Monthly Archives: December 2010

Various & Sundry XXX

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Erm, that would be the Roman Numeral 30. Minds out the gutter, fiends. It’s Christmas Eve.

Yesterday was a blast. The Js came over for lunch and the afternoon. Jake was a busy man. He’d been making comments about a loose screw in a heating vent upstairs for quite awhile. He noticed it (and pointed it out to me) every time we’d come downstairs from bed or the potty. Well I asked him if he’d like to fix it, and he said, “Yeah!” So I got him one of Grandpa Thriller’s small screwdrivers, and off he went, doin’ work.

He had to run and tell Grandpa about it as soon as he got home from the store. There’s something about a three-year-old beaming after his grandfather says, “Wow, Jake, that’s great work! Thank you!” that gets me right here…

It was a rare day; both boys resisted the idea of naps. I’m a firm believer in naps, but also in the fact that sometimes, you’re just not tired. So Jake stayed up, but I ended up rocking Justin to sleep in his bedroom (for some reason, he preferred Grammie to his bed…no problem there). When I was sure he was out, I laid him on the floor. Behold the kid burrito:

After Hannah picked up the boys, it was time to get ready for Thursday Night Dinner and Movie with BFF Kay & Bob — Christmas Edition. After dinner, we exchanged gifts. The Thriller got Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots. Thus began a time of two __-year-olds regressing to junior high:

We watched Order of the Phoenix and ate cake and ice cream. It was a grand day and evening. And now we gear up for the pièce de résistance — Christmas with the Fink family. Can’t wait for tonight.

I feel a huge New Year’s resolution coming…ugh. Fly me over the Super Bowl.

Merrry Christmas Eve!

When you’re an idiot…

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…dumb things happen.

So, Mavis and I are in the test-kitchen phase of our new business, as many of you know. We got together last night to bake three different recipes in an effort to arrive at *just* the right taste for our Chocodoodle base. (We’re almost there.)

I have a small Sunbeam stand mixer — certainly not industrial grade, but strong enough to get the job done. And boy did I do a job on it — and it on me. Behold the result of my trying to scrape the bowl with a spatula, and getting the spatula — and my hand — caught in the beaters:

Natch, it was my right hand, too. The one I’m having x-rayed on the 7th after my little fall in the school parking lot three weeks ago. HA. Rat Fink, Rat Fink. What a donkey.

The upside? Our first major business purchase:

And I do mean *major*. Ouch. 200+ beans. If I get a paw caught in that bad boy, I won’t be talking to you for awhile. But it works like magic, and we’re glad to have it.

Me, I’m just glad to still have my hand. What a dope. The real downside is every muscle in my right arm feels like it’s been pulled out, swung around, stomped on, set on fire, and put back on sideways. Other than that, I feel great.

But hey, the Js are coming to visit Grammie today. Is that an upside or what? Yippy for me! And I’m on vacation. What’s to complain about? (You know me; I’ll find something.)

:-)

Rats

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And I don’t mean the fuzzy cute kind like me.

I mean I’m tired of being in a hurry. Always late for somewhere (figuratively), or thinking about being late for somewhere. And from what I hear come out the mouth of every single retiree I know, it doesn’t get any better. (But I understand that the reasons for the busy lifestyle are more selective.)

At least this is the last day of school until after the new year, and I will get to spend some time with Jake and Justin and other family and fiends. Then I can start in on music and choreography for Dinner Theatre, and begin rearranging my kitchen for the Ohio Dept. of Agriculture inspection in January, shop for new choir music, design some Smart Board lessons, spend some time at school doing prep work…

Hey, wait.

Criminetly.

FO

Hard to believe

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…that these advertisements took place in the last 50-70 years. Illustrates how much we’ve learned in a very short time, comparatively. I think they’re kind of funny, in a tragic sort of way.

Remember when smoking was allowed everywhere? When people smoked on airplanes, in movie theaters, in the grocery, the bank, and in schools? When doctors smoked in their offices?

This isn’t a nicotine bashing, and I’d prefer it not turn into that. Lots of people I love have been and still are smokers, so please temper your comments about it; we all know it’s an unhealthy habit. Rather, my point this morning is to illustrate how long it took for modern medicine to figure out that smoking was bad, especially since folks have smoked for over 200 years.

So that is what I wonder this day. Forty-eight more hours, forty-eight more hours, forty-eight more hours…

…and continues

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Right. So we baked our first experimental cake last night. The flavor was good, the texture was fine, and our “secret ingredient” made it really different from normal sponge cakes…but something was missing. We weren’t flipping out over it; neither were our husbands. Tasty, good appearance, workable…but not drop-dead fantastic. And it has to be drop-dead fantastic.

Then we thought: What do we want here? Do we want our own luscious creation, or do we want a Chocodile knock-off? It didn’t take us long to decide for “A.” So, it’s Cake, Part Deux.

Instead of a sponge cake (Twinkie), we’re going to try several different types of standard cake. Our goal is a moist, tasty creation that will hold both the filling on the inside and the chocolate on the outside. The Test Kitchen remains open for business. This is going to be a long process. And a fattening one. HA

Three more days of school, three more days of school, three more days of school…