Happy Halloween!

Tonight, because the busy season of music accreditation does not pause to trick-or-treat, we got home kind of late, about 7:30. So we quickly heated up the last of the potato soup and chucked some grilled-cheese sandwiches on the stove. I had been enticed by the farmer's market which sets up shop near my metro stop on Wednesday, and had bought some apples and also a couple of bunches of basil. I was worried this morning because I heard on the radio we'd had a frost, which usually spells the end of the basil, but the lady at the farmer's market apparently grows hers in a greenhouse. So we whipped up a teeny impromptu batch for our sandwiches and sliced up a tomato we needed to use up, and that was that.

Then we tried to run, but our full bellies slowed us down to a walk before very long. Our destination? CVS, where we needed to fill a prescription and also had some coupons to burn. Right now they're offering Soy Joy bars for a dollar apiece, plus you get $4 back in CVS Extra Bucks (essentially like coupons for money off future purchases) when you buy four of them. So they're essentially free, which is sweet enough, but I also had a coupon for $2 off of 5, $1 off of four, and one for buy one get one free. So we actually made money on those. I also had two printed coupons which came on my register receipt from the last time we went to CVS, which were each $2.50 off of any CVS-brand purchase. There's a CVS brand of shampoo I really like, and lo and behold, we got there and it was on sale 2 bottles for $5...so those were free as well! I had one more coupon, a $2 off of any purchase over $10 (which they determine BEFORE they take off coupons, but either way, I still had a pesky $20 copay on the prescription so I would have qualified anyway), which we used to buy some envelopes. With our register receipt printed out not only our $4 in Extra Bucks, but also another $2.50 off CVS-brand purchase coupon. So essentially, we walked away with two bottles of free shampoo, five free Soy Joy bars, a box of free envelopes, and either $6.50 worth of coupons, or a $20 prescription for $13.50, however you like to look at it. CVS shopping and coupon clipping can both be pretty addictive this way and have earned us a ton of free things, like toothpaste and tampons, neither of which is anything we anticipate eliminating our need for anytime soon! For a great introduction to the types of great deals that can be had, check out this site which pretty much spells it out for you.

Other than that, Matt has been busy working early and late and everything in between as he and his colleagues get ready for their annual meeting in Salt Lake City in just two weeks. I am super sad (OK, understatement!) to see him go, but excited for the kinds of opportunities he'll have there and happy he's found work and people he likes so much. Cushioning the blow will be a visit from the lovely Holly, as well as the invitation to crash with my favorite/only law school buddy during the other few days. It will come at what is essentially crunch time for us to be studying for finals, and so that will be a convenient motivator.

Speaking of school, it's going fine. Today I attended a discussion with the chief prosecutor for the US Attorney's Office of DC's division of domestic violence and sex crimes, which was fascinating.
She's a GW alum and was really inspiring. I'm trying to give myself every opportunity to fall in love with law before I leave, so that I don't do anything I'll regret. However, more than anything, I was excited to meet somebody who's so passionate about doing something that I think is so essential. Also, I asked her a question about whether she believed that prosecuting sexual assault was as compulsory as prosecuting domestic violence (being as one has a tendency to be much more habitual than the other; as a sexual assault advocate, you typically don't try to convince people to prosecute because the process is so traumatic and the outcome is so uncertain. With domestic violence, she asserted, it's been found that criminal prosecution is a really important step in breaking the cycle of violence, even if it's not something that the victim thinks is desirable). I also mentioned that given our own experience with the police, which was that they tend to blame victims of crime and have zero interest in trying to collect evidence, had really appalled and disillusioned me. Her answer was that in the case of sexual assault, they're required to call in specially trained detectives in addition to the sexual assault response team, and it warmed my heart because she said "We also turn them over to specially trained nurses, who do a wonderful job." It reaffirmed my feeling that there is an important place for me in that puzzle.

