What have I gotten myself into?

Skeeter is asleep. It's 9:45, and he's been asleep for almost an hour. That poor guy works so hard. It's physically demanding work too, not just brain-work. He has that too though.

And he was so exhausted when he got in tonight. He had to be at work at 6 am, so he got up at 4:30. He got home at 5:45.

So tonight, when he said he had to enter tickets into his Excel spreadsheet, I felt so sorry for him. At that point, it was about 7:30, and his eyes were already droopy and tired. And entering the tickets is about a two hour job. So I told him I would do it.

I'm sitting here, entering gross and tare weights on a spreadsheet. I've only been working for 30 minutes, and already I'm bored out of my mind and my eyes are hurting from looking at these numbers. I'm not as fast at this as he is either. I've probably got another two hours of work ahead.

So come on! Leave a comment! I'm here . . . . waiting for it. And I will be for a while.

*sigh*

Big Brother is alive and well, and he works at Overstock

Now let me tell you, I love Overstock. Very competitive prices on almost everything, and $2.95 flat rate shipping. Can't beat it.

Earlier tonight I ordered a shower chair for my dad. It's what he requested for Christmas. I can't help but think, "It's a SHOWER CHAIR. For CHRISTMAS!" but hey, it's what he wanted.

Just before that, I had logged into my Facebook account. I don't log in very often, but someone had asked me a question about Facebook, and I had to log in to answer. And I did a quiz about Grease. Scored 80%. It's been a while since I watched it.

When I left Facebook, I didn't log out. I closed the tab instead. And as I completed my checkout at Overstock, a little box popped up at the bottom that said, "Sending your shower chair purchase to your Facebook stories!"

Uh, wha . . . . . ??

Why in the world would I want to share my purchases on my Facebook account? Why? Especially with Christmas coming up? There's really no danger of my dad seeing his shower chair, since he's never even heard of Facebook. But what if I was buying a gift for someone who did have an account and was one of my Facebook friends (or whatever they're called)? Ooooh, Overstock, thanks for letting Friend know what I bought! ::exaggerated, sarcastic wink::

And that doesn't even touch the heart of the matter. Does Overstock really and truly think I want to announce all of my purchases to the world? Would anyone? And if I did, shouldn't it be my choice -- a conscious decision, not some automatic application that I didn't ask for? How dare they make that decision for me! Privacy policy, anyone?

I did get back to Facebook, and I did manage to figure out how to delete that "story." (Although, really, why should I have bothered, since I'm airing it all here.) But I should never have needed to delete it from Facebook in the first place.

I am absolutely livid right now, two hours after it happened. Overstock will get an extremely un-nice email from me tonight. And possibly a phone call tomorrow.

Welcome to Big Brother's version of caveat emptor.

That Company

Things are stressful at That Company at the moment. That Company (Skeeter's employer) is pretty particular about things, so I can't ever go into detail.

The first phase of his job is supposed to be complete at the end of the year. They've overcome some pretty big obstacles, but they don't know if they'll make the deadline. So stress takes over. Poor Skeeter is working the same hours -- about 6:30 am to 6:00 pm -- but he has about three times as much to do in that time frame. He's more tired than usual when he gets home, and I've made him start going to bed earlier.

He's still saving them money though -- a lot of money. Today it was about $16,000. And they like saving money, but tensions are running high. It will continue until this phase is finished; nothing can be done about that.

There's not much I can do to help, except keep things settled on the home front. And try to keep him in matching socks.

Perhaps this is part of the reason our marriage works so well

An excerpt from an actual conversation last night while Skeeter was setting out his clothing and boots for this morning:

SKEETER: I'm running out of socks.

ME: Okay. I'll wash some tomorrow.

(Skeeter walks by with one grey sock and one navy blue sock.)

ME: Those don't match, you know.

SKEETER: Oh, I know. My socks haven't matched for the last few days.

ME: Oh no! I'm so sorry! I had no idea you were out.

SKEETER: I wasn't out. I just didn't have any that matched.

ME: Well that's just as bad as being out!

SKEETER: No it's not. You've been busy, so I didn't want to ask you to wash them until I really needed them. You're the one who worries about that whole matching thing anyway. To me they're just something to cover my feet.

The Coming Christmas Season

I'm late this year. I'm usually done with my Christmas shopping and planning by October 31. But with my dad's troubles, my September didn't go quite as planned.

Luckily, we only do minimal Christmas gifts -- three for each of us -- and Santa only brings stockings.

