully getting confused and peeing on top of his crate. (stinky!!) Thank Goddess for Nature's Miracle.

I've begun the settling-in process here in the land of wheat. We have managed, through the generosity of La Ferrette and sister-in-law, to procure a bed, a dinette set, and even a super-nifty craft table. My old Kenmore sewing machine made the trip with us, and my beads are on their way. The folks at the SRS(welfare) office are optomistic about getting me some healthcare, and El hubberooni really likes his new job. And we have the awesomest, comfiest, coolest-looking couch and loveseat set known to man. My first grownup, non-handmedown furniture ever. I have decided to celebrate by making a blanket. I chose the "Blushing Grannies" blanket out of feb/mar '07's Crochet Today magazine. Except...I chose cream, caramel and chocolate to go with my new couch instead of the reds they use; I have to switch from an I hook, which the pattern calls for, to a K hook because my stitching is so tight; and I'm making either 48 or 52 squares instead of the 35 they call for. If I only made 35, the blanket would be so tiny it would be useless! I'm not knocking blankets as decor, but I like to be able to curl up under it. Blankets should be useable, warm and comfy in my house.

Let's see...how about a recipe? We haven't had one in a while.

Moonie's Spicy Magic meat&veggie rub

1/4 c paprika
2T garlic powder
1T onion powder
2T thyme
1t cayenne
2 t marjoram
1/2 t cumin
salt, to your taste, but it does need some.
black pepper , and
white pepper, or you could use one of those peppercorn medley things.
Rub this dry right onto meat, tofu, veggies, whatever, just before frying, or putting them on the grill, hibachi or George Foreman.
Or mix it into sour cream, cream cheese, ranch dressing, bleu cheese dressing...the list goes on. Any of those listed makes a kickass dip. Mix it into your next batch of hummus!

If there's enough folks asking for it, I'll post my SuperHummus recipe next time.

Holy Cops, Batman!

So, driving to Ye Olde Shoppe this morning, there's a detour. Wha? And then, I begin to notice a plethora of official vehicles. From all over. Hmmm...I wonder what's up? Upon recieving a request from Bossu-rady for a change run, I walk to the bank. Which is right next to the Legislative Office Building (LOB). And encounter hot-and-cold running cops in their dress uniforms. There is literally a WALL O' COP surrounding the State House and the LOB. There's flags and podiums on the lawn of the LOB, and spectators, and cops. Not to mention dignitaries, weirdos, and cops. Oh, and there were cops. I don't just mean town cops. I mean town, podunk, state, feds, village and purchase constables, sherrify-types, a gaggle of MA staties, and a couple that I'm pretty certain were Mounties (red uniforms).

Horses and puppies and Smokeybearhats, oh my!

And now, on "As the Stomach Churns..."

*names have been changed. just so you know*


OK folks, I've really tried to keep family draaaama out of this blog, but I gotta tell someone, and you're it. Besides, if you don't wanna read this crap, you need only scroll past it.
6 weeks ago, La Diva came driving up to the doorstep crying. Her children were in the backseat, silent. A 7 year old and a 2 year old are NEVER silent. (and awake) She was afraid of him. She was afraid that her boyfriend (Tacoboy) would hurt the children. Afraid that he would hurt her, or have her arrested again. (yes, I said again.) She uproots her children, moves in with us and forces Miss Primadonna Pooperschnitzel (7) to change schools in the middle of the year. Prim hates him and is afraid of him. "Tacoboy is ruining my life." No child that age should know how to suck up to someone because they're afraid of them. But she does. I've seen her. She kisses his weaselly little narrow ass so that he won't scream at her and shut her in her bedroom. "Hi Taco, I love you Taco." This...thing is not her father. Problem, though. He is Mr. TrainTrain BusyPants's(2) father.
So...this week. Miss Prim is at her daddy's having a sleep-over (it's school vaca week) and La Diva picks up Pants...and disappears. No phone call to let the people she lives with know she and Pants are OK and not dead on the side of the road, nothing. She rolls in about 9:30 the next morning, sans Mr. BusyPants, and proceeds to start stuffing clothes and diapers into plastic bags. I am not a stupid woman. I know where Pants is, and I know where she's been. But I must go to work. So I leave it alone, except..."Hey, Prim's daddy called here looking for you." "*diatribe about how he could have called her cell, and what a useless piece of crap he is.*" "OK, well, just giving you the message, dude." "*vitriol, vitriol*" "Well, gotta go to work, bye." And an offhand reminder that Prim is having a sleepover guest (Miss Chatterbox SnugglyBear, 7) that night.
So why do I have Mother mine, Prim's Daddy(The Inkerator) and Bear's mama(Ka-to) calling me at work all day? *Sigh* Because they know I'll fix it so that the girls can have their sleepover even if La Diva is a no-show as usual. In Ka-to's defense, she has 3.5 other children to marshal, and one disappointed 7 year old can screw up the mix real bad for her. The last thing you need whilst incubating, neh?
The sleepover goes off without a hitch *phew*. LaDiva even manages to sleep at home that night. Last night, however, she took her children out to "Get her oil change done." And proceeded to drop the children off at 7:30 this morning to be watched so she could go to work.
Part of me wants to call Inky and tell him what's up. He already hates Tacoboy and doesn't want the guy near his daughter. Part of me wants to tell LaDiva what. All of me wishes that Taco would just fall off the face of the earth because of all the hurt and misery he's caused my family. Seriously...I can't wait to leave. I'll miss the children, but I can't be a part of this anymore. it's affecting my work, my sleep, my stomach...I don't mean to sound selfish, but there is NOTHING I CAN DO FOR THESE CHILDREN. I can't change what's happening to them, or take them out of what I know is a bad situation. All I can do is love them when I see them, and patch up their physical hurts.
LaDiva I'm done with. She'll get "excuse me" and "pass the salt" out of me.

