A Little Rambling

I have long aspired to become a domestic goddess . Though I do not limit this to cooking, that seems to be the most currently marketable aspect, as I do not have my own home, nor my own family. Thus, I start where I can. Tomorrow night is my Halloween celebration, and we're doing food pot-luck style. I've been hankering to bake something, so I decided I would bring pie. Not just any pie, however. I wanted to make a pumpkin pie - from an actual pumpkin. Along the way, I somehow decided to make a pecan pie too. I began my adventure this afternoon by shelling fresh pecans with Heber while watching The Incredibles . Carrying my bounty home, I investigated the contents of my kitchen and ran to the grocery store, where I collected the necessary supplies, including a sugar pumpkin. Sugar pumpkins (also called pie pumpkins) are much smaller than the typical jack-0-lantern variety, sweeter and less stringy. I can't imagine how much pie filling you could make from one of tho...

So much Christmas music! I am quite the stickler for not listening to Christmas music before the day after Thanksgiving, but alas, as a musician I am forced to make the music long before the season. I'm getting ready for my studio recital coming up in December, so I've got all my students working on their performance pieces, a larger percentage of with are Christmas carols. It's cheery and delightful, but it makes me long for the season - and for weather that doesn't even come close to 90 degrees. In my next to last piano lesson of the day, we were working through Carol of the Bells. I was trying to convey the idea of thinking about the music as more than just notes on a page, but imagining the imagery behind it to help bring life to the music. (I doubt I sounded quite that stodgy about it though.) I was talking some nonsense about snowflakes whirling, bells over hillsides, that kind of thing, and she suddenly turned and said, "That's not what I see at al...

I really need to start blogging again more better. Which means I really need to start thinking of topics, and taking the time to sit down and dedicate more than 7 minutes to a post. Unfortunately, I like earlier bedtimes. Tonight, I enjoyed an evening of cooking, Castle with dad, and a cup of chamomile tea. A simple, pleasant evening. Not having any homework helped. Comfy pjs, a fridge full of fresh produce, and plans for a phone call before bed also help. I do love my life, in its alternating simplicity and complexity. I have been blessed by a Creator who loves me and never stops reminding me. I have a wonderful family that I love (and even enjoy living with!) and some of the greatest friends possible. I have a job that is steady, pays well, is in my field, and I enjoy it immensely. Life is good. Also, read Romans 8 . I've been reading it many times over, and it never fails to get my heart pounding with joy and thanksgiving. (*ding! blog idea) Merry Monday to all, and ...

Timed free-write*...go! I don't know why, but I've been fixating on the idea of a blog about shoelaces. I think at some point I had somewhere to go with it, but I've long since lost that train of thought. Unlike missing a real train, though, there are no major consequences, as this is something I can just pick up whenever. Missing a real train seems to throw off a lot of other things further down the line - but I digress. Back to shoelaces. They seem to be going out of style - shoes have buckles, or zippers, or velcro. And so many of them are SO SHINY. I laugh at most of the shoes little girls come into my studio with. Very few have laces. I think I prefer the word shoestrings, though. It sounds sillier. It also conjures up thoughts that make my heart warm - like apron strings. Apron strings makes me think of cooking, and I know I've mentioned how much I love to be in the kitchen cooking up food for as many people as possible. Shoestrings also makes me thin...

I was thrilled last night to meet up with my friend Jenny and attend The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring "In Concert," where the movie was screened as the Munich Symphony played the score, along with the Pacific Chorale, Phoenix Boys Choir, and soloist Kaitlyn Lusk. Oh my goodness! It may have been 9 years since the first time I saw the movie, and I may have seen it a hundred times in that span, but it still grabs my attention. Both halves of my inner nerd self were satisfied - the fantasy story/literary self and the music major self. Watching the conductor was fascinating. He had a screen of his own, showing the movie, but with different colored scrolling bars to warn him of entrances and cut-offs, and it flashed on the downbeat of every measure to keep him in sync with the film. Though the sound balance was all off with the movie, it was great to really hear some of the intricacy and detail that I miss in the original score because things are too quiet. ...

I smell a faint chemical smell in my room, and though it seems familiar I cannot place it. It's now mixed with Febreeze, which has failed to mask it and instead has created a rather nauseating blend of stenches and given me a fierce headache. If I die of some kind of inhalation in my sleep, I love you all.

HOMEWORK! Curse it all, anyways. Too many writing assignments for the night, but having done three of them, none of which are due tomorrow, I will count myself reasonably 'ahead' and call it a night and turn instead to writing for pleasure. I have mentioned before that I always keep a kite in my trunk, should the wind perchance blow. After choir, I was retiring to my normal seat in the spacious second floor window when I noticed how blustery a day it was. Excitedly, I mentioned the kite to Rebekah, and we scampered down to the parking lot and took my lovely little Macaw out of Amadeus' trunk. In short order, we had him soaring through the sky, rippling with the gusts or wind under his brightly colored wings. The parking lot is a decidedly convenient place to fly a kite, as there are no kite-eating trees around to snatch my bird out of the air. I realized today, too, how much I talk to inanimate objects, as I cajoled my bird to stay in the sky, to go this direction or...

I've always liked bruises, strange as that may sound. I like to show them off. Usually, they mean I did something really cool and adventurous. If they mean I did something stupid, then they're a good segue into what I try to turn into an interesting story to make people laugh, so they'll look over how idiotic I was. (Like the time I pulled the car door shut...with my hand on the top of the door. I closed it hard enough that it latched, with my fingers stuck out above the window. Ouch. Big bruise!) They turn pretty colors, too. Who knew skin could be purple and blue and green and yellow all at the same time? [Ha, they can be puce - kind of a purplish-yellow. Inside joke.] I have one such story today. I locked my key in my car! Argh. And of course, I discovered this right as I was supposed to leave for a choir concert. ARGH! So, I called Joe to come help me. My windows we cracked, but the hanger I managed to unhook from the hook in the backseat was plastic, s...