It’s Cookie Central at our house this week. We started with the fussy ones: Frosted Sugar and Shortbread Cookie Sticks – to get them out of the way. They require frosting and sprinkles so take more time than others. Twelve more kinds to go. I even got YA onboard today!
When do you start your holiday baking (if you indulge)?
I am an only child. When I was younger, I cringed when I said that to people, as I invariably would hear the same phrase “Oh, you must be spoiled”. It always made me want to apologize.
Spoiled, to me, brings up images of the nasty girl from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I think that people can be spoiled in good and not so good ways, and I have tried to spoil my children and the people I love in good ways.
Our daughter is coming home for Thanksgiving. We haven’t seen her for six months. Thanksgiving is her favorite holiday, and she has great expectations for her trip home. Every year we “spoil” her by letting her plan the Thanksgiving meal. She has old favorites, and likes to try new things as well. She doesn’t help prepare the food, but leaves it to us. This year she has requested French bread, an apple crisp for desert, cranberry salsa, a basic turkey dressing, butternut squash casserole, mashed potatoes, a simple turkey that is covered in cheese cloth and basted with herb butter, and, of course, green bean casserole. She also wants cranberry mimosas.
Daughter has also asked that she gets a down comforter on her bed, and has other favorite food requests for the 10 days she is home. I think this is a very good way to spoil her.
How do you spoil the people you love?
I love Halloween. Not the original All Hallow’s Eve, but what it has morphed into: the costumes, the candy, the jack-o-lanterns. Even as an adult, I love to dress up (today I dressed as the Crocodile Hunter, complete with a large upholstery foam crocodile that draped over my shoulders). I have a lovely decorative flag of a full moon with bats, a wonderful huge ceramic jack-o-lantern with the letters of our last name as the mouth and a whole bunch of Halloween luminaries that YA and I made when she was younger. (I’m not crazy about all the gory horror films that get trotted out at this time of year, but that’s another story.)
Unfortunately the reality of the trick-or-treat experience these days is not as much fun as I would have it be. I live on a busy street with a lot of folks who don’t leave their lights on; this keeps the foot traffic down. This year has a couple more strikes against it: it’s a school night and it’s REALLY REALLY cold. I normally only get about 25 trick or treaters. This year I only got 15 before I finally closed up shop. The last 5 kids got a huge handful of candy each!
When has a holiday disappointed you?
what are you yelling
i didn’t realize i was singing i thought it was in my head
what are you singing
with eisenglass windows that roll right up in case there’s a change in the weather
we just got that record today
i like it
go to sleep you’ll wake up your brother
wha do you got for childhood flashbacks?
today’s post comes to us from tim.
What’s a summary of something in your life with bare bones description?
As you all know, I adore the Minnesota State Fair. This year I was able to attend three times: opening day on my own and twice with Young Adult. Some new things this year: a thorough exploration of the West End area, Macaroni & Cheese Curds, llamas and alpacas in the very back of the horse barn. And the traditionals as well: Hawaiian Shave ice, bunny whispering, butter heads. After three years of lusting after them, YA and I caved this year and purchased a big set of Thin Bins, collapsible containers with color-coded lids. We also went home with some t-shirts, assorted bags and cookies.
Even though it is essentially the same parade day after day, it is one of my favorite parts of the fair. I love seeing the different marching bands, the dairy princesses and the art cars.
On reflection though, one of my favorite things about the Fair is the people watching – and the unbelievable “variety” there is in the folks of Minnesota (and Iowa/Wisconsin/Dakota visitors). Lots of different family types, from extended families in matching shirts to young families with their jam-packed strollers. An amazing array of clothing and shoes – why would you wear bright white tennies to the fair? Or high-heeled shoes? Lots of shoppers (YA and I included) getting fancy scissors, wine pouches, shark teeth – this list could go on and on.
So now the fair is finished for another year and I’m already looking forward to next year. If my feet and my pocket book can handle it, maybe I’ll go four times!
Where is your favorite people-watching locale?
