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See ya later, alligator.

July 3, 2009

So, after blogging in one form or another over the last 9+ years, I’ve sort of lost interest.  Much like AmFam, I am finding my life so full of friends that I actually see in person on a regular basis that I just don’t get much out of re-telling my stories to the internet.  It also could be somewhat seasonal – there is way too much fun stuff to do this time of year for me to waste my time writing and reading blog entries.

So for now, find me on twitter and flickr and facebook.  I’m thatpatti everywhere!  

Ta-ta!

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

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Homemade Salsa

May 6, 2009

I’ve had multiple requests for our salsa recipe this week (which isn’t really OURS, but came from our friend Natalie).  I figured this was the easiest place to post it and get it out to everyone who wanted it!

Super Yummy Salsa

  • 1 small can petite diced tomatoes
  • 1 small can  diced tomatoes w/onion & garlic
  • 3 cloves garlic
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 1 small can salsa verde
  • 1-2 fresh tomatoes, chopped
  • 1-2 fresh tomatillos, chopped
  • juice and zest of one lime
  • salt to taste
  • cumin to taste
  • handful of fresh cilantro, chopped
  • handful of fresh parsley, chopped

We also add some red pepper flakes for spice, although obviously a chopped jalapeno would be great, too.  Sometimes it’s hard to find the tomatillos, and it’s not a huge deal if you don’t have them (but get them if you can!).  Obviously, this is just a guide – feel free to add/remove/substitute freely!  We chop ours up in the food processor so it’s not quite so chunky, but the texture is up to you.

This makes over a 1/2 gallon – it’s a LOT of salsa.  But we’ve found that it rarely lasts more than a few days. :)

We are headed out for a weekend camping trip, but I’m hoping to make a real update after we get back!

Enjoy!

Posted in Recipes | 1 Comment »

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I Can See Clearly Now

April 30, 2009

Hey!  So, since I last posted, I got new eyes!  On Thursday of last week, I had LASIK surgery and now I can see!!

Unfortunately, they are still a bit scary.  But let me assure you, this is at almost a week post-op and things are MUCH improved now.  My left eye is particularly red, because they had some trouble with the suction ring and had to apply it three times before they got it to work, leaving significant “hickeys” on my eyeballs.  Thankfully, it’s not painful, just ugly.  Fisher said I looked like an “evil dead zombie” (i’m pretty sure that was supposed to be a compliment).

I thought it might be helpful  to share my experience with anyone thinking about having the procedure done…

First, I’ll share why I decided to go ahead and do it.  I used to wear disposable contacts most of the time, but since having Tate I can no longer tolerate wearing them – even for very short periods of time.  I have had! quite poor vision, so I was stuck wearing my glasses ALL THE TIME.  Essentially, if my eyes were open I was wearing them (unless I left them somewhere other than the bedside table, in which case I was stumbling around the house trying to find them).  Anyway, I was frustrated that I couldn’t wear sunglasses on sunny days (I refused to buy prescription sunglasses b/c I knew they’d get lost or broken).  The most annoying thing was having to wear them while swimming.  Especially if I was in a lake or somewhere I couldn’t afford to have them fall off.  Plus, wet glasses?  Annoying.

So, I began to talk about wanting to have it done, but was concerned about the money (about $4k).  Scott really encouraged me to go ahead and do it. I normally try to make big decisions based on how likely I am to regret or not regret doing something, and since everyone I knew who had it done said it was the best thing they ever did, it seemed like a pretty safe bet.  

I ended up selecting the doctor recommended by my own eye doctor.  I know he’s got a deal with them, but he let them do HIS eyes, so I figured that was good enough of a recommendation for me!  I had a pre-op examination by my own doctor, and then another done at the LASIK center two days before the surgery.  I liked this approach, as they were able to verify that what they were seeing matched up with my own doc’s records.  

I’m not going to go into the details of the procedure.  Here’s what I would say were the highlights of the experience for me:

- Most places I’ve heard of give Valium as a standard pre-op medication.  My place did not do that.  They would give Xanax on request, but I was assured that the procedure was a breeze and that I really shouldn’t need it.

