A few years ago I wrote a post on a wonderful and funny April Fool’s prank. It still makes me laugh today. So without further ado, I give you April Fool’s Prank extraordinaire.
Enjoy 🙂
01 Sunday Apr 2018
Posted Holidays, LOL, Memory Lane, Quasi-holidays
inA few years ago I wrote a post on a wonderful and funny April Fool’s prank. It still makes me laugh today. So without further ado, I give you April Fool’s Prank extraordinaire.
Enjoy 🙂
10 Sunday Dec 2017
Posted aging, Around the House, Holidays, Life, Memory Lane, Thinking Out Loud
inWas minding my own business this Sunday when I was rudely interrupted by this candy truck, really, a throw-back to the 60’s. It plays one song, one very short piece of music. Calliope music. It gets into your brain and chases you all day, you can’t escape it! Last week the truck stopped at the end of this block. The music droned on for 20 minutes.
Anyhow while all the above is whirling through my head, I put Pandora on to drown it all out. Suddenly Otis Redding’s “The Dock of the Bay” starts playing. Love. Love. Totally love that. And as I listen to it I read the blurb Pandora posts about Otis. Well, I almost fell over.
More than a Feeling by Boston just came on. Boy, I wish my iMac had stronger speakers ’cause this is one of those recordings I really, really want to crank up!
As I was saying, did you know (I didn’t) that Otis died today over…ready?…
…50 years ago!!!!!!!
And now Tom Petty’s “Free Fallin’ ” is on and I remember that he also is gone. All pieces of my life dropping away as time marches on relentlessly. Like leaves falling from a tree. Suddenly I’m all too aware of the limited time I have left on this earth.
I have to go. To be continued.
21 Tuesday Nov 2017
Posted Around the House, Friends, Life, Links, LOL, Memory Lane, Pets
inOr Nightmare before Christmas…
The Preface: Â The image above makes me smile from ear to ear. Growing up, we were never allowed to have any pets. When I was in sixth grade, my mom finally relented to our pleas, letting my brother and I each get a hamster. Over a five year period (they don’t live that long) we both had two hamsters. The entire time we had them, we begged her to pet them. She flatly refused. She would not touch, much less “pet” one. Our constant pleading finally led to her reluctantly touching one with a single finger, quite gingerly, on the head. That was it. Never again…until…
The Post:  I remember teaching my childhood hamster, Cinnamon, how to do what you see in the image above. Yes, he became very good at it too. Maybe a little too good. One night he broke out of his cage, jumped down three feet to the linoleum, made his way across the house and climbed upstairs (carpeted not hardwood…lucky hamster) to the second floor. He found his way along the upstairs hall and into my parents bedroom. The little fellow must have been quite tuckered out, because he came upon my mom’s house slippers as we all slept. Well, he crawled into the toe area of one and curled up.
He must have felt so nice and cozy, all snuggled in there that he went to sleep. Everything was going along fine just like “The Night Before Christmas”. Unfortunately, my mom got up to use the bathroom in the middle of the night and discovered his little nest. We were suddenly woken up by my mother’s screaming.
She had slid a tootsie into one of her slippers and “found” my hamster. I’ll never forget it! It was a mad dash for my brother and I to locate and capture the furry little beast who had scurried away in absolute terror. Luckily my dad was out of town because we were laughing hysterically the whole time. (No, mom was not laughing.) Don’t know if she ever got back to sleep that night. Or the next….
Hope you enjoyed my little tale and have a lovely “turkey” day. Create lots of warm memories. You can never have too many. They’ll warm you on the coldest and saddest days of your life and cheer you on the happiest ones.
xox
13 Sunday Aug 2017
Posted aging, Around the House, Family, Food, Friends, In the Kitchen, Life, LOL, Memory Lane
inTags
Health, Humor, Let's Conga, Life, Music
I try not to talk about my health too much here since we all have problems but today just takes the cake or in this case the Conga. My day started out okay, I had a slice of Oroweat Jewish Rye with cold butter (yum) and a glass of V8. Seemed innocuous enough.
Well, it took on a life of its own. I’ve always had a spastic stomach and colon but it hasn’t bothered me for some time. Till this morning.
I spent the entire time (all morning and into the afternoon) less than ten feet from the bathroom. During this time, every cartoon and image of Conga lines I ever saw in my life popped into my head.
Yes, my stomach and intestines were doing a wild Conga gone horribly wrong. I didn’t dare step away from the bathroom. Even going to lay down was risky.
