I have been checking my personal email periodically because we have some personal drama going on that I don't really need to complain about here (see me being all positive?!?). It was 4:02 this afternoon. I believe that I finally know the excited, wonderful feeling that Mrs. Irritation & Mouse felt when they found each other after soooooooo many years.
I got an email. Finally, after all these years. 19 years to be exact. It was from my old best friend in high school.
She finally found me. I can't believe it. I've searched for her on FB occasionally, with no luck. I don't know why I didn't get a hit, but I just didn't.
It turns out that she has been searching for me for years. And today was the day. With one email that said "Hello Old Friend..." I am taken back 19 years.
I know we are totally different people now than when we were in high school (who isn't?). She's the one person I remember with such fond memories. All the fun I had in high school was with her. She was beautiful, popular, and cool. I remember appreciating her sense of humor. I remember sitting next to her in drivers Ed, I think it was (and History--we had several classes together that one year). We hit it off.
We went to Sr. Prom together. I participated in senior skip-day thanks to her (sorry mom, I know you didn't need to know that). We watched each other grow up in those later high school years when you really form who you are. I think the last time I saw her was at her wedding, 19 years ago.
I didn't have time to call her tonight, but I will catch up with her voice this weekend.
Will we still have things in common? Will we still like each other? Will she think I'm a quack when she reads this?!? The anticipation of getting to know her again is so exciting. I never thought I'd have an old friend older than my college roommate, Justine. I have always thought of her over the years, wondering what she did and how she was.
I know myself--and I only have a few friends. I've never been popular or outgoing. I'm naturally a quiet, introverted individual (really!!!). I'm not the social butterfly type. But the few friends I have, I hold tight and treasure highly. I hope all of you have connected to that one long lost friend--or better yet, your friend was never lost.
What an amazing day.
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Monday, November 28, 2011
More Leftovers Please
I know, I know, it's Christmas time already, would I just give the whole Thanksgiving holiday a rest already? Nope. Not as long as there is still turkey and pie left in my fridge.
I want to share my favorite thing to do with all the leftovers! My mom reminded me of what I did two years ago which I had completely forgotten I had done! I can't remember exactly what I did, so I improvised with the idea this year. Don't you hate it when you forget a wonderful recipe? Or when your spouse makes something spectacular and doesn't write it down?!?!!
Here is the recipe for my favorite Leftover Thanksgiving Casserole:
Add one whisked egg to about 2.5 cups of mashed potatoes (give or take a cup). Spread half of that over the bottom of a greased casserole dish. Next, spread a thin layer of stuffing (preferably cornbread-sausage-craisin-pecan stuffing). On top of that, spread a layer of turkey. On top of that, drizzle a layer of gravy. On top of that, spread the remaining potato-egg mixture. At this point, you could freeze this for consumption at a later time. Otherwise, you can refrigerate or cook this dish.
To cook, put the (thawed) casserole in a 350 oven for about 40 minutes, or until heated through. I spread butter on the top for the last 10 minutes of cooking so the top would brown. I served extra gravy on the side, oh yes, you know I did.
I made this casserole after Thanksgiving dinner and cooked it last night. Todd wasn't excited about it, until I served the plate of hot steaming goodness in front of him. He ate a 2nd helping. I forgot to take a picture of this beautiful casserole. However, I will share with you pictures of our Thanksgiving meal. You have to realize that I was not going for "pretty" or even decorated at this point. We are still unpacking from our cross-country move. The fact that we have plates, utensils, and all the food was prepared and on the table were my only goals. I will go for "pretty" next year, including nice place mats and a centerpiece, bla bla bla.
Check back tomorrow for the monkey bread drama which arose this year. Or pics of our pie buffet. Not sure which I will write about tomorrow.
I want to share my favorite thing to do with all the leftovers! My mom reminded me of what I did two years ago which I had completely forgotten I had done! I can't remember exactly what I did, so I improvised with the idea this year. Don't you hate it when you forget a wonderful recipe? Or when your spouse makes something spectacular and doesn't write it down?!?!!
Here is the recipe for my favorite Leftover Thanksgiving Casserole:
Add one whisked egg to about 2.5 cups of mashed potatoes (give or take a cup). Spread half of that over the bottom of a greased casserole dish. Next, spread a thin layer of stuffing (preferably cornbread-sausage-craisin-pecan stuffing). On top of that, spread a layer of turkey. On top of that, drizzle a layer of gravy. On top of that, spread the remaining potato-egg mixture. At this point, you could freeze this for consumption at a later time. Otherwise, you can refrigerate or cook this dish.
