we're cookin' now, folks

Regis made the indoor barbecued pulled pork today while I was at work. He also whipped up a batch of peanut butter cookie dough. When I got home, we made a crock pot full of meatballs, a savory cheesecake, and the cookies. It doesn't seem like so much once you write it down.

There are a few things to do tomorrow but I think it's under control. Regis and Regis brought in the big round table tonight. I thought I was buying a 5 foot table but lo and behold, it was 60 inches in diameter. The latter seems bigger to the math disabled like me.

Regis pronounced the cookies sublime. They are supposed to have peanut butter cups in the middle but we only had one bag so we subbed crunch bells and mini-snickers. They seem to have the same soporific effect.

Here is what Accuweather says about the weather:
DO NOT take this storm lightly. This will turn into a life-threatening blizzard, especially for those that will be passing through. Those that live in this part of the country understand full well how severe winter storms can become. They tell horror stories about storms such as a person getting totally disoriented just trying to get from the house out to the barn. Those that venture out ill prepared in such weather run the risk of being found in a snowdrift somewhere a couple of days later.

The point has been made. This will be a ferocious blizzard that will paralyze northeastern Kansas, eastern Nebraska, western Iowa, eastern South Dakota and western Minnesota. Travel through this region should not be attempted from Thursday afternoon on. You simply will not get through.

Well, holy shit. That sounds serious and I'm not going to mess around. I will be staying at home where it's warm and safe. You should do the same.

down to the wire

We went to Patrick's for a bite to eat last night. We had to order the boneless wings. When I told Brian I wanted to order some and he said they didn't have any, I whined, "Well, what will we do for Christmas dinner then?" He took pity and said he would order a box and have them by Thursday. Nice people.

Regis made chex mix yesterday and when we got home last night, we made krumkakke. We had forgotten, since we made them last, that it makes a boatload of the little buggers and takes forever. He has a couple other things on his list of things to do today so it looks like we might have things under some semblance of control. I don't advocate this kind of preparation for a holiday, it just happens. Shit just happens and in the end, it's fine.

Everybody is talking about the weather. In the conversations, if someone suggests they may be stranded here, I invite them for Christmas Eve. If you're reading this and are contemplating the day with a frozen pizza, come on over. We have a new fold-up table and plenty of food and we'd love to have you. I think we've expanded our definition of family over the years and it now includes just about anybody we want to have here. Glen joins us for lots of holidays, Joanne is almost always here for birthdays, and the kids call Tom their uncle. It really adds to the spirit to have more people to call family.

Our old friend Mary called last night. Mary was one of the nurses for Regis when he had surgery at Fairview ten years ago. She took good care of both of us over the week he was in the hospital and we have been friends ever since. One thing that makes our friendship so special is the serendipity of it. Of all the possible points in time, our paths crossed there and now we're friends.

So, off I go into the night to exercise. There's big snow coming, the lines are long everywhere you go, the liquor store looked like it was stocking up for the apocalypse, but people are happy for the most part. That's good.

forecast is for a %#@^load of snow

Snow occurring on Dec 22 | Dec 23 | Dec 24 | Dec 25. Total amount 21.1 Inches.

I got a Christmas card from George Clooney!

It's hanging on the refrigerator alongside the card from the Boulevard beer company.

lethargy

So, I came home from work yesterday, looked at the list of things to do...and did nothing. I took a nap on the couch, had a glass of wine with Regis, had a bowl of chili, and watched television. We talked about the weather some as Regis is excited about the impending storm. Paul Douglas is predicting 1-2 feet of snow and you can read about it here. He has maps and science to go with this dire forecast. It may change a lot of people's plans for holiday travel. Paul says: Stay tuned, especially if you plan to do any extensive traveling from late Wednesday into Saturday morning. What he calls extensive traveling and what I call extensive traveling (across town) may be different.

Yesterday was the winter solstice. Thank God the days will start getting longer now. I hate the lack of light, really I do. I have been out early every day and it's dark...and I've been out at the end of the day and it's dark. Mostly it's light between 8:00 and 4:00. Before and after that and you better have a good flashlight. It's depressing, really it is. I think it's why we have Christmas lights and candles. To chase away the dark.

I told Regis I would bake some cookies but I haven't. He said he would try to do it today and I think that's his safest bet. I'm just not into it this year. I have a bagful of stuff from Trader Joe's and that could suffice, if you ask me. I'm doing a really good imitation of a lazy person this year.

I'm going to the Pulse to work out with Rachel this morning. I made coffee because it works better to lift weights if your eyes are open.

Nutcracker

We had a wonderful time at the Nutcracker. Ella was enthralled and wanted to talk to the ballerinas when it was over. They all came out and sat on the edge of the stage so she wandered back and forth and waved at her favorites...mostly Clara. She asked a lot of questions (When is Clara coming back? Why is she doing that?) and grabbed the book a couple times to examine the pictures. It was a magical afternoon with my girls.

Menu for Christmas Eve

 Indoor Pulled Pork

Buns

Swedish Meatballs

Boneless Wings with Blue Cheese Dip

Savory Cheesecake

Bean Dip and Corn Tortilla Chips with Salsa

Karen’s Fruit Salsa and Tortilla Chips

Chex Mix

Spiced Nuts

Hot Spiced Punch

Sweets

Walnut Cranberry Whiskey Tart

Peppermint Bark

Chocolate Pretzels

Truffles

where are the damn christmas elves?

I spent the last hour and a half writing my Christmas letter. I love this part of the holidays. Other things are not going so well and I could use the help of a few elves around here. Hey, Regis and Peter are both done with school. I see a to-do list in their future!

I've tried to do the things I enjoy and let go of the things that are a pain in the ass. I didn't decorate much, except for the tree. Ella and Tiffany helped with that. We've had friends and family over for dinner and wine and that's been great. I gave up on the idea of Martha Stewart entertaining a long time ago, so they get us the way we are...no matching pinafores or handmade place cards at the table.

Today, I'm taking Ella and Tiffany to the Nutcracker. Tiffany and I went when she was about 5. She loved it and sat in rapt attention for the whole thing. It's snowing a little bit this morning so that will add to the magic.

I went to the Pulse yesterday and did my weight routine and my running on the treadmill. I looked over at Sandy at one point and said, "Sandy, look at me! I'm running!" Ha! It's the daily miracle. Two years ago, I couldn't walk up a flight of stairs without hanging on the railing and stopping in the middle to rest. Now, I can run and jump.

I've been digging through my recipe collection for the things I want to make for Christmas Eve. I have a pile of recipes, not cookbooks, but recipes in binders, folders, and on pieces of paper...that is seriously two feet high. They aren't very organized so it's a fair amount of work to find what I want. I did this one night last week and now I can't find the list I made for the menu. I'll have to recreate it sometime soon...like tonight. Peter said he would make meatballs (Grandpa Estle's favorite recipe) and Regis is going to make pulled pork. We went to Trader Joe's yesterday and I bought some sweet things so I think I'm off the hook for baking.

