hallowed eve

it's raining. it's been raining off and on for the last hour, and we're supposed to get storms pretty much straight through tomorrow evening.

rain and storms on Halloween.

that just doesn't seem fair. especially after the gorgeous weather we had earlier today:

isn't that pretty?! and it was in the high 50's, too - a perfect fall day! Mom and i put it to good use, coiling hoses and putting the patio furniture in the shed. she mowed the lawn, and i dug trenches in the ground for my strawberry plants (and apologized to the nightcrawlers). i ate guacamole, worked on two clients, then packed up and drove to E's for the night. by some weird miracle, i do not have any clients scheduled tomorrow (but they could call me in if someone books), and i wanted to surprise E. Halloween is her favorite holiday, but she's been so exhausted that she hasn't had time to buy candy or decorate. so, in the morning, she'll come home to this:

and this:

suitably spooky and festive, yes? i love the pumpkin bucket - got it at Target, and it's exactly like the ones K and i used for trick-or-treating as little kids! and naturally, it's full of candy:

snack-sized Butterfingers, Crunch bars...i think there are Baby Ruth bars in there somewhere...and, most importantly, Hershey's miniatures, because that is what we ALWAYS gave out when i was little and you do not fuck with memories like that. (seriously. they had a large bag of miniatures in "fall-themed" wrappers on sale, and i bought the not-on-sale traditionally wrapped ones because i am a purist.) i remember that we always bought a few bags, and one was for family use only. Dad, K and i had a three-way battle for the Special Darks, K went for the Krackels, and i was all about the Mr Goodbars (Mom didn't discriminate).

ahhh, Halloween. the Devil's Night curfews (that's just in and around Detroit, folks), school parties, the months-long costume planning (making sure said costumes can be worn over winter coats if necessary, and it was almost always necessary), the cartoon specials on TV. the year you figured out that pillowcases held more candy than plastic buckets. memorizing which houses had really great treats (regular candy bars and full-sized cans of Coke!). dumping your candy on the living room floor and sorting it by type, then the inter-sibling bartering process that was more involved than some peace negotiations are today. the year the squirrels ate your pumpkin two days before Halloween, the pumpkin you had carefully chosen and picked from an actual pumpkin patch, the pumpkin that the nice man in the Great Pumpkin costume told you was named Lydia, who loved lasagna, which was your favorite food, too. but we don't speak about that year. ahem.

having already carved our jack-o-lanterns (while watching It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown), our night will consist of handing out candy to those trick-or-treaters hardy enough to brave the rainy weather; eating hot dog mummies (hot dogs wrapped in thin strips of biscuit dough) and macaroni and cheese; and watching Hocus Pocus while eating as much chocolate as we can hold.

Happy Halloween!

womanifest

What. A. Day.

late last night, i baked a Pumpkin Dump Cake. basically, you make pumpkin pie filling, put it in a greased 9x13 pan, sprinkle a box of yellow cake mix on top, sprinkle chopped pecans on top of that, pour two (!) melted sticks of butter over the whole shebang, and pop it in the oven at 350 degrees for an hour or so. it took longer to put together than planned, mostly because i was also trying to watch A Nightmare On Elm Street for the first time (baby Johnny Depp!!! OMG!). by the time the cake was done, it was after 1am, and i had to be at work by 9:45!!!!

E crawled into bed with me around 8am, and i re-set my alarm for 8:45. i then had an extremely vivid dream in which we were at some sort of potluck, and someone had brought a litter of kittens that needed homes. they were tiny, almost too small to leave their mama. i had soothed the little gray-on-gray striped kitten to sleep...it was passed out, paws splayed, on my chest, and i wanted to text a picture of its smooshed-up kitten face to my friend, Maxine Dangerous, so i reached for my phone...

