Not all surprises are fun

You expect some things in life to always remain the same.  If there's a coolant leak, and the warp core is about to blow on the Enterprise, somehow you know that Geordi LaForge is going be able to fix it every time.  Either that, or the ship will enter a time loop and give Geordi another shot at it tomorrow.  ("Cause and Effect" one of my favorite Next Gen episodes.)

But things don't always remain the same.

 Take my latest venture to the grocery store.  I've been avoiding the olive bar for months.  Why?  Germs.  I read where people sneeze on olive, salad, hot food bars, and spread cold and flue germs and then you're on your back for two weeks, or, in some cases DEAD.  Being a chicken through and through, I avoid all such food areas and their temptations when the weather turns cold.

But let's face it, last year the whole H1H1 flu thing was blown out of proportion, and the other day I decided that the time had come for some delightful kalamata olives.  They're so awful, they're good!  So, gathering my courage, I picked up the industrial sized spoon and scooped up half a cup of them.

Since I arrived home just in time for lunch, I piled a bunch of them next to my ham and Swiss sandwich and sat down for my favorite meal of the day, popped one in my mouth and -- ugh!  What's that inside?  A pit?  No--it wasn't hard enough.  But it did sort of go CRUNCH when I wasn't expecting it.

Hubby bit into his first olive, and was surprised by a crunch, too.  Hmm.  Our olives weren't bad, but they didn't quite taste the same.  We decided, whatever they'd stuffed them with, we didn't like it.  So we carefully chewed around the next "soft pit" and spat it out.

The olives were not a hit.  But they weren't exactly cheap, so about a week later, I decided I really should try and eat them.  Hubby and I ate the exact same lunch -- except, I added olives to mine.

You just know where this story is going, right?

Can you say SICK AS A DOG?

So when I hit the grocery store the other day, I decided to see just what those olives where stuffed with.  Turns out it's garlic.  Now, I happen to LOVE garlic, but not in the middle of a kalamata olive.  And the store isn't offering any other way to buy them.

I guess I won't be buying kalamata olives for a long time.

Don't you hate it when someone messes with a perfectly good recipe and spoils it for you?  When was the last time that happened to you -- and what did someone ruin?

I'd Lose My Head If . . .

You can ask anyone in my family:  I have a memory like a sieve.  I can never remember what I've done with my gloves, keys, hat, purse, phone . . . you name it, I've lost it.

After years of putting up with this, my husband has finally come up with an explanation.  He says I'm not so much careless as I just don't pay attention where I leave things.  He likened my losing stuff to a snake, shedding its skin.  I'll have my keys in my hand and put them down, with no thought as to what I'm doing (usually because my head is full of Tommyrot).  And then, when I need them, I have no conscious memory of what I did with them.
That sounds reasonable . . . most of the time.

Take my hammer, for instance.  (Doesn't everybody have a tool box of their very own?  Mine is a former fishing tackle box.  Inside I have screwdrivers, an awl, a small hammer (used, $1 at a yard sale--you can't buy a small hammer like this anywhere, I know--I've tried.)  I've been looking for my hammer for weeks.  Why?  I wanted to move the nail that holds my calendar over 2 inches so I could see Sunday.  (Weird calendar, has a BIG section for notes on the right side, so Sunday was hiding behind my monitor screen.)

For at least three days I searched the house high and low for that hammer and then I tried to remember when I'd last used it.  Aha!  When taking down the Christmas lights three weeks ago.  (We nail in these little metal holders that keep the cord for the wreath from dangling in the snow.)  Sure enough, I'd "shed" the hammer in the garage, where it still sat.

 Of course, that doesn't help me for things like my brand new set of car keys.  The day I bought the car, I had a terrible cold.  I did not feel like going to the dealer to pick it up--but had no choice.  I drove the car home, shed the keys . . . and they've never turned up since.  (The fact that that ring had all my OTHER keys on it, too, and the "smart" key to my husband's car which costs $100, made it a pain to replace.  And BTW, he won't shell out the $100 for another key because I'd just lose that.  And he's right.  I've lost two more sets of keys since 2005.)  I still maintain those keys are somewhere in this house (uh . . . five years later).  Hubby maintains they've been at the local landfill for all but a day of that time.