On that note, my hope is to complete training to become a sexual assault nurse examiner (SANE) during my hiatus from school. It's something I've wanted to do for awhile; during the last hospital call I attended as a rape crisis advocate in Iowa City, the SANE was a nurse I'd worked with before and she said "Why are you doing that instead of this?" Well, at that point the answer was because I was working full-time and didn't have time to complete the training...in addition to the fact that, despite pleas from the current SANE's that they were overworked and could use all the help that they could get, the director of the Iowa SANE program decided that 1.5 years of experience as an OB nurse just wasn't close enough to the 2 years of experience she really preferred. Out here, I think they'll take what they can get.

I'm feeling really excited about the idea of having some flexibility in my schedule between December and August. I've talked to the hospital about working PRN (basically, on an hourly basis without benefits but for a higher hourly wage) like I'm doing now, but in labor and delivery instead of mother-baby and hopefully for 3-4 days a week. They have indicated that this shouldn't be a problem. I'm a little bit nervous because I'm going to have to scrub for C-sections, which I never had to do at Iowa, but which kind of goes with the territory. I'm not a terribly physically coordinated person to begin with, the training is going to be painfully brief, and the reason that nobody likes to scrub is that it makes you a very convenient whipping post for the doctors when the surgery isn't going well. So not only do you have a baby or a mother in some kind of immediate physical distress, you have somebody screaming that it's your fault because you're not getting the instruments out fast enough or because you don't know how to read their minds and know that what they said isn't actually what they meant. Plus, my sterile technique completely sucks. But. There are going to be challenges in any field, and this is one of them.

Anyway, the flexibility. Like I mentioned, I'm hoping to get SANE certified and also hoping to finish training to staff the online crisis hotline for RAINN. The training was supposed to be this weekend, but was canceled due to small class size. The next one will be in January. I've always loved volunteer work and the opportunity to dabble in a diverse array of activities, and I'm finding that nursing (at least, not-quite-full-time nursing like I'll be doing in the coming months) is more amenable to that than a lot of paths. I'm also looking forward to the opportunity to do some more cooking and just being around a little more to do the general running of errands. Matt was kind enough to take on those roles when I was working full-time and so I realize that it's a luxury to have somebody able to do it. I'm also guessing that midwifery school may be somewhat less time-intensive than law school (although I could be wrong about that) which will also hopefully allow for a little flexibility. Ultimately, I think I'd like to enjoy a number of years leading a somewhat crazy but ultimately fulfilling schedule as a midwife, and then eventually move into teaching nursing. The idea of eventual stability and plenty of time off seems like a natural evolution, and one which I'll hopefully be able to pursue.

Matt and I have also decided that our temporary dual-income status probably means that we should take a somewhat exotic trip while we're able. We're still planning to pay off a good chunk of our debt, but have decided that we can probably also swing a trip to...Egypt and Greece. And possibly Italy. These are trips I've wanted to take for as long as I can remember, Matt is similarly gung-ho about them, and with some careful planning, it should be pretty feasible. Definitely more on that as details emerge.

Lastly, just to end on a food note, Aldi had a case of German spaetzle (essentially, thick egg noodles) the last time we were there, so on a whim we picked some up. I cooked them up and combined them with a little milk, a cup of cheese, some chopped broccoli, and a couple of tablespoons of Matt's homemade hot sauce. Then we topped it off with cornflakes. It was surprisingly good! There's nothing like going "off the page" to make you feel like you're really cooking. Literally.

And that's about it for now!

This Weekend: Sickness and Health and Sister

Friday afternoon Matt called me at school to tell me he had a bad headache and was losing portions of his vision and thus going to the ER. Because nothing around here is simple, I ran to the subway, took a train, and then caught a cab to (finally!) arrive where he was lying in a dark room with IV fluids running. (They had also given him a combination of morphine and Compazine which helped his headache, but made him feel strung-out and jittery for the next 24 hours.) Diagnosis? Migraines, probably retinal migraines, which we have since found out afflict a number of people in his immediate family. That's somewhat reassuring, since it makes it probable that the diagnosis is correct, as opposed to something more serious; but, as with atopy or IBS or anything else, it's never welcome news to be diagnosed with a chronic condition. For right now, though, we're just infinitely thankful that it wasn't anything more dangerous than that, and we're happy that he's feeling better.

