Friday This n That

I'm not dead.  I'm just lazy.

I woke up late two days in a row.  This makes me not want to do anything, but I had planned on going grocery shopping.  The jury's out as to whether I'll just skip over to the Dollar General for milk and postpone Wallyworld.

The news lately is fucking horrible.  Mass stabbing in Traverse City, mass shooting in NYC, some shithead killed two people in front of their kids on a fucking hiking trail in NWAR (northwest Arkansas to the uninitiated), four people were murdered by some asshole in TN.  Is it any wonder I don't want to go anywhere?

I dreamed last night that I had a third tomato on my plants.  Yeah, I lead a boring life.  Here's me dreaming about tomatoes.  One more tomato is an exciting thing for me.

I'm supposed to start AuGoWriMo today and write words.  I need to carve out some time to do that and I need to STOP watching Roku for a few hours to get that done.  I can do it!  Unfortunately, we found a new series to watch last night and it was awesome.  Drat.

A couple of days ago, I had a chicken breast defrosted to make Salsa Chicken, but then I realized I didn't have the right cheese, so I turned it into a kind of Chicken Parm.  Slap a chicken breast into a pan, cover it in marinara sauce, cover that all in mozzarella, bake at 375F for 30-40 minutes or until cooked through.  I made spaghetti noodles and more sauce to go with it, and added those into the pan about halfway through.  It all turned out really yummy.  We ate the leftovers for dinner last night.  Yum.

Yeah, the lacking cheese thing is another reason I need to go to Wallyworld.  Drat.

During the making of the spaghetti noodles, I spent some time dancing around the living room to music in my head.  Sawyer was freaked out by this.  Finn just looked at me like I'd lost my mind.  Maybe I had.

Sunday Update - Week Last One of 2024

Okay, so it was the last full week of 2024 and things happened...

First off, per Friday's post, I did the whole Start Today thing.  To that end, I edited every day for the past three days and got 13 more pages edited.  Considering I went 22 days since the last time I edited, it's a win.  I still have about 50 pages to get through.  The manuscript is now at 55461 words - up about 8000 since I finished the first draft.

No new words or marketing this week.  I'll do more marketing after the first of the year.  And I'll definitely do some more writing.  Yay.

I'm also pretty much set on the number of books finished in 2024.  I finished at 36, which isn't bad considering.  Next year, I'll set a goal of reading 5 books per month.  Easy and totally not overwhelming.  If I need to up the goal later in the year, I will.  

Last week, I baked a pumpkin cheesecake, cinnamon rolls, and a loaded lasagna.  The only thing left is cinnamon rolls.  We decimated the rest.

Activity is another area where I'm hitting the Start Today thing.  I walked Friday and Saturday with Hubs.  We did about 1.8 miles.  It's a start.  Do something active every day... starting today.  I haven't weighed myself since 12/21 but then I was at 174.0.  Not great, but I'm not whipping myself over it either.  

Oh yeah, Christmas was this past week...  Well, we didn't really do anything out of the ordinary except eat lasagna, pumpkin cheesecake, and cinnamon rolls.  We don't get each other gifts, per se.  This year's gift was Starlink for both of us.  It's totally worth it.  The tree still looks pretty as seen on my Christmas post.  We have loads of cards underneath it.  I'll take it down after 1/1/25.  

I think that's probably about it.  I'll do some kind of wrap-up posts for the year or something in the coming days.  Until then, enjoy the last few days of 2024 and get ready for a bright and shiny 2025.

How was your last week of '24?

I almost forgot.  We weighed the cats for their 2-year birthdays.  Sawyer was at 17 pounds 6 ounces.  Finn was at 13 pounds 1 ounce.  Neither of them are fat cats.  I mean, Sawyer's a moose, but he's not chubby.  Finn's thin by comparison but he's also tall.  Who would've thunk that they'd be this huge when they were just little bitty kitties?  

Thursday This n That

I hope y'all had a lovely Christmas and got all the goodies you were wanting.  

You know those little cups you get with a bottle of cough syrup?  I have a bunch of those, so I gave two to the cats.  Apparently, best Christmas gift ever.  Yes, I am a wee bit of a hoarder.  Which is why I have a stack of like ten cough syrup cups in my medicine cabinet.  Hey, if I think it could come in useful one day, I keep it.  Lo and behold, these came in useful because they are now entertaining the cats.  Those two disappear or get chewed, I'll throw them out and get two more.  Tada.

My Christmas Lasagna turned out awesome.  Layers of sauce, noodles, a ricotta/cottage cheese/parm mixture, a ground beef & pork mixture, Portobello mushrooms... All topped with mozzarella and baked to a golden brown.  Mmmm.  And it's even better as leftovers - which is good because we have a LOT of leftovers.  Not your typical Christmas fare, but it worked for us.

Last night's Call the Midwife Christmas special was awesome.  There's just something about that show that gives me a happy.

I know it's Thursday, but it feels like Monday.

We have this new-to-me channel - Blossom.  It's a little bit eco-freako, but it has a couple good shows on it.  One that I've become a little addicted to is Space Invaders.  It's a cross between a renovation show and Hoarders.  They take a family with a clutter problem, take all of their stuff to a warehouse and while the family is going through all their stuff to get rid of what they don't need, the show renovates their home to make it more livable.  And it's all in Australia, which is cool for me, too.  Another show that I can't quite remember the title of is about people building their dream homes in the country.  In the UK.  Also, cool.

