Connie's Musings!

Newly added bag charms and food rings!~
Only one piece per design~
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My latest project, an altar cloth for a friend in an after Yule gift exchange. Her favorite goddesses Oshun & Yemaya, both ocean/water deities:

For most of my life I have hated Christmas.

It began in 1982; ( How I Came to Hate Christmas )

Freedom & Necessity, by Steven Brust and Emma Bull. Orb, 1997

I thought this book was a fantasy when I picked it up. I’m not familiar with Brust, but I’ve read Bull’s ‘War for the Oaks’ and it was certainly fantasy. Also, the excerpted line on the back of the book says “Have with you, at all times, iron that cuts, polished silver, a sprig of mistletoe, and a loaded pistol”. That sounds like magic. The cover also mentions occult societies and a protagonist who comes to his senses with two months missing from his memory and finds that he is presumed drowned.

It turns out that the book is historical fiction, set in 1849 England. There is an occult society, but they work no magic. Many plots abound, however- it takes the protagonists a very long time to get them all sorted out. A really long time- the book unfolds very, very slowly. It’s told via a series of letters from various protagonists to each other and by journal entries. This makes it seem to move even slower- the element of immediacy is missing by using this method of telling. It *does* give it the feeling of a Victorian novel.

The protagonists are generally likable, the setting is well detailed, and the plot makes sense. But, as I’ve said, it’s a very slow book and it wasn’t what I expected from the cover.

I guess it will always show that I grew up watching the original series of Star Trek. Even after all these years of listening to football while Tim watches it, every time I hear “Neutral zone infraction” I immediately picture Romulan cruisers.

Now that I kinda sorta complained about work picking up, things have come to a screeching halt. It's gotten to the point that my last paycheck wouldn't even cover my bills. Last year when I was working long, crazy hours I had saved up a nice, tidy surplus. So then when work trailed off I used the surplus to live on all the while spending money, taking vacations and what not. Next thing I knew the surplus was gone. This was a vivid example of how lottery winners spend their winnings down to nothing.

( Career Musings......Again )

My empanaditas came out soooo fawkin' good! Here's the recipe for my vegetarian friends who want something savory and spicy. Perfect for a potluck or party.

Rhon's Vegetarian Chorizo and Potato Empanadas

INGREDIENTS
Two packages of Pillsbury pie dough
1/2 package of soy chorizo
1 medium potato, boiled until almost tender and cubed kinda small
1/4 cup finely chopped red bell pepper
1/4 cup finely chopped green bell pepper
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
3 cloves of minced garlic
2 t. ground cumin
1/2 t. oregano
1 T. chili powder (optional: 3 alarm heat!)
Olive oil for saute
Salt and pepper to taste
1 beaten eaten egg white

PREPARATION
Cut each pie dough into 7 small circles. Saute the vegetables and garlic in olive oil until tender. Add spices and soyriso and saute for about 5 minutes, taking care not to mash the potatoes. Spread a tablespoon or so into each dough circle, brushing the edge of the dough with eggwash, and then folding over to seal into half-moons. Place empanadas on a greased cookie sheet and brush liberally with eggwash. Bake at 350 until brown, about 20 minutes. Makes 28 little empanadas.

I served mine with a yummy poblano cream sauce, but these little "meat" pies are so spicy, I think next time I would contrast with a cool cilantro cream sauce. A manchego or asiago cheese sauce would work, or simply sour cream with a little chili powder would be an easy compliment too. If you wanted to incorporate more veggies, add shredded carrot and a chopped tomato. Traditionally, some people also add raisins and nuts.

Let me know if you try it!

We got our rare white Christmas, and it was beautiful. The bushy-haired little vampire got up at 4:30 AM, of course, dreaming of pie and presents. I let her open a few and then fell asleep on the couch with a book, all cozy with the Christmas tree lights. When babygirl got up, we took turns exchanging gifts. I *LOVE* being Santa, love finding treasures to wow, and love making packages way too pretty to open. I am used to getting nothing much for Christmas, though. (Having no real empathy, my-ex was just painfully horrible at gifts.) To my surprise and delight, baby did really good! Her joy is the exuberant kind, and I love my girl best when she is clapping and dancing around the kitchen.

We drove several towns away for a huge, magical ice sculpture installation. Scary! Wrecked and stranded cars were abandoned all up and down the grass off the side of freeways. We slid home on slurry and spent the rest of the day looking out at the winter wonderland from our steamy hot tub, playing with the waterproof cards I got baby for Christmas, acting silly as hell, eating soggy cookies and telling ghost stories once the moon came out. Both girls said it was the best Christmas they'd ever had.

Me too. :)

I felt loved and happy. A very sweet day with my lil' family.

A good Yule and a merry Christmas to everyone!

Yeh. My mom got *everyone* in my family a sexayyy Snuggie for Christmas. Basically, it's like a way too long robe with no ass coverage. Definitely an outfit to honor abstinence. I think we should all wear our Snuggies to the movies and just stare blankly at the clueless who obviously don't know whassup with this modern technological miracle.

