Split Pea Goop

I’ve uploaded a batch of new items to my Etsy store, www.colourjunkie.etsy.com.

In addition to the original cotton Purses for Change, we have a couple made of recycled baby alpaca wool. Check ‘em out and tell your friends.

Remember, through October, a donation to Barack Obama’s campaign will be made for each Purse for Change sold.

Now through October 31, Colour Junkie will feature Purses for Change, supporting the Barack Obama Presidential Campaign. For each $10, zippered change purse sold, Colour Junkie will donate $2.50 to the Obama campaign, and a kind donor has pledged to match our donations for the first 40 Purses for Change sold.

That means when you purchase one of our Purses for Change, Barack Obama will be $5 closer to the White House, and we'll all be $5 closer to a more open, accountable government.

Colour Junkie accessories are all one-of-a-kind and hand made by J. L. Woodward in Boston, Massachusetts.

Please check out www.colourjunkie.etsy.com.

If any of my knitting friends are on Ravelry, let's share IDs.  I'm kaphine there, too.  You?

Ive been posting elsewhere for a while now, and have moved my whole journal.  I won't be cross-postin' no more.  Lemme know if you need the info to follow me.

Would this t-shirt suit you???  I saw a similar one today, and thought of your sense of humor.

I'm having a lot of fun with Ernie (http://www.flickr.com/groups/globetrottingernie/). The weather was great today, so the little one and I headed out. After running around the Public Garden, she's settled down quickly for an afternoon nap.

Great bike ride today on the Assabet River Rail Trail (http://www.arrtinc.org). I'm a huge fan of Rails-to-Trails.

Anyway, right now I'm hosting an Ernie Pez dispenser that's been around the world for a Flickr group called Globetrotting Ernie (http://www.flickr.com/groups/globetrottingernie/). He flew in from Spain, and I just picked him up on Saturday morning. I'll be making a point of getting him out and documenting his travels.

1. LIFE'S LITTLE INCONVENIENCES
kaphine's endocrinologist said to her, "Young women don't die of thyroid problems. They get annoyed by thyroid problems." Some of you already know the rest of the story behind this, and for those of you who don't, we will tell you the details next time we see you or talk to you...

2. OVERHEARD CONVERSATION IN CLEVELAND CIRCLE
Older Asian gentleman talking to two young white women, at the foot of an apartment building in Cleveland Circle: "I wash women's hair!" That's all we heard of the conversation, as we were just walking by, but it was an odd thing to overhear, and it's hard to imagine what the context for the rest of the conversation would have been.

3. THIS WEEK'S BEST MEAL
Took ourselves on a date night, after last weekend's crankiness. Went to Oleanna, which has really amazing food and a swanky by laid back atmosphere. Highly recommended. Also, we enjoyed Shabbat dinner on our deck, and had Indian food and beer with a friend on our deck another night. Yay for summer. It's finally here.

4. ENTERTAINMENT
Spent our Memorial Day taking the T down to the Boston harbor, where we hopped a ferry and went out to Spectacle Island, which was beautiful and just the right kind of getaway. Can't believe it's taken us so long to discover the harbor islands. We're totally going back. Also, we watched the entire Indiana Jones series on DVD and took in the newest one this weekend. By the way, in case you don't remember this, the second movie sucked. It should be called Temple of Shit. But the others were fun.

5. WHAT AM I GRATEFUL FOR?
Yarn. Irish accents. Good beer. Salty sweets. Chocolate. Not having to sit in traffic on holiday weekends. The escapist qualities of explosion movies. realsupergirl's parents. Our friends. Each other.

I'm feeling completely stir crazy today. The Little One is having a great nap, and I should be grateful, but I'm just so ready to get out of the house and get out of my own head. I don't want to wait for more information I want it now. I gotta get out.

1. ENTERTAINMENT
Saw two fantastic new documentaries as part of the Boston Gay and Lesbian Film Festival: Derek, about filmmaker Derek Jarman, and A Jihad For Love, about gay and lesbian observant Muslims. Spontaneously purchased the entire Indiana Jones series to date, simply because the new movie is coming out and our friend Patrick had never seen any of them before.

2. WHAT AM I GRATEFUL FOR?
Nasturtiums that we started from seed. Message boards that tell us hints about what's going to happen on Desperate Housewives next year. Pumping up the bike for the first ride of the season. Seeing new friends have their first art shows. Living in a city where we can bike 2.5 miles away to see interesting movies or great art. Having friends over for Shabbat dinner on our porch. Homebaked challah by fetteredwolf. Getting our new telephone table re-upholstered after our cats damaged it. Getting things done around the house - finding new organizational systems. Having each other, even when we're too ill-tempered to appreciate each other properly. Celtic victories. Knitting books. Having television to distract us when we're done.

3. LIFE'S LITTLE INCONVENIENCES
Stupid fights what happen when we're tired or cranky and feeling overbooked with the Sunday night crazies. It came to realsupergirl's attention in writing group that not everyone is familiar with the concept of the "Sunday night crazies." Is this just something from our world, or does it happen in yours, too? kaphine seems to think it appeared in an episode of Seinfeld once. Also, Whole Foods no longer carries plastic bags, so they are now at a premium in our household, since we use them for garbage.

4. ANNOYING THINGS IN THE NEWS
Ted Kennedy being hospitalized with a seizure of unknown origin. Don't go yet, Teddy. This world still needs you, more than ever. Celtics being unable to win on the road. The Spurs being unable to win on the road - but they still have 1 more chance to change this fortune.

5. THIS WEEK'S BEST MEALS
realsupergirl made her first batch of gazpacho this past week. That's how you really know it's summer. Also, she made delicious challah french toast with the leftover homemade challah...And kaphine whipped up a spontaneous, delicious baked pear recipe that was AMAZING and very simple. No more pears going bad for us.