We went to St. Louis Park yesterday to visit a friend who has cancer and is in a nursing home. This kind of thing puts a different spin on the craziness of the holidays and helps me keep in mind what the important parts really are. Betty and Tom are giving Michelle's cat a new home so we had to fetch Bonita and we decided to make a day of it.

We had lunch at a great place called Laredo's and then stopped at Trader Joe's. What a hoot. If it hadn't been so dang busy, I could have spent some time in there. We bought: Peppermint Bark - $9.99 for a 16 oz. box Crushed peppermint candy layered between white truffle fudge and peppermint infused dark chocolate... deep breath...[sigh].

At Laredo's, we had a sampler of: Tijuana Torpedo Sliders (cola-braised shredded pork carnita with melted american cheese), Cowboy Sliders (shaved smoked bbq beef brisket & whiskey bbq sauce), and Santa Fe Sliders (mini-ground beef burgers with pico de gallo, chipolte mayo & pepper jack cheese). Just in case you wanted to know.

Now, I have to print my letters and start getting a package ready to mail. Oh my.

plan of the day

Regis likes to float through the day and do things as he thinks of them. I like to have a plan. I gave up lists a few years ago, but I like to have a plan. My plan for today is: make muffins, make banana bread, finish menu and grocery list for the coming week, finish Christmas Eve menu, pay bills. There you go. That's my plan.

Jingle Bell Jam

Here I am ready for the Jingle Bell Jam. I have on my Grinch Santa hat, a string of battery-operated LED lights, and a few bells. They gave us a flashing red light that I attached to my hat. Hard to see in the daylight.

 Here I am coming up on the finish line. Regis said he could see me from a mile away with the LED lights! I didn't get cold in my two layers of fleece and the Cabella's down coat but I sure was wet underneath it all!

I was glad to have the hood when we got to the top of the hill.

 

That's me crossing the finish line...see the Santa hat and white shoes on the left? And that's my time...1:01.18. I didn't want to be competitive about my time but I got that way. I didn't want people to pass me so when I would hear them coming behind me, I'd shuffle faster. All in all, it was a hoot.

finding things and losing them again

I hope I never find out how much time I have spent in my life looking for things. Usually more than once.

When I switched from my old e-mac to a PC a few years ago, I didn't really know what I was doing and therefore, lost a lot of things by trying to be efficient. I deleted them from where I didn't think they needed to be and they disappeared entirely. I should have kept the mac on the shelf for a few weeks but it went on its way to Wisconsin and all my thoughts were gone with it.

The other day I found one folder of things. When I opened them, they looked like some ancient language. Phoenician, maybe. I was able to find a program that made sense of them and I published Edith below. It didn't make me feel better to find those few pieces, though...only made me feel worse about the ones still gone.

This morning, I had the thought that I had found a white folder with writing in it. A shiny white folder with University of Iowa on it. Sometime this week. On a shelf. But now when I look in all the places that fit that description, it's not there. Now I'm not sure I really did find it or if I dreamed I found it.

This probably seems very strange if you are reading this and you are an organized kind of person. A person like me has no good system for getting rid of things. What if I want it next week? Shouldn't there be a purgatory for stuff before it gets thrown away? A place where I can fetch it back if I decide I really need it after all? So, I end up with boxes and shelves and tubs of things that are not necessary in my life anymore today but may be next week. They're just waiting for me to decide.

Throwing things away and regretting it later...those are not my only organizational issues. I can't sort things very well so I have books and magazines and folders of tax records all mixed up. I believe this is a math deficiency like my inability to pick out patterns in jazz or classical music.

I realized yesterday that I have been, in the back of my mind, obsessive about the Jingle Bell Jam today. I have been worried about feeling good, eating right, wearing the right clothes to stay warm, and going fast. I don't think to worry to this extent is the point. So, this morning I'm going to have a massage then I'm going to relax until we have to leave. Trying to make this fun, you know.

Things I find around my house when I'm looking for other things:

• folders full of recipes
• a box with three Christmas cards and two old stamps
• a pile of receipts and brochures from a trip to PA in October
• three Cooking Light magazines
• Tiffany's baby book
• a box of pictures not in albums
• sticky notes with phone numbers but no names
• a 2009 calendar, never used
• a manual for a cell phone, long gone
• a George Bush cartoon on NCLB
• prescription receipts

I think I know where that white folder is...at school. Oh good grief.

Happy Saturday.

decorating for Christmas

Edith

11-2-96


When I was ten, I lived across the alley from an old lady named Edith. She looked like most old ladies I knew then, not fat, but soft and a little lumpy, her gray hair thinning on the top so her pink scalp showed through, and hunched over, like she was still carrying a basket of eggs from the chicken house.  She lived in a small white house with a tidy lawn that my dad would mow because she was too old to do it herself and her men were too busy farming. She would make us a loaf of homemade bread every time he mowed. Her house smelled like that bread, and sugar cookies, and laundry soap.  And it smelled like family secrets, like my Grandma's cedar box, like scrapbooks and newspaper clippings and old letters.

About once a week, especially in the heat of summer, when it was too hot to ride my bike out on the gravel roads to look for meadow larks, red winged blackbirds and wild roses, I went across the brown, parched lawns and the narrow  alley to visit Edith. She alway invited me warmly into her cool, dark house.  Her shades were always drawn and the doors tightly closed. My house was hot and bright and loud. Edith's house was cool and dark, and so quiet I could hear her Big Ben alarm clock ticking from her bedroom when we sat in the living room drinking lemonade and eating the sugar cookies she had baked that morning.  Sometimes we played Parcheesi on an old board with glossy marbles.  The set we played on at home had come from the Ben Franklin store and was made of cheap cardboard and plastic poker chips, but this one had been made from a thick piece of wood, the squares painted  bright red and black, the holes for the marbles worn smooth.

Edith's husband, Harold, had died a few years ago and she still talked about him every time I visited, usually to tell me that it was his birthday, or that he especially liked sugar cookies, or that on a day like this he would have been out in the barn taking care of their horses, making sure they had enough to drink in the stifling heat. Once when I was there, she asked if I wanted to see pictures of Harold and I said yes, expecting a picture of him with the horses that were so prized, or maybe on the front porch of their farmhouse where they had lived for almost fifty years together. Instead, she put into my hands a small pile of pictures of Harold taken at his funeral, in his polished white coffin with the cover propped up to show  the  quilted satin pillow and Harold in his new black suit. His gnarled farmer's hands were clasped together on his chest, a thin gold wedding band on the finger of his left hand.  Even in the picture I could see the thick callouses on his fingers where they came together to hold the yellow rose that had been laid there.  Edith said she'd had beautiful flowers on the farm, especially roses, and this one was from her garden. Harold's  face, not familiar to me in life, was startlingly white and almost pale blue in death. The color of skim milk. She tells me the details of his death and the things about the funeral; the songs they sang, the people who sent flowers, and what they had for lunch.  I had never been so close to death.

