Start The Day Out Right

Joy Joy Joy Unmatchable (Is That A Word?)

Friday is laundry day for me at Elder House.

Having clean sweats and bath towels and all is very nice.

But the best of all has nothing to do with laundry.

Most Friday afternoons my glorious Middle Daughter (I've got to find a better pseudonym for her.  "Middle" has some inappropriate connotations that don't hint at how swell this young woman is.) and her equally glorious little girl stop by.

Yeah, I know, my pictures are always blurry.

This is an old one anyway.

Check out those chocolate filled Twinkies.

Believe it or not those were a BIG disappointment.

Her Mommy lets me share one cookie or saltine with Miss Ellie Bananas.

Fair enough, it is close to her dinner time.

Twice now I offered the classic:

She doesn't have the hang of nibbling the cookie while it remains like a ring on her finger.  But she's got the gusto already!

This time I was left slathered in shortbread mush on both shoulders and chest.

I LOVE THOSE GIRLS!

Now if I can get the rest of my precious offspring and their precious offspring to drop by also...

Meanwhile I am revelling in those Lucky Fridays and nice clean clothes.

Typical October Autumn

It seems this time last year the weather prophets were telling us all to prepare for the next storm of the century.  Good thing they had so many film titles to inspire their stories.  Perhaps they can just dust off the tapes or DVDs from last time and take the coming week off. 

Here in Land Oh Lincoln we will deal with residual frozen and rainy days for the next week or so.  The Buckeye Brother tells me he is not doing any preparations at all.  He lives on the edge.  This is a guy who continues to blow his fallen leaves into the nearby woods.  I adore his chutzpah.  Baby Sister has already dusted off her generators and stocked up on toilet paper, water and any other essentials.  She has children and a castle to protect; so she takes this seriously.  I adore her practicality.

And of course those Easterners have some serious weather stuff to deal with.

Old folks here at Elder House are scared.  Nobody has money or food at the end of the month.  Most have already had their obligatory visits with relatives.  Hopefully the hired help and charity service people will take up the slack for the seriously needy.  I've made a crock pot of pork roast and defrosted several extra loaves of bread.  Most of us intend to share.  I'm short on candles if it matters.

Meanwhile...mood indigo is another way to ride out a storm.

Miscellaneous

Today's post is delayed by, once again, waiting for promised return phone calls.

Southern most church depending on one's point of view.

Russian Orthodox in Antarctica.

Public library restroom warning, Midwest USA

Be sure to wash that strontium 90 off your fingers!

Personally built and created by one of my dearest friend.

Foreground:  Miniature pine forest

Background:  Fully functioning bog

While in the works.

Winner, winner chicken dinner.

Also roasted onions and potatoes.

Flat Quiche For Lunch

More eggs next time

Picking The Sunday Morning News

Life without television has many advantages.  The channel I select to stream on my laptop is the one I prefer on a regular basis. Voices matter very much to me and so I avoid the pointy nose male and breathy female reporters and announcers.  Just icky.  And no sports stories.  Yippee!

This morning, over coffee, I selected these four:

1.  The Chicago Symphony Orchestra musicians are on strike.  Odd to hear that artists are  walking a picket line.  Imagine sculptors, chisels in hand on the Chicago sidewalks.  Visualise the creative signs displayed on the common poster board by landscape or portrait painters.  Give them their money for crying out loud!  We can live without fewer weapons or more roadways to nowhere; but PLEASE give us some music!

2.  A bath house which has been transformed into a restaurant.  The plate was covered with thirteen different colors of yummy looking stuff.  Maybe they can feed those unemployed musicians.

3.  Citizens repurposing abandoned lots and shattered sidewalks for neighborhood use.  Bike trails, climbing playgrounds, and street side respite areas.  Local floral and more sweeter than glass and garbage.

3.  Early Oktoberfest recipe for German potato salad. "Sweating the onions in the bacon fat" are music to my ears.  Wish Grandma Mae was in my kitchen.

All the above are some of the reasons I love Chicago.

Last Legs

So far September has been a lovely month for weather, however it seems to be taking its toll in many other areas:

• Three ambulances yesterday and last night here at Elder House.
• Personal arthritic limb torturing with new level of agony. I didn't think it was going to get WORSE.
• Mitt the Man is wishing he had been born in Mexico.
• Internet Explorer is now completely unable to display several of my favorite blogs for no apparent reason.
• Rice will kill us all.
• Bullies from the past are raising their heads.
• Ancient Vehicle, which has been treated with two brand new tires, is glistening with dashboard threats.
• Medical Catch 22's.
• PT fear is raising.
• Out of raisin bread.

Someday I owe myself an effort to post a version of "first" leg list.

6:26 PM

Two perfect days here in the Midwest.

Both days had glorious special breezes (required for swell weather).  Leaf breezes.  Grass breezes.  Sifting evergreen into the windows breezes.  Even the ridiculous squirrels were stopping and popping on the sidewalk breezes.

