We've been embracing summer today with a productive trip to the farmer's market. (Yes, it's summer here already — pay no attention to the calendar.) I just made gazpacho out of some farmer's market yummies, and we had fresh corn roasted in the oven and some deviled eggs. Kent is becoming a corn on the cob fiend, and I have a wonderfully foolproof method of preparing and cooking it that I wish my parents had known about when I was little. I don't remove any of the husks or silks, I just soak whole ears in a pot of water or a 13 x 9 pan of water for a while, putting a plate on top to hold the ears down so they don't float, then either grill it until tender (about 20 minutes) or cook it in the oven at 350 for about 30 minutes. The water helps to steam it inside its own husks, and when it's done cooking, I peel back the husks and the silks just fall right off. I think about all the time I spent with ears of corn and a paper bag when I was a kid, meticulously picking off all the silks before the ears were boiled, and I'm thankful Kent will never have to undergo that trauma. I'll put him in front of a bowl of snap beans instead so his time can be put to better use.

Somehow, we're working peaches and strawberries in for dessert. Tomorrow, we'll eat our fairy tale eggplant (even smaller than Japanese, it's so cute!) and green beans. I love the farmers, and early summer is such an exciting time to visit the market because we're never sure what wonderful thing will be there each week. The corn this morning, for example, was a complete surprise. We got there an hour after the market opened, not knowing that this would be the first week of blueberries, and all their blueberries were already gone. Next Saturday, we shall arrive earlier and with a lot of cash, and we shall be triumphant.

After I finish Cry, the Beloved Country, I might finally check out Animal, Vegetable, Miracle from the library. I already feel indoctrinated into the "eat local" movement, so I think I'd enjoy it if I ever got around to reading it.

We're on the short waiting list for a CSA — Community Supported Agriculture, that is, buying a share of a farm for the season to ensure a steady stream of fresh produce — that's starting up in our area, because our stupid domain name always gets caught in spam filters and they didn't get my original email when I requested to be added to their list. They needed 20 families to commit, and if they had gotten the email I sent the day after they announced their CSA, we would be in. I contacted them from a different email address a couple of days ago since I hadn't heard anything about whether they had enough families or not, and they told me they had never gotten my first email. Stupid stupid stupid. As it is, we have to wait and see whether anyone else will drop out in the next couple of weeks, and I'm not hopeful about our chances of getting in at this point. It's an organic u-pick farm, so we could still visit them this summer if they have extra produce one week (we're on the email list for those sort of announcements), but we probably won't be getting our basket of stuff each week that I was so looking forward to. I'm sad, but we'll still support local agriculture at the market and by going to pick blueberries in a few weeks if we can go early one morning before the temp reaches 80. Ha.

Also, my car hit 111,111 miles this week, but my camera was nowhere in sight, nor was my camera phone. The bedside organizer, while fabulous, keeps obscuring my phone from me, so I still need to get in the habit of taking it out of there each morning. You'll have to settle for seeing the blurry photo of my odometer reaching 100,000 back in October, the day we were driving to NC for Lauren's dad's memorial service. Yes, I have driven 11,111 miles since Halloween. Lots of road trips.



I was away for a good bit of the day today at a fun church event for younger women, and as a result, Kent elected not to take a nap. He almost nodded off during dinner (after he had gobbled down all his corn), so he's having an early bath and will be in bed before the sun has even set. He might be up even earlier tomorrow as a result, but it's a chance we're willing to take. Strawberry pancakes, bacon, and coffee will see us through.

Labels: car issues, greening, kitchen adventures, photography, what to read

• posted by erica 5/16/2009 06:32:00 PM
•  5 comments

That pretty much sums up our day. The windshield got nicked on our drive home this weekend, and the crack was starting to spread across my field of vision, so we had a guy come to the house and replace it. He looked at it for a minute after I asked whether he could just drill a hole to relieve the pressure, but he said that because of the angle (it was coming out of the side of the windshield), he'd just need to replace the whole thing, since a temporary fix wasn't likely to last. Oh well.

Kent and I just got back from the doctor, who confirmed that he does indeed have an infected right ear. I have no idea how long he's had it, but we have some Amoxicillin to help clear it up, I hope. I'm really glad that my cousin Sandra in Winston-Salem was talking about when her son was little and had ear infections, because otherwise, I wouldn't have known the symptoms and might never have thought to call the doctor. Jack and I often feel that we're basically flying blind as new parents and have no idea how to anticipate things anymore — we did a lot of reading at first, but we honestly don't have the time to keep reading a bunch of parenting books and mags, just our choice few, like The No-Cry Sleep Solution, which is currently rocking our world. Again.

