Thanksgiving Cooking Tips

The calm before the storm!!  Here we are, snuggled up in front of the fire, contemplating a great Thanksgiving dinner.  I decided to cook my turkey ahead of the big day ... no reason really.  All of a sudden I realized it was past time for the turkey to go in the oven. 

TIP # 1        Do not under any circumstances, buy a turkey from Target.  

I know, don't complain, it was free.  A "prize", if that's what you want to call it, from Bingo.  Turned out it was a big SUR-prize!!

TIP #2        Buy a butterball turkey, no matter what the cost.

So the turkey is in the oven, smothered in butter and roasting away at 325 degrees.   Since I had three hours to wait, it was time to throw the pie together.

TIP #3        Buy a pre-made pie shell.  Marie Callendar makes nice ones.  

I took the pie dough I made out of the freezer and let it thaw.  Then I made a spectacular looking shell that was to die for.  Isn't it pretty?

I mixed up the pumpkin stuff to perfection and just like my Mom ... I placed the pie shell inside the oven BEFORE pouring in the filling.  The Bad Voodoo Gods were not going to get me today!!  Trouble was, I couldn't pour in all the filling because the oven was not level.  A couple of well placed forks solved that problem.  TAKE THAT!!  

Bake for 35 minutes ... but it wasn't even near done.  So I baked it a little longer, and a little longer still.

TIP #4        Just eat the pumpkin cheesecake with oreo cookies. 

Pretty, yes?  It took almost an hour to get done and my mouth was watering.  But FIRST .....

LET THERE BE TURKEY!!  

AND GRAVY!!!  Hmmmm this gravy doesn't taste quite like it should.  Probably because I used a secret package of TURKEY gravy mix along with potato water and turkey drippings (like my Mom used to), instead of the usual BROWN gravy mix.   No, that's not it.

Here's my beautiful plate ... a Thanksgiving dinner I couldn't wait to dig in to.  Oh yeah, those are roasted Brussels sprouts, one of my favorite vegetables.  

TIP #5        Refer to TIP #2        

The turkey tasted terrible ... like yucky fat.  Rancid maybe?   Almost as bad as grass fed beef.  This is the worst turkey I've ever had in my life.  That being said, the gravy, made with the drippings, tasted JUST AS BAD!!  All this trouble and I could hardly finish the plate.

TIP #6        Refer to TIP #4         Eat the cheesecake instead of the pie.  

Oh my goodness ... I thought it would get the taste of the turkey and gravy out of my mouth ... a nice big piece of pie with whipped cream.  I took the first bite.  Actually it tasted really good, but I needed a big steak knife to cut the crust.  I'm not kidding ... I'm throwing that recipe away.  It was tougher than the old leather harnesses I have for my horses.  How could that be?  I didn't overwork it and it has a cube of butter in it.

TIP #7        Here's the phone number for Denny's Restaurant.  722-2549

All that work ..... all that time ..... and dinner was awful.  The only redeeming factor was the potatoes and Brussels sprouts, which I'll be eating for the next two days.  It's a good thing I wasn't having company.

Cooper on the other hand, thought the turkey was quite tasty.  That's good because he's got a lot of it to eat!!!

Happy Early Thanksgiving!!

Sweeping ... I Just LOVE Sweeping

 Freezing cold 32 degree nights have been followed up with mid 60 days.  If you stand (or sit) in the sun long enough, it does warm you up a tad.  Needless to say, I'm not spending any time outside.  Cafe-au-Jo is now consumed on the couch cuddled up with a blanket and Cooper.  

Since it is WAY too early to be up and about, we play scrabble games on our phone with friends far away, after writing the blog that is.  It's amazing how fast the time flies by before I finally relent and put on something to look presentable ... you know, in case Amazon shows up.  Yup they even deliver on Sundays around here.

Remember those pumpkin pies I was going to bake?  It turned in to no-bake pumpkin cheesecake.  A super easy recipe of sadly only one cup of pumpkin out of that 3-1/2 cup can, a little brown sugar, some spices and whipped cream.  What could be better?  

Well ... being able to lick the bowl and the beaters, that's what!!  Oh my goodness this is soft, pillowy and DELICIOUS!!  Into the fridge it went to set up.  Oh ... and there are 20 glorious toffee crunch Oreo cookies for the crust.  Guess I'll have to make TWO to use up the pumpkin.

Ummmm well pictures are worth a thousand words.  It was great until I took it out of the fridge to unmold and eat a slice.  In spite of following the directions to a T, the crust obviously didn't set up very well.  If you think THIS looks bad, you should see the floor!!!!  

My idea of setting it on a large plate to cut up, didn't work out so well.  I finally got it cut into pieces and stored in containers both in the fridge and the freezer, without much crust attached.  It took me 30 minutes to get the floor clean, sweeping and sweeping.  So much for the Oreo crust idea.