Christmas binder of recipes seems to have disappeared

My Christmas binder seems to have disappeared. I have a binder for each holiday and keep favorite recipes and menus and even a couple of old grocery and to-do lists. The Christmas one seems to have taken a powder. I hope I didn't drag it to the thrift store last year.

I wore my vintage faux fur to school today and got rave reviews. It's really warm. One friend pointed out that the lining and the label really hint at quality. Oh, my. It must be one of the first permutations of faux fur because it's really plush and not like the pile they call faux fur today.

I'm watching the 1972 version of Scrooge with Albert Finney and Alec Guinness. I like very version but this is one of my favorites. I haven't learned to operate the tv with the new remotes (Jill, I can relate to all the remotes!) so Regis has to come in and get it started for me.

I made a triple tomato soup for dinner. It has whole tomatoes, tomato paste, and dried tomatoes in it. We love it on a cold night. Now have beef stew meat (from a chuck roast) bubbling on the stove. It smells good in here.

Man, on this movie they have little kids dancing around with a dead duck from one of the store windows. The duck still has its head on and most of the feathers. Gross.

I still have the raven(as in black bird) statue on the table. Tonight, I hung a Bah Humbug glittery sign around his neck. There you go. In honor of the season. Happy Festivus. Ha!

monday morning

some words from a song by The Smiths:

If you must go to work tomorrow,
Then if I were you I wouldn’t bother.
For there are brighter sides to life
And I should know because I’ve seen them,
But not very often.

decorating the tree

Couldn't decide which picture I liked best so decided to use the slideshow. I wish we had remembered to take pictures when Tiffany and Elliot were still here!

oh crap i meant to post more often

Really, I don't know where the time goes.

We had a busy weekend. But not that busy.

I see the damn weather channel is forecasting storms. That's all I need.

I must have made a large trip to the thrift store last year with Christmas decorations. Man, I don't have much left. One tub of wrapping stuff, one tub of kitchen stuff, and one tub of tree decorations. Even some of the stuff I liked is gone. Hey, maybe we had a robbery.Thieves out looking for Christmas decorations. I'd like to meet those dudes.

Ella came over today and helped decorate the tree. I unwrapped the little things from their tissue paper and she hung them on the tree. All at her eye level, of course. Tiffany tried to encourage a more holistic look but she wasn't in favor of that. Guess I can't blame her. She went home with a bag of steamed sweet potato squares. Some grandparents send cookies...we send vegetables.

I'm in training for the Jingle Bell Jam. That means I have to round up the Grinch santa hat and sew the jingle bells on my clothes. I'm not carbo loading or anything. Not that kind of training.

Tiffany was here this afternoon and asked about the box of ornaments that belonged to her and her brother. Oh my God loud moan of horrific anguish. I rescued those things from their dad's house ten years ago and asked ten times (a year) if they wanted them. When the response was always a disdainful no I assumed it meant no. So, some of them must have gone the way of the thrift store last year. I did find a few and maybe enough to be meaningful. How did I know that having a baby would make you care about things that never meant anything before? I talked to a friend the other day about how a woman's need to collect stuff peaks in her forties, then declines dramatically. I wonder if that's universal.

The tree looks pretty. It's why people have Christmas lights. To chase away the winter shadows.

hey how come it's so dark outside at 5 o'clock

Now when I leave work at the end of the day, it's getting dark already. Oh, my aching back side. I hate that.

I made dumplings for the last of the turkey soup. It smelled good and tasted great but now the turkey that's still left in the refrigerator can be gone. We've had enough for a while.

We debated about going down to the bar to play trivia tonight. I suck at trivia. I don't have a fast retrieval system even if I have the information in my head. It just won't pop out when it's out of context. It's the same reason I suck at word finds and crossword puzzles. I like my words strung together in sentences.

Regis has been working so hard on his spread sheet class that he dreams about it. Last night he must have dreamed about a dog, too, because he kept shouting, "We have to get rid of the chihuahua! That dog is a pain in the ass!" We've had two dogs that might qualify for that description but neither of them are chihuahuas.

I went shopping at TJ Maxx on Sunday. Actually I browsed around so long that Regis thought I was either dead or imprisoned so he came looking for me. I debated about a pair of boots and a jacket but decided against both of them and bought some lingerie instead. That evening, I decided the lingerie wasn't right but I really wanted the jacket and boots so the next day, I made a diagram and Regis went back to TJ Maxx, returned the lingerie and bought the boots and jacket for me. He said an old lady at the cash register asked him if anything was wrong with the lingerie and he said they cut him under the arms. She got a big charge out of that. What a character. But what a nice guy to do that for me.

I gave up on the book I was reading and started The Farmer's Daughter, Jim Harrison's new book of three novellas. I love his writing and if I'm ever marooned on an island, I'll take his books and those of Kent Haruff and Louise Erdrich. I thought it was odd that he used the phrase gag a maggot, though. Gag a maggot? Isn't that a little middle schoolish? Yeah, and when was the last time I had a book published?

That's my rant for the day. Happy hump day tomorrow.Harrumph.

slow recovery

I've been slowly getting the house back together after the Thanksgiving debauchery. Nothing is getting done fast and I've intended since Thursday night to run the Swiffer over the kitchen floor. Still not done. Regis fed the dog too much turkey (apparently the ham bone incident has faded from his memory) and we had unfortunate event of dog intestinal distress. Those, believe me, are all the details you want.

I went for a long walk outdoors this morning instead of going to the Pulse....to clear my head of cobwebs. There was a gentle breeze and the air was brisk so it helped.

A year ago, I never thought I would say that I enjoyed exercise. Never having done it, except for short periods of time in my life, I was not going to be convinced that this would ever be fun. In fact, I used that as a justification for not starting: I’m not the kind of person who will like it, so I might as well not start.

If you've been a reader here for a while, you might remember when Regis and I decided to join the 500 miles in a year group through our community education program. We made it through October but figured out quickly that if we missed a day or two, we were screwed. The math of 500 miles in 365 days was against us.

Regis was a vigorous and regular walker for a while. I joined him occasionally but I usually dragged behind and complained. He was a goal-oriented and rapid walker, I was an ambling sight-seer. It didn’t work.

In preparation for my surgery, last August, I started plodding around the block and down the street. I dreaded it and it exhausted me. We tried riding bikes together but the same thing happened as did with walking. I liked to pedal slowly down the street and Regis liked to push further and faster.

