The scoop.

The goings-on this week:

• My grandmother is in the hospital... my folks took her in at 1am yesterday for respiratory distress. She was in the ICU for a while, now she's a general patient, but no transfer or release in sight yet. She has a bunch of other health problems, so the trick is to treat without mussing other stuff up. I'd go down there to visit, but now's not the time. I'd cause more distress because she'd fret as to how serious she was if I suddenly showed up. I'm set to visit mid-November, so... for now, that's what I'm doing. Distance stinks.
• In other news... I have an interview next Friday. It's for an exciting part-time research job. More on it later, but I am hoping.
  
• Some money from another source ended up panning out, so there's a bit more to stick into savings. Having a cushion is such a comfort.
• The job that I wanted but didn't get? The one where I was one of three finalists? Turns out the person who got it is has been practicing for 30 years, specializes in education law, and is the daughter of a former state supreme court justice. As much as I don't like to lose, I am ok with losing to this individual. She clearly outplayed me, and the factors in her favor were things I could not control. 30 years of experience will do that.
  
• It's a friend's birthday on Saturday, so I'm making the cake. Totally exciting. I'd post photos, but you never know who is checking the blog, so photos will have to come after the fact.
  
• Picked 20 pounds of tomatoes yesterday in the yard. I actually brought out the scale to determine how much I picked.
  
• My neighbor, a friend, and I may be going to a pumpkin patch on Sunday to get some cheapo pumpkins. Exciting. Pumpkins may be cheap, but those are usually carving pumpkins. I need eating pumpkins. I plan on baking them, then freezing the mush. Yum. My freezer is getting full, but I can always can up some of the tomatoes (the plain blanched/frozen ones) if need be.
• I need to put the newbie chicks outside... but I hate introductions. I think tonight might work...we'll see.
• Found a bunch of horse chestnuts. I know I can't eat them because they're poisonous, but I think I can find ways to use them in crafty-type projects. We'll see.
  
• Made homemade pot stickers last night, using a recipe out of this book: Vegan Planet. No, I am not vegan, but I'm convinced that if you learn how to cook vegan/vegetarian, you will learn significantly about spices. I've also wanted to learn more about cooking tofu. We have a tofu outlet for a great tofu company (Surata) in our town, and I want to take better advantage of it. I first borrowed the book from a friend, then I finally decided yesterday to buy it. It's THICK-- like 1.5 inches thick. But this way, I can tab and mark up my copy.
• I'm barely over one bucket into my apples. Seriously. I had to take a break yesterday because I needed to wash the racks. Too many successive rounds of cinnamon/sugar slices had made the slices sticky and hard to remove. They're still soaking. More hopefully tonight.
• I cooked four trays of my roasted tomatoes yesterday. They make me so happy.
  

So that's what's in the news. Things going on.