Checking In – 6 Days ’til

19 Dec 2016 Leave a comment

by alightningbug in Foodie, Holidays, Mom Stuff Tags: , , ,

Okay, it is less than a week to Christmas. I’ve taken a vacation day today, so I can get some things done before Christmas. I’m going to blog a smidge because I haven’t in over a week. There is less time to Christmas than days since my last blog post. I feel like I should freak out now.

Though I have some shopping done, I’m not finished yet. We have partly decorated for Christmas, but aren’t finished yet.

We got an adorable tree from the tree lot where my daughter volunteered. It was one of the largest trees in the small-tree category. It is beautifully full and nicely shaped with a good top branch for the star.

I love the smell of fresh-cut trees. If I put my fingers into the tree water to check its depth, my fingers smell awesome. (I know, that sounds kind of weird, right? But it’s true.) The tree water is like some kind of beautiful fragrant, cold-brewed tea.

We have a smallish artificial tree that we purchased several years ago. We used that last year. It’s getting kind of sad looking. Some of the branches are a little droopy (because the cat likes to climb it) and the fake needles are falling off as much or more than any real needles. Plus it smells so not fresh. It smells like the storage area and old cardboard. Not really something that brings to mind the holiday spirit. I’d need some Glad spruce-scented spray or something to make that one a little more appealing. I should probably dig it out of storage and pitch it.

We went to a wonderful Christmas party on Saturday night where we got to see good friends and eat yummy food. I want to eat more yummy food and see more of our friends. Things get busy.

Sunday my daughter’s Girl Scout troop made and decorated Christmas cookies. More yum.

The past week had some extremely cold days, so if my tomato plants had any life in them at all before they are now completely done for the year. I rescued a few small plants from the balcony and brought them inside during the extreme temperatures. At least it felt like winter while we were thinking about Christmas.

I left one squash out on the balcony which froze rather solidly. It was like a big rock. I could probably take out zombies with that squash. Do not drop it. Once thawed it needs to be eaten or cooked quickly. So we made a large pot of squash soup for dinner yesterday. 

The good part of partially freezing is that once thawed, the squash softens up some, so it is much easier to cut than fresh and raw. 

But I think generally squash tastes better if it is cooked before being frozen. The squash soup makes a nice compromise. Plus it’s super healthy. Today I still have more squash to use up.

We’re still debating if we should see Santa at the mall this year. We’ve been every year since my daughter was tiny. Now that she’s a teenager, we almost didn’t go last year. But then we did and it was cute. Except that there was a TV crew filming the Santa at the mall. That turned out to be kind of fun and kind of embarrassing for my daughter.

Our mall has had the same man-in-the-red-suit for many many years. So he’s in all of our photos. It was only natural to go back there. I guess the TV crew had the same idea about Santa and was filming a piece on Santa at the mall since he’s been there so long. They didn’t want to use a small child in the piece, so they used my daughter. It was also timing — she just happened to be the next, older child in line when they were filming. It looked cute. She looked very nice on the local TV station.

But a couple of teachers saw her. So back at school they said, “hey, we saw you on the news with Santa!” So it got a little embarrassing for her. (Hey, the TV interviewer even sat on Santa’s lap. I thought there was a lot more potential for embarrassment in that.)

I have reassured my daughter that odds are extremely good that the same thing won’t happen again this year. My biggest hesitation is the line. It’s always massively huge. I hate to take up so much time just waiting. (Though I can bring electronic devices for playing games or writing, so it’s not that bad if I plan it right.) But we missed out on making a reservation since we weren’t sure if we were going. Now that we might go, we’ll have to wait in the line. Hopefully, we can go during a weekday when the line won’t be as long.

My daughter has been busy making lots of peppermint bark for gifts and dipping pretzels in chocolate too. We get to eat all the mistakes and “test” the non-mistakes too. We have very happy taste buds right now. She made more this morning. I need to go find a tin to put it in.

Hope folks are having a great week and enjoying lots of yummy things.

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World’s best peppermint bark. I could eat the whole tray myself.

 
 

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Oh Look, A Saturday!