HOWEVER ... that pie is amazingly good and not too sweet like most of them!  And I didn't even have to smother it in whipped cream ... because I forgot.  NEXT time for sure!!!

I spent most of the day sewing that bear paw quilt ... all those tiny pieces.  It's pretty tedious, so I wandered outside to see what the painters had done.  Here's a piece of the molding that was replaced.  Nice that they found the exact same stuff.  This happened on three windows.

Since I was already practiced at sweeping, I swept up the entire garage area that was covered with dead paint chips and dirt.  Next time I'll use my old vacuum cleaner.

Talk about doing the job right ... they found some cracks in the facing, but the lumber was still good.  They filled those spots with epoxy, doing the same around the vents to keep water from rotting the wood.  The last painters did nothing like this ... they just climbed up the ladder and painted without even cleaning anything off.

They were even able to clean up the cupola, which I was sure was on it's last leg, and primed it for painting.  Happily, there are no big dry rot sections anywhere.  The job these guys are doing will pretty much insure it won't happen in the future.  YAY!!

I literally spent the rest of the day sewing on that quilt.  But TODAY ... I'm cooking that big turkey from Bingo.  My Thanksgiving is starting a little early, mostly because I'm out of food for the kid.  That 15 pound turkey will make a lot of freezer food for both of us.  PLUS ... I'll get some of my favorite mashed potatoes and gravy!!!

Here's a morning laugh for you .... I laughed out loud!!  If you don't have young grandchildren, you may not be familiar with Elf On The Shelf.  Poor kitty .... the elf flies down from the North Pole and sits on your shelf, to keep an eye on the kids and report back to Santa.  NO touching is allowed.  Every night they fly BACK to Santa to make their report.  Upon their return, they land in a different spot, which the little ones have to find every morning.  

One of my friends had a traumatic morning when she found the dog used Elf as a chew toy.  She ran all over town trying to find another to replace it.  Her son was devastated that the Elf didn't show up for breakfast.  At least this wouldn't be QUITE as bad ... you could always say he landed in the reindeer barn.

And just like that, another day has passed by at the speed of light.  Oh ... and just for good measure, I have a sore throat this morning.  Hopefully it's nothing.  Hopefully!!!

The Painters .......

A nice warming trend has magically appeared overnight.   It's all the way up to 37 degrees this morning.  Rain is supposed to come in next weekend when it's 35 degrees.  We just might get some snow here in sunny California.

As you can see, we spent a lot of time on the couch yesterday.  If you didn't know, my little Cooper is a poodle, but I'm not fond of poodle cuts, so he's a very messy fluffy bishon-looking kid.  There will be no haircuts for a couple of months since he gets pretty cold, which is why he's always laying very close to me.  

He's been obsessed with the men walking around the outside of the building.  No one could sneak in here without him noticing, setting off the alarm.  If he missed the car in the driveway, Jonathan will let him know.  THAT kid has epic hearing, followed by the same little chortle every time that sets off the barking alarm.  It never fails. 

Having finished their other job, the two painters are now here every day.  First thing, they power washed the areas that needed painting.  Two days later when it dried, they began scraping off all the old paint that was loose.  I was amazed at how it just fell off on the ground.  

I had all the trim repainted in 2009, so it's been 13 years.  Is that good for paint?  I have no idea, but I know if it's not repainted, rot will set in.  So far they have found a couple of window molding sections that were rotten and replaced them.  This entire top wall had to be caulked between the shingles to keep water out.  

I'm very glad they are doing such a good job, unlike the last guys.  Luckily I kept all the old paint cans so getting something to match was easy as pie.

Although I thought that wall would be all there was to paint, they found section after section like this where the paint just fell off when they looked at it.  My wallet is panicking!  The closer I looked at the entire house, the worse it got.  Okay, we're painting ALL the trim on the ENTIRE house while I've got them here.  

To show you how nice they are, they even brought me their leftover lunch pizza ... barbecue chicken.  It turns out I know many of their family members from my days in the construction business at the rock plant.  We crushed rocks left by the old gold dredgers into sand and gravel.  They hauled it.  It's a small world.

No, in spite of our trying, there was no more gold to be found.  We set up sluices to recover everything we could, but those dredgers did an amazing job and left nothing in their wake.

You won't believe it ... these guys even repaired the gutter that someone who shall remain nameless backed in to many moons ago.  We are talking NICE guys!!!

Today the scraping and caulking continues, followed up by primer before the REAL painting begins.  I'm thankful that 90% of the house is masonry and does NOT need to be painted.  It will be a relief to get this off my shoulders, but the lightening of my bank account will be nerve wracking.  Time to turn up the "cheap" and start saving again because I have that other little place in the desert that needs the entire house painted.