We have lived in our house for 29 years. During that time we reared two children, and coped with two Welsh Terriers, one Fox Terrier, and 4 cats. It is a modest, ranch style house of about 1200 square feet with an attached garage. The basement is finished.
Over the years we have upgraded the kitchen and done some cosmetic flooring changes. We made the house and yard functional for our needs without much thought about the future. Well, the future is upon us, and I feel daunted by the things we need to undo and change in order to sell the house when I retire in 4 years. My main thought as I survey the house and property is “What were we thinking?”
The terriers dig up and consume the asparagus? Put a fence with steel posts and hog panels around the asparagus bed. Who cares if it disturbs the flow of the yard space and makes the back yard ugly. Don’t worry how you will remove the posts and haul away the hog panels when it is time to dismantle the fence.
Need more garden space? Just dig up the front yard and grow veggies there. Who cares that no one else in the region will appreciate that scheme and will want a grass covered front yard to mow.
Need book space? Just attach brackets and shelving to an entire wall in the basement family room. Then fill all the shelves with books. Don’t worry one bit about what you will do with all the books, or the damage to the walls when the brackets are taken down.
Closet doors in the entry way don’t slide well and get the way when you want to access things stored there? Don’t hire a carpenter. Just remove the doors and store them in the furnace room for 20 years. During that time, cannibalize the door slider hardware from them to repair other closet doors. Now, figure out how to put the entry way closet doors back on and find replacement parts for the missing hardware.
I figure we are looking at remodels of two bathrooms, wall repair and new carpets in the basement, lots of yard restoration, and the help of a patient carpenter who can just bite his tongue and not judge. I am glad we have several years to put things to rights.
What have you done, or what trends have you followed, that made you say “What was I thinking?”
This post is from littlejailbird.
Barbara in Rivertown’s comment on Name That Carrot: “It’s kind of looking at clouds…” inspired this post.
My mom is a big fan of looking at clouds and seeing various things in them. She has told me, more than once, of how, when she was a kid, she liked to lie down outdoors and just see how many things she could see in the clouds. I suppose when you grow up in Iowa there is a lot of sky and clouds to look at.
This penchant for looking at clouds has apparently passed down to other generations. One day, when the twins (her great-grandchildren) and I were outside, they were looking up at the sky. We talked about what the clouds looked like. Twin 2 said, “I see a…BUTT!” and they both dissolved in laughter.
Tell us something funny that a child you know has said or done.
It has been dull and uninspiring for me at work for a while, and when that happens, I know I can liven things up and get my creative juices going by getting something new in my play therapy room.
The toys in the room get used hard, and after several years, they need to be replaced. I took a candid look at what I had, and decided that the old jail needed to be replaced. I have had it for about 15 years. Jails are important in the play therapy room to help children express anger, feel safer, or gain a sense of control. Some of my young clients have parents who have been in jail or prison. The new jail arrived today, and it took me 2 hours to get it assembled. It is wonderful! It has surveillance cameras, lots of communication antennas and gates that swing open. It also comes with little hand cuffs and weapons, The guards, a man and a woman, have nice little smiles, and the prisoner has removable prison garb so he can return to society when his term is finished.
This jail has a command center for the guards.
The cells are furnished with a table, a toilet and sink, and a cot.
There even is a cut out that can be removed to make it look like they made an escape.
I can’t imagine purchasing this for one of my own children, but it suits my professional purposes very well. I can hardly wait to see it used.
How do you (or did you) make your work more interesting?
It is a slow time of year right now. Clients are waiting until school begins to resume therapy The garden is in a “wait and watch” stage, with beans developing, the third crop of spinach growing, and tomatoes slowly reddening. Who knows what is happening beneath the potato plants. They just keep flowering.
This is the first time since 1991 that we haven’t had a child in school or college. I feel as though I am in the doldrums, just waiting for something to happen. The wait isn’t necessarily refreshing or pleasant. Husband’s father goes to a Memory Care Center this week. We are sort of waiting for things to happen with him, too. Who knows how he will adjust. This time of year is usually busy and forward looking. Not this year. Send in the clowns!
How do you handle the doldrums?
Trail Baboon 