10 Dec 2016 2 Comments

by alightningbug in Foodie, Holidays, Mom Stuff, Plant Life and Balcony Gardening Tags: , , , ,

This has been one jam-packed week, and it’s not over yet.

Last Sunday evening my daughter volunteered for a late shift at a Christmas tree stand for her service club. We almost got a tree then, but I felt like I needed to get the car ready and a spot ready at home. Plus I couldn’t decide on a tree, and the stand was closing at that point.

Monday, my daughter had rehearsal for the orchestra winter concert. And later that evening I had to run some errands because I knew I wouldn’t be able to run any errands on Tuesday (or Wednesday either for that matter).

Tuesday was the Winter Orchestra Concert. Traffic around the mall was horrible. It’s extra bad this time of year. The mall is between my office and the school and home. Plus it was pouring rain which is always bad for traffic. It’s like we’re getting pre-melted snow. Traffic is instantly bad. I mean, worse. So I didn’t have time to pick up Dave to get him to the concert with me (he doesn’t drive). So I was there by myself, and he missed her first cello solo with the orchestra. Gah.

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Orchestra Concert

The concert was great! I only partly messed up the video. My phone doesn’t do well when taking long videos. Part of the video just freezes. Last time I tried to bring my iPad for recording. But I accidentally pressed the time-lapse button instead of the regular video button (and I almost dropped it on the floor). So the entire video plays back in fast forward and with no sound whatsoever. This time I have most of the sound and most of the motion too. That’s better.

The school always has wonderful concerts, but it was raining so it was all a little messy. I managed to buy the  CDs from both this winter concert and the fall concert. I keep forgetting to bring checks with me, but I had enough cash since I didn’t buy the Christmas tree on Sunday. Sometimes things work out that way.

Wednesday morning I was stressed I had so much to get done. Some of it done.

Wednesday evening my office had its annual Christmas party. It was very nice. We had a yummy buffet dinner with an assortment of proteins, salads, and pasta. Then, pumpkin cheesecake for dessert. We presented a plaque to the founder of the company who will be retiring from active consulting at the end of the month. He’s been doing this for 40 years! We finished up with a White Elephant gift exchange. I got a book called, “Infuse.” I’m going to have to try some of the suggestions. The most popular items exchanged were a bottle of Girlshine (like moonshine, but a kind of brandy) and a pair of messaging slippers that looked like giraffes. We had fun.

So by Thursday, I was still trying to get things done that I would rather have had done earlier. Plus my stomach was giving me trouble (maybe I’ve been drinking too much caffeine recently. I know I can’t do that).

By Thursday evening, I had playoffs in our pinball league. I only made it to D division this time, but I made the playoffs. So yay. And I came in second in the payoffs, so I got a nice prize pick. Double yay!

Friday was here before I knew it. Barnes & Noble bookstores were having a Harry Potter Holiday Ball from 7:00 to 9:00 pm. Which I really wanted to go to, but apparently not badly enough to actually brave the cold and the traffic and parking at the mall this time of the year. Plus I was kind of tired.

We thought about getting a Christmas tree then too, but I still need to get the car ready (unless I want to tie the tree to the roof) and find a spot here at home. So the tree and Harry Potter Yule ball both got scrapped in favor of staying home and watching the movie, “Elf.” (I really know how to go wild.)

I carried a few more plants in off the balcony since the overnight temperatures were getting so low. Our balcony stays warmer than the average area temperatures, but once it gets into the 20s things start to freeze even there. I’m pretty sure most, if not all, of the tomato plants are toast at this point. Those are just too large to carry inside. Last year they lasted into early January. I picked some green tomatoes which may or may not ripen (or get fried or pickled).

Mostly frozen, tomato plant-cicles.
Rescued squash assortment plus green tomatoes and peppers.

 

Feeding the more adventurous of the area wildlife.

Mr. Squirrel has returned so many times that the pumpkin on the balcony looks like it exploded. I carried most of the other squash inside so they wouldn’t freeze.