To cook, put the (thawed) casserole in a 350 oven for about 40 minutes, or until heated through. I spread butter on the top for the last 10 minutes of cooking so the top would brown. I served extra gravy on the side, oh yes, you know I did.
I made this casserole after Thanksgiving dinner and cooked it last night. Todd wasn't excited about it, until I served the plate of hot steaming goodness in front of him. He ate a 2nd helping. I forgot to take a picture of this beautiful casserole. However, I will share with you pictures of our Thanksgiving meal. You have to realize that I was not going for "pretty" or even decorated at this point. We are still unpacking from our cross-country move. The fact that we have plates, utensils, and all the food was prepared and on the table were my only goals. I will go for "pretty" next year, including nice place mats and a centerpiece, bla bla bla.
Our table of goodness:
(Top to bottom: gravy and turkey, mini-buns, mashed potatoes,
cranberry relish, stuffing, scalloped corn, more gravy)
My plate:
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Monkey Bread 2011
And now for the unveiling of this year's Thanksgiving Monkey Bread.
Drum roll please...
It was a good one this year, however my intent was to make half a batch. I made ham-scrambled-eggs mid-morning, so I didn't want monkey bread to fill us up completely. Little did I know that this "half batch" grew into a full batch. So my stickiness was a little less than what I would have liked. I love extra gooey-ness, and it just wasn't meant to be this year. It was just barely gooey enough, which is still good.
*The drama with this year's monkey bread had to do with a furry little 4-legged yellow monkey. Named Shadow. Who has NO MANNERS. And is learning the rules of the house by trial-and-error.
On Thanksgiving morning, Shadow learned by error. She thought the monkey bread looked irresistibly tasty. Before it was baked, and sitting innocently on the cook top. It was just sitting there, patiently waiting for the oven to heat up. It was minding it's own bees-wax, when all of a sudden, Shadow reached up and took a bite.
Fortunately my mom walked in right as the unspeakable event was occurring, and from her reaction, I knew immediately what had happened. I ran to the kitchen like my pants were on fire and loudly reprimanded Shadow, and she was banished to the outside for the rest of the day. Lucky it was unseasonably hot that day. Little shit. I pulled out all the buns around that "hole", and made the hole bigger, but at least I knew we wouldn't be eating after her. That little shit.
Drum roll please...
Before picture:
Thanksgiving morning after it had risen (and prior to the drama*):
And finally, the baked result
(notice there is kind of a "hole" towards the bottom*):
(notice there is kind of a "hole" towards the bottom*):
It was a good one this year, however my intent was to make half a batch. I made ham-scrambled-eggs mid-morning, so I didn't want monkey bread to fill us up completely. Little did I know that this "half batch" grew into a full batch. So my stickiness was a little less than what I would have liked. I love extra gooey-ness, and it just wasn't meant to be this year. It was just barely gooey enough, which is still good.
*The drama with this year's monkey bread had to do with a furry little 4-legged yellow monkey. Named Shadow. Who has NO MANNERS. And is learning the rules of the house by trial-and-error.
On Thanksgiving morning, Shadow learned by error. She thought the monkey bread looked irresistibly tasty. Before it was baked, and sitting innocently on the cook top. It was just sitting there, patiently waiting for the oven to heat up. It was minding it's own bees-wax, when all of a sudden, Shadow reached up and took a bite.
Fortunately my mom walked in right as the unspeakable event was occurring, and from her reaction, I knew immediately what had happened. I ran to the kitchen like my pants were on fire and loudly reprimanded Shadow, and she was banished to the outside for the rest of the day. Lucky it was unseasonably hot that day. Little shit. I pulled out all the buns around that "hole", and made the hole bigger, but at least I knew we wouldn't be eating after her. That little shit.
Say Cheeeeseburger
Much to his demise, I insisted that Todd sit for a few minutes to endure the dreaded FAMILY PHOTO. You would have thought that I had asked him to run a marathon or give up beer for a week, or something that requires tremendous self discipline. I actually had to bitch up a storm for MINUTES to get him to consent.
