Just sitting down to watch Downton Abbey. Still thinking about my attic. Maybe I'll use that ladder improperly after all.

If it's any consolation, I use my ladder improperly for that very purpose and I have yet to have died tragically. However, I did once nearly kick it over while returning down. So.

Does your sister prefer vague ideas or really specific recipes?

I think a fairly specific recipe would be best for her. I didn't get the impression she's made pesto before.

The recipe I used for this pot roast seems to assume at least eight ounces of beef per person. Even to someone who's not thinking about the weight of the serving, when the butcher hands you that parcel of meat, that's more than a small dinner party worth of cow. The recipe doesn't have to fill the slow cooker, fer crissakes.

Giada's pesto recipe from her first cookbook is a very good basic pesto recipe, but I can't find it online at the moment.

Ha, I totally filled the slow cooker for my last salsa verde pork burrito bowls. It was four pounds of meat...for six people. Yeah, we had leftovers.

Tasty, tasty leftovers, so this was a no-lose scenario.

Unrelatedly, did we know that minuscule was spelled with two u's and not two i's? Because I didn't, apparently.

Recipes can be wack. I'm about to make one that includes three cans of beans and says it serves four. Yeah, no.

ION, Downtooooonnnnn.

Okay, pesto -

A cup of fresh basil leaves a clove of garlic 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese 1/8 to 1/4 ish cup olive oil 1/8 cup pine nuts

and it can be multiplied up and adjusted to taste. Basil leaves in the food processor with garlic, then add cheese and nuts, drizzle oil in last until paste. You can add salt, add pepper and ... no, that's all I think you can add. Hit of lemon if you want to go light on the fat-rich parts and still try to keep flavor.

Pesto is a personal thing for me, not a clear recipe. But those are a good place to start. You can also do it in a pestle but a food processor is tons easier.

I have a basil shrub that needs to be pesto'd soon.

The essentials for me are whirl basil, a little garlic, a handful of pine nuts and then olive oil until it plays nicely together.

Thanks, Cass. I'll pass that onto her.

I've never made slow cooker pot roast before today, and it's a basically decent recipe. Could do with punching the spices a bit, but the texture of the beef is perfection, and I'd rather it that way around.

Just finished watching Beasts of the Southern Wild and I can barely stand to look at Quvenzhané Wallis. She pulls up a lot of feelings I don't have proper words for, but mostly futile protectiveness. Her character in this is so fierce and so beautiful.

I am not putting my brain through the contortions required to see her as Annie for a while.

Okay, now I got to work out how to put away 4lbs of beef minus 3 ounces. And where.

Cass's recipe is similar to mine for pesto.

ita, I'm glad nurse was nurse!

Did you count? I just try to go to a happy place in my head and have it be over. Because otherwise I would let them wax and then try to run away.

I did count. I figured I could handle 100 plucks. But when she got to 70 some on one side, I thought, oh shit. The brows look GREAT though.

I bought 5 pairs of pants at Lands End today, including 3 pairs of cords (green, red and off white) and 2 pairs of jeans. YAY pants.

I think I'm also becoming okay with getting fat again. I just don't have it in me to try to lose all the weight or to keep it off.

ALSO, while I'm at it, I had to go pick up more girl scout cookies and I went to a cookie cupboard, which is where the cookies live in each service unit. Mine is about 1/3rd of a mile away. It was floor to ceiling cookies in someone's garage. So scary.

I usually end up making pasta sauce with some of the leftover pot roast. In general, I think it freezes well.