-- My plan today was to read the book I bought yesterday and clean the kitchen. I did neither of those. But I did get a huge amount of tidying done in the guest room (not proper overhaul-type tidying, but getting things hidden away so it looks presentable). And I had pizza and watched a movie with my mom. So, you know, nearly the same thing.

-- I woke up at a sensible time this morning, which these days means waking up before 10:00. (Whereas, a couple months ago, it would have meant staying asleep past 7:00, as I kept waking up annoyingly early against my will.) So I had breakfast AND a normal lunch. Julie and I had been talking spinach the other day, so I was craving a spinach salad, which I made with avocado, dried cranberries, walnuts, and pickled beets. On the side I had a banana nut VitaTop, which is one of my favorite flavors so far. The kind folks at Vitalicious sent me a package for review, which I will be doing very soon. I don't want to give anything away, but I'm sort of in love.

-- My mom sent me home with a white, ceramic, life-size cat statue. It's less horrible than you're probably imagining. I think it was originally a gift from my grandma, and I remember it being around the house when I was little. None of our cats (Booty included) ever paid it any attention, but I was curious to see what Beany would think. I put it in the middle of the living room floor and called Beany in from the kitchen, and she came running in and stopped about five feet from the statue. She slowly walked the rest of the way towards it and started sniffing it. Then she walked over to Booty, who was also in the living room, and gave him a few licks on the head. And THEN she went back to the statue and licked IT on the head. And then I died. And when I revived myself, she was running at the statue and then jumping in the air and laughing. Oh, Beany.

-- It's that time of year again: primroses are only $2 at the supermarket. How could I possibly resist that? I couldn't. We're still a long way off from seeing primroses growing outdoors in this part of the world, but I'm taking their potted presence as a guarantee that spring will eventually arrive.

-- I went into the supermarket for a box of Honey Smacks. I left with Honey Smacks, asparagus, broccoli, carrots, juice, and kombucha. I'm like some sort of weird, reverse impulse shopper who can't stop herself getting the healthy food as she passes by.

-- I had a dream the other night that I went outside, and the herbs in my garden were starting to grow (also, the snow had melted, I guess). I also recently had a dream where I was in Japan and another during which I lost a friend's identical-twin infant (who doesn't exist). The garden dream, though, was almost certainly inspired by the fact that last year's potted amaryllis has started growing again (I hid it away in the basement for a couple months to force it). When I told Julie about the dream, she said, 'Aw, you had a spring dream!' That's what happens when you live in Minnesota.

-- I picked up a copy of Daniel J. Levitin's The World in Six Songs today. I loved his first book (This Is Your Brain on Music), so even though this one seems to have mixed reviews, I'm looking forward to reading it. In fact, I think a successful Saturday tomorrow would include much reading, Glenn Miller records, and perhaps a bit of kitchen organization. It doesn't take much.

I'm going with a loose breakfast theme today.

-- I've gone through several different oatmeal variations over the past few years, but this is how I've been making them lately: I cook about 1/3 cup oatbran in 1/2 cup almond milk + 1/3 cup water (roughly). I add a packet of stevia, a few shakes of cinnamon, several drops of concentrated coconut flavoring (I got this last weekend, and I want EVERYthing to taste of coconut now). After about four minutes, I turn the heat down and add a quarter cup of beaten egg whites, while stirring. I let it cook for another minute or so and then dump it in a bowl, add a tablespoon of almond butter, artfully arrange the banana slices, and top with a couple spoonfuls of pumpkin flax granola. Complicated much? But I love it.

-- To answer Jessie's questions on my last post, there's a layer of cream cheese on my toast/English muffins before I put the jam on top. I'm not a HUGE fan of plain cream cheese by itself on toast, etc, but it's magic when paired with jam. The sausages are Morningstar brand breakfast links. I prefer their products over Boca, although they don't score as well in the protein department (for the burgers, that is). If you can get your hands on Quorn's 'chicken' tenders or turk'y burgers, stock up.

-- I was a loyal PG Tips drinker in London. It costs the same to get a box of Yorkshire Gold or PG Tips here, though, which seems like an injustice, as I reckon PG Tips should be cheaper. So, to stick it to the man, I feel like I should spend my $4.99 on Yorkshire Gold. Given the choice, though, say, if somebody from the UK were visiting in March, I would like an enormous box of PG Tips.

-- Right now, I switch between having oatbran and English muffins for breakfast. And I recently stopped going to the gym Monday-Tuesday-Thursday-Friday and started going Monday-Wednesday-Friday instead. This has been a blessing, because now I can alternate between my two breakfasts every day of the week. I can't eat oatmeal on days that I run (too sloshy + not enough staying power), but I don't like having to wait two whole days to have it again. Problem solved. Crisis averted.

-- Two of my top moments in any given (average) day: 1. Sitting down with my breakfast and coffee in the morning while I listen to the radio. 2. Crawling into bed at the end of a long day, with my flannel sheets all warm from the heated mattress pad. That I'm conscious for very little of the time between those two events (er, in the right order, that is) is like a bonus.