On another front .... the result of the water test .... although this was Cole slaw and NOT lettuce ..... it was crispy and delicious, but the biggest mess you ever saw trying to get the water out with my salad spinner.  We are DONE with that trick.  Maybe lettuce would be easier to deal with because the pieces are so much bigger.

A quick trip to town for pie crust material resulted in the find of the century.  Have you tried THESE?  Oh my goodness!!!!  These are the best Oreo cookies EVER!  I could have eaten the ENTIRE package!  There's really not much crunch, but boy are they high on flavor.  I'm a toffee caramel fan and they are delicious!!  If I don't eat them all first, they will become a pie crust.

I finally got off the couch to do a little sewing, but the pink haze coming through the window and giving a beautiful glow to the house made me rush outside to watch this sunset.  The painter on the roof had an even better view than I did.  It was the perfect ending to a lovely day as I ate just one more of those cookies.

I'm going to get more "before" pictures today, followed up by a nice two mile run (when it warms up of course), then I've got lots of flowers to chop down.  I thought coleus would survive the winter, but alas, I learned they are NOT perennials.  Who knew?

The BIRDS Have Arrived!! YIKES!

 First of all, thank you to everyone for your kind words about the kitchen work.  It takes a village ... it's just better if they aren't ALL in the kitchen at the same time.  Amazingly, THIS time I came home unscathed ... no cuts, burns or missing fingers.  It was a good day.

So here's a little tip from the Chef that I picked up.  It's something I haven't seen before.  Well actually, I saw it, but didn't know what it was.

You know that cold extra crispy lettuce you get at some places?  Ever wonder how it gets that way?  I always thought it funny that my lettuce wilted the day I opened it, even if it was 7 days before the pull date.  Here's what I discovered.  The already chopped lettuce is placed in big restaurant pans of cold water and stuck in the fridge.  

When you are ready to serve, you take it out, stick it in a large salad spinner and VOILA!!!  Cold crispy lettuce.  Just because it works at the lodge, doesn't mean it will work in MY kitchen.  So I'm testing it out on some leftover Cole slaw (without dressing of course) to see if I can duplicate it.  You change the water every two days, and they SAY you can do this for about a week.  

In other words, I'm going to be your guinea pig and see if it works at home.  I'll let you know.  Of course cabbage is not lettuce, so I'll be picking up a package of salad at the store for further testing.

It was a long day yesterday, trying to recuperate from the 30 pound pan lifting exercises of the senior dinner.  My quads remember very well the fact that our warming containers had to be placed on the floor.  Oh my aching knees.

It was VERY weird when I went back to the lodge last night for the initiation.  A little hard to see, but there are literally thousands upon thousands of blackbirds swarming around the Black Bear Diner.  That tree that looks like it has leaves?  It's all crows.  Every light standard is full too ... kind of like Hitchcock's movie The BIRDS.  

Apparently it's because this is mating season, or maybe it's because Black Bear Diner has the best food in town.  

Except for the Lodge however.  Every night there is an initiation, there is a steak dinner.  As you know, I'm not really a steak fan (I always ask for the smallest one), but I must admit, this New York was quite tasty.   That's actually a normal sized dinner plate with a "small" steak.   It looked like they dipped it in some spice/oil mixture after barbecuing.  It was DELICIOUS!  And smothered in mushrooms!  Sadly, my potato was hard as a rock ... left in the ovens too long.  Really, I had to saw on it for 20 seconds, just to cut a piece loose.  

Top that off with garlic bread and thank goodness ... NO green beans.  Instead, we stuffed ourselves with peach cobbler and ice cream!!  All this for $20.  It was a huge success, with the raffle NETTING $1,300.00.  How could that be you ask?  Because this is a farming community ... and it was Farm Equipment night!  The Elks Lodge members know how to support their neighbors.

After dinner was an epically long meeting.  Initiations are long drawn out ceremonies.  Think back to the old days of miners organizations set up to help themselves and others survive.  NONE of those ceremonies have changed in a hundred years.  

It's all very patriotic and every new members gets an American Flag as a memento.  That's pretty cool in my book. 

Following all that, there is yet another raffle.  This time for 15 leftover frozen turkeys.  I couldn't believe it, my number was FINALLY called, but I already HAVE a turkey, so I donated it back, to be won by a new member.  

All that took forever, and it was after 10:00 by the time I got out the door.  I'm still on Arizona time, so I get up an hour earlier ... and then have to stay up an hour LATER for these meetings.  I'm exhausted!!

After a quick breakfast of leftover steak, I'll be asleep on the couch ... at least until the Painters return.  Oh yes ... the painters ... that's tomorrow's story!!

Too Many Cooks In The Kitchen!

It's again pretty cold outside, making me even more thankful I was able to put in solar.  Thank goodness the California sun keeps on shining on my panels so I can turn on the heater at night.  Frost is on the pumpkin this morning!

