Snowy Pictures

Okay ... it looks like Google changed something with the Blogger photo upload process, which means I have to go change a firewall setting in order to post. Oy veh ... why couldn't they leave something unbroken?

So, here are some delayed (by a few days) pics of Snowy ... not the snow outside (which we're tired of), but Snowy the kitten:

Testing, Testing ...

Okay ... this is a little frustrating. Google HAD photo uploads working, but now for some reason, even with the cache cleared, the upload function isn't working again. What gives?

This Weekend

In the forecast: more snow! Not as much as they're supposed to get up in Iowa, but another couple of inches ... something tells me that the groundhog made a small mistake this year.

Oh well ... it's a good weekend for staying in, making scratch pizza, scrapbooking (for Woodgie), and playing with the kitties.

Volunteer Work

Just a quick post for now (since I'm typing this right before bed). Today I started volunteer work with the local food pantry ... mostly a couple of hours a week on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday stocking shelves and helping clients, but also getting to know the other volunteers. It isn't hard work, but it is fulfilling, which is something I need right now.

Nothing Major to Post ... Just a Few Notes

Nothing major to post, so today it's odds and ends day:

Yesterday, we had our second encounter with the "marital-industrial" complex in town, with a student-run bridal show on campus. It wasn't that bad ... plenty of chocolate to go around, and Lauren even won a discount cert for a photography package during one round of door prizes. Unfortunately, it was for the other photographer in attendance, not the one who we had already hired and whose booth was sitting 10 foot away from us. So we politely declined.

This morning, the local vets in town are running discounts through the 28th on spaying and neutering, so we took Snowball into the vet for her shots, declawing, and neutering. We hope that when we get her back tomorrow that she isn't too mad at us.

EDIT: We got her back yesterday morning from the vet, and fortunately, she's still her cuddly, lovable self. Here is a better picture of her:

Valentine's Day

Oops ... before I forget, here's a quick post on Valentine's Day: rather than try to get reservations at A&G, we instead decided that we were going to start a tradition of cooking each other dinner every other year. Since Lauren cooked when I came down last year, it was my turn to cook this year. Sorry, there are no pictures of the meal ... I'm usually the picture taker, and I was too busy cooking it to take any pictures.

The meal itself came out very well, although it turned into a running dinner because we had to cook the Cornish hens a little bit longer than the recipe called for ... no biggie. It just simply meant we were eating dinner while watching the movie Chocolat rather than before.

Soup: I originally planned a curried pumpkin soup, but I changed my mind and used a box of Campbell's Select Gold Roasted Portabella Mushroom soup instead. This is comfort food.

Roasted Cornish Hens: These were done with a marinade of whisky, Splenda, lots of soy sauce, garlic, ginger, and freshly ground pepper, for three to four hours, then baked at 375 for a minimum of 1 hour (not 30 minutes as the recipe called for). Then, for a tasty sauce for the hens, I took a cup of the marinade, added an equal amount of balsamic vinegar, and reduced it down for 2 minutes.

Asian Spinach: to complement the Cornish Hens, I did a pretty simple stir-fry of spinach with toasted sesame seeds, minced garlic, soy sauce, and a bit of Splenda to balance the soy sauce off ... sort of a continuation of a theme.

Rice with Carrots, Lemon, and Mint: long-grain rice with a mirepoix of minced carrots, scallions, and the juice and a small amount of zest from one lemon.

Dessert: Woodgie had bought a small set of Chinese New Year specialty chocolates (the Lapsang Suchoung and dark chocolate ones were sublime). We had these with a chocolate-infused tea from the same company.

When done, she proclaimed it one of the best meals she has had.

High and Dry

Another interesting morning here in Maryville: woke up this morning to NO WATER in the house. Our city water department thinks that our meter froze: no surprise, given temps dropped down to -4 here overnight (before wind chill). Hopefully, someone will be out before noon to have it looked at.

I stopped off at Wal-Mart to pick up a couple of gallons in the meantime, but in the meantime, it's shaping up to be one of those mornings. Sigh.

EDIT: We got water service back at about 11:30, although we're now having to keep one faucet at a drip/trickle to avoid a repeat of the problem. Oh well.

Test Post Following the Conversion

Hi all ... just a test post after converting to the "new" Blogger system, which hasn't impressed me so far (let's see ... can't post pictures due to a glitch, can't edit and repost an existing post due to another glitch). As much as I like the new features, the new system is batting 0 for 2 right now.

Edit: that's fixed. Turns out that in order for the "new" Blogger to work, you have to clean out the old Blogger cookies. Thirty seconds later, and I'm able to post pictures and edit and repost existing posts.

And now I can play with the tags ...

The 100th Post: Some Cozy Kitties

Welcome to the 100th post for the Cozy Kitty's Weblog ... so it's only fair to devote this entry to ... ahem, some cozy kitties:

First up, some pictures of Stinkerbelle and Opie, plus my Woodgie:














Another of Opie with Woodgie:














A close-up of Stinkerbelle:














And now, the introduction to the newest member of the menagerie, who arrived late yesterday evening: Snowball!!! (Yes, we know she's a black kitten ... we didn't name her, but we do think the name is ironically appropriate). She's 3 months old, and we got her from one of Lauren's students, whose boyfriend discovered he had one too many kittens and needed a new home for her, so when they found out that we had lost Kitty, they offered her to us.















So far, she's been a doll; for now, we're keeping her in the bedroom, to give both her and us time to acclimate to having a new kitten in the house. Right now, she's having fun exploring the nooks and crannies of her new home and having her first meal. Later this morning, I'm going to re-introduce her to the litter box and see if she can get comfortable with the other two cats.

And now, to borrow a very old Internet meme:

Cheshirekitty speaks: A tribute to Kitty

Here is a picture of Kitty in better days. You may or may not be able to notice this, but Kitty was an odd-eyed white, with one blue and one gold-green eye.

I adopted Kitty as a tw0-year-old cat at the Otsego County (New York) Humane Society several years ago. Or perhaps she adopted me. She was the only cat at the shelter that not only liked petting, but invited it by standing up and grabbing my hand.

Kitty was the consummate "cuddleslut". She lived to be petted. If two people in the room were simultaneously petting her, she would look reproachfully at the third, as if to say, "Why aren't YOU petting me?" She spent some time outdoors when she was younger, mostly because she felt her social options were too limited as an indoor cat. When I lived in upstate NY, she was known to the whole neighborhood as "the white cat", and the little girls in the neighborhood would come to my yard to visit her.

Wherever she was in the yard, she would stroll to meet anyone who came to visit. She had no fear, once daring even to try to break up a catfight between two neighboring cats (to no avail).

Later in life, she became much more mellow, and in her last year of life had chosen to remain indoors. However, if any other cat in the house was getting attention, she would stroll over with her "Pet ME, pet ME" attitude.

Kitty is already sorely missed.

