Tuesday, February 11, 2025

I Puzzled, I Sewed, I Ate

 Okay Mother Nature ... I've had about enough of this freezing cold stuff.  Another 34 degrees greeted me this morning, meaning I had to turn the heat up yet again.  At least it's been somewhat sunny so the solar is working.  I really don't want another bill like I got last month.  

Did I mention that the new weather controller INSIDE my house decided to hang on to 67 degrees instead of the 55 I set it to ..... THE ENTIRE TIME I WAS GONE?  I had not paid a PG&E bill in two years.  What a shocker when I got that one for $300, taking into account my credit of $279.  YIKES!!

After that terrible day of bad football and even worse commercials, I had a loss of motivation.  At least I got Mr. Roomba to work before company showed up.  Boy do I like THAT!  No more rushing around trying to vacuum the house!

I puzzled ... working on this one a bit, trying to pass the time.  Even though I got in three miles today, none of that walking was outside except for taking my critter out in the back yard.  Okay, enough of this.


I sewed ... a little more motivation kicked in and I sewed another couple of squares.  This one didn't even have any directions.  I guess you should just know how to make a square in a square.  One of the problems in working with such tiny pieces is they don't always come out SQUARE.  It might have helped had they told me what SIZE to make the pieces.


Just as Mr. Cooper hit the couch for a snooze, company arrived.  We chatted for an hour or so before she headed off to her appointment.  Selling a house is a pain in the butt, especially when you JUST got rid of the renter after something like two years!!  Then there's the old problem of do I pay the taxes or invest in yet another headache.  She chose the headache.


And I ate ... this is a new food company called Factor that I decided to try out.  They make precooked meals according to your selections ... protein packed, low fat, keto, low card or just plain meals.  Sorry, but I cut up the chicken before I remembered to take a picture.  That was mashed potatoes with leeks underneath.  The vegetable is corn, zucchini and onions.  

Un-browned chicken isn't exactly appetizing, but I have to say this was absolutely DELICIOUS!  It comes fresh, not frozen, and you just finished cooking it in the microwave.  This is probably one serving for most folks, but it's two for me.  A win win in the checkbook department.  I have five more to taste test.  I'm excited to try them out.

Yes I could do this myself, but I would then have 6 meals of the exact same thing.  I'm going for a little variety.  The other thing I like is you can cancel a week or two or however long you want ... and pick up again right where you left off.  AND they have lots of different meals to choose from.


And I puzzled again.  I'm trying to finish this one before I start the next.  I actually made a little progress on this one!!


Today I'll get my company to help bring the big foldable table in to my entryway (the only empty space) where I can set up the NEXT puzzle ... you know, the one that is going to make me stark raving mad!!  That way anyone that comes in the door has to help me before being allowed in the living room!

The night came fast as I sewed once again, still working on the binding for this quilt three days later.


And then I saw it!  NOOOOO .... OH NOOOOO!  Tomorrow is a full moon.  That's WAY TOO CLOSE to tonights Bingo!!  It's going to be a fight to the death, I just know it!!  Here's hoping it's just too cold to handle pitchforks.  I'm hiding the matches for the torches.


P.S.  If anyone has not seen that commercial Dave mentioned in yesterday's blog ... it was a good one!!  Check it out!!  You may not like Trump, but you will love the respect shown for our military, our police and the secret service.



Monday, February 10, 2025

Super Bowl Sunday

 My green lawn has turned into concrete.  Even the corral is covered in icy white this morning.  It's a chilly 32 degrees yet again, reminding me I'm not in Arizona any more.  That makes it rather hard to really want to get out and walk ... in the cold ... breathing like a dragon.  So I didn't ... it was an easy decision.  Maybe I'll try again today.


Instead, we hung out on the couch for a couple of hours, Mr. Cooper snoring away.  I have to keep a close eye on him because when he dreams, which he seems to do a lot, he pushes himself right off onto the floor.  Try as I might, I can't get him to sleep the other way around.


Here is my surprise of the year!  While Mr. Ed was running around Thailand for the last couple of months, he found a puzzle maker.  At least that's when we started talking about these puzzles.  Look what he sent to me!!  A QUILT puzzle.  Wasn't I surprised when he said to watch out for a package.  Sure enough, it is actually made in the U.S. and came from back East.  Isn't this a beauty?  I instantly thought I would glue it together and hang it on the wall.