This is the calm before the storm.  Hard to tell, but those are his two front feet with his nose between, catching a few Zzzz's before I leave.  I was actually able to do the same thing for all of 20 minutes before the painters showed up.  

They power washed all the sections that need to be painted.  Huh ... my other painters never did that.  Maybe that's why all the paint is peeling off.  At any rate, I left them to their work and gathered up as much patience as I could before heading off to the big kitchen.

Already there was the Sheriff, cooking up a weird looking stew (I didn't ask), a huge pan of chili, frying up chicken wings,  stirring a cast iron dutch oven three feet across (the biggest I've ever seen) full of a mystery ingredient, along with two other big skillets of mystery meats in order to make stuffed bell peppers.  I think it was elk, venison and buffalo?

In the midst of all that, the regular Elks Lodge Chef was whipping out orders for the normal lunch crowd, as well as a Kiwanis luncheon meeting in the next big room.  He had three helpers, so you can imagine the kitchen was pretty full with 7 people.  We were dodging each other right and left, yelling HOT PAN or BEHIND YOU so no one got burned.

The Sheriff helped us get six huge turkey breasts into the ovens for our dinner before packing up all his stuff and exiting the building.  They probably should have started those turkeys a little earlier.

Next I helped with the trimming and panning of 140 chicken leg quarters that went in the ovens for the drive through dinner.  You haven't lived until you've handled that many chicken legs.  At least here we used gloves.  LOTS of gloves.

While those were cooking, people came and went stuffing things in the ovens to cook for the bunko crowd that was soon to gather in yet another room.  I was so busy I didn't even THINK about pictures.

At 2:00, just as the kitchen crew began to do their lunch cleanup, I started opening big cans of sweet potatoes, panning them up with brown sugar and maple syrup, ready to hit the ovens.  I have no idea how or why I can cook here, and not at home.  The sweet potatoes even have marshmallows on them!!  Having fabulous ovens helps a lot.

In no time, the chicken quarters were done and I had to clear the way for screaming hot pans.  The legs were moved into a huge ice chest where they would finish cooking and be ready for the drive through dinner.  More people showed up (I think there are now eleven people working in close quarters), to begin warming the rolls and whipping up a big batch of Cole slaw.

I'm telling you, it was a madhouse!!  With the chicken out of the way, I began measuring out water for our instant items.  Four huge pots went on the stove.  I have to give a standing ovation to our Chef Jessie.  He's the absolute BEST! 

He volunteered to whip up the gravy and mashed potatoes, an epic job requiring more muscles that I have in my entire body.  Flavored up with lots of butter and spices, those pans went in the ovens to keep warm.

That's when the mixology class showed up.  Yup ... even more crazy confusion.  We have a bartender who knows how to make absolutely everything, so he teaches a class once or twice a month.  They of course have to have appetizers ... from where else but the oven!!

Next up I set another pot to boil for instant dressing.  Let me just say that Uncle Ben makes a really tasty cornbread stuffing mix.  No kidding ... it's yummy!!!  I stirred up and panned three huge bags of that, adding extra spices and even MORE butter.  

At long last, the turkeys came OUT of the oven, thirty minutes late.  We sliced them up, panned those deliciously tasty big chickens, loaded everything into warming carriers and tied them into the back of my truck.  Everything else went in the back seat and we were OFF!!

Another madhouse ensued as we set up in their tiny tiny kitchen to serve 110 senior citizens.  It is a skill to serve that many meals and not run out of food.  We filled 50 clamshell containers to be delivered directly to their apartments, before dishing out the remaining food for those sitting at tables.  The Boy Scouts made all the deliveries ... how cool is that!  

Then it was madly serving up pumpkin pie with wads of whipped cream.  Sadly, I didn't get any of that.  I could have used some extra sugar, having been on my cowboy boot feet since 1:00.  By now it's 6:30.  

We stuffed everything back in the carriers and headed to the lodge where cleanup began.  Right in the midst of the drive-through dinner process.

Working as fast as possible, we dumped all the foil pans in the trash.  Those pans are SO nice to use ... otherwise we are the ones that have to wash the metal pans ... a job NO ONE is willing to do!

I did get home with a little turkey and some yummy dressing.  All I need is a little cranberry sauce.   Cooper was pretty excited when I walked in the door.  He could smell the turkey.

And so I literally fell into bed, trying to rest up for tonight.  Yup it's another Elks night ... initiation of 32 more members, meaning its tuxedo night.  I'm tired, but smiling because all those seniors were so thankful they got a free turkey dinner.

Germs, Germs and MORE Germs

 Four hours sleep.  Ugh, this time change is killing me.  I'm getting up at the same time, but having to work an hour later at my favorite place, the Magic Kingdom of Bingo.  

