Enjoying My Time

I had a wonderful weekend. The only things that set it back were that The Boy had two basketball games this weekend, so staying in BFD and my mentee is still missing. The Boy and I are going shopping next Sunday and hopfully to my Dad's choir concert to make up a little time.

On Saturday I took the bus down to the Urban Craft Uprising at the Seattle Center. I stood in line for 15 minutes with a few hundred other people, then went inside. Everything was very professional looking and very cool--but one of the side effects of not mass producing and getting your supplies in super bulk numbers, it was pretty expensive. I could see buying myself one or two things, or if I saw the perfect gift for someone, I might have spent the money, but I kept my self control and walked back out after seeing all the booths. There were a lot of super cute things in there and maybe someday I will have the extra cash to spend on them.

After that I went to the Metropolitan Market and got some of the very yummy eggnog from Twin Brooks that I have been raving about to anyone who will listen. I think I have converted a few people, too. There were several product reps by the front door giving out samples or coupons and one of them was the Hempler's Ham people. Pause now for some back story:

I had a Hempler's Ham on order for my family dinner Saturday night from Amazon Fresh. It was a preorder--which should mean that they would definitely have one for me, right? Or they would let me know ahead of time they didn't...? Nope, just no ham with the order and when I checked my email--they send out a confirmation some time that morning--it just said "the following items were not included with your delivery, you will not be charged for those items". Awesome! So now I have to go shopping to find something else, which I did, but it wasn't local and natural like the Hempler's would have been. When I emailed my complaint, all Amazon replied with was "we are sorry for the inconvenience". Nothing about trying to not let it happen again or anything. I am going to wait a while before I order again. The physical store doesn't let you down that way. They either have it or they don't.

So I told the Hempler's rep that story and she gave me a free ham! It wasn't big enough to serve to 8 people, but Dr. T, The Boy and I will definitely enjoy it at a later date.

The family dinner was fun. We had snacks, people played Wii, we ate dinner, then played Apples to Apples. The eggnog was loved by all, especially me. Did I mention that I don't usually go in for eggnog? I don't. But this stuff is the bomb! I haven't had homemade yet, but I am guessing this is on par.

Sunday I strategized with Interactive Reader for a webinar we will be on in January. It is for First Tuesdays through the Washington State Library. We will be talking about Reader's Advisory (recommending books) with a few example book talks, resources and tips. We have a dry run coming up this Wednesday Morning. Then we did a little window shopping down Market St.

Two of my friends and coworkers came over later to learn to make bread. I instructed them through the loaves and they seemed to turn out well. I will get full reports on Wednesday when I see them next. We also made some AWESOME ice cream sundays vanilla and chocolate peanutbutter ice cream, crumbled zugats, little peanutbutter cups, bananas, hot fudge sauce and whipped cream. It was wonderful and decadent. We also played some Mario Kart.

It was really nice to have such a fun and relaxing weekend after the Union meeting on Friday. I think it really sapped a lot of our energy. I don't even want to think about it right now, so I might share on a later date, although it would likely be more interesting just to give you an outcome.

Running with the Ball

I suppose I should update after my anxious post the other day. Nothing good has happened. Mentee ran away from the group home almost right after she was dropped off, essentially abandoning her baby a second time. She was supposed to go to court about whether she could get custody back on Friday, but since she didn't show up she will have to fight a lot harder later if she wants to try. Right now, her baby is in foster care and unless Mentee gives up her parental rights and allows him to be adopted, that is where he will stay until she gets her act together. Many of the homeless youth I see at the drop in center were from foster care situations. Mentee herself didn't have a family to take care of her. I want to bang my head on the wall right now. The child does at least have a chance to have a normal life and babies have an easier time in foster care, usually.

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I saw my old friend today, and it was just like we had seen each other last week, instead of 7 years ago. We had a god time chatting and shopping and we plan to hang out again next week. I really thought I was going to have some abandonment issues with her, since she really just dropped out of my life one day--although I allowed it to happen. I deleted her phone number from my phone and decided I wasn't going to call her unless she called me first (it had been a one sided communication line for a while). She didn't call and the rest is history. No issues though, just talking and laughing and remembering.

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The Boy is playing football, which wreaks havoc on the weekend schedule. I get him on Friday, take him back on Saturday for his game then take him back to school on Monday. For those of you that don't know, it takes 1.5 hours one way to BFD. Good think I have books on CD to listen to. I almost want to go out and drive somewhere just so I can find out what happens to Jenna Fox. I have been meaning to read this book for over a year, and I can see what the hype was about.

Anyhow, he hasn't gotten to play a JV game yet and only played a few minutes in the first varsity game that I saw. His first JV game was canceled because the opposing team got stuck in traffic and couldn't make it. They will have a rematch in October some time. The teams seems really well organized this year and the coach has things well in hand. They play like a real team and they have won all their games but one so far.

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I am baking bread again. Today was a semolina rosemary bread. It turned out a bit flat, but the texture and taste are amazing. No pictures until I get the rise right.

And life goes on

3 day weekend...thank the gods. I really needed it, with few obligations and lots of down time. The short end of that is that my house has not been cleaned and the garden was not attended to until this morning. As soon as I get my butt out of this chair, I will begin the clean. This is where the 3rd day comes in, you get two to relax and one day to get fed up with your own stink enough to start cleaning!

Two of my sibs in my dad family have birthdays today (yup, twins). We had a bbq at Volunteer Park for my sis yesterday. The weather was actually pretty perfect; the sun kept peaking out and it didn't rain the whole time we were there. I made a peach, strawberry, rhubarb cobbler that was just soooo yummy. Dr. T suggested that I share the left overs with my housemates today and I said "no way! I am eating all that myself!" Then I gave them some rhubarb so they can make their own, 'cause that's how I roll.

I was really on a baking jag this weekend (as you can still see by the state of my kitchen). I made sourdough bread, strawberry scones, scratch waffles from my dad's recipe and the sourdough starter, and the cobbler. I had to make the waffle batter twice because the first time I left it out all night. Dairy and sourdough starter don't like that, although it was an interesting science experiment.

I don't think I mentioned, a friend gave me an italian sourdough starter a few weeks ago. It is really fun to work with and I have made several breads. I have also found that my oven is a little too hot and I keep getting a bit harder crust than I want. When will I learn? Even though I know this, every time I make a new recipe I forget to take that into consideration.

The last few weeks circumstances have made me a little pessimistic about library work. I really love my job and I just needed a reminder. Today has been a good day of reading about what other systems are doing and it gives me hope that we will recover from the changes that are going on. My friend has some interesting info on the NY Library's anti-prom. I love to hear about teens doing such great things. Especially when there is a library involved.