The Blog: Spellbound by our own imperfect lives...

It's almost 8 o'clock and barely light outside. I don't like this about winter. I need more light. I wanted to go for a walk this weekend but I don't think I want to battle 60 mph gusts. A guy has to put rocks in his pockets in that kind of weather lest you blow away! I called River Rock and talked to Katie, the baker, about what she is making today so I can report via Twitter and Facebook. The longer I work there, the more it seems like a miraculous little place, that kitchen. I'm learning how their recipes are born and how they morph to fit a flavor profile. The other day I met the young woman who, with her husband, grows the organic wheat that they mill into our whole wheat flour. It's so nice to know where you food comes from. Regis and I watched the movie Fresh last week. It's another one of those movies that you don't want to watch if you can't conceive of changing the way you eat. I bought Joel Salatin's book, Folks, This Ain't Nor...

Regis and I went to the Pulse this morning. I thought about packing a snack but didn't and should have. I was tired and hungry by the time I got home. I'm sitting in my new leopard print chair as I write this. The snow is coming gently down. It's beautiful outside. It was nice to move around on dry ground the last few weeks but really what is winter without snow? Three months of brown cold. I'm reading three books: Stone Arabia , Folks, This Ain't Normal , and Alice Waters and Chez Panisse . They are all very good but I love Stone Arabia. I could underline something on every page. I feel like, in many cases, she read my mind. I wish I could write like that. Ok, I am off to work. Hello, Friday! So glad for a weekend!

One thing that has been difficult about retirement is that my routine keeps changing. Not in a bad way but in a way that makes it hard to have habits. I usually write on my blog in the morning but now I get up later, go to the Pulse later, go to work later....and suddenly the morning is gone. We went to Mankato last night and I bought a bunch of throw rugs because our fifty-pound infant slides around on our new and quite expensive laminate floors. So, the lovely floors are covered up by cheap rugs. Holy crap. This morning I walked in the living room and Gus has managed to pull the threads on one of the rugs. The others of its ilk are going back to the store and we'll opt for something with a closer nap. Funny, this dog does not chew things but he like loopy rugs. This is the third rug upon which he has pulled threads. What gives? Not a good dog to have if you are into shag carpet. Reg watched the dog last night so we actually got to go to a restaurant for dinner. We picked a ...

We had a fire in the chimnea this afternoon then cooked steaks on the grill. What a beautiful day even though it was windy. Very different from last year.Here's what the grill looked like last year...

We had help in the form of Reg and Amber and Ella who all arrived about noon to put the finishing touches on the day. Ella even filled the bird feeder! Regis brought in the big table, Amber frosted cookies, and everyone pitched in to set up the table. Regis and Amber had great Christmas sweaters. They were a hoot....complete with ruffly collars, shoulder pads, and glitter. The two little boys played so nice together and shared their toys. Nobody had to battle icy roads or snow drifts to get here. Little boys like to lick things to see if they like the taste (cookies and vegetables) and if they don't...back on the plate it goes. It took a team effort to keep an eye on the table and remove the licked items! Ha! Ella decorated the rest of the gingerbread cookies with lots of sprinkles. She was content with the Christmas colors I picked even though she saw pink and purple in the drawer. I set off more than one smoke detector in the making of the meal but we didn't have to eva...

Alex Amber helps Elliot open a present. Three boys and Gus (see Elliot's head?) Alex says cheese Elliot looks askance Peter and Elliot Peter, Elliot, me, and Tiffany Ella, Emily, and Bob Regis and Amber in their ugly Christmas sweaters Bob and Ella Peter and Tiffany Almost the whole gang...missing Elliot and Regis, the photographer. Elliot We had a wonderful Christmas. Lots of cooking decorating, present wrapping, eating, sipping wine, and laughing.  As always, the holiday was not without problems. I ran out of butter and blamed it on the shortage in Norway. Thank God, my daughter-in-law who lives three blocks away had butter at her house. As always, someone got sick, someone cried, toy pieces got lost, and the house is a complete disaster. It will take three hours to do the dishes again. Such fun. Merry Christmas, everyone!

I like to make a list from time to time of things that have occurred so I can keep a perspective. Otherwise it is too easy to think that everything sucks or everything is wonderful. Basically, life is made up of both and if we just accept that, we are happier. Nice. I've been searching the archives of my blog for a few pictures that seem to have drifted into the ether so I've been reading some of my old posts. There is some seriously funny shit here and someone should hire me to write a book. Hahaha! I crack myself up. Check out some of the Blasts from the Past on the right...or the popular posts. Nice. Regis and I are making a Christmas card for the Legendary Stardust Cowboy . He's a real character we met through our KMSU listening experience. We went to see him in concert because truly I could not imagine his fan base after hearing this. We have since become fans. Nice. He has another song called My Underwear Froze to the Clothesline . It's one of my favorit...

Regis took some more bird photos today. Aren't they beautiful? Amazing and beautiful little creatures. We got a package in the mail today. Birds on stamps. We didn't know who they were from and the invoice didn't say. Turns out they came from my Cousin Deb. They have the red-bellied woodpecker picture Regis took so we were curious about how someone got it. Ha! Now we know... I love this cardinal. Look at the detail in his feathers and in his comb. There were five in the apple tree this afternoon and Regis managed to capture three of them in one photo. We're headed to the grocery store this morning as soon as it's light. I don't like going places in the dark of morning. Tomorrow is the Winter Solstice. We'll have just a tiny bit over 8 hours of daylight assuming we have any daylight. It's been gloomy lately. If the sun is out today, I'm going for a walk. Later. Grocery store not too busy at 7:30 a.m. Just the stock folks running here and t...