I knew it was the perfect opportunity this weekend, because: a) we had someone here to take the photo, b) he had shaved and showered, and c) it was the time, if I have any hope of ordering cards in time to receive and address them, in order to get them in the mail prior to 12/24. Plus, I actually won a contest (which so rarely happens) and will receive some free cards! That was real incentive to get things done on time this year instead of at the last minute.
Every year, I expect the photo shoot to be a fun, delightful experience. Why haven't I learned by now? Taking a "family photo" includes our furry family members. As big of a ham* as Keystone is, you'd think getting a smile out of him would be easy. He was less than amused. Abbytail is usually the sulking one, not interested in looking Happy. At. All. But no, Abbytail was her happy little self, and Keystone was almost a disaster. Todd actually looks happy, despite his protest. I am happy to say that there is ONE picture that I can put on the front of our cards this year. To be revealed later...
*Keystone IS a big ham, but not as BIG of a HAM as his brother / my god-dog-son Baxter! Baxter is the biggest, beloved picture-whore ever. He really could be a dog model.
I knew it was the perfect opportunity this weekend, because: a) we had someone here to take the photo, b) he had shaved and showered, and c) it was the time, if I have any hope of ordering cards in time to receive and address them, in order to get them in the mail prior to 12/24. Plus, I actually won a contest (which so rarely happens) and will receive some free cards! That was real incentive to get things done on time this year instead of at the last minute.
Every year, I expect the photo shoot to be a fun, delightful experience. Why haven't I learned by now? Taking a "family photo" includes our furry family members. As big of a ham* as Keystone is, you'd think getting a smile out of him would be easy. He was less than amused. Abbytail is usually the sulking one, not interested in looking Happy. At. All. But no, Abbytail was her happy little self, and Keystone was almost a disaster. Todd actually looks happy, despite his protest. I am happy to say that there is ONE picture that I can put on the front of our cards this year. To be revealed later...
Now, for your amusement, this is what we really looked like:
*Keystone IS a big ham, but not as BIG of a HAM as his brother / my god-dog-son Baxter! Baxter is the biggest, beloved picture-whore ever. He really could be a dog model.
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Happy Thanksgiving & 1 Year For Me
Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!
It was 1 year ago that I decided to jump into the blogWorld with my very first post. I have enjoyed the past year. I think back to that Thanksgiving and how things have changed; and for the better for us. The past year has been rough, but thankfully (tee hee) it's behind us and we are both happier these days. The move cross country was stressful, but so worth it.
Why do I love Thanksgiving?
1. A very special meal with new experiments & lifelong traditions:
- Dried corn is an old tradition in Todd's family
- Cold Duck is a retired tradition -- Todd used to have a sip of this with Thanksgiving dinner throughout his childhood
- Cornbread sausage stuffing with craisins and pecans (when my parents are here)
- Brine turkey which Todd has perfected (sooooooo moist) and his gravy (soooooo good)
- Monkey Bread for breakfast! This is a tradition I established years ago -- today's monkey bread blog coming soon
- Todd has added homemade buns to our feast
- Things I can't even remember at the moment...
2. It's like Christmas only better without the stress of:
- Finding the right gifts.
- Buying the gifts.
- Wrapping the gifts.
- Sending/delivering the gifts.
- Plus? We have more of everything than we could possibly ever need so why not just anticipate a celebratory feast...
3. Family:
My mom (in blue) and her sisters and brothers
Hope your Thanksgiving is a happy one!
Monday, November 21, 2011
Almost Here
Can you feel it? It's almost here. The best holiday of all! Thankgiving is JUST around the corner.
We have our turkey. We are frantically cleaning. Well not really, but trying to make some of the rooms presentable for my parents. I am so excited about Thanksgiving! It's the start of the holiday season. The mad rush to buy, spend, wrap, etc. hasn't started yet. It's the somewhat relaxing holiday, if you can call cooking for 2 days to devour in 30 minutes, relaxing. It's the anticipation leading up to a very special meal with foods that I absolutely love. It's being in the kitchen together and pulling off a fantastic feast as a team.
It's truly my favorite holiday of all. Fingers crossed that the oven keeps working.
We have our turkey. We are frantically cleaning. Well not really, but trying to make some of the rooms presentable for my parents. I am so excited about Thanksgiving! It's the start of the holiday season. The mad rush to buy, spend, wrap, etc. hasn't started yet. It's the somewhat relaxing holiday, if you can call cooking for 2 days to devour in 30 minutes, relaxing. It's the anticipation leading up to a very special meal with foods that I absolutely love. It's being in the kitchen together and pulling off a fantastic feast as a team.