Yes, I have a problem with frittering my time away on TV shows when I should be doing something productive.  I need a self-intervention.  Maybe I'll work on that for the next week and see if I can't start the New Year with a better attitude.  That'd be good.  Right?

Okay, enough about me.  What's up with you?

Sunday Update 12/1/24

Okay, truth time... it was Thanksgiving week and I was a toad.  

I did manage to get two days of editing done.  Which puts me at 93 pages edited.

I also did some marketing.  Three days worth out of five free days.  During that time, I moved 85 books and had 49 pages read.  Woot.  Fingers crossed that whoever was reading pages finishes the book.  

One thing I did do was read.  I finished two books last week and DNF'd three.  

On the baking front, I made pumpkin cheesecake.  It didn't turn out exactly like I wanted, but it was still firm and tasty.  Hubs made a most wonderful turkey with yummy stuffing.  We finished the cheesecake yesterday.  And the stuffing.  We did not finish the turkey.  It was 13.5 pounds for pitysakes.  We have LOADS of leftover turkey.

As for activity, I raked leaves one day (last Sunday) and I vacuumed and dusted yesterday.  I haven't weighed myself this week.  Who weighs themselves after Thanksgiving???

Other than that, we have free-movie weekend so I've been spending a lot of time watching those.  Some new, some old.  Some good, some not-so.  Nothing new-to-me that really makes me say 'wow'.  I did watch a really creepy suspense I can't stop thinking about starring David Hyde Pierce (Niles from the show Frasier).  I don't know that I'd actually recommend it, though.  I mean, he's brilliant in it, but it was REALLY CREEPY.  :shrug:  I'm looking for something awesome like Best Exotic Marigold Hotel or Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris or Ordinary Angels.  

I think that's about it for me for the week.  This week, I'll try to get some more housework done and maybe some more raking.  I'll also definitely get back to editing. :whipcrack:  

What were you up to last week?  What's on your plate for the week ahead... besides leftover turkey?

Thursday This n That

I'm thinking about changing the cover for Song of Storm and Shroud.  I mean, I worked really hard on that one.  You have no idea how hard it is to make a dragon, especially when you're cobbling one together out of photos and using this part from that critter and that part from another critter.  Cobbled together so it doesn't LOOK cobbled together.  I think I did a really good job, but... Oh, I don't know.  I would think that one would have more sales.  Eh, at least you can look at it and know for certain it wasn't made using AI. lol

Yesterday, while Hubs and I were trying once more to saw that friggin' elm trunk in half, a couple young guys from the tree crew stopped and asked if they could help.  We let them.  It took them less than five minutes to not only cut the thing in half, but to cut it into logs fit for splitting and burning.  Of course, they had a chainsaw.  Yeah, yeah, we know we should get us one of them there fancy doodads.  It's on the list.  Hey, on the upside, sawing logs by hand is awesome exercise.

Mom and I were talking just now and the conversation got around to people we knew and whatever happened to so and so.  I searched a name and her obit came up.  In the obit, I saw where her sister had also passed away.  I mean, these gals were in their 80s., so not that big a shock.  Still, it's sad knowing all  of these old friends of the family are passing away.  Those gals were close to us at one point in time and, as sometimes happens, we all drifted apart.  I really loved their parents when I was child, but those two have been gone for a long time.  

I bought rainbow sherbet.  It sounded good.  And now I remember why I don't buy rainbow sherbet.  I hate lime flavored stuff.  Actual lime?  I have no problem with that.  Lime flavored stuff tastes like soap to me.  

The other day I was trying to come up with something interesting to do with ground pork and came up with something like fried rice that tastes pretty darn good.  I used part of a seasoning packet from pork ramen noodles, ground ginger, onion powder all sprinkled over ground pork that had been browned with finely diced carrots and celery.  Mixed in some rice.  Yummers.  I have leftovers, so that's what I'm having for lunch today.  

If you haven't watched the new show High Potential, I highly recommend it.  Of course, the silly gits had to put the damn show on at 9pm, so now I have to stay up late on Tuesdays.  Oh well.  It's not like I have to get up for work or anything.

Okay, I should probably get to doing something constructive.  These books won't sell themselves and I still have two days left of my Blink of an I giveaway.  

Have a great day!

Reminiscing About Awesome Food

Hubs and I were talking about donuts and I got to reminiscing about the best donuts I ever had.  They came from a place called Superior Donuts on Fenton Road in Flint, MI.  They made the best peanut butter frosted Persians known to man, where the frosting was about a half inch thick and so yummy it could make you swear off any other kind of frosting for the rest of your life.  I've been trying to replicate that frosting for more than 20 years.  And the on top of the frosting on those donuts was a drizzle of chocolate.  Oh.My.God.

Which lead me to thinking about some of the other 'best foods I've ever eaten' in a kind of wistful way.

For instance, Spring Break 1992... some friends and I took a roadtrip to New Orleans and along the way we stopped at a place called Mike Shannon's Steak and Seafood in St. Louis.  I don't remember much about the dinner, but the dessert was to die for.  Caramel apple upside down pie.  The apples were cut in perfect rectangles and layered with caramel and gooey goodness, then baked in the flakiest, most appetizing pie crust I've ever had.  