I'm all out of questions to answer, but it's Wednesday, so that means it's time for What's Hot and What's Not. I've missed a week or two, so I'm sure you're all desperate to find out what's been hot in my life lately and what has not.

What's Hot

-- Ezekiel products. I've been eating the English muffins (I like the seven-grain kind) for a few months now, and today I tried their sesame bread for the first time. It's got the same knobbly texture as the muffins, and I really like it.

-- Entering races. I had a fantastic run on Monday, so I signed myself up for three races in the next three months. The 100% Irish for a Day 5k in March (like, in two and a half weeks!), the Get in Gear 10k in April, and the Northside 5k in May (Northside!). The 5k races should be no big deal, but I've set up a training schedule for the 10k. I've done the math, and that's, like, twice as much running as a 5k.

-- Green veggies. Well, that's sort of a tautology for me. I'm not sure if I consider any non-green 'vegetables' to be real vegetables. Broccoli, asparagus, kale, chard, spinach, other 'greens', Brussels sprouts, green beans... maybe peas. Those are vegetables. Tomatoes, zucchini, peppers, cauliflower, carrots, radishes, other root vegetables... those are vegetable-like. Potatoes might as well be bread. In case you were wondering how I categorize these things. Anyway, my point is that I've been eating heaped piles of green veggies lately, and I like it.

-- E-mailing friends throughout the day. I don't think there's anything simpler and more pleasing than taking a break from work to read a witty e-missive from a pal. If I've just had a good run, a cup of coffee, and a funny e-mail exchange, I'm pretty much as happy as an extremely happy clam.

What's Not

-- I feel like I've been a little bit hoodwinked by my last jar of . I love all their flavors, but the 'Oh! Berries' Pacific Blackberry was always my number one, and today I opened a jar of 'Oh! Berries' Marionberry -- they changed the blackberry on me! And I did not like it as much. It's the saddest thing to happen to me ever (in the jam category of my life).

I had the absolute pleasure of visiting the Casket Arts Building today. It's one of the renovated factories in NE Minneapolis that now houses artists' studios. I wasn't there to check out any available spaces today, although I would love to someday have a studio-office here. The shot above is of the common area on the second floor. I'm so head-over-heels in love with the light (here's the same space from a slightly different angle) that I would gladly take photos of the building all day long. For free.

Anyway, today I've got a bevy of answers for the more house-related (and general lifestyle) questions I got. There was quite a lot to talk about, so click the extended entry for the questions and answers.

I've had a nice day -- my run this morning went really well, so I took the plunge and registered for three races this spring, including a 10k, which is going to take some training (I generally run 5k or less when I go to the gym). It definitely feels great to have something to shoot for, though! Sometimes, between waking up later in the day and going to the gym, I wind up not having a real lunch (just a Luna bar or something after I run), and that means a meal gone missing that would usually contain a lot of veggies. So I bulked up on my green at dinner tonight -- broccoli, asparagus, AND kale. So good.

Anyway, time for part one of the questions and answers! The second part will be the questions pertaining to the house and my living situation and other such things, so tonight's Q&A is sort of a grab bag! I'll put everything in the extended entry, so click to read my answers!

Thanks for the questions, guys! I wanted to tackle the work-related topics in one post, because my answer was starting to get pretty long. I'll start answering the others later, so if there's something you're wondering, feel free to keep asking!

How did you get into publishing? How did you get started working as a proofreader? Where do you work, and what did you major in in college?

I'm lumping several of these questions into one here, because I think I can just do one long explanation and cover everything. I majored in English in college, with a self-chosen emphasis on composition and linguistics (there was just one umbrella 'English' degree, but there was a lot of freedom to choose classes within categories, so you could have a more literary education or more technical).

By my last year of university, Rob and I were dating, and I popped into the Snowbooks office to do a few random bits of work while I was in London that August. Em and I got along well, and it turned out I wasn't a terrible worker, so we made arrangements to get a work visa, etc, etc. So, basically, the only words of advice I can give as far as how to get into publishing are these: know the right people. I don't doubt that I'm skilled at what I do, but I do know that I wouldn't be where I am if I hadn't fallen into a very coincidental situation.

Because I've only ever worked for an indie publisher in the UK, I don't know in detail how the American publishing machine works, as far as starting a career. And my knowledge of the big publishing houses is anecdotal. There are benefits to working for a small publisher -- you'll get more responsibility and the opportunity to learn an array of skills -- but if you're looking for a traditional ladder to climb, with the pay raises that entails, you're going to have to try to break into one of the big guys.

These days I'm freelance, although most of my work is for Snowbooks -- technically as a contractor. Em and Rob own the company, and at heart I'm still part of Snowbooks, but on paper I work for myself. It's the dream situation, really: the relative stability of having a core income, but the flexibility of being freelance.

