Average Jane

Average Jane Gets Caffeinated

Today I took part in the Kansas City Caffeine Crawl. I expected a fairly routine round of visits to coffee shops, but it was actually much more varied and interesting than that.

It started with a demonstration by Stubbie from E.F. Hobbs of how you can roast small batches of coffee at home using small appliances from a thrift store.

We all sampled Kyoto-style cold brewed coffee while we watched. They'd been brewing it since Wednesday!

They divided us into four groups and we all boarded school buses to visit six places each.

I went with Toast and MarianLiberryan.

Dr. Dave and Alisha were in our group as well. Our first stop was at Quay Coffee in the River Market for a pour-over demonstration and sampling. Someone from the Farmhouse Restaurant was there making French toast for us. Yum!

The next stop was The Roasterie. We toured their plant and sampled coffee that had been processed prior to roasting by three different methods.

By the time we left, I was starting to feel a little buzzed from all the caffeine. Fortunately, our next stop was The Filling Station, which has good sandwiches. I forewent the full tasting of coffee-infused bourbons and beer and ordered lunch instead. I did snag a taste of one of the bourbons and grab one of the chocolate/coffee/bourbon mini cupcakes they offered.

Fortified with a delicious caprese sandwich, I was excited to try Mud Pie Vegan Bakery and Coffeehouse. 

The coconut milk chai is perhaps the most delicious drink I've ever had. I could develop a serious addiction to them. They also served a beautiful variety of vegan desserts, but I wasn't really hungry. I managed to eat one strawberry-lemon cupcake, though.

The next stop was Lattéland. We got a lesson on espresso and each tried a single shot paired with a homemade fig pastry. I didn't really dig the straight espresso, but it was interesting to try it.

Our final stop was way out in the suburbs at Revocup. Shop owner Habte Mesfin talked to us about traditional Ethiopian coffee ceremonies and explained the company's goal of improving economic conditions for coffee farmers throughout the world. We were offered different coffees prepared via French press, standard brewing and as espresso. I'd had coffee there before and I knew it would all be good - and it was.

I would show you the photo I took holding one of their adorable espresso cups, but I decided that my manly thumb was too unsightly.

Even though I probably only had the equivalent of about two full cups of coffee, spreading it out throughout the day seemed to intensify the effect. When I got home, I had bursts of house cleaning energy alternating with the desire to lie down. I'm still hoping I can manage to go to sleep at a reasonable hour.

All in all, I had a really nice time and I will definitely go again next year. Kansas City has a very vibrant coffee scene and there are many more coffee shops and roasting facilities I'd like to visit. I'm going to make it a goal to check out some of the ones from Saturday's tour.

Whee!

Average Jane Lets Her Geek Flag Fly

Today was fun in ways that brought back lots of memories of my nerdy teen years. 

I started out the day working the registration table at the Recruits Convention. Kanga had put out a call for volunteers a couple of months ago and I thought it sounded like fun.

I had the 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. shift and originally I thought I was going to have to leave after that, but it turned out that I had time to stick around and play a couple of games.

First I walked around and checked out some of the larger-scale games. I had no idea what any of them were, but there were some pretty impressive setups.

I didn't really know how I was going to get involved in a game, but then I met someone from the MOKAN Warmachine Group who was doing demos to teach people how to play. As a complete n00b, I was a little vague on the details from the get-go, but I think I understood that we were playing a more fantasy-oriented offshoot of the game.

I took a photo of the playing field while we both still had a reasonable number of combatants left.

I still had my wizard, a big bad-ass dragon thing with a cool name that I've already forgotten, and another little lizard creature who was across the field menacing the other wizard. I eventually won, but considering that my role consisted mainly of throwing dice and deciding which character was going to attack where, I don't take a lot of credit for the victory. Anyway, it was fun and I feel I could get the hang of it if I had additional opportunities to play.

After that, I happened upon a rep from AEG who was demoing a new card game called Smashup that won't be in stores until next month.

He said it would be more fun with a third player, but no one else volunteered and I was there by myself, so we played a two-person game. I also won that round, but I think it's safe to say that he let me win, especially considering that I quickly figured out how to attack him but he never really retaliated. I could see playing this one with the same friends who enjoy Munchkin. 

By the time that game wrapped up I was getting hungry, so I decided it was time to go. I'd like to attend again sometime and play more different games. I think I'd be less hesitant to jump in on games if I had a gaming buddy with me next time.

Every time I get the chance to do some tabletop gaming I really enjoy it. I need to make sure our game sessions remain frequent and varied.

There's been talk of starting some kind of campaign-oriented game at my office, which would be fun. We're trying to find a D&D dungeon master or another game master who would be interested in running one for us.