But FIRST ... let's be completely surprised by the painting contractor walking around the house, banging on the window frames.  Note to self ... be sure to get dressed every morning at 5:00 am so as not to be completely embarrassed when he looks through the window.  Thank Heavens it's cold and I had clothes on!!

They began by climbing up in the attic to see why there is a bump on the roof.  I wasn't the least bit worried about that, but I guess I should be.  I remembered when I bought the place, someone said there was a broken truss that had to be repaired.  Luckily I found the paperwork with pictures and it is in the same spot.  I still have no idea WHY there is a bump, but they said they will fix it, or at least make sure it is not a problem.

There are two guys now, one a roofing contractor ... so I'm pretty confident they know what they are doing.  I know there is house maintenance to be done, but I had no idea just how MUCH you need to keep an eye on.  Where's Prince Charming when I need him!!  This is HIS job!

So at 2:30, I left them to their own devices and headed off to the Magic Kingdom.  I was instantly waylaid by the King, who updated me on the number of seniors we are going to feed today.  It's Bingo recovery day and I have to cook for 120 people.  Won't THAT be fun!

There was no play time in the castle tower.  I went straight to work getting ready for the onslaught of peasants.  I really didn't expect much, after all it's almost Thanksgiving and turkeys need to be bought, not Bingo cards.  I was VERY wrong.  

They came in a crushing crowd, talking so loud I couldn't hear the gal sitting right next to me, call out the numbers.  Between them talking loudly into their phones because they can't call anyone back, and relating their other Bingo venue wins and losses, it was a madhouse.  I finally just sat there doing nothing until they all said what's wrong?  The quiet lasted all of three seconds!

Wow ... what a crowd!  141 people squished in to the tables as we brought out chair after chair.  

Here's the interesting part.  Every time we get close to a holiday, they bring out all their change saved up in piggy banks for the kids.  I kid you not, they have ziplok bags full of change.  I hate change.  It's worse than handling dirty paper money.  They are sticky from whatever ... and sometimes they even SMELL!!

Add to that the people who show up coughing and spitting all over us as they dig in their pockets for said change.  My hands quickly became a Petri dish of disgusting germs.  I stopped the line TWICE last night to go wash my hands.  Ugh ... it gives me the shivers.

It didn't help that my card counter was hoarse.  She kept saying she felt okay, but I wasn't believing it.  It will be a miracle if I don't get sick in the next seven days.

Finally a break in the action allowed me time to tear up another 150 tickets for next week's number calling.  If your number is called, you win ten pull tabs.  If you are really lucky, you might win $1.00.  Maybe even $2.00 ... which means "buy more bingo cards".  Those people never seem to win.  Here I am tearing up yet another 150 red tickets for next week.

What DOES amaze me is the one gal with a bubbly personality that sets up for me every night.  She wins $250 to $500 EVERY SINGLE WEEK.   I don't know what it is, but she seems to have the knack of picking the right cards.  

I scrubbed my hands for two full minutes when I got home, before touching anything.  Then I washed my phone in alcohol.  Not that it will help, but I took a handful of vitamins just for good measure.

When I gather up all my strength, I'll drive BACK to the lodge to begin prep on that Thanksgiving dinner for seniors.  We bought for 80, so I'll have to make some food appear out of nowhere.  

So let's talk turkey.  They bought 6 large breast only chunks that will be cooked and sliced up with NO waste.  You cannot even begin to imagine just how much that costs.  To say the price has gone up is an understatement.  $5.99 a POUND for these turkeys.  No one ever said the Elks Lodge was stingy when it comes to food.

There will be mashed potatoes, gravy, dressing, sweet potatoes with maple syrup and marshmallows, corn, rolls, turkey AND pumpkin pie!!!

I'm truly hoping I can get in a Zzzz or two on the couch before heading down there at noon.  To make it worse, there are not one, but FOUR dinners being prepared at the SAME TIME in the SAME KITCHEN.  Someone didn't schedule this very well.   Wish me luck!!  I'm going to need it today!

It's Only Money

 Brrrrr I'm having trouble adjusting to this cold weather.  I do HOT much better than cold.  Once you are used to the 90 degree days of Arizona, it's suddenly becomes cold when it's 70 degrees here.  Of course I don't keep my heater set to 70 because it costs too much for electricity, even with solar.  You have to pick and choose your poisons.

Here is what my electricity usage has been for the last 30 days.  If it's green, I'm making more than I'm using, meaning there will be no true-up at the end of my year, which is July.  On cloudy or rainy days, I'm above the line and it's costing me.  So far in the four months it's been connected, I'm ahead of the game by $85.00.

My question is, what's going to happen when everyone has solar and PG&E gets no more money to upgrade all those power lines?  I rather imagine the cost to deliver electricity to us will go sky high.  

