Happy Easter!

We had a very nice Easter! I got out of going to 6 am church services, which B. was interested in going to up until I asked him if I should set my alarm for 5 am or not, so that was good.

I made a ham! A 7 lb ham, for the two of us! (It was the smallest I could find at the store.) I cut diagonal lines in it and stuck whole cloves all over it and cooked it with pineapple rings and cherries! It came out really good, and B. carved it very nicely. I made pineapple stuffing, which came out awesome as always, and bleu cheese rolls, which came out extremely, possibly life-threateningly, bleu-cheesy.

As I was cooking the ham, B. asked if I could make deviled eggs, which we both love. I started before I realized I didn't have any of the ingredients for them, so I tried to improvise. I didn't have any mayo, so I tried cream cheese, and the only mustard I had was stone-ground dijon. I had undercooked the eggs a bit, so I tried nuking them for a few seconds to cook them more. It kind of worked, but made the mix very lumpy. The only other creamy thing I had around was ranch dressing, which I mean B. loves, so I tried that. The mix tasted kind of,.. odd. I figured I might as well finish them, and I actually had paprika to sprinkle on them! They were still really warm and dinner was almost ready, so I threw them in the freezer for a few minutes to chill them down.

I kind of forgot about them until we were sitting down to eat, so B. got them and we tried them. They were frozen and crunchy on the outside and still warm and lumpy on the inside, and the filling didn't taste any better. "Bleh, bleh," was my reaction, and B.'s was only slightly more polite. Then the cat jumped up on the table in pursuit of ham and landed in them, which probably improved their flavor, but it gave us an excuse to chuck them.

Other than the disastrous eggs, it was a very nice day! I celebrated cooking dinner by taking a nap afterwards.

Weather

Spring sprang a few weeks ago, it's been quite nice. Wildflowers are everywhere, blowsy little 4-petaled pink ones and white clover and of course Bluebonnets covering the mowed areas next to all the roads. The azaleas by the ponds here bloomed last week, huge bushes full of bright pink flowers. Last weekend the weather was perfect, sunny and 70 with a nice breeze. I spent most of Sunday afternoon sitting on the couch with the porch door open, letting the breeze ruffle my gauzy curtains, with the Kitten and a smoothie and a book. Perfect.

The smoothie was good too, vanilla frozen yogurt, frozen red raspberries, milk and just a bit of almond extract all blended together. I made a version with half a block of bittersweet chocolate chopped fine tossed in there too, which was also yummy.

I'd thought about going down to the pool here, but Boyfriend was busy, and pools are no fun by yourself. So the Kitten and I enjoyed the weather.

I planted seeds in the planters on my porch, thyme and forget-me-nots and catnip for the Kitten's garden. She likes to sit outside and stare intently at it, it's her hobby.

But unfortunately we only get weather this nice for a short time. The azaleas have already fallen. It rained most of this week, which washed the air clean and kept the temperature under 80, but it won't be much longer til I have to run the AC 24/7 like my neighbors. There is no break between having the heat on in the winter and the AC on in the summer here, you have to switch from one to other immediately.

Summer was always my favorite season growing up, but I think Spring has edged it out, in Texas at least. I really enjoy our 2 weeks of it.

I have the best boyfriend ever.

I tried to go to bed last night around 11:30, but couldn't sleep right away, as I not designed for this diurnal life I lead. I ended up reading until about 1 am, then decided I really should go to sleep, as I had a 8:30 am meeting this morning.

As is my habit, when I decided I was really truly going to bed now, I went to formally invite the Kitten to join me. She likes an engraved invitation, but will settle for me chasing her around the living room for a while. When I went out, I saw her sitting in the corner by the front door, looking intently at the wall. I asked her if she thought she was in time-out, and went and scooped her up. When I stood up, my eyes followed hers to what she had actually been staring at, and saw the

HUGE COCKROACH

lurking right above my door, obviously planning an ambush!