While I was eating lunch and visiting with my sister (who lives close to where the gaming convention was held), I got a text from Becca asking if I wanted to go see the TARDIS with her at Vintage Stock. Uh, yeah!

She loaned me her sonic screwdriver for the photo. I don't know why I'm holding it in the wrong hand.

While we were there, we also ran into Jeremy and Kendall.

There wasn't much to do once we'd gotten in our photo ops, so I headed home and settled in for a nice afternoon nap with the dog and a couple of the cats.

So that was my day of geeky fun. Tomorrow: unleashing the caffeine monster.

Average Jane Brings You Fun, Photos and a Cookbook Winner

What a weekend! I don't know where I got so much energy (coffee would be a good guess), but I packed in a ton of activities.

On Saturday morning I started the day with yoga on the lawn at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art with my friend LuAnn. On my way home, I stopped off for coffee and a bagel and enjoyed them at home while I read and hung out with the dog and cats.

In the early afternoon I made my way to Greek Fest. I couldn't round up anyone to go with me, so I concentrated on getting in a substantial lunch and trying as many foods as I could. I ended up with chicken souvlaki, rice, green beans, spanakopita and a Greek salad. I was way too full for dessert by the time I finished, so I bought two pieces of baklava to take home. Everything was really tasty.

That brings us to the winner of the cookbook giveaway from last weekend. It was entry #4, Donna from Just Me! It's on its way to her in the mail right now. Congratulations, Donna!

Once I got back from the festival I had more time to chill out at home before I needed to do my cat volunteer shift at the pet store. Toby, Dr. Jones, Trillian, Xena and Velvet got lots of attention this weekend, that's for sure.

After I took care of the adoptable kitties, I headed to Cagey's house for dinner and canasta. My partner was Goofy Girl and we did not ultimately win, but we had one really good winning round out of four. The game lasted until after midnight. It's a good thing we took a coffee and dessert break around 10 p.m.

The next morning Toby woke me up bright and early as usual, which meant that I had no problem getting to my sister's Yoga in the Woods class at Unity Village on time at 9:00 a.m. Here's what the sky looked like from the vantage point of lying on my back on the bridge in the woods:

I couldn't stick around for coffee afterwards, though, because I needed to head to Lawrence, Kansas to meet my aunt for lunch. She treated me to a belated birthday lunch at 715 and we got in a nice chat before I had to meet my book club at another nearby restaurant at 2:00 p.m. By the time book club was over, I'd had a total of three cups of coffee, so although I could have used a nap when I got home, it was not to be.

I had enough time in the evening to have a nice restaurant dinner with my husband and chill out at home a bit before I finally crashed. 

So I'm a little behind on sleep this week, but I figure I can make it up by going to bed early each evening. It was worth it!

Average Jane's Weekend Plans...and a Giveaway!

I'm already looking ahead to this weekend and one of my must-do items is to attend Greek Fest. I'm planning on going at noon on Saturday if anyone is interested in joining me. Admission and parking are free, if that helps you decide.

It's kind of mind-boggling that this is the 51st year of the annual festival. I've never been before, but my Greek friends have been talking it up and I was considering it even before I got the opportunity to score some free food there in exchange for blogging about it.

There will be ample amounts of dancing, homemade food and imported Greek items for sale.

Even if you can't attend, you can win a Greek cookbook by leaving a comment on this post and telling me your favorite Greek delicacy. I'm a big baklava fan myself.

Comments must be received by Sunday, September 9th at 6:00 p.m. Central Daylight Time.

UPDATE: Comments are now closed. Thank you to everyone who entered! Winner will be announced in tomorrow's blog post.

The Rest of Average Jane's Weekend (No Actual Resting Involved)

On Sunday morning, the crew came back bright and early to finish taking out the giant locust tree. Sorry, neighbors.

Every time one of those huge logs hit the ground, I could feel the house shake. Dr. Jones had been standing at the screen door watching the activity until a limb landed on the sidewalk and the branches came up onto the porch. Then he ran away and decided to mind his own business until it was all over. Toby mostly sat on the couch and looked concerned.

The guys told me that the tree was completely rotted in the center, so my decision to have it taken out was the correct choice. 

I went away for a while toward the end and returned to find nothing left but this big pile of mulch. In the meantime, the phone company had come out and replaced their utility pole.

Goodbye locust tree!

After Saturday's rain and tree drama, I needed to pack a lot of fun and work into the next two days. I spent a couple of hours at Santa-Cali-Gon with my sister, niece and nephew. 

I didn't ride any carnival rides, but we did go on a mule-drawn covered wagon ride.

Later that same day I went to a retirement party/birthday party, then met up with my husband so we could go see The Quivers play at Greaserama. After that, we went to another party to finish out the evening.

