It's A New Day

My Apologies, Joyce Kilmer

I think that I shall never see
Leaves cleaner than my lemon tree.

A tree from scale's grasp I will wrest
And rid it of black sooty mess.

Toothbrush in hand I've scrubbed all day
As "bug drugs" only made some go away.

Washed high, washed, low, washed here, washed there
Every leaf, every branch, every twig, everywhere.

The chore took patience more than brains
And now I'm ready to spray again.

I hope it works, we'll have to see
If it will cure my lemon tree.

We Need Another Holiday

You wouldn't think with Thanksgiving and Christmas barely out of sight in the rearview mirror and New Year's Eve/Day just around the corner that I'd be advocating for another holiday...but I am.

You see, yesterday was Good Riddance Day in New York City and I'm convinced this is an idea the entire country should embrace. What is Good Riddance Day, you ask? It's a day set aside to say a fond (or not so fond) farewell to the past year's worries, fears and unpleasant memories. Much like New Yorkers ring in the New Year with the ball drop in Times Square, they ring out the old one on good Riddance Day by writing those less-than-wonderful recollections on pieces of paper they symbolically put through a giant shredder. And there's a sledgehammer available too so you can annihilate the object of your dis-affection, although I'm fairly certain you don't get a free pass to do that to any living thing just because it's a holiday. You could, however, follow the lead of one woman who smashed a motorcycle helmet that reminded her of an ex-boyfriend. People freed themselves of military deployment papers, photos of lovers who did them wrong and even the puke bucket needed during cancer treatment, just to name a few.

Just think how therapeutic this would be. Instead of repressing your feelings about what you didn't like in 2011, you can literally tell it "good riddance" and be done with it. I've heard of therapist suggesting patients write down past injustices on a piece of paper and then burn them as a figurative way to get past them; we might all be better off to do this yearly.

We have a day to say hello to the New Year and all the possibilities it holds; I think we need one to say goodbye to the woes of the old one.

Fabric Flowers

So did you notice the little hair accessory Kayla was wearing in the Christmas pictures? I'll wait while you scroll down to take a look. Whistling and twiddling my thumbs. Oh...you're back. Yes, I know, it's kind of hard to see; I meant to go back and get another photo that really showed it better but time got away from me.

Here's the backstory. I was wandering around some craft booths with my sister-in-law Carol when we attended the Pumpkin Festival in Morton, Illinois, last fall when I saw some fabric flowers that slipped on headbands. Kayla and I had looked at something similar when we were in New York but she wanted interchangeable flowers and that's what these in the craft booth were. The more I looked at them, the more convinced I was I could make them so I bought a set to both give her and use as a reference. Here's how they turned out:

These are both the ones I bought and the ones I made but they turned out cute, didn't they. And they were really easy...no sewing required. I used lots of fabric glue though. They're basically a strip of fabric with a knot at one end, although I think you could also start them by rolling one end several times to form the starting point. Then it's just twist and glue from there. The trick is to figure out what the pattern/color combination is going to look like when the flower is finished. It's a trial and error process for me but I just bought fat quarters from the quilting section of the fabric store so it wasn't as if I invested a lot of money.

I switched from fabric glue to hot glue to adhere a felt circle to the back of the flower and then a felt oval on top of that. The oval was only glued on the ends, leaving a tunnel for the headband to slide through.

They were fun to make and didn't take long. Good thing...Kayla said she'd be going through her closet when she got home and "placing an order" for more colors to match her outfits. I see more fabric flowers in my future and I'm perfectly fine with that.

Ten Pounds Lighter

I feel ten pounds lighter. No, I didn't find some magic diet solution to account for this sudden feathery feeling; in fact, after all the cookies, second helpings and desserts I've consumed lately, I might need to look for that magic solution. It's not that I am ten pounds lighter...I just feel that way.

The reason, you ask? We put away all the Christmas stuff today.

It's amazing how it takes two days to get it all out and arranged just so yet it can go back in all those boxes in a matter of a few hours. The regular Monday house cleaning got done in the process too and it only took about three hours longer than usual.

Even though we were a bit later than usual in getting all the Christmas paraphernalia out, I was ready it to go. Don't get me wrong, I love my Christmas decorations. There are so many memories associated with them...who they came from or where we were visiting when we bought them. Putting them out is like a trip down memory lane. But once Christmas is over, they aren't decorations any longer...they're clutter. And I'm ready for them to go back in the closet.

