darkitysnark

I think I like the Halloween LE's more in concept than in actual practice. As much as I like smelling foody scents on other people, on me they come off as... hunger inducing? Kinda distracting. My itchy trigger finger gets... itchier 'round the Yule updates.

Having said that, I'm still really tempted by Dr. Seward (ditto on the movie's interpretation of him... his torment far outstripped whatever poor Keanu could muster around his disappearing/reappearing accent). And of course Wilhelmina, because of that whole namesake thing.

Snarky's new job is as an office monkey for the sales department of a manufacturer of art supplies. Eventually she wants to work her way up and in to a new department they are developing that would bring her architectural training in to play.

From all accounts, this is a good company to work for, that encourages personal growth in its employees and tends to promote from within. Again, IEEEE!

The engineers at the Cracker Factory have been giving Snarky and extremely hard time, though. She tempted to skip out on a few days of her two week notice to spent time with her parents. Even if they revert back to being snippity and guilt-trippy it would be better than the constant ribbing she's been getting. It's like they're going through the five stages of grief!

SCORE! What wonderful finds. Even without the plates (but c'mon... plates!) those are all great finds (and neat places in which to find them).

When you figure out how to mount those wee-ickle three inch plates, let me know. We want to line them up above door-and-archways, but I don't want to set up a bunch of tiny plate shelves and the plate hangers I've found don't go that small... super glue?!?

Hm... "Halloweenie", y'say? I'm imagining a Chicago Style hotdog with a halo and beautific expression.

I am twelve.

When I win the lottery, inkdarkmoon and I are gonna pick you up in my private jet and sweep you off to the Amalfi coast to my knitting retreat and we'll sort this all out.

You don't need to learn how to purl right away. I know folks who have made it their mission to avoid purling as much as possible...

Are you a better "learn from seeing in person" type crafter, or can you teach yourself from books? I started off with books ("Knitting for Dummies" because I lurve my "For Dummies" library) and graduated to bugging more experienced knitters at my local Stitch 'n Bitch for tips/techniques when things got more complicated.

Take a deep breath. Once you get over this first hurdle (and it took me three tries to get over the first hurdle) you'll be a knitting fiend!

Ah Pushkin! My favorite passive-aggressive poet! I swooned over him in high school because I thought that was exactly how the perfect love should feel. Painful.

I want to (re)learn Cantonese, but the only Chinese classes most places offer is the more practical (and not nearly as colorful) Mandarin. Bah.

I'll be totally honest: tough the thought does count, but if you are sending something to a non-knitter, don't expect them to appreciate the gift quite as much as you'd like.

Knitted stuff for babies gets a free pass, though, 'cause baby stuff, even knitted by an absolute novice, is the bees knees. (Seriously, booties can be extremely easy to knit... you don't even have to learn to purl to do some bootie patterns).

And that just made my day. Funny how that works, yeah?

Dude, you *must* post the recipe for blueberry yum-yum!

 

I know it's a hard situation to deal with, and you and Mr. Snarky have hugest hugs from me.

The Snarks are back! Thank you, antimony as well as everyone else, for the well wishes.

The Mister is currently napping fitfully upstairs and Snarky is catching up on correspondences... one of which was an invitation to start working the new job in a couple of weeks!!!

It was good to catch up with family and to say final goodbyes. Snarky is still happy to be back home, though.

Is this the grandma who do something like take used motor oil to burn her garbage, or something of the sort? I know you told a story like that a while back, and I have such a wonderfully vivid image of an older woman doing something like that; you don't know whether to call it utterly intrepid or goofy or a bit of both. Anyway, I am sorry to hear of the loss; times like this are never easy, no matter how much it was expected. I hope your trip back east is a safe one and the family-related trauma is held to a minimum.

 

And good, excellent, superb-o luck tomorrow in the interview! I am pulling for you, I hope it goes beautifully, and I'm sure you will do a lovely job.

 

We'll miss you! Take care of yourselves and wave if you fly over Nebraska!

Thank you! Yes indeed. Grandmother S is that very same ruthlessly efficient/off her rocker lady who used to start her burn pile with old jugs of used motor oil she kept in one of the many outbuildings on her property.

She also made surprisingly intricate Christmas ornaments with bits of ribbon, sequins, and pearl-ended pins (hat pins, maybe)?

A woman of many rough and smooth surfaces.

Again, thank you for your well wishes (also for the interview which is in *gulp* four and a half hours). They are greatly appreciated.

I'm sorry you and The Mister have to go through this Been there, done that, with both sides of the family. No matter how much "advance notice" there is, it's still hard to deal with and you'll be a welcome, stable support to those who need it Back East.

 

On a lighter note, please post any wacky recipes from Grandma! My sis put together a recipe book after Grandma passed away and there are some hilarious ones, including Bologna Cake. Yes, you layer bologna like a cake with mayonnaise, and cover with crushed potato chips. People sure ate weird in the '50s

Snarky doubts she can top a Bologna Cake. That is... something else! There is strawberry-pretzel pie, blueberry yum-yum, and persimmon pudding, but none have quite the sublime savory resonance of a potato-chip incrusted tower of fats and proteins.

