dethroning The Royalty

All day long, My Jerry and I kept thinking there was something we were forgetting. Then, *BOOM*, it occurred to me. We meant to go get the local paper. Cuz they were gonna rerun the corrected version of The Wolf Wedding.

The paper will run your wedding story up to six months after it has happened. They have a six page form with all sorts of detailed questions about the wedding, who wore what, and the honeymoon. There were many questions that I didn't feel were relevant like where I went to high~school and who my grandparents were on both my mother and father's side of the family. Since our wedding was slightly different than a traditional first time young~adulthood, I didn't feel confined to the form. Especially cuz at the end of the form, they include this note that they think the more detail, the better as they are attempting to appeal to the human~interest/lifestyle angle of things.

So I wrote our wedding story as tho I were just writing to a friend and letting them know how it all came about and some of what we thought was important {like involving his children and his best friends} and things that might be more special and unique to our wedding {like asking the guests to bring, in lieu of gifts, their favorite side~dish to share at the reception}. I told the tale in true story form, rather than simply filling in information. Then, I glanced over the form to see if they asked things that I'd forgotten but wanted to include {this is why there are a few places in the article that aren't quite as smooth in transition as it could be}. My Jerry liked the story and he sent it to the paper's lifestyle editor.

We asked that it be published on Sunday 21 February as that is when Jerry asked me formally to marry him last year. We were so surprised to read the article last week, cuz it was there in its entirety and accompanied by a color photo {we'd thought black/white was the only option}. And it was a full past~the~fold half page!

But what we were the most surprised about was that the first person references did not all get changed over into the third. I didn't know that the paper was going to run the story as I wrote it; otherwise, I would have written it in the third person to start with and been a bit more selective about certain phrases and factoids. The oddest part was not even that it toggled between first/third; but half~way thru the article, The Kings appear.

My Jerry's mother was more than a little confused and asked us if she had met The Kings after she read the article. We explained that perhaps the editor forgot she was referring to the Wolfs when she was proofreading and now we are royalty. I giggled over it, but My Jerry was a bit upset and I can see his point; we wanted to have a nice keepsake instead of a joke.

So the new corrected version that ran today is available as well online here. We are The Wolfs once again. But My Jerry will always be My King.

and now for something completely different...

normally, i'd model my own hat. hell, i've modeled hats that are not even my own. but i'm feeling feverish, blotchy, stuffy, congested, and glassy~eyed...i should be modeling for nyquil or mucinex or nasenex or hell, all three.


so i present my sweet husband who modeled my own hat for me.




{sigh}

ain't he sooOOooo sweet ta me?

{quitcher hurking}

another critter~hat

Jerry's eldest daughter's daughter is having a birthday next week, she'll be six! So I decided this afternoon to make her a critter~hat. It kinda reminds me of a maroon and pink cookie~monster. I hope she likes it!

And if she wants, the pink nub of a nose and pink googlee eyes can be removed and then she'll have a feminine chain~mail hood. Or a white MSU can be affixed and she'd have a girly~helmet to show her team spirit. I know it's kinda late in the winter, but we'll have some cold days left this season yet, and there is always next year too!

That is, if she likes it.

At any rate, I hope she has a...

Happy Birthday, sweet girl!

I present...FSM!

This is my first attempt at the Flying Spaghetti Monster. It's ok, but I think I could do better. But for now, I'm ready to move on.

The Flying Spaghetti Monster

~~touch his noodlee appendage~~

{ya know ya wanna!}

chain~mail

dudes! i just crocheted two chain~mail hoods. the first was following this pattern. my stitches tend to be more relaxed than the tension she must have had for her demo, cuz mine was fit for a large adult noggin. which is cool, esp if My Jerry's daughter's husband does grow out his dreads. the second one i did is a purplish~pinkish soft yarn that i know his daughter adores. i adjusted the sizing so that it will fit her, and be more flattering to her face. i've not yet taken a picture of it, cuz i wanted to wait til i have a nifty had done for My Jerry's daughter. i have several selected as possibilities, including a Cthulhu, a flying spaghetti monster, castle crashers, and/or an earflap hat with a twist. decisions, decisions.

{*grins*}

ah ben kulturified

Today started with me in the chair having my sutures removed from my mouth. The dental hygienist was perhaps having a bad morning, as she was a tad on the abrasive side and ended up fighting with a particularly long suture so much so she actually tugged my temporary cap off. sigh. It wasn't a problem as my dentist at the other office fixed me up in a jiff. I really like him and his staff, yea Team Ferguson!!

Then because it is the Third Monday of the Month, Between the Pages met and I was all giddy. Three new readers joined in the discussion and our fledgling book group is thriving quite healthily! Today Sinclair Lewis's Main Street was our title. Next month, we are reading Dai Sijie's Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress. And we chose Kristin Hannah's True Colors for April.

