However, a recent conversation with Abbey really drove home how lazy I’ve been the last couple of months, especially during the workweek.  There is a reasonable explanation for this, and I have accomplished some of the items on my To-Do list, but overall, it hasn’t been anything to brag about.  I’ll elaborate more on this in a bit.

In my defense (it’s my blog, so I get to rationalize my actions all I want), October was always the busiest month for me at work, and as soon as the dust settled from those events, I accepted a job at Central Wyoming College in Riverton.  I started just before Thanksgiving and, honestly, I’m still trying to figure out how my schedule/routine/life in general should look with a new job and a 45 minute commute factored in to the beginning and end of my day.  So while life has been relatively busy, there’s not a whole lot that merits a blog post.

Nevertheless, it’s time to get back into the swing of things, so here we go; over the last four months, I can officially cross the following items off my list:

2. Plan out future knitting projects (Christmas presents, perhaps?)

I finished more baby items (I know, it’s what I do), for one of Paul’s colleagues in the English Department.  Since C is HUGE Avs fan, I knitted hats, booties and mittens in Avs colors (shockingly, this was Paul’s idea).  I neglected to take pictures of any of the items, but C kindly tagged me in some photos of her baby girl in her new duds on Facebook, so y’all can check it out there.

I also knitted a scarf, was dissatisfied with the result, undid said scarf, looked for other patterns, was dissatisfied with those other patterns, and eventually re-knitted the exact same scarf for my stepmother-in-law for Christmas.  Despite my ridiculous indecisiveness, I was really happy with how the scarf turned out.  No pictures were taken of that item either, but you can check out the pattern here.  I don’t have too much else in the pipeline, but maybe, just maybe it’s time to explore new frontiers…like socks!  Or sweaters!

4. Start going to Yoga on a somewhat regular basis

So, this one started out well (I went for a month), but then fizzeled.  The teacher is great, the class was really laid back and, while I realized I need to strengthen my core, and consequently was not very good at yoga overall, I still really enjoyed the class.  However the only class time that worked with my old job’s schedule doesn’t quite mesh with my new work schedule and I have yet to research if there are any yoga studios in The Riv.  CWC actually allots its employees three hours a week to either take classes or participate in some sort of physical activity and it seems silly to not take advantage of that little perk.   I recently learned of a Zumba class in Lander that starts late enough in the evening for me to get home from work, change, and get to class with time to spare.  Stay tuned for that adventure…

5. Clean out and organize the office

The office was out of control.  It was full of unfiled bills, old textbooks, notebooks from undergrad and grad school (from Paul and me), defunct printers, cell phones, computer speakers, a dog kennel, a desktop computer we never used, and bags of clothes that needed to be donated.  So we finally took the plunge, pulled the covers off of the outdated textbooks for recycling, boxed up the computer to return to Paul’s folks in the spring, sorted the electronics into dump and donation piles, sorted through years of Anthropology and Secondary Education related class notes, and dismantled and found a new home for the dog kennel.  After making contributions to the dump, recycling center and Methodist Thrift Store and giving the room an overall thorough cleaning, we actually have an office we can use as office.  Oddly enough, by clearing the clutter in the office, our dining room table is now less cluttered because Paul can actually do work in the office.  Weird.

7. Go to UW Football game

Paul and I at the less fun, cold, and snowy UW game in November 2009

We made it to UW’s homecoming game.  The weather was lovely for Laramie in October— no snow, relatively little wind, and the sun was shining.  This was a vast improvement from the last game we attended in November two years prior—blizzard on the way to Laramie, a foot of snow being plowed off the field before the game and mid-thirties for the entire game.  I’d much rather watch football when I don’t have to go to the restroom to thaw my feet out.

21. Unpack and find space for Paul’s Grammy’s china–all 107 pieces of it

Out of the box!