The next day was all about housework. I got up early and started hauling stuff out of the basement and putting it at the curb. Out went old stereo components we'll never use again, a broken microwave that probably only needed a new fuse, our original TiVo from before we got the HD one, and other miscellaneous stuff. The scavengers were out in force anticipating Big Trash Day, so it was all gone within the hour.

Once I'd freed up space on the basement shelves I set about rearranging my music gear, kitchen overflow and holiday decorations so my husband could have two full sets of warehouse shelving for his drums. I also cleaned up the wooden pallets that we'd been storing and put them in front of the shelves to provide extra space for stacking bass drums.

At the same time, I also started doing laundry and tidying up the rest of the basement. I began eyeing the duct that leads from the dryer to the outside and thinking that the tree was an omen regarding household maintenance of things that can kill you. I decided to go to Lowe's and pick up a new dryer vent duct and some other miscellaneous hardware items.

When I got home, it turned out that the duct they'd sold me was a full two feet shorter than advertised. I returned it to the store and decided to just clean out the old one. I took it outside, hosed fifteen years' worth of lint out of it and left it to dry on the deck.

Another task on my list involved the mulch pile left from the tree removal. I got out the wheelbarrow, a rake and a shovel and set about loading the mulch and depositing it in various flower beds. It was really hot out and I had to stop frequently to cool down and hydrate, but I managed to clear off a good two-thirds of the mulch.

Apparently Toby was very concerned with my mulch shoveling because he stood at the window and barked at me the entire time I was out there.

Finally I had done all I could, so I showered, made a cheese ball, and headed to A Librarian's house to play Cards Against Humanity and drink beer.

I got home in time to grab a pizza with the hubby and watch "Grimm" before bedtime.

So that was my Labor Day weekend. I'm sure the sore muscles will be kicking in any time now.

Average Jane Has Her Work Cut Out for Her

My husband has been running his recording studio for quite a few years now and his persistence has finally started to pay off. He's had a busy year and he's starting to look around the studio and figure out how to optimize it for more steady business.

One of his hobbies is trading music gear. That makes sense in this economy because no one is really buying much musical equipment. Trades allow musicians to get new (to them) gear to play with without any exchange of cash. However, he's done a few too many trades of small things (snare drums, guitars) for large things (drum sets). So now the studio is almost literally wall to wall drum kits. They're stacked up, but they still take up a ton of room and they need to be moved somewhere else.

This morning, my husband announced that he was going to get a storage unit for his drums. Now I've seen enough episodes of Storage Wars to have a strong negative opinion of the idea of taking a bunch of your valuable stuff and leaving it in someone else's possession. Not only does the expense add up, but the risk and sheer hassle factor are high.

Seriously, if you're going to spend $840 a year to store drum kits, you might as well just give one away every year until they're gone.

I countered that he should store his excess gear in our basement instead. That's where all my music gear resides. It's secure behind two sets of locked doors, a consistent temperature year 'round, and we have a dehumidifier running 24/7.

The only problem is that the shelves are currently occupied with a bunch of my dad's old business records and outdated printed materials. The majority of it can be discarded now, but it will need to be shredded, preferably on-site or in some other secure fashion.

I'm sure you can see where this is going. We've netted out with me agreeing to get the shelves cleared off within the next month or so. 

I really do think that the basement is the best option for this. It may need a little visit from the exterminator first, just to keep the spider levels to a minimum, but otherwise it's perfect. Or it will be.

Average Jane Is Indisposed

Remember when I predicted that my busy schedule would inevitably lead to a crash? Well, yesterday was the day.

On Saturday I spent the morning and early afternoon ferrying cats from store to store for my animal rescue group. Then I did my usual cleaning shift at the pet store, went to dinner, drank some coffee and stayed up late watching Being Human episodes with my husband.

I woke up at my usual time on Sunday (which is to say, way too early considering when I'd gone to bed), took the dog out, fed him, and went straight back to bed for another two hours.

When I got up the second time and made myself a breakfast shake, I had brief thoughts of doing something outdoors to take advantage of the lovely weather. Instead, I goofed around on my iPad until I got sleepy again and then went back to bed for another two hours or so.

The next time I woke up, I managed to at least drag myself up to my office, but I didn't get much accomplished. I stayed up until my husband woke up, thinking that we'd get some food, but forgetting that he was going over to a friend's house. Once he left, I went back to bed again for a third long nap.

Here's what my activity level looked like for the entire day:

The spike you see was when I finally woke up for the day and went outside to clean off the a/c units with the hose. That was followed by dinner and more TV watching which, as you can see, is more activity than pretty much the rest of the day combined. By the way, this is the lowest score I've ever gotten with my Nike+ Fuelband. And yes, I was wearing it all day long.

