Weekly Randomness for Friday, May 13, 2016

Best way to approach a Friday the 13th

News that made me stop what I was doing to look it up.

• Min svävare är full med ål ** (and IKEA is coming!!)
• Sadness
• Only Congress gets to decide their own raises... 

Weekly Shits n' Giggles

• A city growing up
• My Pinteresting Randomness

Weekend Aims

• Brunch and a classic movie at Avalon Theater
• Season opener for the Elkhorn Flea!!!
• Mulch. More mulch. Finishing up planting containers. And mulch. 

** For the Monty Python fans

Bad start to this Friday the 13th for HandyMan.... 

Whole batch of lemon curd-filled lemon cupcakes with lemon-mascarpone icing rendered inedible by pavement and bad luck.... sigh..... 

Magnet Monday: Transit

Cheesy Refrigerator Magnet for Monday, May 9, 2016
"Serial No. 1, c.1903", plastic image, circa 2013

Today the planet Mercury is moving across in front of the sun where we can see it. 

It doesn't actually have anything to do with this magnet, but they're both pretty neat. 

We picked this one up at the Harley-Davidson Museum. Definitely worth the time even if you're not a hog fan.

Magnet Monday features a selection from our semi-vast and ever growing collection of cheesy refrigerator magnets. Without doubt the perfect souvenir. Only slightly less cheesy than collecting snow globes but a whole lot easier to smuggle in your bra. If need be. Which I hope it never is. Unless it's really worth it.

Weekly Randomness for Friday, May 6, 2016

someone is hiding from all that yard work...

News that made me stop what I was doing to look it up.

• Ugh. Why is this even a surprise?! 
• Technology humbled by the mundane. 
• The big NO is nothing new. 

Weekly Shits n' Giggles

• Be Happy advice always in style.  
• Keep swimming!!
• Everything old is new again, and it sounds.... interesting. 
• My Pinteresting Randomness

Weekend Aims

• Somebody dumped 4 cubic yards of mulch in our driveway... 
• More yard work. 
• Sunday brunch in Janesville with family to celebrate all of us who mother in some way. 

44 years ago today was the first breath of air for my favorite husband. 

Happy Birthday babe!

Weekly Randomness for Friday, April 29, 2016

News that made me stop what I was doing to look it up.

• Sounds like I shouldn't feel guilty about donating those super-well worn old t-shirts.
• I've never thought about the idea that it's harder to think like an eighteenth century servant than we realize. 
• Access demands accountability. Food for thought: could it change the way we think about engaging in conflicts? 

Weekly Shits n' Giggles

• As if I needed another reason to visit Japan.
• Philosopher-turned-musician Boethius' "The Consolation of Philosophy"
• My Pinteresting Randomness

Weekend Aims

• hometown Earth Day cleanup and recycling: proceeds from recycling "any electronic item with a plug" will buy trees for the city! 
• More golf, if the weather holds (or at least warms up!)
• Possibly a movie: they're showing Purple Rain for $5 😊

Magnet Monday: Rosalind Franklin

Cheesy Refrigerator Magnet for Monday, April 25, 2016
"disney castle", painted 3D resin, 2011

Work with me on this one. 

This is National Princess Week. Yes, that's apparently a thing. Even Julie Andrews is in on it. We all know at least one Disney princess, so even if you can't tolerate the shameless merchandising that is modern Disney, at least think fondly of your favorite princesses. 

It's also National DNA Day. What do DNA and princesses have in common, you may ask? This magnet! 

In honor of Rosalind Franklin, one of our "rejected princesses*". Without her work in X-ray crystallography, Watson & Crick would never have gotten the credit for determining the molecular structure of DNA. 

This charmer was picked up by our own princess, on a high school choir trip. 

*Rejected Princesses: Women too Awesome, Awful, or Offbeat for Kids' Movies is updated Wednesdays and well worth checking out. 

Magnet Monday features a selection from our semi-vast and ever growing collection of cheesy refrigerator magnets. Without doubt the perfect souvenir. Only slightly less cheesy than collecting snow globes but a whole lot easier to smuggle in your bra. If need be. Which I hope it never is. Unless it's really worth it.

Weekly Randomness for Friday, May 15, 2015

Nora says: A man a plan a canal Panama
Every date between 5-10-15 and 5-19-15 is a palindrome!*


News that made me stop what I was doing to look it up.

• What I want to know: who's going to teach them how to roll one?
• I'm such a romantic sucker for shipwrecks on the great lakes (there are more than 6,000 out there, people). 
• Working in a beer lab trumps working in a poop lab... 