Snarky just hopes she can keep the, er, snark to a minimum while she is Back East. She loves her in-laws but they sure are an eccentric bunch.

I am sorry to hear of the Mister's grandmother's passing...my thoughts are with you guys...

 

Also...good luck with your interview! Let us know how it goes!

Thank you for your sympathies. She was a strong, hard-headed woman. One whom Snarky wishes she could've gotten to know better before her long decline. Snarky will probably post some of her recipies in memoriam later on, though not the sauerkraut pie recipe. That woman had a wicked sense of culinary humor/efficiency.

Snarky is overly excited about the interview. She really needs to calm her s*** down before she starts to emit high frequencies. The position is as the assistant to the sales department of a manufacturer of raw materials for almost strictly artistic things. A far, and yet not-so-far departure from The Bakery.

Our entire neighborhood (save for the few diligent/stubborn homeowners) has brown lawns right now. Crispity crunchity goodness. I'm of the "mulch it all" camp anyway, so dead grass doesn't phase me too much.

I'd love to have some sort of fruit bearing trees... pomegranates!

Thanks for posting pics!

Well, you an almost-architect! Much closer than I am! The Walt Lockey web site had a link to some pages he put together on the work of the architect who designed the building where I work.

 

http://www.waltlockley.com/lalibrary/lalibrary.htm

 

The interior of the L.A. Library is very similar to the Law Library in the State Capitol, so much so that it was difficult to tell at first what building was being pictured. He talks a lot about the rotundas in each building -- in this building, the rotunda is where the lobbyists stand around when the Legislature is in session. There's one lobbyist who is an extremely large man (truly a "fat cat" lobbyist), and a friend and I enjoy looking for the "orb within the orb" when we look around at the lobbying contingent.

 

And so here I sit, in what Lockey called "the dead center of Nebraska" in a building "that won't shut up" (how true on so many levels!), wearing Snake Oil and O! Hee hee!!

Wow. The more Snarky reads Lockley, the more she likes him. And now she wants to visit the Capitol! Straight up corn!

Oh, Snarky isn't an architect. She decided going into third year (and with more finality during her study abroad semester in Italy) that she just couldn't do it the justice it deserved. Plus her education was sub-par. (Though she sort of let it be too.)

She just doesn't have the cajones to look a wealthy client in the face and say "it is thus because I said so". (Plus she's pretty certain anything she designs would look awesome but be structurally unsound.)

She's just an avid fan like the rest of us.

Mr. Lockley's site(s) (there's also a group of essays under his "Place Doctor" personae) are still under construction, but what he does have up is so insightful and accessible (a rarity in architectural criticism sometimes).

HFCS is the bane of my MIL's existance. She gets strange side effects after consuming anything containing the stuff (which is everywhere). The Mister and I don't read labels much, but we do check to make sure all of our juices don't have it, and that any sliced bread has it very low on the ingredient list (if at all).

There was a small puddle of it on the bakery floor yesterday and one of my co-workers accidentally stepped in it. Not only is this stuff bad for you, but it is a downright bugger to get off your shoe! S*** is nasty sticky!

Yeah. Just .

It took Snarky entirely too long to get that. Must acquire some caffeine.

Perhaps a "bandana hammock" would be something one of the Duke boys would sport on a sweltering summer excursion to the local watering hole. Daisy can't have all the fun!

"'Do Rag"

(And I totally rock the what-ever-you-call-ums too, spousal disapproval be damned!)

I was totally thinking "Why the heck would she want vintage bananas? That's.... kind of squishy, right?"

Time for some caffeine, me thinks.

I enjoy the MnS's too... but since I'm a much slower acquirer of la BPAL (I'm more of a Reduce-Reuse-Recycle enthusiast than a make-monthly-order-er) I don't have much to bring to the table other than small containers of coffee beans and my rapier wit. Still, it's fun being around like-minded folks for a change.

Puuurty! I am fond of I'm Not Really a Waitress! on other people (the pinkish red doesn't look quite right on me, I'm more of a Kennebunk-Port gal) but this looks good too. Very cute sakura, and the french mani makes your hands very continental! (Channeling Christopher Walken: "Would yew cahr for some champ-anyuh?")

I too was admiring your french mani! Also the big bowl of bounty. Beautiful!

One thing I learned about growing jade plants (and this might not apply so much for your cuttings since it's the leaves and not leaves and stalks) is to cluster the cuttings together. They sort of support eachother as they grow.

I love the way the christmas cactus looks all "Night of the Living Dead" and all.

Yay Money!

(What a relief!)

Hee. Now I have "Paint it Black" stuck in my head.

The first coat is down. The Mister sang AC/DC's "Back in Black" the whole time... but Snarky was secretly thinking about red doors instead.