Sad thing is I’m now totally empty and starving even though I lay in bed all morning, moaning of an upset midsection. Colonoscopy anyone? I’m empty, it’d be the perfect time.
But I don’t dare eat a thing since I have no clue what set my bod off. It’s like having about 50 hands squeeze your stomach and intestines off and on, but all at different rates…kind of like the photo above. And they’re doing it horribly wrong to Conga music! I had planned to have chili for dinner but I wouldn’t dare now!! This hasn’t happened in quite some time.
I used to be a really “fun” date. A guy’d take me out to dinner and half way through it, my whole midsection would take on a life of its own and I’d be in the restroom for a half an hour or so. See? Real fun date. And it wasn’t like I was upset, it just seemed that anything out of the ordinary that caused me anxiety (good or bad) could do it and without any warning. I just learned that I’d better find the W.C. FAST.
04 Thursday May 2017
Posted Around the House, Family, Fish, Food, In the Kitchen, Life, Links, Memory Lane, Recipes, Shopping, Smoked Fish
inTags
Favorite Things, Food, Holidays, Links, Memories, Salmon Patties
Seems I always have a can or three of my favorite oil-packed tuna in my pantry. Love tuna salad in almost any form as well as most casseroles. Think it’s my Midwestern upbringing. Yes, over thirty years in Southern California and I’m still a Wisconsin girl at heart.
The number of containers of canned tuna grows slightly in numbers every spring (often it’s on sale) but starting a number of years ago, it got some company in the form of canned, red sockeye salmon. Oh and let’s not forget the 6 oz. tin or two of crabmeat and Trader Joe’s smoked trout. Gosh, love that stuff !!!! (No affiliation at all BTW).
So, back to the canned salmon in the pantry. Never had canned salmon in the pantry till, as I said, a few years ago, when I saw it on sale and it jogged a childhood memory. My Mom ALWAYS had it on hand and it often resulted in salmon patties for dinner. OMG…isn’t it bad enough to flat out l.o.v.e. sockeye, but to go as far as canned salmon? Yum. Oh, I mean, yes.
In my search for slow cooker recipes over the last months (no, I’m no longer Catholic but some of its trappings have just hung around…like Lent and fish). Anyhow, I came across a number of recipes (though not slow cooker) that looked interesting enough to bookmark and share.
First, I’d like to point out 2 things about this first recipe. The cost of this particular dip noted by the author at the bottom of the recipe/post is from 2010. Currently I bought an 8 ounce tub of pre-made Philadelphia Cream Cheese Soft Salmon spread on sale for $3.99. Not very “salmon-y” tasting if you ask me, but still, I’ll eat it.
In reviewing the ingredients for the delicious Salmon Spread/Dip, I thought it’d be much more flavorful than the store-bought version. For this, I’d use the 8 ounce blocks that Philly comes in, not 12 ounces and just cut back on the salmon a bit, maybe to 1.5 cups of it. I’m torn on using Liquid Smoke. In the past, I’d read about negative health issues so I googled it. You can look into it further here.
To get the smoked flavor, I might throw in part of a pouch of smoked salmon from the grocery, like this:
Well that pic is certainly large enough…lol…will have to check WordPress for info on altering images. Sorry.
Anyway, I could probably easily eat a bowl of this spread/dip and by the spoonful, it just looks so good! Even thinking about it has me salivating. Lol.
And, yes that would leave nothing else to nibble on and put me way over my daily caloric limit! But, hey, it’s the holidays…I mean, it was “just” Easter wasn’t it?! Don’t judge. At least it’s fish. You can also make a similar dip with Trader Joe’s smoked trout in a tin or their crabmeat.
OMG to both. Seriously, what can be made with cream cheese that isn’t to die for?
I also found several chowders that also looked quite good:  first, is Smoked Salmon Chowder which uses smoked salmon. Now if you think the cash outlay to buy enough canned or fresh salmon might be too much, check this website (quite informative) out for smoking your own salmon and this for canning your own salmon.
Frankly, once I took into account all the equipment and labor involved, the store-bought salmon seemed pretty “cheap”! Yes, I’ve seen those videos where someone puts a DIY foil tray in the oven, grill or even in a fry pan. Trust me, they do not work for smoking a fish like salmon, nowhere near the same.
Another recipe that looked good is this one . But are we ever satisfied with what we have? No. And further “research” yielded this one which looks unbelievably yummy!
