Wish Me Luck

Here in Sacramento, it's been hot and it's expected to continue that way for the next several days. 105 degrees tomorrow. Or maybe it's 108--it depends on what forecast you look at. In discussing the weather, we Sacramentans usually commisserate with one another when it gets hot like this. Most of the time one person nods as the other proclaims, "but it's a DRY heat." As if a dry 105 degrees is that much better than a humid 90 degrees. Maybe it is; I don't really know. Personally, I'd rather be in a comfortable 76 degree climate.

Lately, though, Sacramento's seemed a little humid to me, and I've heard other people say the same thing. Saturday morning at 6 a.m., we're supposed to have 57 percent humidity. That seems high, doesn't it? In fact, it seems like a good reason to stay in bed.

Ah, but there's the rub. You see, I'm kind of enthusiastic about this farmer's market/healthy eating thing. Saturday morning we'll test whether my enthusiasm is greater than my desire to sleep in. Because you KNOW I'm not going to go out in that miserable heat if the morning is too far along and the thermometer is creeping steadily upward. In fact, I have absolutely no desire to be out of my air conditioned house between about 10:30 a.m. on Saturday and about 1 a.m. early Sunday morning.

The farmer's market starts at 8 a.m. I think if I leave the house around 8 or 8:30 a.m., I can get back home by 10:30 a.m. That means getting up early. On a Saturday. And the thing is, I have food in my house. I really don't NEED anything. I can make do. So we'll see. We'll see whether the delicious laziness of sleeping in wins out over the lure of fresh and healthy food. And I'll put the camera in my purse now, just in case, because I know some of you are going to want proof that I gave up sleep.

On Trader Joe's Menu . . .

A couple nights ago, I stopped by Trader Joe's to pick up a couple things. One of the fun things about Trader Joe's is that most of the time, they come up with a menu idea using their products and serve samples, and every now and then, it's something really simple and delicious. Sometime last year, I believe, I shared with you one of their soup ideas where they combined a carton of chicken broth with artichoke and spinach dip and pre-cooked chicken breast strips; to that, I added some rice. It was really yummy and we made it several times. If it wasn't over 100 degrees outside these days, I might STILL be making it, but now I'll need to wait until the weather cools down a bit.

Anyway, this time, they had another tasty meal made up of these products: Precooked carnitas, brown rice, and corn salsa.

Besides being a really quick meal, it's all heated up in the microwave, so for these hot days of summer, there's no need to heat the oven or stove--or even the grill for that matter. The carnitas come precooked and shrink wrapped in the refrigerated section of the store with the meat and cheese; the brown rice is in the freezer section (three bags in one box); and the corn salsa is in one of the canned foods aisles, near the salsas and tortilla chips. If you haven't had the corn salsa before, I should tell you that it's not very hot but it does have a little kick. It's also both slightly sweet and vinegary.

Of course, I had to buy all the ingredients, thinking it would be nice to have everything on hand for one of those last minute meals; and the need for one of those last minute meals came along a night or two later when I came home late after a quilt club meeting and found Hubby hadn't had dinner either. All Hubby needed to do was microwave the carnitas for a couple minutes to heat the meat up and then microwave the rice while he shredded the carnitas.

The shredded carnitas are served on top of a bed of rice and the corn salsa is spooned over the top--as much or as little as you like. I think this would also be a good dish to add diced tomatoes to--or serve sliced heirloom or beefsteak tomatoes on the side with a little salt and pepper. I had a bag of raw peas in their shells that I'd bought at the farmer's market, so we ate those. Yum!

I know: some of you don't have a Trader Joe's anywhere nearby and I feel your pain. But maybe you could find similar products in your local store, or make a batch of carnitas ahead of time and store individual packets in the freezer so it's handy when you want it. In any event, I hope this gives you a quick menu idea because we still have another month or two of hot weather to get through!

Five Ring Circus

Have you been watching the Summer Olympics? If so, what's your favorite sport? Do you have a favorite athlete?

Here in the U.S., there's been a lot of talk about NBC's coverage and the internet and broadcast spoilers. I've been wearing figurative blinders whenever I log onto the Yahoo home page; I try to get to wherever I'm going without really reading any of the headlines so I don't know what's going to happen ahead of time. I've watched the games most evenings, but last weekend I felt like I'd been overloaded with too much sports coverage, so I left the TV off--of course, that also meant I didn't do any quilting either!