So that's just what we did today...packing boxes, moving furniture back in place and sweeping up the last remnants of artificial needles and glitter. And when it was clean and clutter-free, I felt ten pounds lighter. Now if only real weight loss could be accomplished so quickly and easily.

Ho Ho Ha Ha

It was a wonderful Christmas...but then how can it not be when you're surrounded by the people you love. We are blessed indeed. And sprinkled in among all those warm feelings were plenty of laughs too.

Gone are the days of Kayla wanting to get up at o'dark-thirty to open presents. She's a teen and perfectly happy to sleep in...a girl after my own heart. So it was nearly nine before we started unwrapping gifts.

One of the things Kayla had asked for was a pair of shoes from Urban Outfitters. Her much-loved pair had holes in the bottom and she freely admitted that while they weren't the best quality, she loved the style so much she wanted another pair just like them. When I went to order them online, they were buy one, get the second at half price, and I reasoned that if they weren't going to last all that long, I'd just get two pairs at the discounted price. And as shoes go, they were pretty inexpensive.

Wayne convinced me to separate the pairs and put the two right shoes together in one package and the two lefts in another. Needless to say, Miss K was quite happy when she opened up the first pair; Just what I wanted! she declared, never noticing that it was two of the same shoe. Try them on her grandpa urged, so she took out one shoe and slipped it on her foot, flexing and twisting in as if she were a model in a shoe ad. She still wasn't seeing the problem so Grandpa said he wanted to see them both on.

By now her mom and dad knew something was up but Kayla was clueless. Out came the second shoe and she started to put it on her foot. Wait a minute! she said. Off came the first one and she lined them up on her lap. She kept switching them around as if that was going to make them right but it wasn't working. Ever the make-the-best-of-it, she resigned herself to the fact that there had been an error that would require some post-holiday adjustment.

One of the best things about playing a joke on Kayla is that she's a little on the gullible side, and even when she opened up the second package of shoes, it took her a second to realize that she had two shoes that were just a like and that they were the mates to the shoes in the first box. From this point on, she was referred to as the girl with two left feet.

But the teasing wasn't done yet. Contrary to her younger days, she saved the biggest present until last. She'd already opened several presents that were housed in repurposed boxes so the information on the outside bore no relationship to the gift inside. She was skeptical when this large box bore the name of a food vending company.

Inside, however, were 60 individual serving packages of her favorite brand of potato chips. She takes her lunch to school every day and the only way she'd been able to find these particular chips was in variety packs. The downside was she didn't like the other varieties packaged in with them. Dad, however, took advantage of his restaurant connections to get a commercial-sized box filled with just the chosen chips, and while it made us all chuckle, it was a definite hit with Kayla.

We giggled to at this winter hat I got for Wayne so he could keep his ears warm while caching or just on his early morning walk with Dr. Dale and Carol. We did, however, have to give him lessons on letting the earflaps flap...like all the cool kids do.

Dinner was devoured, naps were taken and too soon it was time for the kids to head on to the next destination. But not before I snapped this shot of two of my favorite people.

Merry Christmas

Like snowflakes, may your Christmas memories gather and dance...each more beautiful and unique than the next for too soon will they be gone. Wishing you the peace and joy of a wonderful Christmas.

Just One More

I'm convinced there's a reason that the shortest days of the year fall at Christmas time. Oh, I know...they're short only in terms of daylight, at least from a scientific standpoint, but they're short in other ways too. There just don't seem to be enough hours to get as much done as I'd like.

Those two little bags are all the wrapping that I have left to do, thank goodness. Since it isn't one of my favorite chores of the season, I tend to put it off until the last minute and with everyone arriving Saturday afternoon, this is pretty much last minute. I know what goes in each bag but there were reasons why I couldn't put it there today. Tomorrow.

It's just one task left in the get-ready-for-Christmas job jar. And just one day left in which to do them.

Cookie Central

Brenda's Christmas Cookie Kitchen is open for business. Some might say it's about time since Christmas is just days away and years ago I would have agreed. I used to put up the tree the first weekend in December and bake cookies on the second. And I baked twenty kinds or more then too...but Wayne and I took cookies to our respective places of work, filled tins for the boys to give to their friends and shared with a long list of others. We still share, but friends now either bake themselves or are watching their diets and Wayne and I don't have jobs to go to.

