Feeling Good

George Michael is simply amazing. Last night's performance exceeded all expectations. Last night was the most special and memorable event in my life, second only to my wedding day. It started with the restaurant for our pre-concert dinner playing Listen Without Prejudice. Coincidence? QE encouraged me to buy way more concert swag than I ever would have if he wasn't there. He was no angel, egging me at every opportunity though. I made the mistake of sharing obscure George trivia with him and said "back in '88" at dinner. I don't think I'll ever live that down.

My throat is sore, voice hoarse. My legs are tired, my abs sore. QE dubbed me the human shrill because I screamed when nobody else did, screamed every time George did a signature dance move, screamed because he smiled, screamed when he spoke. OMG...George dances like he always has--not good by dancing standards but we love him unconditionally. George still has a great smile. Love the accent, love the dimples. He's so beautiful and comfortable in his own skin. He's got a great sense of humor too. He wore the cop outfit for Outside. I loved it.

As you can see from my photos, we had awesome seats. No photo manipulation there (not sure how to do it--ha!) We were exactly at the center of the stage. George took a drink and mopped his face after every song. He kept his jacket on the entire time and sweat actually soaked through. Crazy. I was drenched in sweat before the first song even finished. The collar on my shirt was still soaked two hours after the concert ended. Best time ever.

George performed some of my favorites that I wasn't expecting. Hard Day was awesome. One More Try was pretty much the anthem of my adolescence. My senior yearbook quote was from Kissing a Fool. George seemed to get a kick out of us true fans knowing every pause, every inflection, every nuance of his songs. What's funny is that George doesn't care about performing. He sees himself as a songwriter. He wants us to enjoy his songs long after he's gone. George has certainly touched my life. All of his songs bring back memories of my past, my history. George was a huge part of my life growing up. His music touched me, affected me, helped shape me. I played One More Try so much growing up my MOM knew the words. The kids I babysat in middle school looked for George videos on MTV--at age 2 and 4. I don't remember much of the music mix we compiled for our wedding and most of it didn't get played, I don't think. But Freedom 90 was blasted after most of our guests left. That's one of the few memories I have of our reception. We have an awesome photo of me and QE dancing to that song.

Last night was worth every dollar I spent for the concert and associated expenses. QE might beg to differ though. But if George never performs again, I would still be happy to have experienced such a perfect 'goodbye tour'. I've always been open about George being the #1 man in my life (til I met QE). All the stupid boys I wasted time with knew that. Tolerating George Michael music and accepting that I was a big George fan was part of the deal. I could go on forever but if you've read this far, you've probably experienced enough pain for a week.
George Michael Forever.

Set list according to GeorgeMichael.com:

First Half

Waiting (Reprise)
Fast Love/I'm Your Man
Father Figure
Hard Day
Everything She Wants
One More Try
Different Corner--he did NOT perform this! My favorite of all time!
Easier Affair
Too Funky
Star People

Interval
John & Elvis video

Second Half

Faith
Spinning The Wheel
Feeling Good
Roxanne
Kissing A Fool
Amazing
Flawless
Outside

Encore #1--Careless Whisper

Encore #2--Freedom 90, Freedom Reprise

CSA Share, Week 7.5

Well, our veggie bin is packed. Still haven't eaten the beans from last week. QE brought home a HUGE haul of green and yellow squash from some guy's garden too. He was giving it away at work and someone told him we were vegetarians so we got a big bag full of them. What I don't understand is why people bother growing so many of anything if they give it away. They are sooo pretty. And big. Anyway, the squash will continue to be eaten or we may re-gift some to my folks. We also still have half a head of red cabbage. This week's share represented one and half shares since the farm had to skip a week in May and next week is a bye week. We'll get another extra half share the week before our next bye week.

8 ears of corn (used in summer corn chowder last night--YUM)
Yukon gold potatoes (just perfect)
one baby watermelon (so cute!!!)
one cantaloupe
beefsteak tomatoes
2 tiny eggplants (adorable!)
Cubanelle peppers (WTH?!)
basil
red grape tomatoes
slicing tomatoes

12 sides of me

Learned about this from LaundryTown



1. My first name.
2. My favorite style of food.
3. My high school.
4. My favorite color.
5. My celebrity crush.
6. Favorite drink.
7. Dream vacation.
8. Favorite dessert.
9. What I want to be when I grow up.
10. What I love most in life.
11. One word to describe me.
12. My Grandmother’s first name.