Kent just woke up from his carseat-induced nap, so I will now attempt to nurse him back to health with antibiotics and some good old-fashioned Mommy time.

Labels: car issues, Kent

• posted by erica 1/03/2008 03:59:00 PM
•  1 comments

Whoops, I forgot a few things. First of all, I've been reading emails for the last 20 minutes, and some of you wrote me weeks ago and I'm just reading it now. I'm so SORRY! The SMT email list got all up-in-arms about Plagiarism, so they cluttered up my inbox, and some emails I wanted to read got lost among the flooding. I'm getting to them, slowly but surely, so hang in there if you're on pins and needles waiting for a reply.

Second, today marks two weeks that my car has been in the body shop having his roof replaced. Sometime before I left for the conference last week, they called to say that they had to bill my insurance company for more money that didn't get included in the original estimate, and I haven't heard a peep from them since then. I did have to go there the day after I dropped off my car to retrieve my hanging parking pass from my mirror, and I saw my skeleton car with no windshield and only the frame of the roof. There was all sorts of clutter and debris sitting inside it, and it was so traumatic to see my blue baby with major parts missing! As long as they put him all back together and vacuum him before returning him to me, I'll be fine, but it would be nice to have my car sometime before THANKSGIVING! Good grief. Speaking of Thanksgiving, the weather has finally turned fall-like here, which is a lovely change. I might actually get to wear a coat sometime soon!

Third and finally, I dyed my hair last night back to its original color (or close, anyway). I had put in highlights that were interesting but very bright, so once they started growing out and looking dumb I got annoyed. I bought a new package of nice brown haircolor and fixed my hair last night, so I'm happy. =) Okay, read on for the rest of my news... two updates in one day is a rare treat!

Labels: car issues, observations

• posted by erica 11/19/2003 02:13:00 PM
•  0 comments

It's chilly here. I'm pleasantly surprised, even though it means I need to rethink my regular footwear choice of sandals. I had thought we wouldn't have much occasion to wear all our sweaters, but it looks like I'll have to find them amongst the boxes so I won't freeze as I'm walking around campus!

The big news of the weekend is that I had my first insurance claim on my new baby Saturn. No, it wasn't my fault... in fact, I had nothing to do with it! I was sitting in our living room working on early music transcription, and suddenly I heard a loud thud and two men's voices. My first thought was that someone was breaking into our house, but the noise didn't continue, so I got up to see what happened. I got to the back door (connected to our carport) and saw two fairly large guys about my age crouched on the roof of my car and staring across the street at our neighbor's rottweiler (whose owner sometimes lets her out of their fenced-in yard). Now, the dog looks menacing, but at the time, she was looking for a place to pee and wasn't really concerned with them. They were scared nonetheless, and rather than hop my fence or continue running away, they decided that the best solution was to damage the car of a stranger. Anyway, I stepped outside, asked them what the heck they were doing, and so they explained to me about the dog. I told them there was nothing to be afraid of, that she wasn't even interested and they just needed to keep going as if they weren't afraid, so they asked me if I would go ask the neighbor to get his dog. Yeah, right. I said, "You need to get off my car RIGHT NOW." So they hopped down, mumbled, "Thanks for the use of your car," and jogged away over my fence (which they could have done in the first place, mind you). What is wrong with people? What would make them think that was okay? As you might imagine, I'm angry, because I have to pay the first $250 of whatever the repair costs are (it's covered by my comprehensive insurance under the "vandalism" category, but I have to pay the deductible nonetheless). I didn't know the guys since we just moved to the area, but I figure they live somewhere near us. I'm not going to canvas from door to door, but if I see them again (and recognize them, which would probably be tricky), you can bet I'm going to find out who their mothers are and clue them in. Sheesh. I was so angry after it happened. I didn't think to go after them, but I doubt it would have yielded any information or anything productive. I managed to push my roof back out from inside my car, but there are still smaller dents I can't fix (plus shoe prints they left behind). I emailed my insurance agent and she filed the claim, but I'm supposed to meet with someone from the national company to verify the story, etc., sometime this week. I haven't heard from this person yet, but I should within a day or two. I guess people do strange things when they're afraid, but their fear was totally unjustified AND they didn't need to mess my car up when they had lots of other options for escape. I also have a nice large tree in my yard they could have climbed up... anyway, that's the story.