I probably talk about proof reading more than anything else, because it's the most time-consuming of all my tasks, but I wouldn't call myself a 'proofreader'. I also design covers, typeset books, and function as an acquisitions editor. I call myself a 'publishing project manager', but even that's a bit of a lie, as the only person I manage is myself -- I actually do everything it takes to turn an submitted manuscript into the files that make a book.

In the near future, I'm going to start a big push to acquire more freelance projects in my areas of skill -- proofreading, cover design, typesetting, and also web and other print design. Even though I think that the quality of my work is at least a little above average, it's scary trying to sell my services under my own name (as opposed to being behind the Snowbooks name). Like a lot of creative people, I tend to more time focusing on the outstanding work that others produce than valuing my own. But we shall see how it goes.

-- I was going to go to REI before dinner and then stop at Trader Joe's to pick up some food; I'd been thinking about their tomato bisque. But then I decided to wait until tomorrow for REI, which meant I could just stay at home and proofread (zombies!), but I still wanted that soup. So I thawed out some tinned crushed tomatoes I'd frozen (not IN the tin, of course; I'd used half of a 28oz can in another recipe) and made a simple soup, and the secret to making it good was the tablespoon of cream cheese I stirred in. And because I'd made tomato soup, I had to make a grilled cheese to go with it. I'm kind of in love with this photo. So much that I'm not too modest to say so.

-- One drag about being awake later in the night is that I just had the urge to go out and remove all the rubbish from my car (gum wrappers, receipts, etc). But it's dark out and winter, and I should just wait until tomorrow. (I will.)

-- Oh, actually, before my REI-before-dinner plan, I was counting on making a quick trip there after I went to the gym. But I forgot my wallet, which meant that not only couldn't I go to the store, but I also couldn't get a coffee. So I just headed home. Which turned out to be rather fortuitous, as I pulled into my alley right as a UPS truck turned onto my street. I got to my front door (via the house, from the garage, which is out back) right as the UPS guy was ringing the doorbell. Good timing! (The parcel was a package for review, in case you were wondering.)

-- I have not seen a single minute of Olympics coverage, because -- yes, I'm going to say it -- I don't care. And because I don't have a TV. I love that there are athletes who do amazing things and achieve their dreams and that the world tunes in once every four years to acknowledge their skill (or mock their costumes?)... but I really couldn't care less about watching it. I know -- I'm cold and heartless. Oh well.

-- Thanks to the Olympics being so important, though, all the shows I usually watch on Hulu are airing repeats. That means that I went in search of something new to watch, and I found Being Erica. After watching an episode, I realized my mom and I once happened upon it on TV, but I called 'boring' and asked her to change the channel. But that was before I knew it was Canadian and had the actor who played Eric in Wonderfalls. Excellent.

-- Only one person has commented with questions so far. Are you all really so incurious? Have I just been so thorough in what I write as to leave nothing answered? I will be forced to make up questions and pretend that other people asked them. Don't make me do that! Here are possible categories: vegetarianism, living abroad, owning a house, gardening, zombies, running, running from zombies (not really), cats, oatmeal.

I generally have a pretty good sense of time, but today really felt like a Wednesday. I was planning on doing a What's Hot, What's Not (not that I'd thought of anything yet... but I was planning to), and then I realized that it's already Thursday. So I guess I can just do the Things I Love instead.

-- My house. I don't spend much time out front, so I rarely take photos from there; there are many more shots of the back of my house. But I think it's cute, even in the deep snow.

-- Going for walks. An after-dinner evening constitutional is the best in the summer. Today was so sunny and mild (almost above freezing!) that I took an afternoon stroll around my neighborhood. My shoe hurt the back of my foot, and the sidewalks were treacherously icy in places, but I still enjoyed it.

-- Creative energy. There's nothing like having a big push to get things done, work-wise, and actually enjoying it. And I feel full of ideas and potential right now. Awesome.

-- Flowers. I wonder if there's some sort of 'weekly flower delivery' gift that one could bestow upon a person (me). That would be pretty expensive, I bet. But I love having flowers in the house. My mom gave me a Bachman's bulb garden basket, and it's starting to bloom.

-- Hyacinths. How do they smell so good? Hyacinths and lilacs. If there were a body lotion that accurately replicated either of those scents, I would buy it.

-- Dreaming about new spaces. I'm seriously still obsessed with getting a studio-office. This will happen. I want to earn a full year's rent before actually committing to it, so it might not happen in the next few months, but it feels achievable. Especially if somebody (*cough*Alex*cough*) splits it with me.

Lastly, not a thing I love, but a request. Every so often, I get questions in the comments, and I forget to answer them more than I should. I'm thinking of doing a post of answers to questions, so if there's anything you've been wondering (and maybe you already asked, but I didn't respond), ask away. Any topic! No question too boring! Doesn't have to be relevant! If I'm not comfortable answering it for some reason, I'll at least acknowledge that it's been asked, so you don't have to think I'm some big ignore-er. So leave a question in the comments or send it to anna.torborg [AT] gmail.com. Once I've got a batch of them, I'll do the answers post -- soon, I hope!

