My valiant effort to be domestic

Resulted in destroying John's beautiful cream cheese-stuffed jalepeno poppers in 2.5 seconds and a vat of boiling vegetable oil.....

Oh, failure! Actually, we found that if the charred coating is peeled off you can re-fry them just fine :) Just check the oil temperature over and over again. It's amazing how very simple the friers at the restaurants seem now that I've tried this myself. In slight depression from nearly ruining dinner, I turned to the library book I checked out on spotlessly cleaning the home. Saddened me further, though I did sweep the kitchen floor. I'll tackle the gigantic pile of laundry later in the weekend.

Charcoal Sketch #2-

Charcoal Sketch

Charcoal Sketch

beautiful website for home inspiration!

www.theinspiredroom.net

by levan mindiashvili

Earth Fest Floods

Earth Fest Floods

Brittany DeVries

Date: Wed Apr 23 21:06:43 2008

Mother Nature clearly heard O.A.R's Mark Roberge on Sunday.

Soon after "Love and Memories" reverberated through the loud speakers to hundreds of fans on the National Mall for D.C.'s 2008 Earth Festival, the clouds let go, and that same crowd was drowning deep inside her water as well.

During the first electrical storm, even actor Chevy Chase and Umphrey's McGee couldn't keep the crowd from running to take cover. Ponchos and umbrellas found solace beneath the roof of the Smithsonian entrance, under large magnolia trees, or by sidling up to workers at their tented advertisement booths.

The second storm forced the organization to cancel the rest of the afternoon, and the chaos on the Mall turned into chaos in the streets and at the Metro.

The Green Apple Festival, partnered with the Earth Day Network, put on D.C.'s wet and wild Earth Day event. The festival is actually part of a nationwide collaboration that includes eight festivals simultaneously taking place in eight major cities throughout the country.

Though much of this year's lineup was spoiled by the weather, a handful of top bands, public figures and activists still kept the audience pumped for most of the day.

American Idol's Blake Lewis beat-boxed the National Anthem to kick off the event. O.A.R played an acoustic set that included a Dylan cover of "The Times They Are A Changin,'" very fitting with the festival's theme of global concern. Umphrey's McGee and Warren Haynes also took the stage between the rain's adamant performances.

Junior Kristin Astley attended the event with friends.
"Despite the torrential downpour, the bands were amazing," Astley said. "The crowd especially came to life when Edward Norton delivered his speech."

Other speakers addressing environmental concerns included Ed Begley, Jr., NASA scientist Dr. James E. Hansen, journalist Thomas Friedman, Olympic skier Joe Holland, and Earth day Network President Kathleen Rogers.

Rogers asked the audience members to "Call for Climate," using cell phones to speak with their representatives.
Astley said that the concept of the Earth Day Festival conveys an important message.

"It brings in a lot of diverse people," Astley said. "It informs us of global concerns and the actions we need to take to preserve the environment."

Privilege of Being, by Robert Hass

Many are making love. Up above, the angels
in the unshaken ether and crystal of human longing
are braiding one another's hair, which is strawberry blond
and the texture of cold rivers. They glance
down from time to time at the awkward ecstasy--
it must look to them like featherless birds
splashing in the spring puddle of a bed--
and then one woman, she is about to come,
peels back the man's shut eyelids and says,
look at me, and he does. Or is it the man
tugging the curtain rope in that dark theater?
Anyway, they do, they look at each other;
two beings with evolved eyes, rapacious,
startled, connected at the belly in an unbelievably sweet
lubricious glue, stare at each other,
and the angels are desolate. They hate it. They shudder pathetically
like lithographs of Victorian beggars
with perfect features and alabaster skin hawking rags
in the lewd alleys of the novel.
All of creation is offended by this distress.
It is like the keening sound the moon makes sometimes,
rising. The lovers especially cannot bear it,
it fills them with unspeakable sadness, so that
they close their eyes again and hold each other, each
feeling the mortal singularity of the body
they have enchanted out of death for an hour so,
and one day, running at sunset, the woman says to the man,
I woke up feeling so sad this morning because I realized
that you could not, as much as I love you,
dear heart, cure my loneliness,
wherewith she touched his cheek to reassure him
that she did not mean to hurt him with this truth.
And the man is not hurt exactly,
he understands that life has limits, that people
die young, fail at love,
fail of their ambitions. He runs beside her, he thinks
of the sadness they have gasped and crooned their way out of
coming, clutching each other with old invented
forms of grace and clumsy gratitude, ready
to be alone again, or dissatisfied, or merely
companionable like the couples on the summer beach
reading magazine articles about intimacy between the sexes
to themselves, and to each other,
and to the immense, illiterate, consoling angels.

