So I have a long list of things to do this weekend already. Yikes. But they all seem fairly doable, so that’s good. And they don’t involve me leaving the house, and that’s even better.

I’ve made my second batch of yogurt. It’s liquidy enough to use instead of milk in my granola–it holds together pretty well and the granola flavors mask the sourness–and this morning, I even did half yogurt/half milk, which worked even better.

Next week is Lent, and that means that Buy Nothing* Lent will begin! It’s going to be a difficult challenge. Check out Plethora for more information. Feel free to join in. If you mention it on your blog, then send me a link and I’ll link back.

I am doing two things for Lent this year. One is Buy Nothing* Lent, the other will be No News at work. I have a bad habit of checking the news websites whenever I am bored or frustrated or even just on break at work, and it’s a bad habit I want to break. This will be very difficult for me. But it will also be good for me, too. (I’m not going to count news on the radio; if the world ends, I do want to know.)

A big cold front came through last night–they said yesterday afternoon that it was going to drop to 18 overnight, and they weren’t wrong. (It was 51 yesterday.) This morning it’s cold and blustery and there’s garbage (other people’s) all over my front lawn. I am not going outside in the dark and cold and blustery weather to pick it up, however.

I got some written on Transformation–which is somewhere around 15,500 or so words–last night, via a writing challenge on IM–I am back on IM using Pidgin, which is actually a pretty cool program. If you want to IM me, just ask and I’ll send you my userid.

Dad called and wanted to go out to eat tonight (his treat) so I decided that running a few errands while down the road and spending my Target gift cards would not be a bad idea at all. So around 3pm I headed to the Feed Store, where I bought Mabel’s food and discovered that they now carry Wellness! Yay! They did not, however, have any cat food in stock, but they will be ordering some. So I now have a local source, which is Very Cool. Interestingly enough, the total price will be less than Pet Food Direct–because there won’t be any shipping costs involved! (Actually, $28 seems to be a decent price, which is what they told me it would be. Which is fine. I was paying more than that to have the other brand shipped to my house anyway.)

After that, I stopped at Target, where I bought a watering can for the indoor plants (I needed one with a long spout and found one), this pair of Sloggers in green (for $15, which is cheaper than the website!)–which I’m very glad Target carried, because if I had ordered a pair online they would have been too small, some Method dish soap, and a Beethoven CD. I also got some Endangered Species Chocolate, because I couldn’t resist. (I didn’t know Target carried it.) I didn’t spend very much of my own money at all.

And then after supper, we stopped at Goodwill (of course), and I found a jar for my yogurt (the one I am using isn’t really going to work, and all my other jars are in use, believe it or not), a little cabinet that will be used to house my overflow thread upstairs, and a thin khaki jacket. Dad bought a stainless steel tub on wheels (it’s not really a tub, but I’m not sure what else to call it) and we also found Jess a houndstooth jacket, which she actually asked for at Christmas, but no one could find one. We saw about eight at Goodwill tonight. Figures!

When I came back, I made peanut butter and regular granola. I’m still waiting to see how they turned out (they’re cooling at the moment; I’m obviously not going to get a lot of writing done this evening, or get to bed early, either, but oh well.)

The naan, however, tastes fabulous. I made dill and rosemary naan (two separate kinds, not together) and yum. Tasty!!

So Grey sent me some yogurt culture to make my own yogurt, and I had it sitting out on my baking table overnight (This would be Saturday night) but it didn’t work. I think it was too cold. So yesterday, I put it on top of the radiator in the entry room, where my rack I use to hang jewelry on at the craft shows sits and where I put my No-Knead bread dough to rise, and left it there overnight (It wasn’t thickened at all when I went to bed.) This morning, I woke up to find yogurt! Sour cream consistency, even, which is thicker than I thought it would be. I have frozen blackberries in the freezer, so I think I’m going to mix it up and have some for a snack in a bit here. I imagine it will taste quite yummy with granola, too. Mmmmm.

And it’s a perpetual starter, too; all I have to do is reserve a bit of it and start over again. So it’s like sourdough, only not. (Which reminds me; I really need to start a sourdough starter this year and keep up with it.) This will mean I’ll be drinking more milk, technically.

I ordered some samples from a cork floor manufacturer–to see if I maybe want to try cork in the kitchen (eventually) instead of the more expensive marmoleum. I’m in no rush; I really just wanted to see the samples, and they were free, so that’s even better.

I am making Lavosh and Naan today, and probably normal bread as well. I just wanted to make a flatbread, and found a couple of nice looking recipes on allrecipes.com to try. I also have to make granola for breakfast, and then decide what to eat for lunches this week. I’ve discovered that I only have to eat one of my burritos to feel full enough–two for the ones I buy at the store–so that’s good. A batch of burritos will last longer. And I do have frozen soup from last week and burritos in the freezer, so I might not have to make anything today. (I also have spaghetti with chopped up portabella mushrooms as meatballs, too. YUM.)