Delicious, no?
Well, I’ll end this missive on fish for now, but it will be continued later :). In the meantime, enjoy tinkering in the kitchen!
Oh, and big B-day hello to my childhood friend whom my Dad often called Susie-Q. Happy birthday dear one!
16 Sunday Apr 2017
Posted Around the House, Life, Memory Lane
in26 Sunday Mar 2017
Posted Family, Life, Memory Lane, Thinking Out Loud
inTags
Art, Books, Family, Inspiration, Mom
Just finished watching “Everything Must Go”. It stars Will Farrell. Not a big WF fan at all BTW. Not something I’d ever seek out to view but surprisingly relevant for my mood today.
Gave up both storage units last week. One was my whole life or I should say, had my whole life in it. The stuff that I took with me when I left the house I shared with the dolt I’m no longer married to.
Anyways, the storage units had all the photos, artwork, antiques, family stuff, my entire yarn and knitting book stash, craft supplies and so on. Gone to some stranger. I no longer could afford the rent on them, so the storage company sold them.
It’s so amazing. Time. And death and loss. I picked up the phone today and as I looked at the window where you see the caller’s name I thought I saw “Mom” for a split second. Yes, I still long to talk to her and even have written to her (not to be published) and will soon see her. Would have thought it’d be my father, but no, it’s my Mom I miss the most.
Sure, the experience of loss is often shelved as you proceed to go on living. If it couldn’t be, you’d be a morose sack of shit to be quite blunt. But it resurfaces when you least expect it. Even 17 years later.
And that was even before I saw today’s movie. Maybe one should expect it.
I no longer have to think about where to put all the stuff. All that’s left is the junk that’s in this rental house and garage here at Grey House.
Most of that’s paperwork, saved under the guise of divorce and the possibly of needing it for some vague reason. Well, that and there are a lot of clothes from “a life I no longer have” yet I hang on to them for some reason.
Maybe this is how it begins. The leaving. The walking off the planet as it were. You just get tired when there’s no reason for rejuvenation.
Life simply loses it’s luster when you’re totally alone. No one to share anything with. Why care? Why bother?
No one to talk to. No one to reminisce with.
Alone.
I hope you never experience this.
The following photo is more to cheer me up more than for you, sorry.
Love it, so cute. Listening to Sarah McLachlan’s “I Will Remember You”.
17 Friday Mar 2017
Posted Memory Lane, Pets
inTags
Blue, I miss you so much! Found this image on Pinterest today and all my thoughts turned to you and our brief time together.
16 Thursday Feb 2017
Posted Around the House, Family, Life, Memory Lane, Something New, Thinking Out Loud
intoo funny… Â Â Heaven only knows what was.
sitting here and listening to re-runs of Fraisier and totally enjoying the Seattle rain,
Now I forgot what I was writing about …:(
it wasn’t worth remembering, I guess, as my mom would say. Miss her dearly.
Probably the radical amount of rain we (LA) have had.
But it’s like this every 5 yrs. or so…it’s just that no one remembers and of course the NEWS is in heaven since there’s something to report about…aka drought.
The spacing on WordPress is nuts!
07 Saturday May 2016
Posted Around the House, Family, Life, Memory Lane, Something New, Thinking Out Loud
inHad the nicest week here, weather-wise! Actually chilly. This is my birthday week so it was a real treat. On Friday, my birthday, I received the nicest present…rain. Lovely slow-falling, rain. It was so nice and grey all day, perfect weather for sleeping in. When you get beaming sun morn to night, you really learn to appreciate “May Gray”. So I gave myself the gift of sleeping as long as I wanted. Delicious!
My childhood friend, S, called to wish me happy B-day around 5 pm. And since I have a million rollover minutes, we talked for a good hour. My brother, Rusty, sent an email. He can be such a disappointment sometimes. But, whatever.
My dinner was a frozen Lean Cuisine Fettuccini Prima Vera. So, so. Kind of watery, fyi. Should have gone with the bag of salad I had in the fridge, but oh well. Had the salad today with grape tomatoes and Marie’s Chunky Blue Cheese dressing…mmm.
Found a strange link when looking for an image to put into this post. You can write your name or a friend’s on an assortment of Birthday cakes and send it to them. Not the cake, just the image, like this:
Or this:
This is a good thing since the odds of me baking a cake are zero. Lol!
To anyone else who had a birthday this last week, Happy Birthday to you!