This wasn’t nearly the undertaking I thought it would be and I feel a little silly that this didn’t happen until this weekend.  After clearing out some space in the hutch and buffet, everything fits nicely.  I admit there are pieces in the set that I am unsure of their function, but we now have fancy china.  As Paul put away the last of the teacups in the hutch, he said he felt very domesticated.  I have to agree; there’s something about putting honest to goodness china in your china hutch that makes you feel very domestically adult, whether you deserve it or not.

24. Trip to the BH and to the Little Bighorn Battlefield

The Garber Girls at Eaton's for J&M's Wedding

Well, we’ve made it back to Big Horn twice since the last time I posted, but we weren’t able to make it to the Little Bighorn Battlefield either time.  We made it back in October for J and M’s wedding at Eaton’s Dude Ranch and then back again for Christmas.  As much as I love Lander, it’s always nice to go home.

18. Learn how to use Photoshop

This one is still very much a work in progress, but I really started to dig in this weekend.  I should note that it’s Photoshop Elements and not the full version of Photoshop.  This is a good thing, because the more I try to figure out PSE, the more I realize the full-blown version would be waaaay over my head.  I’m hoping once I feel more comfortable with the software, I can finally finish the living room collage and work on some pictures for my office (did I mention the new job came with its own office?  It’s pretty sweet).

…

Alright, so that’s it for now.  There’s still plenty left on the list (and I do intend to keep working at it), as well as other things rattling around in my little brain, so hopefully this is a habit I can get back into.

1. The name of the blog is no longer erroneous.
2. This blog has automatically and instantaneously become wittier, more intellectually minded, better written and just more interesting overall.
3. There was blogging going on in our house during this blog’s 3 1/2 year hiatus.  Check out the category “Primrose’s Blog” to read what Paul has been up to since 2009 or so.
4. All of those folks who read Paul’s blog over at Blogspot, will now only need to follow one blog.  Update your Google Reader!

Round 1: Before

I should have reworded this particular item “Plan Out and Implement the Epic Tomato Harvest of 2011.”

Romas

Last weekend, with Autumn looming ever closer, I looked out at our backyard garden beds and realized it was time to start turning the fruits of Paul’s summertime labor into delicious sauces and other edible treats that we can enjoy until summer rolls around and we can start growing fresh veggies again.  This time last year found Paul and myself knee deep in grad school (yep, I brought it up, again) and we just gave away most of the tomatoes we had left on the vines. Some of Paul’s colleagues made some salsa with our orphaned Romas, so I didn’t feel too guilty.  It did feel wrong, however, to spend the spring and summer watching these plants grow only to do nothing when the plants produced so much.

Other Assortment of Tomatoes

But not this year!  I purposefully put this item on the list to ensure we did not repeat the mistakes of last year.  Our tomato beds consisted of cherry tomatoes, romas and a mixture of other house and heirloom varieties. We’ll continue to eat the heirlooms fresh off the vines, but all other varieties are fair game for sauce making.

Cherry Tomatoes

First, I halved and put all our Sweet Baby Girl cherry tomatoes into the dehydrater for use in pastas and salads.  I set our dehydrater to 140 degrees and it took about 18 hours to get the tomatoes to a raisin like state. I just put them in a freezer bag and they’re good to go.  Sun dried tomatoes without the sun part!  Done and done!

And then there was the other 20 lbs of tomatoes to deal with…I had been told by friends that they had found delicious and simple sauce recipes that don’t require skinning or de-seeding, but something in me wanted to do this the hard way.  Something in my needed to prove that I could make sauce, from scratch, shortcuts be damned.  However, I do have another round of tomatoes sitting on my kitchen counter as I type this and those buggers may be destined for an easier, crock pot related recipe.

Romas washed and ready to be milled

I found this recipe on a site that I’ve been coveting for quite awhile and was really excited to finally try out something from her archives.  I did two batches of sauce, one with the romas and one with the assortment of other tomatoes in the garden.  Due to the sheer amount that I had, I tripled the recipe for the Romas and doubled the recipe for the others.

