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| Sunday, October 30, 2005 |
| Hat #6 |
 Chico's hat. Yes, I know boys don't traditionally wear pink, but he wanted it and he loves it. So, all the Pagitt boys are outfitted for winter. Are your kids? Also taking custom orders for mittens and scarves if you need those. I'm lining everything with fleece to be soft and warm. |
posted by Jen @ 11:38 PM   |
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| Saturday, October 29, 2005 |
| Dinner |
 It may be strange to some of you that I sometimes record my dinner here, but I love to cook. And with money being really tight, I'm testing my culinary skills. I usually have limited ingredients which when combined don't seem to add up to an edible dinner. I've been inventing dinners and sauces, etc. So, tonight's dinner (lunch was for ultra cheap at the restaurant while I was working) was a honey mustard chicken pasta which included leftover rotisserie chicken (that rotisserie was the best $5 I ever spent at Goodwill), yellow pepper saved from the dumpster, leftover canned green beans, Tuscan Italian dressing by Annie's, Honey Dijon dressing by Neuman's Own, olive oil, leftover pesto paste and bowtie pasta. This dinner was nicely paired with a White Zinfandel from Barefoot Wines. That is all. |
| posted by Jen @ 11:03 PM |
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| I have a new blog |
| I never thought I'd have a need to branch out and have more than one blog. But as fate would have it, I'm having issues with my apartment complex and getting them to fix some serious issues that are hampering my ability to find a new tenant and be able to move into my new home in Uptown. So, I am chronicling or documenting some of the crap that has yet to be fixed and posting updates when stuff does get fixed. So, with no further ado, I give you CrapInTheHall.blogspot.com. |
| posted by Jen @ 10:51 PM |
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| Night Biking |
Spent last night doing one of the things I love the most, night-biking. Cruising the streets after most of the world has gone to sleep with the crisp autumn air dancing across my face. And sharing it with a friend who enjoys it equally as much. We also walked the railroad tracks a bit. That was great because there was a super slow moving train that we got right up next to it and could see how enormous the power of a train is first hand. I don't recommend children try this, but adults, you certainly should. And do it after dark too. The train just seems more ominous then.
I found this on the tracks. It's a wheel bolt off of a train!
And on to the dumpster diving. Yay! It was a night of watchful eyes though, so we kept our wits about us and felt out each situation as carefully as we could. No sense in getting in trouble with the law over some produce. And I was educated about some other really great sources for free food :)
5 hours of biking sure will give your legs a workout and mine are seemingly out of shape. Today I am feeling the after effects, but I'd do it all again in a heartbeat :) |
| posted by Jen @ 1:11 PM |
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| Thursday, October 27, 2005 |
| Housing issues (ie rant ahead) |
I'm having issues trying to move out of here. I had some leads, but the condition of the front stairwell and the hallway (destroyed this summer by the neighbor's kids and their friends) really kinda turns people off. Not to mention the litter in the yard, the smell of cigarettes in the hallway permeating from one of the units on my floor which seeps into my apartment and can be smelled with the door shut. Oh yeah, and the big garbage bag leak stain on the carpet in the hallway from the same people. Seriously how is it they get to continue living here?
So I spent some time today on the phone with the Attorney General's office which gives legal advice to renters in St. Paul. They suggest I put it all in writing. And that's just what I did. One letter outlining my complaints about the neighbors and the condition of the hallway and asking that it be restored within 14 days (apparently the common knowledge timeframe to give when writing this kind of letter). Also one letter to the office asking that they step up their efforts to find me a replacement (which so far have consisted of writing my info on the board with dry erase marker and sitting back to wait for the phone to ring - I mean I've done way more work than that already with very little sucess, so I don't expect good magic will just happen and I certainly don't think writing with a marker and doing your job to answer the phone garners a $200 fee). So, they have my complaints coming to them in the mail, 14 days to do something about it, and a request for documents in writing outlining what they are doing about all this.