So yesterday was a trip down memory lane, followed up with lots of frustration.  This house is wired for sound.  It had a whole house surround sound system installed BEFORE I purchased it, with speakers in every single room.  Even the bathrooms have speakers!  To be honest, I don't use it much since I'm a TV person, but Cris Stapleton music makes me want to dance.

I pulled out my CD and went to the player.  It takes an electrical genius to figure out how to turn everything on and push the right buttons on the receiver to get it to work.  Obviously that's not me.  I couldn't get the darn door to open.  It just clicked at me.  Finally it popped open, but refused to close.  Broken!  RATS!

I searched the internet for a solution, but apparently there is none.  So ... it's on to finding another.  Yamaha has been the leader in stereo systems forever, but cannot be found nowadays.  I have no idea who these Onyko people are, but they seem to be the only ones out there.  Apparently these systems are dinosaurs from the past.  

I finally ordered one from Best Buy.  Actually I hoped they would have one in stock, but our store has only huge TV's and of course phones.  By the time it gets here, it will be my Christmas present and I can dance to Cris Stapleton Christmas morning AND all day long because it holds 6 CD's!!

With that done, I headed over to Sound Encounters to see about getting my truck stereo unit replaced.  The speakers buzz, the lights don't work and a CD is stuck in the player and won't come out.  If I'm getting all this fixed, I'm doing it up right!  

I had checked last year for an after market unit that had GPS, a CD player AND a stereo.  Hey, it's only money, right?  And I'm cheap enough with other things to at least THINK I can afford it.

Last year the price was $2,000, which I balked at.  That would buy a LOT of food!  Actually, they didn't even have any because of the "chip" shortage.  I'm not sure how that affected these, but anyway, I said sayonara ... that's too much.

Surprisingly, yesterday they were back in stock with the price having fallen to $700.  It would be so NICE to have GPS in my truck and not on my too small phone which always falls on the floor.  And GLORY BE ... I wouldn't have to listen to all those Mexican stations when I travel to Tucson.  I would have a CD player!!!

Just like everyone else in California that got the $250 for fuel, I'm using it to buy "stuff" instead.  So I did it ... I ordered the unit and it will be installed next week.  Not one but TWO Christmas presents!!  It's only money, right?  Better than buying a new truck!!!  I mean really, if I collect on all those free gifts I've won in my email account, I could sell them and pay for it twice!!

Yesterday afternoon I actually spent two hours blocking every single one of the 279 I received.  Turns out blocking them does nothing.  They actually just change one letter of THEIR email address and send them out again.  Which means I have to block them again and again.

Even THAT doesn't work because I still receive every single one of them, but now with a red hand that says blocked.  On the other hand, ones I mark as contacts or VIPs, STILL go to junk mail.  So I spend about 20 minutes every morning going through my mail, weeding out the ones I want to read.

Today I'll be on the couch STILL sewing on binding, gearing up for another wonderful night of BINGO!!!  I think I may be able to relate to the peasants ... after all, it's only money, right??  Pick your poison!!

A Sweet Day!

 Thank you all so much for the kind words about the award.  I'm very happy someone noticed the hours I put in.  It's something people look to receive and I didn't even know I was on the list.  That makes it all the more sweet, and I am very thankful to receive it.  I guess now I can't complain about Bingo night any more.

On the other hand, I CAN complain about the price of food.  Good grief ... everything you see here was $$$$$.  Eggs $5.99. Cheese $7.00 (#%$$&!)  Butter $4.69.  Hamburger buns $4.69.  And those are the SALE prices!!  I guess there won't be much baking going on around here after all.

I suppose I shouldn't complain ... it certainly makes it easier to diet and make that food last days longer.

It's a freezing 34 degrees on the patio this morning.  Cooper can't "go" fast enough for me.  I'm chilled to the bone by the time we get back inside.  Time to drag out my winter ski jackets I guess.  It was always so nice to have an Indian summer that lasted until the end of November.  It's interesting to note that our weather is almost exactly the same as it is in Arizona.  

I put up a few more simple decorations in the family room where I spend all my time and plunked a nice red wreath on the front door.  Not exactly Thanksgiving looking I guess.  Nor are the red things on top of the vases next to the fireplace.  They are Polynesian bird feather rattles they use in their dances, found on my travels across the ocean.  The center that you can't see is yellow feathers.  Since I can't dance, at least I used them for something!

Having gone to the store and wiped out half my food budget, I began one of my favorite Christmas cooking recipes.  There's no cooking, which is why it's my favorite.  Pop the corn, dump in pretzels along with some red and green M&M's.  You have to do a little pretending here since those yummy morsels of chocolate only come in multi-colors.  Apparently the candy manufacturers have given up on holiday colors this year.

Then comes the hard part.  Microwave a very expensive package of white chocolate bits until they are melted and pour over the goodies which should be in a very large bowl.  Why you ask?  Because that's when the stirring begins.  It flies all over the kitchen if you aren't careful.  Once mixed, pour it on a sheet pan and place it in the fridge.