- I wish I’d taken the Xanax. :)  The first portion of the procedure, when they cut the flap, is a little more uncomfortable and intense than I expected.  Having them do it three times on my left eye before getting it just right set my adrenaline going like crazy and I was shaking like mad by the time it was over.

- That said, the procedure is amazingly fast.  From the time I went into the “operating” room until the time I walked out was probably no more than 10 minutes, and that’s with my added complication.  From the time I walked into the door of the office until I walked out was less than an hour.

- Immediately after the procedure my vision was clear, but sort of cloudy/milky/hazy.  When I woke up from my mandatory 4 hour nap, my vision was almost completely clear.  That evening I went to see This American Life live.  Felt mostly ok, had to close my eyes occasionally due to irritation/dryness, but no pain or anything.

- The next morning I woke up and everything was clear!  Like, super duper clear!  Clearer than I was seeing with glasses!  Bionic Woman clear!

At almost a week post-op, I’m feeling good.  Still some dryness, but I understand that is to be expected for quite some time – possibly months.  My eyes do seem to feel more tired – especially at night.  I have a bit of irritation here and there where I feel like I need to use the eye drops more frequently, but overall I think my recovery is going well.  It’s incredible to be able to wake up at night and see the alarm clock!  And I can wear sunglasses again!  

Best of all,  I won’t ever have to stumble around the house looking for my lost glasses ever again!  Yay!!

Posted in Body | 4 Comments »

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Inheritance

April 20, 2009

Hey y’all.  Long time no see. :\

Recently, my mom asked if I wanted these soldiers, which she stitched close to 50 years ago.  Of course I did!  They are now occupying the big blank hallway wall that’s been sitting bare for about 2.5 years now.  

A photo of the detail.  The fabric she used is a little discolored, but as you can see it goes really well with the wall color in the hallway.  Yay for free artwork!

Isn’t it cool?  It’s like cross stitch, but on a much larger scale, and not on standard cross-stitch fabric.  What would this be considered?  

Anyway, other things happening in thatpatti-land.  We’re taking a bit of a break from the downstairs project to regroup and get some other things done.  This weekend I took advantage of the good weather and got some yard-work done, including clearing out my garden box area, which I hope to get planted next weekend!

Also, this Thursday I’m having LASIK surgery on my eyes!!  This is something I’ve considered off and on for a while, mostly off just due to the cost factor.  I used to wear contacts most of the time, but since having Tate I can no longer tolerate contacts at all, not even for a few hours.  So while I actually don’t mind and even like my glasses most of the time, It also leaves me stuck.  (Also, I should mention that I have bad enough eyesight that I really can’t function at all without my glasses.  If my eyes are open, I’m wearing them – unless I’m in the shower.)  I can’t wear sunglasses on a sunny day (I won’t buy prescription glasses, because I would lose or break them), and if I go swimming I have to either swim with my glasses on, or be blind – neither of which are really good options.

When I am trying to make a difficult decision, I usually try to think about how likely I am to regret doing or not doing something.  In this case, I’ve heard so many people say how wonderful it is – what a big life change – that I couldn’t imagine regretting it.  Eventually, Scott was the one who finally said, “look – I don’t care what it costs.  You deserve it, so go do it!” which pretty much made me see little hearts floating around his head for a few moments.

I go in for my pre-op appointment tomorrow, and then for the procedure on Thursday.  I’m not really nervous, as I’m looking quite forward to the 4 hour nap I’m required to take after the procedure. :)  

Here’s a question for those of you who have had the surgery – do you think it’s a bad idea to go see a movie that night?  We have tickets to This American Life Live, and I really want to go (since I paid $40 for the tickets!!).  I figure I can just close my eyes and listen if necessary?  

I’m gonna try to not be such a stranger.  Keep me in check!

Posted in Body | 6 Comments »

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After Photos!

April 13, 2009

Alright, so I still have a few things left to do (curtains on the windows, photos on the walls), but I thought I’d go ahead and post the after photos.  

Coming down the stairs.  Hey, look!  It’s Tate’s buddy rendered all miniature-like by the wide angle lens.

The downstairs is basically divided into three areas.  The first being the craft area, with the computer on the right.