In Marquette, Michigan there was a restaurant called Entre Amigos.  They made something called an Awesome Wet Burrito.  The damn thing was so huge I could never eat it in one sitting, so I always had leftovers and the leftovers were as amazing as the fresh burrito.  Filled with meat and covered with cheese and sauce.  :drools a little:

Also in Marquette was a sub shop called Togo's.  Not 'to go', but TOGO like pogo... as in pogo stick.  They made a steak and cheese sub I can still taste in my memories today, where the steak is sliced thin enough so you could bite through it without pulling the whole damn slice out and it was cooked to perfection.  The seasonings were just yum.  They'd slap the steak on the flattop and you could listen to it sizzle while you waited. Then they'd layer American cheese on it so it got all melty, then they'd slide the whole pile onto a freshly baked roll.  You know the kind... soft and tasty in the middle but crunchy crusted on the outside. I'd get mine with mushrooms - which were sautéed in a butter and liberally sprinkled with garlic.  Then I'd put ketchup on the whole damn thing, because I am a heathen and I liked it best that way.

At the mouth of the Appalachicola River where it meets the Gulf of Mexico (in Appalachicola, FL), there was a restaurant... I forget its name... where you could get the most amazing seafood.  I never had better scallops than there and I am a scallop addict.  They also made Amber Jack that came out like a dream.  A-mazing.

Not too long ago, Hubs and I had a layover in Atlanta that was long enough to get dinner.  We lucked out.  There's a steak joint in there that served some of the best steak I'd had in YEARS.  We still talk about that and we both wish we could find a restaurant around here that would live up to that expectation.  Alas, we haven't reached it yet.  (And we aren't likely to, since most of the restaurants around here can't stay out of the monthly health department report.  Blech.)

These are the flavors I will spend my life trying to achieve again.  I doubt I ever will, but it's good to have a goal. LOL

What are some foods and places to eat that you can't forget?

Thursday This n That

I actually had someone read the entire A Model Curse series in one night.  And then they started on Once Upon a Djinn.  I hope they go through that whole series, too.  I love that you can track the progress of readers using Kindle Unlimited.  I just wish more people would find and love these books.  It certainly would make life easier if sales went up.

Last night, we watched Free Guy.  I'd seen it before, but this was the first time I caught it at the beginning so we could watch it all the way through.  Good movie, if you haven't seen it.

I also got writing done, so don't go wagging your finger at me.  =op

I had some plain yogurt sitting in the fridge, so I decided to make 'cream cheese' with it.  Put a coffee filter in a mesh sieve, put the yogurt in the filter, put the whole thing over a bowl, and let it drain.  In a day or two, you'll have something that's the consistency of cream cheese.  And it can pretty much be used in the same fashion.  Although, I'm not sure I would try to make cheesecake with it.  Yogurt can be heated but from what I understand, it separates at temps over 350F.  Anyway, I'll probably use this to make dip.  Or I'll make a coffee cake recipe I found yesterday.  :shrug:  

Which reminds me, I think I figured out why my sour cream coffee cake failed.  I substituted yogurt for the sour cream, but that wasn't the problem.  The recipe calls for 1 cup of butter and I only used 1 stick (1/2 cup).  Derp.  I had planned on trying the recipe yesterday and noticed the error I'd made.  Unfortunately, I don't have two sticks of butter to bake with right now.  Maybe after I go shopping this week, I'll try it again.

I keep sleeping in.  I mean, I'm getting up at 6:30 but that's sleeping in for me.  I usually get up an hour earlier.  Yeah, it relates to not being able to fall asleep every night, which is getting annoying... which makes me mad which makes it harder to fall asleep.  It's a vicious circle.

Okay, I'm off to do things and try to accomplish stuff.  Have a great day and leave me your this n thats if you get a chance.  

Too Hot to Cook

 I don't know about all y'all, but it is too hot here in SWMO (southwest Missouri for the uninitiated).  So, to riff off my friend Silver's post this morning, I'm going to talk about not-cooking - or cooking with as little extra heat in the house as possible.

Last night, I used my Foreman grill to make pork chops.  That's one way to have a meal and not heat up the house too much.  Of course, they were boneless.  I'm not sure how well I'd be able to cook bone-in porkies on that thing.  Boneless took about 5 minutes.  Bone-in would probably take way longer.  And I cut my own boneless pork chops, but that's a story for another day.  With the pork chops, I microwaved leftover mashed potatoes.  Low heat all around.

I've also found that using the crockpot cuts the added heat.  Last week, I bought a small roasting chicken.  I took that bugger and shoved it in the crockpot with seasoning and butter, and let it cook for 4 hours.  Super yummy, without loads of heat leaking into my atmosphere.  Plus, afterward, I had loads of cold chicken to use on salads, sandwiches, etc.

Speaking of sandwiches, if you've never made a grilled cheese on a Foreman grill, you're missing out.  Super easy stuff there.  I like to cut roast chicken and put it on my grilled cheese.  Mmmm.

Tonight, I think I'm going to make the fixings for Big Salad night.  (Not much to make really.)  I'll lay out a spread of cut up ham, shredded cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, carrots, croutons... whatever we want on our salads, it'll be laid out on the counter for us.  I'd put out chicken, but I ate the last of that yesterday for lunch.

If you know me, you know I like to bake.  This is a problematic like in the summer time.  To address my baking urges without baking myself and Hubs, I try to keep my baking to the mornings.  Unfortunately, that means I have to muster the gumption before the gumption is even awake, but I do what I have to do.

