Average Jane

Author: Average Jane

  • Sometimes Average Jane Is Too Patient

    I have an unfortunate tendency to put up with minor and easily fixable annoyances for far too long. Case in point: this computer.

    My computer on my messy desk

    One of my RAM chips went bad a while back—it's probably been seven months or more by now. I have a circa 2007 iMac that can only handle a total of 4GB of RAM on its two RAM chips, so with the bad chip gone, I was limping along on 2GB.

    That was halfway workable at first until I needed a new printer. With the new printer came an updated operating system which needed a minimum of 2GB of RAM to operate at all. 

    The feeling of elation at being able to print again was greatly diminished by the fact that my computer was as slow as molasses…in January…on the moon.

    It was so bad that I sometimes couldn't even wake the computer up from the screen saver without jiggling the mouse and then walking away for a while to give it time to recover. Finally, it decided that Facebook was more of a resource hog than it could afford, so it started loading only one page of news feed results and refusing to show me my pending notifications. Facebook is where I hang out in my spare time, so that could not stand.

    Fortunately, I am in the midst of a transformation right now. I belong to a private Facebook group (see!) that is dedicated to retrieving our lives and homes from the chaos, mess, clutter and inefficiencies that we have allowed to take over. Everyone checks in weekly if not more often, and it's been amazing how great it is just having the support of other people who also tend to let things go too long.

    My primary project with this group so far has been to make my home office more functional. I've started by trying to physically clean up the room, but I decided it was also time to get my computer back to good working order. I finally had a little extra money and I went online and bought 4GB of RAM (I figured it might be worthwhile to start with two fresh chips and keep a spare for later in case one goes bad again).

    I installed it when I got home from work today and it is glorious. As in: I no longer want to throw my computer out the window.

    Next on the agenda is to finish clearing out the actual mess in my office, but I have a good head start already. You should have seen the enormous box of paper I took to a local recycling event for shredding!

    I have some other home cleanup and repair projects in the works right now as well, starting with getting some truly scary electrical stuff in my attic up to code. That happens tomorrow morning.

    Sometimes life just kind of gets in its own way, I think. It's been good to sit back, set goals and make incremental progress. It took me a while to get this far, but I'm not turning back.

  • Average Jane Rocks

    Frisk in the fog

    I haven't talked about my band much lately, but things are going really well. We're playing at least twice a month and often quite a bit more than that. We have five weeks in a row booked in June and early July.

    Over the past year we've phased out most of our poppier classic rock and moved toward a harder-edged sound. I'm enjoying getting to sing Led Zeppelin, Quiet Riot, Rush, Judas Priest and many of my other long-time favorites. We're also doing some newer songs by Halestorm, Saliva and other contemporary hard rock bands.

    I haven't quite accomplished all the fitness goals I established for myself in relation to the band, but I do find that I can make it through the night without being quite as exhausted as I once was. My feet seem to be holding up better as well, but I think I can credit better shoes for most of that. The boots I'm wearing in the photo above are Aerosoles and they were worth every penny.

    I can't imagine a more fun hobby than singing in a rock band. I get to dress up, put on fun makeup and sing at the top of my lungs for (mostly) appreciative crowds. Rock and roll!

  • Average Jane’s Earliest Office Memories

    Today was Take Your Child to Work Day, so the office was filled with mini doppelgängers of many of my co-workers. 

    2760280871_44684dc00e_oOnce I was old enough to be in school, both of my parents worked and there was no official day for bringing kids to work. However, I still went to visit my parents at work from time to time. My most persistent memory of my mother's office: eating sugar cubes from the coffee station. 

    In the mid-1970s, my mother and grandmother had a business together offering advertising and public relations services. They had several employees and an office big enough to do some exploring. 

    The office was located on the main square of the town that was (and is) the county seat, so there was a lot of cool, old architecture and the courthouse was right across the street.

    Even better, back then there was still a drugstore with a soda fountain on the corner, so good behavior at the office might lead to a nice chocolate malt in the middle of the day.

    I don't remember how I killed time at the office, but I'm sure it must have involved drawing and art supplies to tide me over when I tired of the book I'd brought.