My Jerry had scored some free tickets to the Chamber Orchestra Kremlin, part of the Lyceum Series at MSU, So this evening, we had excellent seats {thanks, Ron and Thelma!} to enjoy the show. The attendance was a bit lower than it perhaps could have been, in no small part due to the cold temperatures and folks not wanting to venture out in what constitued at a blizzard for all of half an hour rii'cher in Mississippi. And it is quite the shame that out of 18,600 students, so few took advantage of the free admission that they are granted.

As for the Orchestra itself, I enjoyed the evening's show. I'm not a classical or string music aficionado, so I didn't get all swept up with emotion and burst into tears of joy, passion, and exuberance. But I did enjoy the evening. I liked being able to sit with My Jerry and hold hands and let the music bring to mind cartoon characters dashing across the screen and picture tiny mice creeping along and then scurrying off in the best of Looney~Tune fashion. Somehow I don't think that was Rachlevsky's intent, but I know that there were at least a few of us giggling with mental pictures of Warner Bros. insanity.

"--Feb. 15, Chamber Orchestra Kremlin, one of Russia's critically acclaimed string ensembles, performs in concert. Formed in 1991 by conductor Misha Rachlevsky, the group has recorded more than 20 CDs, including the music of classical and contemporary composers."

and they call it, puppy love

Shaddow has always liked little dogs and would attempt to engage Jerry's lil ones in play. However, the lil dogs didn't know what to make of that. Pearl would follow Harley's lead and bristle when Shaddow would get all playful. So Shaddow had no playmates after I moved here from the farm.

However, Harley disappeared a few weeks back, and Pearl misses him almost as much as Jerry does. She's started to get much more friendly with Shaddow. They often sleep on the same couch and both climb up on the bed with us most nights. Usually tho, Pearl doesn't cuddle up to Shaddow.

Last night, I spent some time loving on Pearl and then decided to spend some time with Shaddow. Pearl horned in and so I pet them both at the same time and then when I sat back to crochet, Pearl stayed all cuddled with Shaddow. I was afraid to move, to get the camera, cuz I didn't want Pearl to jump down and follow me, which is what she usually does.

So Jerry went and got the camera and took a few shots. Here are The Girls. It seems Pearl is warming up to Shaddow now.

my sweet valentine

Usually Valentine's Day makes me uncomfortable, because I think it's pathetic that folks need to have a special day to remind them to be sweet to their loved ones. So I always try to downplay the importance that the other person might try to attach to the day, if I think that they are assuming that I expect them to be extra sweet to me on that Hallmark Holiday. However, I've also realized that sometimes that day gives the other person a chance to be extra~sweet, that they might attach extra importance to it because of their opinions and not because of what they think I might want.

Cuz it's not always about me.

My Jerry treats me like a Princess {yes, that's right, with a capital pink P} all the time. Like a few weeks back, I mentioned that I haven't been to an IHOP in awhile and was kinda wanting to go, cuz I love pancakes. So the next morning, Jerry made a big ol batch of sweet pancakes that were so delicious. Since then, every Saturday morning, Jerry gets up while I sleep in, and makes me pancakes.

I KNOW, soooOOOooo sweet, right?

And most days when I finally stumble into the kitchen, he has the tea pot all ready for me to throw the switch and let it brew. I love that! It's all those things that make me extra happy to be his missus.

I'd asked him not to spend lots of money on me, cuz I'm not too keen on that sorta stuff anyway, but also cuz earlier this week, we blew lots of money on my mouth {Monday was a very busy, painful, and expensive Dental Day~~it's a good thing I have 31 perfect teeth, and hopefully after this entire thing is over with, that will be the END, that's that}. Jerry agreed, but he'd already gotten me a cool t~shirt that he gave me as soon as he got home from work on Friday, along with a great card {that made me go, awwwwwwwwww, sniff sniff}. The t~shirt has a pic of a starlette from the thirties or forties, lounging on her fluffy bed with pink feathery robe and slippers and her blonde hair all curled up and all. The caption says: Damn, I'm good in bed; I can sleep all day!

So we started Valentine's early! This morning, I came into the breakfast nook and he'd set the table already and had brewed a pot of Irish Breakfast for me, and the hugest platter of the fluffiest pancakes evah sat in the center of the round table. Since we read to each other, he got the book and read a few chapters while I ate. Then we went back to bed, so I could snuggle and get warm again, and he continued to read to me while I cuddled with Princess Pearl {we're spoiling her even more now that her buddy Harley isn't here}. She is mostly white, with a mask of black and tan. She's a chihuahua mix that Jerry had given to his late~wife years ago. She loves to be cuddled and especially loves women to do the cuddling. I think that's mostly cuz guys don't tend to cuddle. I'm just saying.