I already have everything picked out for the children; just working on purchasing.

For Spyder:

Legends of Magic set
Subscription to a magic club
Magician's cloak (handmade)

For Sass:

Monogrammed ballerina-themed purse
Tea with Me Belle
Princess cloak (handmade)

Spyder's stocking gifts will be How to Be the Best at Everything and a Klutz Coin Magic book. Sass's stocking gift will be a Find It game. And of course, they'll both get socks and toothbrushes and candy.

I always ask the children to give me a list of seven items that they'd like as gifts. They know that we only do three, but I usually pass the others along to various family members. This year, Spyder asked for the magic club subscription and the Legends of Magic set. Tonight he came to me and apologized for not having any other suggestions.

Sass asked for the Belle doll. I feel like such a sellout for buying it for her, but it was the only thing she asked to put on her list. And today she asked me if she could do chores to earn it. So obviously, it's important to her. But I still feel like I'm selling out.

As of tonight, I have everything for them either ordered or in hand, with the exception of the cloaks.

Now, to get started on gifts for everyone else!

Thinking ahead

And in complete contrast to using my china, I'm thinking about stealing this idea for our Christmas fiesta.

What a wonderfully clever idea! And I totally think I could do it!

I know nothing about the whole stamping thing, but I think I could handle it.

The hazards of using the good china

Spyder broke one of our plates tonight. I suppose this is a natural consequence, since we do use our china as our everyday dishes. Today's loss was only the third we've had, in the 11 very full years of marriage.

It seems almost amusing, this broken plate, since Skeeter and I are celebrating our 12th anniversary today. For the first year and a half, I didn't take the china out of the boxes. Not a single piece. We had an extra room in our apartment, and it was stuffed full of the "good" things. I didn't want to risk breaking the good stuff, so it sat, unused, in the extra room.

We moved when I was 8 months pregnant with Spyder. In moving all of that unused china, at that moment, I vowed that I would use it. Use it all. What's the point in having it if it otherwise?

And we have used the china. Within 6 months, I had gotten rid of all of the old, mismatched plates and bowls and saucers that we used for everyday. We've used the "good china" ever since. My one concession has been to have plastic plates for the children, but tonight they both told me that they don't need or want the plastic plates any longer. So tomorrow, those will be dropped off at the thrift store. Even after Spyder broke the dinner plate. It was an accident, and accidents happen.

In the 10 years that we've consistently used this china, we've broken only three pieces, including tonight's -- two dinner plates and a salt shaker. I opted not to replace the salt shaker, mostly because I couldn't find one at the Lenox outlet. I will replace it though, as soon as I find one that's cheap enough.

Wasting time for a good cause

I'm embarrassed to say how much time I spent on freerice.com. It's a drug for a word-lover like me. My level hovered around 42, and I found myself using techniques Spyder and I have learned in his etymology study.

Enjoy!

A Bushel and a Peck

Sass and I have been singing this for a few days now. Because I'm such a geek.

The Nina

Today was an absolutely brilliant day, just beautiful, and certainly not typical for almost mid-November.

I worked at the bookstore this morning, doing story time, and I had no one show up. Not one little person. I can't say I'm all that surprised. We had all of three people in the store at the time. I can't say I blame anyone who stayed outside today. It was lovely out.

After my (mostly useless) sojourn at the bookstore, we came back home. We had been here for a matter of minutes when The Michael called and said he wanted to see The Nina. It's been in a local port for the last week or so, and our attempts to see it had been thwarted all week. So when The Michael asked if we wanted to meet him there, I immediately said, "YEAH!" and told the children to head to the car.

Skeeter had been at work all morning, and he pulled into the driveway as I was backing out, so was able to come along.

To quote The Michael, "Those cobblestones are pretty and historically accurate and all, but they're hell on the car." Yes they are. And walking too, I might add.



The one thing that hits you, right off, is how small the boat is. It's astonishingly small. I couldn't even see it as we walked toward the boats. It was dwarfed by the riverboat next to it.




Once you're on deck, it's really hard to imagine crossing the Atlantic on this vessel. Just sitting in the dock, it feels small. According to one of the crew, Columbus crossed the ocean with about 30 men. There were probably thirty people on the deck with us, and it felt incredibly crowded. I can only imagine that it was better on the voyage because the crewmen would have been purposeful, not milling about as we were.

My children were fascinated with the water and the various water-spying places on the boat.



Obviously, I was fascinated with the rigging, since I realized that I had taken loads of pictures of the various ropes.