If anyone is knowledgable in the way of renter law, I sure could use your help. I have a feeling this is going to get kinda long and drawn out and I may need some legal council. |
| posted by Jen @ 8:46 PM |
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| My Etsy Shop |
I am now selling some of my crochet items on Etsy. It's a site like Ebay shops for handmade goods. Postings are free until Nov 1, so I'm trying to get a few things up. Also looking into putting up all the stuff from Kierrattaa Clothing as we do not yet have a website (one of my winter projects will be to create said website).
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| posted by Jen @ 12:09 AM |
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| Hat #5 |
 Okay Ashley, get to knitting, cause your hat is done :) Next up, Chico. |
| posted by Jen @ 12:05 AM |
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| Wednesday, October 26, 2005 |
| It's a small world after all... |
Ok, now that I've posted pictures from the weekend, I can go on with my weekly blogging.
Today started off just like any normal day. I overslept after hitting the alarm for the millionth time, but still got up in enough time to run two errands before work (other tasks would just have to wait). A usual slow day ahead at the shop for me. A truck to unload and put away. The usual customers blowing me off even when I follow all sales steps in an examplary manner. And suddenly everything turns around. I find out I've already been recommended to get a promotion at work (one I've been wanting for months, but resigned into thinking I'd have to wait for an opportunity in the spring) and it will likely take place before November is out. I get a couple seemingly effortless sales where I don't concentrate on sales steps (noticing later I didn't really use them in the intended manner). I get a phone message regarding my afformentioned mall rat job. And the leaver of the message is the manager of the kiosk, and also one of my best friends from college! She's super pumped to have reconnected and very hopeful I will work for her (which of course I plan to). There's only one happy thing left to happen: a friend who is visiting the Cities giving me a call to set up a time to hang out and enjoy the fall weather.
Nevermind all the money woes I've had. I am mostly done worrying about things I can't do a whole lot to change. (some may be thinking this is not the case), but I've done a lot of searching for odd jobs and such, and scrimped and pinched, and written out the numbers over and over and made myself sick over it. And well, I'm trying my hardest and if it comes down to the end of the month and I'm short, my next paycheck will be just before the deadline for getting evicted (and I did already warn the office that this month's rent may be late). So, I can eat the $10 charge and pay then. I'll still have a home (as much as I'm trying to move from here in the near future it would not be cool to get evicted). And I somehow have been able to eat without spending much at all in the past couple weeks. Not that I've given up looking for work, I'm just not going to stress out over it.
Not only that, it's been a good month since I cut out virtually all refined sugar. I haven't stuck too that completely, but in a large part. I'm not yet past craving it, but I just tell myself no and remind myself of how good my body has felt (symptom wise) and the increased energy level I have felt. There are other vices I'd like to limit in my diet in the future. At this point, I'm going to concentrate on conquering one at a time. So far, so good. |
| posted by Jen @ 12:18 AM |
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| Tuesday, October 25, 2005 |
| Hat #4 |
This one I think I'll be keeping for the warmth of my own ears.
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| posted by Jen @ 9:01 PM |
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| Hat #3 |
Variation on the standard earflap hat made for Ruben.
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| posted by Jen @ 10:56 PM |
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| Attention Friends with Gardens |
| Yes you, the one with the garden full of produce that may be ruined if a hard freeze should fall. To echo school children "you gonna eat that?" What I mean to say is that if anyone has surplus garden goods they'd like to give away, I'll take anything (I'm good at inventing recipies to use it - see beetloaf). Also, if you want to keep most of your garden goods over the winter, you could hire me. I have a hot water bath canner and the know-how to can your stuff. (you would need to supply the jars). |
| posted by Jen @ 12:13 PM |
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| Mall Rat Mall Rat |
I am contemplating rejoining the ranks of Mall Rat this holiday season. I'm short on income due to winter hours at the bike shop and it's killing me starting already. I have applied to a zillion places and just heard back from Hickory Farms. It's not a hard job by any means and they are offering an assistant manager type position my way. It's not a lot of money either, but I'm thinking an extra 20 hours a week would get me where I need to be to pay my bills until bike season comes back. I mean, when your paycheck drops $200 every two weeks suddenly, you feel the hit big time. So I wasn't kidding when I was asking for your odd jobs. I need 'em just to make it this month. Next month, 99% of me says I'll be working at Hickory Farms. So, if your kid (or you yourself) is in need of a winter hat, mittens, scarf, slipper socks, sweater, or the like, I am up for crochetting. Half of the Pagitt kids have already placed their orders for hats with earflaps. And as another shameless way to try to make money, I will post here other things I have for sale (as I plan on moving this winter and these things are not going to come with me if I can help it.
