Apocalypse Averted

Posted on January 11, 2014 by The Sugarlump

I went outside the other day. It was terrible. I don’t think I’ll do it again for a while. Not that I’m having much better luck indoors. A delightful side effect of these frigid temperatures: reduced amperage to my cable box. Or something like that. Translation: my connection freezes every 45 seconds, making it extremely irritating to try to watch TV as I only get about 1/17th of every story on the news.

So I had nothing left to do except hunker down and make food like the end of the world was imminent. I made LOTS of tomato soup, which Eugene and I feasted on for several meals, and homemade meat sauce. I froze most of it so now I have a very full freezer and I’m tomatoed out.

Tomato soup with grilled cheese…

Tomato soup with garlic bread…

Naturally, I also had to make something sweet. I decided to make those peanut butter chocolate kiss cookies. My recipe made 20 cookies but I only had 17 kisses (don’t ask me how that happened) so I had to improvise a little. I adorned the 3 kiss-less cookies with a row of chocolate chips. Eugene said she actually preferred this set-up because the chocolate was more manageable and evenly distributed. I can see her point, but the cookies are totally not as cute without the kisses.

Scarlett thought these drastic times called for drastic measures and the relaxation of house rules like the one about her not being allowed on my coats or the table and especially not both at the same time.

She was wrong. Busted.

Gus is having a hard time coping.

Things were getting really rough. It was so cold that the water draining from Eugene’s car was frozen mid-air.

In fact, conditions were so bad that Eugene casually mentioned something about how she thinks ironing is “kind of therapeutic.” I think she kind of slipped on some ice and hit her head.

Thankfully, when the sun comes up tomorrow it will be over 50 degrees. Back to some sense of normalcy…or as close to normal as things get around here.

Y’all hurry back,

Sugarlump

Summer in January

Posted on January 12, 2013 by The Sugarlump

The weather has been quite strange here in Nashville the past few days. We’ve had a lot of rain and temperatures hovering around 70 degrees. I’ve had my porch door open all today and yesterday. Just the week prior, I put a second duvet on my bed because it was so cold. Last night, I couldn’t even look at the duvet without breaking a sweat. I have no idea what is going on.

It rained off and on yesterday, leaving behind some interesting clouds as the sun set. If I didn’t know any better, I would have thought it was July.

I think this is one of my favorite sunset pictures I have taken so far.

Every 5 minutes, the sky looked completely different.

This is the most color I’ve seen in the sunset in months. I also work in a windowless office and it is pitch black by the time I leave work at 6:00 so it could very well be that I’ve missed a lot of beautiful sunsets this winter.

I couldn’t get enough of this sunset. I hadn’t realized that I’d been in such sunset withdrawl.

Check out those hot pink clouds! They look like cotton candy in the sky, which reminds me of the fair, which reminds me of summer. I can’t wait for summer.

Y’all hurry back,

Sugarlump

Seasonal Sunsets

Posted on November 11, 2012 by The Sugarlump

It finally feels like fall here in Nashville. This weekend was beautiful and sunny. I haven’t had the air conditioning on in weeks and it hasn’t been cold enough to turn on the heat just yet either. The only difficult … Continue reading →

Ramblings

Posted on September 10, 2012 by The Sugarlump

Lord, I was born a rambling (wo)man.

I tend to ramble. Not so much in my speech or in my travels, but in my mind. Here’s what’s gone through my head in the last few minutes:

1) My pinky finger hurts. (Also known as a “finky” in Eugene language.)

I gave myself a doozy of a paper cut today as I was trying to steadfastly recycle all of my paper, cardboard, bottles and cans. A thin piece of cardboard had it out for me. It drew blood. A lot of blood for a paper cut. I didn’t have anything to clean my cut with so I poured some hand sanitizer over it. BOY that did the trick. I had to squeeze my steering wheel with all my might to keep from yelling. Thankfully, car inspection lady who also works at the waste management center was not there this time to witness it.

2) I’m hungry.

I was perusing some food blogs today and came across a game-changing recipe that had to do with French fries, parmesan cheese and some sort of chipotle lime dip. It sounded outrageously delicious. I was planning on going for a brisk walk at the time and was seriously tempted to ditch those plans in favor of making the fries, but I held it together and stuck to my exercise plan.

That, and I didn’t have any potatoes.

I’m so disciplined.

3) I love accents.

Having lived in Boston for 13 years, I had a lot of exposure to extreme Boston accents, though I never had one myself. I don’t know what comes over me, but every now and then I think of words in a Boston accent. Kind of like when you learn a second language and think of words in that language, except not exactly. Anyway, I grabbed my loofah in the shower this evening and cracked myself up thinking of how this would be called a “loofer” in a Boston accent.

I’m weird.

4) I need to replace my watch battery.

My watch battery is nearly dead. Not completely dead, because the time does change, just at a fraction of real time. My watch currently reads 2:37PM and indicates that it’s the 5^th of the month. I know I’m on slow time here in Nashville, but not that slow.