It's truly my favorite holiday of all. Fingers crossed that the oven keeps working.
Sunday, November 13, 2011
What Would You Do?
I need your help! I am in the midst of a dilemma.
There is a very important room in my house that has me completely stumped. I look around and I have NO CLUE how to begin decorating it. When I walk into our long, large living room, the focal point at the end of the room is the fireplace. Then my eye is drawn up to the blank white pentagon above it, and feel the strong urge to begin praying, or look around for a bride and groom about to get hitched.
OK, it's not that bad. When we first looked at the house, this was one of the very few things in the negative column and I HATED this feature. I have now grown to accept it. I don't love it, but I no longer hate it. This area has me completely uninspired as to how I can work with what I have. I don't like painted brick, so that's not an option (makes me want to fleck off the paint to see what it used to look like even though in this situation, I would know).
Please ignore the white-trash antennae and cords. You get the general idea. Until I have a plan for this area, my hubby can do whatever he wants to make the TV work.
I believe I should paint the middle area some kind of color. The walls in the entire room are the same almost-white with a tiny bit of a tan tint to it. I don't dislike the color, but it does nothing for me. And the pentagon area in the middle needs to have some color so that it detracts from the bricks going up the sides into a point that reminds me of a church alter. There will be no sacrificial services happening here, and no sermons.
I do love the fireplace itself. Our gold fireplace tools have to go, as they are the only gold-anything in the house. But in looking at the area, how would you decorate it? What colors would you use? Would you look for a portrait-print or picture or go with a mirror and if so what color of frame? I put the curtains up, but am not in love with how they look here. Sheer red, mustard yellow, olive green and white vertical stripes, but you mostly see the red. I don't care for the curtain finials. I look at this area and think... meh.
What would you do with this area? Help me! I need your ideas for inspiration. I want to AT LEAST like this area. I want to feel like I'm at home, and not at church.
There is a very important room in my house that has me completely stumped. I look around and I have NO CLUE how to begin decorating it. When I walk into our long, large living room, the focal point at the end of the room is the fireplace. Then my eye is drawn up to the blank white pentagon above it, and feel the strong urge to begin praying, or look around for a bride and groom about to get hitched.
OK, it's not that bad. When we first looked at the house, this was one of the very few things in the negative column and I HATED this feature. I have now grown to accept it. I don't love it, but I no longer hate it. This area has me completely uninspired as to how I can work with what I have. I don't like painted brick, so that's not an option (makes me want to fleck off the paint to see what it used to look like even though in this situation, I would know).
Here is my challenging mantle/fireplace area (the brick is tones of red and not orange even though you might think there could be orange tones in this picture):
Please ignore the white-trash antennae and cords. You get the general idea. Until I have a plan for this area, my hubby can do whatever he wants to make the TV work.
I believe I should paint the middle area some kind of color. The walls in the entire room are the same almost-white with a tiny bit of a tan tint to it. I don't dislike the color, but it does nothing for me. And the pentagon area in the middle needs to have some color so that it detracts from the bricks going up the sides into a point that reminds me of a church alter. There will be no sacrificial services happening here, and no sermons.
I do love the fireplace itself. Our gold fireplace tools have to go, as they are the only gold-anything in the house. But in looking at the area, how would you decorate it? What colors would you use? Would you look for a portrait-print or picture or go with a mirror and if so what color of frame? I put the curtains up, but am not in love with how they look here. Sheer red, mustard yellow, olive green and white vertical stripes, but you mostly see the red. I don't care for the curtain finials. I look at this area and think... meh.
What would you do with this area? Help me! I need your ideas for inspiration. I want to AT LEAST like this area. I want to feel like I'm at home, and not at church.
Monday, November 7, 2011
One Person's Trash
When we moved in, we had a fancy shmancy DishDrawer dishwasher with 2 drawers instead of one big cavity. It was made by Fisher & Paykel, some high-end New Zealand/Australian company. You may have read my previous post about this dishwasher.
As of yesterday, I have $100 burning a hole in my pocket! But wait, maybe I made a mistake. Maybe I should have kept it and had it installed properly... maybe I would have loved it like those who know of this brand tout it's fine reputation. Maybe I would have an amazing appreciation for this wonderful technology. The lady who bought it used to sell these things for a living and told me all about how great they are. Apparently one of her appliances from this manufacturer has a total of only 76 parts (including screws). You can take it apart and put it back together again. Personally, I think Lego's sound like more fun, but anyhoo, apparently if you live in the bush you could actually fix your own machine since this is such an efficient design.