The sky on both days were worth writing home about.  But, less admit it, sky blue in and of itself isn't something special.  There are a jillions blue shades that I prefer.  Cobalt.  Turquoise.  Cerulean.  Beany Malone bed room walls.  My grandchildren's eyes.
But when the sky has the cloudy condiments in the usual blue it is damn well acceptable.

Yesterday was a sweet shopping day.  Found each item:  wooden clothes pins, the blue toilet tank bowl freshener, hot Oke Doke cheese popcorn, votive candles, key lime yoghurt, and the giant coral cactus I've been scouting for two months.  Such a happy girl.

AND... I got to drive myself home in my precious Ancient Vehicle with two new tires!

Today I replanted plants.  Met the PT chap.  Spoke to five (FIVE!) of my favorite peoples.  Watched the Children Parade which I've missed this summer.  Made an almost perfect tuna sandwich.  Realized how lucky I am to have the daughters, friends and grandchildren that I have.  Especially today I am grateful

Oh, it got dark at 6:26 pm.  If it stayed a bit lighter a bit longer....oh, yeah... I'm focusing on gratitude.

Cha Cha Changes

August done and gone and lost so many days.

 Saw several of the interiors of my body that I never expected to see.  Listened to the underground music of a "fancy schmancy brain scan" which was surprisingly entertaining.  Lost the ability to speak and gave gallons for blood tests.  Ate really crappy food and ate unusually yummy food.  Watch, I think, every Star Trek movie offered on the television.  Missed my own little apartment very much and ever so grateful to be able to return eventually in one rather piece.

Phone calls with precious friends, Baby Sister and visits from  even more precious friends, Sister and son, cherished Darling Daughters and their babies.  Visits from others I never would have imagined ever occurring; and am still trying to fathom and determine those events.  People who went out of their own busy lives to check up on me and to let me know they care.  I am incredibly blessed with these remarkable humans.

September is here now.  Trying to catch up on all I left on my desk a month ago.  Suddenly even my life has becoming hectic.  Paperwork and phone calls and emails that are all vital and new.  I will be  on a priority and a new schedule I really do not  prefer.  Yet glad I have a bit still to attempt.

A Prickly Day

The building is being inspected this week.  An annual hooha to ensure that it meets funding criteria for the next fiscal year.  Gotta make sure the old folks aren't tangled up in frayed electrical cords and that the closet doors slide easily.  I wasn't here for the show last year; so I am hanging around.  Not that anyone would snoop through MY underwear drawer; but what if somebody DID?  Oh ick.

Anyway it's just like waiting for the cable guy.

Of course I am using the time wisely to scroll old entries in my favorite design/inspiration blogs. Can you spell "procrastination?"  Deep into 2009 of design frog when all of a sudden I notice the words no longer make any sense.  Not me.  The translator simply quit and all the words were in Swedish.  (Dutch?  Finnish?)  I'm not a language snob, but it's just not as much fun to troll when I don't know what is really going on.

Prickly.

Now I am going to download some photos. 

OK.  Done with that.  I must say, that is one computer chore that I can do without fear.

Yes, these are pictures of olive loaf. It is probably composed of pink slime and the olives swept up after the closing of a condemned restaurant.  I don't care.  I love it.  And what I love best about it is that it is (or was) my Biggest Little Brother's favorite lunchmeat.  Lunchmeat.  Doesn't the word alone just make you want to retch?

Anyway my childhood favorite was olive loaf's bigger, slightly ritzier sister ham and cheese loaf.  I lost my taste for it some time ago; so Brother may have switched loyalties, too.

But I thought of him and bought a package.  And I thought of him as I ate sandwiches on dark rye, slathered with mayo and stuffed with olive loaf.  And so it's gone.

Doesn't matter.  I will buy more.  Can't wait to see him.

Summertime And The Dinner Is Easy

Spinach Wrap

Adobo Chicken

Mushrooms

Red Peppers

Extra Sharp Cheddar

Sorry, no margaritas that night

Putting My Foot Down

One of the aspects of life that is severely curtailed by poverty is the exercise of one's good taste.  Or in my case, excellent taste.  What the hell? Superb taste!

Yes, I have it and it's goddam time the world knows it.  I have suppressed the secret fashionista and hidden interior designer long enough.  Thanks to the interwebs (as Darling Eldest Daughter says) I can freely indulge my innate good sense of practically everything.

Today, as my first official entry, I highlight food.  Some things are just wrong.  Some combinations are perfection.  One must make careful choices, however.  For example:  Plain saltine crackers and cheddar cheese spread.  Delectable.  Between meal nibble.  Television snack.   Occasional light dinner substitute.

The one rule is as follows:  ALWAYS APPLY CHEESE TOPPING TO THE SALTED SIDE OF THE CRACKER!  Anything else is a crime in Foodie Land.  As self-appointed arbiter of all things tasteful I have spoken.  I will be watching.