Now that track and field has begun, I'm reminded of what glamour girls some of the female runners are. Isn't it fun to see them? Remember Flo-Jo (Florence Griffith-Joyner)? She really set the standard for high fashion hair, make-up, nails, and running attire. And I can't believe how cut those women are, can you? It kind of makes me want to go around my house and cover all the mirrors; especially the ones in the bathrooms!

The thing about the Olympics that really has me annoyed, though, is the broadcast times--why can't NBC at least begin primetime at 7 p.m. instead of 8 p.m.? And if it bugs me--and I'm a confirmed night owl--what must other fans be thinking? My own personal marathon has become how many nights in a row I can stay up late watching and then try to write a blog post and get ready for bed. ARGH!

So what do you think about the games? Discuss.

What's Next?

Several months ago--I think it may have been in January--quilter Diane Steele (Rabid Quilter) came to talk to our guild about block swaps, challenges, and round- and row-robins . . . among other ideas for collaborative quilting. Some of us were interested in trying out her ideas, and a small group was formed.

I don't think we have a name--or, if we do, I've forgotten it. But we decided the theme of our first attempt would be "winter," our blocks would be 9" (finished), and the main colors were to be blue, white, silver, and possibly green for trees. I think we can use other colors too, but blue, white, and silver should be predominant.

We're to exchange blocks in mid-September. Of course, I've procrastinated. But over the last month or two, I've had a concept in mind; tonight I finally pulled out some fabric, put pencil to paper and rotary cutter to fabric, fired up the sewing machine, and came up with this:

Yeah, not too much . . . so far. But I'll be adding some applique to the white center. In my mind, the white is the background and the blue is primarily a frame. I think I'm supposed to make eight or nine blocks, but I'll make ten just to be sure I have enough.

I think I'll probably continue to stitch up the "background" blocks and then add the applique when I'm done. Periodically, I'll show you my progress as I go. I know our group's organizer, Sandy, reads my blog occasionally, but I don't know that any of our other members do; besides, we haven't been told to keep these secret, so I don't think I'll be ruining anyone's surprise.

Check out Diane's blog--there's a link you can click on up at the beginning of this post. Her current post shows some photos of row robins and a challenge project she's been involved in. Maybe she can inspire you too!

Trial Follow-Up

I've been busy tonight getting things ready for our monthly Autumn House gathering tomorrow evening--the four of us working on the project get together once a month to cut the "kit" for the next month's block, and I usually fix us something to eat for dinner while they're here. Unfortunately, I only have so much time each evening, and sometimes blog time is a little limited--and that's the case tonight.

Rather than not write anything, I thought some of you might be interested in hearing a little more that I've learned about the trial I served as a juror on. Phyllis, this is your chance to click away if this kind of stuff offends you. Go ahead; come back tomorrow.

Here's the brief news story that was printed about the case:

The other day, after we reached our verdict and finished the trial, I did some computer searches to see what was published when the defendant was first arrested, and I didn't find anything. What I did come across at the same time as two of the rapes were committed was information reported to police of a very, very similar crime--it really sounds like it was the same guy, same van, and the same area. This wasn't one of the cases we considered though--my thought is that if it WAS the same guy, perhaps the prosecutor wasn't able to re-locate the victim as the case was coming to trial. Anyway, here's what was published in the local newspaper's crime blog:

(If the print is too small to read either article, I've provided links to the originals.)

Finally, I talked to one of the attorneys in my office today--up until a few months ago, he worked as a deputy district attorney in a neighboring county and is very familiar with criminal law. He said that one of the counts we convicted this guy of, kidnapping with intent to commit rape, carries with it a life sentence. Of course, that doesn't even include the time this guy will serve for all the other crimes we found him guilty of. While I kind of feel a life sentence is a little steep for anything short of homicide, the fact that this defendant seemed to be escalating in his criminal behavior and probably committed more crimes than he was tried for makes me feel a little better about the jury's findings. It's sad, though, to think about how his actions have impacted not only himself and his victims, but his family and his friends as well. And I have to say, for those of you who think the guy should be strung up by his thumbs and have similar acts done to him, that up until the time the verdicts were read in court, I never would have expected to feel sorry for someone who committed a crime like this, but I do feel a little sad. And, of course, a little glad he was caught before he harmed more women. It's an odd mix of emotions.