Kitty: Now at the Rainbow Bridge

Today's been a long day: earlier this morning at 5:00, we woke to the distressed yowls of Kitty, our 12 year old geriatric cat (the odd-eyed white), who with the exception of minor dental problems (due to her being an outdoor cat for quite awhile), had been quite healthy.

We brought Kitty into the bedroom and put her on a towel in a small Sterlite tub, so we could take turns calming her down and keeping her warm (we'd noticed that she had lost function and circulation in her back legs), while we put in a fast call to the vet. Maryville is too small a town to have an emergency or on-call vet service, but in this case, it wouldn't have helped, as the damage had already been done before we got to her.

We had thought that Kitty had a stroke, which was partially correct: as best as the vet could tell, after the morning litter, she developed an aortic blood clot, resulting in a iliac or "saddleback" thrombosis , a form of aortic embolism which lodged in her femur or femoral artery, leaving her hindquarters paralyzed due to circulatory failure. It was also causing her significant gastrointestinal distress, and, although we didn't know it at the time, the condition also apparently causes a cat great pain, due to the circulatory cutoff and damage to nerve tissue.

Although there are recorded cases of cats surviving an occurrance, if the diagnosis and surgery to remove the clot is immediate, it appears that most (90 percent) of cats ultimately have a second episode, and the prognosis for full recovery is poor.

As a long-time cat owner, Lauren had already prepared for what was to come, due to the advanced age of both Kitty and Opie, but it was a new experience for me, as my family had never had pets growing up. After the diagnosis, we both knew that prolonging Kitty's life was out of the question, so by 8:30, the vet was adminstering an anesthetic to put her to sleep, followed by a shot to euthanize her.

We're not sure yet if we're going to get another cat ... we're going to watch our remaining cats to see how well they will adjust, but I'm guessing that we'll probably be looking for one down the road. We had already planned to put in a small "cat" themed garden, with pussywillows and other "feline" themed plants and decorations, but now we will add a small memorial stone for Kitty as well.

As for where Kitty is now, I'm not sure if I fully believe in the Rainbow Bridge, but it is a comforting thought to hope that she is now running through a sunny meadow with hills of catnip, accompanied by other pets waiting for their loved ones.

Day 2 of Just a Little Wobbly ...

Today is day two ... Cheshirewoodgie (Lauren) thought she had avoided the worst of the norovirus and went to work: no such luck for her. I went to campus to pick her up early, and now she's home and in bed recuperating while I've changed places; as she nursemaided me on Sunday, I'm now nursemaiding her as she overcomes the worst of it.

This has given me some time to return to the other topic I've addressed as of late: trying to answer the self-posed question: "who am I as a person without a job to define me?"

To help me answer that question, I turned to my favorite sci-fi series: the 5-year epic Babylon 5. The two alien races that are the antagonists, the Vorlons and the Shadows, have competing questions that form what the show is about:

From Wikipedia:

"The central theme in Babylon 5 is the conflict between order and chaos and the people caught in between.

"The Vorlons represent an authoritarian philosophy: you will do what we tell you to, because we tell you to do it. The Vorlon Question 'who are you?' focuses on the identity as the motivator over personal goals." (Put simply, when you lose the focus on "what you want", you are able to focus more on "what is the good for the whole" Or at least, you should be able to.)

On the other hand: "The Shadows represent anarchy. Their belief is that by creating conflict, a stronger generation is born — 'survival of the fittest'. The question they pose is "what do you want?" They place desire and ambition before everything else, encouraging conflict between other groups, who choose to serve their own glory or profit. Selfishness is often the turning point of a character from light to darkness, and selflessness denotes a change in the reverse."

According to the show's creator, J. Michael Straczynski, the order in which you answer these questions can make you ... or break you:

"It's not that there's a *correct* answer, but that there's an *informed* answer. If you decide what you want, before you know who you are, you're likely to get something that will destroy you; if you know who you are, you can then ask for something that will be of greater use to you."

So what is my "informed answer"? Who am I without a job to define me? The answer to that lies in a third question asked in the series:

"Lorien (the oldest living being in the B5 galaxy and older than the other two races described above), asks the series hero, John Sheridan, this alternative question: 'Why are you here?'"

Unfortunately, as I was growing up, that question was always answered by someone else, and never by me:

For my Dad, it was always: "you're here because we wanted a son to take over the family farm, just as I did", even if I wasn't meant to be a farmer and didn't want to survive at near-poverty levels. I did not want to be a farmer, where I was at the mercy of the weather and crop prices. Being the eldest, his responsibility was to the family, regardless, and he made his choices. But I did not want to be a farmer just because HE was.

For my Mom, it was always: "you're here because your father wanted a son, even though I had difficulties giving birth to you". She always held the guilt held over my head as I grew up, making me wish that my birth had been a bit easier for her.

It's rather hard to ask yourself "why are you here?" when you've already got two unhealthy answers already confronting you, don't you think?

So now I've reached a point where I have to start asking myself that question, because one of the old definitions of myself, "I am a very good technical writer" no longer applies anymore.

So "why am I here?"

On a practical level, I'm here in Maryville because it got me closer to my fiancee, let us live together, develop my housekeeping skills, and consolidate finances until I can find a job. I'm also apparently here to help our pastor learn some computer skills, if he can find the time to sit down with me to do this. I'm also apparently here to sing ... though in what capacity, I'm still learning.

I'm also here to write: this blog is an example of that, and my fiancee is encouraging me to take the time to develop some writing ideas.

Mainly, I think I'm supposed to start grappling with some of my baggage: my past struggles with my learning differences, and the work stress dealing with an emotionally unhealthy workplace, which included workplace harassment and rumor-milling that sprang from the unchecked immaturity, untrustworthiness, and territoriality of some of my ex-coworkers (not the ones I stay in contact with, I should point out).

For the last, I apologize: I once promised that I would not speak ill of my fellow coworkers, and for the sake of the company for which I once worked, that is as much as I will say about the situation.

I'm also here to learn what else I can do well, since my chosen profession is in decline: the job market for technical writers is thin at best, and I'm geographically challenged since my fiancee has tenure and is unable to move.

On an existential level, I'm here to learn to take care of myself better, to forgive myself for having weaknesses in the form of my learning differences, to accept that perhaps there is a reason God created me with them, and to forgive God for doing this. As a human being, that is the best I can do.

It may not be a complete answer to the question ... but it's a start.

Just a Little Wobbly ...

Very quick post: today finds both Cheshirekitty and myself home in bed (we know what you're thinking and it's NOT that).

No, we're both home sick ... I seem to have picked up a norovirus from somewhere on Saturday, which left me flat on my back for most of Sunday, and I think I've given a mild version of it to Cheshirekitty, who is queasy but not as in bad a shape as I was ... which is why we're both in bed, reading, blogging, and recuperating this morning, subsisting on sports drink and water and a bare minimum amount of breakfast.

It's just as well ... with another five inches of snow on the ground here, we're enjoying the winter wonderland from indoors, as well as the comforting crackle from our WoodWick candle.

