All Purpose

So its a new year already and I didnt really get a chance to reflect on the the last one.

I guess there might be something to that though, Im actually thinking that this year Im not going to think about resolutions per se. I think Im just going to wing it.

The only things Im really focused on this year are getting the house built and getting a new job. I think, maybe, I can handle that.

Ill have a crafting and reading 2011 wrap up out soon!

No Comments | In: life, resolutions | tags: 2011, 2012. | #

So it’s been a few weeks, sorry about that but I really will be making an effort to post here once a week. It should help keep me accountable for all my post 9 to 5 activities.

So what’s going on right now is we’re creeping ever closer to the demolition/construction of the house. We have a builder, but we need to finalize and sign the contract, but first we need him to look over our last changes to the plans and update his bid and then I’m sure we may need to revise some things after that to ensure the budget is in good shape. So we’ve got those three steps and we’re also trying to get the loan process started and going as quickly as possible.

Then there’s the whole where are we going to live during all this situation. We actually have a really good prospect that’s literally right around the corner from us, but we’ll have to see if the timing works out. If it does work out then we’ll definitely need some storage since the house is 200 sq ft smaller than our current house, but at least we’ll be close to the house during the build and can keep an eye on things.

I’m also really trying to get serious about this whole idea of a craft based business. I had pledged that I would begin working on my craft work if my regular work was slow and I started that and have taken it very seriously, but I got pretty busy at work from late October until this week really so I have only been able to make a few jewelry pieces so far.

On the weaving front I got 5 commissions from Ravelry and when I’m done with those I can do a few more pieces for the store opening.

I’m hoping to launch the store in mid December, maybe. I don’t really know how much stuff I need to start with so I’m kind of at a loss.

I’m feeling really low energy now that Thanksgiving is over. I know I need to finish this last commission and start making more jewelry. I have a ton of ideas for other accessories that would be quick for me to make, but I’m just. Blah. I will plow through though, I’m sure it may just take me a little longer to finish this last scarf. Then on to my own ideas, which will be much more exciting!

The one thing I am motivated about is cooking more and changing my diet. I have decided to try “clean” eating, and really it’s not a big stretch for me since we don’t eat a ton of processed stuff, but since I seem to still have lingering issues with some foods and I’ve been told I need to cleanse again and retest every season to get to the root of my ongoing allergy issues I figured this would be a good stepping stone and then if I find food issues hopefully I’ll be better equipped to deal with them if I’m already basically making most stuff myself. I think going off the refined sugar will be good for me too.

So one change is that I’m going to start eating a salad for lunch every day. I’ve decided to try the Salad in a Jar approach. I don’t have a FoodSaver (yet) though and I need to make my meals for work as grab and go as possible so I’ll be using some tips I picked up over at the Big Red Kitchen as well. I did pretty well this week and had salad 3 out of 4 days since I decided to start this on Tuesday.

I also decided to make my own chicken stock for the first time. This is a key point in clean eating, to make your own stuff so you control the ingredients and I’ve been thinking I should do this for a long time. I mean I eat a roasted chicken like every week so seriously I should be making my own stock. In fact I should have done a post just about this since it is an experiment in the kitchen. I’m rusty with this whole blogging thing I guess. I’ll get better though.

No Comments | In: cooking, experiments, life, ravelry, tangledart, weaving | | #

Hi. I know it’s been a while. I’ve had a crazy year. It went something like this:

• Quit my job
• Relaxed
• Traveled
• Went to Yoga
• Cooked
• Read
• Knitted
• Learned to weave (or did I do that before??)
• Started a new novel for NaNoWriMo 2010, but then…
• Started a chocolate truffle business so didn’t finish
• Worked on my feet for a few months making and selling chocolates
• Decided 2011 is the year we build a new house
• Put the truffle business on hiatus
• Got a “real” job
• Started a jewelry/weaving business on the side

So lots of changes are coming to the House of Q as 2011 moves towards 2012.  We are on track to hopefully start our tear down in November.  It so exciting to think about having a brand new, twice as big house. I don’t want to jinx it so I won’t talk too much about it until we get our freakin’ loan.