Now I make far fewer and bake them later because the main cookie eaters won't be here until Christmas Eve. And they count on there being plenty of cookies to take home with them too. I think I can accommodate them. : )

It's a good think I built a kitchen with gobs of counter space because I manage to use every bit of it. My sprawl is, however, sort of organized. The island is a great place to get the dough on the cookie sheets because I can work from all sides. And the counter area in the background is the mixing center. All the ingredients "live" there on the left and the mixer is on a pop-up stand there next to the stove.

There's a spot for the wire racks for the cookies to cool and another location to stack them until they're ready for containers. Shown above are White Chocolate Cranberry Oatmeal, Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip, Chocolate Chip and Gingersnaps. The Chocolate Snowflakes were in the oven at the time. The kitchen definitely smelled good.

And here's my handy helper. He's good about pitching in and doing all sorts of things but at the time this photo was taken he was making his own cookies. The local paper ran a cookie contest and printed a story about the winner on Wednesday. Wayne was intrigued by her Church Window cookies and wanted to make them; go for it, I said, and he did.

Here they are as he's slicing them so you can see how they get the name Church Windows. They were easy to make and he pronounced them tasty. We have to have at least one experiment every year. Here's the recipe in case you're in the mood to experiment:

Church Windows

1 package semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup margarine
1 package multi-colored marshmallows
Shredded coconut
Chopped nuts (optional)

Melt chocolate chips with margarine in pan. Set aside to cool. Add package of colored marshmallows. Put mixture on waxed paper and shape into logs. Sprinkle with coconut and/or nuts. Freeze the logs then cut into slices.

Kaboom!

When I walked into Wayne's computer room this afternoon, I found him chuckling out loud as he looked at the screen in front of him. What's so funny? I asked. I'm going to blast some port-a potties was the reply. Tell me that doesn't conjure up some weird images in your mind; it did in mine. Had those pesky birds abandoned the pigs and focused their anger on a Johnny-on-the-Spot? Was he going all terrorist on me and planned to bomb Port-a-Johns?

The truth is he was reading an email from the Kansas Underground Salt Museum, a cavernous salt mine we toured with Wayne's folks several years ago. It's a pretty cool place. There are vast areas devoted to the storage of everything from documents to seeds (to protect against disease wiping out crops we depend on for food) but there are also areas focusing on the history and mechanics of salt mining. And there's a big Events Center too where they host dinner theaters and other special events. Since Wayne purchased the tickets online, he receives periodic emails from them.

And the latest one was for a fundraiser...for bathrooms. It's not as those there are no restrooms down there; there are some but they're located near the elevator everyone rides the 650' down to the mine. Unfortunately, that's a long ways from the Events Center and they rely on port-a-potties. You can imagine the logistics and cost of adding restrooms to an already-excavated salt mine so they're seeking donations.

So why is this all worth a chuckle? Because they've cleverly captioned their fundraising campaign as "Blast the Port-a-Pots," complete with a couple of sticks of dynamite superimposed on a picture of a Port-a-John. Obviously, they won't be exploding the real things, especially underground, but I'll bet the donations would roll in quicker if the donor's name was entered in a drawing and the winner had the honor of setting off the charge to blow up one of those blue boxes above ground. Cleaned, of course. Maybe I'll suggest that.

Pretty Petals

I spent the afternoon making flowers. Pink ones, purple ones...even black and white ones. You're curious now, I know. But I can't show you; they're part of a Christmas present for a certain someone who reads the blog so revealing them will have to wait another week.

I can, however, show you some pretty flowers in the yard.

December might not seem like a time when beautiful flowers start to bloom in the yard but if your yard contains camellias, it is. Actually, the ones in the front are just about done flowering and the ground under them is covered in pink. They always arrive in time for Thanksgiving, a pretty pink explosion out the dining room windows as I'm setting the table for a holiday meal.

But the ones in the back are a little later. There's probably a dozen or more of the double blooms like in the photo above with big fat buds on the end of almost every branch. They're big flowers too...about 4" across so I can see them from inside the house even though they're out almost to the golf course. Sometimes I cut a few to bring inside but mostly I like looking out there and seeing the flush of pink and creamy white. We'll be enjoying them for several weeks.