At some point, lulled to relaxation by Jerry's reading voice and Pearl's softness tucked against me, I fell asleep. After awhile, Jerry woke me up, and we went to town to see a movie. Jerry really surprised me cuz he chose "Valentine's Day" which actually was pretty good. Afterward, we went to Applebee's and he had steak and I had pasta and it was good to be able to enjoy being together {he even let me eat all his broccoli}.

Now we are all settled in at home, with some hot beverages, in our jammies. We watched a TiVo'd comic and now he's watching the MSU game while I'm online. This weekend has been awesome.

{Quit wretching!}

I love you, my Jerry.

whine~tard

About a year or two ago I discovered that I was completely misinformed about sushi.

I'ven't become an expert since, but I have learned how much I really don't know about much of anything.

Sushi doesn't refer to raw fish as I'd thought for over thirty five years. But rather sushi is actually the vinegar rice that is somewhat sticky and easily formed. Sushi technically means "sour", and since it refers to vinegar rice, I'd say that's more than accurate.

I look at sushi for newbies {cuz I still are one} in the same way that I look at most any consumable that is an acquired taste. I advise you to go to where it is consumed fairly rapidly so that it is as freshly made as can be. This principle can be applies across the board.

No one should order anchovies at a pizza place that has to dig deep into the stores to find that last lonely rusted can that was ordered by mistake and forgotten about. If you want to try anchovies, go someplace that uses them often and regularly so that you can have a decent experience rather than base your first and lasting impressions on inferior product. The same is true of sushi.

Good sushi is firm, fresh, and should look, taste, and smell pleasing. It should have excellent mouth feel and is meant to be enjoyed, not gulped in a grimacing effort as if to say, "there, i've tried it" in response to an ill~advised dare. It isn't for everyone, and that's alright.

Sushi is generally rolled with or topped with meats {fish eel, squid, shrimp, crab, tuna, etc}, cream cheese, eggs, sauces, seeds, wasabi, and veggies. If rolled, you may see pressed sheets of seaweed lending some structure and taste. The veggies range from slivers of carrot, zucchini, avocado, radish, scallions, cucumber to bean sprouts, baby corn, peas, and other crunchies.

I've not yet ventured to make sushi myself. But as with wine, I do not need to know much to appreciate and enjoy it. Neither do I need to be able to prepare something here at home to learn more about understanding it. Altho that helps.

My family, primarily my mother and brother, make wine. The wine they have been making these past few years have been light and fruity: plum, pear, muscadine, blueberry, blackberry, and strawberry all either grow on their property or locally available. The kiwi/strawberry, chocolate raspberry, citrus/mango, and a few other types are made using syrups, concentrates, and other additives {yea, hershey's!}. Some of the base to the wines might be readily available juices such as white grape, apple, etc. The point is, they are having fun with experimenting and finding those favorites {plum} and not so greats {peach, 'twas the pits people}.

In the meantime, I've been having a grand time trying and enjoying various tastes and treats too. I'm not a connoisseur, by any means. But I've learned to relax and not feel the need to know about the entire process from growing, to pressing, to fermenting in order to enjoy what it is.

I'm trying to keep that in mind and apply that toward other areas of my life. It's ok to want to know, or to research and learn what I can, yes. But it's also ok to be a techno~tard and not get all the science behind the gadgetry in order to use it. And it certainly is ok to enjoy the eats and not need to know how to whip it up myself.

Altho sometimes, I'm just geeky that way. And ya love me, ya know ya do. *wink*

the lil'est lil bit

Ugh.

Monday I visited the periodontist who implanted a screwed post into my upper jaw and then stitched it up nice and tight.

Then a few hours later, I visited my dentist who affixed a temporary abutment and crowned it.

I have strict instructions that the temporary stuff is for looks only til the jaw bone heals properly to support the use of permanent fixtures. So no biting and chewing and all that other good stuff that would either break off the temporary or dislodge the screw or both.

My face felt fine until the drugs started to wear off and then it felt just a bit tingly as the nerves began to waken. And then, the jangling started and then there was a star~burst of swollen pain that settled into my face after first radiating out of the top of my head and serving as a beacon for the Longview and Bradley communities.

All that I can deal with just fine. FINE!! dammit i said just fine.

But there is this tiniest portion of suture that is poking me in the tongue. It's not long enough to thread thru to the front with all the other stitch remnants. I can't cut it because then the stitch will unravel and I need it for another few days at least, reconstructive gumwork, doncha know.

So I can deal with the all the swollen gums, the aching jaw, the sinus pressure, and the throbbing. I can deal with all that suture knotted up and making a mess of my smile as the tangled ends stick out every which way when I talk so that it feels like I have a mouth full of embroidery floss. I can deal with all that. But that lil eighth to a quarter of an inch slender stitch is poking the shit outta me.