And then I opened it!!  I think I lost two years of my life.  These pieces are 1/2 or smaller!!!!!!  I could hear him laughing!!!  Heavens to Betsy ... this will take me a lifetime to put together ... and a really BIG table.  The good news is the colors shouldn't be TOO hard to separate.  See, there really ARE nice people in the world.  I can't thank him enough, though you may hear me saying a few bad words once I actually start working on it!  I'll put up a big table today.


It being Super Bowl Sunday, I wasn't interested in doing much.  It doesn't help that those late nights always ruin the next day.  I did finally get up off my duff and make some Rice Krispie squares.  Here's my tip of the day.  Use fresh bought ingredients.  

The Krispies were left over from the last experiment that went trash-can badly, and the marshmallows had been stuffed in the pots and pan drawer for two months.  I don't know if it's me or them, but they tasted terrible.  Kind of like old Rice Krispies and stale marshmallows.  Who knew??


THIS on the other hand, tasted WONDERFUL.  Of course I had to cook this one first.  Okay, who knew you could steam/cook green beans in the microwave  for two minutes and they would turn out perfectly?  Not me, that's for sure.


So here we are ... white rice, without the tablespoon of butter because I accidentally dropped it in the beef mixture instead of the rice.  Krispie onions on top like the picture, but after I took it, I dumped the entire BAG on there.  Ground beef, sweet chili sauce and a second Thai sauce that I haven't been able to find anywhere.  If I did, I'd quit buying this dinner and make it myself.  YUM!


By the time the Super Bowl came around, I wasn't interested in snacks.  Poor Kansas City had no backing from anyone this year.  Truthfully, I watched for the commercials, not the game.  And they were just as bad as Kansas City was.  Seriously, what happened to the bull frogs, the geckos, the clydesdales ... the really GOOD, FUNNY commercials.  

Instead I saw big eyebrows flying around the sky, singing human seals, robot people with Duracell batteries ... nothing the least bit funny or entertaining.  In fact, I couldn't even figure out what most of them were about!!  If they think this stuff is funny, they need to go back and watch the super bowls of years past.


The only one even halfway cute was the clydesdale baby pushing the beer keg, and even THAT wasn't any good.  Apparently the advertising world has lost their sense of humor, because they all stunk like my black and white tuxedo wearing buddies.

And Halftime?  I didn't understand not ONE WORD that guy sang.  The only thing I can say about that was at least they were wearing red, white and blue.  Skunks I tell you ..... skunks!!  Heck even Taylor Swift could have done a better job ... and I don't even LIKE HER!

And so ends my critique ... my opinion of course ... of the worst Super Bowl yet.  I hope at some point the nation gets back to having a REAL sense of humor, and not worrying about offending someone ... back to a lot more laughing!!  It's good for you!

Today I'm in a panic because company is coming.  The Hotel is open, so Roomba better get to work!!  As for food, I have none ... so it's off to the store once I wake up.  Here's to a GREAT week!!!  And thank everyone you know that actually got up and went to work at their office this morning ... you know, like we have done for 60 years!!






Sunday, February 9, 2025

Door Guard

 Oooooweeeee my freezing little toes!!  It's a cool 32 degrees this morning, meaning there's ice on the pumpkin, or at least on every blade of grass in my back yard.  I'm pretty sure there won't be any walking going on today!  It's okay though, because I walked three miles at the Elks Lodge.  No, not kidding.  Here's what happened.

On my way back from Arizona, I got a call about a crab feed.  It's kind of crazy that there are not one, but THREE huge crab feeds this time of year in our little town.  Bingo donated to this one, so we got tickets.  YES!!  I'M GOING!

Then of course, things happened, and the Jobs Daughters of the Masons organization requested the use of our Lodge Room for their big Miss California Jobs Daughters reception.  How could we refuse.  Or should I say, how could our GREAT LEADER refuse.  

HE of course was going to the CRAB FEED, along with all the other mucky mucks ... so that left you-know-who to babysit the big reception.  Yes, I parked in the Big guys parking spot!  It's a no-no, but I said yes-yes.


The problem was that even though I called the guy four times, he never returned my phone calls.  I had no idea WHEN they might arrive to set up.  I got there at 1:00 and waited.  By 2:30 I was making phone calls right and left.  That's when people finally started arriving ... not for the reception, but to set up for the 250 person Celebration of Life that had been scheduled downstairs. YIKES!