Romas in the mill

The recipe shows how to blanche, peel and de-seed the tomatoes, I went for the “easier” route and bought a food mill.  In the long run, it made for a smoother, more pureed sauce, thus eliminating the need to possibly blend the sauce at the end of the process.  Besides, I have blanched and peeled tomatoes before, and while still time consuming, I still think milling is faster.  I had never used a mill before, but it really isn’t too complicated (as was evidenced by the lack of manual and mere written instructions on the side of the box).  I was skeptical that there would be a lot of waste, but after an hour or so of milling, and re-milling my bowl of tomato guts several times, I started with 12 lbs of romas and ended up with two bowls of sauce and one small bowl of leftover skins and seeds. Not bad.

Romas: After the mill (puree)

This sauce also has two components: the tomatoes and all the yummy, sauteed veggies that were mixed into the sauce.  I diced my carrots, celery, onions, and garlic and set them aside before turning to the tomatoes.  I sauteed the veggies and then added some oregano (from our garden) and basil (store bought because I can’t grow  basil to save my life) near the end of the process before adding in the tomatoes.

Sauteed veggies and herbs

And then there was a lot of sitting around, waiting for the sauce to cook down.  For the first batch of sauce, I waited until 5:00 in the evening to start, and so I could have let the sauce cook down and thicken up more than I did, but it was 11:30 and I wanted to go to bed.  I figure I can always cook the sauce down more when I add it to spaghetti or whatever dish we use the sauce with.

Final Product

So by the end of the weekend, I turned 20+ lbs of tomatoes into 9 quarts of sauce and a quart baggie of dehydrated tomatoes.

I’m not sure if I’ll post Round 2, if I go the same route.  There are also the green tomatoes still on the vine that we can pick and let rippen inside after the frost sets in. Clearly, I’ve got my work cut out for me.  If I find a faster way to make sauce (I’ll be freezing everything, due to lack of shelf space and an abundance of freezer space in our house), I’ll be sure to let you all know.

Round 1: Bagged and ready for the freezer

Happy Harvesting!

Fall and Winter Hats and Booties for Emmett

Emmett’s package of knitted goodies arrived in Sheridan earlier this week (and his momma just sent me a text this morning with little E rockin’ one of his new hats), so it’s safe to officially cross this one off my List. Huzzah!

Since I started knitting 2 1/2 or so years ago, the majority of my gift recipients have been babies.  Sure, I’ve knitted some hats for Paul and me and a scarf and fingerless mittens for my own use, but everything else has been for sweet babes new to our little world.  Unfortunately, I didn’t start making photographic evidence of my projects until about a year ago, so the evolution of my skills can’t fully be documented, but that’s not really what this is about, anyway, right?

I started knitting when my older sister J, and her husband, P adopted their first child. It was then that I began toying with the idea that making cute little knitted clothing and accessories might be a great “Auntie” thing to do.  I distinctly remember sitting in our basement about three years ago, practicing a set of stitches that were supposed to create an eyelet pattern for a hat (that I would eventually make Brynn), and telling Paul, “I think I want knitting to be my hobby.”  I had never had a hobby previously, and it only took me 26 years to find one; not too bad, I guess.

All The Hats and Booties

Creating neat and uniform stitches, and watching your project grow, row by row is really satisfying.  Also as a plus, this hobby is pretty mobile, I can pack supplies into a small bag and knit from practically anywhere–the car, the airport, airplanes, etc.  Up until now, I’ve had to balance knitting projects with school (I know, you’re thinking, when she going to stop talking about school–all in good time, dear readers; I promise I’ll get there), mostly knitting on holiday breaks or between semesters.  There was (and still is) something very calming about the whole process: setting down my textbooks, backing away from my laptop and browsing the various knitting pattern books I’ve either purchased, or have been kindly given to me as gifts, or internet websites (all hail, Ravelry) and then picking out yarns–unfortunately, the local yarn shop closed about six months before I started knitting, so all of my shopping has been online, but even that’s pretty satisfying–and then being able to embark on a new project.  Knitting was definitely key in keeping my sanity through grad school.