Overthink

What's for lunch?

a.)  PB and J on toast and a tall glass of icy cold milk.

b.) Leftover chicken and mushroom casserole, three remaining spears of roasted asparagus, and the final wedge of lemon meringue pie.

c.) Taco salad you've been saving and iced tea.

d.)  The last medium meat lover's pizza in the freezer.  But wait, remember what happened the last time you had some of that this late in the day?  Oh, no!  That was NOT pretty.  And it is SO warm today.  Do you really want to get the whole place all hot by turning on the oven?  How much electricity are you going to use trying to cool the place down?  Besides don't those pizzas always need extra grated cheese to make them worth it?  And you forgot to buy the Parmesan the last time you went to the grocery.  You don't really have the taste for pizza anyway, do you?  Why not just skip the whole idea and dive into that bag of double stuffed oreos?

Caint

All shampooed and showered and off to the Big Box.  The beets I grew as foliage (and stunning foliage it was!) are finally spent and so I decided to treat myself to some potted herbs.  Rosemary for chicken.  Sage to make fake sausage of ground turkey.  Mint because it has one of the best, cleanest fragrances in the flora kingdom.  And because I think I'm going to add fresh mint to some of my new smoothies

Replenishing yoghurt and cheese when I happen upon tubes of chorizo.  Reasonably priced and within reach of my gimpified self.  When I was a young married, I used to shop at a teeny Mexican grocery.  There was an actual butcher.  He'd hack off a chunk of ground chuck and a half pound lump of chorizo and grind them together before my very eyes.  Made the best grilling burgers I have ever tasted.

Since then I have read Eating Animals and learned how the last edible dregs are literally exploded off a hog's face.  It's a hideous procedure and the men (and it was always men in the book) get sick and die or get killed when the machine, with its many knives, misfires.  I have also learned from Hannibal Rising that cheek meat of any beast is the most tender.

So......in the aisle, at the Big Box, I turned over the chorizo tubes and actually dared to read the ingredient list.  "Pork salivary glands, lymph nodes, and cheek meat."  Uh Oh.

These might be delicacies in other cultures or on other planets, but I very nearly retched.  I replaced the tubes of alleged human food (yes, my perception changed that quickly) and I sped off.  God bless the electric carts.


Cheese and crackers for me tonight, thanks.

This Is Why I Never Get Anything Done

A grey jelly bean?  This makes me tremble.  What flavor could it possibly be?  Pavement?  I was taught (probably too well) never to waste food, but a grey jelly bean is going in the gah-baj.

All at once the lilacs outside my window bloomed.  Really!  Yesterday: just green.  This morning: overwhelming blooms and equally overwhelming fragrance.  It was freezing, but I HAD to leave the window opened.  Yippee!  And thanks.

Nobody needs to vacuum anything at 5:06 in the morning!

"The pharmacist needs to speak to you about this refill."

I will reward myself with scanning.

Smoothies are my new crack.  Canned peaches (way cheaper than fresh or frozen and they are going to be all shmushed anyway), one frozen banana, plain Greek yoghurt, OJ, and honey.  Drink one glass and freeze the rest in ice cube trays.  Dee Lish!

Darling Eldest Daughter told me to google "ferberize".  I did.  Yuck!

Finish the damn blanket already!  It's good, but I am SO sick of it and it is SO heavy!

Darling Youngest Daughter needs to get herself a bicycle helmet.  Don't make me come up there!!

9:05  The pharmacy just called me!!!!!  This day could be looking up.

As Tornadoes Sweep The Midwest

What do I hear?

Can it be?

This is April!

Ice Cream Man!!!!!

And it is a man.  I watched him drive, bells aringing, all the way down the block.

My kingdom for a Dreamsicle.

Dream While Reading Jonathan Safran Foer's Eating Animals

Dress up like Jennifer Aniston.

Baste and roast two turkeys.  One large and one smaller.

Decorate the larger bird like Uncle Sam.  Slice the smaller bird and shove it up the ass of the larger.

Replace both birds into the oven.

Burn to a crisp.

Remove and serve with cookies.

Beets

Before

During

A Bit More During

And After

Poverty Soup

Combine

           Magnificent organic kale and tomatoes from the Food Pantry

                                 Carrots and onions from the Big Box

                     Chicken from the Formerly Inexpensive Grocery

Yummy egg noodles gifted from a friend.

Freeze until a really blustery day where your toes are actually frozen.

Defrost and plunk a dollop of real salted butter and a handful of shredded cheese in a big bowl.  Microwave until steaming or until you cannot wait another minute.  Devour with plain saltines or rye toast.  The soup should look like this before the first bite.

Skrum Shush!

Oh Yeah

The day before was pretty swell, too.

Two entrancing luncheon companions.  I had almost forgotten how sweet it is to share a meal with such gracious and talented women.  Eldest Daughter went a WWWwwwwwaaaaaay Extra Mile and made sure the restaurant was accessible for her gimpy old ma. Big Love!  Big Thanks!

We mowed down this broiled smoky cheese thing.  Yum-A-Lish!  And the next day there was a sensational new baby.  All told a fan-damn-tastic couple days!