Yesterday’s supper was a whole chicken that I picked up (on sale) at the grocery store Saturday evening. I opened my bottle of rice wine vinegar (which smells even smoother now–does vinegar age like wine? My wine smells different too) and sprinkled some of it on the chicken, and sprinkled rosemary on top of that. If and when I make rice wine again, I think I’ll have to just do an entire batch just for vinegar, and perhaps even bottle it up and give it away as gifts. It makes great vinegar, and I might even have to try it as a salad dressing. Mmmm.

I still haven’t ordered my seeds. I would love to get them ordered by the end of this coming weekend. We’ll see. I may have to put that on my priority list.

And I got to 14k on Transformation last night, if I remember correctly. I’ll write more today, I’m sure. And maybe even hotsync (yes, I’m using my Dana again, more on that later) and post a snippet.

I had to check–I bought the replacement mug after Cleo knocked my favorite mug off the countertop and broke it in September of 2006. That means my replacement only lasted a bit less than a year and a half; that’s not very good, really, considering that I bought my favorite mug before I got married; probably in 1996-97. So let’s just say my favorite mug lasted 10 years before its untimely death.

I have high hopes that my new mug will last even longer, barring any accidents. I have, however, purchased a spare as well–if I win the auction–from one of my favorite potters on ebay. And I am going to buy one more spare from a potter on etsy who can make one big enough for me. Maybe if I switch use of all three of them, I can make these three last until I die, which will be hopefully from old age.

I have already told Bekah that when she moves out she can take the set of mugs she likes to use with her, because that will eliminate four more mugs from the mug cabinet and give me more room. Ethan has a mug too, so I’m going to pre-emptively count those as what I got rid of to add three more.

My darlings are getting into trouble this morning. I think it’s the flock of starlings outside who like to eat the outdoor cat food–there are about six of them, and all the indoor cats spend hours watching them fly on and off the front porch. (I’m not sure why the outdoor cats don’t try to catch the starlings; the indoor cats sure would love to try.) But they have been running up and down the stairs, knocking things over, and getting into trouble all morning. Silly cats.

I did make it to 13k last night–barely–which means that I wrote almost 1500 words yesterday alone. Not too shabby at all. I’m not expecting to get that far today; I do have stuff to do around the house, after all. Although I did get the dishes washed last night.

Today’s goals include laundry, which I didn’t get done last week, so there will be two (maybe three if I include towels) loads instead of one or two.

If you were a vampire’s ward–from age 4–and now you’re 24 years old, just beginning to realize that your protector is never going to grow old, I think you’d be a bit confused and maybe even a bit angry if he almost dies and you’re the only one who can save his life. And afterwards, wouldn’t that kind of mess up your worldview a bit? So you might be a bit morose/depressed/worried/frightened/etc., especially if he doesn’t seem to notice?

I got my mug. It’s actually bigger than the one I had before–it might be too big, but we’ll see. I doubt I could find one that’s too big. And I really like the design/shape/look of it, too.

I made it to 11,515 words today on Transformation, which means the yard sale wasn’t entirely dead, but it wasn’t really busy, either. Oh well. I haven’t counted up my money yet, but I think it’s about $30.

I spent $10, which wasn’t bad at all, and actually bought something I needed–a little (brand new) dust buster type sweeper for $3 and a handmade (and signed) large-ish basket for $5. I also bought the cats some little beanie babies so they could have some new toys.

There was one casualty of the day–last night, I left my mug up at church, and Mom washed it out and set it aside for me. I put it in the bag I brought with my markers and stuff when I got to church, and set it safely on a chair. Well, the bag fell off the chair and my mug broke.

I was pretty much waiting for it to break, because I’d counted no less than four cracks that were slowly inching towards each other, but even then. Poor thing. I would have much rather had it break while in use, instead of by accident. But it served me well. It will go in my pile for the mosaic hearth I’m going to make eventually, more than likely.

So I got out the mug I bought to replace it, and I’m not sure I’m going to use it. It’s awfully light compared to my other one, and it just seems too fragile. At the moment, I’m using one I picked up from Pier 1 (which if it was just a little bigger, would be fine) and I’m going to see if I can’t just find a proper replacement on ebay or something. That’s a minimal cost, after all, or it should be.

The indoor yard sale is today–and it’s 4.8 degrees F out this morning! Yikes! Luckily, it’s supposed to be warmer later. And since it’s indoors, no one will freeze! (And I am away from the door–yay!)

So I set up in 12 degree weather last night, which wasn’t too terrible, since I had three people helping unload my car. I have a lot to do this morning before Ethan and I head over to church, but I wanted to say that I checked the wordcount on Transformation yesterday afternoon, and I have hit 10k. Wow! So as of yesterday, I’ve been writing for seven days, and if this keeps up, then I’ll have it finished in less than two months. (If it’s approximately the same length as SYWTBAV, that is.) I certainly wouldn’t be complaining about that, but we’ll see how things go.

I figure if no one comes to the yard sale, I’ll get a lot written today and tomorrow, so all will not be lost. And whatever doesn’t sell, with the exception of a couple of things, will get donated to the rummage sale, because I don’t want it to come back into my house! Still, it would be nice to make a bit of money on it first. We’ll see.