Well, friends, I had the most unassumingly awesome day ever today. No big to-dos, no great expectations; everything was just better than usual.

I went to the gym this morning, planning to do 2.5 miles, but when I reached 2.5, another .6 didn't seem like a big deal, so I managed a full 5k without even planning to. It was really tough to start running again after my ankle healed and to feel as though I'd lost all the progress I'd made in November and December. So it's nice to feel like I'm almost back to where I was, only two and a half weeks later.

Then I had a blueberry Luna bar, which I hadn't tried before, and it was surprisingly good. Extremely sweet, but tasty. I haven't been buying these lately, but the fruity flavors are actually decent (versus the chocolate-y ones, which I think are fairly awful). I'm still waiting for my local shops to start carrying the Luna Protein bars, though. That cookie dough one is awesome.

After finishing the print files for one book and making good progress proofing another, I met Alex at the Perkins in Seward for dinner. Breakfast for dinner. Perkins is generally alright as far as breakfast food goes, but this was an exceptional meal -- everything seemed freshly and carefully made. So even though the photo I took is terrible (point-and-shoot in bad light), I'll still use it for this post. I had an Egg Beaters omelet with spinach and asparagus, one pancake, and the crunchy top bit of the hashbrowns.

Since Alex will soon be freelance, and I'm trying to gear myself up for more projects, I wanted to bounce some ideas off her. I think we spent 10% of the time talking about that stuff, 35% of the time talking about our imaginary office (you guys, it would/will be out of control), and 55% of the time talking about syrup dispensers (of the unicorn-shaped variety). I don't think anybody could possibly think that we're as funny as we seem to find ourselves, but everybody needs a friend to crack up in Perkins with. So that was an unexpectedly delightful evening.

And I stopped at the co-op and bought a new box of Yorkshire Gold (tea), so tomorrow is looking to be a great day, too. Simple pleasures.

I decided yesterday to keep track of my schedule, so I could write about it here. I suppose I have a routine, but the timing of things varies wildly from month to month and changes quite a bit from one day to the next. But I thought that I might enjoy looking back at this post sometime in the future, to see what my 'typical' routine was like back in February 2010. So you can see it too, if you want.

9:40 -- Woke up. It's hard to even fathom setting an alarm clock every morning. On the rare occasions that I do need to wake up with an alarm, I'm usually awake a good hour before it goes off, because my brain can't relax. Now that I have an iPod Touch, I tend to loll about in bed for longer. I check my e-mail, play a bit of solitaire, etc.

10:00 -- I finally dragged myself out of bed. I put on my at-home clothes and then brush my teeth while I walk around, opening curtains/blinds, turning on the radio, and switching on the little space heater under the kitchen table (I love warrrrmth). Once my teeth are clean, I give Booty tinned food. I brew coffee in my Bialetti and make breakfast -- an English muffin with cream cheese and jam, Morningstar 'sausage' links, and some cantaloupe. I also take a multi-vitamin and an allergy pill, not that you could possibly care. I eat breakfast while listening to MidMorning on MPR.

10:30 -- Cleaned my breakfast dishes (I don't always do that after breakfast, though) and then checked my e-mail properly and read a few blogs.

11:00 -- Got dressed for the gym, packed my bag, and headed out.

11:30 -- Ran on the treadmill. Cursed myself for not yet removing a couple of Jam songs from my running playlist. These particular ones are strangely disorienting, which isn't what I need when I'm running.

12:10 -- Showered, got dressed, dried my hair, etc.

12:45 -- Stopped at the coffee shop and ordered a decaf Americano with one pump of sugar-free vanilla. Fancy! I was going to sit and write my shopping list, but there were no open tables, so I went to the car and ate my granola bar instead. Because I've been waking up so late, I'm not really hungry for a proper lunch, so I just make sure I eat something (usually a protein-y bar) after running.

1:00 -- Went to the supermarket for some essentials. I bought two quarts of yogurt so I wouldn't run out for a while, and when I got home I realized I'd hidden a quart in one of the crisper drawers. So now I have three quarts, but that'll be gone in two weeks, probably (and they're 'best by' March 10th).

2:00 -- Had my afternoon meal (yogurt with tinned peaches and Honey Smacks, of course) while listening to Talk of the Nation.

2:30 -- Finally time to settle into work! Typesetting was up first. What I like about typesetting and working on covers (as opposed to proofreading) is that I can listen to music, which makes the time go faster. First up was some Glenn Miller and then Feist. It can't be too rowdy.

5:30 -- Dinner! I reheated the leftover half of a Kashi Mexicali pizza and made a spinach salad with tomato and avocado. Whenever I have a sort of 'Tex-Mex' salad, I mix together salsa and sour cream for the dressing -- more salsa than sour cream. It is fantastic. After dinner, I do the dishes and feed both cats.

6:00 -- More work. I think I started proofreading the next book I'm working on at this point, but there might have been a few other little tasks first.

7:30 -- Ice cream time! I watched an episode of Scrubs on Hulu, because ice cream time demands something to watch.

