Use What You Have.

 I spent part of the day cleaning the fridge and rearranging the food cabinet. David and I still do major shopping every couple of weeks but we seem to have acquired a surplus of food lately. Part of the problem is we just keep stuffing it in and  it's not that I had to throw out too much - just some eggs that were not above suspicion and a package of portobello mushrooms I forgot I had and were now spending their free time cheerfully liquifying in the bottom drawer. . Once I got the fridge straightened out, it was still full but not as full as it had been. The cabinet was hilarious of course, I have enough beans that if I actually ate them all could turn myself into a secret weapon and I  seem to have cornered the market in pickled ginger (I've never even eaten pickled ginger - obviously). I am considering doing the freezer at some point today. But it's just under consideration. In other news  I also found my missing knitting needles and my Buddhas today too so I officially Have It All. David and I went shopping up in Washington yesterday - I got to go to the yarn shop (yay!!) and got 10% off as their Black Friday Weekend Special. We poked around while we were there and found a really nice natural food store while we were there. David got to go to Dick's and we did our weekly food shopping, but lately it's consisted of produce and perishables - I think next week will be a very light shopping week. We have to start Christmas shopping, but the past few years due to time and distance, most of my shopping consists of buying gift cards. I also have my weekly weigh in this week - we'll see. I have been stuck at the same weight now for almost a month and I am getting discouraged. If I wasn't this close to my goal weight it wouldn't be such a big deal but to be that close and to fail week after week. It being Thanksgiving and visiting Ray didn't help - I tried to be good and I didn't go over, but I certainly was skirting it this week. It's back to work tomorrow - I'm dreading it a little, I only worked 3 days last week so this week will be catch up all week - but I'll get through it. Hunting season ended yesterday, David and Pearl got their last licks in. However, Pearl refuses to believe it's over and spent the entire morning sadly moaning and carrying on behind David's every step to get him to look at her Sad Sad Face and take her anyhow. He finally escaped to go clay shooting with Rich - and Pearl is now snoring away on the couch - she knows asking me is definately barking up the wrong tree.

Giving Thanks

Grahams in Kearny NJ

 We left right after I got home from work on Wednesday - the idea being we could get at least partway there so it wouldn't be so overwhelming in the morning. David and I do NOT travel well together - he hates to travel at night so from the moment we pull out of the driveway he complains, carries on and is a general irratation. The car was not even out of WV before he started talking about stopping for the night! We pulled off the highway after I was pretty much accused of being a terrorist. In the morning I am the pest, I dawdle and play while others are waiting. We got to Ray's around 10;30 - it's been so long since I've seen him, got to be close to a year.  I fixed the Facebook password issue and he now has an easy to remember one. David measured for the future washer dryer that he'll put in after Ray makes a decision as to when and where they will go. We had a great day, we walked in the park, visited a historical site - nothing much was open of course since it was Thanksgiving but we didn't come to shop. Ray looks good, a little older of course but so do we. We had dinner at one of Ray's favorite places, they had the turkey dinner, I had eggplant parmigiana. I had a huge piece of cake and a chocolate milkshake - I refuse to diet on Thanksgiving - I'll just run a little more on the weekend. Dinner was like old times, we discussed politics, art - the usual offenders. Then we wandered around town a bit. when we got back to Ray's I suggested we go to the corner bar - it's a real neighborhood bar where all the patrons know each other well. I had the honor of being the only woman in the place aside from the bartender who came down to see if I was offended by the chronic use of the "f" word. Anyone who knows me would laugh at me being offended by the "f" word as that would mean I frequently offend myself multiple times daily. I was not but I was impressed that she had told the bar to tone it down until she cleared it with me. Ray left her a very nice tip. We were there for an hour or so and then back to Rays. We'll visit a bit more before heading back - not a traditional Thanksgiving, but it is a holiday for giving thanks for what you cherish, isn't it?

Bless Me Father For I Have Grinned

Moundsville Prison. Disney for some of us.