Dobedobedo...selling ev'rythin...dobedobedo...all has gotta go

Yep. Biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiig yard sale this weekend. Kinda feels like I'm selling the last 8 years 5 bucks at a time. I have some trepidations about driving 1700 miles and not having any furniture when I get there, but it's also a great big weight of my pack-rat past that's coming off my shoulders. As I was looking through the mountain of boxes and bags that came from Summer St., I saw things I hadn't looked at in a year. OK, fine. Happens, right? Then...then I saw shit that hasn't seen the light of day since before Peepeehead left. Whoa. Why do I hold on to this crap?? Even if I wasn't moving halfway across the country, I have trucked this garbage to 4 different homes now. Jeebus, there's 2 liquor-store boxes of it!! So the motto for this month is: Sell It, Give It Away, and if all else fails, Chuck It.
The worst part? I have to get rid of sewing machines. ACK! And Fabric. And thread. and *shudder* YARN.
As a matter of fact, I have to have a yard sale in order to clear off the top layer of junk...so I can find the rest of the stuff I'm getting rid of. Double ack.

This Month's Experiment:

I noticed that living in this town makes me crankier the longer I'm here. I'm beginning to think it does that to most everyone. So I'm experimenting, something I call The Great Smile Experiment.
On super nice days like today I will go for a walk in beautiful downtown Concord and smile. At everyone I pass. At folks in cars. At people in shops. Hey, it's a gorgeous day, the sun is sunny, it's not too hot, the smell of coffee is wafting from the open doors of the coffee and bagel shops, the kids have the week off from school.
So I did. Great big "it's too nice out to be cranky" smiles. At everyone, and everyone's dogs and children.
Nada. Nothing. Zip.
Not one return smile.
Yep, this town is cranky.

Tips for Restaurants, V 1.0

So, hubberooni and I went out tonight. Doesn't happen very often these days, so we like to make it special when it does. We have a few favorite restaurants here in the Capitol City, ones that we frequent often. We decided to try something new tonight, and boy did we make a bad choice. So, Uno Chicago Grill, if you're listening, you suck.
Here be the list of negatives:

I won't add in the 15 minute wait for a table, because we expected it. I mean 15 minutes, no biggie, right?

1.) When we were seated, we waited about 5 minutes for menus, and then 15 more after that before we even saw a server, no beverages, nothing. When we finally saw a server, it was for her to tell us she'd be with us in a few minutes. Still no drinks. Not even waters. P.S. the table? dirty.

2.) Server finally shows up, it takes her 3 tries to read our order back to us correctly.
How hard is it to get a salad, a burger and 2 iced teas???

3.) Fast forward to food showing up. Salad dressing is not on the side as requested, and burger is well done instead of medium rare. Oh well...no big deal. Except it is.

4.) There are some important things to mention on the menu. Like that the burger comes with some sort of sauce, and that walnuts in the salad are candied. Not a big deal for most, but when you're not allowed to have sugar...a big deal.

5.) Salad dressing tastes like soap. Wrong cheese on burger. Candied fucking walnuts. Not just some, but so many it was nearly impossible to avoid them. Salad abandoned.

6.) Saw server three times. To take our order, to bring the food, to bring the check. At which point I had Had Enough. I let them have it.

Upshot? Got our "meal" for free. Never going back.

Now I'm gonna go send them a nasty email. Just about the walnuts, though.

BusyBusyBusy!

So, it has finally come to March. The month that haunts my existence. The month where traditionally it All Goes Wrong for me. All job-losing, health crises, major marital fights, and life-altering crapulence happens in March. It's mind-boggling. This month, so far, has been fairly...benign! Color me utterly astonished, but the normal beginning-of-the-year crapfest didn't wait until March this year, but started in January. Now that it's passed on through, everything's fairly ordinary. I'm peacefully doin' ma thang here at the herb shop, hubberooni is working the rent-a-cop job third shift and liking it OK, the cat eats, sleeps, poops, plays and snuggles, the niece and nephew are cute, the sister is fairly pleasant, the parents are parents.

OK, SO not complaining. This is the first March in 8 years that life has been livable, thank you Goddess.