I saw something on FB the other day where a woman made cookies using the INSIDE of her car on a particularly hot and sunny day.  I'm not quite going to that extreme.  There are ways around getting overheated and still having something yummy to eat, though.  

And now I'm hungry.  Time to go forage for something cold to eat.  ;o)

What about you?  Any tips or tricks for eating without baking?

Thursday This n That

 We have smoke in the air again.  Last I checked, they weren't sure where it was coming from, but it encompasses an area from middle USA across the Gulf to Mexico.  We usually get smoke clouds floating across from California or down from Canada.  WTF?  Is Mexico on fire?  

I found these little packs of imitation crabs legs for a buck a pack.  Crab for lunch.  Yay.

Hubs was reading me a news story about a teacher in Utah who made her students write an essay about how eating bugs was better for the environment because  cows are killing the planet or some such nonsense.  They couldn't write it as an argument against such tripe.  Why does it seem like English class is more often than not a vehicle for indoctrination?  I guess it's the natural choice.  Or as Nathaniel Hawthorne said: "Words -- so innocent and powerless as they are, as standing in a dictionary, how potent for good and evil they become in the hands of one who knows how to combine them."

I've had to spend some time on the phone this week with the DMV.  Fun fun, I know.  I bet you wish you could be me right now.  One phone call had me 'waiting for a representative to assist me' for like 20 minutes and when I finally got him, he couldn't help me other than to tell me what I needed to do so he could help me.  I tried doing the stuffs only to find I couldn't do the stuffs.  I called again yesterday to find out what I had to do so I could do the stuffs I couldn't do.  On hold only 5 minutes and the gal who got on the phone told me the stuffs I thought couldn't be done had been done, they had all my paperwork in their computers now, and it's pretty much ready to go.  Nothing left to do but a stop in to pick up the tags and pay for them.  (A thing I do not personally have to do, so yay.)  I could've cried with joy.  I asked the gal for her name and the way she said it would've made one think I was about to yell at her.  Poor thing.  I praised the hell out of that gal for all her help, told her she made my day, and wished her a great rest of the week.  I had been prepared for a long, uphill battle and she made it easy.  I love that gal.  Always take extra time to praise people when they've earned it.  

They have the cutest puppies at the rescue right now.  Puppies!  And kitties, too.  We're still not ready for a pet, though.  

Errands after work tonight.  I was going to leave them all for Saturday when I had the thought to do a couple of them after work, to cut down on my Saturday driving time.  I mean, what kind of hothouse flower am I that I can't run errands after work?  Sheesh.  If I do the north stuff today, I only have to drive south on Saturday.  When I do them both in one day, it's like 30 miles north and then 60 miles south and 30 home again.  Yeah, it's still the same distances, but not all at once.  Yay.

I used to do all sorts of stuff after work.  I got out of the habit.  Now that I'm working again, I need to get back into the swing.  Maybe if I teach myself how to do it all again, I can figure out how to write after work, too.  Hmm....

And on that note, I'll let you get back to your lives.  Have a great day, everyone!

Thursday This n That

Hey, it's still Thursday.  

I actually thought tomorrow was Thursday and I was stopping to set up my post for tomorrow all proud of myself... until I realized that it was already Thursday.  Derp.

Tonight, I was really good and made fish for dinner with a side salad.  About 30 minutes after I ate, I made myself a chicken salad sandwich (on a hot dog bun because that's how I roll, baby) because no way was I going to make it through the night on tilapia and salad.  I am satiated now.  Yay.  On the upside, I don't feel like eating a bowl of ice cream tonight.

I think the eagles have gone, but the exchange is songbirds are arriving and the air is filled with happy.

Another think... I think wrens are building a nest in a work van that hardly anyone ever uses anymore.  I hope it gets driven before the birds lay any eggs.

My neighbor used to leave his mailbox open so he'd know when the mail got delivered.  Wrens decided it would be a perfect place to build a nest and we watched them fly back and forth all day delivering weeds and sticks.  The next day, the neighbor had to clean all that stuff out, which was pretty funny.  Even funnier was that the wrens starting rebuilding almost as soon as his back was turned.  Day after day, they would work on the nest and later, he would take all the material out.  The wrens finally got the hint and left.  The neighbor never did learn to close his mailbox.  One day, a woman moved in with him and she started closing the mailbox. 

I love Amazon.  You can get all sorts of disparate items in one place.  Tonight, I ordered a new bra and a 22-pack of Carnation Instant Breakfast.  I wonder what the person putting that package together is going to think.  ROFL

Carnation Instant Breakfast - chocolate flavored - is perfect in a cup of coffee.  Screw milk.  Dump the packet into the bottom of a large coffee mug and fill it with java.  If you've been here long enough, you may remember it was my beverage of choice years back.  I called it 'Breakfast of Champions'.  I'm going back to drinking it because I don't think I'm getting enough nutrition and by the time lunch rolls around I'm so hungry I could eat my shoes.

By the way, the low-salt diet thing?  Screw that.  I thought I was putting a lot of salt on my food until I actually measured a 1/4 teaspoon of the stuff and dumped it into the palm of my hand.  And thus, I learned that's about how much I put into a pot of water for noodles.  The minuscule amount I shake onto a burger is piddlin'.  And I don't even use straight salt for that.  I use Lowery's which has less sodium than salt anyway.  Piffle.  

