The Half Ginger

So, I could not think of a better title for this blog post. It has been so long since I have posted, I haven’t had time to keep everything updated. Work has been super busy, but you know, orders get backed up when you’re down for a month because on an explosion. I was happy with 36-48 hours a week until I got a taste of that 72 hour paycheck. It almost makes being absolutely exhausted worth it. Haha.

My roommates finally sold their house, which is so awesome! The one they are building should be done in a few months and I am excited to move in. I have never lived in a new construction before. I know that doesn’t seem like anything to anyone else but me, but I think it’s so cool to be the first people to live in a house. You don’t find out about the crazy stuff later, because there isn’t any.

I have not been sleeping a lot lately. And when I do sleep all I have is nightmares. So that’s really awful. Hopefully once life calms back down again, they will stop and I can get some real sleep. I’ve considered getting a FitBit to measure the quality of my sleep, because obviously when I’m asleep I can’t monitor myself. I’m still looking into it.

The Sherlock blanket is still in foundation rows. I’ve frogged it twice already, and I will not do it a third time. It’s a great graph, it just took me forever to figure out to achieve color changes in the foundation row. I’ve since given up on that and I am doing rows of dark brown and then I’ll start the color changes. It’s not the way I want to do it, but I’ve come up with a way to make it more sophisticated without it falling apart on me.

I am helping Flathead High School with their Alice In Wonderland play this year. My roommate is directing and she asked if I would help. my response was “Me, children, and sewing machines… life lessons will be learned.” The wording may be changed just a little bit because I couldn’t find then text. I have faith that they will do very well. Hopefully I have all the days off I’m scheduled to have off so I can get this show on the road (but ooooooooh, those 72 hour paychecks).

Oh, on the subject of work. I have been offered (and I accepted) a permanent full time position at Plum Creek. Once everything goes through, I will officially be a 4th generation Plum Creek employee. That is a huge deal for me, and I think everyone in my family is proud of me.

With helping out at the school and working all the time, I’m going to be very busy. I’m going to start prop building on the side for for cosplayers too. That’s still in the process of processing. I don’t think I’d be able to do anything to huge (space, funds, and stuff) but I went a little crazy on Pinterest with props and cosplay ideas. If I could do any costume right now it would be Nightengale Armor from Skyrim. I love the way it looks. BUT! To the shower with me!

See you guys later 🙂

Life

Expiry, Coldsmoke Confidence, and Why You Should Never Bring Your Weight Up

April 30, 2014August 29, 2018 R. Hamilton

So, apparently it had been two months. How do I know that? I know that because my domain has apparently expired. No big deal, right? Except my renewal price went up. It’s not a lot, but it’s a lot to someone who works the hours I do, it’s a lot. No worries though, but it may have to stay expired for a while.

Last night I went to the bar with friends. One thing I’ve enjoyed about being as single as I am is being able to go out with my friends, have a few beers, and meet new people. Usually a pitcher of Kokanee is involved and we all have a good time. Well, last night I showed up late to the party and someone (who had a ride, thankfully) wasn’t about to finish a pitcher of Coldsmoke Scotch Ale. If you have never had it, go out and get some. Drink it slow though, it’s a very dense and magical flavor. It’s got a great body, a great head on it’s shoulders, it’s dark and mysterious, great personality… I’m still talking about the beer right? Anyway. Try it if you haven’t. My theory says that there is something in Coldsmoke that gives you (what I call) “Sober Confidence”. Now I know what you’re thinking, you’re drinking beer, in a bar (or at home) so how can you be sober. Well, unless you’re in a indie/teen/college movie, you don’t get drunk right away. Yes, some people do get to that point faster than others. However, just a tiny bit of Coldsmoke and you can take on the world. Seriously, it’s like it stares confidence into you while you watch the head dissipate and leave that tasty tasty goodness. Then you take your first sip, and WHAM! you feel like you can do anything. It’s uncanny and amazing. So, you’ve ingested the beer, but not digested. To a point, you are sober (but a walking time bomb, Don’t Drive.) So, I’m staring at this pitcher, and they’ve put a glass of it in front of me asking me to finish their beer for them. I am not one to waste beer. AT ALL! My rule is, “Don’t order what you can’t finish. And if you can’t, have a friend who can.” But none of that goes back to the bar. Waste of money at that point too.

