Because....of course that's how it would go.

 As we last discussed, I gussied myself up for a dental appointment...only to show up three days early.

Last night, as I prepped for bed, I reminded The Husband that I needed to be up and ready to go this morning.  Accordingly, he set his alarm for his usual time - which would give me PLENTY of time to get ready to be "public" ready.

You can see where this is going, can't you?

This morning, I woke, stretched, looked at the clock and jumped out of bed asking, "Aren't you going to work today?!"

This lead to him jumping out of bed, cursing...because apparently he had an early meeting starting in twenty minutes.  Which meant that my preening would have to wait.  It appears he set his alarm for 6:00 pm and not 6:00 AM.

The difference between the two is...to put it mildly, HUGE.  

He made his meeting.  I made my appointment.  But there was no time for preening.  I showed up with minimal makeup, hair thrown up into a pony tail, of sorts and in a sore need for caffeine.

Am I surprised?

At this point, no.  I am no longer surprised by anything.

So the whole day has been out of whack...which is the way of the world when your day starts off with you running behind.  

Here's hoping tomorrow will be smoother sailing.

Monday...the pandemic edition

 I noticed an alarm from my calendar early on Sunday evening.  It informed me that I had a dentist appointment this morning.

Well!  THAT was an exciting adventure to start my Monday!  This morning, after The Husband left for work, I began to get dressed...what?  I was GOING SOMEWHERE to see OTHER PEOPLE.

I washed my hair, did my makeup (more so than I usually do since the pandemic began), I added jewelry AND perfume...something I normally skip these days.  Yes, I still wash my hair, shower and add minimal makeup...but the jewelry and perfume usually, these days, sit on the dresser; unused.

Timing my arrival to the tee, I drove into town.  I was practically giddy...to get my teeth cleaned.

This is where we are now...I accept it.

While driving in, I wondered why I hadn't received an email, text or phone call confirming my appointment.  I swatted that worrying thought away from my brain...despite the fact that I have ALWAYS received a notification at least one business day prior to my appointment.

I pulled into a parking spot, dialed the number, and informed the receptionist that I was here for my appointment.

Whereupon, she informed me that my appointment is actually scheduled for Thursday.  🤦

Because of course it is!

Between you and me, I'm beginning to wonder about my state of mind.

So this is where I am now...

My life is either really, really boring or it's NOT - apparently there is no in between.

 Isn't THAT the truth!  If you've been around here for any amount of time, you are nodding along in agreement.

About two years ago, we had a winter "event" that was pretty significant - but apparently, not significant enough to post a follow up.

So, long story short, that event took months to rectify.  Mainly, because The Husband kept insisting he could deal with it.  The pictures, as bad as they were, do not capture just HOW bad it was.

Eventually, he caved and called a company to come deal with the damage.  It was amazing how quickly they dealt with it.  It was also pretty damaging to the wallet.  Talk about un-sexy spending.

At any rate, it was a "once in a lifetime event," correct?

No.

Friday night we plunged into the the freezing range - complete with rain/ice.  So, we weren't too terribly surprised to wake up to no power on Saturday and notice that all the trees were coated with ice.  Thick ice.

But when the tops of the pines, laden with ice, started snapping in the backyard, we started to get nervous.

The first tree to fall is in the foreground.  Those in the
back and on top of the shed came later.

And the snapping noises continued...constantly throughout the day.

Which added to the tension
every time we heard one fall

And then there was a GIANT BOOM!

This tree fell mere feet from the house.

This was just how close to our bedroom.  Thank God it fell the
way it did.

This caused us to gather every single thing we might need from our bedroom/bathroom and move it to the other side of the house - where there aren't any menacing trees - because there was no way we were sleeping in there until danger had passed.

Surveying the damage

Yesterday, he asked that we create a video...which will NOT post no matter how much I beg the internet gods.

But trust me when I say, the damage that the pictures (and video that you can't see) show does not even BEGIN to relate to just HOW bad it is.

The Husband had just made the decision to fix up the shed rather than replace it - now?  Who knows.  From where we stand, we can't see any major damage.  That shed must have some kind of magic spell saving it - with all the trees from the last event and this one and the darn thing is STILL standing.