I've registered for my classes for next semester, including Schenkerian Analysis, 20th-Century Analysis, and Verdi (a music history topics class... we'll be studying four of his operas in depth). I'm also going to take a German correspondence course that LSU offers, even though I'll have to pay an extra fee. It sounds like a cool program; I'll have up to nine months to finish, but I can do it in as little as 6 weeks. There are 20 at-home assignments, plus a midterm and a final that I'll have to take in the independent study office. I'll eventually want to take a conversation class and practice my German with real people, but for getting the basics, I MUCH prefer this method and being able to work at my own pace instead of sitting in a room full of freshmen. We'll see how it works out.

Babbitt is this Friday and Saturday... I'm getting excited, even though I have NO idea what to expect, not having ever been to a music conference of any type before. Plus, I'll get to see a little bit of Jackson, so that'll be fun. There may be something there worth coming back for... you never know with Mississippi!

Labels: car issues, school

• posted by erica 10/27/2003 03:19:00 PM
•  0 comments

As Chanda, one of my sorority sisters, said, "Let us now have a moment of silence for the Blue-mobile." My car has officially moved on to a new owner, this girl that we got in touch with through the United Way. We went to AAA today to sign over the title, and since I'm an idiot and forgot my driver's license this morning (it's in my other shorts), they were REALLY nice and took my social security card and my International Student ID, since one had my signature and another had my picture. =) We got that all taken care of, and I showed her the little idiosyncrasies of my beloved car, like the fact that the rear defroster has never worked, and the way the hood opens backward so that you have to stand beside the car, rather than in front of it, to do anything to it. Anyway, it was fun, and I kissed my car and patted it goodbye. Mom and I were talking as we drove out of the parking lot, and I decided that it's the same feeling as when you have to put an old doll out at your yard sale, and then a really sweet little girl comes and buys it with her 50 cents out of her own pocket. Of course, this specific situation has never happened to me, but it's a metaphor.

Well, I bought Granny and Uncle Mark a Gateway computer last week, so they've set it up and Uncle Mark has started to use it. He said Granny would start small, like learning how to turn it on, and maybe soon she'll be reading the updates here for herself and emailing me! That would be exciting. I still can't picture a computer in her house, but I'll see it soon enough. =)

Our weird customers continue to amuse and/or annoy me, including this one woman who is obsessed with my music supervisor. She comes in almost every day looking for him, and she's a really fast-talking Hollywood agent type who wants everything right that minute, so I can't lie to her because she talks too fast and confuses me. =) Anyway, we always roll our eyes when she comes near, and sometimes I get to warn him before she gets up to the desk. She didn't know him from Adam a month ago, and now she's bringing him lunch (which he never eats, thank goodness), trying to get him a radio job, and giving him Borders gift cards. We haven't figured out what's up with her, but my supervisor is starting to think that maybe she's just lonely and bored and needs someone to "take care of" if that's what she feels like she's doing. No idea. Anyway, she's a trip, and everyone in the entire store is getting to know her now, not just our little music department. It's a real joy. It's always fun to sit in the back and talk about our customers, including one guy last week who apparently shoplifted for some friends and then called later, feeling horribly guilty, to ask if he could come in and pay for the stuff he stole. Yes, he did. I'm not joking. Jack was there.

Anyway, I'm still in Lancaster, and we're at Mom's school, though Mom has wandered down the hall to help a teacher with something. Maybe we'll make it to the craft store tonight before it closes, so I can get home before all the crazy people come out on the roads. Oh wait... I live in the North now. They're ALWAYS on the roads.

Labels: bookstore life, car issues, family

• posted by erica 8/21/2002 04:05:00 PM
•  0 comments

Sorry to keep everyone in suspenders for two days, but I got a NEW CAR. =) Yay!! Toyota was trying to cut me a good deal for a Corolla, but the 2003 models are in such high demand that it was going to be a few weeks before they could even get me one, so I decided to go with the lovely people at Saturn. Bob, the salesguy, was really cool and down to earth and a little bit goofy, so it was like buying a car from an actual human instead of the two guys at different Toyota dealers who had each spent too much money on diamonds and tanning beds. Go figure. Anyway, my new baby is Silver Blue, the same color as my favorite toenail polish. Don't think I'm shallow... I just think it's a testament to the fact that I should have this car. Hehehe. I got a 5 year, 60,000 mile warranty as a sort of upgrade to the 3 year one, so I can take my car to any Saturn dealer anywhere to get my oil changed or my A/C fixed or my fuses changed or anything. How exciting. =) I'm glad that I bought a car from a company I respect... I could have spent less on a different car, but I didn't, and I'm happy.

