Podcastaway

Or, Why I spent days ripping CDs onto my iPod but never listen to them

I really love my new iPod, and I've loaded quite a number of my CDs onto it. Yet while I use my iPod for hours a day, it's been almost a week since I've listened to any of my CDs. Why is this, you ask? Because I have discovered an insidious and yet so tempting diversion...

The Podcast.

It started because I heard that one of my favorite bands, Newfoundland's Great Big Sea, has a podcast. So I subscribed to their podcast, and have enjoyed all four episodes they have so far.
While searching for related podcasts, I discovered the Irish and Celtic Music Podcast, which is another good one. Its host, Marc Gunn, has several others, two of which I've ended up subscribing to:

Pub Songs Podcast I enjoy pub songs, and this has given me a chance to hear some of the traditional ones that I hadn't yet experienced.

Renaissance Festival Music Podcast There are no RenFests near me, but I've enjoyed them in the past and the music was always neat. This podcast is quickly becoming my favorite - a mix of styles and songs, from the traditional to the bawdy.
Just between the above three, I've got over 100 podcasts to listen to. My CDs may have to wait!

What about you, dear readers? If you listen to podcasts, what are some of your favorites?

Thinking outside my box....

DD has complained lately about how hard it is to be the only child in a household of adults. Hearing some of the specifics, though, it occurred to me that there's another factor in play that makes things tricky as well...

DD is a lone Extravert in a household of Introverts. (More specifically, in Myers-Briggs terms, she's a lone Extraverted Feeler in a household of Introverted Thinkers..) With DH, DsS and I all being both adult and introvert, she really can't help but think it's an adult-or-child thing when that's not the whole story. No wonder DD feels so left out sometimes!

I can find plenty of info online on how to parent an Introverted child, but I haven't found anything on how Introvert parents should interact with an Extravert child.

DH and I need to start thinking *way* outside our boxes!

Rivendell!

Illustration by J.R.R. Tolkien

At long last, I have completed my Walk to Rivendell! I admit that I used my exercise bike to cover the latter half of the journey, but I'm there. And the exerbike is still exercise, which is the whole point...
Onward now to Lorien!

It's been a productive weekend. Not only did I reach Rivendell, but I also spent yesterday cutting the fabric for the hunter-green formal dress I mentioned last month. My goal for this coming week is to finish the bodice.

In between actually being moderately productive, I've been digging out CDs I haven't listened to in years, to populate my new iPod. I love my iPod - it's been especially useful while attending to domestrivia!

That, and I think my family derives some amusement from my being wired up....

And there was much rejoicing...

As of 8:45 this evening, The Great Decluttering is DONE!

Today's targets:

The rest of a bedroom bookcase, which was under siege by dustbunnies

The history bookcase, which at one point left me knee-deep in Napoleonics

DD's books, which almost felt like betraying old friends as some of DD's favorite, but now outgrown, stories were moved to the donation pile.

I now have about 10 shopping bags worth of books that need to find new homes. Currently they occupy the table in my Florida room, which needs to be cleaned off this week...I need to start cutting the fabric for a formal dress needed later this month!

But tonight, I will relax and rejoice, for I have prevailed against the forces of Chaos!

At least for the moment....

Happy New Year!

Bowl Games!
Sitting around watching Bowl games
Living off corn chips and soft drinks
Watching TV all day long...
(with apologies to Jimmy Buffett...)

Happy New Year to all of my dear readers! As is traditional for New Year's Day, we're watching college football bowl games, and right now we're making the traditional meal of ham, black-eyed peas, and greens. What are some of your New Year traditions?

Looking back, the past year was full of fun and surprises. DH and I became grandparents unexpectedly early - our three-month-old grandson is doing well and we look forward to the grandparental privilege of spoiling him rotten. We travelled to the UK over the summer, meeting a number of my online friends and seeing quite a few castles. It's good to get out of Florida once in a while! We also managed to avoid having any hurricanes this year, which suits us just fine - 2004 gave us our lifetime supply!

As far as my 2006 goals, I did fine on some, and not so fine on others:

Average one book/month - 206%. Safe to say that I completely smoked this one! Since I've started using the exercise bike, I've gotten a lot of reading done.

Get below 28% bodyfat - 42% as of October - my next weigh/measure at Curves should give a more accurate progress, but I don't think I made it.

Parish website upgrade - 100%. Done, and I'm keeping on top of updates.

Family website - 15%. Same as at the beginning of 2006. Needless to say, this will carry over!
These last two fall in the "So close, and yet so far..." category. I got sick toward the end of vacation, so any hope of finishing these the last two days of December disappeared along with my energy....

Great Decluttering - 97%. I'm three bookcases shy of having made this one.

Walk to Rivendell - 96%. Nineteen miles. That's how far I am from Rivendell at the moment.

