Rachael

Today was a rather lovely day. Actually, I've had a couple of lovely days in a row, which is great. Yesterday, Mother's Day, I spent in bed. Okay, I got up once to show Lala how awesome soft-boiled eggs are, and then for some reason lost my mind and thought a 3-minute egg must be the way I used to make them.

Not so much. I ruined two eggs this way, then reboiled the other two and finally got it kind of close to right.

But the rest of the day, I spent in bed reading and napping. True, I'd worked 18 hours the day before and had come home at midnight, so I felt I had some resting to do. And I have to tell you this: I've discovered Molly Harper. (Full disclosure: I thought I'd read her before, and when I met her at Romantic Times, I gushed. Later I realized I was thinking of another book. Ahem. Which is okay, because she's even better than the writer I'd confused her for! And she was awesome in person, too.) So to make up for it, I started How to Flirt with a Naked Werewolf. It is GREAT. She's such a funny, smart writer, and it's just fun. Girl moves to Alaska to get away from Mississippi hippie (hey, that rhymes!) mother, and starts working at the local pub. Cue Northern Exposure soundtrack. You'll like her, too.

(In heavier stuff, I recently read Laura Lippman's new book I'd Know You Anywhere. Oh, oh, oh. Now I understand why, when I was at a HarperCollins cocktail party, my agent stammered a little when we met Laura Lippman. She's that good. It's not a light book, but it's everything I love in women's fiction: voice, tone, emotion, intensity and a rockin' plot.)

Then, after the date with bed, I went to the bar with sisters and friends, and we toasted our dead mothers. I brought brownies, C brought chocolates, and we laughed so much the bartender wanted to come sit with us. We had such a good time. A new tradition is born.

Today I spent Doing Scary Things in the morning (because we all need to do them now and again, and I like to keep my heart rate up) and then I came home and wrote. A lot. I'm in LOVE with a new project and I can't keep my hands off it. I wrote 5000 words today (about 20 pages), which is kind of like going on a blind date that goes really well and lasts the whole night. You don't know ANYTHING yet, but you're so excited you bounce when you stand in place. And I tried to nap, and failed because I wanted to write some more (oh, writing is so often NOT like this), so I got up and did just that.

And now, because apparently what I do is cook things, and then realize there's NO WAY I'll remember how I made it, I'm sharing a dinner recipe that I just made up that was DELICIOUS. Rather than just write it down on a recipe card, why not put it here? So someone else might enjoy? Easy-peasy, and quite fast (I like cooking things during which I can putter around and do other things while the stove is doing the work).

Lentil Asparagus Goodness

Put a cup of lentils and 3 cups of water in a heavy pot. Add a bay leaf, five smashed peeled cloves of garlic, half a teaspoon of turmeric, a teaspoon of salt, a half-teaspoon (or more) or red chili flakes and a bit of fresh ginger root if you have it (we keep it in the freezer so we can always shave off a bit). Bring to a boil, reduce to low simmer, cover, and cook for 30-45 minutes (I like the water to be mostly gone, but if the lentils are getting too mushy, I raise the heat and boil it off). Juice a lemon over the top, stir in.

Then chop up some asparagus, add to boiling water for exactly three minutes. Dump some lentils in a bowl, top with plenty of feta cheese, and top with the hot, drained asparagus. SO DELISH. Add another squirt of lemon if you like. And some more salt. Lentils love salt as much as I do.

If you make it, let me know me what you think!

Hey! I'm standing right now! I didn't actually end up so much making a standing desk as uncovering the one I already had.

Ready for it? A low Billy bookcase from Ikea. How much do I hate these bookcases? And HOW MANY OF THEM DO I HAVE? (Answer: so many.) But the low one turns out to be the perfect height.

This was what the office had scarily turned into in the course of writing this last book. (I've noticed that as deadlines creep up, so does my stuff. My crap knows when my defenses are low.)

Isn't this AWFUL? See that HORRIBLE white door I was using as a desk? Terrible.

I knocked it around for a while and dug this haven out of the rubble:

Ah. So much better. See, there's my lovely desk, all clear and ready to go. Where's the standing desk? Why, here it is!

Digit checks things out.

See? Just there, where I've put the laptop? It's perfect, and I get to write while looking out the window, something that I love. I'd like to eventually get a laptop riser so I can lift it up to eye height and put the bluetooth keyboard I normally use under that, but I'll have to look into finding a cheap one of those (anyone like one particularly?).