Proof that it really is the lil things that can rub ya the wrong way.

belly up!

A few years ago, a dear friend here in Starkville was telling me about a belly~dancing class she was taking at the Wellness Connection Center {which is affiliated with our local hospital, so the staff there are absolutely incredible, but that's another entry}. I was super surprised because my dear friend is very shy about her body and will do absolutely everything to deflect attention from her form. But as I listened to what she had to say, I realized that I really did not know all that much about belly dancing.

So I googled it. Cuz that's what I do, google things and wiki them, cuz the internetz would never steer me wrong, right? Right?!?

And I found this wonderful site: Shira. Then this and that and the other thing and before long I'd forgotten all about belly~dancing cuz that tends to happen as life rolls on, I forget things. That's one of the reasons I would mark sites with StumbleUpon and Delicious, but then it got to where I was forgetting to do that too, and also to look at them {and that too is another entry's material}. Then certain things trigger other things and I go, "oh yeah! i thought about that before" and then it all comes back {or most of it. I think. I hope.}.

Fast forward to last spring, at the MoonDance Fest over in Georgia where there was a group of folks who taught a few sessions of belly~dancing. Neither Jerry nor I went, because we both were attending other sessions at the times those were offered. But we did have a chance to see the belly~dancers in all their glory during the fire~side drumming every night.

That particular group of individuals was fairly diverse for such a small gathering. There were both male and female, some slender and some a bit more athletic in form. But the ones that really captured my attention were the heavier females who seemed to feel so very comfortable with their bodies. They found the flow of movements to match their own core as well as the beat. Some dancers embodied very slow measured movements that were very precise. Some used their limbs moreso, some focused on their hips to exclusion, some were solemn, and some were so very effusive that to just watch them seemed to draw me in and cheer them along.

Later, I visited some friends in B'ham, and I took them to an Indian restaurant, where there were belly~dancers. The small group of five women danced thru the crowd up to the stage where they used scarves, swords, sticks, and other props. There too was a nice representation of various body types, ranging from slender, to athletic, on to heavy. Also, there was a range of ages present, a young woman just into her twenties, an older woman who later I found out was in her late seventies {I estimated fifties}, with the other three appearing to be in their late thirties or early forties {tho I may have been wrong on that too}.

Then over the Holidays, I visited with my folks and a young lady they are friends with had recently learned some belly~dancing. With some prompting from her husband and encouragement from my folks, she talked about it, and then warmed up and chatted some with me with a bit of enthusiasm. To start with, she was afraid it wasn't gonna be for her, altho a friend of hers had been taking classes for over a year. But she attended a few, and then learned that many of her preconceived notions were not entirely correct.

In fact, I just received the DVD taken of a show that she had been in back in November. The town is smaller and a bit more conservative than Starkville, so we aren't speaking about a liberal left audience of tolerance and acceptance here. We're speaking of a group of supportive folks who cheered on their loved ones and neighbors, seven women of various skill level, who preferred various forms of belly~dancing, and realistic body types {five of the seven appeared to be over the ideal weight range}.

The show had been in the local school's auditorium and featured a range of performances that included story~lines, solos, entire group, pop music, more traditional Indian meditations, a wide range of costumes and props, and styles of dance. It was about an hour and a half long and a pleasure to watch. It was great to see that two or three of the women started off a routine a bit shy and self~cautious become more comfortable with and self~assured as they felt the music and the flow of movements in a more conscious display of confidence and joy.

I used to love to dance. In fact, that was the attraction of turning 21, not the drinking, but being able to visit bars where the dancing was. In my small town, there was no other place to dance besides your living room or a bar.

I continued to dance thru~out my twenties into my early thirties. Then I petered out. In fact, at my own wedding, my stamina was so poor, that I got winded after two songs. That was pathetic!

In the past year, I've gained close to forty pounds. And with each pound, I've noticed myself becoming more still, less active, more withdrawn in some ways. And I realized as I was watching the DVD earlier that I wouldn't allow myself to move, even with the catchier tunes, because I was being self~cautious and aware that I was chiding myself that I would be foolish.

Well, shit on that. Foolish in whose eyes, exactly? Isn't it foolish that I continue to gain weight and feel more unattractive and dowdy and not allow my own husband enjoy me? Isn't it more foolish that I'm denying myself the very things that would help me to lose weight and to feel more attractive and comfortable with myself and my own body? Movement!

So I'm gonna see if some movement wouldn't help me to feel more energetic, less worn out, and see where it takes me. I miss the more fun part of me, that loved to move and dance and breathe and be present and alive. Let's see if I can't find and coax my self out of hiding beneath layers and layers of fat and shame.