Through the winter, I went swimming with a friend four or five times a week. We didn’t join the folks at the high school pool who wore goggles and swam with their faces in the water. We went to the little hotel pool where it was warm and dark and smelled like waffles. We paddled back and forth for an hour, talking and laughing, and rarely getting our hair wet.

An interesting thing happened. Even though I got up at 4:30 to be in the water early and many days it was icy and frigid outside, I started to feel good about what I was doing. Even though I enjoyed the early morning conversations in that pleasant setting, I can’t say I was enjoying the exercise yet, but I did enjoy having done it.

I joined the Pulse in June and started working out with Rachel once a week. She worked me hard for thirty minutes then I did the cardio part on my own. It was difficult and I dreaded it, but gradually I felt better and it wasn’t so hard and I started to think of myself as a person who exercises. Me. An active person who exercises. A person who works out.

Now when I work out, I remember how to breathe. I can plan which exercises to work different parts of my body. I know what abs and biceps and triceps are. Things that are difficult to do this week, like the lunges, I know will be easier next week.

In October, I walked a 5K Halloween Fun Run with my friend, Joanne. We walked fast, ran a little, and finished with a time right around 16 minutes/mile. Since then, I have been fascinated not only with my time, but with the email I was sent telling me where I finished overall and in my age group, and with the possibility of doing this again. I watch people run on the treadmills and outside, playing with the possibility of running myself.

I sent in my registration for the Jingle Bell Jam in New Ulm, a 4-mile fun run and walk. That’s quite a marketing genius who came up with that phrase: fun run! I’m looking forward to the training for walking that far and to maybe running a little. Imagine it. I’m amazed. It’s part of the miracle.

In spite of dire predictions from my friends, I have started running. Rachel was excited about it (a convert!) and set me up with a training schedule that includes running only about 8 minutes out of 30 for now. Surprisingly, my shoulders are the only thing that hurts. I can't figure that one out. I haven't fallen down or ruined my joints. Regis has shown me a couple funny videos on Youtube that show running people toppling ass over teakettle. Very amusing.

My goal with running is only to work hard enough to sweat in less than 30 minutes. I felt like I couldn't walk fast enough to do that and was getting tired of trying to go further all the time. I just want to go faster. I registered for the Jingle Bell Jam in New Ulm on December 12th, my second fun run/walk. It starts at 4 in the afternoon so I imagine that will be dusk. It's 4 miles and I don't know how many K that is...but I can walk 4 miles. Regis will wait for me in a warm, dark bar.

This might be a little mixed up as part of it was snatched from a message board where I write about weight loss and exercise. I get an inspired thought once in a while and I like to take advantage of it.

Now I think I'll go run that Swiffer over the kitchen floor.

reality of Thanksgiving

Things that can go wrong generally do. Alex was sick so he and Emily couldn't come. We missed them! Good thing they don't live far as Bob was able to transport food over to them at the right time for eating dinner. We had good luck in the kitchen with most things but the lefse fell apart. It felt chaotic as it was happening, but the meal was good and the aftermath was sweet. Most of the clean-up is done. I'm going to exercise this morning and having lunch with Joanne and Laurel later. My goal is a relaxing weekend. Now go back and read sentence #1!

One of the nicest moments was when Tiffany and Peter were in the kitchen making gravy and I was sitting in the chair in the dining room directing them. They were laughing and having fun together. It was fun to see.

cooking cooking cooking

Awake at 4 a.m. As usual.
Made a peanut butter pie.
Made a pistachio salad.
Checked over the recipes for the traditional bread stuffing and the Andouille sausage stuffing.
Rolls are rising.
Had coffee. Had another cup of coffee.
Did the dishes. Many times.
Opened a Thanksgiving card from Mom.
Checked my email.
Had another cup of coffee.
Thinking about taking a nap.
Thanksgiving Parade starts at 8:00!

Thanksgiving Eve

Came home after work.
Opened a bottle of sauvignon blanc.
Made a pumpkin pie.
Made cornbread.
Visited with the Young Regis who bought a house today.
Cut up all the onions and celery for the dressing.
Went to the garden and picked sage, parsley, rosemary, and thyme.
Helped Regis with the brine for the turkey.
Got the turkey into the cooler with the brine.
Cooked the giblets.
Reviewed the to-do list.
List looks good.
Poured another glass of wine.
Talked to Tiffany on the phone.
Looking forward to tomorrow!

on a mental vacation

I've let go of all the stress. I've just let it go. I'm not going to worry about the BS anymore. Life's too short and too sweet. I'm going to get done what I can get done today. I went to Patrick's for a glass of wine tonight. I stopped at the liquor store to buy wine for Thanksgiving Day and thought about a bottle of Bailey's Irish Cream. There was a beautiful baby boy sleeping in my bedroom today and how I can be upset about anything when that's true. I'm glad to have my friends (sane as they are) and my family (sane as they are) and the rest will sort itself out eventually without my interference or worry.

oh my

I can't believe it's been a week since I wrote on my blog! I used to love documenting my mundane activities here but this fall, there are a lot of things that make it happen infrequently.

My exercise routine, getting up at 4:30 and working out for 60-90 minutes in the morning, kicks my hinder. I'm not tired for the most of the day, but by the time I sit down on the couch after dinner...maybe 6:30...it doesn't take much for me to tip over and go to sleep. Some days I can stay about until 9, but not often. It doesn't leave much time for anything in the evenings.

I don't read much anymore either. I've been reading the same damn book for weeks. Spooner is good and the writing is entertaining and funny but I can read about five pages and I have to go to sleep. I hate to think about all the good books I'm missing.

My job is more stressful this year. Some days I go to three or more buildings and probably three or more meetings. By the end of the day, I hardly remember where I've been and what I did when I was there. I write down every phone call and make notes on all the meetings but I still miss things. Last week I missed one meeting entirely and went an hour late to another one. Scrambled marbles.

The other factor is that I got hooked on the instant gratification of facebook. So easy to jot a quick line or two as a status update and move on. I didn't have to think much or compose anything in my head...and remember it until the end of the day. Believe me...I have composed some great blog posts in my head this fall only to have them disappear into the breeze.

I have managed to get my Thanksgiving menu ready, the groceries bought, and the to-do list printed. This is my favorite part of the meal preparation. I wish we had more people coming this year....might have to beat the bushes for some unoccupied friends!

Reggie came over for dinner and we started talking about the Christmas Eve menu. Fun! I won't reveal the possibilities yet.

I made a delicious wild rice and chicken soup for dinner with corn bread. A good dinner for a late fall day. Joanne came for a mid-afternoon glass of wine but didn't stay for dinner.

Our friend, Dick, was recently diagnosed with congestive heart failure. I talked to both Jane and Dick last night...Dick sounded much stronger and more like himself than he did when we saw him this summer when he seemed pale and tired. It's discordant...having your friends diagnosed with old people diseases. Like seeing the scruffy old man at the grocery store at noon buying two shrimp rings with cocktail sauce. We hope Dick continues to recover and feel better. Discordant...interesting idea.