Cheshirekitty speaks: Scrapbooking the courtship process

Today and tonight I have been working on a scrapbook/storybook that commemorates (sp?) our courtship, engagement, wedding planning, and wedding. I figured if I was going to have a wedding album, I wasn't going to have a photo album only, because pictures DON'T tell a thousand words, especially the typical professional wedding portraiture. So this is a wedding album that includes things like:

* we met on Match.com and talked by computer for a while
* my family flipped over him the first time they met him
* we started hinting to each other about proposing on the same day
* we had to go through a lengthy pastoral counseling because I was previously married
* we want a special, not-too-big, and not-too-expensive wedding.

Richard is contributing his voice to the album, which will eventually have the wedding pictures, guests' signatures, stories, etc.

Richard and I won't have children to pass it on to (by choice as well as by medical prudence, given my age), but I have discovered that one can pass things on without having children to pass them to. My Aunt Peggy, who never had a daughter, has supplied me with the "something old" in my wedding wardrobe -- a handkerchief from her recently deceased friend Evelyn, which Evelyn carried in her wedding almost 71 years ago. I am absolutely thrilled with this!

At Least We Don't Have This To Deal With ...

We were reading the other day about a New Orleans couple who seemed to have an even more interesting wedding dilemma than the usual:

Wedding Plans Disrupted By Saints Playoff Game

Who Am I? (pt.1)

According to the cats, I'm

• "He Who Scritches Their Ears"
• "He Who Should Pet Me"
• "He Who Fills the Water and Food Dishes"

and ...


wait for it ...

• "He Who Cleans the Litter Box".

Dealing With Shame

As I look back on the last year's worth of posts, I realized that in discussing life in Maryville(tm) and wedding planning, I've haven't really written anything self-reflective, because I've been too busy trying to find a job.

And I realized (after dealing with the stress of not getting another job this last week), that as the job search has gone on, just how hard it is to be an unemployed male, and how I've had to go back and do some self-work to deal with the shame from that.

I must admit how hard it is for me to be unemployed. For six years, I was a technical writer, working for a company with a good reputation as a workplace, getting raises, and working toward a promotion. I was SOMEONE. A professional, with the benefits, perks, and rights thereof. And someone who could be counted on to deliver on-time (or early), or come up with the right answer or the goods when needed.

But now, due to budget cuts because my former company's income dumped due to the worsening economy and jobless recovery following 9/11, I'm unemployed. My daily routine now consists of taking my fiancee to work, heading home, jumping online, checking job websites, submitting resumes if I find anything promising (or even if not), and, while sitting home alone at the laptop, coming to terms with my limitations and self-definitions. I went from productive ... to disposable.

Those of you who know me may know me as quiet. A little bit of an introvert. A geek. A little hard to get to know. There's are reasons for that.

I'll admit that my communication skills are good. Not great, but good. You could even say that they're pretty good, if you factor in that I have had very bad allergies ... it's a bad trade-off when, even if you're on allergy meds, you're having to choose between breathing and speaking. (Kudos to an unnamed program manager at my last job who tried to give me well-meaning advice about public speaking and breathing, but he couldn't seem to grasp that I was dealing with severe allergies and he also couldn't understand that there is a difference between one's speaking voice and singing voice. Taking in enough air to project a good speaking voice only works IF you have the ability to take enough air in to begin with ;-).

You also have to factor in that growing up, I had to have speech therapy to correct some pronounciation issues. And you also need to factor in the possibility (which I haven't been tested for but hope to test for in the near future), that I may have a learning difference or two ... maybe a mild form of ADD, maybe an encoding problem such as dysnomia that mimics ADD.

Either way, it's clear that I ended up with a few stumbling blocks toward having a professional career, but I still managed to have one for six years on the basis of my writing skills and my problem-solving ability. That, I could do well. And I tried my best to develop what speaking ability I did have. You might be surprised to know that I was in Toastmasters for several years, and achieved my CTM (basic level), and ATM-B (advanced), certifications. To do that, you had to have done a minimum of 22 speeches and done them very well.

But I digress. I was talking about shame. And its corollary brother, guilt.

The author of the book Nickel and Dimed, Barbara Ehrenreich, recently wrote a follow-up book called Bait and Switch about the struggles of middle-class unemployment. On her blog, she writes a scathing commentary about shame and unemployment, which illustrates my dilemma:

"Something similar goes on in the case of the laid off and unemployed, thanks to the prevailing Calvinist form of Protestantism, according to which productivity and employment are the source of one’s identity as well as one’s income. Not working? Then what are you? And to put the Calvinist message in crude theological terms: go to hell."

Woodgie and I have talked a bit about gender roles and jobs (and she's well equipped to do so, given that her field is family economics and she's written journal articles and papers on various aspects of the subject), and the hardest part for me hasn't been the income loss (although part of me does feel a little guilty for not being able to contribute to the household monitarily as much as I'd like). Instead, the hard part has been the loss of identity.

There's a burden that comes with being male. The dominant culture perception is that the male is the main economic provider of the household, and if you aren't working or aren't able to readily find a job, it's because you aren't trying, or looking hard enough, or you aren't doing the right things to make you presentable for employers. And in the meantime, you aren't being productive, let alone useful, and you're a bad person, bad husband, bad provider, bad whatever, simply because of that.

Add in the perception of failure - the feeling that if I had planned better, or worked harder, or been able to do something beyond my physical limitations, I might still be employed or have already found another job - and it's a hard burden to overcome.

I'm thankful that Woodgie doesn't subscribe to the dominant culture paradigm ... in other words, she thinks it's great that I'm a house husband, and that her house is cleaner than it has been in ages, and that I contribute to the household chores and cooking as I can.

But now I'm left with the open question: who am I? Or more specifically, who am I without the artificial definition imposed by a job?

I'll touch more on that in the next entry.

New Wedding Blog

In lieu of setting up one of those absurd wedding websites that charge a monthly or yearly subscription fee, we've set up a wedding-specific weblog for our upcoming wedding.

We hope to use the site for pictures and for updates leading up to the wedding. Ultimately, we'll hope to have pictures from the wedding itself.

Our Wedding Blog

New Year's Resolutions

Oh yeah ... before anyone asks, here are our New Years' Resolutions:

Mine:

Lose 5 pounds.

Lauren's:

Walk 3 miles a day (or the equivalent workout thereof).

Something tells me that both of our resolutions will be workable ... I'll probably lose those 5 pounds keeping up with her on her walks.

More Christmas Pics

Some more Christmas pics from the holidays:

Christmas Eve















Christmas Day














The Christmas Table














Randy and Lisa (Lauren's sister and brother in law)














Woodgie Wearing a ???














Woodgie Getting a Gift














Rachel (one of Lauren's nieces) and John (Lauren's Dad)














Making Springerle














Here's Woodgie showing off a fresh batch just prior to baking.















Springerle Before Baking














Christmas Decorations, Washington Park, Ottawa, IL

Happy New Year!!!