I find it pretty humorous that we are both deliriously happy with the outcome. We have more space in our garage and money in our pocket; and they have a new-to-them dishwasher that doesn't clean as well as my dogs' tongues. I'm so glad it found a home, because I don't know how long it would have lasted before we took it to donation, or worse, trashed it.
Speaking of things that are worth so little you may even consider throwing them away, today was Big Trash Pickup Day in our old hood. When we stopped by Kevin & Suzie's place yesterday, there was a house just up the street that had a huge pile of "junk" ready for the trash guys. When I say "Big Trash Pickup", you folks in the West may not understand exactly what we mean here in the Midwest. We mean, you can put ANYTHING you want at the curb, AND THEY TAKE IT AWAY FOR YOU. Ok, you can't put hazardous materials like paint, motor oil, or car batteries at the curb. But if you had an old couch? That's fine. An old sink, a desk, a grill? Fine. A perfectly good fireplace insert someone decided they didn't want to use? They'll take it. They come TO your curb and pick it up for you; and they do this ONCE a MONTH. Imagine that... in this huge pile of "junk", there was a rocking chair. A wooden rocking chair. Just like the two we just bought. Exactly the same finish. And is now sitting on my front porch.
One person's trash is truly another person's treasure.
As of yesterday, I have $100 burning a hole in my pocket! But wait, maybe I made a mistake. Maybe I should have kept it and had it installed properly... maybe I would have loved it like those who know of this brand tout it's fine reputation. Maybe I would have an amazing appreciation for this wonderful technology. The lady who bought it used to sell these things for a living and told me all about how great they are. Apparently one of her appliances from this manufacturer has a total of only 76 parts (including screws). You can take it apart and put it back together again. Personally, I think Lego's sound like more fun, but anyhoo, apparently if you live in the bush you could actually fix your own machine since this is such an efficient design.
I find it pretty humorous that we are both deliriously happy with the outcome. We have more space in our garage and money in our pocket; and they have a new-to-them dishwasher that doesn't clean as well as my dogs' tongues. I'm so glad it found a home, because I don't know how long it would have lasted before we took it to donation, or worse, trashed it.
Speaking of things that are worth so little you may even consider throwing them away, today was Big Trash Pickup Day in our old hood. When we stopped by Kevin & Suzie's place yesterday, there was a house just up the street that had a huge pile of "junk" ready for the trash guys. When I say "Big Trash Pickup", you folks in the West may not understand exactly what we mean here in the Midwest. We mean, you can put ANYTHING you want at the curb, AND THEY TAKE IT AWAY FOR YOU. Ok, you can't put hazardous materials like paint, motor oil, or car batteries at the curb. But if you had an old couch? That's fine. An old sink, a desk, a grill? Fine. A perfectly good fireplace insert someone decided they didn't want to use? They'll take it. They come TO your curb and pick it up for you; and they do this ONCE a MONTH. Imagine that... in this huge pile of "junk", there was a rocking chair. A wooden rocking chair. Just like the two we just bought. Exactly the same finish. And is now sitting on my front porch.
One person's trash is truly another person's treasure.
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Speaking Of Gardens
As an experiment about a month ago, I planted broccoli, 2 kinds of lettuce, carrots, 2 kinds of radishes, and a couple of other things. These are cold crops. I'm very late in getting the seeds planted, but hey, it's an experiment. Fast forward a month and...
We have BABIES!!! I have little green sprouts. The broccoli and both kinds of radishes sprouted. I think I see carrots too. Who knows if they will survive the "cold" we get tonight, but I think they will be just fine. If we can craft some kind of cold frame before it gets super cold, we'll be chowing down on the rabbit food in a few months. Maybe before Christmas?!?!!
And if it all dies, at least I tried. I'll just call it "practice" for this early spring.
We have BABIES!!! I have little green sprouts. The broccoli and both kinds of radishes sprouted. I think I see carrots too. Who knows if they will survive the "cold" we get tonight, but I think they will be just fine. If we can craft some kind of cold frame before it gets super cold, we'll be chowing down on the rabbit food in a few months. Maybe before Christmas?!?!!
And if it all dies, at least I tried. I'll just call it "practice" for this early spring.
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