When we were out there Saturday, we feared that the septic field was damaged - based on the smell.  However, yesterday when we were videoing, the smell was gone - so hopefully we were spared on that front.

Luckily the house was spared and we are safe; so we are counting our blessings.

An Organizing Project

 As The Husband is currently trashing my kitchen making goodies for The Big Game - which he will watch alone, as I have zero interest (although, I admit freely - I DO have an interest in sampling some of those goodies!) - I have taken to the keyboard to tell you about my organizing project for the day.

In the frantic search for the recipe, that I never printed, as mentioned in the last post, it became obvious that my recipe binder needed an intervention.

When I first put the recipe binder together - which I use for those random recipes that I stumble across in the paper, on the internet, from friends etc. it worked great.  Sure it was kind of hodgepodge with tried and true recipes mixed in with those that I wanted to try.  But it was fairly organized.

The Husband who is - how to say this delicately? - less organized than I, had a terrible habit of jotting down recipes/ingredients on any random piece of paper he could find, which he would then tuck into the most random of places...never to be seen again.  And then one day, in the last year or so, he had a "light bulb moment."  He realized that if he put all those papers into ONE spot he would be able to locate them.  

So he began to tuck them into the binder.  Which was fine...until I went on the mad scramble for that cookie recipe, searching through an ungodly amount of loose paper.  That is when it dawned on me...this system was no longer working for me.  Or him.

Today was the day to rectify this issue.

I sorted through ALL the papers and separated our recipes to go into two separate binders - one for him and one for me.  I asked him if he had any preference in how I organized his binder and whether or not he wanted his recipes encased in page protectors.  As expected, he did not care how it was organized and felt there was no need for page protectors.  So I organized it with all my favorites that I could identify, that is, first! 😉

The hilarious thing about his recipes though?  Most had no titles.  They were just lists of ingredients - some of which gave NO indication about what it might be.  When I pointed this out to him he replied, "Give it to me, I'm sure I'll know what it is."  When I handed one over for his identification, he looked at it and said, "I have no idea what in the hell this is." and placed it in the recycle pile.

After his binder was done - I turned to mine...which does have page protectors for those tried and true recipes - which includes the unearthed Best Oatmeal Raisin recipe.  The "want to try one day" pile, I ruthlessly cut out those that I know I will never, ever make never mind how delicious they sound.  Which meant the remaining pile was more manageable.

The tried and true were then organized into the following categories. Cookies, Pies, Cakes, Breads and Random (i.e. candies, appetizers, etc.).

What I did not expect when I waded into this project was that it would take the majority of the day.  But here we are.  It is done and he has a place to put his recipe/ingredients list and I have a place to put my recipes.

Now, I need to challenge myself to try out a couple of those "want to try one day" recipes so they can get added to the tried and true, page protected recipes.

It all started with a craving...

 Sometime last weekend, a particular craving struck.

I say "particular" because this treat isn't one that I would normally crave - oatmeal raisin cookies.

I mean I LIKE oatmeal raisin cookies - but it's rare that I crave them.  Generally, as far as cookies go I prefer chocolate chip or peanut butter.

But there we have it - the craving was for oatmeal raisin for whatever reason.

Sometime back - was it pre-pandemic? Or maybe late last summer/early fall? - who knows, I had this random craving for oatmeal raisin cookies; which I had never made before.  But somewhere, I sourced a recipe that my family gave RAVE reviews (even The Husband, who doesn't "care" for raisins) - although they, much like me, like oatmeal cookies but, given our druthers, would crave a different cookie (chocolate of any kind for The Husband/for Man-Child it's a toss up between spitz or chocolate chip) and I was informed for, future reference, that THIS was the only acceptable oatmeal raisin cookie.

ANYWAY...back to last week's craving.  I went looking for the recipe.  I don't remember much about the making of that original batch but I clearly remember that there was NOT a step that required chilling the dough or them being refrigerator cookies - both of which were the only recipes I had on hand; which I immediately dismissed.

Obviously, way back then, I sourced the recipe from the internet AND I had neglected to print/save the recipe anywhere. *sigh*  Classic me...find something amazing and then completely forget to preserve it.