I'm hovering around 160 now.  Sometimes a little over, sometimes a little under.  And I'm okay with that.  It's 22 pounds gone since last June.  Hell, it's enough of a weight loss that I needed another new bra, so win-win.

Okay, I think that's enough out of me for one sitting.  What's on your radar today?

Thursday This n That

 Mmm, coffee.

It's February. I suppose I ought to change my calendar.  Only a day late, so go me.

Between the weather and the crud, there were only two people at work yesterday - me and another dude.  Nice and quiet, just the way ol' hermit me likes it.  And I get along with the dude, so the few interactions we had were pleasant. Mostly, it was me in my office doing my things and him in his doing his things.

Driving home yesterday was interesting.  When they plowed the highway, they left large piles of ice at the entrances to all the side roads.  And it got just warm enough to make snowcones out of it. So, I had a pile of soft ice to get through to get onto the highway and another to get through to get off the highway.  Lucky for me, I know how to handle shit like that.  And thankfully, the highway was free of other drivers.  A little fish-tailing was involved and I was in the wrong lane for a smidgen there.  We'll see how doing it in reverse works this morning.

Michigander me thinks all of this is piddlin'.  I've driven through way worse.  Of course, it's been 20+ years, but it's like riding a bike.  I don't understand how some people forget how to drive in snow from one winter to the next.  

Hubs with the crud means I've been taking on some of his chores.  Like feeding the deer.  They don't know me, so they freak when they see it's me and not him.  But after a couple days, they aren't running away anymore, so that's good.  I also took over garbage duty.  I rolled the polycart up to the road last night, which was fun since everything is covered in a thick layer of packed ice pellets. Tiny steps.  And hey, I didn't fall.  :knocks on wood:

I made an apple-cranberry crisp this week.  Unfortunately, I had no vanilla ice cream and the roads were too bad for a run to the store.  Lucky for me, I had a bowl of whipped cream in the back of the fridge.  Yum.  You definitely need something creamy to balance the tart of the cranberries.

Okay, I should probably start getting ready for work and junk.  Have a great day, everyone.  

Sunday Update - Week 3

 Three weeks into 2023 and I already missed a Sunday Update.  Derp.  This is not an auspicious start for the year.  

Okay, anyway, I ate some things on Monday that did not agree with my stomach and spent part of early Tuesday morning praying to the porcelain god.  But I couldn't just not go to work because there was something very important that I had to do first thing, so I went to work.  Did the thing, made the call... and the dude wasn't answering his phone, so I left a voicemail.  Then I waited to see if dude would call back.  I gave up at 11 and went home.  I spent the rest of the day sleeping and reading, so I was all better when Wednesday came.  Yay.  Unfortunately, that little bout of whatever must've side-swiped my awesome immune system because I woke up yesterday with a scratchy throat which developed into a full blown head cold.  Anti-yay. :shrug: I've had worse, but I am a little bummed that I get to spend my two precious days off blowing my nose.

On the upside, sitting around doing nothing leaves lots of time for reading, so I actually finished 3 books last week.

Despite the cold virus, I made parm-encrusted pork chops last night for dinner.  Yum.  No baking otherwise.

In the weight/activity sphere, I cleaned the office bathrooms and then swept the whole office.  Cleaning is activity, damn it.  I sure felt it the next day.  Weight: 162.6 as of like five minutes ago.

I'm still playing in the family trees.  Mom set me a task yesterday morning, so I spent the afternoon tackling that.  Nor sure if I accomplished anything toward what she wanted me to find out, but I think I have the entire twig filled out, and I can ask if I found the person she was looking for the next time I talk to her.  In doing this, I discovered a bit about this one person in my family who was written up in the paper for wife-swapping in rural Michigan in 1939.  She moved in with the neighbor and the neighbor's wife moved in with her husband, they divided up the kids, and then they got divorces and remarried the new spouses.  Weird.  My month of Ancestry is almost up, though, so this will end and I'll go back to my usual pursuits.  I ought to have people pay me to do this for them.  

I did a little online shopping.  I bought soap.  Lever 2000 Aloe & Cucumber.  It's the only soap that keeps me clean without making me want to itch my skin off or douse myself with perfume to cover its scent.  It hasn't arrived yet, but it should be here before my last bar becomes a sliver.  I also bought 2 CDs - both by AJR - a book to round out my free-shipping amount.  (The soap couldn't be included in that, damn them.)  I haven't received those either, but I already downloaded the music to my computer, so YAY.

I think that's it for me today.  Work is work.  Life otherwise is unsurprising and unexciting.  How are things in your little piece of the world?

Thursday This n That

 Yes, I am aware that it's Friday. 

I woke up late yesterday. I drank coffee, smoked a cigarette, took a shower, made my lunch, got dressed, and headed to work. Woo.

I'm doing genealogy again.  For some reason, I'm drawn to death certificates. I find it interesting to see how people died.  So, I already knew about the one grandfather who was crushed between two trains on Thanksgiving.  I found out one of his brothers was strangled to death by an overhead door.  Another grandfather was killed in a mine collapse in the salt mines in Detroit.  (Yes, there are salt mines in Detroit.)  He was one of six men trapped.  They got his and another two bodies out, but three guys are still down there.  Like I said... interesting.  Or I'm just morbid.

There are three bald eagles that hang out near work.  I regularly see them and hear them as they're flying in lazy circles over the woods.  It's pretty awesome.