For sale:
- Blonde microwave cart (works great as a tv stand) - $20
- 3 tier plastic shelving (comes apart) - $10
- Minolta 35mm Sightseer Zoom camera (with a couple batteries and roll of film to get you started) - $25
- Plustk OpticPro Scanner 9636T (works with any Windows below XP) - $35
- Microsolutions Backpack external CD writer drive (works with Windows) - $30
That's all I can think of right now. |
| posted by Jen @ 11:47 AM |
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| Saturday, October 15, 2005 |
| Odd Jobs Needed |
Once again, I find myself in need of odd jobs. This time due to cuts in hours over the winter at my full time job. In fact, my income has become 2/3 of what it was just a couple months ago. I don't think my student loan companies are going to be very understanding if I just tell them they don't get paid due to winter. So, I'm searching everywhere for ways to make some money and contemplating getting yet another part time job. I already have a full time job, 3 very part time jobs and an occassional gig for my photography business.
Here's what I can do if you want to hire me. I can:
-clean your house
-entertain your kids
-photograph your kids/family/pets/sporting event/sports team/wedding/house, etc
-hand crochet something for you or your kid or pet
-create art for you to hang in your home (either photographic, painting, or mosaic)
-cook for you (or cook things that can be frozen in on-the-go portions or for family dinner on a day you're too busy)
-light bike repair
-run errands/grocery shop/transport kids to events
-help your kid with schoolwork (aka tutor)
This of course is not an exhaustive list, just some things off the top of my head. If I don't find something in the next couple weeks to make some extra money, I'll be a couple hundred short at the end of the month come rent time. And that doesn't include all the student loans. I think I'll also take a lesson from my kid sister and get up early to deliver newspapers. I sleep in a lot and could be putting myself to good use in the mornings. Looks like there are delivery areas near me available. |
| posted by Jen @ 1:57 PM |
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| Friday, October 14, 2005 |
| Beware: rant ahead |
There are a lot of people talking about recent "disasters" (mostly the domestic ones are getting all the news coverage in a decidedly american kind of way) and what the meaning behind them is, if there is any at all. So much of the coverage focuses on the stuff people lost. I don't mean to belittle losing one's home or pets, but the news media puts such a spin on it and so frequently the people get second billing. Lives are lost. And not just numbers, but people's brothers, mothers, wives, children. I have taken to watching BBC news on whatever channel that is that is local PBS sometimes. Foreign news coverage is a little more people focused. I have taken heart in stories done on specific people rescued from the rubble in Afghanistan (the 5 year old girl, the mother of 3), I have seen coverage of the mud slides in Guatemala (something nearly completely glossed over by American news media due to current "disaster" strikes here).
And yes I have been putting "disasters" in quotes on purpose. The way nature has been acting against our man-made constructs as of late have caused me to begin thinking about how hard we tax the land we live on. How we shape and mold it into what we consider habitable areas will eventually catch up with us. We are trying to tame a wild thing. Our metal and concrete are thorns in the paw of the land. We cannot expect that the earth won't do it's thing (what we term "disaster" when it disrupts our stuff) just cause we built something and claim to own the land. It's like trying to have a tiger for a pet. There is still something wild in it even though most of the time it acts much like your domestic house cat. It's unpredictable and needs to stretch it's wildness every now and then. So maybe we need a new word for natural "disaster". It's not a disaster for nature. It's a part of a cycle that has purpose to it. Just because it disrupts the man-made world doesn't make it bad.