Bill was thinking that he wanted to keep the Honda as a spare, which meant that insurance and the title were going to be a mess, since I was insured to drive it and I'm only 22, so it's silly for them to keep my name on the policy. Anyway, he decided to donate it to someone worthwhile. Mom and I are joint title holders of the Saturn, which also might be weird when we try to do stuff with it, but that's the way the loan worked, since I don't have much credit and Borders doesn't exactly pay a living wage. =) Our cat continues to amuse us by jumping into our new TV stand behind the DVDs and sitting on phone books, but that's why people have pets, right? Something to love and laugh at on a daily basis. ~E

Labels: car issues, felines

• posted by erica 8/01/2002 05:42:00 PM
•  0 comments

Well, I tried to check my email, but Doteasy, the company that hosts our webpage and email, isn't letting me in right now. Whatever. We had a FABULOUS time at Busch Gardens with Lauren and Katherine. =) Saturday wasn't as hot as it's been this whole damn summer, so waiting in line for rides wasn't as miserable as I was anticipating. We got to ride most of the roller coasters twice, even though the park was shut down for rain for almost an hour.

Now we're in Lancaster visiting Mom and Bill; Jack, Mom and I are going car shopping in a little bit, as soon as those slow pokes take showers. We're looking at Toyota Corollas, Toyota Echos, and Saturn SLs, and we might do the Dodge Neon thing if those don't turn up anything spectacular today. Mom reminded me this morning that when I was little, I kept saying that I wanted a Honda Accord, which amused me a little, considering the fact that my I'm so desperate to replace my current Honda Accord. Anyway, JD Power seems most impressed with Toyota Corollas, so we decided to check those out, and they're priced about like Saturns, so I'm hoping we have some luck today! I'm thinking either blue or silver, depending on what the colors look like in real life and not just on Internet Explorer. For more information on our current car situation (with a humorous twist), go to Jack's updates.

Anyway, wish us luck with the car hunt and gather... hopefully, we'll actually be able to drive home with air conditioning. We're thinking that we should donate my little blue baby car to the Kidney Foundation or one of those places that wants cars, because I would get a maximum of $200 on my trade-in, I think. It's hardly worth it, and then some person without a kidney can love my car instead. Or something.

~E

Labels: car issues, family, friends, travel

• posted by erica 7/30/2002 11:51:00 AM
•  0 comments

Yeah, so Jack's car has had some issues... this is part of the reason I haven't written in over a week. =) We went to Baltimore as scheduled to help Jack's sister move down the street from her old apartment to the new one, and that was fun, but when we tried to leave and got onto the highway, we ran out of gas because neither of us was paying enough attention to the gas gauge. Long story short... we ended up frying his fuel pump, which, in a '95 Cavalier, requires taking out half of the gas tank... so we spent $800 on the repairs, plus our train tickets to get back home the NEXT day, after we had the AAA guy tow the car to the Chevy dealer down the road. Earlier on Saturday afternoon, we had realized that the A/C was broken yet again, so now that the car is finally back up in Philly (Jack went to get it yesterday), we can take it back to our Chevy dealer and have them rethink the problem, since it obviously is not just the valve they've replaced twice already. Enough about that... the weather is a little cooler this week, so we are not quite so unhappy as we might otherwise be. =)

I had training at Borders all this past week, which was really cool, so now I know all sorts of stuff. I don't know how I ever found anything in the store before, honestly, because you really have to have help to find a LOT of stuff there. =) I guess that's how the company insures that the employees will not become obsolete. I get to work in the music section a few days this next week, and I'm also going to be "cross-trained" in the cafe. We watched this video on Saturday called Espresso 101, and I learned that basically everyone I know (including me) stores their coffee the wrong way. It was exciting. (Hey, Jack just broke a glass lamp shade. Random occurrence. He's okay, but he's mad because he liked that lamp.) Anyway, I'll basically be the person who knows a little bit about everything in the store, because I couldn't narrow myself down to one area (sound like me??), so I'll work in music, the book info desk, the registers, and the cafe depending on where they need the most help. Yay. =)

Today we went to Lancaster, because Mom and Bill left and needed us to take Daisy to the kennel. They went on a cruise with Mom's brother and sister-in-law and my grandparents, because June 14th was my grandparents' 50th wedding anniversary! It was very exciting, and they wanted to share it with their kids, so they're on a cruise for a week from NYC to the Bahamas and then back. Woohoo! Anyway, the kennel opened today after they had to leave, so we took the wonder-Lhasa to camp. =) I had a nice day off, and I get to go back to the working world tomorrow, this time not in "training" mode! The other three people I trained with and I did some real work the last two days of training, like working the registers and helping people from the info desk, but we get to do it all day from now on. I'm excited. I get some great benefits at this place, and I think it's going to be a neat job to have... plus I'll know when Harry Potter Book 5 is coming out before ANY of you will, so ha. Just kidding. ~E