We've had a few frosty nights but some nice warm-ups too. The hibiscus had it's nose nipped but there are still flowers, and the pepper plants are hanging in there too, even though I quit covering them on those cold nights. The geranium has plenty of blooms too and the lavender seems thrilled with the cooler weather. I'll protect it this winter but let Mother Nature take the geranium when she's ready.

The grass doesn't have much green in it and the leaves continue to fall but I love being able to look outside and see a splash of color in the form of pretty petals.

Undecided

For the past five years or so our front door has looked like this:

Double wreaths on the French doors, a lighted garland overhead and lots of birds, berries and other natural elements. But the string of lights in the garland gave me fits last year. Actually, it's two strings, and when one quit working, I replaced it only to have part of the other go out. So I knew I had to replace lights before putting it up this year.

Logic said I should just buy two new strings to be sure they matched, and if I was doing that, I might as well go with the LED lights. They're cooler and require less energy and seem more dependable too. Ordinarily, I'd have bought the Warm White lights as they would seem to be most like what I had before but looking at the sample in the store, they just seemed too yellow. I went with the Cool White instead.

It's definitely different. The light is much softer and bluer, a fact I took into consideration reasoning it would look nice against the bluish gray of the house. In fairness, however, there were three knee-high trees with lights in the top photo that aren't on the porch this year. I look at it one time and love the softness of the light, then I look at it again and wish it were brighter so the pretty wreaths would show better. Clearly I'm undecided.

But apparently someone else finds it mucho attractive. When I went out on the porch this evening to take the second photo, a little bird flew out from overhead...a chickadee, if I'm not mistaken, although he wouldn't land so I could be sure. We've had small birds perch on the ledge at the top of the columns on the back porch and spend the night there but never on the front porch. Apparently, the soft blue lights from the garland made it look like the perfect place to curl up for the night. He wasn't at all interested in flying away from the porch, even temporarily, and just circled and circled, chirping all the time. I think he was saying it looks great out here now go back inside so I can go back to sleep...so I did.

The little bird may know his mind but I'm still undecided.

Let's Go, Grizzlies!

We're serious Coca Cola fans here in Arnall-land. While we've switched to the Diet version from the regular Coke we both grew up drinking, we've never been tempted to switch to Pepsi. In fact, we order tea or water when Pepsi is the only choice at a restaurant.

So it's nice that Coca Cola offers some rewards for that loyalty. We've been logging the little numbers on the inside of bottle caps and cardboard cartons for years now, ever since they first started the program. And during that time, we've redeemed them for a variety of things ranging all the way from golf balls to a nice little LCD television. Sweet...all for drinking something we were going to anyway.

Last fall I came across some information online about free team T-shirts through the Coke Rewards program. After you entered a stated number of the regular Rewards numbers, you could enter a special code (in this case, a word like "football") and be eligible for the T-shirt. We were skeptical...after all, the Internet isn't always a reliable source, but we tried it and it worked. So Wayne picked a KU T-shirt (what else!) and they promised to ship in in 6-8 weeks, all for free.

A week or two later, two more "special words" related to football made their way around the Internet so we did it again. A fella can always use two KU T-shirts, right? But apparently not three. When we went through the process the third time, the KU shirts were sold out. In fact, at this point in the program there weren't a lot of choices but Wayne found one he was happy with:

His theory was it would be a real conversation starter...and I think he's right. Not many fans of the Montana Grizzlies in the South. We both did attend Butler County Junior College in El Dorado, Kansas, home of the Grizzlies, so we do have that connection and we loved the parts of Montana we saw while visiting there. I'm not sure when we'll have an opportunity to pull for the team but he's all set whenever it arises. Gimme a "G"...gimme a "R"....

The Christmas Letter

Our Christmas letter looks a little different this year. Gone are the Dear XXXX salutations and the neat paragraphs outlining the year's events in our family that followed and in their place are a bunch of boxes. Nothing like making the recipients work to get their news...I made a crossword puzzle.

It was one of the ideas put forth by Lain Ehmann in her Fit To Be Scrapped Christmas Letters class at Big Picture Classes. And as soon as I saw it, I was reminded of a Christmas letter in crossword puzzle format I had received several years ago from my cute and creative friends, Beth and Susan Opel. I loved the idea, not just because I'm a crossword puzzle fan but because the interactive nature of it made me, the reader, feel so much more connected to my friends behind it.