The area hit record highs yesterday.  It got to like 70 degrees.  After last week's negative 6.  I expect another round of the crud to hit the area shortly.  I haven't gotten any of it yet.  Knock on wood.

I was so pooped after work yesterday, we had TV dinners.  Banquet has upped their game from the last time I bought those.  Better flavors and textures.  Last night, we had chicken fingers with macaroni and cheese and corn.  Yum.  Last week, we had Salisbury steak with mashed potatoes, and the potatoes weren't like sawdust.  Yay.

I desperately need to go fishing.

Well, it's 7 o'clock.  I should probably go get dressed and make my lunch. I hate going to work.  Oh, I don't hate working... just the going.  I'd really rather just sit around in my jammies than get dressed, hop in the car, and drive to the office.  :shrug:  But who wouldn't?

And on that note, I'll let you go.  Have a great day, wherever you are.  

Thursday This n That

It's amazing how the absence of one toxic person can lighten the tension for so many other people.  Don't be the toxic person.

I still have turkey leftovers. We've eaten turkey for lunch and dinner every day since Thursday.  Hubs wants to freeze the rest.  Sounds like a plan.  I am about turkey'd out here.

Okay, so today's the first of December.  Where'd the year go?  Now I have to start thinking about Christmas and year-end.  Blerg.

I did already find a couple of neat things to order, but they don't have delayed shipping, so I need to order them so they arrive at just the right time.  I am not good with planning this kind of stuff.  I may just order the stuff this weekend and the moms will get early present delivery.  

The young gal at the office is getting married this month.  She invited me to the wedding.  I passed the invite along to Hubs, already knowing the answer because his answer would be the same as mine - nope.  I thanked her yesterday for the invitation and let her know we wouldn't be coming.  And explained why - we are hermits.  She's cool with it.  I mean, it was super nice of her to invite us.  I'll get her something nice as a present.

Which reminds me that I need to pick up assorted cards when I hit Wallyworld on Saturday.  I need a card for the wedding and one for a birthday, and probably more xmas cards. (I need to do xmas cards this weekend.  Blerg.)

Okay, is it just me or does it seem like it was just June???  How did we get to December here?  

I heard geese yesterday.  They sounded like they were pretty far up, but I couldn't see them.  And the sky was exceptionally blue yesterday, too, so I probably could've spotted them.  :shrug:  Head along south goosey-bros.  See ya in the spring.

And on that note, I'm gonna let ya'll go.  Have a great day!

Thursday This n That - Thanksgiving Edition

Despite what you and the folks at WKRP might think, turkeys can fly.  Wild turkeys can anyway.  I think the big, white, domestic turkeys have been bred to have such large breasts that they can't fly anymore, hence the carnage at the Pinedale supermarket.  

If you don't know what I'm talking about, I am sad for you.  Go forth and find the episode online* and watch it.

This is a wild turkey:

This is not:

Both pictures taken the same day (11/27/14) and both are hens.  The top turkey went on to live her life.  The bottom turkey went into our bellies.  And there was much rejoicing.

Hubs really does make the best turkeys.  Today, he will be using his magic on a 14.5 pound Honeysuckle White.  It's been thawing in the fridge since Saturday and is ready to go.  Mmm, turkey.  

I was telling the folks at work the story of the one Thanksgiving where we had a whole rafter of turkeys in the yard while our own turkey was in the oven.  They were all like 'I'm not sure I'd be able to eat a turkey with all those turkeys watching'.  We had no problem with it.  And neither did the turkeys. LOL

Speaking of turkeys, here's another picture.  It looks like that big ol' turkey is about to attack that poor, defenseless squirrel.

Don't be fooled.  This was taken a second after the squirrel had attacked the turkey and that tom is trying to get away while the squirrel acts all innocent.  Shortly after, the turkey left to find easier food to eat.  

Anyway, I hope you all have a glorious Thanksgiving Day, with loads of food and the people you love.  :HUGS:  And that neither the turkeys nor the squirrels give you any trouble today.  ;o)

* I found it for you.  (Actually, someone on FB posted it.)  It's not the whole episode, just the good part.  You're welcome.

Sunday Update - Week 44

It was a week, lemme tell ya.  Mostly work related and mostly stuff I can't talk about online.  Wednesday was weird.  Friday sucked.  Details will not be forthcoming.

Anyway, I read some stuff.  I'm only one book behind schedule now.  I still have to read 13 books between now and the end of the year to reach my goal, though, so I'm not sure that's possible.  We'll see.

I made zucchini bread last Sunday.  I might make cranberry apple something today, because cranberries were on sale at Wallyworld, so I couldn't pass those suckers up.

Not really much activity this week.  I swept the office again.  The other half this time.  Woohoo.  Still lost 1.8 pounds since last Sunday.  Weight: 164.6.  I'd like to stop at like 150 or thereabouts, but we'll see if it's possible to stop.  I worked a job in FL that got me down to 110.  I was ugly-skinny at that point, trust me.  I might have to switch off diet dew (Wallyworld brand, of course) and start eating breakfast.

On the upside, the two pairs of pants I bought last month that were a little tight fit now.  I look smashing in the red pants with a sheer red shirt and a tank top underneath that.  The pinstripe pants are yet to be worn because I can't quite figure out the best tops to go with them.  Maybe tomorrow.

Oh oh oh, my sleeveless turtleneck tops arrived!  Took them long enough.  I love them.  They look and feel awesome on me.  We'll see how they fare after they're washed.  One is black and the other is purple like deep amethyst.  I do love me some gem colors.