So, I finish the glass (first drink of the night) and go about my business, but I feel magical. It was a great feeling. I talked to a new person I had never met and we had an actual conversation. About video games and school. It was a great conversation. There will never be enough beer in the world to deal with what happened with other people at the bar, but my night was great. I had a great night. And I think it’s because Coldsmoke was all up in my head saying “Now don’t do anything to crazy, but that person is attractive, you have attractive friends. You should be friends with that person.”

That’s a true story, I do not have unattractive friends. All of them are good looking. It’s like I attract good looking persons and they decide it would be a great idea to be friends with me. Which is a great idea, because I’m pretty fantastic. So, I made a new friend and I wasn’t awkward about it. Would I have had the conversation I did had I been 100% sober? Probably not. The reason is because I don’t perform well in social situations. And don’t be all like “Oh you’re great in social settings.” or “You’re always super chipper and talkative when I see you.” That second one is true, and usually when people see me it’s at work. I don’t get paid to frown and be a grumlsnufagus. Sure I don’t get paid to be super upbeat and sweet either, but I’m probably going to keep my job longer with the latter. I am not a social butterfly, I am a social moth. I’ll associate with other people at night who just happen to be around the same porch lamp that I am. Haha! So, the Coldsmoke helped.

Now, I’m going to start on the topic that made this post title INCREDIBLY long. Last night (at the bar still, I was only there 4 hours) a bunch of the girls were complaining about their weight. Now, when people complain about their weight around me, I have loads of problems with it (You are who you are and you are the only one in your power to change that.). It got to the point where I was tired of hearing it, and so I stated my weight and how it doesn’t bother me because it’s who I am. There are lots of pounds of awesome that I have to carry around everyday and I accept that. Shortly (within about a second) I realized my mistake. I have never had that many faces and fingers in my face telling me “Oh that’s not true. Don’t say that.” “You’re beautiful, don’t even think different.” It, literally threw me from my bar stool. I caught myself on the table behind me, but there was no escape. I then had to explain (to some very drunk ladies) that I wasn’t saying my weight was bad (sure I could lose a few pounds, but I accept where I am in that field and am working towards bettering myself) and that I needed them to confirm that I was beautiful. Just that what the scale says is a number and that you shouldn’t live your life by that number. Sure you may have been skinnier in high school, but you’ve gone through a LOT since then. Don’t let the scale define you. Thankfully though, it stopped the conversation (my original idea) and then went to talk about something else. I got to talk about Game of Thrones with a friend, and the night (for me) went pretty fantastic from there.

So, next time I want to talk to someone new, I may just look at the Coldsmoke. Test different sides of my theory. Or maybe I’ll just drink it because it’s delicious. Don’t talk about your weight around lighter people, because they will automatically think you’re putting yourself down. And always have a good friend to talk about TV shows with.

Uncategorized

A Birthday, A Cold, and A Season 3

February 19, 2014August 29, 2018 R. Hamilton

So, I’m 23 now! YAY! As of last Friday. And I had an amazing party. It was the first real birthday i have had (as an adult) where I wasn’t going it alone or spending it hugging the toilet because of food poisoning/spending it with someone else’s family. I got to have a real party with friends. It’s been FOREVER since I’ve had fun at my birthday. I didn’t get off until late, because it’s never really mattered to me about going out and about and enjoying myself. This year I had friends switch shifts and what not, and I made an attempt to switch mine too. That doesn’t work out for anyone who has a birthday on Valentine’s day. If you don’t request it off, you don’t get it off. That and that Saturday was a Canadian holiday (Family Day) and we were SUPER busy at work. It’s not that I didn’t plan on going out, I just didn’t expect to be actually going out. I’ve got a few nice bruises from that night that are still fading and everyone found out that I wasn’t lying when I said I sucked at beer pong. Seriously, I suck at it and no matter what you say, I’m never going to be any better at it, it’s not my sport. My mum told me how gross beer pong was and my only excuse was “Well, when you’re a certain level of drunk…” and it went from there. I’ve never had anyone ever buy me drinks just because it was my birthday. So that was actually kind of nice. Random people showing up and saying “Hey, you’re the birthday girl. I’ll get you a shot!” Somehow… the whole bar knew it was my birthday. I met new people too. Which is weird for me. A guy tried to pick me up on the way outta the bar, which has NEVER happened before. Needless to say, I didn’t go home with him, but it was pretty funny.

