My Stone (loving) Baby

I once mentioned how Ingrid likes to carry around a little buddha garden ornament. Well she's branched out. Her new love is a cast iron piggy bank. It probably weighs about 10 pounds, she can barely manage it. Even still, she sets it on the table while she eats, she carries around, and she snuggles it when she goes to sleep. She is drawn to hard, cold, heavy objects. She likes figurines of glass and porcelain so much that I have to hide some of my favorites from her. I have this beautiful colorful clay Krishna statue that was a gift from someone I loved deeply, but at a bad time in our lives (I won't ever write about it here, so just leave it at that). The Krishna has lots of sentimental value and I can't bring myself to pack it away or Freecycle it. I thought about giving it to Ingrid, but when I took it off the shelf to hand it to her, I couldn't. It's got baggage that I'm not ready to unload. I guess I like cold, hard, heavy things, too, sometimes.

On a cuter and funnier note, I caught a spider in the bathroom this morning and put it in a jar to show to Ingrid. She's on a bug kick lately. She carried "her" spider around for the rest of the morning. She wanted to bring it to day care, but I convinced her to let it go in the garden, near "her" clay frog, which she carried around all weekend until Chris stuck it in the garden. She then took a good five minutes bidding the spider farewell. Then she asked me to bring her more spiders.

And Then There Were Seven

I have two African Clawed Frogs living in a tank in the computer room. I adore these frogs, Tristan and Isolde. They're fun to watch, they make a pleasant sound, they're easy to take care of. Yes, they're male and female. How do I know? It's pretty easy to tell, plus I had a tank full of tadpoles about two weeks after I got them, plus they enjoy each other's company--a lot.

So I have two sexually active African Clawed Frogs living in a tank in the computer room. One of these days I'm going to get a large tank in the hopes that I can put fish in the tank that would be large enough not to get eaten by T. and I. I buy guppies every once in a while, but they only last a few minutes. On Thursday I bought 12 ghost shrimp, which are wicked cool little things. It's Saturday night and I count 7. I had 8 from Thursday night until about 10 minutes before I started writing this. Not bad. The shrimp figured out how to avoid the frogs, but one must not have been paying attention. I have several females. I can tell because their exoskeletons are see-through (sometimes they're called glass shrimp), and half of them have bellies full of green eggs.

They eat debris and algae, so they would make a nice addition to the tank if they survive. If not, I'll just get more. They're $1.49 for six at the local pet shop. I think they're worth $2.48 a month. I got a little cheesy neon pagoda for them to hide in and lay their eggs. I'm hoping they'll do that before the frogs get them. T. and I. will probably eat the eggs or the babies, too. They ate their own tadpoles.

It looks like my planaria problem is gone, too.

Glass Shrimp in the wild (where I got the picture)
Glass Shrimp as pets

Classes and Playtests

Attention Western Massachusetts locals!
I will be giving a short workshop on how to make kombucha on May 7th (time TBA) at Acadia Herbals. $20 gets you a few recipes, some samples of delicious homegrown kombucha, troubleshooting, and your very own (non demon) SCOBY. Nate at Acadia Herbals will have glass jars and organic tea available for purchase.

This Friday (April 20), I will have a playtest of Steal Away Jordan at Greenfield Games, 6pm. Please sign up or just show up.


For more information on either and both, email me at lucky dot lamb at verizon dot net.
Info on the photo.

Kombucha, Missionaries, etc.

The past two weeks, crap as they may have been, have been full of kombucha adventures. Friday the 13th came with prospects for brighter days (not weather speaking!), and a pleasant experience with two cute Mormon missionaries, which actually made my day. Joy pops up at the oddest moments. I love pamphlets and tracts where the images of Jesus bear a striking resemblence to my husband.

In preparation for the farmers' market, I've been buying up Boston bottles and salve containers, collecting new recipes, and planning the first offerings. For the first weeks I should have hair oil, personal lubricant, salves, and kombucha hair and skin toners. I'm doing research on other kombucha cosmetics, and will be setting my older SCOBYs aside for cosmetic use. Older kombucha tea (like the stuff the babies live in) can be used the same way as vinegar in toners and rinses. Soap will come in June, late May at the earliest. If I don't need to certify my kitchen by the Department of Health I will be selling Kombucha starter kits (SCOBY, instructions and recipes, mason jar). If I do need health department certification, maybe I'll hand out brochures on kombucha with information on purchasing starter kits outside the farmers' market.

I've been adding lavender and chamomile to some of the brews. Yum! I put about a small handful or chamomile flowers and a small handful or lavender flowers to the tea, strain them off when I pour and mix the tea and SCOBY, and ferment.

I don't recommend using smokey teas like Lapsang Souchong or Russian Caravan. My SCOBY wouldn't grow in it, but a nasty layer of fuzzy white mold (Aspergillus? Yikes!) grew on top of the tea. I fed it to the compost.