So... on to 2007! This coming week should see the completion of the Great Decluttering and the Walk to Rivendell. Then I can start on others!

Average one book/month - This one has been a yearly goal for over a decade...

Get below 27% body fat

Family website - Having my own laptop should speed progress on this...

Walk Rivendell to Lorien (462 miles)

Walk Lorien to Rauros (389 miles)

Finish 63-squares afghan

Finish TW Fortunate Traveler - I started this in 2002, and it's about time I finished the poor fellow...
Hopefully I'll do better than last year!

Anyway, all of us at Alternate Dementia had a good Christmas. DH and I both burned our voices out singing at three Masses on Christmas Eve, including Midnight Mass, but the music was really beautiful and we enjoyed ourselves. Christmas Day we flew up to DC to visit with my family, and a good time was had by all, save for the head cold that afflicted each of us in shifts. We went into downtown DC on the 29th to visit the Air and Space Museum, which is one of my favorite museums in the DC area. We saw a very cool IMAX movie called Roving Mars, which prompted us to wiki the Mars rovers when we got back to my folks. Surprisingly, for two machines designed for 90-day missions, both have surpassed 1000 days and are still active as of end of November. We flew back home on the 30th, and spent most of the afternoon resting after having gotten up at 5:30 am, and I was in the worst day of my turn with the cold. I'm on the mend, thankfully.
Oh, and this is me: DH gave me a 30GB iPod for Christmas! I didn't have time to populate it before we had to travel, but I've been starting to load all sorts of good stuff on it. At the moment it has mostly Rush, and an album of JRR Tolkien reading selections from his books. More will follow!

We wish you a meme-y Christmas...

I've been seeing several Christmas memes around, and this is a composite of them, with duplicate questions removed.

Decorations

1. When do you put up the tree/decorations?
   Sometime after Thanksgiving, if we decorate at all. On years we travel, we often don't decorate. The Advent wreath usually comes out a few days before the First Sunday of Advent.
   
2. When do you take the tree/decorations down?
   When we have decorations, right after Epiphany (Jan 6)
   
3. Do you have a nativity scene?
   Definitely. There are two small ones out this year, not counting the small one-piece version on top of my PC in my office.
   
4. Real tree or artificial?
   Artificial - one of ours is fiber-optic which is pretty neat. My tallest artificial tree is only 3 feet tall. I love the smell of real trees, but I don't like cleaning up the needles.
   
5. Clear lights or colored on the tree?
   The fiber-optic one has its own. If we put lights on the others, they're usually colored.
   
6. How do you decorate your Christmas tree?
   Small ornaments (since it's a small tree), usually whatever's available. One of these years I'd love to do a tree of nothing but small crocheted snowflakes. Someday.
   
7. What tops your tree?
   Stars, usually. Not many angels for small trees.
   
8. Do you hang mistletoe?
   Not usually.
   Eating, Drinking, and being Merry
   
9. Do you like eggnog?
   Yes. It's been a long while since I've had homemade eggnog, though.
   
10. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate?
    Depends on the situation, but in general hot chocolate never goes amiss.
    
11. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)?
    DH made an awesome duck one year - that was delicious. I also love whole-berry cranberry sauce, and veggies. My dad is making fried turkey this year - I can't wait!
    
12. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert?
    My chocolate rumcake!
    
13. Travel at Christmas or stay home?
    We travel 2 out of 3 years. Both sets of family live long distances away from us and from each other, so we have a rotation. This year, we're seeing my family up north.
    In general, I'd rather stay home for the holidays. It's hard to establish our own traditions when we're always on the move.
    Gifts
    
14. Wrapping paper or gift bags?
    For children, wrapping paper works best because it's more peek-proof. But in general I like gift bags - they make wrapping go quickly and they're reusable. Much more so than wrapping paper (which my grandparents always had us remove carefully for reuse purposes).
    
15. Favorite gift received as a child?
    Hmmm. Hard to say. One year I received a nice set of crochet hooks and several skeins of yarn (I think I was 10?). I really liked that, and I still have the hooks!
    
16. Hardest person to buy for?
    DH, if he doesn't have a wishlist.
    
17. Easiest person to buy for?
    DH, if he does have a wishlist!
    
18. Most Memorable gift?
    DH got me a Celtic harp one year. It's a tossup between that and the Elan lap stand.
    
19. Worst Christmas gift you ever received?
    Since I'm not sure who reads my blog, I might want to plead the fifth! Let's just say it was a gift with some pretty heavy conditions on its usage.
    
20. When do you start shopping for Christmas?
    Around Thanksgiving. I generally try to have all the shopping done by the second week of December.
    
21. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?
    Only for a white-elephant gift exchange at work, where the gifts were intended to be recycled.
    
22. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning?
    Traditionally, one on Christmas Eve before Mass, and the rest the next day.
    
23. Which do you prefer Giving or Receiving?
    Giving, definitely.
    Here Comes Santa Claus
    
24. Can you name all of Santa's reindeers?
    Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen. Santa's sleigh is an 8rp (reindeerpower) vehicle equipped with optional Rudolph emergency lighting.
    
25. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree?
    For stocking-stuffers, Santa just puts them in the stocking. Larger gifts have special Santa wrapping paper.
    
26. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?
    What truth about Santa? You shouldn't believe the tabloids, you know!
    Seriously, though, I figured it out as a child over time - too many things didn't quite add up. I can't pinpoint the moment, though.
    'Tis the Season...
    
27. Mail or email Christmas cards?
    Snailmail. I do email greetings to a few folks I don't have current addresses for, though.
    
28. Favorite Christmas Movie?
    I like a lot of the older animated ones, like the Grinch, Charlie Brown Christmas, and all the Rankin/Bass ones. I haven't seen most of the classics such as Miracle on 34th Street, although I finally saw It's a Wonderful Life about 3 years ago. Ditto with A Christmas Story (You'll shoot your eye out, kid!). My dad has quite the collection of Christmas Carol movies, and I like many of them. And this year's new release, A Nativity Story, I enjoyed as well. But as for clear favorites, I don't have one.
    
29. Favorite Christmas song?
    No clear favorites here, but there are a lot I like. I have a fondness for novelty Christmas songs as well as more traditional offerings. I love many of the traditional hymns/carols.
    Traditional/Hymn: What Child is This?, O Holy Night, O Come O Come Emmanuel, many of the lesser known older carols
    Modern: "Little Drummer Boy/Peace on Earth" - Bing Crosby and David Bowie
    Novelty: at the moment, Twisted Sister's "O Come All Ye Faithful".
    
30. Most annoying thing about this time of year?
    The fact that the holiday sales pitches and decorations are being put out right after Labor Day. That, and the overcommercialism and greed.
    
31. Favorite thing about the Christmas Holidays?
    I like the liturgical season of Advent and Christmas - the music at church, decorations of candles and evergreens. That, and time off work!
    
32. What's the one thing you seem to never get done at Christmas time?
    Find time to relax! I also don't bake as much as I used to.
    
33. Favorite Holiday memory as a child?
    My maternal grandfather used to make homemade ice cream (hand crank and all), and I always liked to help with that. One year he made purple ice cream, which was neat.
    
34. Snow! Love it or Dread it?
    I love it, but here in Florida I don't have to shovel or drive in it!
    
35. Can you ice skate?
    Not really - I'm lucky to make a complete circuit of the rink without falling on my backside! I do want to learn, though.
    
36. What's the most important thing about the Holidays for you?
    Remembering what the season is really all about.
    
37. What is your favorite holiday tradition?
    We haven't really evolved much in the way of family traditions yet, what with travelling for the holidays most of the time, my stepkids alternating visitation at Christmas, and such. So I don't really have a good answer for that.
    Although I do like the holiday bowl games!
    

Twas the week before Christmas...

...and all through the house
So much needed doing
By myself and my spouse...

This coming week looks to be rather busy with the final run up to Christmas - incoming relatives, final wrapping of gifts, choir practices, and so on - so there may not be another entry until after Christmas. (Not that I've been as regular at blogging of late anyway, but that's neither here nor there...)

I do, however, have a gift for all my stitching readers - a simple freebie ornament. This was my first attempt at adding beads, and once again my scanner failed to do justice to the sparkle. Nevertheless, I hope that you enjoy it.


In other news, there are two big celebrations upcoming at Alternate Dementia (besides Christmas). One is that sometime this week, DH and I will celebrate our 16th wedding anniversary. The other is a milestone birthday of one member of my family, but I won't say whom, or what milestone it is...

If I don't blog again before then, I wish all of my dear readers a Merry Christmas and a happy and peaceful holiday season, whichever holiday(s) you celebrate.

And bring on the bowl games!

Holidaze

The insanity has shifted a bit here at Alternate Dementia. The shopping is practically done, and the cards are almost done. Gifts have to be wrapped, still, but that's a job for next weekend.
Other things are picking up, though. DH has been in the choir at church for several years, and I've just started singing with them as well. Last night was my first real choir practice in, oh, about 20 years, and with Christmas music to work on, practice lasted about 3 hours. I think I did okay, though - I got asked if I would be joining permanently.

I am finally the proud owner of a laptop. It's a used one - DsS got a new one as his Christmas present, and I inherited his old one. I see why he wanted a new one - this one (a Presario 2100) has serious issues with the power jack - one has to have the AC adapter in *just right* and the planets have to be in perfect alignment for it to charge. Apparently this is a disturbingly common issue with Presarios. Fortunately, my laptop has a docking port, and I just ordered a little docking station, so it'll just bypass the power issue altogether.