It was so beautiful outside today that we did some surprising things. Regis hooked up the hose and washed the outside of the house. I took our old fish tank out and washed it off on the patio. As miserable as October was, November has been wonderful.

About a month ago, we found a foster home for our last surviving fish, a loach. I found someone who was interested in the tank so now it's in a new home, too. Fish are high maintenance. I only want low maintenance pets for which our current little dog qualifies. He can't hear so he doesn't back when the door bell rings and he can't see very well so he doesn't bark when the mailman goes by.

I have to see who the next Iron Chef will be. And then on to bed. I'll do better at documenting our own imperfect lives, I promise.

Sunday psychosis

Oh, I hate the end of a weekend. Since school started, we have hardly had any weekends with nothing to do. Not even one day... and I could tell by the archaeological dig that is my house. The late summer brown-eyed Susan flag was still up which means the Halloween flag didn't see the light of day. At least the 4th of July decorations were gone. Small favors.

A lot accomplished and we're ready for the week.

It will be a busy one. Haircut tomorrow night. AARP class Tuesday night. Night class Wednesday night.

Time for bed.

slide show of the goings-on

i get my picture taken with the dignitaries

me with Santa

me with Tim Walz (and Gus and Hope)

me with Terry Morrow

We had a blast at the 169 Celebration today. I have more pictures to post of the festivities but these are some of my favorites. I was excited to see which dignitaries would show up for the opening but I never dreamed that Santa would be among them. In a golf cart, no less. He was happy to pose for a picture with me.

thursday already

Regis and I walked down to the highway late this afternoon to see the progress they're making on the construction. It's starting to look almost normal down there and it's a good thing. Tempers are running a little short with the detours and disappearing and appearing stop signs. To say nothing of the rapid traffic down the other residential streets that aren't designated detours. This morning a woman followed me down 4th Street and man was she in a blazing hurry right on my bumper. I slowed to 20 mph and put an end to her big deal rush. What a bag.

There is a big grand opening to foot traffic celebration on Saturday. I'm all over that since there will be state and federal dignitaries there and I want to see that! There's a beer and wine tasting at our favorite beverage store, a band at one of the establishments starting at 4:00, and pictures with Santa at Total Entertainment. It will be a happening.

I had kind of a grump going today. Maybe it's because I was in a building with no windows. That wears on a guy. Hell.

My computer is all messed up tonight. It's hard to explain what it does. Regis tries to use it and he claims it's fine. It's possessed when I take over.

I went back to Mayo on Monday for my 6-month check even though it had been 7 months since my surgery. I saw the dietitian. It's always curious because she gives me information that the doctor laughs at. She said I should be eating 130 grams of carbs a day. He laughed himself silly over that one. Then I saw the psychiatrist. She remembered me from my first appointment so it was nice to visit with her. I could have sat there a long time because I like to talk about my inner workings and she seemed interested. I suppose they don't pay her for that though so she ushered me out after about 30 minutes. Then I saw the nutrition doctor who proclaimed me a healthy person. He said I am doing a great job, my lab results were perfect, and I should keep doing what I'm doing. I'm a rock star!

I'm reading a good book called Spooner. I've been tired this fall and I can only read for about twenty minutes so it's like watching five minutes of a movie a day. I can hardly track with the plot. This is from the review: Warren Spooner is a sad sack. His mother despises him as the surviving twin from a hideously painful delivery. He's not very smart, and his one redeeming talent--baseball--is nullified by catastrophic injury. He gets into trouble, a lot. Though he manages to organize his life through marriage and a (terrible) job, the self-destructive behavior endures. Really, it's funny.

Tomorrow is Friday. My favorite day of the week. Have a nice one.

mournng the end of summer

Regis and I spent the afternoon raking leaves and putting away the remnants of summer...the lawn chairs, the patio table, the bird bath, the lawn mower. It was a wonderful summer and a not so nice fall so we really appreciated today. If we could have days like this for a few months, winter might not be so intolerable.

I've started planning my Thanksgiving menu. This is the part of it that I love. I have a big binder full of menus and recipes from the last Thanksgivings and I look them over and decide which ones to make this year. Not like there are that many choices, you might think. My family likes the old standards: turkey and gravy, green bean casserole, bread stuffing.

I like to throw in a few new side dishes like the corn bread Andouille sausage stuffing I made two years ago and loved. That gets a repeat performance every year now. Regis made some little onion tarts one year that were a big hit. We don't stray too far off the beaten path...no tofurkey or roasted parsnips and rutabagas.

This year, I'll make a couple changes to things so I can eat them. I have a recipe for no-sugar cranberry fluff (it's got the dreaded Cool Whip in it...) that I think I'll make. And a peanut butter pie that sounds good. If you don't have a place to go and think this sounds like a menu you could eat, let me know. We always pack a crowd in our tiny house for Thanksgiving.

I have a big pot of chili bubbling on the stove. It is such a big pot of chili that I had to dump it from one pot into another bigger pot. We like chili and we'll freeze the rest of it into serving packages with the vacuum sealer tomorrow.

On Monday, Regis and I travel to Rochester for my six month post-surgery visits. I have an appointment with a humorless dietitian, a psychiatrist who makes me nervous, and with my nutrition specialist who is a little aspergery but very nice. I feel attached to him like I did to the doctor who delivered Peter. Is that a universal thing? Regis sent an email to his heart surgeon on the tenth anniversary of his bypass so maybe it is. I'm anxious to see what my lab work reveals...if I get enough protein and calcium, etc. And it's always nice to get props for your hard work. I'll give a report on my visit when I get back.

So, that's it for the end of the week. Tomorrow we get ready to move into the next week by making an early morning visit to the HyVee. Regis has been shopping alone on Mondays since school started so I bet the guys at the meat counter think he either got divorced or I passed. They'll be glad to see me alive and kickin'!

bloodybelly comb jelly

Is this the weirdest thing ever?

Brilliant and seemingly glowing, the bloodybelly comb jelly comes in different shades of red but always has a blood-red stomach. The sparkling display on the outside comes from light diffracting from tiny transparent, hair-like cilia. These beat continuously, propelling the jelly through the water.

This species has only recently come to the attention of scientists, thanks to images like this, supplied by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute’s remotely operated vehicles.

rain

We had several sunny days in a row even though one of them had gale force winds. Today started out bright and clear but about 2:00, the clouds moved in and it started to rain. Again. Oh, it can be difficult to get through these gloomy fall days. I came home and lit a candle, turned on World Cafe, and made meatballs. Regis made a pot of coffee and we visited while we cooked.

