meestagoat

Jess is here for moral support, and we went out to Holly Springs to hang out with Mark this afternoon. She drew a lovely portrait of us, which we signed. My somewhat less sophisticated effort can be found here.

A hard day to be inside my head. Too sad for proper functioning.

I think I should institute a Laura Neurosis Index that tracks the number of times I change my clothes before leaving the house on any given day. Sundays count double. Today's Laura Neurosis Score: 6.

When I'm having slow working days, the solution is not to guilt about it. The solution is to work slowly!

This was a total revelation to me today.

Megan sent me a wonderful package last month with vintage knitting booklets and a skein of beautiful multi-stranded yarn. I haven't yet done anything magnificent with the former, but the latter is now this scarf. Thank you, Megan!

I absolutely cannot concentrate today. I was doing all right earlier, when I was on campus for meetings and tracking down stuff at the library, but then I came home and started tackling Mt Laundry and now I can't do anything. My brain won't go and I feel guilty about it though I should really cut that out. I want coffee to sharpen up, but if I drink it I will be up all night and then I will be even more tired tomorrow. Silly brain!

Find out how your congressperson voted here, and find their contact info here.

Dear Congresswoman Schakowsky, Thank you for voting for health reform and AGAINST the Stupak Amendment. I am horrified that in this historic moment, the House chose to curtail women's reproductive rights. Thank you for standing for all women to ensure that abortion remains not just legal, but affordable. I am so disheartened today. I am a young woman who is relatively healthy and currently able-bodied, but who has many friends and family members with serious medical needs. Health care reform is the most important political issue to me right now, bar none. I know people who have gone bankrupt after becoming ill or disabled. I want to celebrate the House's passing of the health care reform bill as a victory, a way of finally righting the injustice that is our current health care system -- but I cannot celebrate, knowing that women's rights have been, once again, thrown under the bus by centrist Democrats. Thank you for standing for what's right and for not betraying women. I don't know if this amendment can be stripped from the bill or weakened in some way, but if it can, I encourage you to do everything you can to make that happen. Congresswoman, thank you for fighting the good fight. I am proud to say I voted for you. Sincerely, me

President Obama scritching his dog's belly in the Oval Office. Well played, puppy, well played.

If you'd like to see me as Nancy Drew, John as a member of David Bowie's entourage, and some people you don't know in various wigs and outfits, I've got you covered.

Dear cute boys,

Please wear more vest-jeans-tie outfits.

Love,
Laura (with help from Glee's Matthew Morrison) 

http://www.thisiswiltshire.co.uk/news/4701701.Morrisey_collapses_on_stage_in_Wiltshire/

We love you Morrissey get up 

I have been lurking at some quirky fashion blogs lately, and it's given me ideas. Here is one of them: doubling up on skirts/dresses.










Teal top: Ann Taylor Loft
Black dress (with pockets!): Old Navy
Black skirt: H&M
Grey tights: Old Navy
Head: Missing

I never thought about layering skirts under dresses (or other skirts) until I saw Audi from Fashion for Nerds doing it really creatively. When I put on this dress yesterday, it just felt a little shorter than I felt like rocking that day. I realized I could lower the hemline and create a faux flounce by putting on a fuller black skirt underneath it. I felt very clever. Now that I have been clued in to this magical layering trick, I'm looking at my closet with new eyes.

Okay, so in the classic and completely awesome Star Trek episode "Mirror Mirror," which I just watched for the first time, everyone always talks about Bizarro Spock's evil goatee. I admit, it's an unforgettable stylistic choice... but why does no one ever mention Kirk's fabulous gold sequined vest?

( cut for toxic levels of awesome )I can't believe everyone in the last 40 years is all like "Evil Spock has a goatee" but not "Fake Evil Kirk is superfly."

Anna is coming tonight! She has a conference in Chicago tomorrow and thus is crashing on my swine-flu-laden futon. It's amazing how much more often I get to see my old friends when we live in, you know, the same time zone. 

I am very pleased with myself because I actually worked on dissertation stuff yesterday for the first time since The Plague descended. I am still so thrown by the idea that I can concentrate on a single topic for longer than it takes to write a seminar paper that I haven't figured out how to manage my time yet. You mean the things I am thinking about this week, I still get to think about next week? Amazing! My first chapter will be on Rukeyser and Plath, who are two of the poets I've read most and most often, so it's really fun to actually get to read them and have it count as work instead of "that thing I wish I were doing but instead I have to work."

John reports that there are still feral cats all over Jerusalem. Apparently they are very cute until you notice their scabby eyes.

My dad adopted a stray puppy. His name is Jasper and he wins the Cute Stray Puppy 2009 pageant.





More pics here.

Not all things are blest, but the
seeds of all things are blest.
The blessing is in the seed.

--Muriel Rukeyser, from "Tenth Elegy. Elegy in Joy"

Note to Dad, if you're reading: these are made from the yarn I bought at Tierra Wools! It was lovely to knit with.

Look how I'm only moderately wan and tired-looking! Swine flu, I am KICKING YOUR ASS VERY SLOWLY.


( more pics )


I am completely in love with both these patterns. The scarf was mesmerizing to watch as I knit it, and the hat was very exciting for me because I have never done a cloche shape before and it helps me feel more like Harriet Vane.

Now I think it might be warm milk time.

 Okay, so that episode of Glee with the football players doing "Single Ladies" was just as great as everyone said. Man, "Single Ladies" is the gift that keeps on giving.

 So occasionally I've seen recommendations on food blogs or recipe sites to use your rice cooker for making hot cereal. After all, it's the same principle, right? Grains + liquid + heat = yum. And since I love my rice cooker and all my pots are dirty this morning, I threw in some oatmeal, brown sugar, water, and a splash of milk and happily walked away as it cooked.

There is now gooey starchy liquid all over my counter and the outside of the rice cooker. It looks like a lava flow of oat juice.

The oatmeal, however, is creamy and delicious.