Halloween 2011

Sunday the kids gathered to carve pumpkins and eat chili.

The gnarled pumpkin is the one squirrels decided to sample while sitting on my front porch.  And then mold started to set in.

Grandma QQ with Nugget

Riding the Great Pumpkin

Intensely concentrating

 

Completed (mostly) jack-o-lanterns

Keith finished his zombie pumpkin (far left) after he got home

Sunday In My City - Lincoln Tomb

Springfield Illinois - the hill in the middle of the cemetery was beautiful and serene with a gentle breeze.

Friday Fragments - October 28, 2011

YAWWWWWWNNNNN

I am tired....


I thought when I woke up that I knew what lay ahead.  WHOA was I wrong!  The game plan was a network audit that was supposed to last all day long, eat a quick dinner (frozen pizza) and then go to the furniture shop to move around a large delivery.  Simple enough.

Everything changed around 10:30 am.  The meeting wound down and the auditors had all of the information they needed.  Awesome.  I called to see if I could meet up with my mom and husband who were working together on pricing this large load of furniture we had just received at the shop (that's a weird convergence of powers, isn't it?)  When I arrived at the shop a minor emergency arose with Hubby's mom who needed to leave for the day (yes, he had spent all morning with my mom and his mom in the same room - insert evil laughter).

It just made sense for me to stay.  It's not like I had anything scheduled for the rest of the afternoon.  Six hours later I had sifted through nearly 50 pieces of furniture and magically got them to fit on our show room floor.

We stopped at the video store (we canceled our Netflix account after that last price increase and now use a local store), ate frozen pizza while watching Captain America (we all liked it) and then this non-sports fan watched game six of the World Series.  We were in the eighth inning and behind.  Remember I live in St. Louis, the home of the Cardinals.  WHAT A NAIL BITER!!!  I sat up until nearly midnight watching a tied game go into overtime.

I'm sure other stuff has been going on in my life, but I'm tired and can't think.  Check out everyone else who probably have their act together...

Ice Cube Etiquette

Ice makers seem to be the norm in homes and work places across America.  Therefore, the old fashioned ice trays are nearly obsolete.  Right?

WRONG!

My lovely place of business happens to have a broken ice maker - gasp!  The freezer barely works so the fact that it can still freeze water is a blessing.  We'll take it.

This means, however, we are stuck with a set of four plastic ice trays that must be manually operated.  Either the oldtimers have forgotten how they operate or the youngsters don't know the rules of the road.  Please allow me to share...

ICE CUBE ETIQUETTE

1.  Know how to operate the equipment:  Gently twist the tray back and forth until all the cubes pop, empty entire tray into ice bucket, refill trays with water.

2.  Stubborn cubes usually break free with a little extra force, but DO NOT CRACK THE TRAY.  This is a party foul.

3.  If you empty one tray, empty all of the trays.  This allows for proper rotation of stock.

4.  REFILL THE DAMN TRAYS!

• Do not place empty trays in the freezer
• Do not place empty trays ON the freezer
• Do not leave empty trays on the counter
• Do not place empty trays in the sink
• Do not take empty trays out of the kitchen
• Do not hide empty trays from everyone else
• Do not think of anything else or Dr. Suess will kick your ass

     ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS refill the tray.  

5.  Refill the tray - it was worth repeating.

6.  If foreign matter lands in an ice tray or one drops on the ground - WASH IT.  Please.

7.  Do not pick out one or two ice cubes from the tray and leave the rest behind.  Like picking your nose, everyone has done it at some time and usually under dire circumstances, but really it's best to keep your fingers out of there.

8.  There is no need to cram your cup to the rim leaving nothing else for everyone else.  At least leave a few cubes for the masses to share.  This would be a courteous time to check the status of the frozen trays, empty them if they are ready for harvest and refill.

9.  Have I mentioned the necessity of refilling empty trays?  It's sort of important, so don't ever skip this step.

OW - My Back

We own a furniture consignment shop which means we are constantly receiving furniture to somehow fit into the shop.  It's actually a lot of fun.  I get to shuffle stuff around and make it pretty.

Like I said, it's a lot of fun, but it's also a lot of work.  On Saturday, I moved a couch and I'm pretty sure that is what screwed up my back.  It's not the worst pain ever, clearly I didn't hurt it too bad, but enough to know something happened.

Sunday In My City - War Memorial

 I really could have divided this into three different posts.  Like I said last week, I knocked out enough sightseeing in one day to fill several posts.  There are still another two Sundays worth of pictures so make sure you keep coming back!

I had no idea this even existed.  In the middle of a cemetery in Springfield Illinois are several different war memorials.

Korea

I actually laughed when I read this

The bell chimes the anthem of each of the services.  The entire time I walked around it I kept hearing The Halls Of Montezuma, the song of the Marine Corps.  It struck a chord because that quote I just laughed at would be something my ex, a former Marine, would have enjoyed... oh okay, I sent a copy of the picture to him.  As any Marine will tell you, "once a Marine, always a Marine"  Oooh rah

 World War II

Vietnam Memorial

Each of these were beautiful in their own right.  The WWII had a bench in honor of the masons who had served.