Finally, the Masons showed up.  I tried to be nice and bit my tongue.  As the girls showed up for their practice, I told everyone there were no drinks allowed in the Lodge Room.  This will come into play a little later.  

After setting up extra chairs, I opened the big stairway gate below so they could enter, and I left the building.


When I returned two hours later, the gate below was locked and there were a bunch of folks standing at the bottom of the stairs.  They had accidentally opened the wrong door and gone into the drunken brawl of the OTHER celebration with music so loud it made the building vibrate.  Oh yeah ... this is going well.  I had to go all the way around the entire building, to get to a point where I could open the gate.  

The next thing I knew, I'm posted at the top of the stairs as the Door Guard, directing girls and ladies in very long dresses (who were tripping all the way up the stairs) to the Lodge Room.  See that chair above?  It's automated to get folks who can't walk, UP the stairs.  No, I do NOT know how to use it.  Thank goodness the lady was very nice about it as I pushed every button there was.  I held my breath as I was sure it would not work, you know, due to the largeness .......

That's when the DOG showed up.  Umm excuse me ... we don't allow dogs in the building.  She completely ignored me and walked her dog, which wore a dress matching hers, into the room.  Nope, not kidding ... complete with matching bow and flowers.  There was no Service Dog collar, but what could I say?  You aren't even allowed to ASK about dogs any more.


The next girl came in with a HUGE cup of something.  I told her it was not allowed in the lodge room.  She was fine with it.  Oh but then the NEXT one came in.  I gave her my spiel.  She said WELL ... what if it's for MEDICAL purposes.  You need a one quart insulated drink cup for medical purposes?  Of course you are not allowed to question that either.  

So I told her she had to leave it UNDER her chair where no one could touch it or knock it over.  I also told her I knew drinks were not allowed in THEIR lodge room, nor were they allowed in OURS!  She walked off in a HUFF!  

So many folks showed up for this, including State dignitaries, that I had to round up 25 more chairs.  This place was packed to the brim!  With no extra seating, I sat outside and played with my phone until I was asked to come in and get a standing ovation for offering up our room.  Well that was nice, but I was thinking about all the lovely CRAB I was missing.  


90 minutes later they were done and heading out.  I turned off all the lights and was out the door, when I heard the banging.  Someone had lost one of their pins and wanted to go back and look for it.  No problem, back we went, but for the life of me I could not get the lights to turn back on.  It seems once they are off, you have to wait before trying it again.  So four of us wandered the dark room with our phone flashlights, searching for a tiny pin.  We found nothing.  I think maybe she lost it outside.  

I finally got home at 10:30 to the barking of my little critter.  It's so nice to be missed.  Next time we may think TWICE about offering up our Lodge Room.  I guarantee it won't be ME offering up my time because I'm going to be at the next CRAB FEED!!

IT'S SUPER BOWL SUNDAY, so you know where I will be!!  Watching the commercials!!  I hope your team WINS!!




Saturday, February 8, 2025

Singing My Heart Out

 It was a cold dark morning, the wind blowing straight through my jacket, chilling me to the bone.  Not really.  It was a bit chilly at 43 degrees, but thankfully the clouds kept it doable.  I was off on my morning walk WITHOUT the kid.  This time I even used my ear buds for a little company.  I do love that FREE Pandora on my phone.  I can even blue tooth to a speaker in my house if I want.  

In the old days, we had to sing to ourselves if we wanted a little music.  My horses were not impressed as I serenaded them around the fields to the MOOING of the cattle.  I'm not sure why, but music was always part of our life on the ranch.  

If we were moving cattle through the brush in the mountains, it was almost mandatory.  It warned the bears you were heading their way, giving them plenty of time to hit the trail, which thankfully they did, probably because I didn't exactly sing on tune.   I also sang VERY loud ... you know, just to be sure they heard me.  The secondary effect was that it let everyone know where everyone else was so you didn't get lost.

As for the bears, if they were around, you could smell them.  Of course the horses smelled them before you did.  Any time your horse started getting antsy, you went the other direction quickly.  Always trust your horses instincts over yours.  They are better at it.