Weekly Shits n' Giggles

• Despite being a professional intestinal researcher (seriously), I couldn't find anyone in our lab interested (but it's so stylish!)
• Want. 
• Almost literally shit. I actually dropped my cell phone into the toilet... I was way overdue for an upgrade (still using an S2, but it looks practically new, so how could I not keep using it?). Fortunately the S5 is water-resistant. Unfortunately, there's an app on there driving some adware that means now I get random texts for lunch invitations. Decline, no?
• My Pinteresting Randomness

Weekend Aims

• Southeast Wisconsin Master Gardeners annual plant sale - get 'em while they're hot! My neighbor and I have our wagons at the ready, and husbands prepared to go buy us coffee - perfect! 
• Dinner and a concert. When I was young, this could mean gyros and the Romantics in Madison, or brats and Kenny Rogers at the state fair. Now it means classical-pops and fine French dining. Same thing. 
• Family time - somebody's graduating from FVTC!! 

*Or as we used to say in college, Pat's Tap (thanks for that one - you know who you are!!)

Magnet Monday: Tubac

Cheesy Refrigerator Magnet for Monday, April 27, 2015
"Tubac, AZ", Native American wedding vase, hand-painted ceramic, circa 2004

The wedding vase has a long tradition among many tribes. The shape is pretty similar: two spouts symbolizing the two people sharing vows, and the one handle uniting them together. Designs vary by tribe and Pueblo. Tradition holds that the groom's family makes the vessel and offers it as a gift to the bride. 

We picked this magnet up on my first visit to Arizona and my first chance to meet my now-husband's parents. You could argue that the design comes from the Sonoran desert around where the groom's parents live, and that it was made near the groom's parents home. Almost tradition. 


Magnet Monday features a selection from our semi-vast and ever growing collection of cheesy refrigerator magnets. Without doubt the perfect souvenir. Only slightly less cheesy than collecting snow globes but maybe a lot easier to smuggle in your bra. If need be. Which I hope it never is. Unless it's really worth it.

Weekly Randomness for Saturday, March 21, 2015

Happy Spring!!

News that made me stop what I was doing to look it up.

• Science and art make good bedfellows.
• As if falconry wasn't cool enough (so, there are some great uses for them... although this is a limited use. Extremely cool. But limited.). 

Weekly Shits n' Giggles

• Aaaaaand... it pretty much looks like that on the way out too.  
• Sparklemuffin!! Shake your booty for me Spiderman!
• Bit 3
• My Pinteresting Randomness

Weekend Aims

• Da dump (remember the toilet removal...)
• Fun with concrete (and finally the toilet will be a distant memory)
• State taxes. Ugh! 

Weekly Randomness for Friday, February 20, 2015

News that made me stop what I was doing to look it up.

• NAFLD in the news (it's a big deal to me: researching NAFLD in kids is my day job. Seriously.)
• Sigh...  and sigh... 
• Bee-youtifully cool! I would consider it if I thought I could keep the raccoons out of it... 

Weekly Shits n' Giggles

• It's Legos!! Mondrian looks good in lots of colors :)
• Backstage at the greatest show on earth
• The hidden talents of pork
• My Pinteresting Randomness

Weekend Aims

• Still tax time...
• Someone we know is turning 18 - it's a dinner date!
• As part of tax time, it's also time to organize our file cabinets (yes, you can actually hear the hubbie sighing from all the way over there...)

Not to mention thawing out... What is it with this cold?!

Magnet Monday: Gecko Gecko

Cheesy Refrigerator Magnet for Monday, February 16, 2015
"Untitled", enameled metal, circa 2011

A friend of ours recently decided to make some radical changes in her life (love can do that), one of which involves relocating to an exotic Polynesian island sporting palm trees and volcanos (seriously). For her, relocating means a beach front home, and geckos galore. One particularly large gecko has a predictable dumping ground, from the rafters. She hasn't named him. Yet.   

This gecko is based on the petroglyphs in the American Southwest, which makes sense that we found it in Arizona on one of our trips there. In Native American lore, lizards indicate transformation, dreams, and renewal. I think our friend on her island would agree. 


Magnet Monday features a selection from our semi-vast and ever growing collection of cheesy refrigerator magnets. Without doubt the perfect souvenir. Only slightly less cheesy than collecting snow globes but maybe a lot easier to smuggle in your bra. If need be. Which I hope it never is. Unless it's really worth it.

Weekly Randomness for January 23, 2015

News that made me stop what I was doing to look it up.

• The Rescued Film Project (more here). Someone once thought these were important images to capture. Moving and yet a little voyeuristic. 
• X-rays: not just for breakfast anymore (sciencey stuff here). 
• Hotdog and beer vendors come next. 

