Marmot birthday

There's a whacky birthday post over at the main site ... bad picture of me circa 1974 as well. Enjoy.

Snarlingmarmot.com is live again

My old site is back up with all archives restored. La Marmot is quite relieved to have the old digs back. Fret not, however, fans of the Marmot Den. This site will stay live as both a backup and a site for additional material on occasion.

And now, I give you this week's Week In Random Observations!

• Dear woman, if a drag queen’s makeup is both more subtle and tasteful than yours, perhaps it is time to change tactics. However, you are amusing the rest of us.
• Love is a many splendored thing. However, please limit yourself to hugs, hand holding or a sweet buss on the cheek in public. If you feel the need to play tonsil hockey, it’s time to either get a room or go home.
• Sharp knives are excellent tools. In the hands of a danger prone marmot, they spell catastrophe.
• An impending 36^th birthday does not exempt you from zits.
• My hair is clearly getting too long when, while performing my morning routine, I utter the phrase “Peace through superior fire power,” and proceed to fumigate the bathroom with the contents of one hairspray bottle.
• My friend, who doesn’t cook often, has a hyper-organized kitchen. I find it far easier to cook there as opposed to my own kitchen where any attempt at culinary hijinx involves rooting around for twenty minutes in the junk drawer for just the right spatula.
• Sometimes, it’s just easier to buy a new wheelbarrow.
• He may be 63 pounds, but the Corgi that ate Springfield has more staying power than I do when it comes to a brisk jog around the backyard.
• A place where you can get both a haircut AND a glass of wine is definitely a place worth revisiting.

Sleepless

There are those nights when my brain simply won't shut down. I lie there staring at the ceiling turning situation after situation over in my head. It's like having a moving projector without an Off switch running constantly. Thoughts, ideas and worries all flicker past my conscious leaving me exhausted but wide awake.

I have spoken to the doctor about the problem. She prescribed a mild sedative and, for the most part, it works. Last night was not one of those nights. I don't think I managed to fall asleep until well after 2 a.m.

Some people keep dream journals. I've been thinking of starting my own "can't sleep" journal. As if writing down all the minutia sifting through my head might dislodge it and therefore help me sleep. I don't know. At this point, I am desperate enough to try just about anything.

And I do realize that a lot of this is me reacting to what was a difficult year. I know that there are bigger and better things ahead for me. At least, I hope there are. I also fully realize a lot of my consternation is a direct result of my own fears and insecurities that I just need to get the hell over.

I promised myself when I headed down this road I would not allow myself to get overly cautious or complacent. I have fallen headlong into both. I know full well that, in this life, part of living it is having my heart broken. But at this point, the poor thing is held together with duct tape, Bandaids and paper clips. I feel so ridiculously fragile I feel like I just can't put myself out there again. And I've got to get the hell over that too.

Captain America dead at 66

The latest from Yahoo:

NEW YORK - Captain America has undertaken his last mission — at least for now. The venerable superhero is killed in the issue of his namesake comic that hit stands Wednesday, the Daily News reported.

On the new edition's pages, a sniper shoots down the shield-wielding hero as he leaves a courthouse, according to the newspaper.

It ends a long run for the stars-and-stripes-wearing character, created in 1941 to incarnate patriotic feeling during World War II. Over the years, an estimated 210 million copies of "Captain America" comic books, published by New York-based Marvel Entertainment Inc., have been sold in a total of 75 countries.

Although we all know that comic book heroes do come back to life on occasion.

The food blogging continues

A couple of weeks ago I bought a George Forman grill. A friend who has one has been raving about it and, after tinkering with it myself, I decided I must have one.

Now, my crock pot thinks I'm cheating on it.

The Forman is quite useful. You can grill darn near anything on it. As time rocks along, I will post a dry rub recipe you can use for chicken or pork that translates quite nicely on the grill, Forman or otherwise. But today we're going to talk about one of my favorite single person foods: the grilled cheese sandwich.

Not only does the Forman make a mean grilled cheese, the thing is your own panini maker. You can make any combination of cool sandwiches with the device and have them be ready in 4 minutes or less. Last night, I made a grilled ham and cheese. Just buttered up two pieces of bread, slapped some ham and provolone on it and 3 minutes later had a nice hot sammie.

Yum.

Oh dear God. I just channeled Rachel Ray!

Fat Jack vs. Litle

Jack's got a dandy of a post up. He's taking Larry to task on his stance against gay marriage. Read both and enjoy the fireworks, but there's one passage I simply must reprint, hopefully it will hook you enough to read the whole thing:

If we allow unmarried people to live together then that will lead to donkey-on-turtle sex and polygamy. Or wait! Despite the fact that people have lived together for years has not led to the legitimacy of polygamy and I have yet to hear of donkey-on-turtle sex. Amazing. So if living in sin has not led to polygamy and child molestation, then how exactly will civil unions of homosexuals lead to either of those? It won’t. It’s a red herring.

Well played, Jack. Well played.

Vegetarian Tortilla Soup

I guess it's recpie week here at the Marmot Den. La Marmot had a couple of friends under the weather yesterday, so I did what you're supposed to when you have ill friends, make them some soup.

