Dimestore Romance

To Every Thing, a Season..

By Belynda, September 3rd, 2009 in Other | 8 Comments
Tags: autumn, baking, bread, canning, fall, jam and jelly (in my belly), kate gosselin, kittens, merlene, nanowrimo, soups

I’m very excited! This is my first autumn-themed post since I started the blog. Dimestore roared to life back in January, in the stale cold of winter and four miserable hours of sunlight a day. The seasonally affected do not blog well. Being “born” after Christmas but before the thaw, there wasn’t a whole lot to blog about but shoveling.

Summer this year, being just an annex of spring of course… didn’t really merit a whole lot of attention. By the middle of July we were all running into the streets and hissing at the glowing yellow orb that seemed to have come out of nowhere to cook us where we stood. Finally in September, we’re getting 77-degree days - but you can still tell.. the nip of fall is in the air!

Fall is my favorite season, and Eddie’s as well! I suppose it’s fitting. We met in the Fall, fell in love in the Fall… Every year we get excited to break out the sweaters (or the vests, if you’re Ed.) We start to gawk at the red-gold leaves zipping past on the highway, marvel at our breath condensing in the air, and I start to get nervous about all the classes I’ve piled on.

Nano is only two months away now, and I’m starting to get revved to spend a lot of time with the Boston crew, guzzling coffee and watching Travis give his yearly rendition of “Merlene the Drag Queen of Waxaucatchy County” (I know that’s spelled wrong, guys. I’m not southern. I’d appreciate an assist!) We’re going to miss Randy and his luxuriant mane this year! Plus, Travis cut off his burgeoning flowing locks, and I’m practically sporting a Kate Gosselin, so Brandon alone will carry the Torch of the Flowing Tresses.

This year we have a few new things to look forward to. The kittens are starting to realize that the world isn’t warm all year round, and have taken to snuggling up to our legs at night. Jawsie, who never snuggles with mama (she’s daddy’s little girl to be sure) was even laying alongside the last few nights, sucking up some radiation from her humans. Indiana, snuggle-bug by heart, was on the bed practically as soon as we were in it. I sort of look forward to waking up chilly in the mornings with kittens keeping my tootsies warm.

In my ongoing effort to get into the Christmas spirit - which was summarily executed by two years of Christmas spent working retail in the Rockingham Mall - I am joining a Christmas Chorus!! Dave and Beth, and Beth (we have a lot of Beths!) are all members of the Merrimack Valley Players, and after 4 years of crummy timing and overstuffed schedules, they have finally convinced me to give MVP a go for the Christmas season. I guess it’s a step in the right direction, hmm? So, in a bitter irony, I will spend my most favorite season singing the musical propaganda of my least favorite season. As Vonnegut would say, “So it goes.”

More than anything else, Fall means baking for me. The house is cool enough to turn on the oven, and so we break out the recipe books. I start to churn out hamburger stew and fish chowders, and we make a lot of bread during the fall and winter. My favorite, English Cottage Loaf will be showing up in the oven pretty soon. It’s soft and chewy, an incredible starter for toast with butter and honey. One batch of dough makes two hulking loaves - which last about three days in our house. Labor Day Weekend will most likely see the start of the bread-making season at Casa Cianci.

We’re looking forward to trying our hand at something new this year as well! Every year we talk about canning our own jam, and I always have a craving for my favorite winter comfort food - macaroni and cheese with stewed tomatoes. This year, we’re going to try a few recipes, and turn the kitchen into a bonafide assembly line for sweets and preserves. If all goes well, you might just find some in your Christmas stocking (but only if you’ve been really, really good… or can entertain us with your stories of being an utter degenerate.) I’ll probably blog the cooking/canning process for the curious… and because I know Brandon is going to cause me to lag behind in blog posts sooner or later, and it’s something interesting to write about!

Sad as I am that our very brief summer is drawing to a close, I’m very much looking forward to all the projects and events coming up over the next few months.

Love at First Purrrrrrrrzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…

By Belynda, May 17th, 2009 in Other | 10 Comments
Tags: adoption, Fluff, Humane Society, Jaws, kittens, Laminated sign warfare, Love at first sight, MSPCA, shakymice

Okay, so this is my second rescue-related post of the week. I went and met Roger the other day at the MSPCA in Methuen, and although I really loved the guy, I knew he just wouldn’t be a fit for the house - in some respects literally - and so I left Nevins farm feeling not elated, but bummed out for all the cats left without a home to call their own. Rescue facilities are a wonderful thing, but the reality of so many pets without families to care for them is heart-breaking for a bleeding-heart such as myself who beeps to get the pigeons out of the way when she parks, stops the car to usher bunnies off the street, etc.

I came away with the conviction that I wanted to rescue a pet. Eddie and I had one last talk about the reality of bringing home a new family member. He had three stipulations:

1. That it be a kitten, so he could bond with it.
2. That it be a girl, because his tom-cat experiences were less than stellar.
3. That we name her “Jaws”.

I’m still working on that last one, but I set out to the local Humane Society today to check out what they had for kittens. After going to the PAWS event at Petco and to to the MSPCA after that, I didn’t hold out any expectations of finding a kitten, of filling out an adoption form… certainly not of falling instantly in love, (although isn’t that the best way to lose your heart?)

But this little girl? She had other plans.

It was pretty diabolical actually, the way she snuck in. I picked her up, she gave me a look that said “Okay. You look like a pushover.” and promptly conked out in my arms, with her chin propped up on my hand. She had a big-block motor that wouldn’t stop running, and that was it. Love at first narcoleptic, adorable, snoozy sight. A few of the people in the room said “Yep. That’s it!” and they were right!

I got an application from the girl at the desk, and jokingly said “I told my husband I was going to go out and find an adorable little ball of fluff. He said that would be okay.” She laughed, “Well that’s exactly what you found!” I looked at the application. Her foster name? “Fluff”. As if the deal needed any more seal, that did it. 

I tried to fill out the app while simultaneously not waking the fuzzball. It was at that very moment she decided it was time to play, and proceeded to tap-dance on the clipboard, boogie up my shoulder, head-butt the pen, check out the chair next to her, consider a run across the room. I finally relented and had to put her back in her “house” for a moment. I snapped the above shot just as she decided it was time to pick a fight with the sign of the front of her cage. I hurried through the paperwork, handed it to the girl at the desk, and presto-chango, became the proud owner of the most adorable cat in the world. I didn’t think it would be that easy actually! I think they were impressed by my neat handwriting or something. 

I spent another half-hour playing with Not-Fluff-Not-Jaws Cianci (although Ed still thinks that we could name her Jaws. Could you name that adorable little fuzzball Jaws?! C’mon…) She was over the need to beat the hell out of the sign, and decided another nap was in order. I had found myself a snuggler. When she was hungry and ready for some down-time, she let me know by giving me the long “hellllooooo??” stare, and poking me a few times with a paw to make sure I were still with the program. She already knows how to handle me. I have no doubts she will beat any alarm-clock money can buy.

So sometime Wednesday, after a visit with the vet for all the necessary poking and prodding, Not-Fluff-Not-Jaws will be coming home to explore the wild world of Casa Cianci. Until then, I’ll will be kitten-proofing, shaky-toy shopping, and getting the camera ready for pictures of kitty’s first day in her forever home.