Now I have to say, I could have written a delightful letter much faster than creating a crossword puzzle but it wouldn't have been nearly as fun for me and hopefully for those who receive it. And I wouldn't have learned all I learned in the process. I had more than one stop and start anew when things didn't work the way I thought they would but I do love a good challenge.

I started with this online puzzle-making site, although I looked at a number of others as well...just Googled crossword puzzle maker and you'll have plenty of choices. The one I used created a free online puzzle which was perfect for my purposes as I wanted mine to look just like a puzzle you'd find in the newspaper. I did about half of the clues/answers this way and let it format them in puzzle form. I wrote the puzzle format on some graph paper and then fit in the rest of the clues/answers to make it look more like a real crossword and to hopefully make it easier to come up with the answers. After some trial and error with several different programs, I ended up creating the puzzle as a Word table.

Pretty cool, huh? I hope our family and friends enjoy this fun twist on our holiday letter and that it gives them an excuse to sit for a few minutes during this busy season to work out the answers. In addition to family news, there are plenty of clues with Christmas references which not only lend to the holiday feel but also makes it easier to come up with the answers.

If you're like me and willing to work just about any crossword puzzle that comes your way, you can give this one a try. The puzzle is a zipped PDF file and the clues are a Word file. And I've added a link on the left for the answers for those who get stumped or just like to make sure they got them right.

Download Crossword Puzzle
Download Clues 

Wonder if they'll all be disappointed if I go back to a traditional letter next year.

Two Days. Two Words.

House cleaned,
partly anyway.
Laundry done;
ironing awaits.
Fresh sheets =
good sleep.
Letters written;
cards mailed.
One down,
Lots left.
Groceries bought.
Miles walked.
Meals cooked.
Pool maintained.
Gifts purchased;
free shipping
really rocks.
Ladder up;
boxes down.
Lights bought;
doorway glows.
Wreaths hung.
Mantle's done;
hutch too.
Santas here,
snowmen there.
Mostly mess
every-where
Tree's next.
Not today...
I'm tired.
Howabout you?

Traditions

We ran away from home. Well, actually it was a little weekend escape to Hot-lanta which really wasn't very hot at all temperature-wise. Somehow shopping always seems more appealing in the big city, and for contending with the crowds, parking and everything else that goes with being in a mall this time of year we can reward ourselves with a nice dinner at a restaurant found only in a metropolitan area. Birthday presents were the priority but we did make a sizable dent in Christmas as well. There could have been a stop at a scrapbook store too...just saying.

And here's the birthday girl we stopped in to spend the afternoon with on the way home. Seventeen...I don't know how that happened but there doesn't seem to be a way to stop it so I just shake my head in amazement at how fast the years have flown by. And what a delightful young lady she is. We talked boyfriends, SAT tests and cake decorating over dinner at the restaurant of her choosing which this year was Carrabba's. Why cake decorating? Because she had to demonstrate her prowess with a pastry bag as part of her Health and Wellness class. Where was something fun like that when I was in Home Ec? We made Egg Salad Boats. And she readily admits that very little of the food she's learned to prepare falls under the heading of "healthy."

One of the birthday traditions is for me to ask her a series of questions and it's fun to see how her answers have changed over the years...or not. The favorite color has gone from pink to blue to orange and now seafoam green but she's been almost unwavering since about age 6 in picking steak as her favorite food. And she's far less certain about what she wants to be when she grows up now that she's nearing the time to make that choice. I keep assuring her that's OK. I like gaining this little bit of insight into how the last year has affected who she is and she must like the tradition too because some years she'll remind me that I need to ask her the "birthday questions."

The black Vans she's holding in the photo above were part of her birthday present from us and I had to laugh when I saw them on the list as I think there's a tradition there as well. I can remember us having to hunt down Vans for her dad when he was about the same age. And if I'm not mistaken, he took a black pen to his white Vans for a customized design. Maybe we should have gotten Kayla a white pair too so he could continue that part of the tradition for her.

At any rate, we had a nice little escape and a fun time celebrating Kayla's birthday with her. And this week we'll have to get serious about Christmas...I can't put it off any longer.

Putting It All Back Together

The workmen have left...well, the paid ones anyway. Us unpaid workers have continued to toil away but that's the joys of home ownership, isn't it. It was just a matter of cleaning and moving furniture back in place in a couple of the rooms but finishing up Wayne's computer room has taken the better part of two days.