Holidays and breaks between semesters serendipitously occurred around the times I needed to work on and finish projects before nieces and nephews made their world premieres.  Working on apparel for babies is especially satisfying for the novice knitter; baby clothes aren’t very big and don’t take too long to complete, no matter how slow or busy you are.

For Baby Olivia

For Baby Aiden

Now that this latest project is behind me, I’m thinking about moving on to new endeavors (socks!  sweaters!) for people larger than a newborn (toddlers! kids! adults!).  Our housemate, E, recently moved into her own place, so I’ve lost my evening knitting buddy, but we’ve already discussed getting together once in a while for a knitting circle.  Also, with winter just around the corner (ugh), I’m sure I will be knitting more to get me through the days when it’s too cold to even enjoy our beautiful surroundings.  When it’s below zero, I can’t think of a better way to spend my time.

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• Post MBA To Do List (kathrynandpaul.wordpress.com)

Now, today wasn’t that bad. But it certainly could have been better.

Last night was rough. I had a metric ton of grading and was zinged by a cold to boot, and subsequently I didn’t do enough planning for today. Oh sure, I had a general idea of what I wanted to accomplish in each class, but none of these ideas really gelled until I got to school this morning. And after five years of teaching, I know better than to try to plan in the morning. One must plan well in advance, because if one walks into the classroom without a plan, Very Bad Things will happen. Teenagers can smell a lack of planning from three periods away.

Now, let’s be clear. I’m exaggerating. But I talked way too much today, a sure sign of poor planning, and I even cracked very stupid jokes which, if you don’t know me or my sense of humor, could be mistaken for stupid and uninformed jokes. Luckily, my students get me and forgive my stupidity. Usually.

And so tonight I’m reviewing the unit plan and next week’s activities, and I’m regaining that sense of control. Unfortunately, my ability to write cogently has apparently left the building with Elvis, so this-here post is getting cut short.

Onward!

1. Finish knitting cute little baby accessories for Baby Emmett
2. Plan out future knitting projects (Christmas presents, perhaps?)
3. Finish photo collage in living room
4. Start going to Yoga on a somewhat regular basis
5. Clean out and organize the office
6. Plan out the Epic Tomato Harvest of 2011
7. Go to UW Football game
8. Girls weekend with my sisters
9. Fall trip to Yellowstone
10. Get sewing machine repaired (top stitch is crooked) so I can be more adventurous with sewing
11. Window treatments for living room window
12. Paint downstairs family room
13. Paint guest bedroom
14. Fabric wall art for guest bedroom
15. Go on more day hikes
16. Bake more
17. Read more of the classics
18. Learn how to use Photoshop
19. Research new cameras
20. Cross-country ski in Yellowstone and stay in the Park
21. Unpack and find space for Paul’s Grammy’s china–all 107 pieces of it
22. Take more weekend bike rides before the weather and roads make it impossible to do so
23. Train the dog not to jump all over people, and bark, when they walk through the front door
24. Trip to the BH and to the Little Bighorn Battlefield
25. Weekend trip to Jackson

Since we opened our doors to the interwebs, we’ve had nine cyclists stay with us.  Additionally, we’ve had four other friends of friends and friends of friends of friends stay with us on various non-bicycle cross country adventures, but perhaps that’s fodder for another post.  We’ve spent many great evenings on our back porch talking to our guests about their travels, what they did before they decided to spend several months on a bike, where they’ll end up, our lives in Lander and why we decided to allow strangers to stay with us on a moment’s notice.  Some folks stayed for just a night, others used Lander as a day or two stop over to do some bike maintenance and stock up on supplies.   It’d made for a really busy and interesting summer without doing much traveling ourselves.  Our last two cyclists left Saturday morning and, now that school has started for Paul and my work schedule is about to get all sort of busy again, we’ve deactivated the account for the year.