Happy New Year!!!

We stayed at home to ring in the new year. With snow on the ground, the roads mushing over, and the temps dropping outside, we decided to ring in the New Year quietly. With the kitties in attendance, we watched a bit of Emeril Live and later worked our way through a couple of episodes of Crusade until right before New Year's local time. Bowing to Woodgie's Quaker tradition, we observed 15 minutes of silence leading into the New Year ... a time for prayers, thoughts, observations, and hopes that the New Year will bring us a better year. God knows, after the year I've had, I could use some positive breaks, and a chance to start over.

Returning to the usual (for most) New Year's Eve tradition, after that, we toasted the New Year with a kiss (awww!), and a bottle of August Hill's Illinois Muscato, one of their new, very sweet, low-alcohol dessert wines. For luck (since Woodgie isn't much of a fan of black-eyed peas), we sampled some pickled herring to accompany the other snacks.

This morning finds us watching the Tournament of Roses parade ... watching it whenever I can is one tradition from childhood that I won't stint on. Of course, this year, we're watching it for the Star Wars special event during the parade. Only true geeks such as ourselves would watch a parade simply to see two floats filled with Star Wars characters and the Grambling marching band dressed as Imperials while playing music from the movies.

We'll probably call around to our families (or vice-versa) sometime today. In one case, I'll have to sneak calls in before the Rose Bowl game.

Also today, Woodgie introduced a new idea to me: to have a productive year, on New Year's Day you should do something work-related but not too much like work, so I read an article about freelancing as a technical writer.

Counting Blessings at the End of the Year

It's time for the end of year post, where we count our blessings ... despite the hardships of the year (losing my job earlier in the year, the stress of a move), there are many:

1. That both Lauren and I are still alive and unharmed to celebrate the New Year, given the car wreck after Thanksgiving that totalled our previous car, and that our insurance came through quickly enough to snag a new one off the lot ... and a thank you to the unknown person who had originally ordered the car, but refused it when she found out that they weren't including a full-sized spare tire with it! Now if State Farm could come up with the reimbursement for the car rental ....
2. That we're in good health. Mine has much improved after leaving an unhealthy and stressful (in every sense of the word) job situation, and Lauren, at least, has been spared the possibility of having gallbladder surgery for another year.
3. That we're both as much in love with each other as ever, and everything is on track for our wedding in March.
4. That we have the continued blessing of friends and extended family, both mine from Des Moines and from years past, and Lauren's from various places (Urbana-Champaign and here in Maryville), who have all enriched our lives in various ways. What makes it amazing is that several of them (at least 3, at last count), are also getting married sometime next year as well (and in one case, the wedding is directly attributable to me, because I introduced them last year).
5. For the blessing of our kitties, who continue to remind us that we need playtime in our lives: for Opie, who (apparently) has kitty Alzheimers and can't quite find the litter box anymore, but can still find the food dish and our laps; for Kitty, who has made the transition to indoor cat quite well (except for the occasional hairball chucking); and even for Stinky, who has finally started to grow a bit and still gives us headaches in going into places and on top of things she shouldn't.
6. For the guidance and blessing of our minister, Mike Kyle, who shepherded us through the pastoral pre-wedding counseling process, and our diocese bishop, who pronounced his blessing on our future wedding.
7. For the blessing of a decent winter so far; although it's been cold, apart from a dusting or two, we haven't had any snow this year, but we have had enough rain to keep the lawn in decent shape. EDIT: I spoke too soon. The next day after I wrote this, we've gotten two inches of snow just in time for New Year's Day. Go figure ;-).

I dare say we've been quite blessed this year ... here's hoping it continues next year as well.

Happy New Year everyone!

Visiting my Parents -- Cheshirekitty Speaks

Today's post is brought to you from Jeremiah Joe's Coffee in Ottawa, Illinois, where we are hanging out drinking coffee and seeing the sights of Ottawa. Ottawa, a city of about 18,000 people, exists about 70 miles from Chicago. My parents live 8 miles away in Marseilles.

Ottawa would have made a wonderful college town, but local folklore (uncorroborated) suggests that they blew their chance years ago, when the city chose the Appellate Court over the University of Illinois. Maybe that's just as well, because Ottawa has retained a certain charming character while getting some culture from its location on the I-80 corridor. For example, Jeremiah Joe's Coffee. And the Court Street Cabaret, where my niece Robyn helps with technical production. We'll be watching Holidazzle (a Vegas-style revue) there this evening.

Of course, for more down-home experiences, there's always hanging at the local Wal-Mart with my mom:Everyone but me thinks I look like my mom.

Hanging of the Greens

Last Sunday after church, the two of us joined fellow church friends in decorating for Christmas ... we hadn't done so earlier because, as Lauren pointed out, the Episcopal church that we go to follows the strict liturgical calendar, which means that the Christmas decorations and trim would not be put up until the end of Advent. She noted that some churches are even stricter than ours, and do not put up their Christmas decorations until Christmas Eve day.

The Organ/Choir Loft














Channing Horner Hangs Trim



















The Front of St Paul's Episcopal

Christmas Decorations, Redux

Most of today was spent recovering from finding out a day ago that I didn't get the KC job I'd interviewed for ... on one hand, I was up against some tough competition (me and 10 others, for what became 1 open slot down from 2), but it would have been nice, if only for the pay alone. But I'm moving on.

I'm interviewing tomorrow for a more local job with a nearby school district. I have my fingers crossed for that one; granted, it may not pay much, but it would mean a 15 minute commute each day, as compared to a 1.5 hour commute down and back to KC every day, and that means more than a nice salary.

So, to take a small break from job hunting, and celebrate a nice day (temps near 60), we headed down to the local Earl May garden shop, which is, sadly, being downgraded to a landscaping services only shop (apparently, the chain is in the middle of a store reduction). As they've having a store-wide clearance, we picked up some additional holiday trim for the front porch. We also picked up a nice bench and side planter combination for the rose garden, and some feed to stock the bird feeders.

A half hour later, we had redecorated the front porch, and added some more Christmas lights:

South Side Candles














The Front Tree














The Front Porch Redone














Bedroom Candles














The Angel Tree














Later that evening, Lauren introduced me to a bit of Christmas nostalgia from the Chicagoland area, having purchased a DVD containing a trio of pre-Rankin Bass stop-motion puppet featurettes: Hardrock, Coco, and Joe, Suzy Snowflake, and Frosty the Snowman.

The Final Score ...

NW Missouri State: 33
Bloomberg (PA): 3

Back to the playoffs again .... but against whom?

I Cannot Tell a Lie ... I'm a Bearcat Fan

It's football playoff time in Maryville; the Bearcats are one game away from playing for the Division II national championship, and to show off their pride for the upcoming game, someone on the second floor of the Admin building outside the Admissions Office has decorated the statue of Abe Lincoln with some Bearcat wear.