Tonight is my one and only baking night for this holiday season. In the oven are two of my now-famous rum cakes. I'd been asked by several coworkers about them, and since tomorrow is our holiday social, tonight is bake night.

What is this rum cake I speak of?

---

Double-Chocolate Rum Cake (aka "Sin on a Plate")
1 pk Chocolate cake mix (18 1/2oz) (I use devils food)
1 pk Instant chocolate pudding
4 Eggs
1 c Dark rum
3/4 c Water plus 1 teaspoon
1/2 c Vegetable oil
1 pk Chocolate chips (I use mini chips or chocolate chunks)
1 Jar Raspberry preserves (10 oz) (I use seedless black raspberry)
2 tbsp Shortening
1 oz Vanilla baking bar (Or white chocolate)
1 shot Chambord or other raspberry liqueur, if desired.

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 10in tube or bundt pan. (I use a 12-cup bundt pan) Combine cake mix, pudding mix, eggs, 1/2 c of the rum, 3/4 c of the water and the oil in a large mixing bowl. Beat at low speed until ingredients are moistened, then two minutes at medium speed. Stir in 1 cup (about half the bag) of the chocolate chips. Pour batter into prepared pan.

Bake at 350 for 50 to 60 minutes. Cool in pan 15 minutes. Remove from pan, finish cooling on a wire rack.

GLAZE: In a small saucepan, heat preserves and remaining 1/2 c rum (or rum and Chambord, if desired) to make glaze. Strain through sieve to remove seeds (if you didn't go seedless...). Place cake on serving plate. Prick the surface of the cake with a fork or a tooth pick (great stress relief!). Brush the raspberry glaze evenly over the cake. Use all the glaze, although this does take a few minutes.

ICING 1: In a bowl, combine remaining 1 c of chocolate chips and shortening. Microwave on high 1 minute. Stir to make a smooth icing. Drizzle chocolate icing over the cake. Let stand about 15 minutes.

ICING 2: In a small bowl, combine vanilla baking bar and remaining 1 teaspoon of water. Microwave on high 30 seconds (or until melted). Drizzle vanilla icing over the chocolate icing.

Serve and enjoy. It's very rich, so use in moderation.

---

Ah, there is the timer now...

The Madness Season

This reads like one of those "you know you're getting old when..." emails that tends to make the rounds, but this real-life example (my morning so far) illustrates why I'm surprised I still have some semblance of sanity.
Plan for the morning/early afternoon:

get DD to school

vacuum DD's room

weed through DD's books and toys while she's at school

get carpet cleaners in

finish Christmas cards

Actual, as of 10:30 am

get DD to school

get large FedEx food service order (which I'd forgotten was arriving today)

start unpacking food order into freezer

realize I should vacuum first in preparation for cleaners, so start vacuuming

try to fish sock out of vacuum hose

get call from school to pick DD up because she's not feeling well. Half an hour before carpet cleaners show up. School is 20 minutes away.

call carpet cleaners to slip arrival time by half an hour

go get DD

continue attempting to retrieve sock from vacuum hose

DD wants food. Doesn't want the leftovers I try to give her. Ultimately just nuke a can of chicken broth

FINALLY retrieve sock from vacuum hose and finish vacuuming

carpet cleaners show up, get them started.
Back now, hopefully, to my regularly scheduled morning.

Let the seasonal insanity begin!

It's December, and you know what that means...

That yours truly is hanging onto the vestiges of her sanity with raw and bloody fingers! There are Christmas gifts to buy, cards to address and mail, house cleanup to do, events to attend, family to visit...

But on the other hand, if I can survive that, there are bowl games to watch at the end of the month. Even if they didn't quite fall out the way I'd hoped.

This past weekend, the cast of Alternate Dementia drove up to Jacksonville to watch the ACC Championship game - Georgia Tech vs. Wake Forest. I am sorry to report that my Jackets lost 6-9, but despite the putrescence that was the play of Tech's quarterback, it was rather an enjoyable event. I'm not a Georgia Tech alum myself, but I consider myself a Yellow Jacket by marriage (my own alma mater is somewhat uncertain - I attended one university for 2.5 years, and finished up my last 30 hours at another, with an AA from a community college in between. So am I a Terp or a Golden Knight? Who knows?). I had an opportunity to sing the coolest college fight song ever at the top of my lungs, twice, and join in the alternating crowd shouts of "YEL-LOW!" "JACK-ETS!" with my family. Even DD, who has said "football is lame!" was enjoying herself a lot! And for thinking it's lame, at 7 she's already figured out scoring and downs.

If I had a daughter, sir
I'd dress her in white and gold...