Off to the internet, to a site where I *thought* I had found the recipe.  Nope.  I continued by searching my archives thinking "Surely, I posted the recipe here!?"  Nope.

On Tuesday, with that itch remaining un-scratched, I had the brilliant idea to search my internet history - without much hope as I was sure I had recently cleared the history/cookies/etc.  Much to my surprise, I found TWO possible recipes - which just goes to show how faulty my memory is as, clearly I haven't actually "recently" cleared my history.  

I opened the one and noticed it required chilled dough and was sure that wasn't it.  I opened the other, not expecting much, read through it and it sounded familiar.  I checked to be sure I had all the ingredients and was pleasantly surprised to discover I did.

So I whipped up a batch - the original recipe can be found here and it was perfect!  I will note that the 1 cup of raisins left me with more raisins than cookie dough - also she must make GIGANTIC cookies as her recipe claims to make 18 but mine yielded about 36.

At any rate - I was able to tamp down that craving.  

In the meantime, I have texted my friend two doors down to come and relieve me of the majority of these cookies for her kids...the ones with a metabolism that will allow them to eat cookies with abandon.

If you have a hankering for oatmeal raisin cookies - or are an oatmeal raisin cookie nut - I highly recommend this recipe...just be sure to "gift" most of them or your bathroom scale will scold you...much like mine has this week.

Honestly...

The other morning found me arguing with IT over whether or not I should have access to a server that *I* asked them to create in 2018.

Really.

And this is why I archive each and every email that I send or receive.  Because of that I was able to shut down their argument fairly quickly.

But my question is - WHO is just randomly looking at servers and deciding who should or should not have access without asking questions?

This is not a a disparagement on our IT team since they have been phenomenal in getting us up to speed for the majority of us working from home.  If it weren't for them, most of us would have had to work in office for the past ten months.  But still...

And without a proper segue we turn to Target's deliveries...

What you can or cannot have delivered from them varies, literally, day by day.  One day, those Cascade pods that you put in your basket are, inexplicably unavailable for delivery.  Despite the fact, that if you chose curbside delivery, they would cheerfully bring them to your car.  It's the weirdest thing.

In fact, I had the pods in my cart (when they were available) - didn't hit buy because I wanted to reach the threshold for free delivery.  But when I went back to add something to the cart, they had been removed.  So when I went back for the THIRD, magical time (i.e., hit the threshold), I noticed they were once again available for delivery so I added them in.  And then, somehow, received two packages of pods.  Either Target threw the original ones back in once they were available or I mistakenly bought two.  Who knows?

At any rate, what IS the deal with Melba Toast? (Again, with the awkward segue...this is what the pandemic has boiled down for me with the blog...awkward segues)

Do any of you even know what Melba Toast is?  

I had never even heard of it until I married my husband many, many moons ago.

Well, guess what?  Apparently, there is a Melba Toast shortage.  The Husband looks every time he is in the grocery store and can never find it.  I found it ONCE at Target and had a couple of boxes delivered.  Is it available at Target anymore?

No, it is not.  And here I thought he was the only person in the world that knew what Melba Toast was and consumed it on a regular basis.

It is available on Amazon - for a price that I'm not willing to pay.

So, who is buying all the Melba Toast and why...THAT is the question, that AND why IT people randomly restrict access to servers without asking questions.

Famous last words...

The very last thing I said to you last year was, "2020 is going to be amazing...at least, that's what my ruminations tell me...as I sift through the pieces."

I'm SO very sorry as I do believe I jinxed us all somehow.  I'll try to keep any hopeful aspirations to myself this year.

I also stumbled across this I was looking back to see what other kind of wisdom I had to share in the early days before the world came to a complete stop.  Somebody remind me in about a week or so.  I (we) CAN'T forget our thirtieth anniversary - even if we can't actually DO something to celebrate - other than celebrating the fact that, hopefully, these vaccinations will be rolled out quickly.  I'm still in shock at how so very young we were.

This was also the year - prior to everything going to hell in a handbasket - that one of my plants spontaneously committed suicide.