We had the nicest day yesterday. It started slowly and didn't pick up much speed as it went along. We had a nice cheese and olive plate for lunch with a glass of wine. Regis put in It's a Wonderful Life  and we watched it over the course of the afternoon. I took a short dozy nap. We made luscious steaks and grilled peppers for dinner. It was a great way to spend the day. In order that I would be in the proper holiday spirit, I put on sparkly leggings and a sparkly dress that I bought at the consignment store. I didn't wear reindeer antlers but in retrospect, I should have. I did a little internet shopping for the grandchildren. This is my dilemma of the season. Do I want to contribute to the crazy consumerism that Christmas has become or do I want to disappoint the little ones who come here on Christmas Eve? Bad Grandma. They should make a movie. The good thing is that each of them has a birthday in the next two months so I can buy some things and divvy them up for ...

Regis and I stopped at Patricks to have some wings and a beer with my old school pals, then drove around to look at Christmas lights. We like to pretend we're Christmas Light Display Critics and we give scores based on things like aesthetics, balance, mixing of light colors, theme, and overall appeal. We didn't see too much that thrilled us although there is a house down by South that did a nice job of blending colors and light types. It got our highest score. We're not fans of the mixing of rope lighting with big bulbs or the mixing of colored bulbs with plain white. We take a lot of points off for mixing themes...Baby Jesus with Santa, for example. That's just gross. A cardinal sin in holiday decorating is to throw a net of lights over a bush. You might as well just leave the lights in the bag and toss the bag in the yard. Another faux pas is to hang the lights vertically or to just wrap the trunk. Light critics avert their eyes when they see that coming down th...

I must say, everyone is willing to appease me at Christmas time by wearing silly hats. Thanks, Bob. Gus didn't want to actually be in the picture, he just wanted to see what all the fuss was about. Alex agreed to wear the hat after the group photo was done. Aren't they cute? Working on the Christmas Eve menu. I don't feel quite the pressure to come up with a menu for this holiday like I do for Thanksgiving. We're making chicken wings and ribs and will supplement with offerings from the kids. Cowboy beans? Wild rice soup? Tiffany has requested Emerill's Twice Baked Potato Casserole so I can do that. Ella is coming to do some cooking next week. Not sure yet what we'll make but it can't have dairy or eggs. Hmmm...vegan. Here's a recipe for gingerbread cookies . Do I have the gumption for this project?

Regis and I had a little holiday celebration for our River Rock friends last night. Regis made spicy chicken wings and I put out a spread of cheeses, olive spreads, bread and crackers, and nuts. We had a good time...lots of laughing and story telling. Gus was confined to the kitchen for a while then he settled down and was allowed to join the guests. He's a very sociable dog so he enjoyed all the attention. Tonight we're having Bob and Emily, Ella and Alex for a spaghetti and meatball dinner. We've only had 50% response rate to our invitation which is disappointing but we're encouraged by our 75% rate on the "your own cell phone plan" which is our new standard of independence. You can't have everything. There won't be much creativity in the cooking tonight except I might try to make a loaf of bread before I go to work. I don't bake much anymore. They make such great breads at work so if I want bread, I get it there. I better stop sitting ...

You better frame it and hang it in a place of glory. Remember the other day when I said my printer was acting up and I was just going to take my letter to the local print shop to have it printed? I did that yesterday. Fifty copies. Two-sided. Color. Didn't bother to ask how much it cost. So, when I go to pick them up, I get two reams of paper, a bunch of envelopes, and some stickers. Drum roll. $175.00 I almost had a heart attack. I shrieked. I asked why so much. Two-sided color copies he said. I said HOLY SHIT. I wanted to ask if we could soak the ink off the paper and suck it back into the machine. There is a lesson in this. I could have bought three new printers for the price of that copy job.

This is what it looked like last year on this date. I want this weather instead of the forty degree gray soup that we have. I walked past a woman yesterday who said brightly, "Isn't it a nice day?" Holy shit. What is she thinking? I said if I wanted weather like this I'd move to Seattle.

I can be forgiven for rambling thoughts when it's 4:30 a.m., right? Here I am. It's dark, it's cold, and the stores don't open for at least 4 more hours. I have things to do! Yesterday, I did my walking errands. Today, I do the driving errands. My printer always craps out at Christmas time. It's amazing that an inanimate object has such a great sense of timing. This time, it won't recognize the black ink cartridge even though we've cleaned the jets, replaced the cartridge, rebooted the whole printer, and done all the other easy fixes. And like most things, you can probably buy a 40 dollar part or replace the printer for about 75 dollars. Shit. I'm going to take my Christmas letter to the print shop down the street. I'm not fighting with the printer anymore. Tiffany was over the other day and she spent some time reading through the old Christmas letters which live in the back of the Christmas recipe binder. She thought they were hilarious. I...

Well, here it is. Evidence of the first family dinner. Tiff and Elliot came over tonight for a spaghetti and meatball feed. Elliot dragged out every toy for forty miles and ransacked the house. He sat on Pop-pop's lap and watched Thomas movies. He ate candy canes and ginger cookies and petted Gus. We had a wonderful time. We didn't eat all of these tonight but in true Teresa fashion, I had too many meatballs. In the words of my ex mother-in-law Edna, you would hate to run out so you have extra, just in case. Elliot enjoyed his spaghetti, his green beans, his clementine oranges, and just about everything but the ginger cookies which he proclaimed "too spicy". Elliot likes to say "bummer" when he senses that things are not right. But he says "bummer-t". Tiffany corrected him and he said yup and the next time he said, "Bummer-t" and we would laugh. He did it to amuse us. Ha! Little kids. It's what they do.