Oh, What Fun!

Do you ever visit the local farmers' market? Several weeks ago, I was watching our PBS affiliate station, and they ran a half hour show (after Masterpiece Mystery) where the host interviewed a woman who was intrumental in starting some of our local certified organic farmers' markets. She and another woman, a local chef, have written two cookbooks organized week by week and featuring recipes using local produce that should be at its best each week. For instance, last week's menus included lots of tomato dishes, baby potatoes, green beans, and blackberries. Yes, as you've probably figured out, I bought one of the books after the program aired. The one I purchased is called Placer County Real Food from Farmers Markets (by Joanne Neft with Laura Kenny).

I've been having a box of organic produce delivered to my home once every three weeks, and although I like getting that produce and the surprises it can bring, I've found that I'm not using all of it, partly because it's not what I selected and partly because I'm just not putting enough time into cooking these days to make the effort to figure out what to do with it and how to cook it. So a couple days ago, I cancelled the next couple deliveries and looked into where and when there were farmers' markets I could check out. Today, Sunday, was my first RECENT produce shopping excursion. (I've been to farmers' markets before but haven't been to one for a couple years.)

I took my camera along so I could take photos but do you think I remembered to take photos? No! In fact, I locked my purse in the trunk of my car and only took my keys and my cash with me. Yep, the camera was in my purse.

I really had a wonderful time though! If I hadn't had to be somewhere else afterward, I would have stayed there much longer and really looked at everything they had to offer. The market I attended is a large one with many growers offering everything from flowers to produce to bread to meat and fish. One grower had some unusual mushrooms--I would have loved to buy some if only I knew what I might do with them! I guess that's something I can think about next time I go. And I loved the guy with all kinds of herbs and micro greens in bunches--$1.25 a bunch.

So what did I buy?

Some herbs--thai basil and oregano as well as chard micro greens--potatoes, corn, gypsy peppers (I had some before in my produce box and stuffed them with corn and cheeses--that's what I want to do again), peas, string beans, and jalapeno peppers. (Yes, these are many of the items featured in last week's menus from the farmers' market cookbook.)

A small loaf of bread--I can't remember what it was called, darn it!

And lovely, lovely fruit: peaches, strawberries, and blackberries.

The fruit was my main goal for the market; I was itching to make some jams, for one thing. I had even gotten out my canning jars and started sterilizing them before I left to go to the market.

After I came home, when I was sorting out the produce and cleaning out the fridge, I realized I had a small bag of plums (two different varieties, it seems) as well as a few pluots (a cross between a plum and an apricot) that had arrived in the last produce box. So the first jam out of the pot and into the canning jars was a plum jam. As you can see, I wasn't planning to make huge batches--just enough for us and maybe a couple jars to give away.

After that, the strawberries were next up. But what's that green stuff in the pot?

Ah, that's minced jalapenos! I found a strawberry and jalapeno recipe online that sounded pretty good, and since I had a whole bag of jalapenos . . . well, yum! It's much like a mild pepper jelly but with a strawberry taste to it.

Finally, I finished off the day with a blackberry jam. As you can see, it was a fairly productive day, and I still have some strawberries and blackberries left for other treats. What about the peaches? I'll make peach jam another day. The peaches were so firm I know they'll last until I can get to them.

I'd like to get in the habit now of visiting the farmers' market every week or two. Once I'm more familiar with what's available, I'm sure I can cut down on my grocery store shopping and it will mean we'll probably be eating food that's better for us too, since it's certified organic and very fresh.

The one drawback? I haven't spent any time in the Sweat Shop this weekend! But I'm sure I won't be making and canning jam every weekend. And I think I just needed this weekend to catch up and recharge after the long jury trial anyway. Besides shopping and cooking, I finished reading one book and began another, I had my hair cut, I saw a movie (Moonrise Kingdom), and I cleaned house . . . a little. No sense overdoing it. Now it's bath and bed for me with a book, and back to work--and my normal routine--tomorrow.

Juror Number 11

So about the trial I served as a juror on. The case involved allegations of rape of four prostitutes, and although I won't be very graphic in telling you about it, I want to warn you up front that there will be some sex terms in case this story might not be something you'd want to read.

None of the women were beaten; there was no violence of that nature, although they were threatened with violence if they didn't cooperate. One woman was threatened with a knife and another was threatened with a gun. All of them were told they'd be beaten if they didn't do what they were told.