In honor of the end of our first WS summer, here is a brief summary of the folks who’ve stayed at Chez Kathryn and Paul:

Adam arrived on the afternoon of the 4th of July.  He was completing the second leg of his east to west trip, starting in Pueblo, CO and eventually ending in Florence, OR.  Originally from San Diego, Adam planned to be in Lander on the 5th or 6th, but other cyclists he met along his route kept telling him that he should really consider getting to Lander by the 4th.  He pulled a couple big days and made in time for the evening fireworks madness.  I often forget that Wyoming has pretty loose fireworks regulations, so the selection alone at the roadside fireworks stand transformed Adam in a giddy 10 year old.  Adam stayed with us a couple nights, worked on his bike, stocked up on food and headed towards Dubois, vowing he’d be back next year for the 4th.

Kyle arrived a couple hours after Adam, traveling west to east.  Kyle is from Brooklyn; he move to Eugene, OR to learn how to make Long Haul bikes at The Center for Appropriate Transport.  After Kyle finished his apprenticeship at CAT, he then began his journey back to Newark, NJ, on his newly constructed bike.  Kyle left bright and early on July 5th, despite having ridden in from Pinedale the day before and staying up watching fireworks on our roof until midnight.

We had  big of a break between our first two guests and the next round.  This was mostly due to the fact that Paul and I weren’t home much, but our summer ended with a flurry of riders.

Ryan and Andrea stayed with us Aug 11 and 12.  They started their ride in Nelson, British Columbia, will work their way through the US and Mexico before getting off their bikes and heading to Cuba.  The couple stayed with us two nights, spending most of their time downtown or on our back porch.  We actually didn’t even get to wish the two good luck before they headed out, as we left for Sheridan the day before they departed for Jeffery City and beyond.

John, John and Rafael stayed with us sometime the week of August 22 (22 or 23 maybe?).  Making their way from Oregon to Baltimore, John and John were from Baltimore and Raf was from the Sunshine Coast, Australia.  John and John were making the full trip back to Baltimore, while Raf was riding as far as he could in 65 days, minus some time to visit some family in several states before heading back to Sydney.  They started in Astoria and hit Lander on day 25, after riding for 90 miles that day.  They were a little disappointed and little relieved that, due to major road construction, they were taken by pilot car over the majority of Togwotee Pass–the highest pass of their ride.

Ryan and Nelle are originally from Varley in Western Australia.  They started their ride in San Francisco and have been winding their way through the states, taking various side trips along the way.  They’re Canada-bound via the Continental Divide trail (or parts of it, anyway) with 900 miles to go in 5 weeks.  They actually came to stay with us as a result of John, John and Raf who met them somewhere between here and Rawlins.  They needed a place to stay and J,J and R passed along our contact info.  It was a good thing they got a hold of us because we had some crazy weather the last week or so.  This couple had some truly burly bikes (as in mountain bikes, not touring road bikes) with their trailers in tow.  They spent two nights with us, and headed out this past Saturday, or at least that was their plan.  Fluffy Buffalo played a wedding reception in Lander’s City Park that night and before the show, Paul said he actually ran into Ryan and Nelle.  They had come back to town to buy a camper trailer of some sorts.  I was hoping to run into them in the park that night (you can camp in City Park for up to three consecutive nights, and Paul thought that that’s where Ryan and Nelle would be), but alas between the dancing and joviality of the night, I never did see them.

And that’s the list.  Not bad for our first year if I do say so myself.  Paul and I (okay, mostly me) have talked about getting a big US wall map to put in our extra bedroom and mark where folks are from, or since we’ve seemed to picked up more of an international contingent than I thought, perhaps where they started their trips.  Although a big world map on the wall would look pretty sweet too.

We’ve had a lot going on the last couple of weeks, so staying busy hasn’t been too much of a challenge.  Paul’s Mom and Stepdad visited us for a week–unfortunately I worked that week and didn’t get any pictures taken. We took a trip to Sheridan for our nephew’s birthday and spent some time with my parents.  We took a hike up Crazy Woman Canyon near Buffalo, and relaxed.  It was nice to travel and not be tethered to my laptop.