    My dad taught defensive tactics at the police academy, so visits to his workplace were short and sporadic in comparison. My current work experience has much more in common with those early visits to my mother's office, even though we now have computers instead of typewriters.

    What do you remember about your experience of your parents' jobs when you were a kid?

  • Average Jane Changes Things Up

    After more than eleven years of using the same blog design for Average Jane, the search engine powers that be have become impatient with my lack of compliance with contemporary web standards. Therefore, I have changed my blog design to ensure that you can actually read my posts on mobile devices. 

    This theoretically means that I won't lose all my hard-won organic SEO mojo starting tomorrow. In layman's terms: I will still get a big traffic boost every Thanksgiving and Christmas when people want advice about making dinner rolls from scratch.

    I don't love the new design, but my coding skills have not improved significantly in the past decade so I think I'll content myself with it for now. There weren't a lot of responsive options available on my blogging platform and I'm paid up for the year, so we'll go with this for a while and see how it goes.

    Is there anything missing that you expect to find on my blog? Let me know. This was kind of a quick fix and I want to make sure that all of my remaining regulars get what they need here.

  • Average Jane’s Storage Logic

    CoffeeI recently bought an enormous box of dishwasher detergent tablets at Costco and it had been sitting on the kitchen counter because it didn't fit in the cupboard under the sink where I'd been keeping the previous, smaller box.

    Yesterday I decided to make a half-assed attempt at clearing the counter and my eye lit upon the canister set that sits on the countertop directly above the dishwasher. Sure enough, the one marked "Coffee" was empty. I scooped out handfuls of the tablets into the canister, put the lid on and felt rather triumphant about coming up with a very logical storage spot.

    After another moment or two, it occurred to me that my fantastic idea really only made sense to me. The next time my husband walked by, I stopped him.

    "In case I die, here's where the dishwasher detergent lives right now," I told him, lifting the lid of the canister to reveal the shiny, mylar-wrapped tablets.

    He stared for a moment and said, "Why?"

    "Because it's right over the dishwasher," I replied.

    He shook his head and walked away. But it really is a nice and convenient storage spot, don't you think?

    And if you're looking for the actual coffee, well, we don't have any. That's why the canister was empty. It all makes sense.

  • Average Jane’s Legacy (or Lack Thereof)

    Thrive where you're plantedIn an online community to which I belong, there was a recent discussion where many people fretted about their inability to finish creative projects, break through in their professions, etc. My comment was that I'm not sure I care whether I leave a legacy at this point. I'd really rather just do fun stuff and be happy.

    Since then I've been thinking about whether that's really true for me and I believe it is.

    There was a time when I worried that I was just being lazy. I'd think, "I should write a book!" or "I should hone my public speaking skills and get more speaker gigs!"

    But deep down, it's really not important to me to achieve fame or recognition on either a large or small scale. Even when it comes to music, I'm content learning cover songs and performing them for some extra walking-around money. I have written and performed my own songs in the past, but I don't have any ego tied up in the idea of sharing *my* music versus someone else's songs. Singing cover songs is fun and that's enough for me.

    So instead, I spend my time gathering friends and experiences. I love getting together with the friends I already have and I'm always happy to meet new people. I keep my radar tuned for opportunities to do things that sound fun, educational or otherwise intriguing.

    If you look at my calendar, you'll see a hodgepodge of activities: board gaming, comedy shows, wine tastings, parties, club meetings, speakers, music performances, plays, movies, volunteer events, lunches, dinners, brunches and breakfasts, workshops, discussion groups and web conferences. Some days, particularly during the weekends, I'll have two or three activities in a row. Some are planned and some develop spontaneously thanks to my ability to tweet, "Who wants pancakes?" and almost always get at least one response from a local friend.

    That doesn't even count the time I spend hanging out with my husband. When we can afford it, we love to go out to eat. We have a half-dozen TV shows we watch regularly together. Sometimes we just sit up in his recording studio and watch YouTube videos or listen to songs together for a while.

    All that stuff goes in the "fun" column while the "work" column stays pretty strictly 8-6, Monday through Friday. Occasionally I do a little housework and I manage to pay my bills and gather my tax paperwork every year and sometimes I get a wild hare and paint a room or fix something broken around the house or clean out my closet.