And now: Craft-o-the Week!
Bed Sachets
Materials:
2 7"x5" rectangles of fabric. I like to use one of calico and one of something nice and fuzzy, like polarfleece. Works really awesome as an eye-pillow!
rice OR buckwheat hulls OR flax seeds
4 tablespoons each of dried:
lavender
rose petals
chamomile

Cut 2 7"x5" rectangles of fabric. sew right sides together, leaving a 1.5" opening for turning and stuffing. Turn.

mix your dried flowers together, and roll a piece of printer paper into a cone shape with a largeish opening at the tip. Tuck the tip of the cone into the pillow to use as a funnel for filling the pillow. Remember, you want this to be fairly loose, more like a beanbag than an actual pillow, so don't overstuff! Alternate pouring scoops of rice/buckwheat hulls/flax seeds and flower mix into the pillow, and stitch the opening shut.

TaaaaDaa! Enjoy!

WARNING!!!

Too much sugar-free chocolate=unhappy tummy. that is all.

Life, the Universe, and splenda

So my new "food plan" has taken me off sugar completely. This shall not be reason to mope! Hershey's has gifted us with sugar-free Special Dark, and all is right with the world again.

Many thanks to Hungry Girl (see me links) for her tireless efforts in finding food that is not only in the plan, but yummy too.

As for some of the foods being bland...well, do I work in an herb shop? YES I DO! (again, see linkies) So, I have an entire 200+ herbs to work with, I'll manage to come up with some yummalicious seasoning blends. Hmmm...how to make food and medicine one thing? Vinegar tinctures! Soon, my lovelies, soon...

DUUUUUHHH

Doorknob cozy pattern corrected...durrrrrrrrrrr....

Mac and Cheese a la Moonie

My mom's baked macaroni and cheese. The best in the world, but super-sadly NOT on my food plan anymore. SO I bring you:

Laughing Broccomac Alla Aya!
2 wedges laughing cow light original swiss
a few tb milk
mrs dash
melt cheese and milk in saucepan with a little mrs dash (I used Garlic&Herb) to make a cheesy sauce. Pour cheesy sauce over some cooked noodles and steamed broccoli. Toss thoroughly to coat.
Yum!

Hmm...might also be good with a little more protein, chicken or tofu comes to mind!

Crocheted Childproof Doorknob Cozy

I know that there was a pattern for one of these online once upon a time, but now that I needed it... it was no where to be found. So, being a resourceful gal, I made sh!t up!
Childproof Doorknob Cozy Pattern Copyright 2007 Moonieance: Please don't sell the pattern. Please ask and stuff if you want to post it somewhere, and tell the folks there where you got it. That's just common courtesy!

This was an I hook and some sugar n' cream worsted cotton I had laying around. Doesn't use much yarn!
Also...I crochet pretty tightly. if you work loose, best decrease the hook!

rnd 1: ch 4, 9dc in 4th ch from hook, join
rnd 2: ch 3, 2 dc in each dc around, join
rnd 3: ch 4, 1 dc in same sp as join (1st v-st made), *ch 1, sk 1 st, v-st* around, join to 3rd chain of beg ch 4
rnd 4: dc in ea ch-1 sp around(including the v-st chains)
rnd 5: dc in each dc around, break off
Chain, I dunno, enough to weave between the dc's in rnd 5 and have some to tie...maybe 6-7 inches. Fit cozy over knob, tie.
Big hands can grip the knob or use the v-st holes to turn it, little hands just make it spin and spin and spin and spin.....
Thoroughly tested on 2 year old nephew AND 63 year old arthritic father. Father can open door just fine, nephew can't. I give me a A+!!

1a Stuff to Say

OMG you're not either! Again??!!
-to friend who be working on child #5

F*^& that! I'll crochet one!
-regarding anti-child doorknob covers costing $9.99 for two

Ooo...I might spend yarn budget on film for that...
-regarding nifty panoramic camera that hubberooni picked up free

ass in a craphat
-cuz it's fun to say!

Begin the Beguine

So here we are, issue no. 1 of Lifestyles of the Poor and Paranoid!

Yeah, so...where to start? "A beginning is a very delicate..." Nah, it's been done. "Call me..." No, please!

At any rate, here shall be recipes, crafts, pictures, ideas, thoughts, musings. And soup. I love soup. Soup is cheap, soup is filling, soup is nutritious.

How bout we just start with a recipe?

Salsa Soup

Yummy, cheap, and fairly good for you!

This soup is good for any cooked meat, except ham or pork. Pig just tastes wrong! You could also use leftover chicken and make this instead of say, pot pie or chicken salad, etc. I've had a friend make it with tofu and vegetable broth, and it was delicious that way, too!

1-2 cups of cooked meat, cubed or cubed protein of your choice

1 can broth+1/2 can water

1 jar salsa. small jar, you know, regular size. not the giant ones.

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 cup frozen corn or one can of corn, drained

goodies of your choice: olives, pimientos, etc.

about 1 tsp unsweetened cocoa or 1/2 tsp grated mexican chocolate (unsweetened)

cumin, black pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, seasoned salt, and the hotness of your choice.
this is especially good with Ancho pepper powder, or chocolate chipotle sauce.

Cook about 30 minutes, or until everything is hot, and has had a chance to blend.

you can add rice to this soup if you want, but it's really tasty with tortilla chips!