The New Honda, Well ... Fits

Just got back from St. Joseph, MO this evening; after we had dropped the rental off, we went over to the Honda dealer to chat with them about the Honda Fit they had on their lot as of Dec. 1 (we had started talking to the dealer by e-mail after we got back from KC). After negotiating through the maze of acquiring financing, discussing warrenty and add-ons, and such, we drove home with it.

On the plus side, we managed to get a new car with a slightly lower monthly payment than I was paying for my Accord, so I was happy. By and large, it's a nice car for a compact; in size, handling, and zippy-ness, it does remind me of the Honda Civic or the Accord hatchback (which I used to own as well), and it has plenty of cargo room. I also think I'll like the car's gas mileage; on the way back, I think we got almost 38-40 miles per gallon ... much improved over my old Accord, and certainly better in this day and age of high gas prices.

The Fit at the Dealer

Symmetry and Convergence

To continue from yesterday's post, I spent most of Wednesday afternoon waiting at the towing company in Kansas City so I could remove the plates and remaining personal belongings from my car. It was ironically appropriate that the final resting place for my Honda was the interior of the former Leeds GM auto plant off Stadium Road, and I came there driving a Chevy, the rental provided by Enterprise.

Built in 1928, the Leeds plant was stripped years ago of its machinery, but you can still tell where the equipment once had been ... swing tracks for assembly hangers, the long, long enclosure for the assembly line, the paint rooms and sub-assembly rooms separated by rolling chain link gates, and the equally long finish out line leading to the holding yard and rail sidings, where Union Pacific stores several older passenger cars and locomotives.

Inside, I drove through the long, long cavern that once held a bustling assembly line until approximately 1998, the year before my car was even built. Empty bays still sit where the production line itself must have run, and not too far from the finish out line, I found myself chatting about previously owned Hondas with the owner of the storage space while taking the back license plate off the fender piece ... this piece I could now carry with two hands, as it was no longer attached to the car.

I finished pulling items out, and by this time, the weather that I'd hoped to avoid was worsening ... the winter storm that KC was slated to get had started to move in, and by that time, I knew I was going to have to spend the night in KC ... fortunately, the owner of the storage space, who knew I wasn't from the area, offered to lead me over to my friends' place safely.

Waiting

It's about 12:48 in Kansas City, MO. Following my job interview this morning, I'm waiting for the partner of the towing service to get here from Blue Springs, so we can retrieve the plates and remaining personal belongings from my (now former) car ... former after State Farm took possession of it following the wreck and we reached a settlement.

After I get home, we'll continue car shopping. I've had good luck with car purchases so far ... I'm hoping that it still holds true.

I'm probably being a bit maudulin about the whole thing. Cars come, cars go, right?

Post-Wreck

By 2:00, we were at Larcoms, extricating our luggage from the remains of the trunk, and being very thankful that we and the other driver/passenger were fine. Our seatbelts did their job and kept us healthy (I only had front airbags, and they didn't deploy), and the other driver's airbags kept them safe. We ended up with some muscle strains and bruses, and we'll probably go have a doc check us out to be sure we're okay.

Shortly thereafter, we hooked up with the rest of our family (they had been coming back to KC from Pittsburg, and they were about a half-hour out of KC at the time of the accident), and later, after filing the claim with our carrier (both I and the other driver had been on State Farm), and discovering that airport car rental locations (at least for Enterprise) don't do insurance replacement rentals, we went down to the Plaza in KC to see the lights.





















Fortunately, on Sunday, following breakfast with Teresa and Cindy, we made it to an open Enterprise location, rented an SUV (which State Farm will pay for most of), loaded our things, and made it home to Maryville in good time.

In one sense, I'm very grateful, and thank God, because it could have been worse. We could have been directly broadsided, and we could have needed extricating with power tools. There could have been serious injuries on either side, but there weren't. Now all that's left is for State Farm to process the claim and then use that money to pay off the car loan: I notified the loan company this morning, and oy, THAT was a fun experience. The CSR went quiet after I told her that the car would likely be totalled out, and when she asked if I needed anything else, I said wryly with a short laugh: "Yeah, I might need some help with financing for a new car once I pay the rest of the loan off."

So we'll see about buying another car ... it's going to be a bit dicey since I'm still unemployed, but I'm hoping that God will, as always, take care of us in this instance. We really could use a break financially.

I'm going to miss my Honda, too. I only had it for three years, but it did what it was supposed to at the end: keep us safe.

More Things to Be Thankful For: Dodge Ram 1, Honda Accord 0

We spent this weekend in Kansas City to meet up with family and friends, and during the weekend, we discovered how thankful (and fortunate) Lauren and I are.

We'd spent yesterday afternoon at City Market in KC for lunch and browse shopping. We'd hoped to get on the road by 1:00, to make it over to the Larcoms (Teresa and Cindy), where we were going to meet my family and they could meet Lauren.

At about 1:30, we had stopped at the intersection of 59th and Ward Parkway, about to cross Ward Parkway. We had a green light, and we had just pulled out into the intersection when we were partially broadsided (driver's side) by another out of town driver who went through the intersection with his pickup, hitting our left side and rear.

The resulting impact spun the car around so that we ended up against the opposite corner curb, with the left quarter panel and most of the trunk crumpled in and fiberglass and shattered auto glass flying. Shaken and a little sore from seatbelt strain, we climbed out of the car. I had to exit out of the passenger side because the impact had buckled the quarter panel into the driver's side door.

It was one of those cases where the wreck itself was pretty unavoidable; we didn't see the vehicle coming because our line of sight was blocked off by the vehicle in the right lane ... although I do recall trying to crank the wheel at the last moment to avoid the worst of the accident, which in retrospect might have saved us from a worse fate.

After making sure that Lauren was okay, I reached back inside, shutting the engine off. I started to collect items that had fallen to the floorboard, realizing belatedly that the claims adjuster would probably factor in the car's age, the shredded quarter panel and trunk, the broken rear windshield and glass, the buckled left axle (the left rear wheel was pushed in), and the (probable) frame warping, and total the car. Then I looked over at the other driver's pickup: some left fender and bumper damage, and popped airbags ... about $1,000 in body work, and a few hundred more for refilling and resetting the airbags, and he'll be back on the road again.

Fortunately, KCMO police and fire (and two tow trucks) responded immediately, and short of sweeping up the broken auto glass and parts, all that was left was exchanging drivers info and plate and insurance information. The officer (who did an incredible job of keeping things orderly), made sure everyone was okay, and, after talking with the witnesses to the wreck as well as both parties, we found out what had happened:

The other driver was from out of town, and he had gotten distracted because shortly past the intersection the road narrowed down to one lane because of road work. We think that he got tunnel vision about the merge, and for all we know, may have dodged into the left lane to try to get around the cars ahead before the lanes merged. (We base that assumption on the skid marks, which ran to 3-4 car lengths going into the intersection). He also might have panicked, suddenly realizing that a)he was at an intersection, b) didn't see the red light (or maybe he saw it but he was too late to stop at that point), and c) that there was a car in the intersection.