I started working as a contractor at a large semi-conductor company which I won’t name here.  I’m doing content management, which really means keeping stuff on the website up to date using Sharepoint.  Good times.  It’s very different from UT and it’s been a serious adjustment.  It has some good and bad points.  I really love that I get 2 days a week to work from home!  But there are some cons as well.  Time will tell if this is the place for me.

I’m getting ready to launch a new business making jewelry and selling my weaving, I’m not quite ready yet though, so more on that later.

I’ve read 76 books so far this year and I’ve even started a book review blog, though I’m already woefully behind on it.  I’m not sure my reviews are very good since I’m a little rusty on writing them, but hopefully I’ll improve.

As always, I’m knitting and I have finished 23 projects since I last blogged.  I’ll do a post with some highlights soon.

My experiments in the kitchen were pretty much confined to truffles, but M and I made Easter pies on our own this year and they turned out great.

So that’s the update. I should be posting on a regular basis now, hopefully at least once a week and hopefully it’ll be cooling down soon so more cooking/baking related posts will be possible.

No Comments | In: life | | #

I can’t believe I’m on my last week at work. It did go by pretty fast. I’m winding things down now, finishing up the last few things, packing my office, doing errands on campus and then I’ll be done. YAY!

In other news, I’ve been able to add a bunch of new things since gluten, namely eggs and citrus. So of course I needed to make something to celebrate having citrus in my life.

I went for another Smitten Kitchen recipe, one I’ve done many times, the wonderful Margarita Cookies. I always get raves when I make these, they are simple, sound fancy and taste delicious.

I think this is basically a shortbread type cookie and you add lime and orange zest along with tequila and then you roll the dough in a sugar and sea salt mixture before baking and it’s the perfect combo of salty, sweet and tart.

Probably the hardest part of this recipe is rolling the dough into a log, but my laziness has helped me find an easy way to do even that.

Of course mine is not uniformly shaped, but it’s still yummy. Now it’s ready to be rolled in the sugar and salt mixture.

Then you slice and bake. You could totally make these and wrap them up pretty (in log form) with baking instruction and give them as gifts.

So citrus? Passed the test.

No Comments | In: baking, life | | #

So today is the day that I start preparing to get out of the way, which is just another way of saying quit my job. Today I sat in a meeting and heard how many positions our area has lost and how hard it’s going to be to replace anyone. It makes me feel bad. It makes me feel guilty that I want to leave at this, the worst time.

I know the organization won’t die without me, and in fact if they can hire a replacement then that person might really flourish where I have only floundered.

I guess I’m feeling a little like I’m giving up, or that I’ve failed.

So now I need to give some thought to my project in progress and figure out, what needs to be done to ensure the project is continued and what can I leave behind?

Also, I really wish I had not agreed to speak at TLA this year. I wonder if I can wiggle out of it…

No Comments | In: 9to5, life | | #

So today in a SXSW session someone said, “If you don’t like your job there is someone out there who’d love to have it. And there’s someone else somewhere that has your dream job and probably hates it. We just all need to stand up and move out of the way”.

This, along with a lot of other wise observations from the group made me realize that I need to get out of the way. I need to give someone the chance to do my job and love it. I need to give myself the chance to do what I love, or at least what I think I love right now. I need the chance to be a whole person, not one bound by pain or lack of confidence. I need to give myself a chance at healing.

So how do I do that? How do I do that and have us still maintain our life and continue to meet our financial goals? I am not quite sure, but I’m going to find out, and I’m going to blog about it.

I think SXSW just changed my life.

No Comments | In: life, writing | tags: change, life, writing. | #

So I’ve been slacking in the blogging department, I know. I’ve got a plan though to make this a more regular blog. I know I keep making promises. I really am trying though to make this part of my week at the least and hopefully I can get to the point I’m posting more than once a week.

I will be posting on some projects that I cannot discuss in detail, but that will result in much frustration and hilarity though. I’ll also be posting more when I travel. My first trip of 2010 is coming up, and it’s a good one.