I gasped in shock, seriously, and it is always a strange feeling when my lungs do things on their own initiative. I considered my options, but I don't keep Raid around because it wouldn't be good for the Kitten, and I hate killing bugs big enough that you can feel them crunch, *gag* and I usually miss anyway and then they run around my apartment and have time to put their hideous plans in action. And they all have hideous plans, I can tell, this one was just sitting on my wall getting all its little details straightened out and waiting until I went to bed to put it in motion.

So I called Boyfriend. At 1 am. To come kill a bug for me. And he came! He came right over and disposed of it, then washed his hands to humor me because he was near the bug, even though he didn't actually touch it. Then he hugged me for about 5 minutes and went back home.

I knew he would be awake, he's sleep-shifting because he has to work 6 pm - 3 am next week, but still. It was awesome. He didn't even make fun of me for it!

Oh yeah, I have a blog-thingy

I had almost forgotten.

Highlights of the last month or so:

• We went to Austin for our 1.5 year anniversary! It was really nice, we ate at a very cute restaurant downtown on Friday night. Saturday we went to the flagship Whole Foods, which is so big it has a parking garage, got lunch stuff and had a picnic in Zilker Park on the banks of the Colorado River. It was a bit chilly, so we sat very close and he kept my feet warm. It was a beautiful day, lots of people walking dogs, and all the dogs were extremely interested in the idea of food in their park. I took a very bad picture of us on my cell phone.

• My dad came down to see me! He took a 30 hour bus ride after visiting my sister in NC to get here. It was a very nice visit. I took him to see some things we'd missed the last time he was here, and he entertained the Kitten while I was at work. He brought me rocks from NC! It was awesome, 3 of them are covered in rusty-red dirt, and 3 are nice quartz ones. Not only did he know I would love them, he literally rode a bus for 30 hours with a suitcase full of rocks for me! Best dad ever, seriously.

• We met our friends' new baby girl! She is very tiny and cute. My mom had made her some very soft and fuzzy receiving blankets, and I had made some casseroles for the new parents, so we brought them and dinner over. Before she was born, someone lied through their teeth to the new father and told him that newborns sleep for 18-20 hours a day! I was very amused. She enjoyed watching us play Rock Band, though, so it was a fun night.

• I've used my crockpot more the last two weeks than the past 6 months! I made chili verde last week, for which I tossed a chopped onion, chopped lean pork, a can of white beans, and 2 cans of green (tomatillo) salsa into the crockpot and cooked it all day. It was very good, we ate it in burritos with cheese and sour cream. I'm making kielbasa and saurkraut as we speak, because I had a craving for it the other day. Tonight I'm going to make irish soda bread and irish potatoes, and tomorrow make corned beef and cabbage!

It's very odd, you'd never know tomorrow was St. Patrick's Day down here. Apparently irish potates are a Philly thing, Boyfriend had never even heard of them. He's not a big coconut fan though, so I'll probably send all the ones I don't eat into work with him along with the other half of the soda bread, because my recipe makes such a big loaf. But mmm, irish soda bread for breakfast tomorrow!

Celebrate!

Yesterday was Boyfriend and my's 1.5 year anniversary! We celebrate each of our monthiversaries, usually by going out to a nice place for dinner, but this one felt even more special than usual. It's a nice time to take a night off from everything we are usually busy with and focus on each other. I made braised beef short ribs, because the last time I made them he told me he wanted them all the time when he was old, not just because they're so tender you don't need to chew them but because they're so delicious.

Today is my mom's birthday! She is one of the most generous people I've ever known, I think sometimes she's given a quilt or afgan to everyone she's ever met. I have at least 5 in my house, and they are always warmer because I know she made them. My older sister planned a surprise party for her a few years ago, and I will never forget the look on her face when she walked in carrying her frozen lasagna and saw us all there. My Dad did a fantastic job keeping her out of the house while we set things up, though I'm still amazed she bought it when he said he needed shoes!