There was a pigeon or dove on the balcony. He few away when I went outside. I think the bird was eating pumpkin seeds now that they’ve been released. I still think a squirrel has been our main nibbling culprit. He’s probably the American Ninja Warrior of squirrels and pumpkin is his reward for getting four floors up on a smooth-sided building.

Our balcony has become a popular feeding spot (I like it too). I should clean up the pumpkin. (And then hope the critters forget all about it in the Spring.)

Also on Friday, I started this blog post. But then I called it, “Oh Look, A Friday!”

I really miss blogging or writing every day that I don’t do any. I think I’m addicted. November was a better month in terms of actually getting writing done. I knew there would be times in December when it would be harder. This week was certainly one of them.

So here it is Saturday. Saturday! I don’t know how it got here already. It was just last weekend for cryin’ out loud!

Today, my daughter has a cyber security competition of some sort and will miss dance class. I’ll need to drive her one way or the other.

I really, really need to get my oil changed and my tired tires rotated.

Hopefully, I’ll get my blog post done for “Size Matters: Notes from the Balcony.” I’m working on the part covering herbs. But I’ve grown a lot of herbs, so the list is pretty long. It might be wise of me to make break that post into two parts.

Hopefully, we’ll get the Christmas tree today or tomorrow (whether I have a spot ready or not). And I got this blog post done, so that’s good! Yay! (Except when I went to save it, my WiFi went out so oops. Hopefully, I’ll actually get it posted. You’ll know one way or the other.)

I hope everybody had a good week, has a great Saturday and has a wonderful weekend overall.

I [Emoji] Holiday Shopping

04 Dec 2016 Leave a comment

by alightningbug in Getting Organized, Holidays, Mom Stuff, Uncategorized and beyond. Tags: , , , , , ,

Along with total fail at trying to register myself for the Pinburgh pinball tournament yesterday, I braved a couple of stores for some holiday shopping. (Not the mall. I’m not that crazy right now.)

I went to a Michael’s Craft Store. It’s scary enough in its own right this time of year, but not as bad as the mall.

Michaels has decorations overflowing each of the front aisles. Plentiful ribbons, stockings, and table-top decorations are on sale at 30% to 70% off. This attracts almost as many shoppers as Michaels has ornaments (maybe more). Men, women, and children scoop up treasures as they browse the selections. (One child sobbed uncontrollably when his dad said, “no,” to a toy. It was part of the holiday soundtrack.)

Then, they (we) all stand in long lines to use the day’s special-bonus coupon to bring the cost to a manageable price. I was one of these shoppers.

A couple of weeks ago my daughter found some cool holiday glasses in front of the tree display. These glasses look like the 3D-movie glasses we wore when I was a kid — paper frames with a thin piece of plastic for lenses. But instead of red and blue 3D-lenses, these glasses have tiny laser etchings on them that turn points of light into simple little pictures.

They work awesomely with Christmas lights (which is probably why they were next to the trees). Put the glasses on and suddenly your holiday tree is covered in glowing snowmen … or gingerbread men … or candy canes! It’s awesome.

These will probably make fun stocking stuffers or small gifts for those who might appreciate altering their reality with a simple pair of glasses. I’m hoping we can go to a festival-of-light display and mix it up a little with some Frosty glasses.

After thinking the store was out of these Laser Glasses, I found a new stash of them behind the Christmas tree display. Yay! My kiddo will be happy (and I like them too)!

I kept finding new and interesting things around the store.

I was standing in one aisle trying to move past another shopper when a young child behind me said, “look, a poo pillow!” He sounded so innocent and cheerful.

I was sure I couldn’t possibly have heard him right (sometimes I am a little hard of hearing). So I turned around to find that, indeed, there was a pillow that looked like poo.

The entire bin was filled with emoji-inspired pillows, and one of them looked like brown poop with a happy face. (Because that’s exactly what everybody wants for Christmas, right?  A good bowel movement? Did I just go there?) It can sit right next to the angry emoji pillow. I think they look nice together. Or maybe not.

You can also get purple poo (maybe in case you’ve been eating too many garden huckleberries).