Every night around the campfire was spent singing old cowboy songs.  So much so that my dad actually recorded several, including my favorite Riders In The Sky, which led to recording hymns for our church.  That led to us all singing in the choir.  Not my favorite, since I was so shy, but I remember it like it was yesterday.


I walked a little over two miles in total, as evidenced by my aching hips on the return home.  I plopped on the couch for some R & R, and of course aspirin to sooth the pain.  You call it aspirin, I call it cookie.  


I spent the morning finding more hiding space for the stuff I brought in from the rig.  I still haven't gone through everything, but I'm getting close.  The problem will be when I'm BACK in the rig trying to find things.  As it is, I have to look through all four cupboards when looking for ANYTHING.  Hopefully the routine kicks in soon.

Of course the no cooking thing kicked in the second I got home.  Hello Fresh has come out with pre-made meals, and meals requiring only 15 minutes to prepare.  I'm giving them one more try.  How bad could it be?  Well ... pretty bad I suppose.  Here's the "should look like" picture.


This stuff ... YUM!  I don't know if you can find it anywhere in a nice easy-to-carry little box, but it's quite tasty.  The fettuccine on the other hand was the FRESH kind.  Instead of cooking it separately, you put it in the sauce mixture and let it cook there.


Yeah, it doesn't even come close to looking like the picture.  It didn't TASTE like the picture either!  This stuff turned to GLUE.  Oh I ate it, and sadly I have FOUR more servings to choke down.  That certainly makes it cheap enough, but I guarantee I won't pick this one again!  You can't go wrong with ciabatta bread ... it was yummy, but the rest left a lot to be desired!


I spent the evening watching everyone pick the Chiefs to win the Super Bowl, while sewing another binding on.  I didn't get very far since SOMEONE kept snuggling up, making it impossible to move.  


I did work on the puzzle here and there, though not enough room makes it hard to see the pieces.  I didn't get very far before quitting in frustration.  I think it's that right brain left brain thing.  And neither side seems to be working for me when it comes to puzzles.


Today I get to work on my taxes.  How fun will THAT be??  I picked up my mail yesterday, a 12 inch high stack of junk.  I think I'm getting too old for this stuff.  SO many papers to find for the required information, much of which is only available on-line.  Talk about frustrating ... trying to get in to all those accounts that I set up last year and can't find the password for.  Paperless is great until you need to extract the information from the internet!!  Oh the fun!!!




Friday, February 7, 2025

I Crushed It!!!

 WOW!!  What a way to wake up in the morning!!  The second I realized my entire house was pink inside, I knew exactly what was going on outside.  It was a 360 degree cloudy sunrise, since the forecast was calling for rain.  


Mr. Cooper and I were on the road by 7:00.  Truly, we didn't get all that far since he's become a senior citizen.  Still, he loves to smell the smells.  He's such a good boy, he rarely ever barks at anyone or anything.  I think that's unusual for poodles.  He's not running loose, you just can't see the thin leash.

Ok, I admit the reason we don't go very far is that I don't want to carry him home when he gets tired.  He would go forever if I let him, but then I would have to hitch us a ride back to the house.


I brought a couple of puzzles back from Quartzsite, and I had a brilliant idea.  I could use this game table to set them up.  I walked right up to it, grabbed the top and magically, it turned like it's supposed to.  Unfold the top and there you have it.  Trouble is, this 1,000 piece puzzle is a little too big.  AND I need a chair, since leaning over isn't good for old creaky folks like me.


That's when I had another brilliant idea.  My back entry was stacked four foot high with Amazon boxes.  Don't they ever use SMALL boxes?  Good grief ... I could sleep in three of them.  Previously, I used a box cutter, cut them into pieces and stuffed them in the blue bin.

This time I got smart.  I went outside and tossed ten of them into the rain.  Two hours later I went out to find them completely soaked.  I then went into SPIDER KILLING mode.  I CRUSHED IT!!  I stomped the heck out of them, which was easy peasy since they had soaked up so much water.  I folded them up and stuffed all of them in the bin.  How easy was THAT?

There was this one left, so I dropped it in the full-of-water flower bed.  I'll wad it up into a 6" square this morning.  As you can see, there are even a couple left over.  A water hose should fix those up since the rain stopped.


I tried to sneak in a nap, but it was not to be.  Off I headed to the lodge, having found out just in time that this was a tuxedo night.  I was surprised to find our treasurer (the King) had a hand the size of a basketball.  Apparently he had some kind of surgery ... which meant he could not count money or use the charge machine.  

