.Erin.’s Neighborhood

for "healthy" or I guess...healthier spinach and artichoke dip. Any suggestions?

Today is Day 10 of the Master Cleanse, I did it!

I am planning on baking up a storm this Xmas! First up? Pumpkin cupcakes with cream cheese frosting for Turkey Day!

Got my New Moon Tickets! Midnight release? Really...I'm too old for this stuff.

My sparkly skull came in the mail yesterday and it is awesome.

I caved and turned on the Xmas music, and also peeked at the Black Friday ads...cheeter pants! I did not, however, get out the decorations.

I have been stuck on the same lame book for over a week. Just....cant....finish....

Suggested by JM:

“Life is too short to read bad books.” I’d always heard that, but I still read books through until the end no matter how bad they were because I had this sense of obligation.  That is, until this week when I tried (really tried) to read a book that is utterly boring and unrealistic. I had to stop reading.

Do you read everything all the way through or do you feel life really is too short to read bad books?

I've almost always completed books that I've started.  Maybe because I usually read books that have been well-reviewed or maybe because I'm generally an optimist and that even after a slow start I hope that it might get better, or maybe I have a stick-to-it-iveness that says if you're going to start something you might as well finish it.

Speaking of of finishing it, that does remind me of one of the few books I didn't finish -- "IT" from Stephen King.  Clocking in at over a thousand pages and at the apex of his drug-addled, no-one-will-edit-him 80s long windedness (Steve: more isn't always better) -- I plodded along in this for about 400 pages and then said, "No mas!"

Oddly, I know several people for whom this book was one of their favorites, but I couldn't stand IT.

Just wondering if I am the only person that tends to eat more when they are sick. It's like, I feel bad, so I go around the house eating whatever I can get my hands on hoping that it will be the magical thing that will make me feel better. In the end, I'm still sick and now my pants are tight too. 

This is what happens.
I'm going to get the mail and I hear or think I hear "Magnet & Steel" coming out of a passing car.

And then the song is stuck in my head.
And then I remember that the song is prominently featured in the movie Boogie Nights.
So I pop in the disc and watch the movie. Cuz, hey, what else am I going to do today?
So I finish the movie and I remember that the directors audio commentary is maybe the best audio commentaries every recorded.
So I watch / listen to that.
Then I say, hey, I'm still not doing anything and have some time to kill so I'm just gonna go ahead and watch the other commentary track featuring many of the actors in which Marky Mark is drunk and discusses having broken his penis (not the prosthetic in the film but the real thing.)
So I watched/listened to that.

And that is how I ended up watching a very long movie three times today because I may or may not have heard a song coming out of someones car.

(On top of that I watched One Flew Over The Cucukoo's Nest. Which damaged me for life when I read the book and saw the movie as a early teenager.)

It was a big day for Penny yesterday as she completed and graduated from her Family Dog I class.  For the past month and a half or so, we’ve been working on sitting and staying and heeling and coming when called – all the things that are needed to be a good dog citizen.
 

I will have to say that Penny didn’t really love the classroom environment, because she couldn’t quite conceive of a place where there were half a dozen nice dogs and that she wasn’t supposed to play with them.  What else could they be there for???
 
Still – when called on to do her series of behaviors, I have to say that she did really really well and passed with flying colors.  After the final class, there was a little graduation ceremony and all the dogs received their diplomas to everyone’s cheers, though I’m pretty sure Penny was everybody’s favorite (not that I’m biased or anything).
 
After the class, Penny got an extra treat and then got to go play with her BFF Roxy the Vizsla at dog beach.  They ran and ran and ran together and just had a great old time.
 

Afterwards, we all tramped over to a dog-friendly café in Del Mar for a late breakfast, relaxing well into the early afternoon over good food, pleasant conversation and tired pups.
 
Good job, Penny!

I wasn't going to blog about this but I'm bored of not eating and need something to do with my fingers.

The Master Cleanse diet is basically a ten day cleanse where you eat nothing, and drink a special lemonade, water, laxative tea, and herbal tea. (I have not opened my fridge in 4 days. I wonder what is mutating in there?)

The tea is made of
2tbsps fresh lemon juice
2tbsps organic maple syrup
1/10 tsp cayenne pepper
8 ozs fancy water

It actually tastes pretty good.

Oh I forgot the worst part! The AM sea salt water flush:( This is where you drink 32 oz of water with 2tbsp sea salt. You chug, and then run to the bathroom. TMI? It is not pleasant. Today was the worst because I had really really bad stomach cramps for a lot of the day but I really don't feel that hungry, just craving something crunchy and salty (that isnt salt water).

It is funny how you realize how much everything you do relies heavily on eating. Watching a movie without candy or popcorn, or god forbid, a giant diet coke? No thanks. Shopping on a Saturday without a latte? Pass. You have lots of free time on the Master Cleanse. It's not really something to subject your friends to.

I have been occupying my time on this lovely Saturday by watching the Food Network, Guy Fieri to be exact. I resisted for a while because I thought it might just make me hungry but its actually not bad at all. I am also watching Chopped because it is amazing and nothing on that show looks edible.

I have finally gotten over my Grilled Cheese Grill obsession. Kind of.

The Master Cleanse is my master plan to avoid the swin flu. Wish me luck!

Xkcd is usually pretty good -- but this is genius.

Happy Friday!

I discovered this in a pile of books that were donated to the office by a patient.

So, one of the things I’ve gotten to spend some more time with during my – err – sabbatical from gainful employment – is my piano.

For those who’ve been around here a while, you might recall that a couple of years ago, I was stressing about and then actually enjoying learning a little music theory in the last piano class I had before I started taking private lessons.

So, last year, after I’d settled in and developed a bit of rapport with my teacher, I’d described the things I’d liked and not-liked about the classes I had taken.  One thing I’d said I’d appreciated (and that maybe it was my analytical-science side coming out) was the introduction to music theory that I’d had – how it helped shaped the way I heard and learned new pieces.  She suggested that I start a series of workbooks on music theory for the piano.

I think this series is pretty good, and after a year or so I’m right in the middle of the set.  I’ve really enjoyed learning the hows and whys of how a musical composition is put together.  We’ve covered meter, scales, keys, intervals, chords, ornaments, motifs and have begun to analyze different compositions for melodic phrase structure.  There are also sections for ear training and sight-reading.  Altogether, I think they’ve really helped me be a better (and I use this word very generously) musician.

So, of course, reading and dissecting music naturally began to make me curious about how it gets created.  Do you start from a motif and build?  Do you start with a feeling and go?  What are the “rules” that make something sound “good”?  And so on…

And so, last month, I started another series: “The Craft of Music Composition”.  This also has several levels and naturally I’m starting at the entry level, since I’ve never written music in my life.  The first book has a sort of a lead-you-by-the-hand way that takes some of the intimidation out of the idea of putting notes to paper (or notes into Finale’ as the 21st century equivalent might be…) – while learning some of the common techniques used by composers.

I’ve never really considered myself a “creative” person.  Insightful, maybe.  Analytical, for sure.  So composition is way out of my comfort zone – and maybe that’s good.  I don’t know that there will be any critical successes coming from my brain, but it sure is fun to sit and plink-plunk-plink at the keys and decide what you think sounds good.

Wish me luck!

Sure, I've been sick for a week and a half now with a cold that is holding on like a pit bull. And swine flu has hit the kids' school (not my kids luckily). But there are the graces in life that make it all ok.