We got a blanket of snow in Dallas! Meesha isn't as amazed as me and beegee. Meesha is making her really good mashed potatoes, and a chocolate peanut butter pie, and her most excellent iced tea. babygirl made green bean casserole and a pecan pie. I am whipping up ambrosia fruit salad with pecans, sweet potatoes with marshmallows and pecans, a cranberry-orange-pecan chutney... lol. Yeah, we have alot of pecans! Defrosting some of mom's dressing from Thanksgiving, and got a lil bit of turkey and ham and giblet gravy. All the presents are wrapped and our tree is so pretty. All clear glass and golds and whites. The girls are doing their nails cuz we are off to midnight mass later. Hope everyone I love is with someone they care about. Miss you all!

Meesha tries half-heartedly to entertain herself, but she really doesn't like to spend time alone, despite her lack of companionship. So she'll get into some random mess for about ten minutes or so, and then come to lean on my desk again and sigh yet again and ask what I am doing. As much as I love people, I AM an introvert and need alone time to re-energize. It's why I get up at a ridiculous hour. I know the time will come in a year or so where my kiddo won't want to spend time with me at all. So I am just going to shuck it all these next few weeks and plan some things that include my kid. To hell with it, yanno? I'll play catch up later.

Living in this wonderful house, sometimes it seems inexplicable money is still tight, you know, but our raggedy lil raft really is rawkin right steady these days. I manage to knock out every bill and still find creative ways to enrich our lives. I didn't sign up for any charity this holiday cuz we ain't "needy". But those dang Christians! Yesterday we were blessed with a decadent amount of food and gifts. It made me feel rich and thankful that people can be so kind this time of year.

M and I have helped out with Angel Food Ministries because they helped us out when we really needed it. So they gifted us with an enormous box of produce for Christmas, such a ridiculous abundance of fresh veggies and fruits, the icebox is stuffed as is the counter. And a big box of kiddie kibbles... like ramen, canned fruit, boxes of mac and cheese, cereals. (Excellent, cuz our little M can decimate like a locust while on break.)

Big Brothers/Big Sisters went ALL out and got M a huge shopping bag of really cool, thoughtful stuff. When I went to pick up her gifts yesterday, the director also handed me all their leftover gift cards from their shopping spree! $11 here and $7 there, but I had a good time surprise shopping all over town for random stocking stuffers while my girls were home baking cookies.

I came in with all my Santa packages yelling "No peeking!" Our tree was all lit up, Christmas music was playing, and my girls had made a gingerbread house together. So grateful not to be grounded over her grades, M had done her chore with no nagging and was feeling the family vibe. I sat at the sticky kitchen table with my artist brushes and made big-breasted floozies out of the gingerbread men.

Soaked in the hot tub later with my pretty babygirl, feeling lucky and luxurious, and then held her while we watched a Christmas movie. She told me her heart is healing. Those huge eyes of her's turn everything she says into a solemn swear. I think my heart might be healing, too. Such a gradual thing, although I wanted my survival to be some kind of victorious explosion every motherfucker could hear. baby fell asleep with her warm little behind nuzzled against my belly, furry little dogs sleeping in the crook of her knee.

In our house, we got three hurt people bumping elbows and hearts, trying to get the love we missed in ways that sometimes feels as scary as fate. Sometimes feels as right as rain. I do choose both these girls. And every now and then? Utter bliss at my house. :)

The Sandman, by Neil Gaiman and various artists. 10 Volume compilation of the comic book series.

Living in the boondocks as I do, I missed these comics when they were originally published-probably the only goth who didn’t read them back then. In one way I’m glad: I would have hated waiting between issues. I devoured these books over the course of a month- I resisted the urge to grab all 10 at once when they showed up at the library, even though I wanted to just scream “All mine!” and run cackling out the door.

These are the most sophisticated comics I’ve ever read. Gaiman mixes his own creations, The Endless Ones (who include Dream, Death, Delirium, Desire, Destiny and Despair), with the pantheons of Greece, Egypt, Norway, the Bible and adds the world of faerie for good measure. Dream’s world is seductive and coming up out of it after a thorough immersion- reading a whole volume in one sitting- requires some adjustment of thought, so total is Gaiman’s world building. These aren’t happy little stories, though. There are no deus ex machine endings here; things come at a cost. Excellent writing; if you like myth you’ll like these, even if comics aren’t your usual reading.

Do not hold a food bowl for an alpaca to eat out of, no matter how cute this seems. Another alpaca will decide she wants the bowl, they will spit at each other, and you will catch the blow-by in the face. And it doesn’t smell good.

Spent yesterday and today piecing projects that will turn into Yule presents- hopefully in time to mail them out. Now I can put the ironing board and card table away for a couple of days while I embroider and embellish. This will disappoint Silver, who was really enjoying laying on the fabric covered card table, whirling around like a dreidl on crack, flinging fabric and tools around the room. He will have to find something new to amuse himself.

We are taking care of the neighbor's alpacas, dog, cat and bird again for a couple of days, so twice a day we slog over there. The little crias that were born last summer/fall are huge now and beginning to eat solids. So far, we have not been spat on.

No Yule decor up yet except one string of lights I forgot to take down last year, and one tinsel garland that George's GF tossed out after I'd put my stuff away last year. Getting our stuff will require going into the semi-trailer we use for storage, and I'm not sure I'm well enough yet to add even more cold outdoor time. I'm still coughing up horrid things that I suspect may be vital organs, and now I've got inflammation in my ear. Joy.

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