So here I sit with the cash box, selling dinner tickets.  It's okay ... we traded jobs.  He had to stand at the counter and COLLECT the dinner tickets.  Hey, I like this!  I'm hoping his hand is tied up for a couple months!  I got to meet lots of people and I didn't have to stand for two hours!!


I didn't plan on dinner, but my two best bingo friends split theirs with me.  Since the steaks are the size of dinner plates, there was plenty to go around.  


That added to my napless yawning which occurred every three minutes during the entire meeting.  We had yet another initiation of folks joining, which meant a L O N G one.  For our small town, we have an amazing 1600 members and just added 23 more.  

I got back home to the squeals of Mr. Cooper, who meets me at the door every time.  I am always greeted with a tiny black nose pushing the shade out of the way so he can see.  He makes me smile every time.  

It might have been nice if I crashed on the couch, but NOOOO ... I was wide awake.  How could that be?  It took another 90 minutes before I finally hit the hay.  

No worries, but I'll have to catch up today, because tomorrow there's another event I have to attend.  And then ..... AND THEN ..... IT'S SUPER BOWL SUNDAY!!!!!  Bring on the snacks!!!!


Thursday, February 6, 2025

Dead or Alive!!

 I woke up this morning, WAY earlier than required ... to the lovely rumbling of the heater.  You see, the intake is on the ceiling right outside my bedroom door.  It's loud ... and a two way gotcha.  If I leave the door open, I wake up to the noise.  If I leave the door closed, I freeze.  Earplugs you say?  I've never found a pair that really works!  C'est la vie!  Funny, it doesn't seem to bother Cooper at all.  He was snoring away!!

No worries ... I have no commitments until 4:00 pm.  I've got all day to nap.

Yesterday was a lesson in near death.  Yessiree ... here is Mr. Roomba skimming around the floors.  He scared me to death when I heard the racket in the living room.  I guess I forgot I set him to hit the ground running at 8:00 three days a week.  It's probably better that way because there won't be so much dirt to de-bag at the end.


I paid no attention until I glanced over to see him NOT in his bed.  Uh oh ... and I don't HEAR him either.  I went on the hunt.  Sure enough, I found him halfway under a chair .... STUCK.  What?  You didn't holler at me this time?  It actually took some work to get it out.  He didn't move.  He just sat there.  I hit a button or two, hoping to resuscitate him.  Is he dead or alive?  I did CPR for ten minutes.  NOTHING.  He's dead dead dead!!

He was SO dead that when I carried him back to his home base, he never said a word ... just flashed a red light, signaling he was a goner!!  Mr. Roomba is in ICU at the moment and I don't know if he will survive.

I performed surgery, replacing the little brushy thing, gave him a new filter and cleaned out all the dirt I could find.  Surgery was a success, but I still don't know if he will survive.  I'll let you know tomorrow.


I thought to head outside for a long walk, but didn't want to take a chance of getting sick again.  One more day won't hurt me!  That means today I really have to get my buns off the couch.  

I washed several rugs and hung them out to dry in the fleeting sun.  They ended up in the dryer.  Why is it when you try to dry rugs, you find half a cup of teeny tiny pieces of rubber in the bottom?  Ugh ... another mess to clean up.

In between, I worked on this quilt again.  Good grief ... these tiny pieces are killing me!!  I can hear Cindy laughing!!  The instructions are definitely hard to understand, meaning I cut the wrong sizes twice.  Maybe this is a good pattern, since it is requiring me to scrounge through all my boxes to find replacement material for the pieces that I messed up.  Luckily I'm not COMPLETELY frustrated YET!


Lunch was terrible.  I had this leftover broccoli and carrots I thought I would add to it, smothering the entire thing with cheese.  Big mistake ... BIG.  I finally ate the broccoli off the top (it was quite tasty), threw the carrots away and ate the rest.  I'm luck I'm not a finicky person, or I would starve.


In the afternoon I watched a bit of the news,  I literally jumped off the couch when I heard Trump say he was going to investigate the bullet train in California.  SO much of our tax money, including YOUR tax money from Federal Funds, has gone into this thing for the last eight or nine years, to STILL not have it anywhere near finished.  