When great events happen, greater things happen. Because of all of this, I WALKED AWAY WITH A COLD! Seriously, and not a fun one. That’s right the girl it takes undercooked seafood to take down got a cold. I… do not like it. I’m in the last legs of it now and I still don’t like it. It is WAY to expensive to be sick. Cold medicines, cough drops, tissues (Thanks for the Puffs, Mum), chapstick, hand sanitizer. That crap adds up fast. Guests are work that are all concerned that I am there to infect them and their families (Being sick is no excuse for missing work, those people count on you to be there), coworkers avoid you like the plague, and you are never without a tissue in hand or a lozenge in your mouth. I didn’t look great the past few days that I worked, but thankfully I have an schedule that rotates my days this week so I work one day and have the next one off. I’ve caught up on my sleep, which is super nice. But at the same time it hurts to leave the bed, so sleep has just been happening.
One thing I have noticed, and I don’t think that people do it, is that as soon as you cough or sneeze around one person, that person has a frakin medical degree and will tell you everything you need to do to get better. Seriously, I coughed once at work in front of someone and they launched into everything that they do when they are sick and that I need to be really vigilant because I will get bronchitis if I don’t do the things she told me to do. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the concern, but at the same time, I think I’ve got this. Yes, I am rarely one for being under the weather, but still, I know how to make myself better.

But yes, a birthday isn’t complete without a present. Some people may count the cold I got, but that was a gift from everyone. I bought myself a present. I bought myself GAME OF THRONES SEASON 3!!!!

Seriously! Look how pretty it is! The CG wasn’t great on the DVD, but I never expect it to be perfect. On bluray I’m sure it will be magical. I was so happy to finally see it. It’s been a year since it came out and so much has gone to crap in that time frame that it was great to finally be able to watch something like this again.

If you haven’t guess I am a huge fan of fantasy. I’ll give almost anything a try once. And this one is pretty magical. I like to think that one day something I write will evolve into a great show like this one. We all can have dreams. 🙂

Well, I’m done for the night. Hope everyone has a great rest of February.

Uncategorized

Sherlock Series 3, Episode 3

January 14, 2014August 29, 2018 R. Hamilton

So, watched Sherlock tonight (as I posted about our predicting earlier on facebook). Never during a show have I hated, loved, been defeated, recovered and almost been physically ill as much as I did during “His Last Vow”. I know some of you may think I’m being a tab hyperbolic, I’m not. I have only ever grasped my mouth with both my hands when Sirus died. I have only ever held backs gasps and angry outbursts the way I did, when David left Rose on the beach. I cried about as hard as I did when I found out that Tara doesn’t make it (still haven’t seen it and I won’t). I didn’t know a tv show could have caused the amount of emotion that I felt and that is still resonating through me.

I don’t think I have ever posted about a television show and the way it effected me. This isn’t a significant post, this isn’t a rant, and this isn’t me almost burning down the house again because I decided to follow a recipe. If you haven’t watched any of Sherlock, I think you should. Deep down, I really mean that.

Image Courtesy http://www.radiotimes.com — He’s even smirking 🙂

Uncategorized

Happy New Year From The Half Ginger and Resolutions

January 1, 2014August 29, 2018 R. Hamilton

So, hello everyone! Brand new year! I welcomed it with an phenomenal headache, but I’ll post anyway! Because that’s what bloggers do! I guess! So this past year, I don’t think I made a resolution, this year I’m going to make a few.

Resolution One: (oh yes, fancy formatting skills)

No Dating. I’m not dating anyone. I will not be starting a relationship this year, nor will I be ending one. I’m remaining in my current relationship status for the entire year. I made this decision a while ago, because I have things I need to work on, things best sorted out by one’s self.

Resolution Two:

Finish a first draft. Of anything really. But more importantly, writing. I’ve only ever gotten to the point of when my character’s life is going to change forever and then stopped, because really, they have had a good life and they don’t really need it to change. They are happy in their non-adventurous life, and I can never seem to want to destory that.