One conclusion we came to was that we'd never make a living as painters. Wayne would never try as he really doesn't like doing it but he was a good sport and wielded the roller around the walls. I, on the other hand, don't mind painting but my perfectionist tendencies mean no one could afford to hire me if I charged by the hour. And I'd starve to death if paid by the job as I'd take too long to do it. But I'd have happy customers.

My legs are a little weary tonight after crawling on the floor masking off baseboard climbing up and down ladders for two days. I cut in around the ceiling, baseboard and doors as well as rolled on a second coat. It looks so fresh now that it's all done and everything is back in place.

Tomorrow's plan is to put my room back together. Not everyone has a shower full of scrapbook supplies (and a few other things too) but sometimes you just have to get a little creative when you're looking for temporary storage space.

Oops!

I've been spending my late afternoon hours cleaning up bits of ceiling material from all around the house. Mike, who's doing the ceiling repairs, has been great about covering the floor with drop cloths but those little white flakes have a way of escaping. And the very location of the room affected has meant we've had to walk across those drop cloths, tracking it to new locations in the house. I'm just trying to keep it from looking like there are snowflakes on the carpet.

The little handheld Dyson has been useful for small jobs, but when it suddenly quit picking up anything, I handed it off to Wayne to investigate. He took it apart, found the filter was clogged with the fine dust the flakes turn into, and fixed the problem. Hmmm, I thought...there's a filter? A number of handheld vacs have come and gone in this house and none of them had a filter. How did I not know there was a filter in this one?

And then the light bulb went off in my head. I'll bet there's a light bulb in the big Dyson too. Sure enough, and it's supposed to be cleaned every six months. I'm sure I read the manual when I bought the sweeper...I always do, but I had six months before I had to do anything. Heck, in six months I not only forgot I needed to clean it, I forgot the filter even existed. And that vacuum cleaner is seven years old. Oops!

Personally I think the people at Dyson should embrace my poor maintenance of their awesome vacuum and use it in an advertising campaign. That's because that even going seven years without the filter having been cleaned, the sweeper worked like a charm. There was never an instance when I thought it was losing suction...it's an awesome machine.

And tonight it's a very clean machine. After I swept up today's white flakes, I took it all apart and washed everything that was washable. The water that came out was pretty dirty, I'll admit.

I can't recommend you follow my maintenance schedule...I'm sure it's better to clean the filter every six months but I can recommend a Dyson. Even dirty, it's still better than any other vacuum; imagine what it's going to be like now that it's clean.

Progress

This is what my room looks like tonight...furniture in places it isn't normally, everything draped in plastic and lit only by the very unflattering light on the ceiling fan. Actually it's worse than the picture shows because the plastic goes off-frame both left and right. I really needed the wide angle lens so you could better appreciate it.

But I can't get to that lens because it's in here. That's Wayne's computer room with some of the furniture moved out and the rest shoved into a corner. The French doors that normally offer a wide entrance into the room are mostly blocked and you can barely squeeze in...assuming you wanted to, I suppose.

Part of what's blocking it is this very big but very cool ladder sitting in our entryway. I think it's the Swiss army knife of ladders as it can be configured in so many different ways. I'd love for it to still be here when we have to put that chandelier back together again but I don't know if that's going to happen.

The ladder is extended to about 12' in the photo of it but it was up over 14' when it was in this adjoining room. And one side of it was in the entryway and the other in the sunken living room. I have trouble getting a tripod level on two different surfaces; can you imagine how hopeless I'd be trying to adjust that big ladder?

It may seem like a mess but it looks like progress to us.

Some Might Say I've Missed Out

I read an interesting fact the other night, one that still has me shaking my head. The article was about the changes businesses that sell food, either in the form of groceries consumers take home and cook or restaurants that offer prepared meals, are having to make to stay competitive in today's world. We, speaking collectively now, are no longer willing to settle for eating just what was offered or even when it was offered...we want choices. Blame Burger King; they're the ones who said we can have it our way.

And having it our way is what we want, whether it's dressing on the side of the salad instead of already on it or substituting broccoli instead of the french fries that normally come with the meal. Maybe I'm more aware than most since our oldest son has managed restaurants for years and I've heard him extol on the problems it presents for both the server and the kitchen staff to get it right. But I still do it.

