Maple Honey Apples and Sweet Potatoes

2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and sliced
6-8 apples, peeled and sliced
butter, oil, margarine or ghee
1/3 cup maple syrup
1/3 cup honey
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
pinch salt
thickening agent of choice (corn starch or whatever you prefer)


brown sweet potatoes in butter til lightly brown and slightly soft, set aside.
combine maple syrup, honey, ginger, cinnamon and salt.
pour apples into the same pan you browned the potatoes in, coat with honey mixture.
layer alternating sweet potatoes and apples, pour remaining glaze over them, sprinkle with cinnamon.

Cover and bake in a 350 degree oven til soft, about 1 hour.
pour off juices into a separate pot, boil until thickened, or add your thickening agent til the sauce is about the consistency of caramel, pour over and cover.

lovelost Aphrodite on a bad day.

crows in the chapel somehow all my recent photoshop art has been about death or creation. I don't know why.

its either creation or death, I'm not sure which.

I got a dishwasher! Its ancient and ugly, but it's the kind you hook up to your faucet, so it doesn't require any plumbing. Its noisy, but I don't care, because it means I don't have to do all my dishes by hand! YAY!!!

I also got a really sweet grill, which I hopefully will use before the end of the summer. All this because Kas' friend Orman is moving to Estonia for awhile, and doesn't have any use for either thing.

Hooray dishwasher!

Kas and I went and saw the dress rehearsal of Boston Babydolls, a variety/burlesque troupe.  Very fun, sometimes very funny dancing/strip tease. One of the girls, though, fell and twisted her ankle really badly. Since she was one of the major performers, this cut the show down quite a bit, since she fell during her first song.  Still, definitely worth the $5 each we spent to see it!

umm...that is all.

Oh! And I'm painting again! 

I don't usually get upset over political issues, but one recently has actually bugged me quite a bit. And, of all things, its abortion rights. I think abortion rights are important, but I've never been emotionally connected to the issue, I'm Pro-Choice in most things, including whether I am ready to be a parent.

The catalyst for my upset is mainly the assassination of Dr. Tiller and the information that has come up surrounding it. If you look at some of the literature and websites related to abortion,  it becomes pretty damn apparent that we now have an effective terrorist organization in the US, in the form of militant anti-abortion extremists. They have attempted murder on 17 people in the past 30 years, which is an attempted murder every 2 years. They have succeeded 7 times. There have been 41 bombings and 171 acts of arson. Providers, and those who work in clinics are harassed, stalked and threatened. 

"The protection of health workers who provide abortion services in this country is supposed to be a federalized law enforcement effort—because of the history of terrorism against abortion providers in this country, because of the bombings and the acid attacks and kidnappings and arson and anthrax  threats and sabotage and harassment and shooting and murders, because there were seven murders of abortion clinic workers before Dr. Tiller, because these crimes are designed not only to target their exact victims but also to terrorize everyone involved in seeking or providing abortion services, because this isn‘t random." ~Rachel Maddow, Tues, June 2

Dr. Tiller was front and center as one of the three, now two, doctors who are trained to do late term abortions. This made him a major target for extremist attacks. He was shot in both arms in a previous attack, his clinic has been bombed, and whether or not you think late term abortions should be legal or not, violently attacking doctors who provide it, as a legal right, is uncivilized and, yes, I'm going to use this term, un-American.   The anti-abortion extremist faction is losing the legal war, so they are using totally illegal means to make abortion something, that while legal, is impossible to get, at least in the Mid-west and South. Making reproductive services a career choice that is likely to get you killed is horrible, but pretty damn effective. The people who engage in the intentional terrorizing of those who are within their legal rights, who are fine with killing those individuals, and who canonize those who manage to do so, are not Pro-Life. They are terrorists, and should be tried and imprisoned as such.

I saw it. It was extremely good, though the 3D aspect was headache inducing. I think no more 3D movies for me. The regular old 2D variety is easier on my eyeball muscles.

Anyhow, for a movie that's all types of uplifting and whatnot, but also pretty damn funny, this one is a go.

In other news, my new job is going well, and I am learning all kinds of useful stuff, like putting stuff on ebay, cataloging stuff, and the intricacies of Amazon. Also pricing and the alphabet. (I actually knew the alphabet before).