    And you know what? I like my life this way. I don't feel overwhelmed. I get to spend lots of time with my dog and cats. I get plenty of sleep. I rarely feel lonely. My house is generally in acceptable condition (my definition: not so bad that I can't slap it into shape a few hours before company comes over).

    Is everything perfect? Of course not. If I spent more time at home, we'd both probably eat healthier, for starters. The two things I really should focus on are more home-cooked meals and more exercise (although really, the weather is the biggest factor with the latter right now).

    But mostly everything is pretty good right now and I feel lucky that I can guide my own life to the extent that I do.

    If I'm remembered for anything once I'm gone, I would like it to be for being a good friend who had interesting things to say. When there's a tallying-up of my life's score, the count of the number of people and animals I've helped in large and small ways means more to me than any number of prizes or write-ups or appearances on television.

    It's the individual moments that matter. I'm trying to take in as many memorable ones as I can.

  • Average Jane Makes Delicious Tequila Drinks

    Over the past few months, my 20th wedding anniversary came and went. We had a lovely Christmas and New Year's Eve. Oh, and my Pura Vida Tequila shipments arrived!

    As part of the program with the company that also included my backstage experience with Godsmack, Pura Vida sent me one bottle each of their Silver, Reposado, Gold, Añejo and Extra Añejo tequilas, NARANJA liqueur and Bloody Maria and Sangrita mixers.

    I've been playing around with drink recipes ever since. We had Bloody Marias on Christmas morning at my sister's house with breakfast and they were so delicious.

    Most of all, though, I've been gaining a serious appreciation for margaritas made with fresh lime juice and high quality tequila. Here's the recipe I've been following (although I've been making pitchers, so think "parts" rather than "ounces" if that's the route you're going).

    La Primera (Margarita)

    IMG_8254INGREDIENTS:

    1 ½ oz Pura Vida Silver Tequila
    1 oz Fresh Lime Juice
    ½ oz NARANJA Orange Liqueur
    Agave Nectar to taste

    DIRECTIONS:

    In a shaker with ice, combine ingredients and shake to chill. Strain into an ice-filled margarita glass with a salted rim. Garnish with a lime wedge.

    * * * * *

    While I'm sharing recipes, here's one of the drinks I tried on the Pura Vida Tequila bus. Lemon juice in place of lime makes for a tart and refreshing drink. It's Godsmack frontman Sully Erna's creation:

    Sully Smash

    INGREDIENTS:

    1 ½ oz Pura Vida Añejo Tequila
    ½ oz NARANJA Orange Liqueur
    ½ oz Pura Vida Organic Agave Nectar
    ½ oz Fresh Lemon Juice

    DIRECTIONS:

    Combine all ingredients in a shaker with cubed ice . Shake to chill and combine. Strain into a highball glass packed with crushed ice. Garnish with a mint sprig.

    Disclosure: In exchange for my participation in this program, I received the aforementioned free product from Pura Vida Tequila, VIP concert tickets and other concert-related considerations. All opinions are my own.

  • Average Jane Makes Plans

    Every year seems to go by more and more quickly these days. At yesterday's six-month dentist appointment, I could have sworn that I'd had x-rays during my previous visit, but it was actually the one before that. That's one of the reasons I need to keep up with this blog. Without it, I have no way of keeping track of when things happened.

    I have two goals this weekend that should be easily achievable:

    1. Gather my tax paperwork and send it to my accountant.
    2. Choose 30 of my beloved old t-shirts and send them to Project Repat to be made into a quilt.

    Goal #1 is especially important because I can't be sure whether I'll owe this year, so I need a head start just in case. There's only one important form I can think of that I don't remember seeing so far, and I imagine it's buried in my piles of unread mail. I'll dig it out tomorrow morning.

    Goal #2 is a reflection of my changing wardrobe. A few years back, I was still wearing fun t-shirts to work every day. Now, a lot of them really don't fit that well anymore and I have morphed into a more businesslike style during the work week anyway. I love them all and I want to keep the designs, so this seemed like a great way to do it.