Many businesses buy and sell your name for marketing lists all the time.  This company seems to be cutting out the middle man.  Get $25 just for giving them your info, and have no further obligation.  Yeah, you might have to deal with more spam, but that's what free Yahoo accounts are for.  My friend eeka13 did it, and verified that she really got the money.  And if you do it through the link below, apparently I get free money, too.

A shot from our vacation. You should really check out

realsupergirl's flickr page, 'cause she got some amazing pics.

 

After two trips since mid-April, I'm ready to stay home for a while and enjoy some routine. I love sleeping in our own bed, being in our home, hangin' with my girl and our cats. My charge seems to be happy to see me back again. I like my life. I think I'll stay here a while.

Wednesday we observed the one-year anniversary of Dad's death. We shared memories, company and a nice boat cruise. We sent him to the ocean as he wanted, and we tried to let him go.

Letting go isn't easy. I've been more emotional the last couple weeks leading up to this. I cry when least expected. He was only 57.

Sunday morning, a dear friend lost her brother of 25 years to a brain tumor. There's just too much loss.

Thanks to realsupergirl for taking some lovely pictures of Dad's Atlantic Dispersal.

 

1. LIFE'S LITTLE INCONVENIENCES
Oh my fucking G-d keys just cannot stay put this week. We both manage to go into panic mode over losing our keys in two separate incidents in one twenty-four hour period. Is that a new record? realsupergirl's turn up under kaphine's laptop case, while kaphine's turn up at the CVS in South End. Mind you, both places had been checked in those locations before they were found there.

Also, lugging heavy stuff is an inconvenience. And so is bleeding, although after a particularly long cycle this month, it's still welcome.

2. THOUGHTS FOR FRIENDS
Two yarzheits this week: kaphine's father and grandfather. She's thinking of dead people she cares about. Also, she had a good phone conversation with TeacherRefPoet. It's good to begin trying to mend some fences. panfreak had a really miserable trip to the ER, and got some bad news this week. Finally, our thoughts are still with txladybug as her brother now battles psychosis as well as cancer.

3. THIS WEEK'S MEAL
It may not count as a meal, but realsupergirl made another batch of the World's Best Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies this week. Delicious! kaphine also whipped up a dynamite spontaneous salad with pea shoots, courtesy of Boston Organics.

4. ENTERTAINMENT
We rented movies and highly recommend Who Killed The Electric Car? - Excellent, excellent documentary. Really shocking and appalling to see images of demolished, full functioning electric cars that hundreds of people offered to buy from General Motors rather than allow them to be destroyed. See it.

5. WHAT AM I GRATEFUL FOR THIS WEEK?
Manicures and pedicures, and massage chairs while you get them. And little whirlpools for your feet. MMMMmmm. Now we're ready to go to Miami. Having a deck, and a pleasant view. And for spring, which has brought the birds back, including a house finch and lots of sparrows, and made it warm enough to actually want to be outside. We're also grateful that there are plants like morning glories and hostas because they might actually thrive in our low light woodsy little porch/home.

Tomorrow morning, on the first anniversary of my father's death, my spouse and I are meeting my sister and her partner in Boothbay Harbor, Maine to scatter the third of his ashes I brought back with me after his funeral. It's time to let go. I'm ready, and I'm not ready.

Mark Daniel Woodward

August 31, 1949 - April 16, 2007

He was a lousy father, apparently an iffy husband, but a very likable man. He could make buddies anywhere and strike up a conversation with anyone. He always had an entertaining story or joke to share. He was unafraid to try anything. Dad was larger than life, and so is his absence.

1. LIFE'S LITTLE INCONVENIENCES
On Friday we discovered that our joint checking account was overdrawn, because our lovely, fabulous gym had erroneously charged us $761. They actually charged it earlier in the week, but we didn't discover it till Friday, when our mortgage went through and caused our account to overdraw. They've since credited us back, and what on_reserve calls The Gay Bank of Boston says it's no problem to refund us the overdraft charges, but none of this will go through till Monday, which means we were without joint funds all weekend. We're blessed to have money in our savings (which we wouldn't have had two years ago) and we got free massages(!) out of it courtesy of our gym - so, all in all, it's just a pain in the ass, nothing more. But it was anxiety-producing. And now it's over.

2. THOUGHTS FOR FRIENDS
A mutual friend is "a little bit pregnant" according to early tests, and all fingers and toes are crossed that things stick and progress and all that...we are also hoping her nausea subsides soon. realsupergirl is thinking a lot about museumgirl and txladybug and hoping they're OK... kaphine is overdue to mend relationships with swankette and reached out to her this weekend.

3. ENTERTAINMENT
Karaoke - which turned out to be more fun than realsupergirl expected. When it's not in a bar in front of strangers, and instead is in a cozy room with friends, booze, and food - it rocks. Also, if you put musicals on she can't help but sing. kaphine sang a beautiful version of "Crazy" by Patsy Cline. Later this weekend we had brunch with friends and saw On Broadway, which was pretty good. Oh, and in between all that we re-grouted several tiles in our bathroom and re-caulked our whole tub.

4. ANNOYING THINGS IN THE NEWS
After going a whole year without a murder in our neighborhood of Boston, we ended that streak this past week. Also, kaphine found more evidence that the Bush regime is as evil as she always thought, provided by the March 28th "This American Life" on NPR. Link available on her blog.


5. WHAT AM I GRATEFUL FOR THIS WEEK?
Being more financially stable than we ever have been in our lives. Star Wars action figures. Buttons. Chocolate. Massages. NPR. New Yorker magazine.

If you don't have enough reasons to despise the Bush administration already, check out the March 28 This American Life (http://www.thislife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?episode=353). I can't believe what they've gotten away with.