Even though it's not New Year's and I don't make resolutions, I'm going to try NOT to shed things and make a conscious decision to put things away where I know I will find them again.

That ought to last about day.

Do you lose stuff?  If so, how often?

A card for every occasion

 I can't be the only person around who is appalled at the cost of greeting cards.  What used to cost a dollar or so, now costs at least $4 to wish your friends or loved ones a Happy Birthday, Anniversary, Thank You, or just to send a Thinking Of You card.

Okay, I admit it, I'm cheap.  Apparently, a lot o f other people fee that way, too, because I now get (and give) many electronic cards.  I've got a subscription to Jacquie Lawson's online greetings.  They're wonderful animated cards that feature flowers, animals, and nature.  Just wonderful.

 But there are still occasions when I want to send a REAL greeting card.  The cards I send out the most are Thank You cards.  I get the majority of them at yard sales and most of them are blank cards,  You name it, I probably have a blank card on it.  Flowers, cats, dogs, fairies, I must have 200-300 blank cards.  (It's always tough to choose.)  But for Birthday Cards, I usually make them myself.

I have to admit, I love to receive "made-it-myself cards."  My sister in law makes gorgeous cards.  She must have one of those little die cut machines.  She makes all her cards and it must take hours.  She uses different papers, textures, and rubber stamps with embossing ink.  I always anticipate the cards she sends for holidays and birthdays.

My brother has a computer program that lets him make cards.  He recently made a thank you card for someone and wondered if he was going to look "cheap" with his DIY effort.  But the words he wrote were from the heart and the card was lovely.

I'm not real "crafty," so my cards aren't all that elaborate, and I mostly give them to my immediate family.  My husband set up a template in Abobe Illustrator, and I can choose the graphics and wording myself. That means the cards I make I can personalize.  I like to use my own photography (like this picture I used for last year's Father's Day Card.)  And I get a lot of pleasure putting these cards together.  Usually, it takes between 20-40 minutes to pull one off.  (Mostly because I don't do it often enough and forget how to use the program.)

I have to admit, I'm a bit of a card freak.  I save them.  In fact, I have every birthday card I've received since age eight.  I keep holiday cards.  My favorite Christmas card is from my Grandfather, who's been gone more than 26 years now.  Every year, I take out the last card he sent me and put it up with the current year's holiday greetings.  I look at his handwriting and I miss him, but because I have that card--he's still with me.

Maybe I'm a nut to hang onto these cards, but they don't take up that much room, and it's nice to revisit those happy occasions when someone thought of me.

Will you be making your holiday cards?

What's YOUR favorite cookie?

USA Today has a sidebar feature called Snapshots where they'll give a cute little graphic and some kind of statistical data.  A while back, they featured a survey on cookies.

I guess it should come as no surprise that the chocolate chip cookie was the favorite--by a whopping 53%.  Yeah, I like chocolate chip cookies, and prefer the homemade variety (of which there seem to be about a million variations).  For my money, the very best recipe comes right off the Nestles morsels package.  Yup, the good old Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookie.  If I'm making chocolate chip cookies (which I do only about every other year), there's no reason to try another recipe.  This one comes out perfect every time.  (No lie!)

Next up, was the peanut butter cookie at 16%.  I happen to have the perfect recipe for that one, too.  It was given to me by a friend of my parents.  I must have been ten at the time, so for her to take the time to write out that recipe and give it to me meant a lot.  And the fact that I'm still making that version (mumble, mumble, mumble) years later, is a testament to the quality of that recipe.

I was disappointed that my favorite cookie, oatmeal (no mention of raisins and walnuts) came in at #3 with 15% of the vote.  Oddly enough, I don't have a favorite version of this recipe.  For years I made the version listed in my Betty Crocker cookbook (okay, mostly I ate the raw cookie dough--but those days are long gone), but it's not the best.  I've never really found the ultimate oatmeal cookie recipe, but I have discovered that commercially made oatmeal cookies are generally horrible, and any homemade oatmeal cookie recipe is bound to be infinitely better. (And if you've got a great recipe, please share it.)