Weekly Shits n' Giggles

• Waffle irons aren't just for breakfast anymore either.  
• Gigapixels of Andromeda. Wish I had a bigger screen. Like as big as the sky. 
• Oy - this ace is blinding! Cheers!! 
• My Pinteresting Randomness

Weekend Aims

• Pickled beets!
• The Pro Bowl is this weekend, but... meh. 
• Aaaaand.... more cleaning. I think it may be warm enough to do a pre-emptive post-winter de-doodling of the backyard...

Weekly Randomness for January 9, 2015

We're a little late for the holidays, but she insisted. 

News that made me stop what I was doing to look it up.

• Everything old is new again, including how to implode a civilization (water is the new oil we will fight over...)
• Does this count as global confession?
• Oh Phillae, I dearly hope so. 

Weekly Shits n' Giggles

• Talent in the unexpected.  
• New meaning to armchair travel. 
• My Pinteresting Randomness

Weekend Aims

• Spring cleaning starts early here. Kitchen fridge already dismantled and cleaned out. Next come the open dish shelves. 
• Uh... washing dishes. And shelves. 
• Uh.... PACKER FOOTBALL!!!!

The Twelve Days of Yule: Day 6, December 26

Six Geese A'Laying

The Livestock Conservancy
http://www.livestockconservancy.org

One of the most profound food movements has been the recent growth of interest in locally sourced, small farm produced goods. We're rediscovering that it really does taste better fresh and not heavily processed. When you get to the farmer's market, and and a farmer is selling "heritage" pork, or duck, or goose, where did they get their old-timey livestock?

The Livestock Conservancy has been saving rare breeds since 1977. They coordinate efforts between folks breeding rare stock as well as provide information and education for folks wanting more info about heritage breeds. Rather like that farmer you just bought this week's dinner from. 

Click here to donate.

Twelve Days of Yule = Twelve Days of Giving is a personal initiative by me at the SoMil Homesteader to bring some focus to a holiday about gratitude. I don't have any official connections to any of these organizations, other than being a very small donor. Peace out. 

The Twelve Days of Yule = Twelve Days of Giving

There are so many traditions associated with the dark of winter. Some are ancient, some more recent, some stand-alone, some co-opt earlier ideas. For me, any celebration with family and friends that expresses an attitude of gratitude is a wonderful thing. As for these late-December fests, I hope we can agree that they all celebrate the idea that we have reached the darkest the season has to offer, and light is on its way back.

We call end-of-December celebrations "mid-winter," but really winter doesn't begin until December 21. Mid-winter actually falls on around February 2, Groundhog Day (half-way between the first day of winter and the first day of spring). Also shifted in the calendar and in common culture are traditions like the German/Scandinavian festival of Yule. This 12 day tradition originally began on December 21 and ended on January 1, making for 12 days of good times to mark the fact that we've made it past the darkest point in the year. Ancient folk could take a look at the foodstores and calculate survival until spring, and then splurge a little on some feasts (because we're good planners and put up more than we needed, right?). This is also a time when you gave to those who wouldn't have enough to make it, because taking care of each other is what we do (or should do, anyway).

In our home, we've been seeking to add some seasonal traditions to our days. I like the idea of celebrations that mark both the cycle of the year as well as give us some specific times to celebrate with gratitude. Many festival dates seem so arbitrary to me, but things like astronomical events just are. So this year, we're experimenting with marking the twelve day Yule celebration. And the best way I can think of to express gratitude is to give stuff away. Stuff stuff, or dollars that can be stuff. We're already swamped time-wise, so for us this year, I'm thinking small monetary donations; there's no reason to destroy the budget over this. Take the maximum you can afford, and divide by 12. Even Wikipedia recognizes that if we all gave a couple bucks, there would be more than enough. 

Since celebrations are more fun with a theme, our twelve days of giving will be based on the song The 12 Days of Christmas. Now, before you start schooling me on the hidden Christian meanings in the song, please do your own research in discovering that's simply not the case. It's a sweet idea, but it was imposed on the lyrics late in the 19th century, well after the earliest print version of the song in 1780 (which is some time later than its actual origin). It is true that the 12 days in the song are meant to fall between December 25 and January 5, but the idea of '12 days' of celebration over the dark days of winter is much, much older. 

For each of the 12 days, we're going to pick an organization, charity, group, cause that is based (even loosely, sometimes very loosely) on the verse theme of the day. For a reminder, and because there are some differences in the later verses, here are the twelve we will be using: 
Day 1: partridge in a pear tree
Day 2: turtledoves
Day 3: French hens
Day 4: colly birds
Day 5: gold rings
Day 6: geese laying eggs
Day 7: swans swimming
Day 8: maids milking
Day 9: drummers drumming
Day 10: pipers piping
Day 11: ladies dancing and lords leaping
Day 12: bells ringing

I tried to be creative in choosing the donees. It was important to me to keep it local if possible, and to think beyond the usual corral of organizations. Our donor dollars are often aimed at museums, but there are nature groups, arts groups, and educational initiatives. There are so many groups out there doing really amazing things. I used Charity Navigator both to get some ideas of where to donate and to check the charitable "health" of a group. 