Ulla Visits Vet; Throws Fit Over New Diet

In need of a booster shot, my 1 year old kitten Ulla had to visit her vet a few days ago. Nobody suspected that the need for a small shot in the scruff would lead to agonizing pain, scrutiny among her creature peers, an upset in emotions, and little sleep....the poor girl was informed she was chubby, and had to diet. "No," she mewed loudly, but no one understood that her current dinner portions were contingent to her "plans" to train for a kitty marathon. According to Ulla Sulla, the beginning stage of her program involves solely running down the stairs in the hope of escaping out the door as a human walks inside, about 9 times a day, then throwing a 5 second tantrum for not making it, again.
Alas, the 1/4 cup measuring scoop found its way out of the kitchen and onto the shelf, sidling up to the Purina Cat Chow, and Ulla watched with low, low whiskers as I measured out the first of many puny portions in keeping with the veterinarian's recommended new feeding regimen.
Ulla, reacting to the psychological effects of a growling, grumbling belly, has taken up to swatting the dog's tail, jumping into the refrigerator, staring at the heater in the kitchen, and, as one can see here, hiding and brooding under blankets while making mean eyes at the camera.
Poor Ulla.

Budget Woes Persist

Awaiting Gov. Kaine's final approval on April 23, the University of Mary Washington's tentative 2008-10 budget, released March 13 and e-mailed 10 days later to faculty and staff, has stable recommendations despite the country's unstable economy.
The operating portion of the budget, which covers all academic-based operations, includes a 2 percent salary increase for all employees and a continued $1,463,234 budget reduction in all general funds, to a base adequacy of $299,714. It incorporates an additional annual $92,624 in student aid, $631,660 for the Higher Education Equipment Trust Fund (HEETF) each year of the biennium, a $251,102 reduction for the Eminent Scholars program, and a statewide $1.6 million for interest earnings and rebates.
Acting President Richard Hurley said that over the past year UMW has had to freeze salary adjustments, equipment, and other operations to try and balance the budget while preparing for a possibly permanent financial reduction.
"Now that it is permanent, two major adjustments will be an increase in tuition rates and a reduction in school budgets," Hurley said. "We are waiting for the actual budget so we can know by exactly how much to reduce our own budgets, and to see if the governor will give us any flexibility."
The capital outlay, the second portion of the Virginia budget that covers all facilities, maintenance, and construction projects, proposes $606,000 for 2008-09 and $640,000 for 2009-10 for maintenance reserve projects. This is a capital provision for UMW within the $50 million being provided from state revenue.
"UMW is waiting for Richmond to resolve its differences about the capital [outlay]," Hurley said.
Recommendations of $4.25 million in capital projects renovations for Monroe Hall, Lee Hall, and convocation center equipment, $1 million for academic buildings renovations, and an additional $3.6 million for Monroe Hall restorations was also outlined in the state budget, funded by state proceeds.
The $800,000 for a new welding studio in Melchers Hall was recognized and approved by the state, but recognized as a project funded only by University funds.
"Another great example of this is the bell tower," Hurley said. "As a public institution, we must have permission from the state to build, even if it is our own funds or from a private source."
Hurley said that in the circumstance of having to make cuts in the budget, no specific department would be more impeded upon than any other department. However, the Campus Police and Admissions departments would not be altered.
"I have already informed the administration, we need to maintain our security levels, and keep that fully functioning," he said.
UMW received $440,000 from the Tuition Moderation Incentive Fund, which allows only a 1 percent increase in tuition rates to current undergraduate residential students, permitting that the money allocated from the 1 percent increase is spent solely for student aid for these students.
According to Hurley, the tentative 4 percent tuition rate increase is the budget's only discerning suggestion that students will notice, and most changes will be felt by University employees.
A governmental bond bill of $23 million is provided in the budget to cover the obligatory campus construction in Dahlgren. Upon completion, the site, presided over by the University, will provide other Virginia engineering schools a location to teach courses.
If necessary, demands for certain UMW courses or programs could also be held at the Dahlgren campus in the future.
Within the $50 million recommended statewide for projects like the funding for a campus in Dahlgren, Jepson Hall will receive funding for a $7.1 million addition.
Lowered from the last couple of years, the salary for all state employees will increase 2 percent, effective Nov. 25.
Hurley said that although some areas of the University's operational and capital budgets have been financially reduced, overall the budget is a good one considering the current state of the economy.
"Our revenues as a state are down, in keeping with the rest of the country," Hurley said.
The University budget also incorporated a six-year capital improvement plan for UMW. Though no funding is provided, the plan offers the blueprint stages of projects like the Dahlgren campus, the Technology Convergence Center, a chilled water plant, and a network upgrade.