Not only do we want what we want, we want it when we want it too. More restaurants are serving what would normally be considered lunch or dinner foods during the breakfast hours and offering breakfast much later into the day or even all day long. 

It was at this point the astonishing fact surfaced. In elaborating on this migration of foods to non-traditional times of day, the author opined that the growing number of cereals containing chocolate was because more than 30% of all the cereal consumed now is eaten at night. Seriously....30%?

Let me assure you that I have never eaten cereal at night. Ever. I'm on board with pancakes at night now and then and I'm perfectly happy with a scrambled egg and toast on occasion but cereal? My taste buds find that revolting although I've certainly sat across the table from more than one family member who chomped on Cheerios after sunset. To each his own, I guess, but I can't get past the visual of all those boxes lined up in the cereal aisle of the grocery store and the idea that one-third of them are going to be eaten at night.

Some might say I've missed out not hearing Tony the Tiger roar after dark but I can assure you this is one growing trend I won't be joining.

Bringing Home The Groceries

The hunters and gathers of ancient civilizations probably didn't spend any more time stocking up their pantry than we did today. Of course, they probably had to go out and do it all over again the next day; I trust we're done for the week.

We started out by making the 45-minute drive to Walnut Hill to visit Steve's Farm. They're famous for their sweet corn which is, of course, gone by now. They do make a second planting so they have a little in the fall but it's gone too. That's OK as that wasn't our objective; this was:

One Saturday in December they fill their barn with dried fruit and nuts brought in from the west coast and offer it for sale. I'm guessing they get a full trailer those over-the-road semis tow but it could be more as there are boxes stacked under and on tables throughout the barn. The fruit is so soft and juicy...so much better than what can find anywhere else around here. And the choices are much wider too.

The sale was actually last Saturday but the weather was so yucky they still had plenty of fruit left over. And they sent out an email blast letting people know they were doing it again. Fortunate for us as we didn't make it there last Saturday. Carol and Dr. Dale were game to go (along with their daughter Jen) so off we headed to the little Mennonite farming community where Steve's is located.

They're smart merchandisers those folks at Steve's as there are bowls of each dried fruit and nut offered for sale so you can taste how good they are before making your selection. My favorite from last year (dark chocolate covered cranberries) was already sold out but we came home with a bag of plain cranberries, some dried nectarines and the Very Berry Trail Mix. Yum!

And since it's Saturday a trip for regular groceries was on the agenda too. Walmart was every bit the zoo we expected and it's only going to get worse as Christmas nears but we put on our patience button and endured. We hit Publix too since that's where we get meat, milk, yogurt and a few other items we don't buy at Walmart. And when the meat we wanted just looked so-so at Publix, we stopped at one more store for it. Before we knew it, it was 3pm.

Who knew grocery shopping could take all day.

Hip Hip Horrah

A few things worth cheering about:

     •I didn't fall asleep on the couch before getting a blog post written. That's been the story the last two nights and I'm not entirely sure why. The cozy blanket I've snuggled up in could have something to do with it though.
     •Warm air has returned, at least for a few days anyway. No need for the heavy coat on the walk today and I was glad not to have to drag plants around tonight and cover them up to keep them from freezing.
     •The ceiling man will be here at 8am Monday...he says. OK, the 8am part might not be worth celebrating but I'm eager to get the repairs behind us. And it might really be happening too as it's the first time he's given a specific date and time rather than a vague "next week." 
     •Pending repairs are the perfect excuse to postpone getting out all the Christmas decorations and not feel guilty about it. The holiday spirit is slow to arrive this year.
     •The Christmas letter is done, however. Maybe since I'll be chained to the house while the repairman is here I'll focus on getting the cards addressed and in the mail. Of course, I'll need to buy some first.
     •All the Thanksgiving leftovers are gone or found a home in the freezer. I see turkey noodle soup and gumbo in our future and our taste for turkey will be revived with a little break. The fridge sure does look empty now though.
     •Having good things happen to good friends is almost as good as when they happen to you. One of mine has just returned relaxed and happy from some much-needed time away and another off visiting her somewhat-infirm parents, delighted to find that they are much better than they have been in several trips.  Makes my heart happy for both of them.
     •We have a couple of little trips on the horizon, one local and one a little farther away. It's always fun to have something to look forward to.