 The middle being the toy area (kitchen, dress-up, train set, cabinet full of toys, books)

The back is currently full of furniture that will go in the attached back room once we are finished.  

Then that area will be the large muscle play area with climber, trampoline, basketball hoop, etc.

The view from the other end of the room.  Here you can see the giant magnetic chalkboard at the front of the room.

Closer shot of the craft area.  The table and chairs is not exactly what I had in mind, but I find it endearing because I think half my friends had this set growing up.

Here you can see the entrance into the back room that we’ll be doing next.  This will be a kids TV room and a guest room.  There’s a bathroom back there, too!

Here’s what that room looks like now.  Scary!  It will be all the same as the front room, though I may paint the back wall an accent color or something.  The door at the back of the room leads to a set of stairs that go up to the backyard, The doors on the right are the entrance to the bathroom, and a closet.

I wish that all of you could have seen all of this before.  It was so dark and uninviting and just so so different.  I’m soooo happy with the results!!

 

Posted in Home Improvement | 8 Comments »

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Still here.

April 10, 2009

keeping the boys busy one day while i worked

Hi y’all.  Man, I’d been doing so well with keeping up with the posting, and then I got all wrapped up in this home improvement project and have really done nothing but work on that and wrangle the monkey-boys for the last couple of weeks.  

The downstairs is painted, and this week I’ve been working on getting some small finishing-up projects done.  I still have a bit left to do, and it’s been sort of driving me nuts to not have the ability to just dive in and get it all done in one fell swoop.  But such is life when you have two whiny-ass active and precocious! kids to tend to on a daily basis.  

Yesterday I began work on a large magnetic chalkboard.  What I found out about the magnetic primer paint is that you have to put on at least 5 coats for it to be magnetic at the very minimal level of acceptability. And after 5 coats, no matter how smoothly and thinly they’ve been applied, you no longer have a nice smooth surface ideal for a chalkboard.  Which is rather irritating.  Alas, you can obviously chalk on just about anything, but I think the texture will make for a lot more chalk dust which is kind of a hassle, but at this point there’s really no going back.

In summary: Don’t bother with the magnetic paint, especially if you plan to put chalkboard paint over it. 

The good news is that the room looks great.  So much brighter and cleaner and more inviting!  Mostly now I just need to get out and find a rug and some chairs.  Then I’ll have a few more little details to put together (stuff for the walls, etc.) and it will be finished!  

Except, did I mention there’s a back room off the main room downstairs? And a bathroom?  Both of which are going to require all of the same stuff that we just did to this big room?  And the reason we didn’t do it all at once was because we didn’t have any place else to put all of the STUFF that was in the main room while we worked on it.  So, yeah – we’ve got another whole room and bathroom to do.  And I’m sort of in denial about  that.

Anyway, it’s Friday.  This is good!  Also, after having not knit a single stitch for almost two months (!!!) I started a lovely bamboo scarf this week.  I forgot how good knitting is at  helping to keep my mental wheels from spinning.  Knitting is good for you, man.

Posted in Home Improvement | Leave a Comment »

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DIY, before

March 30, 2009

We live in a split level, and our lower level has been functioning as a playroom.  Only, no one ever plays down there.  It’s dark, it’s kind of dingy, and it’s stinky.  For some reason (and I really even hate to talk about it because it makes me feel so gross), the animals have decided it is a giant litterbox.  So when I stay stinky, I really mean stinky.

When we moved in nearly 5 years ago, we had all sorts of ideas for the downstairs and what we wanted to do with it.  Only, we never did a thing.  And it’s been making me crazy that all the space down there isn’t really getting used because the kids don’t enjoy being down there.

So I’d said to Scott a few times that the carpet was going to have to come up soon.  Only, in this house, if I wait around for him to be on board for a home improvement project nothing would ever get done.  And because I am a spontaneous sort of girl, I got a wild hair late last week and started ripping up the carpet.  I was all, “oh, i’ll just rip up the carpet and we can paint the floor and it will be so much better!”, only things are never ever even close to being that simple.

Thankfully, Scott was on board and has jumped right in.  We spent the weekend emptying the room (there’s another room off the back of the main room that will get done in stage 2 of this project, since we have no other place to store the stuff from the main room but in there) and repairing/prepping the walls and floor for painting.