The officer cited him for failure to yield. He finally admitted that it was his fault to the officer, but only after two witnesses first told her that he had run the light. He'll likely have a court date down in KC in the future, and his insurance rates will likely climb.

Lauren and I agreed that it was very stupid driving on his part.

Gobble, Gobble, Gobble

"One of the best meals I've ever eaten" - Woodgie, commenting on Thanksgiving lunch/dinner, after sampling the roast turkey. That turned out very nice and juicy following the overnight brining, the spice rub, and the roasting on high heat, followed by further roasting at a lower temp with cheesecloth soaked with sage mead atop it to protect the skin the remainder of the way ... thank you, Alton Brown and an unnamed Food Network competition chef ... your input both made this a turkey to remember. It was a lot of effort, but it worked out very, very well.

The remainder of the dinner (ham, stuffing, etc.) was just as good, and after a morning of cooking and parade watching and playing with the kitties, we're settled in for our Thanksgiving nap.

Happy Thanksgiving! to all of our family and friends.

The First Leon

The first Leon my family did face
was when Dad took some letters and moved them from place
When my mother found out, she exclaimed, "Dear John,
can you tell me why 'Noel' now proclaims 'Leon'?"
Leon, Leon, Leon, Leon
It's all the fault of a father named John.

From there, "sending the Leon" has become a family tradition in Woodgie's family ... it's taken different forms and come from different locations ... one year it was the form of block candles from Leon to Woodgie's mom. Last year, Woodgie's niece, Robyn, was the recipient of the Leon, with toy building blocks spelling Leon that were sent from - where else? - Leon, Iowa.

And that begins the tale of the family holiday season ... we don't know yet who will be the next recipient to carry on the Leon tradition, but we've got a couple of weeks to figure that one out.

We had been planning to turn on the Christmas lights and decorations after Thanksgiving ... however, after all of the next door neighbors turned their lights on this evening, we decided that we would do the same:

Angel Tree:




















This is our "bird feeder" tree, which Lauren bought last summer at the closing sale at a thrift store which went out of business. When we were pulling out Christmas decorations, I discovered two packs of icicle lights from my stores. I didn't want to do icicle lights on the house, because that's been so overdone, so in a moment of inspired creativity, I looped the lights onto the bird tree ... imagine my surprise when we turned the lights on, as we were left with an abstract Christmas angel.




















Front Porch: We're still working on the trim for this one, but it's your basic, dual-wreath setup.















When we were decorating the living room, two of our kitties (Opie and Stinky) decided to take possession of the garland.















Here's the garland after we reclaimed it from the kitties.




















Here's our outdoor tree in all its glory.

Things to Be Thankful For

It's going to be an interesting week coming up, with Thanksgiving on Thursday with one of Woodgie's friends coming up from KC, and then perhaps on Saturday, a chance to see half of my family, who are coming to Missouri to visit friends in KC.

With that for a theme ... here's our list of "things to be thankful for":

1. It looks like the gallbladder tests came out fine, and Woodgie is feeling much, much better than she was a week and a half ago, just in time for feasting on Thursday.
2. I have a screening phone interview for a position with a company in KC on Wednesday. No details yet, but I hope to have better news after this week.
3. After Sunday, we have 95 percent of both the Christmas shopping and Christmas decorating done as of this week ... the decorating will be 100 percent done this evening after finding some sticky hooks for the last piece of garland, and the Christmas shopping will be done after one or two more purchases, hopefully this next weekend.
4. Friday is the one year anniversary of the start of our relationship ... even though we "met" officially back in Spring of '05, we count Thanksgiving as the "official" date (yes, this year it falls on Black Friday ... don't read anything into that, please).
5. Family and friends - I haven't seen my family since New Years, 2004, due to conflicting holiday schedules, but I'll see part of them this weekend, and also thanks for the "extended family" at our church, as well as those friends at my former churches back in Des Moines, and for Lauren's friends (now our friends), too.

Secret Santa

This morning, Woodgie sent me a link to a story in the KC paper. I must admit, being unemployed and going into the holidays has left me feeling a little blue, but reading this story left me feeling a bit more thankful for what I do have ... and grateful that there are still people like him still around:

Secret Santa Revealed

The Thanksgiving Menu

After watching last night's Food Network extravaganza on Thanksgiving (Emeril Live, Good Eats, and a Thanksgiving meal competition), our menu plans for Turkey Day have been finalized:

1. Roast turkey breast (of course) - only we're pulling out all the stops - brine soaking it the evening before, followed by a traditional spice rub and then roasting ... one of the competitors last night did a nice technique we're going to adapt: covering the meat with a wine soaked cheesecloth to keep the meat moist as it roasts. We're going to try that, using either a sage-honey mead (if we can find any in Woodgie's remaining homemade stock, that is), or a cranberry wine that her dad made last year.
2. Ham - we almost didn't include this on the menu. Woodgie has some nasty allergies to nitrates and normally, she can't eat ham because of the curing. Fortunately, a packing company out of Iowa named Beelers has started producing a very nice set of uncured products (sausage, weiners, bacon, brats), and now they've finally put out an uncured ham chub at a decent price. We'll probably do a typical glaze - brown sugar (probably a Splenda blend), cloves, prepared mustard, and perhaps a little honey.
3. Cranberry relish - Woodgie has a nice recipe for this we're going to try.
4. Multi-grain stuffing, with pecans, golden raisins, and apple juice - I started making this about six years ago when the recipe first appeared on the Butterball website, and it has a very nutty texture that holds up very well to gravy ... it helps that it's the only stuffing that Woodgie likes, as she normally doesn't like stuffing.
5. Mixed greens salad, with almonds and dried cranberries, topped with a balsamic vinagrette.
6. Green beans with almonds, mushrooms, and a small handful of Beeler's uncured bacon, for taste.
7. Roasted and seasoned red potatoes - after weighing everything, we decided that we'd forego the mashed potatoes this year in favor of roasted/seasoned ... while they are a usual staple of the Thanksgiving table, mashed potatoes are a bit hard on the calorie count.
8. Turkey gravy (our one concession to pre-packaged), using a brand called Simply Organic. We sampled some at the local Hy-Vee, and it was very, very good, as well as being low-fat.

Finally for dessert, we'll be trying out a sweet potato flan recipe that we first sampled at Friday Night Cafe several weeks ago.

After we'd hashed out the menu, Woodgie did point out that we were making a large amount of food, but I noted that we could count on having leftovers, also a Thanksgiving tradition.

Something New For the Blog

For the techie minded among our readers, I'm including something new for the blog. Below the "I Power Blogger" logo, I've included the capability to add this blog to your RSS (syndicated) feed-reader, and included add links for My Yahoo and also a generic RSS 2.0 feed.

What this means for non-techies is this: if you wanted a quick way to see if there were new postings, you can use an RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed reader such as the one in My Yahoo or Google (or any RSS reader application) to set up a feed for the blog.