Speaking of adventures…

Resolution Three:

Go on a real adventure. That’s right, no longer will I consider everything I do an adventure (even if they still are), I want to go on a big adventure. I don’t know where, or with whom, or at what time. I know that’s just something that I want to do.

Resolution Four:

Skills. I need more of them. Not just the ones that I have, because they are not all that useful in the real world. I need to contribute something to someone. Maybe I’ll do blankets or something like that for needy kids/pets/adults. Maybe I’ll volunteer with Meals of Wheels. I feel like I haven’t done enough to improve the world around me, and I want to change that.

Resolution Five:

Go Back To School. See the one thing I never thought of when I dropped out of Ai, is that nothing I learned there had any credit towards me. And I don’t just mean that I went to an unaccredited school, because I did, and none of those credits transfer, because they don’t. I mean everything that I learn there means nothing without an EXTREMELY expensive piece of paper. So, back to school with me. I’ll probably start with FVCC again and work from there, but this time with somewhat of a goal to achieve.

Resolution Six:

Do Crafty Things. I just saw a post over on From Michigan to Montana where tons of amazing crafts had been done this past year. So, I’m going to be more crafty and self sufficient this year. Hopefully my roommates can handle it.

So, there are my six resolutions. I could have had five, but that would have been silly. haha.

I am going to finish the mushroom blanket. That should be on there too… I really like that idea.

Everyone have a happy New Year from The Half Ginger!

Uncategorized

Happy Christmas and Store Bought Jerky

December 24, 2013August 29, 2018 R. Hamilton

So, I’ve decided, that I’m going to go hunting next year. I have never gone hunting, but I’m going to talk to my grandfather about doing it. For one, store bought jerky doesn’t even compare in taste and, for two, because it’s apart of my plan to become less reliable on grocery stores. If I can learn how to hunt then I wouldn’t need to buy meat as a necessity, and if I can help my roommate Ky with a garden, no need to buy veggies! TA-DA! It’s like magic or something!

I will learn how to do this, a lot of not relying on things is skills that are becoming more and more lost. Ky made apple butter the other night, and it was AMAZING! Not everyone gets apple butter, and I had never had it before, and I felt super cool! It was so tasty! Ky put it (piping hot) on this awesome bread and I was all NOM NOM NOM! Next year I want to help make it! From what I can tell, it’s just a lot of waiting, but it’s good smells while waiting.

Also with ingredients. I’m looking at this bag of jerky. It’s techincally beef jerky. But it’s beef flavored. WHY DOES BEEF NEED TO BE BEEF FLAVORED? The first ingredient is beef!

Well now it’s stuck in my teeth…

That was awkward for my teeth.

Now I’m eating almonds.

Oh, and yes. Happy Christmas! To everyone! I’m not religious but I like to celebrate the bringing together of my family. I think I am most excited to be home for it all. I wasn’t last year. And I was quite sad about the whole thing. Not that I let it show.

But now, as I sit here, drinking caffeine at 2 am and I have to work at 1030. I know I’m going to be told today that the person I am helping “can’t believe that I have to work on Chirstmas Eve.” and I am going to have to try very hard not to respond with “it’s because of you that I have to work today.” Because that would be mean. Because they are the reason I work everyday. I just find it funny that people can’t believe I have to work I have to work on what is considered a holiday, when they are in my store on that day considered a holiday. Same thing happened on Thanksgiving.

But I’m off to watch more SyFy movies. I would say they are horror movies… but that’s a given based on their lack of budget.

Life, Rant, Short Post, Uncategorized

Angry (Feet)

December 2, 2013August 29, 2018 R. Hamilton

So, It has been a month since I left you amazing people with hopes and dreams of me finishing Nano. Well, I didn’t finish, but that’s okay because I’ve had a lot going on. Lately I have been angry about a few things. Don’t get me wrong for the most part, life has been pretty great. I have a job I love, friends and family who love and care about me, a warm place to sleep at night, tasty food, and so on. But there is one specific person who, to my knowledge reads this blog, won’t leave me alone. And this makes me somewhat angry. The title of this post is actually a Tim Minchin song, who I adore. So I borrowed it. The person I am about to speak to will remain nameless for the time being. So, let me begin.