Fortunately I feel much more energetic today. I wasn't up for a long walk with the dog, but otherwise I'm feeling more or less back to normal. But I think some coffee is called for. Soon.

Average Jane and the Sand Hill Plums

While I was at BlogPaws, a group of my friends traveled to Western Kansas and waded through thorny thickets to harvest Sand Hill plums. You may recall my jelly-making experience with last year's crop; this year the idea was to include the whole gang in more stages of the process.

This past Sunday was jelly and jam making day. If you click through to last year's photos, you can see that the plums are usually tiny—about the size of cherries. For some reason (global climate change?), they grew monstrously huge this year and they were unusually abundant.

The pickers brought back five 5-gallon buckets of them, which yielded more than 100 jars of jam and jelly and five half-gallon bottles of plum wine.

I arrived at my friend Christy's house a little after 9:00 a.m. Cagey had spent the night there, so they had a good head start on sterilizing jelly jars and making delicious salads for lunch.

There were five of us there dividing up the labor throughout the day. The shifts from task to task were mostly unspoken: we would move from cooking down plums on the stove to boiling water to sterilizing the wine bottles to draining juice to mashing pulp to measuring sugar to mixing and cooking jelly to filling jars to sealing the jars in a water bath. Whatever needed doing, someone was there to step up and get it done in between shooing small children out of the danger zone and stopping for snacks and drinks.

I couldn't stay all afternoon because I had a three o'clock meeting, but we had four batches of jelly and jam finished before I left. I took a few jars home and was sad that I didn't manage to leave with any plum/jalapeño jelly, but I'll get some later. Each of us will have plenty to last us throughout the year, even if we give some away.

I'm really enjoying this annual tradition and I hope I can make it out to pick plums next year. Not that I won't enjoy the results of the harvest either way.

Average Jane Gets Colorful

Last weekend I had a blast doing the Color Run 5K with my friend Bonnie. What's the Color Run? Well, I imagine that someone saw some photos of a Holi celebration, thought, "How can I bring that to the U.S. in a non-religious context?" and decided a 5K was the way to go.

The 5K route was around Kansas City's sports complex. About every 3/4 of a mile, there was a Color Station with attendants who would throw handfuls of powdered pigment at you as you ran by. At the end of the race, they invited everyone to gather in a crowd for a Color Party, which meant opening up the packet of pigment you received at check-in and throwing it into the air. That's where the serious color came from.

Here are some of the photos I took that day:

Here's Bonnie with Arrowhead Stadium in the background. Note the clean white shirt. I was wearing one just like it.

There was a huge crowd - about 15,000 people. We were in the first wave of the run, so we managed to get through to the end and leave while it was still easy to do so.

All be-colored at the end of the race.

Even though I brought sheets to drape over my car seats, I couldn't help but smudge some pigment onto the fabric of my car door. Oops.

Pro tip: Don't park too close to a color station.

I had saved my old running shoes specifically for this race, so they were ready for the trash in more ways than one when I was finished.

Next on my agenda: The Glow Run on Saturday, July 14th. Because I'm obviously up for any color-oriented racing gimmick that someone can think up!

Average Jane Takes A Painting Class

Last week I created something that serves as a vivid reminder (literally and figuratively) of why I'm a writer and not a graphic artist. 

This photo may be my favorite piece of artwork to emerge from the entire experience. Foreshadowing!

A while back, Cagey emailed me about a LivingSocial offer for a painting class at ARTichokes. We were originally going to do an abstract class, but that one got canceled, so instead we ended up in a class where we were led through the steps to paint a still life of some tomatoes in a dish on a table. I'm not going to lie: that isn't a subject matter that I was anxious to have represented in my home decor scheme. But what can you do?

I will say that the gallery where the classes were held was really cool. And they let you bring your own wine to drink during the class. So they got huge points for that.

The instructor had us start off by dividing the canvas into sections and outlining the tomatoes and their dish.

You can already tell that my tomatoes aren't quite as tomato-shaped as a person might want.

Then we started adding other colors. 

And shading.

And more shading.

I'm not so good at the shading.

And I'm really bad at highlighting!

Sad to say, that last photo is of my final result. It looks like a pomegranate on a tie-dyed sheet with two other pomegranates sitting on a Polaroid of the sheet. I will not be hanging this up in my house.

The good (?) news is that it was no worse than anyone else's rendition.

However, despite the undesirability of the finished product, the whole experience was a ton of fun! I enjoyed the entire evening and I would take another class there or do one of their open art nights without hesitation.

Maybe I can even bring back my tomato canvas and paint something better over it.