On my way to work this morning, I saw a woman and child get in a car, drive around the corner, and wait in a line of five other waiting cars with their motors running, for the school bus. What the. Do kids today melt when they get wet or cold? At the end of the day at the high school, the streets are full of idling cars waiting for the little prima donnas to come out and get in a warm car for the ride home. It isn't even cold yet! Here I could launch into my "I walked to school...." speech but I won't.

I'm shopping for a long goose down coat. In my lightened condition, I get cold easily (sorry...whining) and I want a warm winter coat. I'm currently looking at a Cabela's goose down coat.

The meatballs were delicious.

I go back to the Mayo Clinic on Monday. I have an appointment with the dietitian at 10:00, the psychiatrist at 2:00, and the nutrition specialist at 4:00. I'm curious about the psych appointment. I wonder what she'll want to know. I like things like that and can go on and on...thinking aloud. I have pages and pages of notes I could share but they don't really want to know all of that. They want the basics. I've done blood work and such and had it sent over there so I'll get the results that day. I'm curious about that, too. I've lost 130 pounds (about the size of some people...or a month-old horse) and I feel great.

I skated over the Halloween Fun Run but it was not an insignificant thing for me. I'm 57 years old and have never exercised regularly in my life until I started planning for WLS. Last winter, I swam every day. In June, I joined the fitness center in town. Now I can walk for 60 minutes on the treadmill, I finished a 5k (walking!), and work out with a trainer once a week.

When I was seeing the therapist before surgery, she identified one of my thinking errors as this: People who exercise love it. Since I didn't love it, I guess that let me off the hook. She told me to think about it like this instead: You might not love doing it but you can grow to love how you feel because you do it. She was right.

I don't exercise to make my pants fit better, although I enjoy that they do. At my age, I don't exercise to fit into a bikini, although I did think about a pair of tall boots as I did my walking lunges.

I exercise because I feel stronger and healthier and because it might help me live a longer and better life. It might keep me out of a nursing home! An older friend of mine shared that as she exercises she thinks these muscles will help her be independent longer. Not a bad motivation. One of my motivations for surgery was seeing lots of people my age in walkers and scooter chairs. I didn't want that for myself. I exercise because it helps me mentally. I feel better about myself having done it.

I'm thin and healthy and strong. Ah, that feels so good!

a very busy weekend

Friday, I spent two hours in the cold rain, taking Tiffany to get her oil changed and her tabs renewed on her car. Tote a baby along and you have some real errands. She headed over to her dad's about 5.

Saturday morning, Joanne and I did the 5k fun run in St. Peter. This involved leaving the house at 8:00 and not getting back until about 11:00. I needed a long, warm bath after that adventure.

Tiffany arrived about noon with Elliot. We baked brownies and went to the grocery store and played with Elliot until we went to Tom and Betty's at 4:00. We partied and danced and ate and had a great time until we went trick or treating (see photos). We came home at 9:00 and I went to bed shortly after that.

We got up this morning and went to breakfast at Patrick's. When we came home, I put a roast on for dinner, peeled carrots and potatoes, and took Elliot for a long walk.

Tiffany and I had a wonderful time. We had some time to relax and visit about school and about other things in between our business. I'm exhausted but all in all, it was a grand birthday weekend.

This is a video of Elliot. I wanted him to do a different trick for the camera, but what he did was crawl over to the couch and starting eating the tassels on the sofa pillows. It was hilarious.

Fun Run Results

443   22 W50  Joanne Smith, 51, Le Sueur, MN             46:54.0   15:06  Pulsators          
444   23 W50  Teresa Saum, 57, St. Peter, MN             46:57.6   15:07  Pulsators  

Joanne and I finished 443 and 444 (in the over 50 group) in the Fun Run yesterday.
That's out of 700 some.        

Halloween

We had a great time on Halloween night! We all went trick or treating (leaving some folks at Tom and Betty's to hand out candy there. Good food, good music, lots of laughs. Great fun.

More Halloween pictures here!

thursday

We had some of the off-spring over for dinner tonight so the could enjoy some old family pictures. We had a good time and some good chicken. Lots of laughs. Ella says for Halloween she's going to be a dancing queen like her Nana.

daylight...what the hell happened to it?

I read in the paper today that the sun rises at 7:45 and sets at 6:08.. That isn't much daylight. No wonder we're getting cranky...and November is our cloudiest month. Look for wine sales to sky rocket at MGM in November.

Someday cell phone companies will be known for the pirates that they are. Tonight I'm getting messages from something called celebsquares urging me to play some game on my cell phone. Imagine what that would cost. And who signed me up for that crap? It's insidious.

I went to a baby shower on Sunday for Gabriel, Joanne's new grandbaby. His daddy opened a package of t-shirts with writing on them like this: Eco-friendly. Save the trees. Conserve water. We decided that they were politically correct baby shirts...or baby clothes for liberal babies. And then the obvious next thought is this: What would conservative baby shirts say? Screw the poor? No health care for the middle class? Education for the rich? Hahahaha. I crack myself up. (No political rants in the comment section, please. This is not a democratic blog.)

Peter came home from work today with some kind of illness. He slept all afternoon and evening until I went down to check on him. He has a wicked headache and a cold. Good mom made him chicken soup and poured him a big glass of juice. Regis is disinfecting the house and worrying.

I'm going back to bed. More tomorrow.

notes; random ones

In the last few days, I've composed a few blog posts in my head. I do that a lot and I tell you, that is some good stuff going on up there. They never made it to the launching pad, though, as you can tell. I can't even remember what they were about anymore.

I came home, turned on World Cafe, poured a glass of red wine, and made squash soup. The house smells grand and dinner was great.

Not only is St. Peter all torn up from stem to stern, but now they've started resurfacing the road leading up to my school and there is a big construction project going on in the next lot. All of this makes for lots of large equipment and lots of noise.

The walls were vibrating this afternoon which makes for an over-stimulating environment. I think if it continues tomorrow, I'll fall to the floor and fake some kind of seizure and apply for disability. That's probably sort of morbid humor. But it explains the need for the zen moments...the wine, the music, and the soup.

Regis is making popcorn for me. We've forsaken microwave popcorn so he's making it in a pan. That's an art.

We're watching Antiques Roadshow. They must have a Halloween theme...lots of weird things like skulls, hair art, and cases full of scarab beatles. We like to guess how much the stuff is worth but this one is hard.

I'm out of gas early tonight and on my way to be soon. Good book waiting.

cowboy duds

The cowboy duds in the picture are not the property of Regis as a boy. They are part of the photo op. What 1950's kid wouldn't have loved those cowboy duds?

We stopped by our favorite liquor store tonight. We haven't been there for weeks, mostly because you can hardly get there from here. The manager was very positive about the changes that are happening in the street, bless his heart. It's a real flippin' mess out there but I did buy a nice bottle of transition wine, a pinto noir. I like white wine in the summer, red in the winter, and pinot in the fall.