The Nina website has a schedule of the ports it will visit. I highly recommend seeing it if it comes to your area!

When the boys are away, the girls have a tea party

Skeeter and Spyder are off with the boy scouts tonight, camping out. I don't envy them. I'm chilly sitting here in the warm house!

So Sass and I are roughing it alone tonight, with the doggies of course. So what do little girls do when the boys are away? We have a tea party, of course! Oh, we went shopping, then we had a tea party.

As soon as we got home, Sass pulled out the little tables and set up the tea party snacks -- cookies, sweet breakfast bread, cheese and crackers. I made the tea (Celestial Seasonings Tension Tamer, my favorite nighttime tea).

But best part of tea parties with Sass is chatting. She's naturally chatty anyway, but she really shines during our tea parties. This chat consisted mostly of Sass telling me about a movie that she had watched at her friend Olivia's house. And Sass kept calling it Elastic Pony.

Elastic Pony?

I had no idea what she meant. She told me everything about it, in her five-year-old way. I still had no idea. So I emailed Olivia's mom.

The verdict? The Last Unicorn. And it's correct. Sass confirmed it.

I never would have gotten that.

Corn and Potato Chowder

I had promised Susan that I would post my Corn and Potato Chowder recipe, but I'm a bit later than I promised. I seldom measure anything when I'm cooking, so I couldn't write out the recipe without making it again. I'm one of those cooks who goes by look and smell and taste. That's not really conducive to writing out the recipe though.

I did measure today (mostly), and here is the result:

Corn and Potato Chowder

3/4 cup bacon
6 russet or Yukon potatoes
3.5 cups chicken broth
2 cups whole kernel corn
2 cups half and half

Cook and drain the bacon. (I snip the bacon strips into small pieces before cooking so that I don't have to wait for it to cool to crumble.)

Peel and dice potatoes. Boil potatoes in chicken broth for about 20 minutes. Do not drain. Add bacon, corn, and half and half.

Cook for about 2 hours on medium heat, long enough for the broth to thicken. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Totally bad for you, but so yummy!

Today wasn't low-anything

Low-carb, low-fat, low-GI. Not here, not today.

It's chilly again, so that means corn and potato chowder for me. It's my favorite "chilly day" meal.

Last week, I taught Sass how to peel potatoes, so she was thrilled to use her newly acquired skill. Spyder has never been interested in learning how, but when he saw Sass today, he had her teach him.


Between the two of them, they peeled about six pounds of potatoes. Yes, that's right. Six pounds. Um, considerably more than I needed for the chowder. I doubled the recipe for the chowder, but I still had quite a few more than I needed. Since I had extra already-peeled potatoes, I decided to make mashed potatoes too. Spyder loves them, and I certainly didn't want his work to go to waste.

I had also already started making Chicken Tetrazzini because Skeeter doesn't like the chowder, so I had the pasta on to boil.

When I looked at the stove, I realized that I had three saucepans full of either potatoes or pasta. Not good. Not good at all. I do put broccoli in my Tetrazzini, and I did have a spinach salad with dinner, but I think tomorrow we'll all need to stay away from the starchy foods.

Showdown

I'm just about to rip apart our alarm system. Circuit by circuit.

The thing has been beeping all day. Not beeping in any regular sort of pattern, just intermittent beeping. All. Day.

Not that we were here all day. No, not us. If I had been here, I might have been able to deal with it. But Sass and Spyder had art class today (the last class! woohoo!!), so we were gone all afternoon. But it started beeping just before we left at noon-ish, and it was still going strong when we got back after 5.

I had thought that perhaps the locks on the storage shed weren't reattached properly, since the alarm system keeps flashing "10," the code for the shed. So I went out at 10:30 pm and reattached those locks, holding a flashlight between my teeth and freezing my hands off, with the dogs barking and howling at the strange light, disturbing the neighbors. That didn't work. I came back into the house, and I heard the beeps before I even got inside the door.

This alarm system and I are about to have a showdown, since I'll never be able to sleep with this beeping going on.

Never give up; never surrender!

Old favorites

My tastes move around -- often. I read anything and everything. I listen to tobyMac and NPR and Prodigy and John Pizzarelli. (And that was just today.)

I always gravitate to old favorites though, a retreat for a while into the familiar. I have favorite books that I've read more times than I can remember. The same is true for certain CDs. Lately I've been listening to the Van Morrison & The Chieftains CD, Irish Heartbeat. It's the one I put in when I'm sitting down at night to check my email or write a blog post.

loveitloveitloveit!