Labels: bookstore life, car issues, coffee, family

• posted by erica 7/07/2002 11:18:00 PM
•  0 comments

***NEWS FLASH*** Jack's A/C has been fixed. That is the big news of the day. The Chevy dealer called us about half an hour before they closed yesterday to tell us that the same valve they replaced was causing the problem this time, so they didn't charge us... nevertheless leading me to wonder how many times they'll have to replace it. =) We'll see. Anyway, I got to take his car to work today, which was SO nice. The half-hour drive is a lot shorter when I doin't have to stick my head out the window to catch a breeze. It's probably safer too.

Work was good today. The guy I've been working with (he's been unofficially training me) said that I'm the first person they assigned to help him sort that actually did it right. It's sort of like all the work I did at the hospital in W-S where they were amazed that I could file so quickly and that I actually knew how to alphabetize. Go figure. I learned to alphabetize shortly after I learned my alphabet... did everyone else not do this??? Anyway, it rained a lot here today, which was sort of bad for the store because they had the bargain books outside, and the security guard (I've heard she's a bit of a moron anyway) told people that the books were free since they had gotten wet. We have no idea how many got taken before the manager figured this out. Some people should just sit at home instead of having jobs. I think some rich person should pay a living wage to stupid people if they'll agree to learn how to get a clue. There has to be a school for that, and then upon completion they can re-enter the workforce, no longer a threat to themselves or their co-workers. Geez.

Not too much else going on today... we're going to Baltimore to help Jack's sister move this weekend, so that should be exciting. I love carrying boxes! =) We do get to go to some kind of show and stay with her Saturday night, so I'm looking forward to it. On a side note, Patti is starting to eat more, so we're becoming wary of leaving her when we go out of town... could be a problem. Any suggestions on how to curb a pet's eating would be much appreciated. I certainly can't rely on my experience with my parents' dog, Daisy, the Lhasa snatch-food-out-of-your-hand-if-you-put-it-too-close-to-the-ground Apso. She's a pig. ~E

Labels: bookstore life, car issues, felines

• posted by erica 6/27/2002 11:06:00 PM
•  0 comments

Okay, it's freaking hot up here... I'm sure it is everywhere right now, but good grief... 90+ every day of the last two weeks! I especially notice it because neither of our cars has A/C right now. In case you missed it, the Honda people told me it would be $1000 to fix mine... yes, that's three zeros... and Jack's car has some kind of leak in the coolant containment area. The Chevy dealer fixed it just long enough for us to drive away and think for two days that it was fixed and we wouldn't collapse from heat exhaustion this summer, but then Monday, we realized that the "leaking part" they claimed to have replaced apparently wasn't the entire problem. So his car is there again, and we took my car to Harrisburg today (2 hours each way). We were meeting Lauren (one of my bridesmaids/close friends) who was visiting Penn State, because she's going there for grad school next year, so she and her mom had lunch with us on I-81. It was very fun, but the drive back was no fun at all. I jumped in the shower practically the minute we got back, so now I feel better, and I'm very excited that our apartment has effective A/C and a fan in our bedroom. =) It's going to be a long summer.

My job is going really well, except that last night the conveyor belt broke. See, I work at one of about 3 stores in the country that doesn't have a loading dock, so we use a conveyor belt to get new shipments down to the basement and then back up to the store level once they've been sorted. Last night, my second night on the job, I spent about 4 hours sorting books down there, and right after I boxed up a bunch to send upstairs, the thing broke, and apparently it'll be down for two weeks to get fixed for good. This means I get to relive my spectacular moving experience and probably carry boxes up and down the stairs every day I go to work. =) That's okay... that's why they pay me. A side benefit I think I forgot to mention before is that I get to borrow two books at a time for up to two weeks as long as I bring them back in sellable condition, so I got a web design book for Jack last night so he can learn more things. Yay, learning! I've already found a bunch of novels I want to borrow, but I'm making myself finish my library books first so I can get them back (Invisible Man and The Poisonwood Bible). I think I'm going to take a nap now, because I'm tired and it's my day off, so I CAN. Hahahaha. ~E

Labels: bookstore life, car issues, friends, what to read

• posted by erica 6/26/2002 04:46:00 PM
•  0 comments