We went to Tom and Betty's today. We had a good time, laughing at their pug and planning our Halloween costumes. Betty could make a prize winning costume out of my dirty clothes pile and I have no imagination so we're a good pair.

Regis and I went out about 10 this morning, in the cold sunshine, and started raking leaves and putting our lawn furniture away. It made me sad because we haven't really used the grill since the first part of September. The bugs got so bad that it wasn't pleasant, then it started to rain and it was freezing cold. So much for the end of summer...and apparently fall.

We got the leaves that have fallen moved to the curb where the city will pick them up tomorrow. I dug up the canna lilies (we have about 500 of the buggers), and got all the stuff moved to the garage. That's it for summer....

pony

When we were in PA, Jane gave Regis a box of photos that had come from the home of his dad. We had a great time looking at them and passing them around to uproarious laughter. This is a picture of Regis on a pony. Apparently, it was common back in the day for someone to come around with a pony and take pictures of the neighborhood children for a price. Good gig. Someone should do that here. Hey, I only live a block from the swimming pool. I see a new career for me! Here's a warning to our offspring: You will be getting an invitation to the family photo viewing. Come and enjoy! Go home with a box of photos!

back from the woods

An uneventful trip to the woods up north. No unseemly precipitation on the way up or back.That place is like a weird retro resort...twisty hallways, tilty floors, smelly old carpet, bed like a cement pad with a sheet over it. That didn't keep me from sleeping until 7:30 one day, however. It's good to be home and I'm looking forward to crawling into my own bed tonight.

One day when Regis and I were driving around in PA, he started pushing buttons on the dash. All of a sudden we had a human voice in the car asking us what the emergency was and which emergency personnel she should summon. Apparently he had called Onstar. Uh oh. If there is a button somewhere, a man will push it. It's a universal truth.

I ran into a friend of mine at Patrick's tonight. She had belonged to a book club but just resigned for a lot of reasons. We decided we will have random book club meetings at the bar, we'll write our notes on scraps of newspaper, and we'll only talk about the books like a conversation. No lessons, no questions, no annual list of books. It will suit us.

I'm on my way to bed. Long week.

another trip

Tomorrow I take off for my third trip of the month. For a person who is loathe to travel, this is about enough but it isn't over yet. I'm leaving for a conference in Brainerd tomorrow about noon. I dread the thought of going in to pack. I'm not a fan of the resort where we're going. It reminds me of the beat up old resort in Dirty Dancing. The floors are a little off-kilter and it smells like dust and mice. Maybe that's just my memory, which is not always accurate.

I think I'll take my laptop and a book and do my best to avoid too much socialization.

We had omelets with Italian peppers, onions, and sun-dried tomatoes for dinner. It was a comfort meal. If someone else had done the cooking, I would have been happy with something else, but this was easy. I've been hungry for meatballs and meatloaf. Don't ask me why.

I'm going to bed to read. Regis is watching a baseball game. Is this the World Series yet? Good grief. This stuff just goes on forever.

pictures from a trip

Sister Jocelyn, brother Larry, and Larry's wife Eileen. Larry and Eileen just got back from a trip to Vegas.
Jane and Kurt's dog, Cody. They had four beautiful labs at their house. Big dogs but full of personality and very gentle. Except that darn Sandy. Sandy's only saving grace was that she would deliver a cold beer and take the empty bottle back to the kitchen. We almost bought her a plane ticket for that!

Larry, Eileen, and Jocelyn.

Teresa and Cody.

Regis and his old friend, Jack. We met Jack at the Golden Dawn diner (diners are a mystery to me...) for dinner Thursday night and again Saturday morning for breakfast. Jack's quite a story teller so it wasn't difficult to sit for two hours over coffee.

Teresa and Jane looking at pictures. That's Morgan on the couch between us. Morgan is also known as Large Marge. She was scared of Sandy and shook like a leaf when Sandy wanted to be the top dog.

This is a piece of driftwood that Kurt found floating in the surf in Jamaica. I don't know if you can tell from this picture but it looks just like Christ on the cross. It would make a good match for my Virgin Mary peanut.

Regis in some wine cellar we visited on Friday. It was not the most picturesque place as you can see in the following photos but the wine was good. We visited several vineyards, sampling and buying wine, then realized we couldn't take it back on the plane. Uh oh.

Here's the basement. No tour or anything...they just pointed us to a dusty cellar full of big stainless steel tanks.

They had a nice yard with sculptures but it was so damn cold that we weren't about to sit out there.
A ceramic house display out in the yard of the vineyard. Interesting but a little weird.

Grape vines. Big deal. Ha!

random stuff but I promised Sandy

I haven't posted anything for a week. Regis and I flew (not of our own power) to Philadelphia for the weekend so I feel like I have been pulled through a knothole butt first.

We left home Wednesday right after school. We checked into the Dakota Ridge Best Western where we could park our car for a week. We wandered over to a restaurant within walking distance where we had a glass or two of wine and some comfort meat loaf.

Our plane left at 8 a.m. and of course I was nervous about over-sleeping so I woke up at 2:30 and spent the rest of the night worrying. So helpful.

We got on the shuttle in plenty of time and waited in the airport for 90 minutes, just like they tell you to do. Not everybody follows the rules, though, because we were the only ones there for quite a while. Our plane left on time and there were no incidents.

The fellow who checked us through security was funny. I told him we're inexperienced travelers so he told me what to take off (nine pounds of bracelets) and what to put in the bins. He told Regis to put a new cell phone on his Christmas list because his face plate is cracked. Ok dude.

We landed in PA to 40 degree temps and driving rain. They call this miserable weather condition a Nor'easter. Yeah, my hinder. It's as close to snow as you can get without flakes. We had to drive around all day because the relatives who were housing us were at work and have four dogs. We didn't want to be consumed by large labradors so we killed time by driving from mall to mall and buying warm clothes.

We stopped at a strip mall restaurant in South Philly for pizza. It was perfect. A woman in a large blond bouffant called me hon and brought me a gorgeous pizza. You can't buy dough like that in Minnesota.

We had a nice time with the siblings and their spouses. Friday night we went out to eat with Kurt and Jane. We were serenaded by Dominic, Italian waiter just off the boat (I swear...) at the lovely Italian restaurant we visited. The restaurant doesn't have a liquor license because it's a dry township but you can bring your wine and beer into the place. So here is this very posh joint and people were carrying Playmate coolers and Walmart bags in containing their wine and beer. Very strange. I said that would get you arrested in MN.

Ride home was uneventful, too. We made it through the weekend without anybody getting testy or homicidal. I feel like I've been time traveling...so many things and people and conversations all mixed up. I'm not sure sometimes if I've said things or just thought it and it didn't come out my mouth.

Wednesday I leave for a conference in Brainerd. I ought to be in fine shape by Saturday.