8:00 -- More work again. I'm proofing something I haven't actually read before (but I know the author well enough to trust that it's not going to need major editorial work), so it's much more fun to get into the story while I go. I wrote a couple of e-mails, too, but I actually managed to pay attention to proofing for several hours. And I ate an apple at some point.

11:00-ish -- Called it a day, work-wise, and fired up the internet. Read blogs.

Midnight -- Updated twelve22 and uploaded photos to flickr. Noticed that one of my authors in the UK was awake, except it was tomorrow for her.

12:30 -- Read, ate a few baby carrots (the latest bag I got has such teeny tiny carrots!), then washed the last few dishes.

1:00 -- Brushed my teeth, got in bed. Realized my water bottle was empty, so I had to get up and fill it. Played some iPod solitaire.

1:40 -- Lights out. Time to sleep.

And that's that! It's more of a late-night schedule than I would say I typically run on, but it's working for me right now. I wish I would have done a 'day in the life' post when I first moved back to Minneapolis, because I would waking up around 5:30am back then!

For the most part, I don't have a long wishlist. I have a nice house, great friends, cute cats, etc, etc. But everybody must have a vague sense of 'if I only had more money, I'd get...' So these are some of my wanty things.

1. New SmartWool socks. These are the only socks I wear in the winter. I have four heavy-weight pairs, two medium-weight, and two light-weight. I used to have three of the light, but I wore holes in them. And now they're all wearing thin on the bottoms. Holes in regular socks can be repaired, but when the cushioning goes, it's hard to fix that. And the socks average about $15 a pair, so they're more on my 'want' list than 'to buy' list.

2. A ceramic (glazed) travel mug with a lid. It'd be nice to have something to bring to the coffee shop that would keep coffee hot for longer than an open mug, but that wouldn't be paper or plastic or metal. And I've seen some ceramic, lidded mugs that have a sort of rough finish to them, and that's just the worst.

3. A new ice cream maker. The sort that has a canister that you put in the freezer, so you don't have to futz with ice and salt. I know exactly what kind of ice cream I would make if I had one. It's a secret until I actually make it. But it's gonna be goo-ood.

4. An iPad. Okay, I don't actually want one. But I was proofreading today and doing a search and replace, only I had to review each instance and click either 'replace' or 'next'. I realized it would be SO much easier if I had a touch-screen tablet and could just hover two fingers over each of the buttons, instead of needing to move the cursor each time. So what I really want is an iPad that can run Word. And is several generations down the line.

5. An older Jaguar, like this XJ from the '80s. I know absolutely nothing about Jaguars (except that Rob says they're not very good/efficient), but I think that older style (and the newer S-Type) is so classy. I saw what I would guess to have been an early-'80s XJ sedan in a sort of minky grey when I was in Sandstone last time. Grabby hands.

Do you like how my list got more and more greedy as it went? I kept thinking of other little things today, but -- predictably -- I forgot most of them as soon as I started writing. Oh, and Beany has nothing to do with my wishlist, obviously. All she wants is somebody to play with, a lap to sit on, and some food to eat.

-- Sometimes it seems like I take pictures of the same meals over and over and over. Because I do (well, not THE same meals, obviously). I should work on not doing that so much. If it makes any difference, I was out of my usual plain yogurt today, but I found a (not expired) cup of plain Greek yogurt in the fridge, so that's what I had. What? It makes no difference to you at all? It's actually really boring?

-- Alex's professional site is go! The site is so uniquely* her, so if you like what you see there, you're sure to get on well with the lady herself. You can see the many services Alex provides, if you like; basically, if something in your life needs to be more awesome, she's your woman. Hire her! So she can afford to drink coffee with me!

* Something can't actually be so unique; it's either unique or it's not. I'm educating through misuse.

-- I wanted to listen to some music this morning, but nothing on my computer immediately sprung to mind as being quite right, so I put This is Glenn Miller on the turntable. As soon as it started playing, I had that 'why do I ever STOP listening to this?' feeling. It's perfectly laid back while not being evening music, like a lot of the mellower stuff I have is. I listened to it while I reorganized my freezer, and that was how I spent my Valentine's morning.

-- In the afternoon, I went over to my parents' and helped my mom decorate sugar cookies. It was sort of perfect: I wanted to decorate cookies, but I didn't actually want to eat any, nor did I have anybody to immediately pass them off to. But she's bringing them to work tomorrow, so I got to have the fun without the consequences (consequences = cookies, in this instance). Although I bought the animal-shaped cookie cutters from Ikea yesterday, so it's only a matter of time before I need to try those out.

-- The above is a crop of this photo, taken at the Palmengarten in Frankfurt. That has to be one of my favorite photos that I took in 2009, for the texture and and contour of the leaf, the water droplets, depth of field, and the contrast of the black background. It has nothing to do with today, but I didn't have any photos I felt like using for this post!