Next up on the list:  sugar and/or shortbread with 11% of the vote.  I love shortbread, and have made a sugar cookies, but must admit not often.  (I think because I may have singed the shortbread.  I need to buck up my courage and give it another try, as I'm going to feature the recipe in my first Victoria Square Mystery.)

What I found amazing was that the "other" category was only 5%.  Does that mean that Oreos are NOT America's favorite cookie?  (Does Nabisco know this?)

What's YOUR favorite cookie?

What a super man

 

Lately, I've watched a bunch of old movies that I love. One in particular I watched at least four or five times:  Superman.  Yes, the Christopher Reeve (1st) Superman picture.  I've always loved that movie.  I liked the first part with Jor-El, I LOVED the second part in Smallville (the cinematography is breathtaking--who could forget that wonderful scene in the wheat field?), and also loved the Metropolis stuff, too.  (I wasn't too keen on the scenes with Ned Beatty.  I couldn't imagine why a the "greatest criminal mind of our time" would have such a buffoon working for him.)

Even though I never liked Superman II -- I figured, what the heck, and bought a used copy.  I watched it once and remembered why I never liked the film.  It was dumb (and half of Gene Hackman's dialogue was looped by another actor, and it's REALLY obvious).  All of Margot Kidder's close-ups look like they were filmed through heavy gauze--the focus is that soft.  Overall, the story just didn't work for me.

I knew that the original director, Richard Donner, had filmed scenes for both Superman and Superman II, but had been replaced on the second film, even though he'd shot more than half the movie.  Something like that never bodes well.  About the only time it worked well was on the Wizard of Oz (right?).

I decided to look up the movies on Wikipedia and was surprised to find that, due to fan appeals, Warner Brothers had released Superman II, The Richard Donner Cut, in 2006.  Whoa!  I had to have that.  Once again, I bought a used copy and waited.

About 10 days later, it arrived and I put it in my DVD player and nothing happened.  I tried it in my computer -- and nothing happened.  I tried my other DVD player and . . . you got it . . . nothing happened.  It turns out, it was an HD version of the film.  I contacted the seller and was happily surprised that not only did he tell me to return it, he refunded my money within the HOUR!  (You better believe I left nice comments for him via Amazon.)

But I still wanted to see that movie.  So . . . I bought another one (this time making sure it wasn't an HD version).

Whoa!  What a difference.  I've now watched it twice (in 24 hours--the movie with and without the director's commentary) and while at least 75-80 of the film is the same, that 20-25 percent that was in the general (bastardized) release was not good.  Instead of featuring Marlon Brando as Jor-El (they scrapped the footage), the theatrical release instead featured Suzannah York (Lara--Superman's mother) as Kal-El's mentor.  I'm all for strong female stories, but there's no denying that the father-son relationship (established in the first movie) was far stronger.  (After all, Lara had virtually NOTHING to do in the first movie.)  And there were other big changes, as well.


No kidding, the Donner cut comes off as a totally different movie.  And a much better one, too.  I'm probably going to resell my copy of the original Superman II -- why would I ever want to watch it again when the Richard Donner cut is so superior?

Has anybody else ever seen this version of the movie?  If so--what do you think?

Jumping the gun on the holiday season

 Okay, so it's November 16th and I've been decking the halls all week.

Okay, not literally. I have not put up one Christmas decoration. Then again, I really don't need to. I have over 200 Christmas figures from the 1940s-1960s in a cabinet in my office. Any time I need a bit of holiday cheer, I just gaze into my cabinet and sigh. But it takes a bit more than that to get me into the holiday swing, so I've been listening to Christmas music and watching Christmas movies. Okay, I've been watching ONE Christmas movie: The Santa Clause.

Because it is so early in the holiday season (although the grocery store started hauling in the decorations back in mid-October, later than usual, I might add), I've spared my hubby from listening to the Christmas CDs with singing. But the instrumental CDs have been going for about two weeks. (I'm allowed to play the others as of Thanksgiving.)

Several years ago, I bought a piano CD from Target that I really loved. (To tell you the truth, I'm surprised it's not worn out.) I decided to buy as many piano CDs as I could after that, so now I've got quite a repertoire, for just about every occasion (and I got a bunch of them at The Dollar Tree). I've got piano music to read by. Piano music to sleep by. Piano music with rain in the background. Piano music with birds cawing. Still, I like my Christmas piano CDs the best.