Last weekend, I bought worms in a spate of optimism.  I still haven't gone fishing.  Maybe today.  We really should put new line on all the reels, though.  And we need to rake the yard.  There are too many things to do on my days off to spare a few hours for fishing.  Of course, my weekends now typically consist of sitting and reading and watching TV.  After a week of work, I don't really want to do anything else.  :shrug:

Of course, last night was the time change.  As always, we didn't change the clocks before we went to bed, so right now half the clocks are right and the other half are an hour ahead.  I'll go change those in a while.  Every clock thing in the kitchen and the one in the bedroom don't change themselves.  On the upside, it'll be light when I go to work.  On the downside, it'll be dark when I come home.  Turds.

Everything else is fine.  The family is fine.  The critters are fine.  The world isn't fine, but there's nothing I can do about that.  We'll vote on Tuesday before I have to head to work.  I'm not sure it'll do any good, but not voting definitely won't.  So go vote.

And on that note, I'll let you get back to your day.  Have a great one!  And drop a note to tell me how your week went.  =o)

Thursday This n That

Yeah, I realize this isn't Thursday.  Unfortunately, I didn't think yesterday was Thursday, so you're getting this today.  

Yesterday, I was listening to music on my lunch break and this one video started out with an attack ad against both the Republican and the Libertarian candidates for Senate.  Everything 'bad' they were saying about the R turned out to be lies.  Everything 'bad' they said about the L made me want to vote for him.  I wish I could find the ad and share it, but alas, I cannot.  I'm still voting for the R on Tuesday, though, because if the conservatives here split their votes between R & L, we'll get the damn D again.  Maybe that was the point of the commercial.  She knows she can't win if the conservative voters don't split their vote, so she's making the L look more attractive than the R.  

Sometimes it's hard to not talk about things going on at work.  

I've been screwing around taking these 'list challenge' things I see on FB.  One of them was 'so you think you're well read'.  It had like 1460 titles on it.  I've read like 175 or so and I shared it on FB.  Someone commented pointing to Sturgeon's Law on Wikipedia.  Back in the '50s, science fiction writer Theodore Sturgeon postulated that 90% of everything is crap.  Yep, that seems about right.

Speaking of crap, I saw another challenge on there of 'woke' books.  It said something about the average # of those books that participants have read.  It was 3.  LOL

One thing I hate about book challenges on there is that they list a whole series of which I read only one or two, so I can't claim it.  Harshes my groove, man.

I've already bought a 2023 date book for work.  I haven't written in it yet, but I need to plan some stuff out for next year already, so I should probably get crackin' on that.  I am not one for planning that far ahead.

I think we're having leftovers for dinner tonight.  Or burgers.  We need to eat the leftovers, but I'll probably want a burger by the time I get home.  :wanders into the kitchen to take burger out to defrost:

Yesterday morning, I was on my way to work and not far from the house when a chipmunk darted across the road in front of me.  Lucky for Chester, I was paying attention and hit the brakes.  I would've had a sad if I'd squashed the little dude.  Probably not as sad as he would've been, though.

Okay, I've probably bored you enough for now.  Have a great day and an awesome weekend. :hugs:

Sunday Update - Week 40

Wow.  40 weeks into 2022.  Twelve weeks from 2023.  :shrug:

No writing this week.  Unless you count writing the same verbiage over and over in an endless stream of emails.  Yes, I could copy and paste, but there are sufficient spots where I have to make the emails customer specific and I type fast enough, that no time would actually be saved.  

I didn't finish reading a single book this week.  I'm pretty close to getting that Heinlein thing finished.  Maybe today.

Also, I didn't really do any baking this week.  I did make a big vat of chili yesterday.  Just right for fall weather, I think.

Yesterday, Hubs and I took a 2 mile walk.  I actually don't feel too bad, considering it was the first walk we'd taken in two weeks.  It was a lovely day and we didn't push it.  I was feeling it on the way home, though.  Oof.  Getting up that last hill to the house was a bugger.  

I also did Wallyworld yesterday.  Big fun was had at the pavilion.  (Bonus points if you know the movie that was paraphrased from.)  A while back I discovered the Wallyworld versions of several Little Debbie snacks.  Way cheaper and super yummy.  Not like we actually need Nutty Buddies, Swiss Rolls, and chocolate cupcakes, but who cares?   

Earlier in the week, I was helping move a box through the office.  I was walking backward and bashed my left wrist on a door molding, then about ten feet further on bashed my right wrist on a door knob.  I'm not even sure why there's a door in that spot.  My wrists now look like I was being held hostage.  Fun times.  

Ooo, we have a fox!  We saw him Thursday night, Friday morning, and Saturday morning.  Cool.  He's beautiful with a big fluffy tail and a lovely coat.  (Confession, I don't know if it's a male and I'm not even sure it was the same fox all three times.  Wouldn't it be great if it was a fox family?)  The only issue with having a fox in the neighborhood is it drives the dogs nuts in the middle of the night.  Eh, I'll learn to sleep through the barking.

It's so dry here.  We haven't had any rain since the beginning of September.  They've teased that we would get rain, but it never happened.  Bastards.  The stock ponds in the area are either dry or in full algae bloom.  Hubs is done watering the gardens though.  What lives lives and what doesn't wasn't meant to be anyway.  We're still filling the water pans for the critters, though.  