Despite the fact that Matt was essentially post-dromal until Friday night or Saturday morning, we had a wonderful time with Rebecca here; as she put it, when we were all untidily inhaling massive plates of pasta one of her first nights here, "I like it that nobody's trying to show off for each other here." And that was pretty much the tone of the weekend. Since Matt still wasn't feeling very well, we laid pretty low for the most part, but Rebecca and I were able to take in the National Archives (having whetted our appetite by watching National Treasure the night before), the Smithsonian Art Museum, and the Natural History Museum (or "the dead animal zoo," as Matt called it), which we loved. It rained impossibly hard all day Thursday and Friday and into Saturday morning, making for some very wet feet and lots of soggy standing in line, but Saturday it finally cleared up just before noon and so we all went down and walked around the monuments--Washington, Lincoln, Jefferson, and all the usual suspects. Then we went to Georgetown, where we had a tasty lunch and then walked it off shopping.

In short, we walked ourselves sleepy every day and came home and hit the hay about 9:30 every night. We also consumed lots of good food (what else would you expect? If there's anybody who loves to eat more than the two of us put together, and I don't think there are many, it would be Rebecca). This includes making Hootenanny for breakfast one day, which is something Matt introduced me to last year that his mom used to make, and which I love. It goes like this:

Hootenanny (Or however you'd like to spell it!)

Ingredients:

6 eggs

1 cup milk

1 cup flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

6 Tablespoons butter

In blender or large bowl mix 6 eggs, 1 cup of milk, 1 cup of flour and salt. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Melt 6 Tablespoons of butter or margarine in 9 x 13 inch pan. Pour in egg mixture. Bake about 20 minutes or until puffy and golden. Serve immediately. It is like a souffle and will slowly fall. Serve with syrup, jam or fruit.

We eat it with syrup and we also broke down and had sausage on the side. It was great, and CHEAP. (And, you know, full of butter, but that's beside the point.) I, for one, am hoping it shows up on the breakfast (or dinner) stage more often as the weather turns cold.

Today, we took Rebecca to the airport, had lunch at Thai Place and then hit Filene's Basement because they were having a suit sale and Matt, distinguished businessman that he is, goes through those things like water these days! :)

Tonight, we made a second batch of potato soup (a double batch, in fact) with croutons for dinner, and then used the onion butts, celery ends and leaves, and potato peels to make vegetable stock! We filled a pot with water, added the above vegetable matter along with a carrot and a few pinches of rosemary and savory and about a tablespoon of salt, and let it simmer for a couple of hours. Then we strained it and put it in yogurt containers (just because that's what we have on hand) and plan to freeze it. We're hoping to spend this winter experimenting with that perfect conjunction of healthy/frugal/comfort food that is SOUP. This will be an excellent start. We ended up with about 70 ounces of stock, and it turned out great! Made from nothing but essentially vegetable garbage, water, and spices! Chalk up another point for "made from scratch."

And now, because this post was the last procrastination I was going to allow myself, I have to go finish my paper that's due tomorrow.

Updated, with pictures

We were lucky enough to get to spend Saturday, which was one of the most beautiful days we've had in awhile, on a sailboat on the Chesapeake listening to live blues music and grazing on snacks and wine. The leaves are finally changing, the weather was warm but breezy, and while blues isn't exactly either of our favorite cup of tea, the performer was very good and there's something about being in the midst of live music that makes you enjoy something you might not otherwise choose. It was a great day. We were invited along by a colleague of Matt's, whom I very much enjoyed getting to know.

