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on hiatus, i guess
November 21, 2016,
This is mostly a note to explain that I haven't been/won't be posting much, due to the pressing demands of actual life. And the sick-making shit going down out in the world, which is enough to make me want to slam my head repeatedly in a car door.
Here's some general news--
Long story short, I've reached my limit with the reactionary, religious, right-wing rednecks, and gone no-contact with the entire State of Iowa. As much as I would like to take the high road, I have to admit it. I'm not strong enough. It's just too triggering for me, and I can't go on putting myself through such agony. I have too much important stuff to do in my life to eff my sh*t up over people with whom I have nothing substantive in common. Accidents of geography and genetics are nothing to build a friendship on.
And I deactivated my facebook. Well, after I realized that I'd unfriended half my contacts and unfollowed the rest (the centrists and leftists are just as upsetting to me), I figured I may as well. If I didn't have so many pictures on there, I'd just delete it and start over, but I want to review those at some point, and download anything I'd like to keep.
But here is how my weekend went:
Friday, after a hellish morning at work, I got my hair cut and my brows waxed and my flu shot and a new electric toothbrush, then I went home and ate some fettucine, took a nap, got up and took a shower, went out to dinner at The Village with my husband, (which nearly led to a fight. But instead of laying into him for being a dick, I just decided I would put it down to him being tired, hungry, and achy, thank him for taking me out to dinner even though he wasn't feeling like it, and proceed to enjoy my steak. That actually seemed to be the right decision, because he lightened up some, and after he ate, he was his old self again. We came straight home after, and went to bed early.
Saturday, we got up, had some rolls and coffee, and I started the laundry & washed dishes while he cleaned up the yard. Then we showered & dressed, and set out on our errands.
First stop Walgreens--passport photos, and greeting card and BB&B gift card for cousin's housewarming.
Then Festival, to order a cheese tray to take on T-giving and to shop the living shit out of their coupon deals. In addition to all the other deals and discounts, the following were completely free: 1 lb country style pork ribs, 1.5 dozen large eggs, a can of Pringles, and 8 oz whole button mushrooms.
Followed by: Costco, to gas up the Chevy. Target, for toy drive toys & games. Petsmart, for B's special Thanksgiving dog food.
Once we were done with the rounds, we came home, put stuff away, and rebooted laundry, then had a lunch of popcorn, apples and cheese. Followed by firing up our respective laptops and filling out & printing our passport applications for submitting at the Wilmot Post Office next Friday. (Wilmot, because apparently, western Kenosha County has way less demand for that than east of the I. KPO is not even taking reservations until 2017, and Wilmot was like "Oh, sure, come on in, no appointment necessary!")
After that was done, we all had a doze in the afternoon. Dinner was a tossed salad, followed by BBQ meatballs & chicken wings (A weird Spouse favorite). A quiet evening at home.
Sunday morning, nobody felt too great when we first got up, but we eventually brightened up, and made our own breakfasts. I made myself an omelet with herbs and shallots, filled with sauteed fresh mushrooms and a bit of gouda cheese, and served with French bread toast. (Damn, I make a good omelet!) Spouse made toast and plain scrambled eggs for himself. And I made the dog a scrambled egg with gouda on top, because shallots aren't good for dogs, but you can't stiff the B.
After we ate and cleaned up the mess, I went through my baking plan and wrote up a list of all the ingredients I still needed to get, then we got dressed and ran out to fill up the Buick and hit the Costco for some staple supplies (regular & brown sugar, vanilla, half&half) and more donations (Tonka toys for the toy drive, a six-pack of bath towels for the Families in Need drive). Then on to Meijer for the rest (Cheesecloth, M&Ms, Hershey Kisses, flour, evaporated milk, dog food, bird food, and assorted other items.)
When we got home, I started to put everything away, and Spouse asked if I had any zipstrip wire ties, for hanging up his new suet feeder. I proceeded to open the junk drawer to take a look--only to have it come tumbling to the floor in a jumble of--well, junk!
So. Oh, well. Nobody blew their tops (again--this is a major victory for us, when unfortunate-but-minor things happen, and don't get treated like it's the end of the world.) We took it as the perfect opportunity to go through the contents, chuck what was worthless, organize what wasn't, and make it all tidy. An unplanned task, but certainly one worth doing. We even found a couple of wire ties!
He went on to hang up his feeder, I finished putting away the shopping, and then he relaxed and called Phoenix for a chat, while I made fresh-squeezed limeade. He was craving something fresh, and limes were cheap at the grocery store, so I told him I'd mix some up.
Later, he had a lie-down in his room, and I loaded up the pressure cooker with chicken pieces, veggies, herbs, and a couple of quarts of water, and got a pot of stock going. I was trying hard not to succumb to the urge to nap, so I wrapped up the laundry and pottered around a bit while it was cooking, and once it was done, I divided the results--I reserved a quart of the stock for Spouse's homemade stuffing, and put the rest in a bowl to settle and separate for Monday's dinner of homemade chicken soup. Then, while the chicken was cooling enough to be picked, I cleaned up all my mess, and washed & dried the pressure cooker parts.
Once I'd gotten the chicken set aside in a ziplock bag for the soup, I decided I may as well dice the carrot and celery that was going into the soup, and put it into a ziplock as well. So basically, I had a "soup kit" in the fridge, ready to assemble! All ready to go, perfect for a chilly evening after a long hard day.
We picked an easy meal for dinner; he wasn't feeling up to cooking, and I had Monday figured out already, so I just made the country-style ribs in the oven, along with some baked potatoes and a can of green beans. Little work, little cleanup, but a tasty and satisfying dinner.
I spent the rest of the evening mucking about on the computer, and getting ready for Monday morning.
It was an okay weekend. I didn't get much housework done, but I figured since I'm going to be off after Monday, I'd get to it at some point. My plans are fruitcake on Tuesday, and get it out of the way, then I will be baking spritz cookies and making fudge and nut clusters on Wednesday, in between running errands and a possible visit from Nephew and Niece-in-Law.
The baking and candy-making list, so far, is:
2 Fruitcakes
Fruitcake Pinwheels (from leftover fruitcake filling)
Spritz cookies
Peanut clusters
Easy Fudge (oh, crap--I just realized I forgot to get sweetened condensed milk!)
Pfeffernusse
Peppermint roses
Peanut Butter Blossoms
M&M cookies
Iced sugar cookies
Scottish Shortbread
Reading: My recipe file, mostly--it is officially my cooking and baking season. And since I decided to watch all the episodes of Ellery Queen again, I'm using my reading time for that.
Listening: Good grief, am I ever sick of the stuff on my USB. But the Leonard Cohen tracks have geen getting a good workout. RIP, Lenny.
Inked Up: The Duragraph, of course--and the two Levengers. Facets fine nib with Pelikan 4001 Royal Blue, and the Splendor Encore fine nib with J. Herbin Rouge Bourgogne.
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