The tiles on the floor are old and many were damaged when the carpet tacking strips along the wall were installed and/or removed.  So we’re having to do lots of repair there, as well as a ton of spackling and caulking to clean up some spots and generally improve the look of the shoddy workmanship. (when will be buy a house where the previous owners weren’t completely incompetent??)

Anyway, I’m getting pretty exciting coming up with some ideas for the finished product.  I’d love your input on any great playroom ideas that you’ve seen or have worked well for you.  It’s a pretty large space (about 12′ x 25′ or so) so there’s lots of potential.

I feel like I have more to say, but I’m awfully tired.  Early bed for me tonight, I think!!

Posted in DIY | 5 Comments »

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I love you.

March 28, 2009

 

At dinner, Scott dropped me at the front door of the restaurant and then went to park.  When we came out, he was complaining about how he had to squeeze into a tiny space.

“I had to park next to this giant Lincoln Expe-fuckin’-dition.”

“An Expe-fuckin’-dition is a Ford.  You mean a Lincoln Navi-fuckin’-gator.”

*laughing* “I love you.” 

And then I bashed my elbow on the car door and whined about it for the next 5 minutes.

:D

Posted in Funny | 3 Comments »

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Maddening

March 18, 2009

Fisher, Age 2.5

Have you ever had something really messed-up-wacky-weird-totally-unbelievable happen to someone you know, and you are so overwhelmed with the frustration with it, when you know darn well that the person it’s actually happening to must be that frustrated TIMES  INFINITY??

I have two friends in these sorts of situations right now.  One is a very close friend who has been very very sick for a year, and continues to get sicker.  She’s been through countless tests, hospital visits, a trip to the freakin’ Mayo clinic, and STILL no one can figure out what’s wrong with her.  Her hospital experiences are just filled with tales of unbelievably poor patient care (as a single example, leaving her in a room full of convicts chained to their beds while she lies on a gurney waiting for a test) and while she has finally found a doctor who promises to get her some answers, she is at this point basically bedridden at home with WEEKS between tests and test results.  

Another friend is a completely jacked up job situation.  She is an extremely dependable and conscientious employee, yet is being totally strung up by her boss (for very vague and sketchy reasons, all stemming from one slightly poor decision on her part) and has received a demotion as a result.  The situation is so messed up that it’s pretty obvious that her boss has some sort of unusual power at her place of employment, because she is not the first person this has happened to.

Both of these situations just leave me feeling completely incredulous.  I mean, I get this sense of surely there’s something you’ve missed!  something that could be done to fix the situation! but that is, of course, the crux of the matter.  Obviously, the person at the center of both of these situations have a lot more at stake than I do, and if there were something they could do to fix it, they would.  

It’s awfully depressing, but I guess this is just the way life goes.  It doesn’t matter who you are, you can be subject to this sort of crazy maddening unfairness.  But man, when shit like this happens to your friends, it’s not exactly a moment to shout out C’est la vie!  It HURTS, man.

Posted in Friends, Mind | 5 Comments »

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Creepy Blog-Stalker Pal

March 17, 2009

Last night a now-good friend (who shall remain nameless, unless she chooses to out herself), got tipsy enough to reveal to me that when we met 2 years ago at our neighborhood park she had actually already been reading my blog for FIVE years!!

I asked her why she hadn’t told me at the time, and she said that she just couldn’t, because it would have been too weird.  And it’s probably true that I’m way less weirded out by it now that I know her (and her hardcore blog-stalking tendencies).

We were chatting last night about a local neighborhood and some of the benefits and drawbacks.  I had recalled when we were househunting about 4.5 years ago someone mentioning that a lot of the houses there had low-ceilinged basements, and was about to mention it, when she suddenly revealed to me that SHE was the person who had left the comment – a full 2.5 years before we ever met in person!

Anyway, I think it’s all very funny.  I’m glad I’m old enough to be weirded out by some of the unique circumstances that are brought about by an life entangled with the world wide web.  Some web it is!!

Posted in Friends, Funny | 6 Comments »

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