Tuesday, September 22, 2009

it started with a sparkle.....

mid morning. a sparkle in my vision. strange feeling like i wanted to close my right eye. right hand twitching without me moving it.

maybe i need to eat. make a sandwich. choke it down. texture in my mouth bothers me and i want to spit it out. hmm...still not....drink some water....better?

no. grey shimmering clouds up and to the left. my body is listing to the right. my fingers are playing piano in the air. can't remember..did i eat? where is my mom? where is my dad? with grandma. hunting. should i call them? no answer. i feel like i can't walk.

there's her car. mom, i don't feel...so.....i need to lie down but my friend is coming to drop. off...vases...flowers...wedding.........."eat some peanut butter and i'll get you lunch".

can you get me some migraine pills...this is another one. 6 years since the last one. she leaves. heather comes. we walk around the gardens somehow and my head feels like it's tethered to a string and it's flying above my shoulders. my mom gets back. i swallow the pills. dad arrives. mom rubs my head. towel over my eyes. still not enough. i lie down.

i get up. up comes lunch and pills and peanut butter and lots of other things. brush teeth and feel each bristle like a telephone pole in my mouth. i lie back down with a sledge hammer smashing my right eye until i blissfully doze. the neighbor's chickens the saw down the street the washing machine the dogs' bell the ceiling fan everything pounds!!! it starts to lessen. but man.......................then around mid afternoon the curtain lifts. my stomach grumbles, the crackers taste fine and then the soup tastes better then the ice cream tastes amazing....

if you've never had a migraine, count yourself lucky. i was cursed with them for about 10 years during the teens and early 20's. last one was 6 years ago. without health insurance, this is as close as i've come to taking myself to the hospital, before i realized what it was. i had forgotten how quickly it can happen. ugh. i hope it's a long while before it happens again..........now i can't bring myself to fall asleep again. my head is still not right. at least i didn't hallucinate this time.

Saturday, September 19, 2009

you're soaking in it......

i will treat myself to a nice long bath, after i have a few hours of crafting under my belt. my etsy store is woefully empty. and i have a medium-sized order due monday to the beeb. i feel like i've been neglecting my other wonderful stores, and i have two shows coming up! plus lots of behbehs to make gifts, and oh so many other things coming up.....

this is the life i've asked for, right? to be an independant woman/business owner who makes her own schedule.....i just have to figure out how to get 30 hours out of a day. or how to sew in the car.....

Thursday, September 17, 2009

shows, glorious SHOOOOOWSSSS

so one of the reasons i've been neglecting this blog is that i got hired again at the G, for a nice stretch of about 2 weeks. prop shopping is one of the funnest jobs you could imagine, you're given a list, some money, and the keys to a big ol' shopping truck, and you MUST RETURN with something that will make about 90 people happy. i take a lot of cell-phone photos, do a lot of measuring, and make a lot of snap decisions.

the best part of the job though is that i have to use not only the hunting brain but my problem solving brain as well.

when pink doilies can't be found, i have to paint white ones with red food coloring and iron them until dry. when a cake we ordered turns out to not work for one scene, i have to figure out how to make it look like tea cakes for a different part of the show, that an actor can eat 7 of in less than a minute and not choke. things like that.

almost any tool or material i could want exists in the work space, and we also have an entire warehouse, like indiana-jones-and-the-lost-ark type warehouse, from which to pull furniture. it's a pretty amazing job, and i'm SO lucky that they (for the most part) like my work and my soloutions to problems.

in addition to that, i got roped into doing a show at the BLB. it was originally going to be an hour long scripted show, but through various twists and turns it's now a sketch comedy show. which is SO much fun but a lot. of. work. i have such an amazing time on stage though, and my fellow actors are beyond talented, so that part makes all the headache worthwhile. we have three more shows, and if you're in the twin cities seriously, this one is worth comin' to see. i play a county fair beauty pagent MC, a chicken, a jug band washtub bassist, and so many other fun characters. crazy!

besides trying to get my bibelot orders done, i've also committed to two art shows, one coming up on october third and the other as part of the st. paul art crawl the weekend of the 8th, 9th, and 10th. (yes, my company name is mispelled on the poster. whatchagonnado.)

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

lil' queezie

A few weeks back I discovered the mini-cuisinart * hiding in the back of a cupboard. No one seems to know where it came from, but it has quickly become one of my favorite things that plugs into the wall, and yet another reason why I will never be Amish. Many a delish meal has been whipped up by it's whirring blades. Tomatoes go straight from the garden into the chopper. Here I share two quick delights that I have made with lil queezie, as I affectionately call it.



PRESTO PESTO:
1 cup or so of Basil leaves washed and picked. Not the stems, or the tops.
1/2 as many Parsley leaves washed and picked
Plop of garlic (about 1/2-1 Tablespoon, depending on who is eating it)
Pecan, pine, or wal-nuts, about 1/4 cup
Olive Oil, about 1/3-1/4 cup
Shredded Parmesean cheese (i like LOTS, like about 1/2 cup)

Start by chopping up the leaves, then add the garlic. I add the nuts, oil, and cheese last so they have a coarser texture. If you can let it sit for a few minutes on the countertop, the flavor develops a bit more. I have also added chili peppers and/or cherry tomatoes to this and had it taste AMAZING.

SORTA SALSA:
Broil the following:
1 large jalepeno pepper, covered with chopped garlic (one clove or 1t of canned), 1/2 a large white onion or a few scallions chopped, and 1 T of olive oil

Remove when the pepper starts to turn color, and the onions and garlic have gotten some color, about 12 minutes on low. I de-seed and de-vein my pepper so it's not so super hot. Leave the broiler going to melt cheese on your tortilla chips.

To the lil' queezie add the pepper, oil, garlic, onion, and two large tomatoes or 8 small, cherry sized ones. I remove the 'stem' end and cut in half so the blades don't have to work so hard. Pulse until everything is pretty well blended, then add 1/4-1/3 cup sour cream to cut the heat of the pepper, blend until you like the consistency. You can also add 'hamburger spice' or something like ground pepper if you want.


*I can't even find a photo of it online, it's that old. I love my new one too, but this one is just so teeny and cute.....