Original cost estimate .. $35 billion I think.  Right now, the amount spent is over $100 billion, and they say they need ANOTHER $100 billion to finish it.  They haven't even laid ANY rails, even though they say they have.  Those rails laid are to run the construction equipment not, NOT high speed rails.  At this point, though it was supposed to go from San Francisco to Los Angeles, it only goes from Merced to Bakersfield, and there are only overpasses.  Me thinks Mr. Newsom is in deep doodoo with the upcoming investigation  wondering where all that money has gone.  

Well that was fun .... 


There was more sewing, more organizing trying to put away stuff I took out of the rig (and it still isn't done) while I baked a load of peanut butter cookies.  I was so busy, I forgot to take a picture, but I DID remember to eat THREE of them!!  Bad Nancy.

Dinner was easy.  I grabbed one of those frozen turkey pot pies I made while back and stuck it in the oven.  No biscuits were hurt in this endeavor, mostly because I didn't have any.  WOW ... was it ever tasty!  These little casserole dishes are very heavy iron, but I may have to pack a few in the rig to use for casserole dishes.  


In the meantime, though it's black and hard to see, my new tiny air fryer arrived.  It's about 8" square, so I'm sure I can find room for it in the rig.  This will make easy work of cooking stuff while I travel.  I can reheat pizza, cook chicken, French fries, hopefully much faster and easier than the microwave.  I'll test it out today!


As for now, there's little paws tapping me on the leg, which means OUTSIDE Mom!!  It's going to be another rest day before I head out to the Elks Lodge for a steak dinner.  Honestly, I think I'll pass on the food this time.  It's going to be a long meeting, and I don't know whether to raise the ire of many people or bury my head in the sand.  It may be time to step away from all the craziness that arises sooner or later when involved in a club.  No worries though ... BINGO will always be on my plate!!!


Wednesday, February 5, 2025

The Wonderful Land Of BINGO

 I won't say the name of that song ... you know, the one that's been running around in my head for the last 30 hours?  It starts with a B and ends with an O.  Oh yes ... here we are again ... it's BINGO time!


I don't know about you, but THIS quilt block picture looks blurry to me.  Probably because it's so dang SMALL!!!  I started out the morning making a couple of squares for this quilt.  The top one ... easy peasy, even though it is small.  The second one below that?  Oh my Great Grandmothers Aching Back!!!  These little squares are 1/2 an inch!    

I got two of them done, but don't look too close.  I don't think any of those little squares are actually square!!  It's probably a good thing the whole quilt is so small, because I don't think I would ever finish a BIG one!!

Still, it kept me occupied until it was time to hit the streets.  I got three phone calls of problems before I was even out the back door.  No, there was no rain whatsoever all morning long.  Apparently the huge storm missed us, just throwing around a bit of wind.


First call ... half the Bingo crew is sick or hurt and we are going to be VERY short handed.  We'll manage.  I don't really need a helper and we'll move folks around.  Oh, and by the way, the King is out of town.

Second call ... the sound system isn't working.  Okay, that's a big one.  There was lots of screaming and yelling because it quit Saturday night when they were having a big auction.  First off, they sold WAY too many tickets, people were WAY too loud, and they had WAY too many auctions/raffles going on.  The text message exchange was epic.  

Okay ... is anyone working on it?  No one knew.  Relax ... we never used to have a sound system, so we'll live if that one doesn't work.  I arrived to find the guy WAS fixing it as I stared at this monster.    That began the lesson in amps and all things NOISE.  Good grief ... I didn't sign up for this one.


Two of us signed on to the system through the internet to use the controllers while I frantically made notes in my phone at the same time.  Well that was fun, but at least we got the thing working for the time being.  The Bingo Caller was a happy camper that he didn't have to SCREAM out the numbers to the peasants chanting KILL HIM!!!

That's when my Lady in Waiting came in sick as a dog.  Oh no OH NO ... you have to go HOME!  She coughed out a response.  NOOOOO ... I love you girl, but you have to go home!!!  That of course left us even MORE short handed as I proceeded to do the work of two!!  

I saw fire in the peasants eyes.  Thankfully one of the ladies from the "other side" came to help.  She didn't know what any of the papers were, but she spread them out so I could at least see what was there.  We went a little slower, but we got it done with 126 folks on this night.