Apparently, I am so not up on my emojis. I think I’d be happy with a smilie face or the pillow with glasses.  I’m probably not very cool that way.

Emoji pillows, including a poo pillow.

Later, I found marquee letters on sale.

Marquees seem to be a popular home decoration these days. The signs are words or symbols, like an arrow, as well as stand-alone letters. They’re made of metal (and sometimes plastic) and dotted with LED lights, so they look like old theater signs. (You can put the writing on the wall and then make it glow.)

The letters were on sale for a great price (maybe 70% off?), and I think they would look pretty cool on our bookshelf or mantle. I’d have to decide if I wanted to spell a word (short ones cost less and fit better), or go with a simple initial for the family name …

Marquee letters. I should have set them up to spell something fun before I snapped the photo. Oh wait! It does kind of spell something. It’s almost “grace.” But then the last letter is really an “i,” so it’s “graci.” which is kind of a word too. 

Then I noticed that each letter had a sticker on the side to indicate which one it was. Because apparently being letter-shaped might not do the trick for some people. Now I know with absolute certainty that the marquee letter that’s shaped like an “A” is, in fact, a letter A. (I did not check the poo pillow for a label, so maybe it’s really chocolate … happy, slightly melty chocolate.)

The one that looks like the letter C is a letter C. How handy! (I wonder how easily the stickers peel off?)

I guess the stickers would be helpful if the letters were stored on a shelf so that only the side shows.

And really, some days I do need this kind of visual aid, but not today. (And I still spent too much money.)

 

–Update 12/07/16–

I keep changing the title of this post because I wasn’t crazy about the first two titles. Plus I just wanted to experiment. So if you feel like you read this post before, then maybe you did.  I’ll probably stick with “I [Emoji] Holiday Shopping,” for now. (Because in my mind I can put any emoji there based on my particular mood regarding holiday shopping. It varies. Some days the pillow emojis shown (above) describe it perfectly.

Also, my daughter saw my photo of the emoji pillows and said, “wow, emoji pillows for only $5 !” I guess she thought it was a good price. She also confirmed that the brown pillow is supposed to be poo. I’m kind of wondering if I should be blogging about poo pillows. And, really, I kind of wonder why they make poo pillows. And why they have poo emojis in the first place.

(I looked it up. Apparently in Japan the word for lucky is very similar to the shortened form of the Japanese word for poo. So it is sort of a pun, but basically poo=lucky. I mean I feel pretty lucky when I poo. It sure does beat the alternative. Emojis started as a Japanese thing in the first place, so I guess the poo stuck around. And everybody poos, right? Added 12/15/16.)

I also wonder if I should be proud of our geriatric cat when he leaves a little present outside the litter box. “Oh look, Fletcher, you made an lucky emoji. Good kitty!”

(Um, no.)
Copyright 2016 Deb L Kapke

 

Wait List

04 Dec 2016 Leave a comment

by alightningbug in Games, Mom Stuff Tags: , , ,

I drove my daughter to one of her Saturday dance classes yesterday. In doing so, I missed the registration for Pinburgh. (Even though I set up several alert reminders, my brain had gone on auto pilot, and so I didn’t get home soon enough.)

Pinburgh is a pinball tournament that takes place in July of 2017 at the ReplyFX Arcade and Video Game Festival.

Pinburgh tickets went on sale at 11:00 a.m. yesterday and sold out in less than 30 minutes (say what?!). I wasn’t expecting that.

Last year it took a few hours to sell out. The two years prior to that it sold out quicker (but had fewer spots). This year there were 740 slots(!)‚ the most they’ve ever had, so I thought I’d be safe.

I am now on the wait list (which may or may not work out). In previous years the wait list moved quite a bit. I needed to plan this better.

With ticket sales so far in advance of the actual event, there are inevitably folks who cancel because their schedule just doesn’t work for the four-day event. Lots of folks only register because they know it’s register now or not at all. Tickets are not transferrable, so you can’t register and then sell your spot to somebody else.

I’m hoping with more total spots this year, I will be able to score one of them as the wait list moves. But it could go the other way, with more spots taken so quickly, it may mean there is more interest and more folks may actually go.