    Both of these projects will help me tidy up my house, which is a nice bonus. Once I have them out of the way, everything else I have planned is just fun.

    Tomorrow evening I'm hanging out with my niece and nephew. I'm thinking we'll go out for dinner and see a movie.

    Sunday should be really fun. I'm going to see Joyce Layman speak in the morning and in the evening I have tickets to see Maria Bamford with one of my friends.

    What's up with you right now?

  • Average Jane in 2015

    BlogSince I'm coming up on my eleventh blog anniversary in a few weeks, I figured the least I could do is get a post written to start the year.

    Picking up where I left off, I've been easing into the new year pretty gently so far. My band played a New Year's Eve gig that went quite well, and we've had a break since then except for recording a four-song demo and learning some new songs to replace a few duds in the set.

    I got my annual case of bronchitis right on schedule, so that was a couple of weeks of coughing with ten days of antibiotics in the middle. Fortunately, that's out of the way now.

    Sooty the foster cat is integrated with the general cat population and although he and Dr. Jones frequently face off and shout at each other for no apparent reason, the transition ended up being pretty chill. I had a dream that he told me his name was really Izzy, so my husband and I have been trying that on for size and it seems to suit him. 

    Is he staying? Probably. He's of uncertain age with a chronic disease, so I'm really not sure anyone else would be willing to take him. We like him, he likes us and we were obviously willing to save his life, so seeing him through the rest of it seems like the kind thing to do. Not that he appears to be on the brink of death or anything; he's lean and he pees a lot (in the litterbox, fortunately), but otherwise he seems happy, energetic and generally fine.

    For the foreseeable future, I'll be channeling my charitable impulses toward cats into TNR for the free roamers in my neighborhood and leaving it at that.

    I've been spending time with friends, playing games, trying to keep the house in some kind of reasonable shape, and trying to decide what my year is going to look like.

    I'm not anticipating any major changes, but I do know that I'd like to entertain a bit more than I did last year and I also have a couple of trips I'd like to take if I can get my budget slapped into shape. I keep joining additional board gaming enthusiast groups, so I'll probably be learning a bunch of new games this year. If I'm feeling really gung-ho, maybe I'll rearrange some furniture in my house. Whee!

    How's your 2015 going so far? Any big plans or just more of the same?

  • Holiday-Ready Average Jane

    TreeI got off to a really slow start this year. Thanksgiving weekend just felt far too early to decorate and then I had a bunch of gigs with my band on the subsequent weekends and suddenly I found myself a week away from Christmas. I took last Friday off from work and finally got the tree put up. I stopped there with the decorating, but it's the thought that counts, right?

    I've been buying gifts a few at a time for the last several months. I thought I had finally achieved 100% online shopping but then I remembered that I'd bought one gift at a local shop. It's been a very low-effort endeavor any way you slice it.

    I've probably spent almost as much on groceries this year as I have on gifts. Man, food is expensive! In the past week alone I've paid about $250 for groceries between three trips to the store, and that doesn't count cat food.

    All of these groceries are basically for three parties and a few extra meals on days when it won't seem like a very good idea to go out. I baked snickerdoodles and made tofu-topped pizza for a cookie party last Sunday. I'll be hosting Christmas Eve dinner at my house for just three people, and I have been asked to contribute several menu items on Christmas Day. 

    Now all that's left is to wrap gifts (I've already inventoried to make sure I have everyone covered) and start food prep, baking and cooking. Tonight I'm making a pumpkin cake roll using vegan cream cheese since my sister and I have both been diagnosed with dairy allergies now. I'm making just the green bean casserole portion of this recipe for tomorrow night's dinner and while I'm at it, I'll probably go ahead and snap the beans for the green bean dish I'm making on Thursday.

    Last but not least, I'm getting a dinner roll recipe from a friend of mine. I thought my family roll recipe was good, but hers is better. I went to her house for dinner a couple of weeks ago and I think I ate five of them.

    And that will be that. I'm not going to bake any additional cookies or make candy this year. I may play with some cocktail recipes, but that's where it stops.

    Are you ready for Christmas the day after tomorrow, assuming you celebrate it?