One final note: I have also been thinking on the large scale of poverty in parts of the US that sit just below the radar until something drastic happens to that section of the population (like people being trapped in New Orleans without a way to leave before the hurricane hit). How is it we allow so many people to be so invisible to us? How is it we focus so much on poverty in the rest of the world and do things to help there while completely missing it right in front of our noses? There is a huge amount of wealth in the US and yet those who have the least are most willing to give.
End rant. |
| posted by Jen @ 12:22 AM |
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| Wednesday, October 12, 2005 |
| Mustard pickles and my 3 students |
First, the mustard pickles. A family recipe (which you'll have to beg and beg and beg to get from me) that I have loved since childhood. No cooking required and super amazing tangy pickles. And I made some yesterday. Expecting them to not really be ready yet, but being impatient, I tried some just now and oh boy, they are ready (they'll continue to get stronger as time goes on). Tasty tangy pickles, oh how you are my weakness.
I have 3 students for intermediate photography (would have been 4, but one didn't show). Teaching still is not my forte, but I got through the class okay. Mostly it was me going over the rules of composition, some lighting stuff, and then fielding a few questions. I have some ideas how to change my approach the next quarter, but for now, we will be reviewing our week's assignment photos at our next class, learning a bit more about composition and lighting and then starting in on posing for portraits. I'm thinking I might want to find some other things to work on, like macros or something. Arg, 2 hours is a long time to fill. I couldn't quite do it tonight. But overall it seems to be going well and my students seem excited for the most part about photography. (well mostly, the one girl seems like she was hoping it would be something a little different, we'll see if she continues to show up). |
| posted by Jen @ 11:23 PM |
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| Ahhhh!!!! I'm a teacher! |
| Tonight I teach, for the first time in my life, something I've been doing for what seems like ever. Photography. It's something I love and do without thinking and having never formally been taught. It's not that I don't know it, it's that it took me weeks to put down on paper and prepare what I know how to do in a way that someone else might follow and do themselves. I'm quite nervous. And though it's community ed I am still feeling pressure to be a better teacher than I know how. Oh, why oh why did I say yes to this and make my stomach go to knots? It's cause I love photography and want others to love it as much. But I never was a good teacher. I never liked teaching. I always always got fed up when students didn't get it. That's why I didn't go into teaching as a career, not even private voice lessons. This must be God's way of making me develop that part of me and grow my patience. Now if only He would still the butterflies in my midsection. |
| posted by Jen @ 3:36 PM |
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| Tuesday, October 11, 2005 |
| Beetloaf |
 Need a way to get your family to eat more veggies or just have a bunch of beets to be rid of? Well you're not stuck making borcht anymore. Tonight, I have invented the beetloaf. Having eaten the greens from my beets already, the beets were getting a little squishy and needed to be eaten. I didn't want to just eat beets. So, I got creative. You can make this the meat-eater's way or I assume you could substitute tofu or some sort of ground tofurky (anything you might normally make vegetarian loaf from). So, on to the recipie. Grate 2 medium sized beets, one potato, and combine with one pound of ground beef (or non-beef substitute). Stir in some onion, a pinch of seasoning salt, and two cloves of garlic (run through a garlic press). Form into a loaf. To make the sauce, combine mushroom gravy with sour cream. Pour sauce over loaf and bake covered for 2 hours at 350. Part of the way through, you may want to spoon sauce over loaf again. |
| posted by Jen @ 11:40 PM |
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| Leftovers Reimagined |
 Not exactly, but I did get creative with some leftover bits recently. So, to create this yet unnamed dish (pictured here with a side of beet greens), take leftover chicken, garden tomatoes, olive oil, taragon dijon salad dressing and leftover pesto pasta, toss in a skillet and heat until warmed through and give the flavors a chance to marinate on low for a bit. Yum. If you attempt to create this, don't fret too much about measurements. I usually cook by just throwing stuff in and tasting periodically. |
| posted by Jen @ 12:11 AM |
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| Sunday, October 09, 2005 |
| Oh I'm so dull on the outside |
I have gotten into some of these internet quizzes recently cause my friends keep posting really fun ones. So I got this one from Jess.
And I'm Marcie. Oh how externally dull.
Which Peanuts Character are You?
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| posted by Jen @ 10:04 PM |
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