Arrrgh!!!

We've had a peaceful evening. We choose to celebrate the fading away of the old year safe and sound at home. Dear Husband used to watch every Marx brother movie made, but that tradition seems to have gone by the way this year.

DH has has had some time off, which is very unusual. Saturday, I asked him to run errands with me, and we ended with grocery shopping. We'd barely gotten in the door of the grocery store when he was waylaid by the lobster sale. He decided we needed to have a special dinner to see the year out: Lobster tail, green beans with bacon, white cheddar macaroni and cheese, and crusty bread. Oddly, it came off as peasant fare, especially if you live where lobster is abundant. *G*

We've enjoyed the time off, doing bits of things here and there. We made one more foray on the grocery store to gets odds and ends of things we'd used up, and we did a bit of work for our company in the morning. I spent some time piecing a quarter of a quilt top, and we chatted with Elegante Mother and Second Son.

New Years Eve is a bit melancholy for us. Two years ago tonight, we lost Dear Husband's oldest son to a massive heart attack. I still find things I want to share with him. Like his dad, he loved puns and odd collections of facts. I'll think..."Oh, he'd LOVE this!" and then remember I can't e-mail him. But, I'm sure that he's in good hands and knows that we think of him.

It's snowed almost daily, but in small amounts. I doubt this particular area has more than four inches of snow, but there are other places in the Chicago area where roads are clogged and sidewalks have disappeared. It's left us with a Winter Wonderland look. The shrubs are outlined in white, and there are paw prints in the snow. Last night, DH had made the rounds, turning off the lights, when he realized there were two deer at the bird feeder. I joined him, and we watched for ten minutes or so. A mom deer and her yearling, I think. I put out corn for them tonight, and topped off the bird feeder for those who can figure out how to empty it.

The new year has crept in, as we've listened to a James Taylor Special on PBS, enjoying songs from our past. Ed has snuggled up to me, trying to keep my hands off the keyboard. I'll take that as a sign.

From our house to yours, we wish you a happy and healthy New Year. Stay safe!

It amazes me to step out my back door and see catnip, oregano and feverfew greening up. THIS IS JANUARY!! The plants are amazingly hardy in our cold weather, but truth be told, the weather has been incredibly warm for the season. We've had snow, and we've had a few days of deep cold, but we seem to be going through an unusually early warm spell

The wildlife is happy not to have to deal with brutal snow. It's easier for them to get to the seed that falls to the ground, rather than trying to dig through layers of snow to find the dropped seed. I leave a piece of plywood at the base of the feeder to catch the spill. Right now there's about half an inch of hulls littered over the board and ground. I've seen cardinals, blue jays, mourning doves, blackbirds, a horde of sparrows, juncos and chickadees. I'm not sure we have nuthatches this year. Perhaps they are there, but have moved further away from the house as the trees have died and been removed. We've been enjoying the deer at bedtime. I've been putting out corn while they were short on forrage.

I shouldn't be surprised to see the catnip and oregano greening up. They are both members of the mint family, and mint is incredible hardy. I've sequestered chocolate mint, and pineapple mint in large plastic containers that look like clay pots. I know better than to plan a mint where it might spread! I have so much oregano that I gave away bunches of it to the ladies at exercise last summer. Oregano, any one?? *G*

Our Red Hat chapter met today. We had a pot luck luncheon at a member's home. It always astonishes me how a potluck meal turns out. Today we had shrimp, salads and dessert. To the best of my knowledge, there was no attempt to avoid duplications. There were three jello salads, but each was very different. Only one pasta salad showed up, which really surprised me. There was one tuna salad, a spreadable salmon something, watermelon, mixed fruit, and I brought Waldorf Salad.

Elegante Mother loves Waldorf Salad, so we've made it a couple of times this winter. I expected to be short on time this morning, so I chose the Waldorf as a quick way to make a salad for a ladies' meal. I used Granny Smith and Red Delicious apples (with their skins left on), celery, chunks of walnuts, and dried cranberries. It was bound together with just enough mayonnaise to coat. I set out roasted sunflower seeds and Chinese Noodles for those who wanted a little crunch.. I was relieved to see that two-thirds of it was gone by the end of the meal.