 Yes, things are starting to go better - but they always do eventually, don't they? I was out in Moundsville today, eating my lunch outside the prison wishing it was mine before I started back to the office - I was just enjoying being there. I was also considering sneaking up the Indian mound but since it's A) in the middle of town, B) right outside the prison and C )raining a lot dammit I just sat and wanted it from A Far. Being weird does have it's benefits on occasion. On the way home I was flipping the stations and there was an evangelist on the radio - I was envying him too. I love the way they talk, they think they're way more interesting than they are. They remind me of the guy at the party that isn't half as amusing as he thinks he is - just loud and on your last nerve eventually. Anyhoo, he was god this and god that - then got to the real point which was to ask for money so he and his fellows could continue to broadcast god's message. First of all how do we know it IS god's message? did he approve the script? And what if they get extra moo la? Is it theirs? How do we know god didn't tell them to keep it and buy jet skis for their vacation? Since we're taking their word that they're spreading god's message I suppose we would just have to go along with it being a jet ski of god. Totally confusing. This led me to think about the bible I still have from my rather unsuccessful Sunday School Career in which I learned nothing but did receive a rather swanky white bible which ever stranger I have had for 41 years and have yet to crack the cover. Yes I am considering it.  I have tried in the past by usually peter out halfway through Genesis - all those Begets. Onward. We're spending our Thanksgiving with an old friend - I am super looking forward to that. I got my headlight fixed today after work - it's hard to find the time to do things these days! - since we live in the Land Without Streetlights having one headlight is very inconvenient - I had to do an after hours visit last week to someone who lived about 40 miles OFF the highway - most of the roads with drop offs have sticks masquerading as guard rails - it was a bit scary at times. Adam is considering coming home for Christmas which will be a fun thing for his old parents. And hunting season is coming to a close, Pearl will have to find something else to do with her afternoons!

I SUPER want to do this next

I would have sneaked but it's surrounded by a fence

Yes It Does All Roll Downhill. Thank You For Asking.

My kitchen at 10 am yesterday - note the lack of stove
 SO - we were having our first Official Inside Guests on Saturday. The stove repairman from San sung was coming to fix the tiny problem of the Hot Surface light not going out - easy easy right? Who are you talking to? I came home late Friday afternoon to the fan going, smoke in the kitchen and the Sam sung NOT repairman speaking hysterically into his phone. Turns out he was A)new, B) not in possession of the correct information and C) a bit of an idiot.  Most people would have said they didn't know how to fix it  and rescheduled since it was such a small thing but not our guy. Whatever he did caused a small fire, electrical sparks to come shooting out of the stove and in essence, caused the stove to die an untimely death. David called Lowe's who tried to pull an "as is" - but they caved and told him he could return it and get another with a $200 discount since they didn't have that model. In the meantime David had also been replacing the kitchen faucet as the one that came with the house had been invented just after the water pump. He could not get it to stop leaking. Or clogging. Or performing an annoying series of activities that no one wants their kitchen sink to do. We also discovered  there is no way to just turn off the kitchen sink. Sweet. So the next morning, after dragging the Dearly Departed out to the truck to go back to Lowe's David rigged up the old faucet set temporarily so I could take a shower as it was now nearing 10 am - guests due at 4. No water, no stove, no problem! David did his usual - even in the most desperate of situations get that discount. He found the same stove on sale for $700 - and then reminded the manager that he had been promised a $200 discount.......so not only did he get the same stove but they owe us $150. He got a new faucet set and had it all hooked up by noon. The food got started, the kitchen swamped and swamped again. Susan, Roger and Buddy the dog found the house despite my amazingly bad directions. We did open the bottle of Ramp wine - and it was just as awful as you think it would be, no wine should have an onion aftertaste. I experimented with no boil noodles for the lasagna - never again. No boil and they also no baked around the edges. But all in all it went well. Pearl enjoyed having a guest of her own and they had a ball racing around the yard and we got to show off our new home. Now that we have had our test run I hope the next time will go smoother

No food, no water

Yet another new stove. I am getting jaded.

The Sun Will Come Up Tomorrow.