...and very abruptly woke up. not only were there no kittens, but it was 9:08! i had just enough time to make coffee, shower, and run out the door. fortunately, there was no traffic, and i got there in plenty of time. originally i had two clients scheduled, but my 11am cancelled due to illness and i got a head start on the other pressing business of the day:

buying our Halloween pumpkins at Eastern Market! and i got there all by myself for the first time, without getting lost! i also got quite a workout, lol - there were two generously sized pumpkins and only one of me, and i was parked about 1/4 of a mile away. so it took two trips for the pumpkins (which were two for $10!), and two more trips for...well...

i should not be allowed at Eastern Market without supervision.

 it started out innocently enough. i needed to buy a grow-your-own mushroom kit for E, as a belated anniversary present, and we also needed eggs and some sweet Italian sausage. i knew where to go for those, but walked through all three sheds first to see what else was for sale.

this is shed two, i think. pretty busy, but not so jammed that you couldn't get where you needed to go.

i was lucky enough to score the last of the concord grapes ($3) from this vendor. soooooo good! working at an estate winery totally ruined me for supermarket grapes. these little balls of heaven actually taste like GRAPES.

i picked up the eggs (Amish eggs! $3/dozen) and the fresh sausage ($8/2lbs, and put in its casings just yesterday!), the mushroom kit ($20), and also a half-gallon of 100% Honeycrisp apple cider ($4), and wended my way back to the car, admiring other wares along the way:

 

everything is very reasonably priced, but the problem is that there are just SO MANY lovely things that the purchases add up and before you know it, you're loaded down like a pack mule and your wallet is empty.  fruit, veggies, plants, baked goods, organic meats, and so much more, all of it locally grown/sourced/produced. in fact i showed quite a bit of restraint, actually - i didn't even stop at the maple syrup vendor, or the spice people. but after depositing my purchases at the car (and stuffing my mouth with grapes), i walked back along Russell Street in search of an interesting little shop we'd browsed in once before:

this place. Signal Return. they have a great selection of Detroit-themed cards, prints, and posters, plus letter-pressed items, hand-bound journals, and other amusing designs as well. and this is where i spent waaaaaaay more money than i had any business spending. my intent was just to pick up a couple of cards to mail to devout Detroiters now living out of state, and so i got these:

the Fist (of boxing legend Joe Louis) sculpture, and the abandoned Michigan Central Station, two beloved icons of the city, and beautifully rendered. but, see, then i saw this:

and immediately knew that it belonged, framed, in our kitchen. i also bought a new tee shirt (that was the straw that broke the monetary camel's back. i am a shameless tee shirt whore, unable to resist them), but we'll get to that later.

slightly sheepish about my little spending spree, i went back to the car and started to head home. the ramp for southbound I-75 was closed, though, so i took a little detour along the service drive. as long as i'm not pressed for time (and today i wasn't), i really enjoy detours in the city. this was by no means the longest, weirdest, or most around-your-arse-to-get-to-your-elbow, lol - the service drive parallels the freeway - but it was scenic, and included some unexpected off-roading when the service drive suddenly became a couple of hacked-up ditches (dug-up sidewalks?) and a curb (wtf?!) before picking back up in front of/curving around an abandoned, burned-out early-20th-century apartment building. thank Christ my car was made for things like that (and i'm pretty sure the drivers of the SUV's in front of and behind me were muttering the same thing, lolololol).

this is the city i love:

weeds and ruins (and abrupt re-routings) next to professional sports stadiums...

decay and abandonment mixed with revitalization...

 grit and art deco architecture (and stunning works of art - see the whale mural on the center building?)...

 reminders of the great, bustling Detroit of years past...

and good omens for a bright future (the sunbeams, not the truck, lol.)


after a quick stop at my mom's for Real Pants (i'd only packed work scrubs and pajama bottoms for the weekend), my favorite blue soup pot, and the potatoes i forgot to grab last night, i came back to E's. she was wide awake (poor thing!!! tonight's her fourth 12-hour shift in a row), and very excited about the mushroom kit, happy cow print, and pumpkins. i climbed into bed for some serious snuggle time, which turned into way more than snuggling (whee!), and then she tried to go back to sleep and i started making Sausage, Kale, and Potato soup. the full recipe is here, and wowwwwwww, is it good! i'm not a fan of spicy food, so i used sweet Italian sausage instead, but otherwise followed the recipe exactly (ok, and i added a little bit of sage), and we love it. even E loves it, and she is not the world's biggest fan of kale (she thinks it tastes like lawn clippings).

are you wondering what the heck any of this has to do with the post title?

remember that scene in The Karate Kid, where the Kid is trying to get the old man to train him, and the old man is working with his bonsai trees? he hands the Kid a pair of shears and tells him to get to work. the Kid protests, saying he doesn't know how to do it, and the old man tells him to close his eyes and picture how he wants the tree to look.