I've had it for ages, since just after Skeeter and I got married. (Ack! 12 years ago!) Most people who happen to hear it at my house or in the car have never heard of it before, but it's one of my absolute favorites. At one time I played it so often that Skeeter wouldn't let me play it while he was home. (At the time we had opposite work schedules, so that sounds worse than it really was.)

Skeeter has favorites like that too, although he won't admit it. It's quite obvious though, when I'm listening to Colin Ray's acoustic music for the millionth time, that he does.

So how about you? Any favorites that you return to again and again?

Razorback football is serious business

And poor ol' Nutt just isn't cutting it, folks.

Boys and Happiness

Tonight we had our monthly Awana Store, where the students can cash in their earned points for fabulous prizes!

The girls are incredibly easy. A few candles, some bookmarks, throw in cutesy picture frames, and maybe a purse every once in a while . . . they're happy.

The boys? Not so easy.

I had the girls all set up last week. I redid some displays for them and got out a few extra things that I had stashed. It looked niiiiiice. The boys side was woefully empty.

The children and I went to the dollar store this afternoon, to stock up on Boys Things. Since Spyder is a boy, and he's exactly the target age, I let him do the choosing. What, you ask, did he choose?

• screwdrivers
• tool boxes
• foam swords
• door alarm kits
• tape measures
• whoopee cushions
• bungee cords
• flashlights
• squeezable, gooey, realistic organs on keychains
• baseballs
• fake "cracked windshield" stick-ons

I bought everything he threw in the cart, still ever the skeptic. But I'm sure I don't even have to say how much the boys loved these things.

Lesson learned.

If it's disgusting, the boys will love it. And the love for all things disgusting is only overshadowed by tools.

What Are You Into This Month?

Shamelessly lifted from Megan at SortaCrunchy:

This Month...

The Book I Am Really Into (or one I want to get into!): Currently reading Plain Secrets: An Outsider Among the Amish by Joe Mackall. It's not exactly what I was expecting, but it is a good read.

Looking forward to Bitter Is the New Black: Confessions of a Condescending, Egomaniacal, Self-Centered, Smart-Ass, or, Why You Should Never Carry a Prada Bag to the Unemployment Office : A Memoir. I've had it as my #1 library request for a month, and it looks like maybe, finally, it may be coming!

TV Show Worth Watching: Heroes, perhaps? I don't really watch anything else. And I now confess . . . Heroes is now available on Netflix a couple of days after the show airs. I watch it on Netflix.

Movie I’ve Seen (In or Out of a theater): I last saw Dan in Real Life. I'm still undecided whether I liked it. I liked parts of it a lot, and I loved how the family was portrayed. It reminded me of mine, in an odd way. But . . . . The premise is that Dan meets an anonymous girl in a bookshop. They "connect" and the girl ends up being his brother's girlfriend. And during the next 2/3 of the movie, Dan is jealous of the time and attention that the girlfriend is giving to his brother. Am I the only one who sees something odd about that?

The Candle I'm Loving: I'm between candles. Until recently I was burning Pier 1's Citrus Cilantro, but now I'm moving to fall scents, and I'll probably break out the pumpkin and apple candles soon. Oooh, I do have a nice coffee scented Yankee Candle, but it's almost gone.

Blog I Am Always Visiting: Oh, Lawzy. There are loads that I love, but here are a few (other than the ones linked on the right) that I'm enjoying at the moment.

Unclutterer
My House is Cuter than Yours
Like Merchant Ships

What I'm Most Looking Forward To Next Month: Next month? Christmas, of course! Specifically, our Christmas Eve fiesta. It's one of my favorite things about Christmas.

The park

Sass, Spyder, and I walked to the park this afternoon. They've been revamping the park for a while, since the new library is being built right beside it. We haven't been over there for a while, and when we went today -- WOW! -- so much had changed!

It was nice before, but they've made it just beautiful!

The library is scheduled to open in mid-December, with the grand opening at the beginning of January.



The city has put six different exercise machines around the perimeter of the lake! How cool is that?!? The children and I had a blast with those. There is also a little walking trail around the pond and a guide to tell you how far you've gone. Twenty laps is 5.5 miles.



They've redone the waterfall that feeds the pond.



The geese are multiplying like mad! Spyder was telling Sass all about the geese.



It was an excellent day.

Just because I like it

Spyder took this photo of Sass today at the library, twirling in the entry.