Cuz I don't need to wait til I'm slender to move.

lil red {again}

A few months back I began the Lil Red Project {as I am now thinking of it, in caps and large and red, of course}. My Jerry's daughter had asked if I could make a lil red riding hood and cape for her daughter, who is now five. I said, "sure!" with tons of enthusiasm and a really can~do spirit.

I set off right away, tho she didn't know that {she didn't mean for me to get right to it and make it so; she was gonna get the yarn that she wanted from a really cool yarn store near where she lives}; but I was itching to see what I could do. The actual hood was something I just tinkered with til I thought it would do. Oh~no following patterns for this here can~do spirit {huge roll of the eyes here}!

I actually used my Jerry as the model. And no pictures of that exist. Sorry, my faithful readers. You'll just have to use your imagination.

What? you ask, a grown man models a five year old girl's hood? What were you thinking, you crazy zany girl, you?

Well, the child is larger than your average five year old. And I wanted it to be something she could continue to wear for more than just one season. And her mom thought that knee length would be nice.

Knee length on this five year old would approximate crotch length on my Jerry, since the girl is about four foot tall {i KNOW, i did type that right, five year old girl, at four foot tall...sometimes folks see her size and forget her age...but that happens to me, too~~nodding solemnly}. So I set to work on the gawdamn cape, sigh.

The gawdamn cape, sigh is turning out to be a rather larger and more involving project than I originally thought. To start with, I wanted a nice dense stitch so that the cape would keep the girl warm. So I did the front left panel entirely in single stitch and slip stitch.

Then wisdom prevailed in the form of logic {delayed, yes, but still valuable}, the cape would be tremendously heavy if I did the entire thing in those stitches. The poor child would not be able to walk, let alone go skipping off to grandma's, swinging a basket full of bread and treats.

So I switched to a different stitch {a treble treble}, which does move lots faster and tah~DAH! I am almost finished with the gawdamn cape, sigh part of things. It's still tremendously heavy but I think you are going to have that no matter what...unless it's of fleece, or made of the emperor's new clothes stuff.

Today, I will begin to connect the cape to the hood. The hood actually descends down over the shoulders, so it's like a mini~cape of sorts by itself. After that is done, I'll add some kick~ass buttons to the cape so it can be closed along the front of the lil girl.

Then I'll pack it with a few other things, including a centerpiece from the wedding, and send it across country to my Jerry's daughter and her family. And you just may see some pix of the completed project being modeled by...gasp, could I persuade my Jerry?

*wink*

pretty bread

Today was the perfect day to bake bread and eat venison steaks roasted with carrots and potatoes. Not only did the oven warm us up, the house filled with the warm yeasty smell of lovely bread. And it was the best batch I've made in a loooooooooooooong time. It's so pretty, I wanted to take pictures but then I remembered that you cannot taste it. We don't have that technology yet. Or maybe we do, but I'm a techno~tard.

So scratch the screen and sniff this {bread}.

sherry for the cook

I was just thinking about making supper tonight. I don't have great confidence in my abilities to cook meals that other people will eat. I'm a stellar baker, have been since I was seven or so. However, I like weird shit {see last entry} which means that when I cook, I make what I think would be tasty to me. Which means that most other folks are left with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Not eating what I cook doesn't hurt my feelings. Baking is a different story...

So My Jerry does most of the cooking. The lion's share, which is all of it. He does treat me like I'm a princess. Stop puking!!

So I made a joke about my cooking tonight in IM. Cuz when I cook, I tend to act as tho I have a cooking show and an audience skeptically curiously attuned like they are watching a one~woman train wreck. And somewhere in the process I am going to attempt a very bad Julia Child impression and swig some sherry for the cook.

Actually, it's not sherry, it's just that's what I always say, cuz I love that about her. I've actually only had sherry once. And it was a huge, Huge, HUGE disappointment {sigh}. Some how I'd gotten this impression that sherry would be like a thick syrupy, creamy, cherry dessert wine that I would just love, Love, LOVE. And no. It wasn't like that at all.

Years back, like fifteen to twenty, my college roommate's family hosted an oysters dinner one night and her father always drinks milk with his meal. Now, her mother pointed out they had no milk and asked what he wanted instead. He asked for iced tea {we were in PA, if it were here in the South, it would have been swe'tea} and that's what she poured him.

At some point during the meal, he'd taken a long draught of his drink, thinking it was milk {forgetting he'd asked for tea} and ended up spewing the entire table. The tea was fine. It's just that his mind and mouth were prepared for thick creamy milk and got something else instead.

That's sort of what my experience with sherry was like. I was at an arts and crafts festival on Cedar Key and dodged into a grocery store and saw a bottle of sherry and bought it thinking, oh at last! And for all I know it could have been for cooking, and cheap ass~shit for all that, but it most certainly was not thick, creamy, nor cherry~like in anyway.

sigh.