Sunday we couldn't go to yoga because I worked all day, which went fine. I came home and made potato soup--I'd been wanting to make it for awhile and couldn't find any recipes that did what I wanted, so, in the confidence born of a lot of experimenting in the kitchen lately, I just made one up. And I don't think I'm overstating anything here to say that it turned out GREAT. I would do it just the same way again. Here's what I did:

Potato Soup

2 T butter
2 T flour
1 onion, chopped
1-2 T dried rosemary
4-6 medium-sized potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
2 stalks celery, chopped
4 cups water, or enough to cover potatoes in the pan
Splash of milk, cream, or half-and-half
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Lightly saute onion, celery, rosemary, and flour in the butter.
2. Add water. I used water but most recipes called for stock. We didn't have any so water worked fine, but it does necessitate adding probably a good tablespoon of salt at the end. I'm not giving firm amounts here because my reputation with such things is not good.
3. Bring to a boil; cover and simmer until potatoes are soft.
4. Using a ladle or big spoon, scoop out most large potato chunks and cooking liquid and coarsely puree in blender. Add milk or cream if using, just enough to lube things up.
5. Pour back into the pan and salt and pepper to taste.

The texture ended up something like mashed potatoes, which I liked, but you could always add more water or broth if you like it runnier.

And I even refrained from the temptation to add a bunch of cheese or cream or something and just let the mild, earthy flavor of potatoes and rosemary shine through on their own. We also had a heel of bread that Matt baked a week or so ago and so I chopped that up, tossed it with some oil and parmesan and baked them until crunchy--three cheers for croutons!

On the career-change front, not much has changed in the past couple of days but I'll share a thought I found interesting. I've been getting more into personal finance blogs lately and one called The Simple Dollar has been reviewing a book I'm meaning to read called Your Money or Your Life. Apparently therein is discussed the concept of “right livelihood,” which "is an ideal [which] basically means that you spend every moment of your life in accordance with your internal sense of values." Obviously that's rather, well, idealistic for daily life, but I will say that the idea of being a midwife--serving people on a practical but highly spiritual and meaningful level, every day--rings a whole lot closer to it than the idea of being a lawyer. One of the wonderful things about marriage, I think, is that you learn so much about yourself (along with each other) than you would if you were just existing in your own one-dimensional plane without the constant feedback of living in such close proximity with someone who knows you so well. And so when Matt tells me, "You know, I can envision you as a midwife a lot more easily than I can see you dressed up in a suit on Capitol Hill as a lawyer"--well, I'm inclined to listen to that.

But then again, a year is such a long time.

Which is why, barring any unforeseen changes, I'm going to give this semester of law school my very best shot, and then I'm pretty sure I'm going to call it quits.

I'll attempt to address why. First, I've realized that for the past few months I've been waiting for my classmates to break down and admit that they are as bored and frustrated as I am. (By bored, I don't mean a "this is easy and I've mastered it" kind of bored; I mean a "how can I work so incredibly hard at something difficult without finding it interesting," out-of-my-element kind of bored.) And I've realized that for the most part, they aren't going to: regardless of the fact that first-year classes (and, let's be honest, second-year and probably most of third-year classes) are somewhat dry and lackluster--hey, we're studying law here! It's bound to be that way! And most people aren't going to bellyache about it because this is what they expected, and being a lawyer is actually what they want. Whereas I'm finding about both law school and law in general that the proportion of what I thought I would like about it is a lot lower than what I expected, and the proportion of what I don't like at all about it is a whole lot higher.

Looking back at the site history on my Firefox browser, I realized for that about the past month I've been cheating on law school by fantasizing about nursing. Right in front of law school's face: while I'm supposed to be studying, writing a paper, during classes, etc. Oh, it starts out innocently enough, trying to look up law internships with women's health organizations or rape crisis centers, but before I know it I've told myself I'll just sneak a quick look at what all they have available and before you know it I'm bookmarking OB fellowships and Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner trainings. And that just doesn't make sense. When I realize that those experiences are what have made me feel joyful and useful and alive, it doesn't make sense to wave goodbye to that part of my life and my education.