As we went to another part of the cemetery I noticed first a big book which I quickly corrected myself - BIBLE, and some huge chairs just randomly sitting there.  I didn't get it until we were leaving and then I practically screamed at my mom "OH!  IT'S A LODGE ROOM!"  DUH.  There were four chairs, one in each the south, north, east and west with the Bible on the altar in the middle... exactly like a lodge meeting room.  I would have smacked my forehead except that I was driving.  My mom agreed, it made sense.  She speculated that they probably have ceremonies for member funerals.

Friday Fragments - Oct 21 2011

Why is my mind blank?  There is so much going on in my life but when I go to remember all I come up with is NUTHIN!

Hmmmmm.....

1.  I'm interviewing interns.  I don't enjoy interviewing.  I feel like I forget the important questions even though I have them written down in front of me.  I always forget to take notes.  And then I have to make decisions.  Folks, I cannot make a decision to save my life.  Ugh, this is not the role for me.

2.  The baking bug is hitting pretty hard.  There are enough apples in my fridge for two pies and we're getting an organic peanut butter in tomorrow's CSA box that made perfect peanut butter cookies over the summer.  And if I bother making peanut butter cookies then I should make chocolate chip as well, right?  The Husband has started hinting that it's time to start working on fruitcake.  Maybe we'll pick up the dried fruit over the weekend.  I really don't need to start it for a couple more weeks.  I'll make sure to take pictures of all of my adventures.

3.  We've started running the furnace in the house.  Mornings are just a tad too chilly to ignore any more.

4. OH!  An observation I made while driving to Springfield Illinois last week - I don't drive nearly as much as I used to.  My poor right leg felt like it was going to fall off!  I used to drive long distances a lot - I love driving.  But wow, this was on the edge of painful.  This means we need more roadtrips.  Or I need to get back in shape.  No, it means roadtrips.

Well, like I said I'm busy but it must be with boring stuff.  Take a virtual roadtrip by visiting everyone else in bloggo land:

At Least They Didn't Break The Windows

Dammit, we had another round of hooligans running through the neighborhood on the one night I failed to lock my car.  I mean I'm fastidious about locking it since the last time this happened earlier this summer.  They got some cash but there's nothing else to be had.  Hmmm... maybe some CD's?  I'll have to check again.

Several people were hit and the police were going up and down the street this morning alerting car owners about the trouble.  Yep, sure enough they got me.  GRRRRRRRRRRRR

Oh well, at least they didn't break the windows.

Dog Agility

My beautiful niece does something called "dog agility."  I had never heard of it until my sister-in-law started rambling on about it (wave hi, yes, SIL occasionally drops by my blog to catch up on the fam).  And like most things, you can do this for entertainment but then it's even more fun when you compete against other people doing it.

So the concept is to train you and your dog (people probably need more training than the dogs I would imagine) to follow commands to get through a series of obstacles.  The competition part is to do so with no errors at the fastest time.

I spent Saturday in Springfield Illinois at a national championship where my niece competed.  I'm leaving out all sorts of details but I could only absorb so much.  It was entertaining to watch, to say the least.  My favorite was a lab who jumped off course and frolicked in one of the tunnels - just rolling back and forth, having the time of his life.  Sort of killed the time component, but he didn't care.

Here is my niece with her prize winning dog - they landed second and then FIRST place in team competitions! 

The fairgrounds were hosting all sorts of stuff at the same time, just in different facilities.  I just cracked me up to see that the same location hosting DOG agility was also promoting a CAT show.  Fortunately the two did not intersect.

To be truly supportive, you wear the team colors and shout like crazy when your runner completes their course.  We had a large group in the stands and were sporting purple and halloween masks!

As soon as I pulled into the lot, the following cars proved I was in the right location...

No decent competition is complete without awesome trophies (The Husband was mystified why anyone would compete just for a trophy and not for MONEY)

And here she is, running the course

As she posed with her second place ribbon, I snuck in to help cheese up the shot.  Everyone needs a picture with their favorite aunt, right?

CSA - Oct 15, 2011

Kinda hard to miss that bottle in the middle, isn't it?  Yes, my latest CSA box contained WINE!  Nothing in this week's box, except the broccoli, has been touched yet.  Everything is able to sit for a little bit until I can get around to using them, yes, including the wine.  I actually landed a couple bottles from someplace else last week.

*Fruit butter - flavor?  Caramel Apple.  Uh yeah, that won't last long.
*Apples - I just made a pie from other apples we received ealier.  These are destined for more pie.
*Blackberry wine - if you ever get a chance, give Missouri wine a sample, it's pretty damn good.
*Pita Bread - not something we ever eat, but I'm sure we'll find something to shove in those pockets.
*Broccoli - I wasn't home when Hubby retrieved this box.  He knew to snap a picture (he did good, didn't he?) and then he dove into the broccoli.  And you thought he plowed through the tomatoes quickly!
*Acorns - I have to laugh because there are tons of acorns laying in my front yard.  We'll see.  I'm researching recipes.