I found this recipe over at Allrecipes.com. It's quite good, but I did feel the need to tinker with it. The recipe is as follows:

INGREDIENTS

* 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
* 1 (1 pound) package frozen pepper and onion stir fry mix
* 2 cloves garlic, minced
* 3 tablespoons ground cumin
* 1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
* 3 (4 ounce) cans chopped green chile peppers, drained
* 4 (14 ounce) cans vegetable broth
* salt and pepper to taste
* 1 (11 ounce) can whole kernel corn
* 12 ounces tortilla chips
* 1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
* 1 avocado - peeled, pitted and diced

DIRECTIONS

1. Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Stir in the pepper and onion stir fry mix, garlic, and cumin, and cook 5 minutes, until vegetables are tender. Mix in the tomatoes and chile peppers. Pour in the broth, and season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer 30 minutes.
2. Mix corn into the soup, and continue cooking 5 minutes. Serve in bowls over equal amounts of tortilla chips. Top with cheese and avocado.

I did not use avocado, I simply got a tub of guacamole. I also used the jarred garlic. Also, a dollop of sour cream when you serve is fantastic in this soup. You could also substitute a 28 oz. can of Rotel and ditch two of the cans of chiles and be fine as well, that would save money and time. But all in all this was a great recipe, very easy and fairly fast for a soup.

White Chili

It's been entirely too long since I posted a recipe or talked food. I had a potluck to go to this weekend, so I pulled out one of my all-time favorites: White Turkey Chili. It's an adaptation from several white chili recipes I've seen.

White Turkey Chili

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 lb ground turkey, browned
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1 can chicken broth
• 2 cloves of garlic, chopped finely (you can also use two teaspoons of the jarred stuff)
• 2 tsp Cumin seed
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano leaves
• 2 -15oz cans white beans (great northern or cannellini), drained and rinsed
• 1-15 oz can of garbanzo beans
• jalapeno chili peppers, I usually use about half of one of those small cans.

INSTRUCTIONS:

In a 4 or 6 quart crock pot combine the chicken, beans, onions, chicken broth, garlic, cumin and oregano.

About half and hour before you're ready to serve, take about a cup of the liquid out and put two tablespoons of cornstarch in it and stir that up really well until it thickens. Then stir that mixture back into the chili. This gives you a nice, thick chili instead of a runny, soupy mess.

When I lived in the DC area there was a wonderful little restaurant around the corner from my office called Via Cucina. They made this really wonderful turkey chili and were the inspiration for me trying to recreate it. You can also use turkey cutlets that you've cut into bite-sized pieces and stir fried. Also, those pearl onions you get for martinis tossed into the mix make an excellent addition.

Raynaud's Syndrome

It was kind of a shock to see that much beer shattered at my feet. Stepping out of the car, my hands simply let go of the bag and the whole thing crashed rather dramatically. I think I turned the air around me quite blue, much like the hands that did the dropping.

I have Raynaud's Syndrome. I was diagnosed with the condition when I was 18. Raynaud's causes the extremeties to become numb and blue.

What is Raynaud's syndrome?

Raynaud's syndrome is due to poor circulation, usually in the hands and feet, although may affect the nose, tongue or ears. The tiny blood vessels in the affected area close down, supplying very little blood to the extremities. Numbness results and on warming, the area may throb painfully.

When Raynaud's syndrome occurs alone it is known as primary Raynaud's; when it occurs with another related condition it is known as secondary Raynaud's syndrome.

Raynaud's can be a useful predictor of autoimmune rheumatic disease.

How common is Raynaud's?

Raynaud's syndrome occurs in up to 5% of typical healthy populations. Over 90% of patients with Raynaud's phenomenon are female and under 25 years of age when they first develop the syndrome. Up to 5% of patients presenting with the condition eventually develop an autoimmune rheumatic disease.

I've been teased for years about my "Smurf" hands and feet. While I've never been really all that conscious of the pain, the numbness often causes me to drop stuff and feel like I have two useless pieces of raw meat for hands.

My grandmother had the condition and it did wind up being an indicator of an autoimmune disorder later in life. The doctor's I've spoken to about it say I'm likely in the same boat.

I'm posting about it because I've actually run across a fair number of folks with the same condition, which I find kind of curious. All of the stuff I've read online indicates while it isn't uncommon it isn't exactly like the common cold either.

There's not much you can do for it other than take preventative measures:

Prevention measures are important in primary and secondary Raynaud's syndrome regardless of the severity. Initial simple care:

Keep the body warm, especially the extremities.

Wear warm clothing in colder environments.

Use cotton gloves while searching the freezer.

Keep room temperatures warm.

Use rubber gloves to protect the hands and prevent cooling while dish washing.

Minimise barefoot walking.

Avoid compression of the blood vessels by tight-fitting wrist bands, rings or foot wear.

Special care of nails is needed to avoid injuring sensitive toes and fingertips.

Smoking(and passive smoking) should be avoided as the chemicals in tobacco smoke can cause blood vessels to constrict and harden the arteries, which further impairs oxygen supply to the extremities.

