The Weekly Claire: Bringing it Back

I'm bring the Weekly Claire back! 

I'm trying to take pictures throughout the week.  Edgar got some good reading in, but put it passed the little bugger he's crazy smart.  He regularly asks "whatch doing?".  

I started the "Night Manger" in preparation for the AMC mini-series coming this spring.  I'm excited to see how they turn it into a show since its a beast of a book.  Since its coming with me to work for lunch reading I hope to get through it before the show begins.

SNOW! We had a mid-day snow event on tuesday and they sent us home early.  It put a huge cramp in my week but it also took me 1.5 hours to get home (55 minutes normally).  One dude took a right hand turn a little fast and almost took out Sheldon while we waited to turn left.  Luckily I didn't pull up all the way to accommodate left hand turners from the other side not thinking some turd would gun his New Century and its massive front would drift.  

Trex (our local gas station) has the BEST food and it was meatloaf day, so naturally we went for lunch.  I customized my togo box. I did some questionable unsafe, gloveless, coatless science but seriously whats new with me on that.  Designed a new emoji, which is soooo lacking. Got a walk in when the sun finally came out and snapped some pictures of the creek looking fab in its wintery splendor.  Then took advantage of the sunshine to get you some nice photos of my great birthday boots, the sweater I'm knitting and Orchid in all its glory.  Then finished out the morning by making braised short ribs with figs!

BAM! How that for a week.  Decides T.W.C I'll get you an updated BOOKS! To read and listen to.  Plus more, I don't know, more crafting! sewing! food!  

Smooches 

The Weekly Claire: Gainfully Employed Edition

So now I have a job and a commute.  A 40 minutes one way commute.  So far its not too much of an issue however I get home much latter than I used to which cuts into my "doing stuff" time.  I'm just trying to use my weekend time wisely.  Saturday is all "house" stuff.  Grocery, cleaning, bills etc.  Sunday is crafty-pants type stuff.  So far its been working out.  I've been using my calendar to make sure I get everything squeezed in that needs to be and not to forget the super important bits.

My Lab coats enough their new home hanging by desk.  They're mostly there to just protect me from the product.  When I sample tanks (huge huge huge tanks) the stuff can move at an alarming rate and spray all over me.  So that my friends is why we wear lab coats.  Also because girl pants have stupidly small pockets and I need a lot of stuff when I'm on the floor.  

I get to eat my lunch at my desk, so I have an hour of quite.  I eat and read my backlog of comic books or a book.  Then knit at watch the lectures from my online Coursera class.  I have pretty dull lunches these days.  I got really tired of making sure we had leftovers or cooking a specific meal to last all week.  So gluten free sammies for me! (I have perioral dermatitis and they believe that wheat is trigger so NO WHEAT)

These are my super pretty and tasty breakfast sammies.  I cook the eggs in a whoopie pie tin (greased with bacon drippings) they only take like 10 minutes.  2 slices canadian bacon and a half a slice of cheese.  All on a gluten free bagel thin.  I put them all in the fridge and warm them up in the morning.  

The coffee maker is down, while I wait for the replacement tank.  Its been leaking and we don't want to buy a whole new one.  It just means I can put the french press to use.  It makes some pretty tasty coffee.  Sadly the replacement might not be here for weeks.  I might knit a little coozy.  

PUMPKINS!!!!!!! 5 of them.  I love love love love halloween and I love pretty pumpkins too.  The "normal" one and the 2 little ghosties came from the farmers market.  The green and dark orange from grocery store of all places.  I decorated to halloween yesterday, and have some lights to put up at work too.  Still haven't thought up a costume yet this year, but I'm thinking about being Tina.  

The Weekly Claire: Officially Bored Edition

Officially, I'm bored.  Bored out of my skull.  Studying for the GRE makes me wonder who the sadistic bastards are who write that cluster-fuck of a test (SERIOUSLY! You don't need to know that shit to get a masters in early childhood development and the math and science I need for a science MS is COMPLETELY DIFFERENT.  So why is there a shit tastic blanket test that seem to only be able to test my ability to do 10th grade math and unfuck their poorly worded questions.  Maybe its really just testing my skills at understanding my PI)

I can only knit so much before my butt goes numb or my wrist cries UNCLE.  So I've trying to find other fun things to do.  While getting ready on Tuesday, I was going to go to Yoga, I noticed that one of the artist I follow on Tumblr had spent the night at the Great Wolf Lodge and had hidden a drawing here....... 

The Elk at Cabelas.  SO I busted by butt down there and well it was gone.  I don't know if someone had already found the picture of if the grumpy staff and found it and thrown it away.  I was there at 9:30am and he left it about 8! It was still fun.  I went to Target and also walked around the Cabelas. 

On Wednesday I went to Olathe and the K-state extension.  Which is AN AMAZING building.  I talked the Microbiologist there and I might have a few part time jobs.  The key there is MIGHT.  In a few months.  They asked me what I wanted to do, I just wanted to yell "SCIENCE".  We'll see.  