I’m hoping I’ll be lucky (with tickets and then again in the tournament). It was fun!

 

The Visitor

02 Dec 2016 Leave a comment

by alightningbug in Food, Mom Stuff, Plant Life and Balcony Gardening Tags: , , ,

Over the past few days one of the pumpkins on our balcony has been nibbled more and more.

I got the pumpkins and winter squash partly because they’re pretty, but I also plan on eating most of them. I’d rather they weren’t pre-eaten. I’m glad the visitor is sticking with only one.

I’m pretty sure the little visitor is a squirrel, not a bird. Something also dug into one of the flower pots. Birds don’t dig.

Most squirrels can’t make it to our balcony anymore.

It used to be an easy climb. The exterior siding of our building was artificial stucco. It was rough and bumpy and the squirrels could scale it like furry little Spidermen. Ravenous Spidermen that would eat all my tomatoes and some of the plants including strawberry plants (not just the fruit). Sometimes there would be two or three critters on the balcony at one time. (Like they were having a party and laughing at us just a little.)

Now we have smoother siding, and the squirrels can’t scale the walls. So we’ve been mostly squirrel-free.

But there is a tree not far from the balcony. The branches have been growing a little closer each year.

Last year, I saw one squirrel on the balcony one time. We scared each other.

Our cat Fletcher had gone out on the balcony a little earlier. I went outside to let him in and check on plants. I was on the far side of the balcony when I heard a strange noise. I turned around and a squirrel was sitting in the middle of the balcony. He looked as surprised to see me as I was to see him.

I think the squirrel must have been hiding from the cat (maybe behind a plant), and when the cat went inside the squirrel thought the coast was clear. That’s when we spotted each other.

I thought I might be able to chase him off if I ran toward him. I took two quick steps forward.

The squirrel had the same idea at the exact same time. (That’s right, I must be squirrel-brained).

So the squirrel and I ran straight toward each other. Which scared us both, again. We each stopped dead in our tracks and looked at each other for a few long seconds. I thought, “oh, crap.” And I’m pretty sure the squirrel did too.

I stomped my foot a couple of times thinking that might get Mr. Squirrel to leave. He stood frozen.

I thought the squirrel would just run off the side of the building. But, it turned out, that wasn’t the way he got there, and he couldn’t just climb down. He was stuck.

The squirrel needed to get back to the tree which was on the other side of me. He pondered his options as I pondered mine (the door back inside was on the other side of the squirrel).

There are bricks around most of the edge of our balcony. After a few deep breaths, Mr. Squirrel jumped onto the bricks and ran, as fast as his little squirrel legs could carry him, past me and flung himself out into the tree from which he came.

The branch bounced so hard I thought he’d be launched back into the sky. But he held fast and then ran, jumping to another branch and then another. Each swinging in his wake as he chattered away.

That’s when my daughter walked outside. She was laughing. Apparently she could see my shadow from inside (like a giant shadow puppet) and saw the whole episode. “Was there a squirrel or something?” Yep.

Mr. Squirrel stayed away for a while after that. In fact, I didn’t see another on the balcony for the rest of that summer. (The branch he jumped too may have cracked a little.) I could see several squirrels in the tree nearby twittering away.

Well, at least one of the furry little critters has figured out how to get on the balcony again. I saw one squirrel earlier in the summer (he promptly ran back to the tree). Now it appears he’s back. What’s more, he found food, so he’s returned several times now. We appear to be his new favorite fast-food place.

I’m hoping the green tomatoes still on the vine will be left alone. Squirrels usually leave hot peppers alone after the first bite or two.

It’s just the one pumpkin that has been nibbled. But first it was a tiny nibble. Now it’s bigger (and bigger). I’m a little worried that Mr. Squirrel will be bringing friends along for a winter feast. Hopefully, they won’t all be such good jumpers.

But I am worried about next spring and summer. I may have to learn to prune trees (from ten feet away and four floors up).

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Nibble, nibble little, squirrel. Who’s been nibbling on my pumpkin?

 

Copyright 2016 Deb L Kapke