It quickly becomes the instant prescription to cure that sugar craving sweet tooth.  Oh what a SWEET day!!  It never lasts long around here, so I boxed it up quickly to give away (most of it anyway) at Bingo.  Oh ... and it's called Chris-Moose Crunch.  

Y'all know I don't cook that much any more, and if I do, I eat it for the next four days, 3 meals a day.  One large potato can go a long way.  Cheap eats!!  Sort of anyway.  I've been craving a real meal for some time, so I whipped up scalloped potatoes in two small casseroles.  These dishes are one of the best things I bought years ago.  I eat one and the other goes in the freezer.  

When pork chops are on sale, I buy the humongous package and divide them up.  Here's the last of the package.  Gosh .... I'm actually having a REAL dinner here!  A rare occasion indeed.

Since the cold slows me down so much, I spent the rest of the day working on quilts.  This one is coming along.  It's quite striking actually ... with only 13 more square to make before adding pieces in between.  Just looking at that big pile of pieces is daunting.  It makes me want to sit on the couch.

But then I have to look at the quilt piled on the armrest which still needs binding sewed on.  At long last this one is complete.  Only TWO more to go!!  SWEET!!

I'm still procrastinating when it coms to the RV Rally.  I now have EIGHT rigs signed up, which means I need to create a new agenda and make up our Who's Who handout, complete with pictures.  Big sigh ... a NOT so sweet job.  It's funny how I used to juggle 25 balls at one time, and now I'm lucky if I can just keep two in the air.  I think back to when I was 40-something and wonder just how I did it.

In the meantime, the time change is wreaking havoc, but you'll be surprised to hear I have actually turned the heat on this winter since I have solar.  Maybe that will make the difference!!

Today is run around day again ... backing for a Halloween quilt, which me thinks will be a tad bit hard to find, one Christmas gift, one Yamaha CD player because Mr. Ed sent a You Tube video that had my favorite country artist Cris Stapleton singing on it, which meant I had to get my CD's out to play, except my CD player is broken and needs to be replaced.  There's a run-on sentence for you ..... AND I need two Marie Calendar frozen pie shells.  Don't ask why.  

I hope you have a fabulous Monday!!

Reindeer Pictures!

A chilly 39 degrees is keeping me off the patio in the mornings.  Cooper is very happy about that since now coffee hour involves a little stuffed toy playing time.   That is almost as good as doggy yoga since I always seem to find myself on the floor.  

Cruising through my phone while he scarfed down his morning snack, I found this.  It's good to laugh out loud!!

The foxes still return every night, picking up a spider or two along with a few worms.  Too bad they didn't get that huge gopher, although I think it was a bit too big for them.  This was a little ham left over that I tossed out.  Just to show you how small they are, these pieces are about one inch square.  He picked up one, then tried to fit one more in his mouth.  

They stopped by about 7:30 pm, again at 1:00 and made one more run through at 6:30 in the morning.  I would never know they even existed if it weren't for the critter cam.  I laughed when my neighbor sent me a message ... she had caught one on her door camera, marking her pumpkin decoration.  I don't tell the neighbors they are around because I don't want them to disappear.

So here's my confession of the day ... I'm one of THOSE people who decorates for Christmas BEFORE Thanksgiving.  Truly I don't do much at all compared to years past because it is too much trouble to put it all away when I travel.  

That's what I did yesterday, I drug out a few things to put around the house.  No one sees them but me I suppose, but maybe Cooper enjoys them.  Speaking of Cooper ... while in Hobby Lobby we found the reindeer horns.  They come in two sizes if you can corral your kids and hold them down while trying to put them on.

As you can see, Cooper was none too happy about this!!  

His eyes turned into something crazy, probably because the elastic was so tight he couldn't breathe, so I took them off.  There will be no cute Christmas card with his picture this year!!!

Cyndae took off around noon, giving me time to make a pumpkin pie.  Why so early?  Because when I opened the cupboard to put the cans away, I found I had already bought a huge can of pumpkin and two cans of evaporated milk.  I've got enough stuff to make FOUR pumpkin pies ... so I have a lot of eating to do.

Too lazy to go to the store for my easiest frozen pie shell, I decided to try making it.  I haven't done this in probably 30 years.  No telling how it's going to turn out.  This ... along with one can of pumpkin ... is going to make two pies.  These pies don't freeze well, so I guess I'll have to find an unsuspecting someone to give one to.  I'll let you know how it turns out.

That's when I got the phone call.  Someone was sitting in my driveway.  Luckily I was halfway decently dressed, although covered in flour, so I went outside to see what they wanted.  Looky here!  Wasn't I surprised!!!  They even spelled my name right.