"Do you see the picture?", the old man asks.

"Yes."

"Good. Now, make it like the picture."

and that, guys, is what we call (wo)manifesting

most of us have at least a general picture in our minds of our ideal, authentic life. where we want to live, what we want to do, the kinds of people and activities and things we want around us. my life this last year has moved leaps and bounds closer to how i've dreamed it could be, and my picture comes into sharper focus every day. it's a work in progress, for sure, and it always will be; there will always be new things to learn, new people and places to love, new goals to strive for. but for me, the big first step was moving home. back to my family, back to the one whom my soul loves. back to the Motor City.

for me, the tee shirt says it all:

it's been a pleasantly busy few days Chez Dragon, full of work and Arabic food and snuggle time. i skyped with J and helped her build her baby registry, rolled out hot stone massage at work, and last night i saw my hockey hero - in the flesh - coaching a boys' team AT THE RINK NOT A MILE FROM MY HOUSE!!!!!!!

*fangirl moment*

*ahem*

*it's not stalking if you don't take pictures and post them for the world to see*

it turns out that he also runs a hockey academy, including skills clinics, and there are unconfirmed reports that he can be booked for private lessons. so, i have a whole new reason for hitting the gym (and juggling, and getting back on the ice ASAP) - i absolutely need instruction on being the best goalie i can be, but i am not going to book time with my hero until i am back in top shape. he'll know my form needs work, but he won't doubt my physical conditioning, lol! to this end, i have done sit-ups and t-squats today, and will be going running after work. (i've never had a "Bucket List", per se, but if I did, training with my only sports idol ever would definitely be Item Number One!)

i slept in a little today, but am being fairly productive! in addition to the exercise, i've also fished my rogue juggling ball out from under the dresser and started laundry. oh, and i started batch #2 of homemade laundry detergent:

 this is one large bar of fels-naptha soap, cut into chunks and added to two cups of water. it'll sit for a few days (i've still got plenty of batch #1), and then get blended with hot water, borax, and washing soda. the recipe is here, and i heartily recommend trying it! the detergent works great, leaves clothes scent-free when dried, and doesn't irritate E's skin at all. plus, i get to use my thrifted immersion blender to make it, and it's pretty much impossible to not have fun when you're using an immersion blender. (good thing it's for clothes-washing, though, because i did end up wearing some of it.)

and this is the shark-in-progress:

 

 specifically, this is the nose-and-mouth end of the shark. i'm working from a pattern for a shark pouch with a zipper mouth...it had the look i was hoping for, but the mouth will be modified so that the shark can chomp things. don't ask me how, lol - i haven't made it that far, but i'm confident it will turn out just fine. 

ok, time to play with yarn and have some lunch - baked potatoes (ermagherd, berked perderders!!) with broccoli and cheddar cheese, nomnomnomnomnom! 

 

i'm curled up, freshly showered, wearing fluffy socks and sipping home-brewed strawberry kombucha. tomorrow a new week begins, and Mercury goes retrograde again. i'm not a die-hard believer in astrology - in fact, i don't usually know about planetary shifts until after they happen - but my craptastic thursday and friday had me wondering WTF was going on, and it's nice to have something to blame, lol.

Aside from those two days (in which nothing life-detroying happened, just a bunch of small things that, when added up and combined with hormones, left me overwhelmed and in tears), life has been going quite swimmingly. my favorite garam masala was on sale, so i bought two; i hit my target number of clients for the week; E and i went downtown for barbecue at Slow's, had an amazing meal, and enjoyed our view of the abandoned Michigan Central Station (i'm not being sarcastic, the building is gorgeous and beloved by all); and i've made progress on both the crocheted shark that J requested for her impending kiddo and the cross-stitch project for Mom. Woohoo!