The four rapes occurred over the course of the last three or four years. Two of the four women were under age--one was 16 and one was 17. Those two women had listed their services online; one on Craig's List and one on a website specific to prostitution. The other two women, who were a few years older, were picked up off the street.

The defendant was in his late 30s, I'd guess. He was divorced with a teenage daughter. He had a girlfriend during much of the time period in question. On most days during trial, his mom and dad were present in court. They seemed like nice, respectable people.

During trial, we heard testimony concerning drug use by the victims. There were residual drugs found in testing the two older women after the rapes, although the drugs were simply marijuana and amphetamine metabolite--nothing that would have altered their perceptions or made them paranoid or delusional.

As the jurors, we were asked to consider 18 separate counts along with special findings related to many of those counts. Among the charges against the guy were vaginal and anal rape, oral copulation, skin-to-skin touching, and kidnapping. The kidnapping charge only applied to one of the prostitutes who asked him to drive her to her motel room; instead, he drove her a few miles away to a deserted industrial/warehouse district where he parked in a sunken loading dock with the passenger side of the car up against the wall of the dock so she couldn't get out.

When they initially reported the crimes to the police, all of the prostitutes lied about what led up to the rapes. That didn't surprise any of us. All four of them testified in trial that while they didn't admit they were engaged in acts of prostitution at first, they were truthful in their reports to police and medical personnel of the events surrounding the rapes, and they eventually confessed to the police that they were initially hired by the man for sex. Unfortunately, one of the women had changed her story so many times and told several different people that some of her story was a lie, that when we deliberated, we couldn't reach a consensus on what was believeable, so we were hung as to the three counts involving that victim.

All four women testified in court, and their testimony seemed truthful. The defendant, as is his right, didn't take the stand. I can't say whether he should have or not, but without his testimony, there wasn't much to contradict the testimony of the victims.

In the end, we found the guy guilty of just about everything except the three counts involving the one woman I mentioned who had lied too many times and a couple other counts involving multiple rapes of another woman. As to that other woman, the prosecution alleged that he raped her three times just because he had trouble maintaining an erection and "fell out" a couple times--they took the position that each time he began again it was a separate rape--we didn't buy that argument and found it was all one rape.

We also found him guilty on many of the special findings, such as using a dangerous/deadly weapon, committing the same acts with two or more women, etc.

As the verdicts were read, the defendant broke down and cried throughout. I think most of us felt sorry for him in a way. Had he simply paid the prostitutes the couple hundred dollars it would have cost him and not physically threatened them, the most he'd be looking at would have been whatever the punishment is for engaging in prostitution. Now I suspect he'll serve a long time in jail.

During the trial, the defense tried to suggest that the four women had somehow conspired with one another to frame this guy, but they weren't able to come up with anything linking them. All of them testified they didn't know one another and all of them "marketed" themselves in slightly different ways, so they probably wouldn't have come into contact.

The deliberation process itself was interesting. Most of the jurors were reasonable about discussing the evidence and explaining why they thought one way or another, but there was one older guy who was a bit of a bully and tried to intimidate and argue the rest of us into his narrow minded view--especially the women on the jury. We weren't about to be bullied, though. The jury consisted of six men and six women. During one vote, four of the women were of one opinion contrary to the rest of the jurors, and this jerk suggested it was a "woman thing." Now and then, if someone disagreed with his view, he'd say things like "stupid!," half way under his breath. Because I was sitting next to him, I couldn't help but hear, and he really pissed me off.

There was one discussion about the victim's testimony that she didn't see the defendant with the knife as she was being forced to have oral sex--the count against him had to do with whether he used a knife or threatened to use a knife during that act. This jerk next to me said that of course the knife was there even if she didn't see it, because "when you're orally copulating a man and have your head in his lap, you can't see anything!" I turned to him and asked him if he knew that from personal experience. It took him a minute, but the rest of the room exploded in laughter. There were a couple other exchanges like that between us. What a jerk!

The biggest problem with this guy was that he seemed to be making up stories in his head about what had taken place and wasn't looking at only the evidence we were presented with. In the end, though, it didn't really matter what he did since he couldn't impose his opinions on the rest of us and our findings were consistent with what he believed had happened anyway.