1. You know
2. Vegetarian
3. Hayfield
4. Brown
5. Prince William
6. Espresso
7. Nice
8. Baklava
9. Not working
10. Animals
11. Feisty
12. Helen

Spoiled

Oh, I got spoiled in my Ravelry swap! KnittyK (out of respect for her privacy, I won't use her full screen name in case she uses it on other sites) put together the nicest, most thoughtful package for me. I love the scarf she knitted for me. For moi!!! I would never have the patience to knit that for myself--especially with no mistakes! Then there's the blocking. I swear KnittyK sent love in her package because everything was so nice. Like good karma nice. The purty brown/red yarn is Malabrigo--another popular yarn that gets people all worked up but I had no idea why. And the red yarn she dyed herself. It is a very rich red. So awesome. She says I should knit something for piglet with it. A shout out to my piglet! It's amazing how a "stranger" can be so nice to another human being. There's the possibility that participants can get screwed over in a swap, so to be openly nice without getting something in return is just darn warm and fuzzy.

120 eggs

OH.YEAH I ordered 10 dozen eggs from Polyface. I am so excited I am ready to jump out of my skin. :) I haven't decided if it's worth going into work after the pick up but if I do, I will have to make arrangements with Grandpa Goo to care for my little beauties. My dad will have to run a nursery day care for my little eggs! (you can ignore my craziness) He'll get to keep however many he wants as a babysitting fee. I could take them home and then drive to work but that's backtracking and NOT earth-friendly. Dad passed on officially ordering eggs or meat since he "just bought a dozen eggs for $3. They are the nice ones that come in the special boxes." Oy. "Besides, your eggs were rather small last time [they were medium eggs, DAD!!!!] Although, they did have a much yellower yolk." I tried to explain to him that the yellowness comes from hens who eat real grass and peck at real dirt and bugs. He's convinced that his eggs are just as good, coming from hens with freedom to roam. Someday, dad.

It recently occurred to me that our kitties are innocent victims of us being vegetarian. They don't get to mooch bits of meat from our meals anymore.

"My" Men

Tony Gonzalez, tight end for the KC Chiefs went vegan. I don't think he stuck with it for various reasons, but the fact that he tried makes him one sexy athlete. It's admirable a muscular NFL athlete even bothered with it. The teasing he endured, the scrutiny from trainers...it takes a real man to adopt a "sissy hippy" diet, even if temporary. I need to do more research to see if he is still vegan.

Those who know me probably know my source.

When industrial food magnates hire the best clever-speak grads, things may not be what they seem. In May 2007 Tyson received praise from foodies and launched a $70 million ad campaign touting its antibiotic-free chicken. Sounded like real progress for our side . . . NOT.

What the label actually said was "Raised Without Antibiotics." Under pressure from chicken competitors Perdue and Sanderson Farms, the USDA told Tyson in June 2008 it couldn't use the label anymore. Tyson was injecting the embryos before hatching with antibiotics, thus claiming the birds were "raised" without antibiotics.

Tyson has now sued the USDA for "arbitrarily and capriciously" calling its hand, arguing that "raised" means post-hatching, not pre-hatching. Tyson says the embryo is not part of the "raising" process. USDA says it is. Interesting ramifications. Does"raising" a child include pre-natal care? And if so, when does life begin? "Oh what a clever web we weave . . . ."

Veggie Tails

Davis and Angel decided to join us for dinner last night. Cara was still in her room, so the amigos had a blast just lounging around. This week's share:

sweet corn--much yummier than last week. QE found a worm though. Gross.
red cabbage--how the heck do I prepare it???
celebrity tomatoes
beefsteak tomato (they all looked the same to me)
yellow (wax?) beans
basil
red grape tomatoes

It's so weird to see veggies in their true state. Unwaxed cucumbers, corn tips eaten off, blemished tomatoes, spotty green beans. The flavors are so much more intense though. I need to hug our farmers.