After you subscribe (by clicking on the RSS or My Yahoo icons), the next time there is a new entry, you'll see a link to it in your feed reader, courtesy of the Feedburner service.

Quite nifty, eh? The kitty chorus (Kitty, Opie, and Stinky), all give it six paws up ;-).

Where No Man Has Gone Before ...

Today was quite interesting ... after church, Cheshirewoodgie wanted to go down to the bridal fair at the community center ... I suspected that I'd be the only guy there. As it turns out, I was one of three ... however, the other two had booths for services (DJ'ing and tuxes). I was the only one there who was a potential customer.

It was rather funny ... based on a comment in the Indiebride boards, Woodgie noted that this would be an excursion to see the local "marital-industrial complex". Come to think of it, since
the community center and local National Guard armory share the same space in town, it was a convergence of both the "marital-industrial complex" and "military-industrial complex" as well.

First impressions for guys:

1. Bridal fairs do serve lots of samples ... wedding cake, wedding cupcakes, and chocolate, especially. This is a good thing; it helps to keep you going when you realize how much you could, in theory, spend on your wedding.
2. Wedding photographers, as a constant, are expensive ... when you realize that the prizes they are offering are discounts to make their wedding photo packages more affordable, you realize how expensive they are to hire.
3. In some ways, it's rather like a home show, only different.
4. Even though you liked the scent of the Mary Kay after-shave lotion, don't admit this until you are out of earshot of the consultant.

Mid-Week

Another day here at Chez Richard and Lauren, where we're both recovering from staying up to 1:00 to watch election results ... tomorrow will be a rest and recuperation day; Cheshirewoodgie goes to the docs tomorrow for medical tests (gallbladder function), and some dental work after that, so tomorrow will be a day of caretaking, since the test in question involves no eating prior to the test and leaves her a little woozy afterward.

Earlier this year, we'd thought about going down to Arrowhead Stadium to tailgate and watch our respective schools (Pitt State and Northwest) play, but we held off ... as much as I'm a Pitt alumni, I thought they had a slim chance against the Bearcats last weekend, which turned to none after listening to the first five minutes of the game ... it hurts to hear your alma mater get pasted on the field.

Cheshirewoodgie says there's an easy cure for that ... just become a Bearcat fan ;-).

We did have some good news ... in an earlier post, I'd mentioned that we were going through the required pastoral pre-marriage counseling and getting ready to petition the diocese bishop for approval to be married in the church. Thankfully, we got word that the bishop had approved us ... yay! Now we can start more detail planning (or at least, start on those items we had to hold on until we knew for certain that we were approved for). Like sitting down with the organist and organizing musicians. And working up a service order. And selecting readings. And writing vows. That sort of thing ....

Gearing Up for the Holidays

How hard is it to buy a Christmas tree? Given we have 3 cats, one of which has a rapidly-developing vertical jump, we had to ask ourselves that question earlier in the week ... especially since the youngest, Stinkerbelle, has a well-documented tendency to go after ornaments, tinsel, or Christmas lights. Never having had pets, I've never had to worry about keeping the bright shiny things away from the kitties, but this year, we had to strategize tree placement and decorating. It looks like we'll be doing a small tree in the living room (placed high enough so Stinky can see the tree but not destroy it), and a slightly larger tree in the bedroom, with a door/porch wreath, an outdoor (wire frame) tree, and also some lighting on the bird feeder tree (also a wire frame tree). We also hope (if Brookstone can ship them before Thanksgiving) to also have some decorative candles (electric and cat-safe, of course), for the windows.

Celebrating Homecoming ... By Staying at Home

This weekend at Chez Lauren and Richard was pretty quiet ... Friday was Walkout Day, a pre-Homecoming tradition at Northwest where the school closes down the day before Homecoming weekend. I was a little tired from the day before; the weather cleared off enough mid-week to let me take care of some to-do list items: weed whacking around the house, edging and mulching the rose garden, edging and re-mulching the rock garden, and edging and mulching the garden strip at the front of the house, but she wanted to do something productive on the day off, so Lauren and I spent most of Friday rehabbing the bedroom closet.

"Rehabbing" meant taking out the existing hangar bar, sorting winter/summer clothes to send downstairs, selecting older clothes to put out on Freecycle, and putting in a new double hangar bar with shelving on either side. After nine hours straight, we had a much better organized closet. We're saving reorganizing the office/storage closet of chaos for another week.

Homecoming itself we took a pass on, because we weren't able to get tickets to the game. Just as well ... it was wet, cold, and miserable, so instead, we spent the weekend at a slower place: some cooking of comfort food (Lauren's patented chicken noodle soup) on Saturday evening, followed by a crafts project for Lauren (repairing a keepsake box made by her parents).

On Sunday, we walked to church despite the cold weather (and ultimately, halfway into the walk and again after church, through light snowflakes). This evening was our next to last "pre-letter" meeting with our minister before he submits the letter to the diocese bishop asking for permission to marry Lauren and myself, and now, I'm in the living room, updating the blog with Opie on my lap while Lauren grades student assignments.

One Ring to Rule Them All ....

One more step toward marriage: Lauren and I chose our rings this week ... after sorting through a few designs, we settled on this one.













We wanted something stylish, but not too extravagant, and settled on a titanium design (very light and hypoallergenic), that nicely complemented the Claddagh rings we chose for our engagement.

When it came to choosing an inscription, we were making the usual Lord of the Rings jokes about the "One Ring to rule them all ...", and it took a bit of thought to come up with an appropriate engraving other than that. Since the two of us are both fans of mystic poet Jalal-Uddin Rumi, we arrived at this:

"Lovers don't finally meet somewhere. They're in each other all along."

Of course, we'll probably continue to joke that in order to read the inscription properly, you'll have to throw the rings into a fire ....

Fine Dining in Maryville???

This week's been kinda slow ... for me that is, not for Lauren. It's mid-term season for her. Me, it's been quiet, apart from the usual fun with job hunting (still looking), wrestling with bureaucracy (towards filing for unemployment ... not what I wanted to be doing at this point in my life but the right job hasn't shown up yet). In the meantime (and this is by no means filler ... okay, some of it is), after a trip to Des Moines to pick up the last load of items I'd left pre-move with a friend, I thought I'd reflect upon the change in dining opportunities.

When I first moved to Maryville, I was used to a variety of good, ethnic restaurants in Des Moines ... ADong downtown for Vietnamese, with its 137 menu options, succulent springrolls, and never-fail bowls of steaming, fragrant pho, for Thai-leaning Chinese Cafe Su (home of the best, biggest crab rangoon anywhere and the only place to find dim sum in Des Moines), Cookry for traditional African (the groundnut stew is a must, as well as the jerk chicken, and if you're there on a Saturday, you must try the fufu), Thai Flavors on 14th or Cool Basil for excellent Pad Thai, and the Des Moines Art Center restaurant on weekends and First Fridays for the monthly-changing "surprise me" and excellent desserts, among other restaurants I haven't named yet. When I moved to Maryville, I was wondering if I was downgrading that area of my life. Although there aren't as many restaurants here as in Des Moines, there are a couple of notable places (and some I haven't tried yet), ranging from upscale ethnic, to BBQ, to authentic truck-stop cafe, so it's been pretty good so far.