Dear Husband feels that Waldorf Salad would be improved if one used Miracle Whip in place of the mayo. YUCK!! I COULD do the chopping and set some aside in a bowl for him, and let him add the Miracle Whip.
I thought today that dried cherries would be a good addition, and it seems to me that I've seen it made with miniature marshmallows. That's not to my taste, but I can see that it might be fun to play around with the recipe and make it my own.

The ladies talked through lunch and then swapped gifts. While we were seated, the "Queen" instructed us to get to know the lady seated next to us. Since EM was to my right, I turned to the lady on the left. After we had chatted we were to introduce our new friend. I thought I knew the woman to my left, but it was a lot of fun asking her 20 questions.

The meeting ended shortly after a discussion of places to meet in February.. One woman said she had eaten at the new tapas bar, and the room instantly quieted because they had all thought she had said "topless" bar. *G*

Give me a ba-boom! on the drum and I'm outta here! *G*

One of the blogs I read, one that is written by someone who is not an American, suggested that Americans have a very narrow vision of the world, and that we are rather unaware of the world in general. In some ways I'd agree with the author, but I was quick to point out that it can take Americans a LONG TIME just to get to their own borders. We are a surprisingly well traveled community, but we may be less well traveled than our counterparts in Europe, simply because we have to travel so far to get out of our own country.

With that in mind......here is a list of the cities that my oldest niece will visit in the next few days:

Almaty (Kazakhstan), Atarau, Uralsk, Astana (the capital of Kazakhstan),

Istanbul, Ankara, Turkey,

Baku (the capital of Azerbaijan),

then Moscow, London and finally, Perth, Australia.

Not bad for a little Midwestern girl, huh??? *G*

I may be the least well-traveled of my family, and I've been to Western Europe and England twice, and I've been to Canada a number of times. I hope there will be more travel (both inside and outside the US), in my future, and I can promise that I will be a well mannered tourist. I may not be able to speak your language, but I'll do my best to know your customs and behave myself.

I'll have to give it some thought and compile a list of places in the world my family has visited. I think South America may come off with the fewest hits. We've managed to cover almost every other continent except the Antarctic! Way to go, family!

Actually, it's an embarrassment of veggies. We're having flank steak for dinner tonight. Dear Husband broils a great flank steak. The three of us (including Elegante Mother) enjoy our beef medium rare. DH sprinkles it with garlic salt, lemon pepper and broiled steak seasoning before he broils it, and it's a perennial favorite.

Usually when we have flank steak, we also have baked potatoes, sautéed mushrooms and a big salad. This evening I decided I wanted to try my hand at a coleslaw made with purple and green cabbage, and bits of julienned carrots. I discovered right away that my mandolin was not going to do a good job with the cabbage, so I shifted over to a Wusthoff wide-bladed knife, and things went better. I washed baking potatoes, gave them a light coating of Crisco and sprinkled them with kosher salt. I use aluminum baking stakes to make sure the potatoes are cooked all the way through.

Dear Husband prepared asparagus for roasting. I started 'shrooms sautéing, and then I reached for a head of cauliflower. I steamed half a head of cauliflower, and then made a cup of cheese sauce for those who might want it.

Whew......it's made my fingers tired to write all this. Dear Husband has broiled the steak and it's time for dinner. By the way....there's also slices of three cheese semolina bread.....

Just WHO did I think I was cooking for!!!??? I have enough food here for an army. I'm not sure what made me think we needed all this. I'm going to try a taste of everything, and try very hard not to overdo.

I guess it's a sign of the season that veggies were calling to me. Maybe tonight I'll spend a little time with the seed catalogs! *S*

To be posted VERY LOW on the refrigerator door - nose height:

Dear Dogs and Cats,

The dishes with the paw print are yours and contain your food.
The other dishes are mine and contain my food.
Please note, placing a paw print in the middle of my plate and food does not stake a claim for it becoming your food and dish, nor do I find that aesthetically pleasing in the slightest.

The stairway was not designed by NASCAR and is not a racetrack
Beating me to the bottom is not the object.
Tripping me doesn't help because I fall faster than you can run.

I cannot buy anything bigger than a king sized bed.
I am very sorry about this. Do not think I will continue sleeping on the couch to ensure your comfort.
Dogs and cats can actually curl up in a ball when they sleep.
It is not necessary to sleep perpendicular to each other stretched out to the fullest extent possible.
I also know that sticking tails straight out and having tongues hanging out the other end to maximize space is nothing but sarcasm.

