Red River rises

I returned from Costa Rica at 7 a.m. Friday to find Fargo fighting back the worst flood we have ever seen.

I've been out shootings photos, sandbagging, sleeping, sandbagging, etc. My house is safe for now. The river is expected to crest in the morning and stay there for several days. We haven't had school all week, which has been seriously crazy. They evacuated my university this morning.

On top of the natural-disaster chaos of things, we are also moving. I wanted to post my photos of the flood, but unfortunately I can't find my card reader or cable to connect my camera.

I'll post some Costa Rica photos, but my heart is just not in it right now.

Poor, poor Fargo-Moorhead.

Feeling out of touch

So I blog about how busy I am all the time, but that inevitably leads to me missing out on my friends more than I would like.

My best friend and I have known each other since we were 4. The reason we know this is because I once found a picture of us both dressed as ugly ducklings for our preschool program. We went to grade school, middle school, high school, parted a bit for college but eventually ended up in the same city and have lived together for the past three years. At the end of the month, we will venture into the world of cohabitation, which we mostly have been doing anyway. But nonetheless, I will miss her. We barely see each other as is, and I think that's what makes moving even harder. At least now, we have the chance of running into each other at our place.

Secondly, two of my best school friends are in England for the semester. I tell them this often, but it's strange to walk through the department and work on the paper without them around. They will both be back in June, but we're all nearing graduation.

My other best friend Tara moved to Minneapolis in January 2008, and I have to say my social life still has not recovered. I keep promising I'll make it down to see her, but every time I'm there it's for a convention or meeting and it never happens.

Along with a smattering of other wonderful pals that I never see, I'm feeling lonesome for them. But alas, tomorrow is production day and I will hole up in the office for 20-odd hours. Luckily, my staff is great full of good friends. No doubt, there will be some fun had in Advo-land tomorrow.

Toddler Tees

Over winter break, I actually got some fun stuff done. Back in my Christmas ideas post, I spelled out what I hoped to get crafted in time to give away gifts. I made plenty scarves (as usual), but my favorite projects were the ones I got from the "The New Crewel."

I tried ordering the crewel wool, but it proved hard to choose colors on the Web, and no one in town carried it.

Instead, I used the cute modern patterns and embroidered them.

I used a $3 cloth napkin from Target, and embroidered this pattern on it.

This pattern (pictured on a pillow from the book
"The New Crewel") made a nice framable
picture for my sister's mustard-colored living
room.

I framed the finished product and gave it to my sister as a house-warming gift. I do have to say it didn't turn out quite as nice as I would have like, but I will definitely try it again.

I also used the patterns for T-shirts for my nieces. My 4-year-old niece is a girly-girl princess, so she got this pattern, in four shades of pink on an even pinker T-shirt. The satin stitch used for the loops is time-consuming as well as as it being difficult to get uniform stitch widths.

The pattern on the left titled "Love Loops" was done in four
shades of pink on a pale pink T-shirt.

For little 2-year-old Maia, I made this pattern (also from the book). It turned out so cute. I like that it looks like tiny sea creatures.

This patter was the easiest of the three.

It contains a blanket stitch (in turquoise) and the French
knot (in lime). The purple satin stitch as the border actually
took the longest time to finish.

To wash them, my sister turns them inside out and washes them as usual. So far (fingers crossed) they've remained intact.

I got a sewing machine for Christmas from my mom. Once I get it set up in our new apartment, I will start making aprons for the girls. I like this one from Angry Chicken.

Maybe I'll finish them off with a little embroidery.

Pointing fingers

I broke my finger back in January. I'll spare you the gory details, but not the gory photos.

Here's the back view. Not so bad.

And the front. A little gross, but not as bad as it could be.

The little accident required a trip to the E.R., as well as a follow-up appointment and physical therapy, all for a cruddy finger. After $581 in medical bills and a month of walking around with a perpetual middle-finger salute frozen into my hand, it fully operational again.

I received the statement from my insurance company last week and discovered that they are covering none of my medical expenses. That's right, not a dime. I have had this student insurance plan for over three years, and this is the first claim I have ever had to file with them. So not only do I pay almost $100 per month, they cover zero percent of my expenses. How does this work and why are insurance companies getting away with this baloney?

I think I will turn this photo into a postcard to my insurance company. A big, fat thank you very much postcard.

Thanks for nothing, buttheads.

My congressmen will certainly be hearing about this.

Sotally Tweet

I joined Twitter back in November and still don't get it. I understand how it works, but I haven't figured out why it's fun. It's like Facebook without all the pictures, relationship status updates and all the other fun facestalking tools.

The Forum ran a column on a Twitter Festival (cleverly coined a "Twestival" — gross) held in Fargo a couple of weeks ago. What on earth would one do at such a twestival? If you are going to the trouble of visiting a coffee shop to sit around with a bunch of people you don't really know, wouldn't it seem a better use of time to actually talk to one another instead of typing a one-sentence explanation of what you are doing this moment?

Now, in all fairness, I only follow one person's "tweets" (could they have maybe made it a little less silly sounding?), and have only two followers of my tweets. I've yet to learn anything useful through the site.

In fact, it is yet another reason why I think the Internet will kill the art of conversation.

Anyone interested in making me understand this "phenomenon," my tweetin' name is shaffehe.

My apologies

Troy, Edward von Stauffenpuss and I will be moving into a new
apartment together at the end of March — only a year after we
started planning the move.

I know, I know. I went two whole months without a single post.

This semester is turning out much busier than I ever anticipated. My classes are very time-consuming, and serving as editor of two publications is feeling over-ambitious at times. I love what I'm doing, so it makes it worth it.

The economy is on everyone's mind, including mine. The newspaper industry is tanking (R.I.P. Rocky Mountain News), which makes all of the projects I've taken on seem worthless at times.

I sold my first freelance piece last week. It will run in the April 2009 issue of The Lutheran. I used the money to buy a lens for my new camera. I look forward to using it in while I'm in Costa Rica over spring break.

So that's what's new ... Now on to more interesting posts.

Going bananas

Thanks to an over-abundance of time and a lack of money, I devoted the last week to making the perfect loaf of banana bread. I tried at least three different recipes twice each, modifying what I didn't like about the first loaf I made.

The grocery store sells bags of overripe bananas for 99 cents, which fit perfectly into my after-Christmas poor-man's budget.


I tried making healthy versions substituting apple sauce for oil and a really unhealthy version with too much butter and a cup of chocolate chips.

The best results happened when I used an extra banana or two that the recipe called for, which left the bread with a better banana flavor and a moister texture.


Letting the bananas brown on the counter, then popping them in the freezer followed by a thorough thawing on the counter also made for the best banana flavor. A plain bread with no nuts, chocolate or dried fruit ended up tasting the best.

Finally, a sprinkling of brown sugar on top of the batter before putting it in the over gave the bread a nice sweet glaze on top.


The clear winner is this recipe from Food and Wine.com with a few modifications of my own.


PERFECT BANANA BREAD

5 large overripe bananas
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup oil
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons brown sugar

Combine the bananas, sugar, oil, eggs and vanilla in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking soda and salt. Add dry ingredients to wet and stir only until combined. Don't over-mix to avoid the bread coming out tough. Pour into a 3x8 pan or muffin tin and sprinkle with brown sugar. Bake at 350 degrees. Times will vary depending on oven and whether you make muffins or bread. For me, large muffins took about 40 minutes and the bread took about 50. Don't over-bake—just until a toothpick comes out clean.