So, I have been at my new job for three days now, at The Book Rack, a used bookstore in Braintree. If anyone is looking for used books, try www.braintreeusedbooks.com and support my continued employment! eventually, once I'm all trained and what not, I may end up basically in charge of day to day running of the store. Its a pretty awesome job so far, though slightly exhausting. Today I learned to use eBay! Yesterday I learned to catalogue! Its all very exciting!

Sadly my job didn't work out, for reasons I don't really want to get into. Anyhow, it means I'm still among the unemployed and broke. I still have occasional work at a coat check in the city, which keeps me in bread and cheese, thankfully.

Beth came out to Boston for a visit, which I had no knowledge of beforehand, but we hung out and it was fun. I got her drunk. heee!

I have decided one of the things I am going to do while I have nothing to do is try to get in slightly better shape, through the clever use of yoga and less food. I did a yoga dvd today, and it didn't quite kick my ass, though I apparently have the tightest hamstrings in the history of mankind. I figure flexibility one day and strength the next, with a day off for stiffness if necessary. Also a lot more brown rice and beans in my diet. If I could lose or transmogrify some of the fat I am currently carrying around, I would be a happy camper.

I find out tonight if I get the job. The district manager really liked me, we talked shop for an hour. I think the store manager liked me, she was a calmer person in general, so it was harder to tell if she was excited by me or not. I'm hoping I did better than the other final applicant!

x fingers!

I have that rarest of events...

A JOB INTERVIEW!!!!! (Yes, bold, largified, underlined, italicized and red. Just 'cause. Also 'cause its been a month with many many applications/resumes sent into the void and no responses. 'TIL NOW!

Yes, I am excited. Its Thursday. Its at a craft making plaster painting place for kids, and its near the T (public transport) and only 3 stops away from my station. Its an assistant manager position, and I think it would pay more than I've been making.

Cross your fingers, everyone, because being broke sucks.

So, the economy just stole my job. Gave me a pretty decent severance package, though! I doubt I'm going to be able to find a "normal" 40 hr a week job in the near future, so I'm hoping to cobble something together with art modeling and other such endeavours. I'm doing ok for now, and now I'm REALLY glad I rented out the little room in my house to a person so as to break rent 3 ways instead of 2. Now I just need to get them to actually move in.

More later.

~Mere

It is officially winter. I can tell because I just got my first major illness of the season. Started off as just a little cold, now has inflated to full on sore throat, sore neck, headache, earache, and best of all, no voice whatsoever. How I'm going to work with this I haven't quite figured out. Thankfully, I now have today and tomorrow off, so hopefully by Tuesday things will have improved

.

I Hate Packing


*Shoots in head*

I never thought this would happen to me...


I got a blister on my thumb from playing Rock Band for hours.

It hurts.

Note to self, play with fingers only, not thumb.


in other news, my goal for today is to pack 8 boxes worth of moving. I'm at 4 now. 3 of them are books. Heh...

BEST BURRITO EVER.

Seriously. Though I don't know what the name of the "restaurant" I got it at actually was, and I'm not sure it actually had one, as it was also missing such inconsequential things as hours of operation. Not much info.

But delicious burritos. Spicy, HUGE, and not greasy, if such a thing is possible. They also didn't skimp on the carne asada.

My tummy hates me, but thats not new, my tummy has been hating me for a week or so now. Damned milk.

Training at the now open cafe went well, but is also the direct cause of my tummy issues, as lots of whole milk, whipped cream, sugar, fat, and coffee goes into the making of mochas (our hot cocoa is made with half and half. Its like drinking chocolate pudding with whipped cream on, and also 3 kinds of chocolate. I really want someone to order a large.) and what have you. All of those aforementioned things are anathema to my digestive system. I think I also had some weird virus or something a couple weeks back, one of those "no symptoms to speak of, other than feeling tired and blah" viruses. I think it broke my insides.

thats all

my password is obviously not complicated enough. I can type it while very, very drunk.


thats ok, though, it lets me post things I shouldn't. And also prove how good I am at typing while intoxicated. (yay, backspace!)


...fucking brandy alexanders and their tastiness.

I've had 5. I think.

...I can't feel my toes.

I got a raise! We're in the double digits now! Also, discovered I was never actually given the raise I was supposed to have gotten several months ago, so Jess (GM) is going to try to make this raise retroactive...which would be about a $700 check.

That plus my tax return is over a thousand dollars. By quite a bit.

I am so incredibly thrilled by this...you have no idea.

I need some help with this one...anyone know any really hot songs, along the lines of NIN's "Closer"? Its the beat that I love, I don't care about the lyrics so much.