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this whole shpiel, and if you follow along, or do a bit of your own yuletide giving, I'd love to hear about that too.

Image by justalittleknotty at DeviantArt

Twelve Days of Yule = Twelve Days of Giving is a personal initiative by me at the SoMil Homesteader to bring some focus to a holiday about gratitude. I don't have any official connections to any of these organizations, other than being a very small donor. Peace out. 

Weekly Randomness for Friday, December 19, 2014

Happy Birthday Miss Pooh!!

Today is Nora Blue's 12th Birthday!

News that made me stop what I was doing to look it up.

• The scientific journal watchdog is expanding 
• People have always loved what's exotic to them
• This goes way beyond the placebo effect. 

Weekly Shits n' Giggles

• This gives new meaning to walking on air 
• When your phone needs a facelift. 
• My Pinteresting Randomness

Weekend Aims

• The last of the decorating - time to put up our tree! 
• Time to start that something special I mentioned. More info tomorrow!

Weekly Randomness for Friday, December 12, 2014

News that made me stop what I was doing to look it up.

• Just because it isn't new, I don't think this means we should all start smoking again...
• Try to find a better illustration of income inequality.
• Cheese should be its own food group. Well, actually, in Wisconsin, it is. 

Weekly Shits n' Giggles

• If only I didn't suck at the game... too fun! 
• Plantibody. I just like the way the word sounds. Plantibody. 
• My Pinteresting Randomness

Weekend Aims

• More decorating. More canning. Yes, it's a different weekend... 
• Maybe.... a movie! Suggestions?
• I've been working on something to share, but it's not quite time. Soon.
• Plantibody

Weekly Randomness for Friday December 5, 2014

News that made me stop what I was doing to look it up.

• Grudge match the old fashioned way. 
• Don't reheat leftovers in your doggie bag - use a real plate.
• Reminds me of an episode from the old Night Gallery show. Too too creepy! 

Weekly Shits n' Giggles

• The trick is always to make it look easy. 
• It's National Comfort Food Day!! 
• My Pinteresting Randomness

Weekend Aims

• More canning. More binge watching Midsomer Murders on AcornTV.  
• Finish any more plans for handmade gifts.
• Go Bucky go!!

Weekly Randomness for November 28, 2014

News that made me stop what I was doing to look it up.

• Thankful for family, no matter how unlikely. 
• Avalon is coming - cannot wait!! (more details here)
• Strategic trickery is universal (at least not uniquely human). 

Weekly Shits n' Giggles

• Remember when this stuff was the Red Ryder BB gun of its day? 
• Better than the one I made in Girl Scouts. 
• My Pinteresting Randomness

Weekend Aims

• 14 pints of applesauce and counting. Next up: butternut squash chutney, and some more pickled beets.  
• Figure out where the mice are getting into my house. I know it's "that time of year" but we've disposed of two so far. Enough is enough!

Weekly Randomness for November 21, 2014

News that made me stop what I was doing to look it up.

• Sometimes a fossil image really makes it personal. 
• Everything you know is wrong. Unless you already know what's on this chart. 
• Follow Shackleton from in your snuggie. 

Weekly Shits n' Giggles

• Rescue bugs. Put away your swatters. 
• No HOA rules in this neighborhood. 
• My Pinteresting Randomness

Weekend Aims

• A trip to the apple orchard: time to make some applesauce! 
• A trip to the mushroom farm: time to pickle some mushrooms!

Magnet Monday: Healing Hand

Cheesy Refrigerator Magnet for Monday, November 17, 2014
"Untitled", petroglyph-style hand with palm spiral, painted metal, circa 20??

Hands, and hands with spirals, are a common theme in petroglyphs. Their meaning is really known only to the artists themselves; there's no shortage of theories, very few facts. Even so, I like the idea that the hand with a spiral in the palm symbolizes healing, or a person with healing abilities. 

I'm embarrassed to admit I don't recall where we bought this one, other than it was somewhere in Arizona. This known fact of the unknown is a solid reminder about recording this info before I forget any more. 


Magnet Monday features a selection from our semi-vast and ever growing collection of cheesy refrigerator magnets. Without doubt the perfect souvenir. Only slightly less cheesy than collecting snow globes but maybe a lot easier to smuggle in your bra. If need be. Which I hope it never is. Unless it's really worth it.