For the last time, there is not a secret exit from the bathroom.
If by some miracle I beat you there and manage to get the door shut, it is not necessary to claw, whine, meow, try to turn the knob or get your paw under the edge and try to pull the door open.
I must exit through the same door I entered.
Also, I have been using the bathroom for years -- canine or feline attendance is not required.

The proper order is kiss me, then go smell the other dog or cat's butt. I cannot stress this enough!

To pacify you, my dear pets, I have posted the following message on our front door:

To All Non-Pet Owners Who Visit & Like to Complain About Our Pets:

1. They live here. You don't.
2. If you don't want their hair on your clothes, stay off the furniture. (That's why they call it "fur"niture.)
3. I like my pets a lot better than I like most people.
4. To you, it's an animal. To me, he/she is an adopted son/daughter who is short, hairy, walks on all fours and doesn't speak clearly.

Gentle readers: I have no idea who wrote this e-mail, but he or she definitely knows my cat, and the dogs from my earlier life. I'd be happy to give the author credit for a post that made me grin in recognition.

I THINK it's spider mites. I'll have to get the plant disease reference to check.

At Christmas, I moved the plants that reside along three of the big windows in the living room to make room for the Christmas tree. I have to admit, the Christmas tree is still up, because I've been enjoying it, and I've had other things to do. It has to come down before next Friday, when my quilting bee returns for the second time after Christmas, so I have a goal. But, until then, I'm going to enjoy it, darn it all!

Back to the subject... I've been growing a small, shrubby tree that was originally part of a mixed planting that was given to my mother years ago. It was perhaps two feet tall then, and is roughly four feet tall, with a spread of four feet. I love the silly thing, but it's been hard on it, having to grow inside. We've had some leaf drop, and I thought it was due to my erratic watering, but now I think that it could be due to an infestation of spider mites. I can see small white "bits" on the underside of the leaves on about half the plant.

I'm fairly sure that this problem came into the house on a plant that was give to my Mother. That plant has been residing in the garage (read: dead, frozen, but not yet buried), since November. Apparently we weren't quick enough to see the problem, and now, it's spread. I'll have to keep an eye on all the plants in the house.

My first line of defense will be to wash the leaves with Safer Soap. If that doesn't resolve the issue, more drastic efforts might be necessary. Research first, attack later is the plan. I hope I'm not too late to save this plant. It's an old friend.

Today is a day full of errands, but it snowed last night, and I've decided to get a late start so that I won't have to compete with those who are trying to get to work under less than ideal conditions. (That's a classy way of saying I slept in, and am off to a late start. *G*)

I need to start with the bank for both the business and our personal banking.

Then, Home Depot is across the street. I need Safer Soap, and those crystals that absorb water and then release it into the soil of potted plants. I hope they have them, this time of year.

Then I need to stop at one of the big fabric chain stores and pick up two yards of camouflage fabric to make cooling scarves for the troops in Iraq. Our exercise group is sending over comfort boxes, and I'd like to add these to the boxes. The absorbent crystals are used in these scarves.

The next stop is Target for toothpaste and nail clippers to round out the shopping for those boxes. Elegante Mother and I went hog-wild at Sam's Club yesterday, but I wanted the small travel sized toothpaste tubes, and Sam's doesn't carry that sort of thing.

I need to make a stop at my favorite fabric shop to pick up a yard of fabric for the quilt I'm presently creating. I can't wait, or it could be gone, never to be reordered. If I miss getting the fabric, I'll just sit down and pull my hair out, I swear! I've been working on the color placement for this project for the past month, and I think I've finally found an order to the colors that I can live with. Unfortunately, I'm short about half a yard of fabric to create the design, and I'd have to start all over again should this piece not be available. Pray for me!

I need to go to the post office. EM has a letter that needs to go to Canada, and it requires overseas postage. I think I know the amount, but I don't want this to come back, so I'll make the extra stop.

THen.....groceries. I sure wish I knew what we were having this week other than salad. I'm fresh out of ideas. Do you think if I cooked grilled cheese sandwiches every night that my family would get the idea and give me a hand planning our meals??