-- It's been very exciting watching my friend Alex get ready to strike out on her own as a freelancer (I will link to her professional site if/when she gives the okay, so you can pay her money to make your life better), and the positive energy has been infectious. I started working on my own professional site to drum up more freelance projects, but it's a bit nerve wracking. Even though I'd be sticking within the realm of what I know (editorial and design work), it's scarier to do so with only my name to back me up. But I've got to pay for my imaginary office-studio somehow.

-- I finally caught Beany's cat laugh on 'tape'. I'm sure other cats do this, but she's the only cat I've ever known to make this noise while leaping in the air. She is a happy cat.

-- Soft serve was achieved today at Ikea (and it surpassed even the dreamy expectations I'd had for it), and I found the boxes I needed for the kitchen. It was a fairly quick trip, but because it's right next to the Mall of America, I got stuck in a huge queue on my way in (off the freeway). I seriously hope that The Day Before Valentine's has been declared the new Black Friday, because if that's the usual number of people who go to the MOA on a regular Saturday, that's just insane. Maybe people were carrying out their patriotic duty (to shop) this President's Day weekend. I bet that was it.

-- I've had a string of failed meals lately. It started with the breakfast above: I recently bought some Kashi instant oatmeal packets, and I added too much water; the blueberries I thawed were too seedy; the raspberry yogurt had a strange texture (I almost always buy plain yogurt and flavor it myself, and nine times out of ten, when I decide to 'treat' myself to a pre-flavored yogurt, I think it's too sugary or otherwise weird). Then I tried to make bread rolls for my dinner, but the yeast must have been dead, and the soup I thawed to go with it was disappointing and watery. (I scrapped that meal entirely and started over.) And the pumpkin soup I tried concocting this evening wound up in the bin. So, you know, it's not all kitchen successes all the time, here.

-- On the topic of food and failure, I just realized that I completely failed to eat any real, non-breakfast food today. I woke up late, had my usual Ezekiel English muffin meal, ate a Luna Protein bar after running (these are new, and the cookie dough flavor is ridiculously good), had yogurt and cereal in the afternoon, and dinner was oatmeal. I DID, however, blend spinach with apple juice and drank that with dinner. It's much better than it sounds.

-- I've been waking up late because I've been staying up just as late, for no particular reason. Even though I'm sleeping the same number of hours, the waking time seems to fly by much more quickly. I keep getting to about 11:00pm and thinking I haven't done much (objectively, I can see that I've been doing exactly as much as usual), so I haven't come up with anything to write about here.

-- I'm very excited that it's the weekend now, though. I've got a few plans, including meeting Alex at Ikea to get $1 soft serve and stock up on Swedish organizational devices. It's no secret that I love ice cream (and eat it almost every day), but soft serve is in an entirely different category -- an awesome category! I'm not sure that my fantasy dream house would have a dishwasher (loud and smelly), but it would definitely have a soft serve machine tucked away somewhere.

-- My latest out-and-out obsession is with having a studio-office in one of the great converted buildings around town. I've been trying to figure out how many more freelance projects I'd have to take on to swing the rent (answer: more), which actually isn't exorbitantly expensive. And I'd be sure to be SO productive in a brick-walled, high-ceilinged space with huge windows, many houseplants, Wings posters, a big table, floor lamps, an easy chair, and an electric kettle. For example. And I could invite people to my office and pretend to be a PI. This is a genius plan.

-- I was going to go to the gym today, but then I spent about 45 minutes shoveling, instead. We didn't get as much snow as the east coast, this time around, but we haven't had much melting action since it started snowing in December. Heaving a snow-filled shovel allll the way to the top of the bank is getting less and less fun. But it's not so bad, really.

-- Beany wanted to go out after I finished shoveling (and was heading back out to take photos). She can't hold in her tiny cat brain that it's cold right now, so she goes out and then wants to get right back inside. I think it's a bit scarier for her now that the snow is so much deeper than she is tall; she was much more curious when she could still see above it.

-- Just a minute ago, I was wanting something small to eat, so I looked in the cupboard and realized I hadn't opened the Snack Toast I'd bought in Sandstone. I get this stuff from time to time, though not for a while, and it was on sale for cheap -- and they had the blueberry flavor, which I'd never seen before. Crunchy!

-- I went to bed at 1:00am last night, and I woke briefly at 5:00 to the sound of my neighbor shoveling. I used to wake up at 5:30 when I worked in London, but the thought of somebody being awake and outside at 5:00am seems unfathomable when you fell asleep just four hours earlier. Luckily, I drifted off again pretty quickly (although not before having to get up and take away TWO different toys from Beany, who had apparently also decided it was morning).

-- I made a very good wrap today that included pickled beets that my uncle made. Sometimes I like to think back to child-me and imagine the shock and disgust she would have over the things I enjoy eating now. It's particularly good if I've put together an entire meal of previously undesirables. Like Sunday's lunch: tofu + kale and whole wheat toast with hummus. Well, I probably would have eaten the toast. Dry.