I watched (or rather listened--I was busy on the computer during) The Santa Clause twice this week. My husband had been out doing an errand, walked into his office (without seeing the TV in mine next door), heard one line of obscure dialogue and said, "Are you watching The Santa Clause AGAIN?" Well, I couldn't lie. There was the evidence (the empty DVD cover) sitting on top of my printer.

I'd never been a Tim Allen fan (couldn't stand his TV show), but I love this movie. The story of how the love of a little boy turns a not-so-great Dad into Santa. Sniff. (Did I mention that I love sappy stuff like that?)

I've got six more weeks of the Christmas season left to keep enjoying movies (hey, I've still got The Santa Clause II and III to go through, Elf, A Christmas Story, Polar Express, White Christmas, Charlie Brown Christmas and Rudolph, too), CDs, and did I mention the 30 or more coffee table and recipe books I have based on the season?

Okay, I'm a glutton for all things Christmas. How about you?

Oooh, yum. Now, if only I had the recipe . . .

Years ago, Mr. Ivy and I traveled to Colonial Williamsburg for a much-needed vacation.  While there, we stopped at one of the little places tucked behind one of the historical homes and bought a snack of Queen's Cake.

Yum yum!  As I remember it was very much like pound cake, but a lot lighter, possibly lemony, with poppy seeds.  I say possibly because it's probably been twenty or more years since I tasted it.  As I wasn't a pound cake fan, I was hoping I'd be able to find the recipe.

No such luck.

Every once in a while I go online and search for Williamsburg Queen's Cake.  I've found a couple of recipes, but none of them have poppyseeds.

Okay, I admit it, I'm not about to start experimenting in the kitchen to try to come up with a vague facsimile.  Reason?  Well, there's just the two of us, and someone has got to eat all those baking attempts, and Mr. Lorna and I simply can't afford the calories.

But when I think back to that trip, and that bright, HOT, sunny day when we drank lemonade and ate Queen's cake, I'd love to have just one more bite.

Have you sampled a taste sensation you enjoyed but can't replicate?

It's not a cold enough yet, kid

As you know, I brake for yard sales. This summer I started collecting movies on DVD that were new and old to me. I figured they'd be fun to watch on a cold, windy day somewhere down the line.

One sale had about a gazillion old movies. The kind you get at the dollar store for ... a dollar. They were selling them for a quarter so I figured--what the heck and bought a couple. One of them is The Little Princess starring Shirley Temple.

These cheapie DVDs come in cardboard sleeves and tend to get lost on my DVD shelf. (Lately DVDs seem to be pushing the books out of the way.) Therefore, Shirley has been sitting on the shelf by my computer for at least a month now looking at me with her kid eyes and I can hear her sad voice say, "When are you going to play me?"

Well, let's see. I've already read the book once this year. And I saw a movie that was out a couple of years ago. (Got it and The Secret Garden for a steal from Amazon.) So, the Shirley Temple version of The Little Princess has not been on the top of my to-be-watched list. Not when I'm going through Star Trek Voyager for a second time and realizing how many I missed the first time around. (Wow--that's fun!)

I'm thinking that a cold, windy, SNOWY day in February will go well with the suffering poor Sarah Crew has to withstand in her attic garret. So, sorry, Shirley, you've got a wait on your hands.

Maybe I'll turn the DVD over so I won't have to see her little imploring eyes.

What movie is on your list to watch on a cold, snowy day some time in the future?

Pondering the possibility of an Etsy

Ever since I gave up my booth at the local antique co-Op, I've had a hankering to open an Etsy online shop. The problem is, I'm not crafty. I had a lot of linens left over from my booth and wondered what I should do them. Ah-ha! There's my Etsy Shop!

Well, not really. I mean, the reason I gave up my booth was because I really didn't have time for it. The cleaning and repairing of merchandise, the inventory, and selling. If I opened an Etsy, I'd still have all that -- PLUS photographing and maintaining a site, plus packaging and shipping.

So for the time being, no Etsy shop for me.