But I still love the line "...and a lil sherry for the cook" crowed in a somewhat clogged voice.

chocolate, coffee, and tea, wtf?!?

Lately, well ok, for close to an entire month...i've been feeling drained, tired, and downright lazy. i get these bursts of energy, almost frantic, and then i collapse back into being a lazy slut, having a hot and heavy affair with my bed. so i'm abnormally proud of the things i actually do, like proofreading my friend's dissertation proposal.

The gist of her proposal is focused on the effect of maternal caffeine consumption on fetus limb deformities. She is considering the most common forms of caffeine like that found in soda, coffee, tea, and chocolate. Even the less recognized form of caffeine is considered: that found in medications, both prescribtion and over the counter.

So I got to thinking, the other day, when I was mixing up a wackodoo drink cuz that's what I do, mix up and drink wackodoo drinks...so I got to thinking, hmmm, I like coffee and chocolate {mocha} and I like chocolate and tea {stash makes a fantastic chocolate hazlenut tea that will make your mouth oh so happy and your brain even happier, especially if you use some cream, sigh....slllllllllluT} but what about chocolate, coffee, and tea? And cuz I love weird~shit, I just knew that I would love that combination too.

And I do. My Jerry mixes up an instant decaf every morning for himself to drink while he eats his grits with hot pepper sauce and ground black pepper. So I tossed some of that into the can of instant hot chocolate mix I have, added some powdered creamer, and shook that can up but good.

The next time I had a hot pot of tea, I added the choco~coffee~creamer mix to the mug and then poured in the hot tea and mixed it good and drank it off and then made some more. Then I had the odd thought that I don't think I could go the soda route right off. I'll have to work up to it, cuz even my weird cheese~kiss loving ass has doubts about carbonated ChocCofTea.

Try it, ya might like it!

Harley

Yesterday morning, I let the dogs out. Then in a very short while, Pearl started her truncated tri~yip and so I let her back in. At that time, I saw Shaddow running around but didn't see Harley. I didn't worry about it. Then. Cuz the weather was fine and he had some exploring to do, I thought. So I shut the door.

A few hours later, I called for Shaddow and Harley again. Shaddow was lying in the sun out on the concrete apron by the drive. She heaved a sigh and stretched and so I left her continue her sun~bathing.

But I didn't see Harley. Which was odd, cuz he usually doesn't stay out for hours on end like that without at least jumping against the storm door once in awhile. But I didn't worry. Then.

When Jerry got home, I told him that Harley wasn't around. Usually when the dogs hear Jerry's whump~whump~whump of his bike pulling into the drive, they get all excited and go with me to meet him. Harley didn't meet us out there.

Jerry looked all over the place. We can't find him. He just turned seven last week. He's a whippet~chihuahua blend, about twelve and a half pounds. He's got very thin hair, and perky bat~ears. That's him last April with Pearl, they curl up and lick each others ears and mouth each other and such often.

Harley's Jerry's buddy. When Jerry stretches out in the recliner, Harley stretches out with him. Pearl and I miss him, but Jerry is really at a loss. So if anyone sees him, please let me know, k?