Any of you who have known me for very long will recognize how much I enjoy helping people in a hands-on, meaningful way. Something I don't like? Getting dressed up, being schmoozy, feeling like I don't fit in. Well, here was a newsflash for me: law school is all about fitting in as hard as you can. The more seamlessly your face blends into the corporate machinery, the better; the more formulaic and canned your writing, the more they like it. Everything, from the colors you wear in an interview to the font you choose for a brief, is geared at conformity.

I want to say up front that I'm in no way trying to imply that there is something inherently worse or better about that type of career, or the people who succeed at it. I'm not trying to say that I'm too good or too honest to be a lawyer, because I don't believe that characterization of me OR the law. By the same token, though, I also don't think I'm just rejecting law because I'm afraid it's going to reject me first. I'm just saying that I came, I saw, I briefed; and I think I've realized that it's not me, and I can only be who I am. Outspoken, off the beaten path, desperately unfashionable, most at home with a greasy ponytail and up to my elbows in birth funk...and it really only makes sense to choose a career where that is an asset, instead of something to fight to keep under wraps. Lousy with number two at the nursing home? I'm comfortable there. Dressed to the nines and making chitchat around a law firm water cooler? The very idea makes me start to squirm. And it has for awhile.

Since school started I've been trying to quell the rising sense of dread that I feel anytime somebody brings up working for a law firm, whether for the summer or for good; every time it comes up, I just desperately want them to drop it. But you know what? They aren't going to. And you know why? Because it's law school and they want to be lawyers! And I thought I did too, and so I would diligently keep looking for a firm or an internship that would help me achieve the things I came to law school to do. And what did I keep coming back to? The fact that the real experts in any field, the people who ultimately shape the way things are done on the ground level, are the people who work in it, not the people who make the legislation. That means that if I want to be an expert in women's health, I'm making myself an outsider if I'm practicing law. There's nothing that frustrates me more than well-meaning people who are outsiders to the organizations they purport to serve. (Nurse managers, this means you.) While I had dreams of being the "nurses' lawyer," the "patients' lawyer," the "rape victims' lawyer," I've come to realize that the effect an individual lawyer can actually have on the day to day details of people's lives is attenuated at best. And I'm realizing that that isn't enough.

What I used to view as small consolations for the stress of nursing--the fact that I was never bored, and the knowledge that the work I was doing was meaningful in the bigger scope of things--now loom larger as absolutely critical elements of how I plan to spend my days. I think that's something I had to come to law school to realize. Something else I've learned here? I think that I was envisioning a role for myself that being a lawyer doesn't really fit.

What now, then? I don't feel like law school was a waste; I feel like I've learned a lot. In case I'm wrong about this whole thing and change my mind, and also to honor what I've started, I'm planning to study this semester as if I weren't planning to leave at the end of it. (Well, almost. Perhaps with a little more of the serenity that comes with being a few feet closer to the door.) And I still feel like we came to DC for a number of reasons; just maybe not the ones I'd originally thought. Specifically? I am absolutely on fire about the idea of this program, one which combines midwifery training with specialized education in lobbying, legislation, and policy as it relates to women's health care disparities. Could that be more perfect? No more turning over every stone in law school to see if something I might be interested in is under there--here would be a group of people who seem to have just the same things in mind. What some of you may know and others don't is that the very first reason I looked into law school was because I thought it would be handy to have that background and then become a nurse-midwife. Birth is something I've always been wild about and I think I let my apprehension about being a new nurse convince me that delivering babies was something that was beyond what I was capable of. (Yes, I'll say it--law school seemed like it would be easier.) Now, at a point where I feel much more solid in my nursing skills, I feel confident about the idea that after sixteen months or more of intensive training, I could be not only qualified to deliver babies and provide well-woman care, but also be rubbing shoulders with the people within women's and children's healthcare who really truly care about and influence those systems. Because you know what? The people that do aren't practicing the law. I've already looked for them there.