The bird migration should be coming.  We're already starting to see some of the little birds - warblers and such.  I'm keeping an eye out for eagles.

And that's about it for me today.  How was your Week 40?

Thursday This n That

I woke up way too early.  Like 4:30 early.  Hubs was up before me, so at least there was coffee waiting for me.  Yay.

Last night, after dinner, I got a hankering and made cookies.  Big ass cookies with plenty of chocolate chips.  I took one while it was still hot and slid it into the bottom of a bowl.  Then I covered it with vanilla ice cream.  Then I drizzled caramel sauce and chocolate sauce over the top.  It was awesome.

By the way, I accidentally bought sugar-free chocolate syrup.  It doesn't taste bad, but it's super runny and it freezes weird on my ice cream.  :shrug:  I bought it, I'm going to eat it.

Every once in a while, one of the guys in the office brings in food his lovely girlfriend has made.  It's pretty awesome.  The smoked steak was to die for.  The beef and mushroom thing with loads of gravy was yummers.  (Not as creamy as stroganoff. Could've been bourguignon.  Dunno.  Duncare.)  Yesterday, he wandered through and offered me sushi.  Umm, nope.  It was probably most excellent sushi, but I don't do sushi.  I also don't do spicy, so the chicken enchilada dip was a big no.  Didn't even bother to try it because he said it was a little spicy, and his 'little spicy' probably would've burnt out my o-rings.

I'm down 13 pounds now.  The unfortunate aspect of this is that my clothes are starting to not fit.  I know I know, what gal doesn't like shopping for new clothes, right?  I love new clothes.  What I don't love is the expense of new clothes.  Anyway, I had to order a new bra.  The old ones still fit, but almost not.  I'm back down to a 38D.  Luckily, I had saved one of that size from the before times when I was thinner.  Playtex all the way, baby.  They're the only brand I could order online and be certain it would fit right.  In the back of the closet, I also have a 36D I bought in a weird fit of optimism back when I dropped from 194 to 180.  I'm 168 now and that one is still a long way from fitting.  

Like I said, my clothes are starting to not fit.  It's mostly a pants issue.  All my cool comfy work pants are falling down.  But I'm not quite to the next size down.  (I was an 18... who knew?  When all you wear is sweats and elastic waist bands, it's hard to tell.)  So, the 18s are sliding, but the 16s are still a bit too tight.  So, I'm alternating swimming in pants or strangling in them.  Might have to hit the thrift store this weekend and see what I can find that fits.  When you're losing weight, it doesn't make sense to pay full price for clothes.  

Wild Heart Ranch rescued a coyote.  The poor thing had the mange.  It was horrifying.  They got its skin all cleaned up and on the mend.  Then it was just pitiful.  Poor little bald thing.  Now its fur is starting to grow back and this morning I saw a picture of it where it's covered in all this lovely, golden-brown fuzz.  It still pretty shocking to see, but it's on the road to recovery and release.  Yay.

Okay, that's probably quite enough out of me.  Got anything on your this n that radar today?

Sunday Update - Week 32

 I know I'm late, but hey, it's still Sunday.  Thanks for still stopping by, even though I'm not exactly here much and I'm probably boring as hell.

I still haven't written anything or done anything writerly since I started working.  I know scads of people write and work.  I just haven't figured out that secret yet.  Or rather, I've totally forgotten the secret because when I first started writing, I was working a full time job and I still managed it.  :shrug:

I also didn't read anything last week, hence the lack of a Saturday Reading Wrap-up this week.  Sorry about that.  

Work was busy last week.  I mean, it's always busy, but last week was intense.  And because of that, I hit 40 hours by like 2pm on Friday and they let me go home early, which was nice.  I would've worked 'til closing, but after I got home, I was so glad I didn't.  I didn't realize how tired I was until I walked in the door and put on my comfies.  I could've fallen asleep right then.  I probably should've at least napped then.  If I had, I wouldn't have gone to bed at 8.  Thank goodness for On Patrol reruns.  LOL

Yesterday, Hubs and I got the idea to go buy a new mattress.  My usual store said they had them in stock when I looked online.  When I called?  Nope.  So I called my alternate store - whose online thing said they had them in stock, too, but since the other store's online 'in stock' thing lied, who knew?  They said they had them, but quoted me a totally different price.  Anyway, we decided on taking the road trip and if they didn't have the mattress I wanted, we'd just call it a lovely day for a drive.  Thankfully, they did have the mattress.  We picked it up and then went out to lunch.  

If you know me, you know that's a big deal.  We NEVER go out to eat.  Anyway, we had Chinese.  I had sesame chicken and Hubs got a split platter of cashew chicken and sweet n sour chicken.  Yummers.  Then we had the leftovers for dinner.  Win win.

As for the mattress, it's still expanding.  The instructions said 24-48 hours, so it'll be tomorrow before we get to sleep on it.  Unfortunately, the only place to let it come to fruition is on the bed, so we're sleeping on our old mattress on the floor in the living room.  It's like camping.  I actually got a better night's sleep on the floor than I have in weeks on that old mattress.  Here's hoping the new memory foam thing is as awesome as everyone says it is.  If it is, I'll never buy another pricey-ass mattress again.  The old mattress is a Serta and it started to die years ago.  But who wants to spend that kind of money every three years?  Am I right?

Anyway, that was my exciting week.  Woohoo.  How are things in your world?