After spending three weeks with these other jurors, it was sad to say goodbye. I exchanged contact information with one woman and I hope we'll get together for lunch one of these days. All in all, though, I'm happy to get back to my "real life."

Block of the Month Number 281

Okay, you're right. I'm not actually working on 281 block-of-the-month projects, but it seems like it. I knew the day would come when I'd start to feel that way. After all, how could I remain ignorant when I'm the one who keeps signing up for this stuff?! Although if Hubby asks, I might plead early onset Alzheimer's. (And that's not to say I don't understand Alzheimer's is a very serious disease; it's simply that I'm just not a very respectful, tactful, circumspect person and I have an irreverant sense of humor.)

About a week ago, the first block kit of Shabby Fabric's Sweetheart Houses arrived, and I've been working on it all week--I finally finished it Friday night:

The color contrast doesn't show up very well in my photo--and I took a couple photos on different settings, but none of them were very distinct. Oh, well, take my word for it--it's a cute project, although I DO kind of wish the blue of the flower pot was a little darker. Maybe I'll have to see if I can do something to change that; if not on this block, at least where blue is used in the others.

Isn't the tiny white rick rack on the windows cute? More fun than embroidery too!

Luckily, my group of appliquers is getting close to finishing our Autumn House block of the month project, so that will drop one off the schedule. AND I don't have too many more sections to go before the Garden Club block of the month is done too. Hopefully I won't get so overwhelmed with having too many projects going at once that I decide to just shut down. Do you do that? I think there has to be the right balance.

What else is new? Trial ended today: We reached verdicts on most of the 18 counts we were asked to consider, although we were hung on 3 counts. I'll have to tell you more about it in another post now that I can.

Also, the aches and pains I was suffering over the past week are starting to get a lot better. I think I'll take a muscle relaxant now, before bed, but this might be the last one unless I aggravate it when return to work on Monday.

In the meantime . . . happy Saturday!

A Failure to Connect

When I got online last night around midnight, Yahoo was playing games with me. Sometimes it would let me connect to the home page; sometimes not. If it did, sometimes it would let me connect to my mailboxes; sometimes not. Sometimes it would let me get into my mail; sometimes not. Once I got so far as replying to an email, but it never was sent--the computer was just "thinking" for a long, long time.

Just in case some virus had attacked my desktop computer, I got out the Kindle Fire so I could email a friend who was expecting to hear from me, but there I had the same problems. Yikes! I gave up. After taking a muscle relaxant, that seemed like the smartest option anyway.

So here's what's going on in my life: Nothing much. My shoulder and neck are beginning to recover. I'm not in so much pain that I want to curl up and die, and I can actually LOOK at the lane next to me when I want to change lanes while driving.

Last night, I even managed to prepare a couple small applique pieces. That's a lot more than I've felt capable of doing the last few days!

As far as jury duty goes, we should start deliberations today. That's one of the reasons I wanted to prep some applique pieces. I'm not sure how the process will go, but if we're all just talking together in a room, and if it seems appropriate, I might want to stitch while I talk, so now I'm ready to do that.

And speaking of jury duty, it's time for me to get ready to go do that. Thanks for stopping by to visit!

I Didn't Think I HAD Muscles!

Last night I slept with ice on my shoulder/neck--at least for awhile--and then I laid on my back, very, very straight, all night long. When I got up this morning, I felt better . . . for about a half hour. After moving around a bit, though, the pain came back. Darn!

Jury duty was very brief today, and after we were released, I headed to the office where I made an afternoon appointment with my doctor. There I found that my pain problems seem to be muscular in nature because all of my parts moved the way they were supposed to move (as directed by the doctor) without too much pain. So that's good, right?

The doctor gave me some muscle relaxants to take in the evening and told me to also take my horse-pill sized Motrin tablets with breakfast, lunch, and dinner. When I got home after that, I took a muscle relaxant and haven't noticed much difference except that I want to crawl into bed and go to sleep. I can see that taking muscle relaxants every night may well cut into my blogging for a bit, so don't worry if you don't hear anything from me sometimes over the next couple weeks. I'm just sleeping. Besides, I'm also not doing much sewing right now, so you're not missing much there either.

Oh, and if I post complete gibberish some evenings? You'll just know that I've taken a muscle relaxant and thrown caution to the winds. Then you can pretend I've posted the wittiest, most interesting blog posts ever, okay? 'Cause that's what friends are for.