I've been adding ginger in the initial fermentation. I'm going to start adding it once I pour it off. I think it makes the SCOBYs carry a funny aftertaste.

I learned from the Happy Herbalist how to decaffeinate tea, so tonight I did a lavender, chamomile, decaf pu-erh brew with honey as a sweetener. I've read of mixed results with honey, so we'll see.

Also from the Happy Herbalist, I purchased a 2 1/2 gallon porcelain jug with spigot for continuous brewing. I can't wait! I'm going to keep doing experimental batches in my 3 liter jars. We're going to bottle the continuous brewed stuff to share with friends and take to work. So local folks, save your 12 ounce beer and soft drink bottles and I'll fill them with kombucha.

I think a spawning SCOBY demon would make a really cool Sorcerer demon character. The sorcerer drinks the tea or gives it to other people for whatever effect (energy, power, poison...). The SCOBY demon's need is sugar (or something creepier like human-derived glucose), the desire is to have its tea consumed.

I have a job interview on Thursday to train as and then work as Sleep Technician or Polysomnographer. I'm really looking forward to this, even more so than the Church Administrator job, as I would go back to the health care field, back to patient care, in a job with actual growth potential, that could be rewarding and interesting. I'm even looking forward to the possibility of working nights.

Chris and Bea dropped Jeddy off at his temporary board. I couldn't go with them. Just packing up his toys was hard enough. The cats are practically dancing around with party hats and noisemakers, they're so happy he's gone. James came and hung out downstairs this evening when we had a house full of people. We haven't seen her downstairs (other than darting from the stair to the basement to eat, drink, and poop) since Jeddy arrived. When our visitors arrived, they knocked and rang the doorbell without incident or barking or snarling. It was the right thing to do and I do not regret the decision to surrender him to the rescue organization. We weren't an ideal home for him and we couldn't address his needs. Actually Jeddy would make a good model for a Sorcerer demon as the hellhound with a heart of gold.

Bottoms Up

I didn't get the job. They promoted the Administrative Assistant. Which just goes to show that it would have been a great place to work. I'm totally bummed.

And we're giving Jeddy back to the rescue organization we got him from. He's an awesome dog, but he's not a house dog. He's becoming more and more territorial in the house, and things came to a head when he bit Meg on the leg. When he's outside, walking in the woods, he's a great dog. In the house he marks his territory on the kitchen floor and goes crazy when people come to the door, even when he knows them. I'm totally bummed (but looking forward to getting my house back.)

A shot of Tennessee's finest whiskey would be nice right now. Or a little Southern Comfort. Wild Turkey, maybe. Alas.

See you in Two Weeks?? Please?

I had my second interview for the job I really want, working at a local Unitarian church (not the one I attend, though). I think it went well, and now I'm in Waiting For The Call Purgatory. As I was leaving, one of the people who interviewed me said, "We'll talk to you very soon." I want to take that as a good sign, or some indication that the woman who said it thinks I'm the candidate they should choose. I'm trying not to get my hopes up too high. Sitting in WFTC Purgatory is much nicer than living in I Hate My Job Hell. If I get sent back there, at least I'll know there's a better world out there. A workplace where bosses don't yell at you for asking them what they want, where the tempo and mood of your day isn't set by the mood of your boss, and where micro-managament is seen as a bad thing.

I'm trying not to stress out about it. I feel good about the interview. If I don't get the job, I'll be disappointed and bummed, but inspired to look for another job. Still, anyone who wants to put some positive energy my way, I warmly and gladly accept it!

Picture from Hey God dot org

The Snows They Melt the Soonest

I have lots of crocuses now. Yellow, purple, white, variegated purple, little ones, big ones. I see daffodils, tulips, and primroses popping up, too. There's new stuff coming up all over the place. Wednesday I have a second interview for the job I really would love to have.

Something else came up (out of my head) that has made my heart sink among the Springing. Admidst all the writing I've been doing on my game, I wrote it down for the first time, and then remembered in more detail than I have in many years. It's one of those things I don't think about very often (because it's terribly sad), but here it is, kinda stuck in my head now, and I'm not sure what to do with it. For the sake of keeping this blog surfacely personal and generally light hearted, I think I'll stop there. But the crocuses, the job interview, and the prospect of more playtesting on Thursday sure do make me happy.

In less than a month the Farmers Market begins, and I have no soap to speak of. The first few weeks look like they'll be hair oil, personal lubricant, lip balm, and bath salts. And kombucha give aways.

I'll be doing a class on making kombucha tea at Acadia Herbals in Northampton at the end of the month. Which reminds me, I need to write a blurb that and the open playtest of Steal Away Jordan at Greenfield Games.