rhymes with rhyme














navigation
current
archives
links page
profile















done
December 26, 2014

Another Christmas over and done and survived. I cannot complain, actually. We went nowhere, we saw no one, and I, for one, pretty much did nothing. On Christmas Eve, Spouse made bacon, eggs, and hashbrowns for breakfast, then he and I ran some errands. We ended up at Sam's so he could check on his new glasses, renew the membership, and get a new card. And so I could buy his new Cuisinart countertop convection oven. Which was very reasonably priced, and didn't involve much sacrifice on my part.

No, the sacrifice came when we got home, and I gave up my microwave to make room for it.

Yes, I got rid of my microwave. And make no mistake, it was MY microwave. He hardly ever used it. Well, obviously. If it was something HE used, we wouldn't be giving it away, would we? And again, because of the tightness of our kitchen space, I will have to completely rearrange things and get rid of stuff so we can function. A lot of work, for his benefit. I feel like I am losing ground in my kitchen, and he is taking over.

But such are the sacrifices we make for love. And for peace & quiet.

And because we live in a tiny shitbox. Which is also a sacrifice we make for love.

For Christmas Eve dinner, Spouse made Korean-style BBQ beef ribs with carrots, and served it over Basmati rice. Lovely meal. I guess I can't complain about the kitchen, because he wants to cook, and I certainly don't.


Speaking of which--Although breakfast was pretty basic (he made a pan of Pillsbury cinnamon rolls in his new convection oven), Christmas dinner was pretty good. Nothing exotic: he baked a quarter-ham with a maple-brown sugar glaze, made boil-in-bag peas, mashed some potatoes, and his big culinary challenge was making homemade macaroni and cheese from scratch, just for me (he doesn't eat mac-n-cheese).

Which was...okay. Kind of bland & gluey. All quality ingredients, and he did everything exactly right. The cheese could have been sharper. And it would have been better with cornstarch rather than flour. And maybe a speck of salt.

But I don't want him to feel like it was a failure, or anything. It was pretty decent. I would have preferred to just have the mashed potatoes, if he had asked, but he really felt like he was doing something special for me, so I let him. He took a lot of trouble to make something just for me. I certainly want to be appreciative of that.

And his dessert was interesting--he did oranges brulee--took orange halves, spread them with butter and sugar, and hit them with the torch to make a caramelized crust. They were delicious! light and flavorful and a very nice finish to the meal.

Since we did all of our gift-giving as we went along, there was no opening of presents, unless you count the dog. He got a bag full of new toys dumped on his head. I think he would have appreciated them more if they had been doled out one-by-one, but Spouse wanted to go for the big reveal. He was more interested in the treats he got, anyway.

Let's see--what else did I do on Christmas? Vacuumed, washed the dog's bed, read a bit, cleaned out the medicine cabinet, web surfed, drank a few Cosmos and got pleasantly squiffy, talked to some of my family on the phone. Really--it's just another day off. So if I feel like tackling projects, I am going to do it.

News from GSIL in Iowa--her first grandchild is going to be a girl, which she is thrilled about, and she has early-stage colon cancer, which she is considerably less thrilled about. Damn. I really hoped that she would be the one member of her family not to get cancer. every other single, solitary person in her immediate family has had it in one form or another--and she's lost her dad, her stepdad, and both brothers to it. But she has a good attitude, they are catching it early, and she's taking a course that will minimize her chances of a recurrence. All we can do is hope for the best.

And I talked to my dad in AZ--he has been having a rough time, and thought it was due to the dental stuff, but it turns out that his dizziness and swelling and pain are due to a sinus infection. With his Meniere's disease, he suffers a lot from vertigo when he gets a head cold or sinus problems. But he did get his dentures adjusted and those are feeling much better. Still can't chew with them yet, but his dentist said he's healing up quickly and nicely.
In other news: Some scumbag drunk puked all over my front lawn Christmas Eve. WTF--the curb was like three feet away! Puke in the gutter like normal drunks, you lowlife! I swear this neighborhood is getting dodgier all the time.

Since today was BAU, I had to go in to work. But at least it is Friday, so it's a half-day. Spouse is off, though, so I didn't get my usual Friday afternoon peaceful "me" time. Traffic was pretty light, which was nice. Weather is unseasonably warm--high of 47 today.

And...apparently there have been some kind of changes with Diaryland--the randomizer link doesn't work anymore, and everywhere I've used a punctuation mark that isn't a period or a comma, I'm getting the stupid "character unrecognized" symbol. Ugh. I have nearly 1400 entries on here, so I doubt if I'm going anywhere, but it is getting to be more of a pain not to move than it is to move. Of course, the changes aren't relayed to the diarists, either before or after the fact--we just have to stumble on them. I usually don't complain, because hey--free hosting! But sometimes I do get frustrated.

One last, weird thing. Christmas morning, I went downstairs to get the ham out of the fridge, and encountered the strangest thing. Out of the blue, in the middle of the basement floor, for no reason--there was a silk poinsettia blossom. Not mine, not there previously, and kind of freaky. I have no explanation for it. I am sure there is one, but I've no clue.

I don't believe in supernatural occurrences. I wish I could. Because I would dearly love to think that it was my silk-flower-loving mom saying "Merry Christmas".

recede - proceed

hosted by DiaryLand.com