After that, things got really weird as the world started locking down and although I still had stuff I rambled about, it became more "home" related - fixing minor annoyances, tiny miracles, small silver linings; and a problem solved.

We won't even go into the Hot Water Saga or the Oven Dilemma - I can't relieve those nightmares just yet.  It's too soon.

So here we are - on the cusp of a New Year.  I'm not going to make any grand proclamations - but will humbly say thank you for being along for the ride this crazy year.  And let's stand together to face what 2021 will bring.  Together, I think, we will make the best of it - much like we did this year.  Like we do most years - good or bad.

As we head in to the new year, let's all look for the good.  Even in the most crappy of all years, there is always something beautiful and something to be grateful for - we can't ask for more than that.

The Christmas Cookies are saved...maybe

The run up to Christmas has been exhausting, as expected.

The majority of the shopping has been done online and I'm only waiting for two packages.  One that is no big deal if it doesn't get here in time and one that should be delivered to the my sweet mother in law tomorrow.

All of the wrapping has been done.  As I was ready to start my Christmas baking last week, we discovered that the oven had died.  Again.

For those of you keeping count - the oven first died in October.  Only to be resurrected.  The water heater failed in November and now here we are in December and the oven was out again.

We've hit the magic number three of the "bad things happen in threes" saying.  Let's hope we are done for a while.

I went back and forth with the warranty company and have come to the conclusion that if something is an "emergency" we need to just deal with it and then see what can be done with the warranty company (which would probably be as useless as trying to get them to acknowledge an "emergency").

I have a feeling we will soon be parting ways with this company - particularly after being told that THEY could offer emergency service but they couldn't guarantee their vendors would offer emergency service...which is when I cut off the communication; because that was ridiculous and inane.

I could have probably dealt with the loss of the oven over Christmas if I hadn't just spent Thanksgiving sans hot water.  But because I HAD dealt with Thanksgiving without hot water, there was NO WAY I was going to deal with Christmas without an oven.

Here's the deal though - I had been hearing rumblings online about appliances being in short supply.  A rumor, I assumed.  So The Husband and I began searching for an oven.  Guess what we discovered?

Yup, appliances were in short supply.  But we persisted and eventually, The Husband located ONE oven that was available for immediate pick up.  Without his usual dithering over such things, he ordered it immediately.

I refused to believe we had secured it until it showed up, in working order, in our kitchen.  

On Saturday, while I was at work, The Husband and our neighbor picked it up, wrestled it into the kitchen and set it up.

So, the Christmas cookies were saved!

Until this afternoon...I spent the majority of the afternoon prepping the batter for the chocolate chip cookies and was very satisfied.  Until I pulled the first batch out.  They were flat.  Tasty but flat and unappealing.  The only thing I can think is that I must have forgot to put the baking soda in.  Needless to say, I was frustrated.  

I think the reason I forgot the baking soda was because I was trying a new technique.  I was using a tried and true recipe that NEVER lets me down.  But  I kept hearing about how much more accurate weighing ingredients are versus measuring so I decided to give it a shot.

Long story short, I literally spent WAY more time mixing the batter than I usually do AND I forgot a very important ingredient.  

I will try again tomorrow - maybe skipping the weighing in favor of measuring.  I think now is NOT the time to be trying a new technique.  

At any rate, the Christmas shopping and wrapping is done.  We have a new oven and the cookies will be made...eventually.

Box hoarding, it's a thing.

This Christmas season has opened my eyes to an addiction that is gripping the blogging community - and, perhaps, the world at large.  I am an addict but seriously thought I was the only one and that I had it under control, isn't that always the case?

I always assumed it was a genetic predilection, as my mother was also addicted.

In Suzanne's most recent post she mentioned that neither she nor her husband could bear to throw away "a perfectly good box."  I know the feeling.

Then, in the comments, my eyes were opened.

In the comments, with very few exceptions, one by one, we all admitted to being box hoarders. This was not just a problem that my mother had passed on to me! 

I recall, after getting married, The Husband being shocked that I had perfectly good, empty boxes that needed to be moved.  He got over it.  Well, maybe I should say, he learned to live with it.