Alex learned to crawl! Look at him go!

more with some photos later

I'm finally thawing out. We had a good trip to Philly but it was 40 degrees there with a stiff wind and driving rain. It looks from the forecast like that will be what the rest of our week in Minnesota is like. Great. I might have to move to AZ, Deb!

They do know how to make bread on the east coast. Oh my. The South Philly pizza crust is like heaven.

Enjoyed all your posts from the last few days. Sounds like you had a great time with Mike and Bennett. Is that one t or two?

yuck snow

I usually enjoy the first snow of the season but they don't come this early. We woke up to about three inches of wet, heavy snow that continued to come all day. It didn't stick on the roads but it made a mess everywhere else. I heard a guy on the radio call it a menacing mess. That's about it and what the hell.

Somebody said it's going to warm up. Yeah, and when would that be? It barely crept above freezing (that's 32 degrees for the warm weather fans) and it's not supposed to get much above 40 this week. If it's going to get warm, it has about two weeks to accomplish that. It...whatever that is.

I woke up at 3 this morning and didn't go back to sleep which makes for a long and fuzziesh day. I don't feel at the top of my mental acumen, if you know what I mean. Or is that acuminium?

I coin words when I'm tired. If you can't think of the right one, hell, just make one up.

I think I mentioned before that I had given some thought to the Halloween Fun Run. I talked a friend of mine into walking with me so it might be fun. I'm not running. Not on my old knees.

We're flying to Philly on Thursday. Deb says it helps to have a glass of wine pre-flight to help with anxiety. Do they sell wine at the airport at 6 a.m.?

busy weekend

Busy this weekend. Changed out all the summer clothes for fall clothes. Got out mittens. Sorted through stuff for the thrift store. Piled up stuff to go to the basement. Found a few things that had been misplaced. Got the few outdoor plants that get to come inside situated. Put the electric mattress pad on the bed. Got out the Halloween stuff and I have a lot of it so that's no small feat. Still to do: fill bird feeders, bake a turkey breast, start packing for our trip.

proof that the town is messed up

Here's the main street of St. Peter. Proof that it's a messed up place to try and drive. Highway 169 North is down to two lanes, too. You can hardly get from here to there. I think by next week it will be impossible to go to work. What a pity.

Regis took our ear infected dog to the vet this morning. Kramer got excited when he heard a cat and pooped on the floor. On their way out, he lifted his leg on the corner of the desk. Hey, thanks for coming. We appreciate your business. Hahahaha

snow

saturday

The dog woke us up at 3:00, shaking his head and scratching at his ear. He apparently has an infection and it was bothersome. Regis took him out to the couch to sleep. He'll have to go to the vet.

Tiffany's car dropped a muffler on Highway 52 headed to Rochester. It had to be towed in for what may be expensive repairs.

Peter finally took his car in yesterday for a tune-up. Arvin called and said he did need a tune-up but the more important matter was a leaking something or other that could start a fire. Arvin said a car that doesn't run right is one thing but a car that starts on fire is quite another. Arvin is a philosopher and the repairs are expensive.

So far today, Regis and I are healthy.

It snowed during the night.

We're taking the GPS unit to PA with us. Regis is busy entering the addresses of the places to which we plan to motor.

I'm headed to the pulse soon for my Saturday work-out. Joanne and I are going to walk the Halloween Fun Run. There's an oxymoron for you. Fun Run. We aren't going to wear costumes, right Joanne?

Anybody else feeling the pinch to winterize? We still have our grill on the patio and it's covered with snow. What the hell. We had two weeks of hot weather this summer and they were both in September. I don't have mittens out yet but I need them. This whole thing is a little mixed up.

I stayed awake until 8 last night. I was a little worried because a couple nights this week, I tipped over at 6:30 and slept all night. Well, until 3 or 4. We're going to the Bothy tonight so I better stay awake until it's over. It would look weird to be sleeping on a folding chair.

Happy weekend.

baseball guilt

So. Last night I watched about a grand total of three minutes of the baseball game. When Regis cheered and waved his TC cap in the air, I looked up and tried to figure out what happened. I felt a small desire that the Twins win and some anxiety that they wouldn't so I went to bed and figured I would find out in the morning. At 3 a.m., I woke up and wondered aloud to Regis who won the game. He had also given up and gone to bed so I had to get out of bed and check the Trib online. And then there was no going back to bed for me. It's been a long day.

Regis has night class tonight and I have the game on television. I know more about baseball than I do about football. I know that when they hit it a really long way and people cheer, that it could be a home run. I know that when someone catches the ball, it could be an out. Beyond that, I'm fuzzy, but somehow I manage to live a rich and happy life.

I put some chicken breast and carrots in the oven for dinner. See? I do remember how to cook.

In the dark of night this morning, Regis went to the grocery store. What a guy. He also sent me a beautiful bouquet of roses at work yesterday. They're white on the outside and deep red on the inside. They look like this:

I wore my first pair of tall boots to work today. I felt like I had to learn to walk all over again....like I had peg legs. A guy gets a powerful feeling in a pair of boots and that's one of the reasons I like them. Click click click. And they're very comfortable. Remember the guy in the cowboy store asked me what I was going to be doing with the boots. Walking around I said.

Ok well, now I'm tired and full of chicken and carrots and I don't care about the baseball game anymore. G'night. I have no idea why those words are the way they are. Ghosts.

the confluence of a bunch of shit

Regis and I went to Patrick's for dinner. I was going to make spaghetti but it was a lomg day and I got new cowboy boots that were dyin' to be worn out and about. So Patrick's was wild...the confluence was the Twins game, the Nobel Conference, and trivia night. We had a hard time getting a table but it was grand fun. Lots of clapping and cheering. I think that was the Twins branch of the confluence.

Our dog, keeping watch for bad guys.

My new boots below. They're Ariat cowboy boots that I got from Sierra Trading Post for dirt cheap.

Reg and Amber are in the process of house buying. They made an offer on a house about two blocks away from here. The offer was accepted and today they had an inspector (Clouseau?) came to check it out. We had a glass of champagne to celebrate. They're in for a couple month's worth (maybe years) of hard work. I think they should have Thanksgiving at their house. Ha.

I cut down the canna lilies on Sunday. Later in the afternoon, I saw a hummingbird hovering over the place where the cannas were. He looked confused and disgruntled. I was in despair. How sad. Poor thing looked and looked, landed on the bird feeder, hovered again, then flew off presumably to Mexico.

Hall of Fame

visit with the grand babies

a long week

Well, so far this week has been about 14 days long. We went to Patrick's after work for a glass of wine and cup of chili. Bob and Ella, and Reg, joined us there. I'm not sure I got the commas in the right place in that sentence but I don't care. Regis and I are having another glass of wine and some popcorn for dessert now...and watching some junk television. It should be Friday.