YOU,

You need to stop calling me. You need to stop texting me. Stop trying to be my friend. You make me sound like the villain. Really, you think that that’s going to make me want to talk to you? It’s been a while since I’ve texted you back, I thought you would get the hint. I told you to leave me alone and that I didn’t want to talk to you anymore. Which YOU SHOULDN’T BE SUPRISED ABOUT! It’s your fault this is happening, so quit trying to pin it on me. I didn’t use you for anything, if you remember THAT was your IDEA! What happened a few days later WAS YOUR IDEA! Don’t send me a message that you are lying to my face through. I know the real reason you did what you did so don’t say it was so we could spend more time together! It was because you didn’t want to be around anymore. The fact you lied at the very end, and to what I can only suspect was a few times through to whole thing, and now you are lying to me to try to get me to talk to you, it’s not going to happen. I am trying VERY FRAKING HARD to move on with my life. This is the last time I will ask you to leave me alone. Seriously, knock it off. You wanted this to end and now it’s over. Life doesn’t have checkpoints and life doesn’t have restart buttons. Even if I were to start talking to you, what do you think would happen? Do you think we would really be friends? Seriously? I’m hurt, I’m heartbroken, and I’m incredibly angry over the whole thing. You are not the person I want to talk to. So stop it.

So there you have it. I try not to do things like that, but this is something that needs to stop. Everytime, I get angry. I’m not an angry person. Sure, I may cause I laugh for the people that know this person, but those people are apart of the problem. They laughed and giggled at me the night it happened. I blame three people.

Here is a picture of feet (just to make the post title relevant):

(Photo Courtesy of angry feet @ deviantart)

Actually, that’s a picture of Tim Minchin, who does the beat poem, Angry (Feet). He’s pretty amazing.

Life, Uncategorized

Well, Hello There!

October 25, 2013August 29, 2018 R. Hamilton

So, it has BEEN A WHILE HASN’T IT INTERNET! I’m excited to see you again! Life has been INCREDIBLY crazy the past few months. I haven’t completed a single project, but I have run into some major roadblocks. Bryant moved all the way to Montana and then promptly left me about 2 months later, I’m still a little bitter about it. My job at the bakery broke my tiny little baker’s heart. A few good things though, I didn’t severely burn myself all season at the bakery, I am now single, I have the white car that I drove in high school back in my possession and I AM MOVING IN WITH MY BEST FRIEND! So, more good things than bad things. \

NaNoWriMo starts next friday. I am actually taking a class to help me stay focused this November. Hopefully this year I will finish without any terrible things happening. I am the world’s greatest procrastinator and it effects how I write. I think everyone should participate in NaNo, even if the thought never occurred to them to write a novel. It’s a great boost when you reach a goal and with writing I just find it easier.

This year’s plan for Nano… is that there isn’t one! There never is. I am thinking about reworking the story I was working on for camp. There is a part in it where my main character has to make a decision, either go save the world (it’s more than that but that’s what I use to describe it) or stay at home, get married, and live a long, happy, and uneventful life (-snore-). Obviously I know what he is going to do, because if he didn’t do the former, there would be no story. So, instead of giving him the choice, I think I’m just going to have him kidnapped.

I’ll lay it out here for you:
Rhen Farrar is our main character and he hates living in Oakreach, a town in a mountain (which I based off Columbia Mountain if you wanted a size comparison).
So, one day he goes off on his own to make him way to the capitol city, erm… blergablerga. (I don’t have one yet). He has left with a bunch of merchants and traders who end up robbing him and leaving him for dead.
He is tied up and bleeding and whatnot and this woman saves him. For some reason she looks like the girl from Brave (who has a name I cannot spell for the life of me) only older. She treats his wounds and gives him a token. Then she leaves him in the forest.
Rhen has to walk home and given his lack of a lot of clothing, shoes and no money; he has a bad time doing it. He’s is almost dead by the time he gets back up the mountain.
He recovers (of course), and asks his childhood sweetheart (who he had almost been engaged to before he left) to marry him, she says yes and la-dee-da the plan the wedding.