I kept my eyes on my escape route just in case.  These stairs have always been a problem for me.  They lead right to an exit door where one night it was left open.  Two big burly rough looking guys came down them behind me one night and I thought we were being robbed.  No kidding ... BIG scare.  From that night on, no one can come in that door, but I can escape in a hurry if I need to!!


I received lots of "I'm glad your back" messages from everyone, which was very nice to hear.  Really, they are just glad they didn't have to wait in line an hour.  The line went fast, as did the night with only a few complaints.

In December we gave out Christmas tickets worth $10 each towards Bingo in January, which was explained many times.  We had three ladies bring in those tickets last night.  It's February.  They weren't happy I wouldn't take them.  Nancy was a bad girl and told them to come back and ask the King when he returned.  Nothing like putting it off on someone else!  

Then there was the lady who came in with her phone screaming that she wanted her $100 back.  She SAID she tried to charge $100 on her Venmo account, but was told we didn't use Venmo, which is correct.  She pushed her phone in my face several times saying LOOK IT WENT THROUGH.  You took my money out and I want it back!!  

No, we don't play those games here.  If we don't have a Venmo account (which we don't) then the charge never went through.  When WAS this I asked innocently.  LAST MONTH she stated!!  Ummmm that would be an even bigger NO.  It just amazes me every time the things they come up with to con us out of money or bingo cards. 

She got nothing.  Come back during the week and go to the office.  I'll warn the Bookkeeper ahead of time, but I'm sure we will never see her again.

And so ended another lovely "normal" night at the Magic Kingdom of Bingo.  Always full of excitement and crazy people!!!




Tuesday, February 4, 2025

The Last Day of Rest

 Here we are in lovely SUNNY California, only the sun forgot to show its shining face.  It's looked like this since I got here five days ago.  It can't be that long, can it?  Gosh, it seems like yesterday.  

I'm healing up nicely, rarely coughing and not sneezing since Roomba ran around the house not once, but THREE times.  I even dusted ... sort of.  Dusting is one of those things I do only after I can read the writing I scribble on the table.  

Last night was supposed to be the first day of the storm of the century.  We actually even got a warning NOT to be afraid.  Are you kidding me?  So far there's a little breeze, which should ramp up to 35 mph this morning, but not a single drop of water.  Maybe the storm needs a watch.  


It does seem to be hitting the Sacramento area and dumping snow in the mountains.  At least the fairy shrimp will live.  Never heard of them?  A national disaster that has cost the taxpayers millions of dollars because nothing could be built on hundreds of acres since it would kill the fairy shrimp that live in the puddles of water from the rain.  But then there was no rain and they died anyway.  Well actually they went underground and now can come back up because it's raining.  No kidding ... true story. 

As for the other little fish California was trying to save by keeping water OUT of California because tiny fish are more important than people ... well I guess they are goners since the government was forced by the President to let the water go into canals and reservoirs instead of the ocean.  No, I haven't seen the water running yet, but hopefully the farmers will finally be able to grow crops again.

Onward ... my kid loves being in the BIG house where he can play the ball game most of the day and snuggle up with Mom at night.  He's such a GOOD BOY!!


I finally felt good enough to hit the sewing room.  I did more organizing of fabric, whereupon I found this kit I bought somewhere.  I won't mention where, but this store ... they have caused me more trouble than they are worth.  I won't be going back.  The pattern calls for fat quarters ... 18" x 20" of fabric.  I measured these 18 pieces of fabric, to find they are all cut to 11"x18".  That's a LOT less!  They also package these kits so you can't open them or look at the directions.  

I think they skinnied up on the fabric so they could make more kits with the same yardage and charge the same amount.  I wouldn't care if they gave you cutting directions ... but there are none.  I have already had to dig through my own stash to find extra pieces ... and I'm only this far done.  How irritating!


To make it worse, these are 6" squares, not 12", so teeny tiny describes it perfectly.  Cindy will be laughing at me because I'm sewing 1" squares together!!!  I didn't sign up for THAT!!

For lunch, I decided to use up the last of the spinach and a can of mandarin oranges ... the same salad I made in Quartzsite.  I can't believe how good this is ... and filling to boot.  So of course I ate too much, but in my defense, the spinach was "fluffy"!!  


Yup ... this being sick stuff has made me a vegetarian.  I ate the rest of the salad along with the second half of sweet potato for dinner.  Maybe I'll steal some of Cooper's chicken today.