Lazy Thursday

Though Blogger insists on labeling it Wednesday...

For some reason, none of the four of us has been sleeping well at all this week. It's hard to tell why or who's starting it, but Matt and I have both been tossing and turning all night and the cats (who finally spent the night in the BATHROOM last night as a result, thank you very much) have been yowling and thundering around and fighting, despite our best efforts to maintain a reasonable diet and exercise regime, wind down before bed, and be in bed between 10 and 10:30 at night--all the things they call good "sleep hygiene." It's kind of frustrating. This morning I should be working on my paper but instead I'm just fighting to keep my eyes open; plus, I have a dermatologist appointment at 10:30 and then an assignment to attend a civil proceeding and write a 1-page summary of it. Some vacation! And it's almost over.

Otherwise, there's not that much going on these days. We narrowly missed seeing Garrison Keillor the other night-- he was at GW promoting his new book and we didn't realize until too late that we could get in for $15 (thank you, student discount) instead of the $30 which we considered to be just a little bit too steep. Oh, well...we're putting him at the top of the list with the Counting Crows now. Kind of a bummer, though, because he's one of the few people in the world I think I'd actually line up and pay to see. But we've still got Bill Bryson yet this month, and we're looking forward to seeing Sam Bush on the cheap when he comes to GW in November. Plus a coworker of Matt's has invited us to a surprisingly affordable afternoon of live music on a sailboat this weekend. And in a week my sister will be here! So I suppose you shouldn't feel too sorry for us just yet.

Other than that, I worked at the hospital all day yesterday, which is always sort of a grounding experience. Law school makes me more and more appreciative of going somewhere that I know at least some of the answers, and it helps me keep my perspective on "real life," real people, and their problems, as opposed to what's just book learnin'. Regarding the books, though, I did have a surprisingly fruitful session with the Writing Center afterward regarding my next assignment, which I'm hoping to do better on than I did on the last one (not that I'd exactly have to knock it out of the park to outdo a C+, but hey.) Tuesday I had my first law school test--a torts midterm--and, while I won't know how I actually did until Thanksgiving, I feel like it went pretty well. Here's hoping.

I still struggle with the seeming rigidity and and overall dryness of the first-year curriculum, and the urge to get back to grass roots and go to midwifery school or something instead--really get my hands dirty, both figuratively and literally--but I'm hoping to get involved with something this summer that will help me bring together all of my seeming disparate interests. The passion is there; the question is where to aim it. I'm trying to focus a little by getting more more involved with the Health Law Society and planning to work toward a graduate certificate in the same, which if anything I think will help tie things together for me AND my potential employers. There are a number of great organizations around, but in particular the Indian Health Service seems to present some interesting challenges dealing with obstetrics as well as sexual assault services, which would be right up my alley.

It's also intriguing to think that maybe someday we might end up in someplace like Alaska or the Southwest or somewhere else that goes deeper to the heart of our hippie longings than, you know, Washington, DC. Obviously this is all in the very, very speculative stage, but I like to feel like our options are still pretty open at this point. I'm still grappling with my relationship with this place, and I think Matt is too; although I think he's finding meaning in his work, and that takes some of the onus off of the location itself. I think our roles were reversed back in Iowa City, when I was working and he was in school, and I'm sure at least some of my nostalgic feelings about that place have to do with feeling like I was a working grown-up with some direction ahead of me.