Patients should guard hands and feet from direct trauma and wounds. Any wounds or infections need early treatment to prevent more serious infections. Avoiding emotional stresses and tools that vibrate the hand may reduce the frequency of attacks.

I'm having to relearn how I do things certainly. I have to wear gloves more, including when I'm working with cold things in the kitchen. This weekend, I'd been working with some cold items and went to chop an onion. Once again, I wound up slipping with the knife and cutting my finger pretty badly.

It's a very odd thing and frustrating as well. La Marmot doesn't like to change her habits. She's kinda stubborn that way.

TGIF

A special welcome to all of you surfing over from Ron's.

A couple of weeks ago, on a Friday, Network Solutions lost all my stuff. On that day I tried to start something at the old site. I wanted to start doing a weekly thing where I recapped the week in random observations. The first one I wrote I really enjoyed writing and I'm completely peeved none of you got to see it.

While I'll not be able to recreate it, I am going to attempt to continue the trend. Feel free to add your own random observations in the comments section. More fools, more fun I always say.

The WEEK in RANDOM observations!

• Wal-Mart at 6 a.m. is VERY surreal.
  
• Migraines and sinus infections can have similar symptoms. Note to self, fever is usually a good indication you got something else going on.
• When your doctor rolls her eyes at you and says, "What did you do THIS time?" you are clearly far too accident prone.
• Warm days are hell on productivity. Worse yet is watching the Corgi that Ate Springfield roll ecstatically in the grass while growling his pleasure. This leads to wanting to do nothing more than come back in my next life as him.
• I have a deep devotion to my Crock Pot. But since I've discovered the George Foreman grill, I feel like I'm cheating on it a bit.
  
• Wind is a bitch.
  
• Your friends who love you most will rib you good naturedly, call you on your paranoia and point out the true errors of your ways. They also will occasionally point out what a crazy, liberal pinko you are ... but that's OK! You must love them unconditionally for this.

Happy Friday y'all!

Link-o-rama: Intellectual Diversity

Ron has an excellent post up about the recent furor over an MSU student suing the university for being asked to write a letter supporting gay marriage to state lawmakers. Said student is now shilling for big change. Emily Booker testified in Jeff City this week on a piece of legislation called the Emily Booker Intellectual Diversity Act. Sayeth Ron:

The radical right's other specialty is wordnapping -- stealing perfectly decent words and twisting them into something contrary to truth. Take "intellectual diversity." Under the Brooker Act, it's defined as "the foundation of a learning environment that exposes students to a variety of political, ideological, religious, and other perspectives."

C'mon. Do you really believe they mean it? A "variety" would include perspectives from across a broad spectrum. Brooker and her supporters in the Missouri General Assembly want to squelch perspectives that differ from their point of view. They're pushing for less diversity, not more. That's anything but intellectual.

Commenters on the post point out that you could easily switch out "right" for "left" when either side has their panties in a wad about any given issue. Perhaps, but it seems to me that the right is far more hell bent on taking away our rights than the left is.

You see, this whole proposed law is yet another vehicle to keep us from hearing information. While I agree no one should be forced to write a letter to state lawmakers about something that goes against their beliefs, I also think it is wrong to squelch any form of speech. Especially in a university setting.

Have we really become such wusses that we simply CANNOT hear something we disagree with? Seriously. I for one am sick to death of all the homophobic garbage I hear coming from the mouths of the wingnuts on the radical right.

What protects me from hearing that? Not a damn thing. And you know what? That's okay. I actually like to know where the crazies are even if I don't especially want to hear what they've got to say. I learned at my father's knee that the best answer to speech you don't agree with is more speech.

Open your minds. While no one will ever convince me that being gay is wrong, I acknowledge that there are people who cannot accept it. I feel sorry for them. But unlike many of them I don't refuse to acknowledge their existence or try to fix them. Whatever happened to live and let live?

Alarming

I woke up at 3:30 this morning wondering why 1. The cat had embedded all of her claws in my head and, 2. Why there was an ambulance in the bedroom with us. As I finally started to be come coherent I realized the tornado siren across the street was going off.

Well shit.

I scrambled out of bed, threw a sweatshirt on backwards, stumbled into sweatpants and found my socks. I grabbed pillows from the bed and threw them in the hall bath. I grabbed the weather radio and herded cat and dog into the hall bath.

A colleague at work had been urging me to get a weather radio. With the nasty stuff coming in last night, I did make a trip over to Radio Shack. I have to say I'm impressed with the gadget I got. It's a Eton Red Cross Weather Radio. It has two TV bands, AM, FM and all the NOAA Weather bands. It also has a light, a siren, a cell phone charger and a hand crank that charges the NiCAD batteries if your alkalines are dead. Well worth the $49.99 I paid for it.

And yes, yes I do feel like an utter geek, but I'll be a safe geek.

Huddled in the bath with the dog and cat I remembered last March when that particularly bad storm rolled through. I remember it vividly because it was my birthday. We spent the entire night in our basement waiting for the storms to pass. At least last night it was a very short period of time. I was back in bed by 5:15 ... only to have to get up at 6:30.

On the lighter side, the danger seems to have passed. The weather frogs are now predicting colder temps. Oh joy.