So, this is where I have been stuck, because Rhen wants to marry her but the red haired lady from the forest shows up and is all “we need your help”. So he has to make a choice about going with her or staying with his soon to be wife. What I’m thinking, is that instead of him even having a choice, the red haired lady (who actually doesn’t have a name, yet) just abducts him in a huge shroud of mist and she makes him a deal about he helps her and she takes him home and everything goes from there.

I think it adds a dramatic effect to it, but I’m not sure if that’s the direction I want to take. But that’s all I have thought about NaNo this year. haha!

As I believe I have mentioned somewhere on this blog, I want to start doing book reviews, one every two weeks or so. But I’m not sure what I want to review, so I am leaving that decision up to all my lovely readers. If there is a book that I absolutely must read, please let me know in a comment!

I have missed you all, and I will try to post more often, though through November, I may just post excepts.

Food, Life, Success Dinner

Success Dinner: Homemade (from scratch) Creamy Tomato Soup

June 21, 2013August 29, 2018 R. Hamilton

So, hello everyone! I made something delicious in The Half Ginger Kitchen, my feet are killing me! I should actually be in bed but I just had to share what I made.

Now, I don’t like using recipes. I really don’t. If someone can tell me how to do something that is different. I don’t like opening a cookbook and following a cookie cutter recipe. If I did that all the time there would be many houses on fire (see post Chicken Fried Evil). Alton Brown, Paula Dean, and several others will never know the tears their recipes put me through. So, I’ve decided that I’m no longer following them. I’m making shit up as I go.

I did have to google the proper way to roast garlic, but I just needed temp for that. But that’s how far I took the seriousness of my from scratch soup. The only thing I didn’t do myself was the chicken stock and that’s because I didn’t have a chicken carcass to boil for a hour or two. But it still turned out AMAZINGLY AWESOME! Oh, and the cream. I used Kalispell Kreamery Half and Half. Not only to support a relative’s business, but because it’s some of the best stuff available.

So here it is.

Kas’ Soon to be Famous Homemade Creamy Tomato and Roasted Garlic Soup

Roast The Garlic:

Take a bunch of garlic, and peel off the skins. Keep the cloves together and some of the skin on them. Rub them with olive oil. Oven. 400 degrees Fahrenheit. 30-35 minutes.

Forget it until the timer goes off.

Chop Tomatoes and onions

I used 5 Roma tomatoes and about half an onion. I chopped them up into neat little bowls like on the Food Network.

That’s the oven with the garlic in it.

I got distracted while the garlic was roasting, but that’s okay. Because I got everything else prepped. Once the garlic is done, you should be able to take out the cloves from their husks by holding the end of the bunch and pushing on the butts of the cloves with a fork. Make sure it’s cooled first.

Then, mix 2 tablespoons of butter, the onion, and ‘some’ garlic (I literally just put some in it. I had chopped it up and put about 2 cloves in it, if we needed t be exact). You want to be a vulture here. Do not leave this alone. Use a low heat and stir constantly. I actually didn’t burn it, but knowing my luck I could have.

This stage usually only takes about three minutes of stirring and not burning. If you burn it you must start over.

Next, we add our tomatoes and chicken stock. Now, I didn’t peel my tomatoes, and it made the soup chunky. So I highly recommend peeling the tomato. It doesn’t effect the flavor, but if you don’t mind a chunky soup don’t worry about it.

It’s not going to look very good at this point, but GIVE IT TIME! It will look better. You can season it at this stage with salt and pepper, or you can wait until the end. I seasoned both here and the end. Bring this chunky mess to a boil and them let it simmer for a while. I think I did 8 minutes.

While that is simmering, dig around in your mother’s kitchen. “Why would I do that?” you may be wondering. Well, you do it BECAUSE you might find this:

I was SO EXCITED! I was tripping over myself with excitement. Until, I realized it wasn’t working. I tried everything and it wouldn’t work. So after the simmer, I did this:

I did it by HAND! I have a tendency to do things by hand anyway, but this was ridiculous. I stood there for a while, chunking away. More and more and more chunking. So that happened.

I then poured the soup back into the pot and added the delicious KK cream! Oh it was awesome! So whisk that in, and wha-la! Soup.

BUT! Then something else happened. I was re-assembling the food processor and I heard a click I hadn’t heard before. I checked the top of the bowl and BOOM!