-- I've never understood how people can exercise first thing in the morning. Not only am I starving hungry when I wake up, but I also have no energy for running if I haven't had a good meal in the last couple of hours. I can even tell a difference when I eat oatbran for breakfast instead of what's in the photo here (because the English muffin, etc has more protein, I guess).

-- Elvis Costello played a new song at the show last Thursday, and I listened to the rebroadcast on Sunday, and now I can't get the song out of my hand. It's fantastic. And not yet recorded in a studio, I guess, so I can't just listen to it whenever I want. I hope it's a taste of what's to come with his next album.

-- I had leftover macaroni and cheese and some black beans in the fridge. Put your hands together, and you've got something delicious... assuming you had first put the macaroni in one had and the black beans in the other. Because I'm trying to say that it's a good combination.

-- There's a Logitech program that turns your iPod Touch (or iPhone) into a remote touchpad that you can use to control a computer. It's going to take some getting used to, but I'm excited to try using it while proof-reading, as resting my hands on the laptop for hours hurts my wrists. Even if it turns out to be not so practical, it's still kind of awesome.

-- I got new pillows today! If I wake up tomorrow without my sinuses trying to burrow to freedom via my ears, it will change my life. It's ridiculous how itchy the inside of my head gets while I'm sleeping. Does this happen to other people? I suspect the real solution is to lie on my back and not breathe through my mouth while I'm asleep, but I also suspect that that will never happen.

-- Here's a random survey of absolutely no consequence: What sort of coffee do you order when you're out? I almost always get a small, decaf Americano, and I add my own splash of half-and-half. Sometimes, if I'm feeling fancy, I'll ask for a single pump of sugarfree vanilla, but then the coffee tastes too good. Usually, I like for it to balance on the line between okay and decent, because then I won't drink it too quickly.

I had a fun, social Saturday (gym! lunch! family! Raclette!), so I was looking forward to running a few errands today (Sunday) and thought I'd go see a movie. But then, around 10:00am, I decided I would take some stuff out of the kitchen closet in an effort to get started on overhauling that room. A couple hours later, I was suddenly painting the closet, having first exploded all its contents onto the kitchen counters. Whoops. So that project pretty much took the entire day.

The calf planter in the photo is a good example of the sort of thing that was tucked up high and way back in the closet (I suppose it's really a 'pantry', since it has shelves, but it's where I keep the garbage can, and combining 'pantry' and 'garbage' just grosses me out). The walls of the closet had gotten stained, so part of my kitchen plan was always to paint inside there (just not today).

Actually, the desire to paint the closet, aside from the practical aspect, was inspired by the dark blue bathroom in a Minneapolis coffee shop I visit every so often (Blue Moon). Every time I go in there, I'm struck with the urge to paint a room the same rich color, but I know I wouldn't actually enjoy it as much as I'm tempted to think I would. But a closet would be good! Buying a quart of paint would hardly have been a big expense, but I figured I had lots of leftover paint from various house projects, so I should just use that instead.

There was quite a bit of 'Morris Room' grey left (from the first time I painted the piano room), so I was going to go with that, but then I found a can of 'Meander Blue' that was three-quarters full. (Both colors are/were from Sherwin Williams.) I thought I'd almost run out of that when I painted the kitchen, but I guess I DID run out and had to buy a new gallon. So now the closet matches the rest of the kitchen and looks very smart. Tomorrow, I'm hoping to find some inexpensive but decent storage containers for the closet, as it tends to get messy quickly when things are loose on the shelves.

The hardest thing about getting everything clean and tidy is remembering not to mess it up again. Stashing things away in drawers or other hiding places is such a bad habit of mine. And now that the walls of the kitchen closet are freshly painted and looking good, I'm going to have to make an effort to not fling coffee grounds everywhere the whole time. Not that I do that. Ever.

Okay, I finally pulled myself up by my bootstraps and finished tidying up the bedroom. There are still a few things left to do, like buy new pillows (I'm willing to admit that my million-year-old pillows may be the cause of my night-time sinus problems), but at least everything is where it's supposed to be now.

I've always had a problem with getting my bedroom to look just right, mainly because the walls are (off) white. I think I've mentioned this before; white walls just look so unfinished to me (not, I should stress, in other, more Scandinavian people's homes). I decided to group the frames I had previously spread out on the walls, creating just a few focal points -- the grouped frames, the map, and the dresser mirror (above).

Sorry to anybody who was hoping to see the patchwork side of the finished quilt, but I'm actually using the 'back' as the top. When I was going through my vintage bedsheets to see if I had anything to back the quilt with, I spread this daffodil-print sheet on the bed and fell in love with it. It was only a full size, so it wasn't quite big enough for the queen-size quilt, but I cut it down to the same size as the patchwork on the other side (both sides have the white edges) and used the leftover to make binding strips.

I bought a sheet set on clearance at Target, because I needed a large amount of (nice) solid white fabric, and that was the cheapest/easiest way to get it. So I cut up the flat sheet, saved the fitted sheet (which I'll use once flannel sheet season has passed), and I was very pleased that the green 'cuffs' on the pillowcases perfectly matched the green of the daffodil print. I've had those yellow striped pillowcases for a couple years now; they were thrifted and are the softest, smoothest things ever.