bribing the tooth~fairy

Preface: This is a long drawn out entry, cuz I wrote it that way. Sometimes stating the obvious solidifies thoughts. I write to think, I'm self~indulgent that way.

~~~~~

When I was thirteen, I had a horrendous sinus infection. I actually had many sinus infections as a child and into early adulthood. I've had some hellacious ones since, but not nearly as frequent; so that makes me happy.

But the Horrendous Sinus Infection I had at age thirteen is noteworthy for this telling. Why? What could a sinus infection possibly have to do with tooth~fairies? Well, as I am sure almost anyone who's experienced sinus difficulties can attest, my face hurt. My entire face hurt. Especially on the right side, where my lower right sinus cavity was placing quite a bit of pressure unto my upper right jaw, especially in the front.

I know this now.

But at the time, I trusted the Dentist from Hell {pictured over there <------} who assured me that I was in dire need of a root canal because my tooth had abscessed. The tooth is question is a very little one, just to the side of my larger front teeth, which those in the dental professions call "#7". Its twin, on the other side of my two front teeth, is very little, as in I've~seen~corn~kernels~bigger~than~this~tooth little.

In this case, size truly does matter. Why? Well cuz when Dr. Hell got done drilling and posting, I had almost no tooth left. Just a large white plastic core of a post with the thinnest tooth~shell ever.

And because Dr Hell had actually sliced open my gum, to the jaw bone and up to my nose, and then REMOVED part of my soft tissues, my gum~line never quite came down from the extreme recession it was forced into. I had a beautiful smile, with one slightly grey spot with a rather large white area above it. The grey was the enamel from my tooth that had been killed, and the large white area was the plastic post. It's telling that the post area was twice the size of the tooth.

sigh.

I had a cavity at age seventeen and another filling at age twenty~one. I'm not sure if either was legitimately needed, but I do know that the root~canal was not necessary as a different doctor actually had to scrape my sinus cavity clean of abscessed infection and that pocket was what was resting on my jaw, pushing down onto the root of my tooth, which was in good condition. My doc was stumped about the whole root~canal deal.

Dr Hell? Arrested later for dealing outta his scuzzy office. Henceforth, he became known as Dr Dealer Dentist in most newspapers throughout that area of Pennsylvania. Oh yeah. And ya wonder why I have so lil faith in certain professions.

Fast forward to age thirty and to Alabama, when and where I have DENTAL INSURANCE for the first time evah!! This is when I met the Mickey Mouse of Dentistry, Dr Duhd. He wanted to pull all my perfectly good top teeth and give me a top plate of false teeth because, he said, they would look so much better.

I wasn't thinking.

Fortunately, I did not go that route. But I did ask him to put a cap on the above mentioned tooth/post {#7}. He reluctantly agreed.

Yea, me, right? Wrong. sigh.

He ground away the rest of what lil of the lil tooth remained. And then capped the actual plastic post which had replaced of the core of my tooth for about seventeen years. So not its job. This is not the purpose of plastic posts of this nature. Do ya see what I'm saying?

I can only assume that he was still stuck on the teeth~all~the~same~size train of thought, because the cap he put on was as big as my two front teeth. Years later I was to learn that as a result of him cramming a chicklet sized tooth in that space, the line of teeth on the right side of my jaw buckled from the constant pressure.

sigh.

Then, eight years and one state later, I was sitting in my place on the farm here in Mississippi, talking to myself and my capped post *snap*ped off at the gumline. The reason I was talking with myself was because up to that point, I was having an intellegent conversation.

The capped post snapped off at the gumline, as I said, and there was no pain and no blood. Just lots of shock and then panic set in. Cuz dude, this is right in the front of my mouth and I had no dental insurance. Sigh.

So the next day, I visited a local sympathetic dentist who agreed that all my other 31 {all four of my wisdom teeth came in at the same time, when I was seventeen} teeth were in perfect condition and it would be stupid for me to have the two teeth on either side of the gap ground down so that a bridge could be fit into that space.

So he fit me for a partial, which in this case was a full upper plate that reached into the soft palate, and only had one tooth. The good news is this guy worked with me and explained stuff to me and respected me. The bad news is that I gagged when his assistant was casting the mold and when she removed the shelf she jiggled and so my plate never fit right. I know because a month later, I was talking with my then fiance {now, husband} and the plate started to fall out of my mouth, but didn't because the tooth snapped off the plate.

sigh

So I went back to his office to see if he could fix it, it being in only two pieces. His entire office was at a dental conference but the intern who was there to pick up the mail and water the plants recommended that I go to another office to have the plate repaired. She felt that waiting a week with a gap in the front of my mouth might be too long. I agreed, thanked her, and found another dentist in town who did in~office repairs instead of sending it out like most other places.

That dentist is in the process of retiring and the dentist taking over his practice and I met this month. For the last year, I had worn the ill fitting plate cuz I didn't really have too many other options at that point. Then just before Christmas, my plate shattered.

sigh

I went thru the Holidays and a visit with my folks with a large gap off center of my mouth. So just tight~lipped smiles. My husband's daughter's mother~in~law reassured me that my parents loved me the first time I was toothless. And she was right {and a very cool lady to boot!}. Boy did we get lots of mileage outta the whole situation.

sigh

SO earlier this month, I went to see my current dentist and explained the situation to him and to his wonderfully supportive staff {hi, guys!}. His dental hygienist/assistant was impressed with the condition of my teeth, my gums, tongue, cheeks, and sense of humor as well as my incredible sense of humble modesty {wink}. So we came up with a plan and made the first steps in that direction and man, do I feel lots better.