But that doesn't mean I haven't been accumulating merchandise for that day. First of all, I love handwork. The effort that people put into making doilies, potholders, and dresser scarfs, and all the embroidery, tatting, etc. It's lovely. I can't bear to see the stuff end up in free boxes -- or worse yet the trash. And I can't believe how cavalierly people get rid of great grandma's chair tidies and doilies as though they were just junk. Hey, your gramma made that with her own two hands. You might not want it right now, but one day you might say, "Hey, I had something my gramma made and sold it for a quarter."

Shame on you!

Of course, not all of it is in tip-top shape, either. Stains, tears, and linens that are just plain worn out from years of use. I need to sort through everything and figure out what is good, what needs a dip in Oxy-Clean, and what should go in a scrap bag. (Hey, maybe someone more crafty than me can make it into something else.) I haven't done that yet, but every so often, I take the stuff out and look at it, which makes me smile.

Is there some project you've got simmering on the back burner for a later time?

Just in time for the season . . .

When I was a kid, I figured I'd get married at 18 and I should be prepared.  So, I started collecting recipes.  I figured I'd have to feed the brute who was going to let me be a stay-at-home wife.

Well, things didn't work out that way.  I went off to work and stayed single for a VERY LONG TIME.  And when I finally got married, it was Mr. Ivy who did (and still does) at least 75% of the meal prep.  (Mostly so he can get a decent meal, although I've gotten better at cooking in the past couple of years.)

I was poking around in the basement a couple of weeks ago and found my little recipe box.  Boy, my handwriting was a LOT neater in those days.  (These days I have to squint and sometimes use a magnifying glass on my handwriting to figure out what the heck I've written.)  And darned if that little recipe box didn't contain 95% cakes, cookies, quick bread and muffin recipes.  Yup, I've got a sweet tooth, and my baking has always been better than my cooking.

I'm ecstatic because I've found the recipe I always used for pumpkin bread. It was one of the first recipes I made all by myself.  I haven't been able to make it for years before I lost the copy I had.  Thank goodness it was a copy--because there's the original bad boy in that little gray file box.  (I'm going to type it up and put it on the computer.)

Yesterday was grocery day and a big can of pumpkin went into the grocery cart.  Got the walnuts, too.  Ain't nothing like toasted pumpkin bread for breakfast.  Ahhhhhh.... 

What's the first recipe you remember making all by yourself?

I fixed it myself!

Over the summer, my fan died.  One day it worked fine, the next day it was pushing up daisies.  Somehow I didn't have the heart to throw it away.  But, lately I've been in a "if-you-haven't-used-it-in-a year (or longer) it's-time-to-get-rid-of-it" mood, so yesterday it got walked to the curb for the trash men.

Off I went grocery shopping.  But all the while I was picking stuff like kitty snacks and not-too-ripe banasas from the shelves, I was thinking about how much I loved my blue fan.

Back I came.  And there sat my fan.

I bought it just after I moved into my first house.    It was $25 at K-Mart and it worked great.  It worked so great, I went back a month later to get another one and they didn't have the same model, but I bought one anyway.  It has long since gone to fan heaven.

My Dad, who passed away last year, would never have tossed out a useful item without trying to fix it first.  So, in view of all my neighbors, I retrieved my fan from the trash and brought it back inside.  As I suspected, it wasn't broken at all.  But it had been living near our forced-air heat run for the last 17 years and it was full of dust.  (Ick--we're breathing in all that crap all winter?  Oy!)

With just the first shot with the mini shop vac, it started to run again, but then I took the back off and really gave it a good clean with vacuum, compressed air, and a dust cloth.  Now it runs like new.

All the time I was cleaning it I felt like my Dad was standing behind me giving me advice.  And best of all--I got my beloved fan back.  (Just in time to retire it for the winter. Oh well, you can't win them all, eh?)

Do you try to fix broken items?

Eww! It went bad!

Back in February, Mr. Ivy and I bought a new fridge.  Actually, I bought it.  For some reason, he wasn't available the day we decided we had to get rid of the old one.  (It was freezing EVERYTHING, especially the milk.)