I’m going to Mardi Gras! Yes, in New Orleans! I haven’t been since 2006, and that MG, while wonderful to experience, was not like the joyful and exuberant celebrations that I remember as a former resident of the city.

The other totally awesome and exciting thing is that I’ll be riding in a Krewe! I guess I’m technically now in a Krewe, which is cool. I’ll be riding with Tucks on Saturday February 13th on the traditional Uptown route. It will be so exciting and I’m really going to try to take photos and capture the fun.

So stay tuned for blogging from Mardi Gras…coming soon.

No Comments | In: life, travel, writing | tags: 2010, mardigras, neworleans, nola, trips, tucks. | #

I did it. I wrote a 50,014 word novel in 30 days, and while it is a very, very rough draft it’s something, something I’ve never done before so it’s pretty awesome.

So yeah, I didn’t really journal here did I? It was hard, really hard, the last week especially, so I didn’t have a lot of time for blogging. Plus, my body? It’s really pissed at me now for all that computer time, and typing (it really hated all the typing). So I needed to rest when I could. I probably shouldn’t be typing now because, frankly, it hurts. I have a massage in my future though so it’ll all be fine.

So I’m going to keep writing every day for 10-30 minutes, but I’m going to stick to exercises for the first couple of weeks and then transition into doing some character and setting work before I read the novel and starting revising it in January.

I have no idea how to revise a novel, but I’m just going to give it shot and I have a deadline for finishing (March 15th) so that should help.

I have a ton of stuff to take pictures of, but it’s so cloudy I’m not sure when I’ll get the chance. I’ll try though.

No Comments | In: life, writing | tags: 2009, fiction, nanwrimo, process, writing. | #

So I made gumbo this past weekend for the first time in like 5 years. It was ok, but I had just totally forgotten how I used to do it. I never had a recipe I used, so piecing it back together was a little rough. It was good though and now I’d like to (re)master that recipe so I’ll probably be experimenting with that over the fall and winter.

I will work on getting a better kitchen photo set up too so I can start documenting these kitchen forays a little better.

In other news I’m feeling ready to finally start running again (yes!). I’m going to start the Couch to 5K program next Monday. I’ll be starting NaNoWriMo on Sunday as well so November is going to be hectic for me. Wish me luck, and I’ll try to keep the blog somewhat updated.

I’ll be doing a knitting update later this week!

No Comments | In: 9to5, life, running | tags: 9to5, cooking, running, writing. | #

I’ve been MIA lately, I know. I’ve been sick since like August it seems. Nothing serious, just allergies but it’s getting old, really old. So I’ve done a few baking things and some knitting stuff and even some yard work.

I made croissants. Real croissants. From scratch. They were really good and our neighbor, who’s mother is French, said they were very close to real French croissants (I need to get a full report about what was missing).

So I got this book, Baking, a few weeks ago and it has great step by step instructions for all kinds of baking stuff. I think it could be a baking course on it’s own. Anyway, I’ve been wanting to do something challenging so I decided to try croissants. It’s a lot of work, and a lot of butter, but they turned out great and the instructions were good and easy and had photographs to go with, which I love. Anyway, croissants!

I also made bread a lot lately, including my Rosemary Olive bread and Chocolate Cherry bread, which I got from this book . I’ve been making these breads for a while so nothing new, but nice to have fresh bread. I hope to make bread a lot more as it cools down for fall/winter here.

I’ve been knitting a lot and just finished a sweater (post to come soon) and started a new one. I’ve also started the long process of cleaning up and preparing the yard for fall/spring gardening. I cleaned out my dead tomatoes and can you believe that the basil I planted with them is still alive and is at least 4 feet, yes feet, tall. We’re planning on harvesting it all over the next week or two and making some pesto.

I’m going to try to do the Sweet Potato biscuits tomorrow (for Tuesday’s with Dorie) because they sound yummy and I need to master biscuits. I’ve had bad biscuit mojo the last few years.

No Comments | In: baking, garden, knitting, life | tags: basil, bread, croissnats, tuesdayswithdorie. | #