At the bottom of all this, I think, is the question of whether I can have the kind of hands-on experience I find so exciting and gratifying in nursing, but have some measure of authority and power to move things in a forward direction. There are days I wonder whether I jumped ship on nursing too soon; if the answer is yes, do I go back and pursue the avenues, like sexual assault nurse examiner and nurse-midwife, that compel me now that I feel more solid in my nursing skills than I once did--or would I be just repeating the same mistake if I ditched law to go back into healthcare? It's hard to know which matters more--the actual field I'm in, or just sticking with SOMETHING long enough to build up some influence. All issues for thought within the next few years.

On a related note, I've been reading the book Nursing Against the Odds, which I received when I joined the union in Iowa (which was an awesomely motivating experience!) but never actually had time to read as a nurse. You know it's sad when statistics about the poor relationships between nurses and doctors make you feel all nostalgic for the good old days... But on the plus side, union work was one of the few things that made me feel like I might actually have the ability to strike the balance articulated above. In the union I had contact with veteran nurses who had the power to make hospital administrators piss their pants and hand over the money, and it was a beautiful thing.

But anyway...I've promised myself I'll stick it out for at least a year before I make any big decisions. And of course, I'll keep you posted.

What We Did (and Ate) Today

First we got up and went to yoga for the first time in awhile, which was nice. Our butts are sore from hiking, so it was good to have something force us to move them a little. Having worked up an appetite by the time we got home, Matt decided to try his hand at making biscuits from scratch, which turned out great. Cheap, fast, easy, and GOOD. So we scrambled up some eggs with the rest of our summer sausage and Meunster from yesterday and went to town. Eat your heart out, McDonald's...and I'm not the kind of girl (as many of you know) who says that lightly!
As you can see, now we've got plenty for the freezer. This is a picture of them pre-cooked, but they came out nicely golden. Matt cut them with a drinking glass but we thought we might even use a small bowl next time to have more room for the eggy sausage-y goodness. We don't eat meat very often, but as I told Matt yesterday, I think that if I had to pick, sausage would definitely be my favorite. (Yes, I realize sausage isn't technically its own meat. This is coming from the person who was a vegetarian for 9 years and never craved a steak or a pork chop or a filet mignon...only cheese hot dogs and canned corned beef hash. It's probably for the best that I stay away from it for the most part.)

Then I spent a considerable amount of time on my paper (that's time, not necessarily headway, mind you, although in a way it feels good to be engaged with something a little more active than just the endless reading) while Matt busied himself around the house. What a guy. Courtesy of a rebate offer that makes our first bag free (though through the beginning or the end of October, I can't tell from the rebate form), as well as our awareness that clumping clay cat litter may be pretty close to the worst thing in the world for the environment and our cats' lungs and digestive tracts (and just perhaps, those of us who have been recently diagnosed with sensitive, allergic personalities), we're currently trialing Feline Pine Scoop Cat Litter at our house. (To paraphrase the Bible: If thou wipest thine counters with thine old underwear, and re-useth the same plastic bread bag for lunch every day, but filleth thy litter box with clumping strip-mined cat litter therein, thou hast done very little good for the environment at all.) Feline Pine is basically made of sawdust with additional (optional--there is a plain version) clumping properties compliments of the guar bean. As my dad would snort, "Yeah, you give that a try and then you tell me how it works." Well, that's what we're doing.

So far, it's been in the litterbox for about six hours, and all appears to be well. There seems to have been some "activity" in there already, nobody is complaining, it smells like we've been running the table saw, and so far we haven't found any unpleasant surprises anywhere else. We didn't bother mixing it with clay litter to wean them off of the old stuff; we didn't want to waste it and it seemed kind of pointless, knock on wood, since we have been VERY blessed thus far with two cats that are not at all fussy about the medium in which they do their business. Many of you may know Scratches' propensity for making his displeasure known when we leave town for more than a day or two, but it has always been in the exact same place (the bath mat) for the exact same reason (we're gone), and, thank goodness, has never extended beyond that or, heaven forbid, included urine. I did a fair amount of reading reviews ahead of time (because that's kind of what I do) on brands like Swheat and Yesterday's News and World's Best Cat Litter, but the most unanimous reviews have so far come to Feline Pine. Of course, that means nothing until it works for our cats, so we'll let you know what we think.

