A lovely crafty idea for Christmas

I have previously mentioned the blog Curbly.com: DIY Maven, which you can follow at the syndicated feed curbly_diymaven. I like them because they have all sorts of ideas about how to create lovely things for minimal amounts of money. They just posted about creating this charming little tree:

Christmas Tree project

Curbly.com says:

"Want a Christmas tree for the holidays but don’t have the room? Or maybe your budget is a little tight? Here’s a great way to make a tiny Christmas tree from evergreen trimmings, which you can get for FREE at just about any Christmas tree lot, if you ask the attendants nicely. Other things you’ll need include:

A 4-inch clay pot
Plaster of Paris
Oasis Floral Foam
Aluminum Foil
Garden Shears
Miniature Christmas Tree Oranaments
And a bamboo pole

The clay pot, bamboo pole (I’d probably scrounge up a bit of doweling), even the plaster of Paris isn’t terribly expensive. AND you can reuse the pot/dowel/plaster structure next year!! Sweet! Miniature trees make wonderful hostess gifts during the holidays.
Via eHow."

Beowulf vs. Lord of the Rings

An interesting essay over at Salon.com, Beowulf vs. Lord of the Rings: "One is a living universe, the other a 3-D voyage to schlockville. A great essay by Tolkien ["The Monsters and the Critics"] helps us understand why."

I winced on Neil Gaiman's behalf upon reading this. I'll admit I wasn't much inclined to see the Beowulf movie to begin with. I still want to read the Seamus Heaney translation, though.

Cooking for Ingrates Episode 35,148

Dinner tonight: taco pie.

Cook two cups of rice, mix with one beaten egg and some parmesan cheese, press into an oiled pie dish and bake in 350 oven for ten minutes. Fill with a mixture of ground beef mixed with taco seasonings, salsa, black beans and corn, bake in oven, topped with shredded cheddar cheese, until the cheese melts.

Side dish: winter squash. Hah, Peg, you never learn, do you, you stupid bitch.

Verdict: Rob ate the pie, asked for a second helping. He took one bite but otherwise snubbed the squash. Both Fiona and Delia refused their entire dinner. Delia was actually hypoglycemic because she'd just come from karate class, but she would not would not would not eat the pie because it had beans in it.

"Fine," I told her. "Then make yourself a piece of bread with peanut butter."

She spread the bread with peanut butter and then stared at it for ten minutes, her hands shaking, until I lost my temper. "Eat the damn bread. You're hypoglycemic, for God's sake, and you're just going to get worse until you choke something down. I don't care if you think you don't want it: eat the goddamned bread."

Whereupon she burst into tears and I left the dinner table.

And came up and did this entry.

I hate cooking for my ungrateful family.

The leftover pie and squash will be my lunch tomorrow.

LOTR-inspired music?

Thanks to sternel, who told me about marcgunn's LJ, the man who compiles the Irish and Celtic Music podcast. He has a song there that I liked and downloaded, The Hobbit Journey Home. It made me wonder: what other songs do you know created by musicians as tribute to Lord of the Rings (or the Hobbit, I suppose). On my iPod I have Enya's "Lothlórien" and Carrie Newcomer's "Weathertop." I'd be interested in adding some other examples to my collection.

(Oh, but I'm not talking about death-metal musical tributes to the orcs, though. You can skip those. Not my style.)