EDITED TO ADD:

Fixed that, too! Look, a book stand works perfectly!

Cost: Three hours labor, AKA FREE. I'm returning that shelf I never even got out of its box this weekend.

Spicy Chipotle Bean Soup

Putting the recipe I made last night here so I can find it again. Made up of a mix of a bunch of recipes, and it worked really well (but really spicy! Tone down if you need to).

Saute 1/4 chopped red onion and 2 cloves minced garlic in a tbs of olive oil until softened. Add 2 chopped-up chipotle peppers (in their adobo sauce from the can), and add, along with 1 can of black beans (I used TJ's cuban style) and 1 can of kidney beans. Add 2 cups of water and 1 cup of chicken stock (could use water to keep it veggie), 1/2 tsp dried cumin, 1/4 tsp dried oregano. Bring to a boil, and then simmer, covered, about half an hour or so. Use immersion blender to puree about half of the soup. Add a can of diced tomatoes and 1/4 tsp of ground red pepper. Cook until all thoroughly heated. Top with grated cheese and a dollop of sour cream.

YUM.

I realize that in this brave new world, we all think in tweets and FB updates, don't we? I don't sit down to write long blog posts much anymore, because I don't sit thinking about them like I used to. A little bit sad. All those creative things I used to think up (and be able to reference later) are washed away in the Twitter flood. I know they're out there somewhere (thanks, Library of Congress!), but to find them? Almost impossible.

So I'd like to write here a bit more. Plus, I miss you. (I'm off Facebook now, except for my author page — I didn't unfriend you on my personal page, I swear; I just got rid of it.)

In no order, thoughts that are longer than 140 characters:

* We have such a nice surprise growing in the backyard. We had to pull out that huge acacia which fell over the winter, and we were horrified to find that instead of gazing at the trees swaying over our little backyard creek, we had a direct view onto a parking lot and portable classrooms instead. But that was winter, and we didn't notice the spindly little tree behind it wasn't dead. It was just dormant, and it's putting out leaves now that will shield us from the ugly.

See? You can hardly tell!

* The season of Cadbury Creme Eggs is almost over. I have three left, and I predict that by noon, those will be gone, too. Which leads directly to:

* The season of standing has begun! Everyone's been scared straight by that NYT article, but I have to say, it's kind of amazing to put into practice. They say anything more than sitting for six hours is bad for you, right? I work twelve-hour shifts. And my commute is about two hours. So in order to be on the right side of standing, I need to stand for 8 hours at my job (we have great ergo tables that raise and lower easily).

So this last week, I stood for at least 8 hours every day (I stand for the first six and then add more hours in the afternoon), and for 9 hours a couple of days.

I HAD SO MUCH ENERGY. I was so energized that instead of coming home Saturday night and collapsing, like I usually do, into a big whiny mess, I went to the store, came home and cooked chicken mole from scratch (YUM, but only good, not great, so I'm not linking the recipe) and stayed up to watch TV with Lala. This is unheard of, people. I was not a wreck (but oooh, my hip muscles! Could feel them again!).

* So today, as God is my witness, I will be smacking some order into this office o'mine. I made the mistake a few months back of adding a desk (and by adding a desk, I mean perching an old door on top of my low filing cabinet). It was great, for a minute. And then I put stuff on it, as we do, and now my office is about to gobble me up and no one will be able to find me.

I want to git rid of it and of a lot of books (I know!). And then I'll put together the $19 shelf I bought at Ikea that I *think* will work as a standing desk. I'll keep you posted.

* The rose my dad gave me last year is blooming! It finally has a place to live that it likes!

* It has been GORGEOUS 'round these parts lately. Yesterday my sister Bethany taught me that my new favorite place to walk the dogs is in Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland, which is ENORMOUS and has the best view in the world:

(Click for biggetyness.) The Oakland AND SF skyline! Perfection.

* And finally, one for the ladies. Digit is still a crankypants, but his thyroid meds are helping and he's put on about half a pound.

 (I like saying that with a fake French accent — I hope it doesn't actually mean anything offensive.)

There is cool stuff going on right now, dudes. I have to tell you!

First, KnittedWit has done something SO FREAKING AWESOME.

She dyed Cypress Hollow Yarn (with permission, of course). And she dyed it in the colorways of the CHARACTERS.

 
This is, left to right, Cade, Abigail, Eliza (SQUEE!), Lucy and Owen.