That's it ... I spent many an hour resting on the couch and thinking about all the ways I can get out of doing Elks work this week.  I think I can use the "I'm sick" excuse for at least the next ten days.  After all, they've done without me for the last 45.  

So here's the pictures of the table the fabric was sitting on.  I have many gorgeous pieces-of-art tables, and I think this one came from Jan Mains.  Maybe she will verify that for me.  They are very old, but still in excellent shape.


It's a game table.  You turn the top around, then open it up.  With only two hands, I wasn't able to get it to turn sideways, so I just snapped a picture and folded it back up.  Generally they were made in 1850-60 of mahogany.  Gorgeous, yes?  


And so my day ended less dramatically than expected because the storm seems to be passing us by.  Four days of rain the forecast says, but I'm not holding my breath.  

In the meantime, I'm getting out my armor and girding my loins for the peasant onslaught tonight.  Not really ......... they will all be so happy not to wait in line for two hours that they will all be smiling!!!  It's time for BINGO!!!




Monday, February 3, 2025

My Roomba Dance

 Good Morning California.  What's left of it anyway, after all the fires.  They say the governor signed an order let the water out, fill reservoirs and clean up the forest floor.  Nothing like closing the barn door after the horses are out.  He's afraid he won't get that Federal Funding.  And yet ANOTHER recall has been started, but it's really too late.  This is his last term ... but he just might get voted out early.  And THAT is California News.

In other news on the Homefront, I'm doing VERY well.  Maybe I coughed ten times yesterday with three sneezes, one because I shook out a rug on the patio when the wind was blowing the wrong way!!  I think I'm on the mend.  Mr. Cooper and I stuck very close to the couch, which he appreciated muchly.  He does love snuggling next to his Mom.


We made a couple of forays out to the rig to get dirty laundry and bird seed.  Somehow I seem to have lost an entire bag that I was SURE was in the cupboard.  I was wrong.  On the way, I discovered several roses blooming on my dead looking bushes.  It's way too early in the season for this to be happening.  Maybe the groundhog was wrong?


Thinking that all my sneezing might be the 1/4" thick layer of dirt and dust bunnies on the floor,  I tried hooking the Roomba up to my internet.  Maybe that would help it think better.  It talked me through the program ... no kidding ... it talks to you ... before telling me it needed a factory reset.  

That seemed to be the medicine it needed, because it started working perfectly, and after about four hours, had mapped the entire house.  There's a little glitch in the map where it knocked over the doggie gate and got stuck under a chair, but otherwise it did very well.  I danced a little Roomba Rumba around the living room!!  No more pushing that heavy vacuum.

It's now programmed to come on three days a week.  We shall see if it works.  Oh ... and it told me it needed a new brush thingy that sweeps stuff into its stomach.  As for the table leg request, I'll post that picture tomorrow.


Lunch was another fire sale soup from the discount store ... I double checked the date on this one.  It's from Pacific Soup Company, the one that has the tomato that I love.  You can definitely skip this one however.  It's carrot/cumin flavor and tasteless!  I even added cooked carrots and some broccoli to speed my recovery.  It didn't help.  It's WAY too watery for my taste.  Even the parmesan cheese didn't help.  


I finally felt good enough to unbag all that fabric and pile it up.  There four quilts here, along with extra white, because almost every quilt has white in it for the background.  There's going to be lots of sewing going on when I feel better ... but not now.  All this coughing and sneezing has made me feel like I did 100 pushups.  My ribs protest!


 That's it .... that's all I did.  Rest up was the word of the day.  Feeling 85 percent better by evening, I decided that sweet potato I bought would be quite tasty.  Why, I have no idea, because I never buy sweet potatoes.  

Cut in half, I ran it under water, seasoned it well and turned it upside down on a big pat of butter in the pan.  It lounged in the oven at 400 degrees for 40 minutes.  WOW!  It tasted so sweet and delicious, that's all I had for dinner.  Hopefully this crud is NOT turning me into a vegetarian!!!


I wandered out later in the evening to make sure THIS kid was all tucked in and everything working that should be.  There's not enough sun to keep the batteries up with just solar, so she shall remain plugged in for the next week.  There's still lots of stuff to be removed, but I'm procrastinating.  Maybe tomorrow.


I'll be on the couch once again!!