Fast forward into summer and -- gosh darn it, didn't we wish we still had old Mr. Freezer Fridge, because now our milk is constantly going bad.  I don't mean one or two before their sell-by dates, I mean ALL OF IT.

The new fridge has these really big door shelves that will hold a gallon container of milk.  Great.  Except the milk is always warm.  Not great.

So now we've moved the milk from the really convenient place, and put it on one of the shelves, where stuff usually gets shoved in front of it.  Then we have to search to get the milk out for stuff like adding to coffee or recipes.  Not very convenient.

Truth be told, we just don't like this new fridge.  It's too small.  The guy at the appliance store assured me this was THE standard size fridge, but it isn't.  The next time I was in the store I looked a bit harder and saw that there are quite a few taller ones.  (Of course they were all stainless steel and cost about $500 more, but that's beside the point.)

Well, at least the milk isn't going bad anymore.

Have you bought an appliance that didn't live up to its hype?

Go Home Pepe Le Pew

Even during the colder months, I like to leave the bedroom window open a crack for fresh air, but even that doesn't guarantee a good night's sleep.

I don't always sleep well, so I get a little irritated when "outside" events wake me in the middle of the night.  Annoying things like our neighbor's motion-sensor light.  Yup, RIGHT OUTSIDE OUR BEDROOM WINDOW.  Black-out shades?  Forgettaboutit.  This light is bright enough to search the heavens for incoming bombers . . . or a waddling skunk.

The light didn't go on last night, but a skunk did traipse through our yard--and apparently right under my open window.

Skunk.

Even the word is unpleasant.

Hubby likes to tell me that Chanel #5 is really just essence of skunk--watered (or rather alcohol-ed) down.  That most perfumes have behind them a really bad stink.  Okay, so how does one figure out that one drop of skunk stink in a hundred gallons of alcohol equals lovely perfume scent?

As I laid awake (for far to long) I kept telling myself ... the stink will go away soon.  The stink will go away soon.  Eventually, it did.

I sure hope Pepe Le Pew stays home tonight -- either that, or walks on the other side of our neighbors hour.  Yeah, by THEIR bedroom windows.  It's their turn to be awakened in the middle of the night.

Have you been skunked lately?

Trying to hang on to summer . . .

The following pictures were taken yesterday in my garden.  I could NOT believe that it was November 3rd and there were still lovely flowers blooming.  Can you say global warming?

This silly lilly is still blooming.  Okay, it's not as pretty as it should be, but it's still blooming.  I don't think I've ever seen any of our lilies bloom this late in the year.




Over the summer my friend Leann sent me a lovely hydrangea.  Isn't it pretty?  It's been blooming since mid-summer.




The marigolds are still going strong, too.




And one of my favorite flowers, cosmos--still in full bloom.



Are they still here this morning?  I'm afraid to look.  The temps dropped to the high 30s the night before.  But even if they're all gone today, they were there yesterday, and they were PRETTY!

Is anything still blooming in your garden?

What's a few tiny explostions . . .?

The other day I decided I'd like to have egg salad for lunch.  So I promptly put four eggs in a pan, set the burner on high, looked at the clock and said to myself, "Self, come back in 15 minutes."

Of course, I went back to my office (the other end of the house) and started working on emails.

About forty-five minutes later my husband said, "What's that noise?"

"What noise?"

"The cats must be up to something.  I go look."

Ivy goes back to work.

"ARRRRRGGGGGGGGG--the kitchen is full of smoke.  The eggs have exploded!  The pan is ruined!!!"

Uh . . . I guess I kinda forgot about my lunch.

And, thanks to hubby's scrubbing power, the (Farberware) pan was NOT ruined.  It's once again shiny and back in the cupboard ready for it's next adventure.

Next time I make hard-boiled eggs . . . I'll set the timer on my desk.  (Yes, I keep one there.  Otherwise I forget cats out on the enclosed porch on winter days.)

Um . . . that is, I'll set the timer . . . if I remember.

Have you had any cooking disasters lately?

(P.S.  Honestly compels me to tell you that the above picture was not taken by me.  My eggs were far more interesting because they'd exploded.  So there were shells and yolks all over the place.  Rats.  Why didn't I take a picture?)