Despite my watch being temporarily useless, I continue to wear it as a reminder to go get the battery replaced. I have continued to forget to get the battery replaced for the past week now. And I also continue to forget that my watch is not functioning properly and consequently find myself staring at my wrist confused most of the day.

I think I need my memory replaced as well.

5) The sunsets here are so pretty.

I never tire of watching (and photographing) the sunset.

It makes me realize that I should stop thinking so much.

Don’t pay me no mind,

Sugarlump

Wide-Angle Storm

Posted on September 9, 2012 by The Sugarlump

Earlier this week, a very angry storm rolled in. I didn’t even know it was coming until I was watching the local 6:00PM news and the weather forecaster starting listing off the times the storms would hit each town nearby. … Continue reading →

Electrifying

Posted on August 18, 2012 by The Sugarlump

A storm rolled in the other evening after a fairly uneventful few days on the weather front. The wind picked up quite a bit and the lightning was nearly constant. I ran to brush my teeth before the storm got … Continue reading →

I Take it Back

Posted on August 6, 2012 by The Sugarlump

Since I have made such a big deal about the skies, clouds, and storms in the South during my first few months as a Nashvillian, my former hometown of Boston decided to teach me a lesson. While I was back … Continue reading →

(Fake) Sun and Rain

Posted on August 2, 2012 by The Sugarlump

Earlier this evening, after work, I went to get a spray tan because I am going to be in my friend’s wedding this weekend and I’ve had a cumulative 3 hours to sit out by the pool this summer.

And I don’t really tan well.

At all, really.

My own mother even called me pale.

So, I found myself at the tanning salon trying to turn myself a natural bronze without subjecting myself to sun damage.

Do you know the number one rule of getting a spray tan?

Do NOT get wet. Otherwise your “tan” will spot. And the only thing worse than being pale is having a spotty tan.

Imagine my delight when I left the tanning salon and saw this sky. Oh goody.

I got in my car and decided if I couldn’t be out in the rain, I would drive around and chase the storm.

Funnel cloud?

The skies looked different in every direction. There were, dark clouds, sheets of rain, light clouds, pink clouds, a sunset and a spray tan happening all at once.

I could see the shafts of rain and then the sunset illuminating the clouds behind the storm clouds.

This looked promising.

Keeping an eye on that suspicious cloud in the mirror.

Uh oh. The rain was coming for me.

It got me. But luckily my spray tan was safe inside my car.

After my 10 minutes storm chase, I headed by to my apartment as the rain let up a bit. I ran like a mad woman from my car to my apartment with an umbrella after weighing my options of either a) getting my spray tan wet and splotchy or b) getting struck by lightning because I was carrying a metal object. I had decided option b was less likely to ruin my wedding look.

These shots were taken from the safety of my porch. Although, Gus was very vocal in expressing his disapproval of my being out on the porch in such conditions. I could hear his meow faintly through the glass door.

I survived, as did my spray tan.

Y’all be careful,

Sugarlump

The Garden: Progress Report #7

Posted on July 31, 2012 by The Sugarlump

My first year gardening with Papa has been a bittersweet one. I began the season excited about finding the Partridge head beans in the deep freeze and eager to learn from Papa. While I have learned a lot from Papa, … Continue reading →

Cottage Cheese

Posted on July 24, 2012 by The Sugarlump

Although I try to post (almost) everyday, sometimes I just can’t pull it all together. And I subscribe to the rule, “If you can’t blog something nice/interesting, then don’t blog nothin’ at all.” Yesterday, all that came to mind was “tired. need sleep.” so I decided to cut my losses and go to bed.

Today, however, I have some news to report: turns out cottage cheese is not half-bad.

In my desperation to find something quick for dinner at the grocery store last evening, I happened upon cottage cheese as I was passing between the eggs and the sour cream (two things I really like). Now, I’ve had some brief experiences with cottage cheese in the past, but we never got along that well. I decided it was finally time to give it another chance.

After I got home from the grocery store, I prepared a robust and balanced meal of cottage cheese and steamed broccoli.

(It could have been worse. At least there was some nutritional value.)

Anyway, I actually kind of liked the cottage cheese and I ate it again this evening. I might even eat it again tomorrow and the next day.

After that, I will probably be tired of it and not eat it again for a few years.

That’s just the way I am with food. I become obsessed with things and then I can’t stand the thought of them for a while.

I think I need to review my self-imposed blogging rules.

Let me try again:

Hey there,

Welcome to Tuesday’s post.

I saw a lovely sunset the other night on my walk/run. Ralk? Wun? Trot?

I’ll work on that some more.

And one more random story for the road:

I did some laundry yesterday and I have yet to fold it. Miss Scarlett thought these sheets and towels made a perfect nest on top of her favorite chair.

Bliss.

I’ll do better tomorrow. I promise.

Y’all come back,

Sugarlump