I got rid of a lot of clothes (two big garbage bags of stuff for a garage sale later and one to actually throw away), but I still have too much. The white dresser has my jeans, exercise clothes, and undergarments; the small, stripey dresser has mostly summer clothes; there's a three-shelf unit in my little closet with t-shirts and sweaters.

I wish I could take a picture of my closet, but it's so small and oddly placed that it's impossible. Cleaning it out was the biggest project in the bedroom overhaul, because I had taken to chucking stuff in there and forgetting about it (which is what I do with any doored/hidden space, hence this whole house project). I decided to hang only the shirts that I wear on a regular basis (and some dresses), because I can more easily store less-often-worn shirts by folding them.

Anyway, I might do further weeding of clothes at a later date, because I do aspire to have only clothes that I really, really like. Even if that means not having much of a selection! But I think there are only so many decisions a person can make at once, and I definitely hit that limit!

Up next? The kitchen. Big (literally -- it's the biggest room in the house) and scary, although not as scary as the guest room currently is. (It's a nightmare. A nightmare! If I were any sort of decent human being, I would go in there right now and try to ameliorate the situation. Alas.)

I am going to write a list of things that I love, because it's Things I Love Thursday. And because I saw Elvis Costello on A Prairie Home Companion tonight, and now I am sad that... it's over? That I'm not best friends with Elvis? I don't know what my brain thinks it wants, but making a list will help remind it of what it has.

-- Oatmeal with dried cherries cooked in. The cherries get all plump and are sweet and tart at the same time.

-- Getting into my bed. No other bed is as perfectly comfortable as mine is.

-- A big bowl of yogurt in the afternoon. I like breakfast and my afternoon snack best; lunch and dinner are never as simple and satisfying.

-- How clean my countertop looks when it's all shined up. I recently got some Method brand granite polish/cleaner, so it's extra sparkly now.

-- Smoothies. Today I blended up some almond milk with frozen banana, cocoa, and chocolate stevia drops. Simple and tasty.

-- When I'm running and my iPod shuffles to an exciting song and I feel awesome and unstoppable. I have not felt like that this week. (AND I forgot my earbuds today, so I couldn't even listen to music. Things I DON'T Love Thursday!)

-- Summertime. Lately, when I walk out the back door of my house, I imagine what the garden will look like in the middle of July. I'm predicting less snow than we currently have.

-- Elvis Costello performing the death scene in 'The Lives of the Cowboys' sketch. Best. Thing. Ever. Oh, except now I've made myself sad again. Oh well.

I didn't mean to neglect the old blog for two days, there, but I'm back now with this week's What's Hot and What's Not.

What's Hot

-- House Plants. I can't imagine not having green things in my home, but I suppose that's not really surprising, given my love of gardening during the summer. I don't keep any very exotic house plants, but I really enjoy taking care of the ones I've got. There's a pothos that I bought back in college, and it was only a tiny thing, then, but now it's in two pots and is pretty sprawling (I clip the vines, root them in water, and then add them to the plant pot, rather than let them get long and gangly). And that spider plant above was a stolen baby (shh!) from a B&B a couple of years ago.

-- Spot Stealers. Sometimes the cats are really persistent in trying to steal my seat on the sofa for no good reason, but this time it was just because of the afternoon sun. I hadn't been gone more than a minute, and they were already curled up and sleeping as if they'd been there all day. I should be annoyed, but they're just too cute.

-- Awesome neighbors. I don't know mine very well, though my publishing 'wisdom' is called upon from time to time. But one of the people on our block has a snowblower and often clears off the entire sidewalk in front. And after our latest batch of snow, somebody (next door, I think) even shoveled my front path. That's heart-warming, although it makes me feel a little bit guilty.

What's Not

-- Nagging Cats. I started giving the cats tinned food every evening, in an attempt to bulk up Booty (he actually gets kitten food). They quickly caught on to the pattern of getting the special food when I'd finished doing the dishes after dinner, but it's spiraled out of control. Now, any time I wash dishes (or stand at the sink) during the day, I suddenly find cats staring at me. And, even worse, I more recently started giving Booty tinned food in the mornings, as well (Beany doesn't need it), so now he starts nagging me as soon as I'm awake.

-- Building up endurance. I won't say that getting back to running after a month off is exactly like starting from scratch, but it's definitely disappointing/annoying (though not surprising) to not just pick up from where I left off. I did two slow miles yesterday, so I reckon it won't take me too long to make up for lost time, but still. January Anna was a jerk for not keeping up with cardio of some sort, even with the lame foot.

-- Stalled plans. Progress with the Great House Overhaul has ground to a halt recently. There's no real excuse (I even finished the quilt, so that's not it); I just can't muster the enthusiasm to finish the bedroom. Maybe I'll get to it tomorrow. I think it might be my subconscious trying to delay getting to the kitchen. There's a lot of junk stowed away in all those cupboards.