I made kinda gross French Macarons.  My next batch will be better I hope.  I will also fill them with something other than Buttercream.  

I AM GROOT!  I kinda love Groot so I drew him on the white board in the kitchen. 

These bloomed! They have a slight fragrance and they're so lovely.  They're over a foot and half tall and stick straight up, I thought they were fake.  

The Weekly Claire: A Month of Kansas's Edition

This morning we woke up to RAIN!  There was a fantastic rumbly-bumbly thunderstorm, with big rain drops and such.  I was most welcome.  A few weeks ago the pump in the pond up and stopped working.  I did all I could do and then contacted the landlord, turns out the thing was still under warranty so they replaced it.  Funny thing is that pump was WAAAAY more pump than was needed for this little pond and it hadn't working really well for sometime so the lovely babbling brook turned it a fire hose of water shooting EVERYWHERE!  It took me a few days, a lot of rocks and some foil to contain all the rushing water into suitable waterfall again.  In the mean time we lost a lot of water and I wasn't about to pay for it, so I just waited for it to fall from the sky.  Now fish and friends (fish is the remaining orange goldfish, friends are the twin medium size green fish, the large black with a orange collar and the fry) are extra happy with a full up pond.   

I started my Kombucha, I'm growing a scoby from a bottle of original plain kombucha so it'll take a little longer than usual.  I named it Scooby the scoby.  Though in its current appearance I should call it Lawrence, of arabia.  

Happy rain fall! It wasn't a big storm system but it had no intentions of going anywhere, it just lingered over us for a good 4 hours.  Woot for free water.

We went to Dean and Deluca, and I was not impressed.  It was all things I had already seen, eaten, made or could get cheeper somewhere else.  They are an institution but they've gotta do better.

Finally, my x-wing.  Just chilling in my craft closet while it waits for a desk.  I didn't get the job at KU, which I figured but it took me emailing them 3 times to find this out.  Even though I interviewed, made my references jump up and down to get letters of recommendation to them over a weekend (mind you I had to do this, not them they didn't ask me to ask for them until 5:28 on a friday and then needed them on MONDAY) they didn't have the where with all to call and say I didn't get the job.  They were just going to let the start date slip by.  SUPER CLASSY

The Weekly Claire: New Moon Edition

Tonight is the new moon, which I remember from my hospital days as actually been stranger than the full moon.  Not busy like a full moon, just strange.  Machines doing odd things, strange phone call questions, doctors asking for tests like "rabies titers". Lets have a science moment shall we, if you are a doctor who is asking for rabies titers, you've lost your shit.  The test takes weeks to get back, because its meant to check the titers of those of us who have the rabies vaccine not to see if someone who is alive has rabies.  WHY? Because you'll either be dead or not, by the time the results come back, or mount an immune response high enough to produce the needed antibodies to test.  Yes I had a doctor once ask me to send off this very expensive test one early morning on a patient exposed 2 weeks pervious.  We had words, lots and lots of words.  Any way PICTURES of hilarious and random ass things.

Please read that, OMG I can't believe they did that! I swear they're just setting themselves up, like some intern made that sign just for the laughs!!!

Cicada friend.  It was a very cool morning, during our week of "polar vortex" that made every thing a bit more wonderful.  We hung out in the sun for a while until he could get his little bug bits warmed up, then he buzzed off.

WHAT IN JEBUS' NAME IS THIS!  Its on the side of my house, but its so wrong.  Some conglomerate of lizard species or a four legged alien.  I don't know if I should contact Mulder or get it a heat lamp.

And this guy! We've seen him twice now in town.  Black shoes and socks, gray shorts, yellow button up, unbuttoned with no shirt underneath. Floppy hair and brief case.  Our conclusion is he's actually a zombie, just trying to get by.  Going to work, getting business done.

The Weekly Claire: Kansas Edition

So I've moved, to Kansas.  Or Cans-ass I keep calling it.  I don't know who Can is but we now live in and around Can's ass.  Its quite green, and not ass flat as I had figured it to be.  It doesn't have a single freakin' mountain or a body of salt water and its hot.  It turns out we won the house lotto when we rented this place.  It's in an almost too quiet neighborhood and they've recently removed all the wallpaper and brass fixtures. There's a little koi pond in the yard and an enormous closet. 

This bathroom is larger than my dorm room. It's too big and kinda awkward, but it works. The best part of our new neighborhood, a Delorean lives here! Edgar can watch the birds outside at the feeder too. 

 This guy is at the bowling alley. We call him safe sex t-Rex, for one particular reason other then it's funny. 

 
 And finally a screenshot of what 8 hours of driving looked like. No turns on hills, no nothing, just straight from Denver to Boner Springs ks. Then you hang a left and go north a wee bit.