Saturday was cold and rainy, perfect for curling up to nap with my sleeping wife. i made her eggs and toast for "breakfast", then spent the evening pottering around...some cross-stitching, some cleaning, some daydreaming. we've been talking a lot the last few days about the bigger items i'll be bringing when we move in together, what big items she plans on keeping (the house is full of her grandparents' stuff, some of which is awesome, and some of which she really wants to toss), and how best to arrange things to our mutual comfort and liking. it's a little bit like playing Tetris, and there will be some negotiating, but in terms of style and preferences we're totally on the same page. (i confess to not being fond of the closets in the bedrooms or the cabinets/lack of storage in the kitchen, but those are problems that can be easily worked around once we have the rest of the house to spread out in.)

tomorrow, E is taking me out for breakfast, and then i have to go to the bank at 10am sharp to deposit my paycheck. other plans include at least 3 clients (as far as i know), going for a run, and working either on the shark or the crocheted ornaments for this year. it's way more exciting than it sounds. :o)

i'll leave you with a family history tidbit: my mom's first cousin was a model and was on a first-name basis with Elvis Presley. they used to hang out. crazy small world, huh?

ephemera

the weather has been absolutely gorgeous this week - cold nights, warm(ish) days. it's perfect for the trees, which are getting prettier and more multi-colored by the day!

i was really jonesing for chai tea the other night, and so i made a late-nite trip to the grocery store. E: "Bring back cake!"

chocolate cake is delicious with chai tea.

there is a baseball player named Coco Crisp. i am not making that up. he must've caught hell for that in school, lol - some people should not be allowed to name their own children.

after a weeks-long nom-a-thon (it must be the cooler weather - my body wants to add a winter layer), i'm getting back to eating more fruits and veggies, and also going back to the gym. i will still be eating cake and burgers (and so on), just maybe not EVERY. DAY. because as much fun as that is, and as much as i looooooooove food, i do not have extra money for new clothing in larger sizes. and that's the road i was heading down.

tonight, Mom and i (and Mom's friend and her grandkids) went to a local park to see the International Space Station fly by! there was some confusion about which direction it was coming from, and Mom's star-tracking app failed...and um, we're near a major airport, so there were lots of false alarms. in the end, only the eldest grandkid and i saw it. i had it in my binoculars for a minute (definitely NOT a plane), but then there was a shooting star and the kids were shrieking with excitement and when i looked back, it was gone. but - I SAW THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION!!!!!!!!!!!

last Friday, E and i celebrated our one-year anniversary! it was wonderful - we went to an Italian place for a delicious dinner, and then we saw Gravity in 3-D at a local theater. being a total space geek, i wore my NASA flight suit to the movie, and the high-schooler behind the concessions counter was very appreciative. He said the whole movie was "just breathtaking", and boy, was he right! It really did look like you were orbiting the Earth. just amazing.

I AM OUT OF GARAM MASALA AND THIS IS AN EMERGENCY. 

oh! progress has been made on the purging - i condensed four storage bins of stuff down to two, threw away two giant bags of trash, and took two more giant bags to a resale store. i've also managed to bring my credit card current, and am committed to paying it off entirely, after which i will begin to tackle the giant mess that is (are?) my student loans.

(this is where i visualize/trust God for 20 clients a week, minimum. 25 would be even better, but 20 will get the job done short-term.)

and now, the time has come for all good Dragons to finish their giant bottles of water and get ready for bed. E's night shift schedule is really messing with me, lol. i've always been nocturnal, and looooooooved working midnights (for 5 years)! anyway, it's like this: when E crawls into bed next to me at 8am on a Saturday or Sunday, we curl up and i go right back to sleep. on a good day, i'll get up at 11am-ish; on a bad day, well, 2pm isn't unusual. this makes it very hard to go to bed at a decent hour that night, and then it becomes a vicious cycle. so tonight, the goal is to be asleep by midnight, even if i have to pop a benadryl to get the job done, lol.

sweet dreams, blogland!

mmmmmmmmmmmmmm

This:

Was totally worth having to get dressed and buy lemons in this:

Chicken Lemon Rice Soup. Yummmmmmmmmmmmmmm.