Tomorrow is Valentine's Day! Though I may just enjoy it because I like eating chocolate hearts. Boyfriend is a romantic at heart, so that makes it fun also :)

Christmas photologue - New Jersey

Little kids are so much fun to get presents for!


He had so much fun!


She helped everyone unwrap their present, so thoughtful.


Sister and Boyfriend's surprise faces!


So cute!


We were all reindeer, but the dog was a bit confused by all of it.


Heather's birthday! The boys helped her blow out her candles.


Milly was upset we were taking her blanket from her.

Christmas photologue - Nebraska

We baked 18 dozen cookies!


It snowed and was very cold (like 6 degrees!) This is the view from Boyfriend's parents' balcony.


His parents had a very pretty tree.


For some reason, they like to open presents at 6 am. I'm not sure why.

This is Boyfriend's surprise face!


This is my trying-to-be-surprised-and-not-fall-asleep face!

Why the Kitten and I get along so well

Boyfriend says the reason the Kitten and I get along so well is that we have the same goals in life.

1. Find a warm spot to snuggle.
2. Look cute.

My cat likes watching TV about cats

So this evening I took a nap with the Kitten and Ben played on the computer and watched TV. He recorded a show called Cats: In the Womb because he thought I would like it. I thought I would too, so we decided to watch it. The Kitten was fascinated by it.


I don't watch a whole lot of TV, but it's definitely been on before, and I've never seen her react like this to it. She watched the whole show with us!


She especially liked hearing the narrator say her name and talk about house cats. She wasn't as interested in the lions and would stop watching at each commercial.


She also liked hearing the mother cat purring and meeping. (It's a lot easier to see her perking up when the mother cat purrs on the original video; unfortunately, it lost some quality when I uploaded it.)

My cat is the funniest thing I have ever seen. Endless hours of amusement.

Where I want to live

Criteria:

1. Palm trees and sunny beaches
2. Close enough to visit my family regularly
3. Has all 4 seasons, winter in moderation
4. Good hiking and camping and walking
5. Has houses that are not in developments
6. Good local government - schools, libraries, police, roads, recycling*!
   
7. The grocery stores carry gnocchi and prosciutto and avocados and nutella and stromboli
8. Lots of good restaurants, Italian and sushi and Indian and Thai and Chinese and pizza
9. Close enough to a city so that I can go to museums and theater when I want
10. Nice spas
11. Has people who don't call me "y'all" or "sweetheart" when they don't know me. Or "ma'am."
12. Cost of living is not too high

*Apparently Houstonians don't recycle because they are so "independent." Yeah, that's bright, wasting resources which are becoming scarcer is very independent, good job guys.

Oh yeah, and someplace I can get paid to live. That's the hard part, unfortunately. I love working in the space program, and I think it is the most important thing we as a culture should do for our future, but I am really getting tired of Houston. I don't want to buy a house here. I don't want to live here.

I've kind of kicked around the idea of getting a Ph.D and working for a university, doing research and teaching, and I think it could be cool. I'd have a lot more options on where to live that way. I'd probably focus on Astrophysics, cause that's what interests me most.

I just don't know if I would be as happy doing something that I liked in a place that I liked, if I'm not working on something I feel is as important to the entire human race as exploring and colonizing space. The space program gives us a direction as a society, something to work towards, something amazing that no one has ever even come close to doing in the thousands of years we've existed as a species. I feel that the work I do now, small a part of the program as it is, will someday enable people to live wherever they want, give people options about what planet to live on if we continue to trash this one and make it uninhabitable.

I kind of think of it like building Magellan's boat, I may never get to travel as far the craft I work on but someday people will cross the distance without thinking twice about it, and their lives will be better and richer and they will be more free than I can imagine now.

Maybe I can do research that is needed for space exploration, and help indirectly with it.