This week, Paul’s Dad and Stepmom visited and left yesterday morning.  We’re also dog-sitting this weekend for a friend, Lander Brewing Company’s Brewmaster, while he’s off winning the 2011 Steinley Cup Microbrewery Competition in Saratoga, WY.  Congrats, Ted!  Rigby and Brewer have kept themselves entertained, alternating between running around the yard together at full speed and then napping in the yard or the living room, so it’s left Paul and me with actual time to burn.  Yesterday was definitely my typical “I don’t have to do homework so I don’t want to do a damn thing” types of days.  I finished knitting a hat for Baby C–the soon to-be-son of my brother-in-law’s sister and her husband–while watching episodes of Dr. Who and Arrested Development.  And that’s about it.  If it wasn’t for the knitting, I’d be embarrassed to admit what I did (and all the things I didn’t do) yesterday.  And even with that, it’s still a little embarrassing.

So, in short, now that free time is available in spades, I’m struggling with what to do and how to fill my spare time.  I’m currently not living up to my expectations, but I suppose that will come in time.  Slowly, I am emerging from my grad school haze and hopefully soon, I will fully grasp the idea that projects and hobbies are no longer a luxury, but instead a normal part of my everyday life.  Perhaps I should post my to do list on here to make myself more accountable.  Thoughts?

After yesterday’s lazy-palooza, today, I think I’ll try my hand at some yard work or house cleaning.  Not super creative or exciting  but at least it gets me off the couch.

Even though the majority of those who will read this (the few and far between, I’m sure) know us/see us/at least communicate with us on a regular basis, just for kicks, let’s do a little update for the greater good, shall we? So, what have we been up to in the last 3 1/2 years…

The wedding, it went off without a hitch.

Just Married!

Went to Yellowstone for a mini honeymoon.

Honeymoon in Yellowstone

My younger sister, Abbey, got married.

Best. Wedding. Picture. Ever.

We added another furry, four-legged kid to the family. Blog, meet Rigby, Rigby, meet our blog.

E. Rigby Primrose

Sometime after, this is where things more-or-less turn into one big blur. I finished those pesky pre-requisite courses and got accepted into grad school and Paul decided to finish his Master’s degree. Those two events are the real reason this blog went defunct. For two or so years, the world scurried along while Paul and I went to work, came home every night, stared at our computers or textbooks for the evening before going to bed and starting the whole thing over again the next day. I took a job the school district’s afterschool program, babies were born (2 nieces and 3 nephews in addition to many babies of friends, so far), we went to weddings, on vacations, friends and family came to visit, house projects–both large and small–were somehow completed, I learned to knit, Paul built two guitars, learned how to play keyboard and joined a funk band, and before we knew it (ha!), Paul finished his Masters this past November and I finished a couple of weeks ago.

And now life can begin again.

This spring, Paul decided to take up cycling, so he purchased a shiny new road bike and signed up for the Tour de Wyoming. He rode his bike over the Bighorn Mountains. Twice. Total badassery, right there folks. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: My husband rocks.

Summiting at Powder River Pass

Summiting at Granite Pass

A dear friend whom I’ve known since the second grade is living with us this summer. I’m super excited that she wants to live in Lander. She’s a freelance writer and has written some great pieces on natural resources in Wyoming and the West. Check out her website in the side bar and her most recent article on WyoFile

In addition to our housemate, Paul also signed us up as hosts for thru-cyclists and we’ve been fortunate enough to have four people stay with us this summer (they all have websites, you can check them out in the side bar as well).

In short, life is slowly returning to what it was like the brief six-months we lived in Chez Kathryn and Paul before I started school and effectively lost all sustainable free time as well as the ability to socialize with the outside world. This blog may result in complete failure yet again, but I figured it will be a better way to spend my spare time than watching back-to-back-to-back episodes of Dr. Who on Netflix. Also, I won’t have to quit my computer-usage time cold turkey. Win-win for everyone, right?

Away we go!