And then we decided to move from Texas to North Carolina.  And he was absolutely gobsmacked when I packed up those perfectly good, empty boxes to bring with us.

What?! You never know when you may be in need of a "good" box.

Now, I am not NEAR as addicted as my mother was.  She would hold onto a box FAR past its prime.  That is where I draw line though.  If I have a box past it's prime I DON'T have a problem with quickly recycling it.  Sending it on its way to come back to life as another perfectly good box.  Yes, I AM proud of this point.

*hangs head* I DO have to admit that I have an entire closet in the garage specifically to hold my "stash."

Exhibit A

Despite this, I recently realized that, since this Christmas season began, I have been stashing extra boxes "just in case" in my dressing room...as if I could possibly run out...given that this closet is full.

Exhibit B

Yes, I AM also holding onto some air packs *defiantly glares* - if you NEED a good box for shipping then it just stands to reason that you NEED something to cushion the contents!

That's the first step - admitting we have a problem, right?

But, I have to argue - is it REALLY a problem?!  

I mean, I'm giving these boxes (and air packs) a lovely home to reside in until their time is up.  And honestly, it calms ones soul to know that you have THE perfect box for that particular package/gift...right?

A beautiful, empty spot - or this might be my most inane post ever but still...PROBLEM SOLVED

You know how sometimes you are faced with a dilemma and you look at that problem every which way and it seems unsurmountable?  And you ask yourself, "Why is this seemingly small issue SUCH a bear?!"

This has been me with our laundry closet.  Yes, our washer and dryer is stuffed into a closet.  Shockingly, this is not the issue.  Not by a long shot.

The issue is that there are items that need to be "line dried" - as in, they cannot, should not, or I will not, put in the dryer.  Back in the day - pre-COVID - it wasn't much of an issue because I did laundry once a week.  For those particular items that couldn't go in the dryer, I'd pull out the drying rack, set it up in my dressing room, drape whatever all over it.  And a day or so later, when it was dry; put it all away.  Not to mention the fact, I generally wasn't here to see said drying rack.

Now, here we are nine months later.  I'm doing laundry far more than once a week AND I'm here EVERY.SINGLE.DAY.  The drying rack became a daily fixture and was making me insane.  I was so tired of walking into my dressing room to face it.  I had to find another way.  So I began to research other options for line drying clothes inside - inside because, winter.  Also inside, because birds and leaves and dirt.

The options were few.  I read about this particular rack which could attach to the wall in the closet and came in varying sizes.  The price point was a sticking factor.  So then I researched how to recreate said rack.  And then determined that even if I COULD successfully re-create the rack, or decide to just invest in said rack, I would not be COMPLETELY happy with the way it worked AND it would impede the use of the washing machine if it were installed in a way where my short self could actually use it.

I considered a retractable laundry line - but eventually decided it wouldn't be sturdy enough for my needs.

I even pulled The Husband - much to his reluctance - into this problem that needed to be solved.  His obvious lack of zeal regarding solving this puzzle meant that he never even put any thought into it because this wasn't something that mattered to him anyway didn't have an easy answer either.  Darn it.

So, I stewed and stewed.  I searched and searched.  All to no avail.

And then one day, as I was stewing over something else (most likely, which duvet I'd prefer for the guest room - I'm leaning toward this one), I randomly thought, "A TENSION ROD!"

I searched out a well reviewed, sturdy tension rod to place between the two sides of the closet - at a point where I could reach it, but it was out of the way enough.  It's not a "pretty" solution but it's a solution.  And?  When those items are line drying, I can close the doors and not have to see it.

When I shared this possible solution with The Husband - because he was as invested in this issue as I, OBVIOUSLY, he declared it genius.

I cannot adequately express how gleeful I was when this particular purchase showed up at my door and that it is working out exactly as I had hoped. 

And that drying rack only has to be pulled out if, for some reason, we have an excess amount of items that need to be line dried.

Do I sound like a crazy person when I say that I smile now whenever I walk into that dressing room?  I don't care if it does...I REALLY like walking in there to see that beautiful, empty spot where the drying rack used to take up space.

As usual, it's the little things that go a long way to making life easier/more pleasant/whatever.