 
The lucky 13 characters so far.

How much do you LOVE THAT? I am dying over it. She's using a sport weight 2 ply yarn, 100% Rambouillet. Each skein is 100 grams, 350 yards. She's got tons of info at her website and the store is up for preorders. (Full disclosure: I'm not making money on this, but I *do* get a bit of free yarn. Woot!) Just look at Ruby! ZOMG! And Janet's dark sleekness. Oh!

(I have to insert here that I never thought something like this would happen. Just the fact that people like my books still astonishes and touches me. Yarn, in carefully planned colorways that make sense, knocks me right out of my scuffed-up work boots. I'm honored, and lucky, and happy.)

And for a little more lite pimpage-ness, Wyshwriter and JanetP (whom I've already emailed) just RANDOMLY WON (because they were on my email list) a pattern from my genius friend, Kira, of Kira K Designs. They get to pick whatever they like out of her Library of Awesomeness.

Me, I'd choose this:

 

or this:

 

(In'nt she cute? Our little pocket vegan.)

And you know what? Those two people won the patterns just because they're on my mailing list! They didn't have to do anything else! You should join, too! (I never spam, only email when something BIG is happening, like a new book. Or the end of the world. I'll try to let you know about that, too.)

(Kira's website is here, and her ravelry page is here.)

I finally get to show you this, for reals! In Book Three (Wishes and Stitches: A Cypress Hollow Yarn , out in October), the pattern is a lace shawl. Specifically, it's Eliza Carpenter's Wedding Shawl pattern. (Only, as I'm new at lace, I hired the uber-talented Romi to design what I  wanted, because I didn't want to lead you down the muddled path I'd have taken you on.)

I needed to make a cream prototype for the photo for the book, so I cast on in some gorgeous Verb yarn. That very day, I heard that my agent and friend Susanna was engaged. It immediately became HER shawl, and I loved knitting it, putting good wishes for her marriage into the fiber as I worked it. And it turned out gorgeous, I think.

She gets married on Saturday, and I know it's the beginning of a wonderful married life (I adore the man she's marrying, as well).

And I've been spinning, too! This is from Lisa Souza, and I wanted to throw it on the blog to show HOW DIFFERENTLY colors show up when they're spun together.

Isn't that wild? Can you imagine that the soft colors in the skein came from that roving? (Also, merino and silk, YUM. So soft, and I spun it softly, too. Seemed to want that.)

I want to do more, more, more, but it seems there are so many things grabbing for my attention lately. If I'm lucky, I will get back to spinning the rest of this tonight, though. That would be nice. A little more Veronica Mars (halfway into the first season, LOVING IT), and some spinning before bed. Yep.

It's been forever since I did one of these, and because they always make me laugh, I'm listing a few of my favorite ways people get to this blog. I really love that the first nine searches are my blog, or my name. The tenth? "Dirty sheep." Huh.

Dirty sheep joke   There are several common searches for sheep jokes although I don't remember ever telling any here. (As a half-Kiwi, I know plenty though. I will tell them because I do not like to offend the sheep.)

(Aside – you wanna know my FAVORITE joke? This one can't be beat. I mean it. Try it. You: Say knock knock. Victim: Knock-knock. You: Who's there? *falls over dead laughing*)

I love my Kindle   Yes, I do love my Kindle. I love it on all its platforms: my Kindle, my iPad, and my phone, and I love that they all talk to each other.

Chihuahua jeweled cowboy hat  Nope, I don't know where to get one of those, but if you find out, let me know, mkay?

DIY sweaters look dowdy  EXCUSE ME? You obviously don't know me, nor any of my friends. Humph.

Durrow by Jodi Green   It rocks. One of the best, most worn sweaters I've ever made. Rav link here.

First morning thought  Aww, sugar. I don't know what yours is. But I hope it's nice.

How big is a radish? HAHAHAHA. That is all.

Man a go-go tube  Also, ha. Have fun!

When the stork dials 911 They get me!

In writing news, I'm working on copyedits for Book Three (actually, Wishes and Stitches, the third novel will be out after the memoir, so it's technically my fourth copyedited book! Woot!), so my eyes are crossing. I can't see errors anymore. I actually sent a text earlier that said "your" instead of "you're" and I'm still blushing. Gah.

So I'll sign off, and wish you a happy weekend. (See you Friday night at Verb for Keeping Warm, if you're local….)