Organic Supermarket Droupout

Salatin needs to quit the name calling! QE and I agreed that their eggs are a great value and I will be hoarding next time. I will have to take time off from work but it will be worth it.

Gettin Piggy With It

Blech. I bought bacon from Polyface a few weeks ago for QE. He decided to cook some up this morning. Oh.vomit. The stench of swine was so nasty I dry heaved. I don't care if QE or anyone eats piggies but the smell of pig cooking just stinks. Bacon, of all things, is supposed to smell nice. QE reports that although bacon is cured, it doesn't have the smoke flavor as store-bought stuff. He said it tasted as good, if not better, than the regular stuff. QE thought it was too salty but attributed to him not being a regular bacon eater. Even turkey bacon is a rare thing for him. He decided he will give away the rest of the bacon. I am glad. From this point forward I think our house will be a pig-free zone. Cooked pork is fine. I just can't stand the smell of it cooking.

Got my Wollmeise yesterday. Oh so pretty and soft. It smelled nice too. I still don't understand why it's so treasured. Maybe I have to knit it to appreciate it. (secret: I have another on the way!) I resumed work on my monkey. The head was too big for a project, so I decided to make the full doll. He's cute. Lots of seaming involved despite using dpns. Totally not enjoying making the hat for charity. The acrylic/nylon blend is splitty but soft. Maybe it's the pattern I hate. So freakin boring and dull. I am knitting it flat since that monkey's dpn work had me on dpn overload. At this rate, I really don't want to knit more than one hat. But it's for people in need, so I will try to squeeze a few more out. I might knit double-strand next time to make it go faster.

Summertime

(it's the new NKOTB song, btw...)

It's officially summer. The first REAL summer I've experienced in years. WE GOT TOMATOES!!! The last time I ate a raw tomato was years ago when I grew them myself.

Tonight's dinner was veggie patties with a tomato and fresh corn. Dessert was cantaloupe with blueberries from Wegmans.


CSA share for the week:

yukon gold potatoes
corn
cucumbers
carrots
green beans
cantaloupe
green leaf lettuce
sweet (and purple!) peppers
grape tomatoes
slicing tomatoes
tiny garlic

Wollmeise!

Wollmeise is a cult-favorite sock yarn hand-painted by "Claudia" in Germany. People go nuts for it. I don't understand it, but have accepted it. Til now. Just managed to score some. Totally not going to get gifted to anyone nor made into something for anyone other than moi. Might just have to charge a fee for the privilege of seeing it, and a surcharge to touch it. :) Hm. Maybe I should join the Selfish Knitters group on Ravelry. (The premise is that they feel unappreciated for their work so they knit for themselves or those who feel the knitting lub.) Although, I feel the love quite often. Probably because I only knit and gift knits to people I know appreciate it. WOLLMEISE!!!

Here are the birdies I made:

Arf! Arf!

I got my books a few nights ago. I can't wait to make this doggie. I have some boring obligations to get out of the way first (charity knits) and then I'll start on my puppy. I haven't decided on colors or yarn yet, but I'm definitely going to make one for myself. Maybe in pink cotton angora.

Interesting (0)

My cats are killing me. Two days at home and I am a sneezing, snotty mess. We spent most of the day out yesterday and I was fine. A few hours at home and the suffering resumes. Two of the stinkybutts refuse to get brushed, so that doesn't help my condition. Not that they care. We got hairballs four days in a row last week. Barf count: Angel-2, Davis-1, Cara-1

Went to Wegmans twice yesterday. The guy at the coffee bar area recognized and remembered us too. How embarrassing!

Ravelry is taking over my life. I dream about it every night. I can see the website images in my mind. Last night, it was about my budget swap and whether my spoilee will like my package. Conversations with QE begin with "On Ravelry..."

Nummy

I placed an order yesterday. Knitting books. It's not my fault. I had to order enough for free shipping. And some were books I always wanted. Plus, they were 40% off! Besides the books are so I can make cute things for other people! I need to start thinking about Christmas gifts. And birthdays! Piglet turns 1 in November. I need to plan and prepare!