Out of steam

Struggling to come up with a blog post today. Here's my smattering of thoughts for the end of the week.

• My siblings and parents live in three different cities, all in different states and all south of me. They all got snowed in this week. My parents and sister are still dealing with the ramifications of eight inches of snow in my hometown. We got a minor dusting Tuesday evening. I may be eating my words if we get a major snowfall later this winter, but I was definitely thrilled it was them and not me. Of course, for them snow does actually mean a snow day, not a hike to the office.

• On my list of things to do in 2011 was cut back to the basic cable, i.e. the first 20 or so channels. Between Hulu and Netflix, I very rarely flip channels on TV, and it wasn't worth it to me to have 70-plus channels. My only concern is college football, but I thought I had waited long enough before I cut it off. But apparently, the national championship game was on ESPN, not a major network. Oh well, I think I was better off not watching it. Other than that what I really miss is the clock on the cable box in my living room.

• I had one of those, "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" moments over the last two weeks. I upgraded my phone and suddenly I had to upgrade the software on my computer and start from scratch because it was recommended I erase my hard drive (I did have things backed up but it is not an easy switchover). Don't get me wrong, I love new gadgets and have been sold on Macs for years. But I'm not good with change, and it can take me a while to warm up to doing things differently. Just when I was ready to throw my computer out the window, I discovered the "faces" tool in iPhoto. Basically, it groups your photos by faces, but you have to click through and identify the faces in your pictures. I was extremely amused by the way it got people mixed up. It is pretty good, it got my dad's brothers mixed up but at least it knew they were related.


I wish I had something profound to say but I'm burned out this week. What is it about January that makes it feel like the week drags on longer than usual?

End of the week randomness

First of all, I can't believe it's October. I'm definitely excited for fall, but I feel like it's going to fly by. Anyway, here's my random list of things for today.

1. So I tried the beets. I wrapped them in foil and roasted them at 400 degrees for an hour. After they cooled, I peeled them and then added them to my salad. The thing is I wanted to like beets. It seems to be the one thing most people dislike, and I wanted to finally like something most people don't, instead of disliking something most people love. But this was not the case. I even tried more than just a bite, but it was a very strong dislike.

2. Thus far I've been unimpressed with fall TV. I haven't tried any new shows, but my old favorites seem to be struggling, particularly Desperate Housewives (it might be time for this one to end, like two seasons ago) and Brothers and Sisters (skip a whole year with no warning and resolve most of the plot lines all in the premiere, why should I keep watching?). And bringing back Brad Womack on The Bachelor is a horrible idea. So I guess it's ABC and I that are not agreeing right now.
 
3. It's been raining here for the last two days. It's good, we definitely need the rain, but it has made me want to curl up in my reading chair with a good book and hot tea and not go anywhere. Unfortunately, I can't do that and not only that I have get to walk to work. And while I've been looking forward to fall and cooler weather, I forgot that at some point in the fall I have to give up wearing my flip flops. I may have some more flip flop days left, but it was a rude awakening to have to switch to socks and closed-toed shoes this week.
 
4. So I got Bakerella's cookbook a few weeks ago. Let's just say there is a cakepop for everything. I haven't had time or a reason to try anything cool since I got it. But this week was a co-worker's birthday, and I wanted to try these cupcake bites. I imagined writing this post and having a cute photo of my success. Well, I don't have a photo because it did not go well and only added to my frustration with candy coating. Someday I'm going to make something cute from the cookbook, but first I've got to come up with a vegan version.

5. I'll leave you with a link to this post from Bebo Norman that describes beauty and brokenness in a way I never could. And then this quote from Andrew Osenga via a friend: "Hoping is always filled with sadness. It is the exhausting activity of choosing to not give up, to believe in the fulfilling of longing."