Once I get the errands run, and bring in the groceries, it's office work for me. I'm actually looking forward to it. The day is bright and sunny, but cold, so it will be good to be where I can look out,and enjoy it, but not have to deal with the wind chill.

Have a good day!

January is filled with a LOT of chores that I really don't like!

I just HATE to take down the Christmas tree. I'll stall most of the year repacking the Christmas decorations, and have to dust them off before they can be put up again. It takes me so long to get all of the Holiday things in place that it seems a shame to have to pack them all up right away. I'm keeping one scrawny, fake Sitka spruce up for the entire year, so that I can show off the ornaments that my quilting bee has given me. That takes some of the sting out of facing the new year.

Today I spent several hours sorting papers. I have a large plastic bin under the knee hole of my office desk, and all my paid bills, and cards, and items that don't seem to have any other place accumulate there during the year. I sorted through all those papers and began to pull them into stacks that made sense

I have all our paychecks, deposit slips and checks in one group. In another I have receipts for prescription drugs, to back up what should be on my computer. There's a stack of invoices or receipts that will be used for taxes. I have a stack of things pertaining to gifts given last Christmas. And the largest stack of all holds paid bills. There's also a smaller stack of things I wish to punch and file in our personal information book.

So, this is the start of gathering information for tax season. I don't usually have this part started so soon, but in the back of my mind is the thought that it might be nice to have the data pulled together BEFORE we go off to Florida for a week. Then, I should be able to sit near the water, read my book and just be a lounge lizard!

We use Quicken to organize our checking. Luckily, the categories make it easy to pull data together for taxes. Our CPA sends a planner to guide my data gathering, so I'm less likely to overlook something we need for taxes. Unfortunately, Elegante Mother has not let me put her checkbook on the computer, so I'm searching her registers for information for her taxes, too.

I need to schedule time to quilt. I find that if I don't claim a chunk of time and tell everyone that's what I'm doing, that my time gets eaten up with household chores, or things for the others that could have been done some other time.

Chores.......I don't even like the word,, now! I want to be CHORE-FREE! What about you?

I read recently that it is vital to good health that you sleep enough each night, and that you should also sleep at the same time each night. For instance, if your body requires eight hours of sleep, as the average person's does, you need to be sure that you have a consistent bed time, or you run the risk of moving yourself into diabetes.

Dear Husband is in the early stages of diabetes. Some time ago, he decided to be good to himself, and most nights he goes to bed at 9:00. On very rare occasions, he will stay up later, but not too often. He needs less sleep than I do, and he also gets up earlier than I do. He rises at 4:30 during the week. As a business owner, he wants to be ready to start the job on time, without having had to rush to get there.

In my head, I KNOW that I need to be in bed by 9:00. I want to be rising at 5:00, so I need to be asleep at 9:00. Despite the fact that I know it, I still mess around with my going-to-bed times, and payback is HELL.

Sunday night I was up until 1:00 working on a project for my exercise class. We're sending boxes of comforts to the troops overseas. I needed to get things into boxes and fill out the custom forms, and get the boxes ready to be moved to the trunk of the car. At the time it seemed like I needed to be doing those things that late at night. It never occurred to me to go to bed, and risk getting it all done early in the morning.

So, on Monday, I dragged through the entire day. I chose not to nap during the day so that I would be tired, and ready to sleep at 9:00. Of course, it was the exceptional night when DH stayed up until 10:00! I hit the bed and was asleep in minutes....and at 11:30 I was wide awake! What the heck is going on with my body??

I dragged myself out of bed, and went to work in the office and listened to a book on disk. It was close to FOUR this morning before my eyes were finally getting heavy and I was able to get to sleep. I've been dragging around today, trying not to nap, so that maybe this evening I'll be able to get to sleep.

My hours are off. I really want to be an early morning person. It just works well. I get to see Dear Husband for a bit, I get dishes and laundry done early, and I'm ready to work in the garden when warmer weather arrives. Sleeping late makes it tough to get into the groove of the day, and I find I waste a lot of morning time when I sleep late. I don't understand why my body is fighting me on this issue, but I wish it would give in, and concede to my wishes!

If you have any tips to make sleep easier to find, and to keep, please let me know. My sheep are getting thin from all the exercise they're getting jumping over the fence. *G*