Later in the evening we headed out to the mall (twice in two days, who do we think we are?) where Matt picked up a new MacBook. We were going to wait until the insurance finished going through, as well as for the launch of Leopard (which, like the second coming, they say is coming any day now), but we've been borrowing a laptop from an extremely kind neighbor who gets back from India tonight, and all signs just sort of pointed to the fact that we'd waited long enough. The insurance should go through this week, and luckily, as a student I should have access to a reasonable price for the new operating system in case it doesn't get launched within two weeks (in which case they usually offer a free or reduced-price upgrade). Matt was being very good and patient about waiting, but because my sharp clinical judgment had picked up on a marked increase in Mac-related ideation and wistful verbalizations within the past twenty-four hours or so, we decided to just go for it. Judging from his happy silence for the past hour or so, I think he's glad we did.

While Matt got up close and personal with his new machine, I used up some vegetables we had languishing in the fridge and made stir-fry, this time with Lemon Herb Sauce. [Note: I ended up thickening the sauce with about a half teaspoon of cornstarch, which oddly enough the recipe doesn't mention. It worked perfectly and was a nice, quick, light sauce, luckily made all of ingredients we already had on hand.] Every time we make stir-fry it's so good, so easy, so quick and even healthy, I wonder why we don't do it more often. We really should. It's also pretty cheap. Even Matt--the loyal Wisconsite, the dairy farmer's son, the quintessential cheese head, the eater of all things cheesy and dipped in ranch dressing--said as we ate, "You know, it's kind of nice to have something without cheese on it once in awhile."

Who are you, and what have you done with my husband?

Shenandoah

Rather than hitting the road early like we'd originally planned, we ended up sleeping in this morning to make up for other, shorter nights endured this week. We finally rolled out of bed about nine and decided it was too late to whip up anything for breakfast. Plus, we were out of eggs; plus, it had been a long time since we'd gone out for crepes. So we took care of that, were glad we did, and set out to drive to Shenandoah.

When we tried to get reservations a couple of weeks ago, camping in the park was already full. We decided that was okay and we'd just make a day trip out of it. On the way down, we stopped at a grocery store for some driving food --Triscuits, summer sausage, cheese and grapes--and enjoyed some finger food along with the scenery.

We also enjoyed listening to Garrison Keillor's Lake Wobegon Summer 1956, an old favorite I've listened to many times but which was new to Matt. If you've never heard it, read by the author, it's an experience I would highly, highly recommend. Keillor takes turns being raunchy, hilarious, poignant, and soothing, and his speaking voice and writing style are both amazing. The Cedar Rapids Public Library (still the best I've come across) always had it available, but this time we had to download it from Audible.com. It cost $7.49, downloaded quickly and loaded onto the iPod without any problems.
Once we got to Shenandoah (which took about 2 hours) there wasn't as much fall color as we had hoped for, but the views were still nice, and we ended up parking and going for a 3-hour hike in the woods. It was really nice to be out away from the city, and the weather was great. We had a nice time getting a little exercise and chatting without any kind of deadlines for a change. I think we're definitely going to make it a goal to try to keep getting out of the city on a regular basis-- it's really refreshing to us both.
On the way home from the park, we ended up coming across a vineyard and having a free mini wine tasting. The day just kept getting better!
By around 8:30 we were fantasizing about dinner, so we stopped to get some tomatoes and basil while we were out. Once we got home, Matt whipped up a quick batch of pizza crust and we made a pizza with crushed tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, and basil (and, of course, lots of cheese).
And now we're just happy to be back home. Tomorrow we're going to go to yoga, I'm going to work on homework, and then I'm excited to have the week (mostly) off of school.