I should point out that apparently, the best non-commercial ethnic offering in town is sponsored by the college's FACS department (yes, I know, this is a shameless plug for something my fiancee's department sponsors ...). Starting this Friday, my fiancee's department hosts a series of ethnic meals on Friday evenings called Friday Night Cafe. While I have yet to experience it, she assures me that I won't be disappointed, and we do have tickets. (Okay, end of shameless plug.)

Otherwise, for commercial ethnic, we have several different choices. For Greek, Italian, and otherwise fine dining, there's A&G next to downtown. It's nicely appointed, with outdoor patio and bar, and it's most notable for Friday night Greek nights, as well as some nicely done entrees. In particular, the rack of lamb is exquisite, but a little steep at $22.00 per person, which is why it's best done for special occasions or split between 2 people. For Greek, they serve a full range of Greek specialties (gyros, souvlakia, mousska, spanikopita, souvalaki, roasted chicken, accompanied by pita, salad, and rice pilaf, etc.). On average, prices range from $5-10 dollars for lunch menu items, to $17-22 for dinner entrees.

http://www.a-g-bar-grill.com/

The salads include some unusual ones, including a pecan crusted, blue cheese chicken, as well as the usual Cobb and chef varieties. The entrees range from upscale bar-grill items through nice entrees, with restaurant burgers, chops, steaks, sandwiches, pasta entrees, and a wonderful lunch menu (lighter pasta entrees, some of the chop and steak options from dinner, twice-baked potatoes, a Greek sampler plate if you're eating there other than Friday night, and wraps). The lower-priced lunch menu includes soup and salad combos, a reasonably priced quesadilla with dipping sauces, and even liver and onions (yeah, I know, it's sick, but I like liver and onions).

They also do a spa menu with some lighter pastas and salads, including a honey-balsamic glazed salmon and spinach combination, and most of the entrees are accompanied by A&G's home-baked bread and honey-butter ... one loaf of that, and you're almost full already.

Their desserts are also well-done, including a tiramisu that's slightly more frozen/chiled than the average, a wonderfully done bread pudding (Lauren's favorite), which for a little extra can be served flaming (soaked with Barcardi 151 rum), and a newly introduced frozen lemon custard/cake that also does well. However, my favorite dessert there is a baked apple pastry (baked apple wrapped with pastry, dusted with cinnamon, and served with ice cream and whipped cream).

For Chinese, we have a few options here ... The Mandarin (American Chinese, nothing fancy, and Happy Garden, which again is fast-food Chinese). The other alternative for Chinese here, strangely enough, is the local Hy-Vee supermarket. Surprisingly, they do put out a good product ... again, nothing fancy, but not bad, either.

The other ethnic alternative is Mexican: La Bonita and a new place which will replace the former Julios (which was closed due to alleged undocumented illegal alien staffing problems).

The remainder of Maryville's restaurants can be broken down into the following categories:

1)Sports Bars and Grills

For the most part, this is taken up by JWs, the revamped former Bobcat Grill on campus, and Carsons, a newly opened sports grill downtown.

In the Student Union at the college, JW's is basically a sports bar with free trivia machines and games, but without the alcohol (since Northwest is a dry campus). They serve a pretty decent (and decently priced) range of burgers, entrees, soups, and salads. Lauren puts a vote in for the buffalo chicken salad, while I've found that they do a mean BBQ beef sandwich on Texas toast. We both agree that their best offering is a homemade kettle-fried potato chip that is worth indulging in once in awhile (otherwise, it would be detrimental to our health). JWs is mainly used by students and faculty, but anyone can eat there.

The other, recently opened sports bar is Carsons ... we haven't eaten there yet, but once we do, we'll let you know how it was.

2)The aforementioned BBQs ... Bubbas BBQ and Fixins, Pink Floyd (catering, but they sometimes do parking lot sales) and Hey Vern (also parking lot sales). Lauren has mentioned Bubbas before. It's owned by a local American Royal competitor who has won several times there ... if you want large portions, incredibly large pulled meat BBQ sandwiches with an incredible dry-rub (that should not be profaned with sauce, according to Bubba), and award-winning bacon/cheddar/onion smashed potatoes, Bubbas is where to go (although it's now only open on Wednesday-Sunday, probably due to BBQ competition season). Pink Floyd and Hey Vern, I haven't had yet, so I'll have to reserve an opinion on them for later, too.

3)Fast food and family food chains - Subway, Pizza Hut, KFC, Sonic, Applebees, McDonalds, Hardees. Been there, done that before. Enough said about them.

4)Truck-stop cafes - Gray's. Outside of town on Highway 71, Gray's is your typical truck-stop cafe ... inexpensive burgers, breakfasts, weeknight specials, and daily desserts. Not bad.

5)Coffeeshops - right now, we only have two, Main Street Coffee, a small coffeeshop located next to the fitness center on Main, and a small one embedded in a local used antique/bookstore. We used to have a third, but it went out of business. We have heard rumors that a Starbucks may be coming into town (part of that 22,000 new stores they have planned), but so far, that's just a rumor. A St. Joe based coffeeshop may also expand here, but that's also a rumor as well.

I should point out that most of our eating out usually takes place at the local Hy-Vee salad bar, inexpensive and good for our diets, or else we grill out or stay in and cook ... speaking of which, I need to dig out that lamb curry recipe I promised to make Lauren this weekend ....

At the Faire

This weekend found Lauren and I at the Kansas City Renaissance Festival. Lauren's been a regular Faire-goer since her grad school days, and I've been to the Faire a couple of times before, but never "in garb" (i.e. costumed). That changed this weekend. Surprisingly, we found enough accessories to take the basic "peasantware" Lauren found for me off eBay and turn it into a fair approximation of a merchant's costume.

Lauren also wanted to go see her one of her favorite Ren Faire music groups, a "fusion" bagpipe group (seriously!) named Tartanic. Tartanic mixes non-traditional piping with Middle Eastern and Irish drums, sometimes taking indecent liberties with traditional 'pipes music, and tossing in a little live comedy, all to prove - as their lead bodhran player asserts - that "bagpipes aren't just for funerals anymore".

http://www.kcrenfest.com

http://www.tartanic.com

Tartanic at the KC Ren Faire





















































On the way home Sunday, we stopped at Lauren's favorite Indian restaurant, Swagat, for lunch. Words can't do justice to this North KC restaurant, which features frankly the best Indian buffet that both of us have ever had, from over 12 choices of fresh tandoor-baked breads, to curries, vindaloos, tandoor-chicken, and desserts, including carrot halva.

http://www.visitswagat.com/