 It's amusing that no matter what happens - the sun always comes up in the morning. Someone told me that years ago and it's my go-to comfort thought - and it does always seem better in the morning. That would be why the Two AM Girl likes to show up in the middle of the night, it's easier to jolt me out of my sleep with her dire words and worrisome conversation ("YOU'RE GOING TO JAIL! YOU'RE GOING TO GET FIRED! YOU'LL LOSE YOUR HOUSE!"). Ah yes, she does like a good time. But she hasn't been too active lately and I've been so tired that even her worst cannot disturb my sleep. And it is getting better - Pearl is recovering, Vincent remains status quo, the house moves along. David finished the kitchen floor and it looks wonderful - we also got a new stove which has all sorts of Fanciness and Spectacular Features. I can make my fries in a regular oven OR a convection oven. And it even has a warming tray built in. David bought it in stainless steel so it matches the fridge and he found so stuff to shine it up with. The last time he shined the fridge up he had read somewhere that you could use vegetable oil. Which you can. And it does work. Until the dog saunters by - Pearl did a double take and then proceeded to lick the entire front of the fridge clean of vegetable oil - it was the single most disgusting display of canine perseverance I've ever seen in my life - I thought I would laugh until my lungs burst. That was the last time we got a helpful hint out of a magazine.  We still have some odds and ends to attend to - we need garage doors- can you believe this house has never had them? You can see straight in my garage and see the big mess David has going. And we really need a new TV for upstairs. Somehow we ended up keeping the Toy TV Set which has a 9 inch screen. Everyone is the size of nickel and since it's pretty old it only goes up to channel 80 which means not only is everyone tiny, but they're not my favorite tiny people. We also figured out the On-Demand feature so I can catch up on my favorite shows or watch the movies on the premium channels without having to stay up past my bedtime. The bad thing is we can use the on-demand function upstairs with the pretend TV - that would be David's fault. I am STILL going to Weight Watchers - it's coming off in drops now I think. I thought I had it last week at my weigh in and I was - I kid you not - POINT TWO away from my goal weight.  If I can lose Point Two this week I will be a lifetime member and not have to pay $40 a month. Yes that's what it is - and it's not really that expensive if you think of A)how much Jenny Craig is and B)how much your health care costs go up when you're not at your best. So I eat my fruit and vegetables and keep my eye on the prize.

At Day's End.

The bad week has continued and will be at the end soon. We hope. It wasn't actually a bad week, but we had an unexpected death - well, who ever expects it? But this was especially terrible, a friend and co-worker lost her 22 year old daughter in a car accident - what do you say and what can you do? Nothing really,we sat with her at the hospital and stayed away at the end when the family needed to say goodbye, the whole event has been overly whelmingly sad. I did not know her personally, but have seen her pictures displayed and she was the light of her mother's life, a weekly topic of conversation. The memorial will be on Sunday, the beginning of a long trip back. It affects us all because we know our friend will never be the same again,  that we can imagine that horror but never fully know it really.  It hangs over us all, at the edges of your thoughts all day, something that should never happen to any of us. Funerals have a purpose in letting you have closure, to say goodbye.

How To Jinx Yourself.

I should have known better than to write about how great my life is - it's the best way to get a cosmic smack up side the head. This week has been a never ending slide down that slippery slope - work was a race and I ran ran ran and accomplished nothing. I've been lectured and yelled at by my clients, not mad at me, just mad and tired. Vincent, the Best Cat In The Universe went into kidney failure and spent two days at the vets getting fluids. He's better, but not great. Pearl has been hunting all week no problems. A friend of ours threw her toy and she managed to do something awful to her leg - it's not broken, but it's swollen and she can't bear weight on it. There are other things going on, but nothing I wish to mention here.  So it's been a bad week, actually more than bad. But there have been little bright spots here and there, I got my new stove, Vincent is home and Pearl will mend. Today was fun, well, after we took Pearl to the vet for an X-ray - just for those keeping track we've spent about $500 in vet fees so far this week. I also had to buy IV fluids for Vincent so if he starts to get dehydrated I can give him fluids. Pearl was a pest at the vet's as it stresses her out. She refused to go for for X-ray so Dr. Kenny just picked her up and carried her whining butt in there. She was not gracious about it at all but we were relieved her leg was not fractured. We gave her her pain medication which we have hidden high up - it's the same stuff she overdosed on as a puppy and she would still gladly suck down the entire bottle of beefie flavored pills.   Yarns and Tall Tails: O Is For Overdose.    We also put a deposit on a puppy for the spring the other day, it will be coming from Ohio Land That I Love. We've discussed it at great length and as much as I would love a puppy right now, it makes more sense to wait until the spring when it's warm and we have the time. We're also currently trying to make plans for Thanksgiving, so busy since we moved back! I started a shawl the other day, it took a couple of tries but I'm good now. I have all my knitting books out on the bookshelves David bought me and I'm thrilled of course - they came out so nice and it's so wonderful to have my stuff back.