I'm not sure everyone agreed with this, but I did a lot of behind-the-scenes work that only a few people knew about.  I'm not one to pat myself on the back however, so every lodge meeting when they ask the Officers of the Year to stand, I rarely do.  It's nice to know all that work was appreciated however.

I'll be off early this morning looking for Chris-Moose crunch ingredients ... who doesn't like popcorn and M&M's!!  Assuming of course I can find them.  Seems there is now an M&M shortage!!

One more laugh for the day, although here it's not so laughable.  

Our County Assessor runs the election.  She trained her successor very well for when she retired, but the Board of Supervisors chose to hire someone from HSA (welfare, stuff like that) with no experience whatsoever.  It happened in my office too, which is why I retired early.

Anyway, she didn't proofread the ballots and they were all mailed out with names missing.  Funny how that happened.  It was such a fiasco, they had to REHIRE the retired Assessor at a huge cost, to clean up the mess.    They are STILL counting the votes, not that it matters really.  We are just one tiny County in California.  And they wonder why people question the elections.

Led A Bit Astray

 Hic ... hic ... hic ... waking up with hiccups is the pits.  For me, it means I HAVE to get up and drink twelve gulps of water without breathing.  It's the only thing that works.  Sleeping after that is no longer an option.  I have to admit, it was made all better when I looked out the window to see this beautiful sunrise.  Not an Arizona sunrise by any means, but a nice one none the less.

I then headed to the back yard to let Cooper out, only to see the moon setting at the same time.  It was a pretty sight to see, followed up by a nice hot cup o joe.

You can tell Cooper and I played in the bedroom so as not to wake our company Cyndae.  She's not used to getting up at 4 am.  Darn hiccups!!  These things were nicely stacked on the ottoman prior to play time.  And I wonder where those holes in my socks come from.  He covers up the ball, then digs it back out, silly boy!

Here's a headless knight at the round table from Thursday nights meetings.  I guess having four meetings at once is better than driving all the way to town four days a week.  I can't complain about that.  Maybe, possibly ... probably not ... half the table didn't even have a drink.  I might be rubbing off on them.  Nah, no chance of that.

Finally awake and zombie walking, Cyndae came in to the kitchen, not once complaining about the broken toilet seat that tries to throw her on the floor.  I really need to get that fixed.  We spent an hour discussing shopping or eating ... which pastime we would enjoy more.  Both are at the top of my list.

But first ... she had an appointment in town.  She took her car.  Remember that point.

I picked her up afterwards and we headed down to the Elks Lodge for the Veterans Dinner.  The place was packed.  Wait ... I don't see any food.  Turns out it would be another hour before they served, so off we went to buy that new toilet seat.  

FOUND IT and returned the one that didn't fit.  After standing in front of 30 feet full of boxes of screws, I even got some to fix my doors.  I think I need 6, but of course had to buy a box of 50.

Gosh ... Hobby Lobby is right next door.  How convenient!  It's a dangerous store ... I spend WAY too much money, but the 60% off signs drew us in like candy.  I LOVE THIS STORE!!  It was packed to the brim with people buying up everything they could get their hands on, which made it a little difficult to navigate.  It was like Black Friday.

What made it even better, I kept running into people I knew.  The "King's" wife was there ... haven't been able to talk to her in ages ... along with the Castle bookkeeper.  It took me fifteen minutes to find Cyndae again, her basket full to the brim.  

I was led a bit astray with two cute stockings for Cooper and I and some red plaid.  I do love red plaid.  The whole shebang came to $25.  Oh ... and there was something for Cooper, but I'll have to show you tomorrow.  Really ... if you like decorating and you have a Hobby Lobby store, you should check it out.

And we were off, headed back home.  Half way there Cyndae says MY CAR!!!  Good grief ... we left it in Lowe's parking lot.  A double senior moment I guess!  We drove all the way back to pick it up.

Finally back home, we spent 20 minutes changing out the seat and giving everything a good scrubbing.  Well that was fun.  I don't know if it works better ... I haven't asked Cyndae.

While looking for some pictures, I came upon this one of my baby Jessie.  She was the crankiest dog I ever owned, but also the sweetest.  She was different, to say the least.  THIS is where all of Cooper's bad habits come from.

I found this yesterday too ... you know, just in case you ever get a strange phone call from me.  If I say this, call the po-po.

We finally did get to eat.  I had a lot of ham left over in the freezer, so we made Mac n Cheese, a staple in my house.  I wasn't thinking when I heard the grinder ... then it was NOOOOOO!  Cyndae had grabbed the awful pepper grinder, awful as in it tastes terrible and is so old (12 years I think) it should be thrown away, and was adding it to the sauce.  

We used lots of regular pepper instead and it turned out great.  I think much better than the chicken and rigatoni served at the Elks Lodge.  It will be Mac n Cheese for breakfast!!  

Time to go check the critter cam and give Cooper some snuggle time.  Thanks for stopping by.