This next week, I'm going to see a periodontist {a Master of Dental Surgery~~that's said in a very serious, deep toned voice} to get started with whole implant procedure. A screw type post of surgical steel or titanium is placed into the jaw, this is the initial implant. Then my bone must heal and that takes three to four months. Then an abutment {a small piece that screws into the post at the gum line} is capped so that I can then smile pretty, bite and chew properly, and not feel so self~conscious. Once that work is done, the actual action of my biting, chewing, talking, etc, will help the bone to build and will keep the jaw from deteriorating form lack of use in that area.

Yea!!! So, perhaps this will have a happy ending. And I like happy endings. Especially when it involves fairies!! {wink}

By the way: every single visit I have ever made to a dentist has been listed here. So I've actually been pretty fortunate in that thirty one of my teeth are in perfect condition, even tho the cleaning I had a few weeks ago was the first one I'd had in a dentist's office in ten years.

brazen raisin

Well, last night I got to thinking about my hair and decided to go with a different color even tho I just colored it the other day. The brassiness wasn't fading and if anything, it was getting brighter and brighter and brighter still.

So I'd talked with my Jerry and we decided that perhaps I'd look better with a reddish hue instead of being so brightly blonde that the strawberry looked more peachy.

This morning after he made me incredible pancakes {cuz he treats me like I'm a princess} and before his youngest grandson came over, we drove to town to peruse hair~colors.


And this is what he picked and it looks pretty stunning.

In a good way.

I like it and think I'll keep it this way. Tho I will need to dye it again, soon, cuz they only had one kit and it wasn't enough to cover and saturate all my hair. So I'll keep my eye open for multiple boxes in the desired color.


Which is a radiant burgundy, or a brazen raisin.

water in the pipes!

Well, my Jerry took the day off work so that he could assess the plumbing situation and, if possible, fix it. He did! When I got home from my appointment this morning, there was running water in all the right places and none in the wrong. Well, with the exception of our washer~drain. There is water frozen in the pipes under the ground so doing our laundry has not been an option for the past week. Which is ok, cuz we have clothes and don't need to launder as much as we do. We just don't like to let things pile up, neither laundry nor dishes. Tho we all know, I'll let dustbunnies, furrballs, and other unmentionables gather along the edges of my floors and accumulate under the furniture. I hate that scuz, but even more so, I hate cleaning floors. I'll do all kinds of other grody stuff, but floors...shudder...I have to steel myself and make myself actually pick up a broom and sweep the damn floors. Yet when I do scrub them, I get down on my hands and knees and use a toothbrush to get into all the details and use tons of fresh water. I should probably wax them afterwards cuz that would make keeping them clean easier. Anyway, back to where we started...water!

Yea, Jerry, you the man!

imma fruit

Well, my Jerry and I decided that my hair's color is more of a bright peach. Jerry says sorta more like a bronze peach.

How did we arrive at this?

Why, with a box of Crayolas, of course!

Just peachy. Which makes sense, given that I used a light blonde and a strawberry blonde. Peaches usually have shades of yellows, golds, reds, and oranges. MMMmmmm, juicy, delicious.

water, water everywhere and not a drop to spare

This picture doesn't do justice to the...brightness of my hair.

Yeah, so this morning I got up and thought, oh hey, it's a tad warmer so maybe I'll go on and dye my hair today. When I was younger and had longer hair, I would use two boxes blonde and one strawberry blonde and my hair would be a pretty honey sort of shade. So this time, I thought that since my hair is shorter, but still thick, I'd use only one box blonde and one box strawberry blonde. So after I scrubbed out the microwave {that's important to note, why? because that's how I know that we had water, with normal good pressure}. Perhaps you see where this is going.

So this afternoon, I mix up the dye, put it on my hair, sculpt my hair into a sort of weird swirly style atop my head, and carefully sit down to wait. Now, I don't usually wear my glasses while dying my hair because the frames are metal and that's not usually a good combination. And I am rather blind without my specs. I can see shapes and all, usually shades, but not details. In other words, I can see someone but not their smile/frown/crossed~eyes unless I am right up on them. So watching TV was not an option, but since I don't usually do that during the day, that was fine. Til I figured out that reading was not a good idea either. So I found some stand~up routines on the comedy channel, but turns out most of those are visual too...

So at the appointed time, I rush into the bathroom, so I can jump in the shower. And there is no water pressure. So, I come out to the kitchen, and uhm, nope. So then I think, dude, I hope we don't have a broken pipe, cuz that would so suck on a whole buncha levels.

SO I call Jerry at work and ask if the water company is having problems cuz that'd be the better of the two options {really didn't want there to be a busted pipe somewhere here at the house}. So he calls around and no one is answering the phones at the water company. So he calls me back and says that he just doesn't know what's what.

I tell him, "don't worry honey. The worst that can happen has already happened" and he sighs, "yeah, especially if it's a burst pipe." I snickered and admitted that I was being selfish and that what I meant was that if my hair was turning green or orange or pink, that it would have done so already and that hair grows,so not to worry overly much. He chuckled and I told him that I can't drive anywhere without my glasses and I'd just see him when he got home from work.

So I kept checking the pressure. And the time. And finally when he got home, we both grabbed some clean clothes and went elsewhere to shower and I rinsed the dye out of my hair after it having been in there for {wait for it} three hours.

I was surprised to see that my hair was not horrendous. It's just very...bright. Think the lightest strawberry blonde that you've ever seen and then make it even more blonde and then make it even more...bright. The shocking thing is that I like it this way. The pic doesn't do it justice.

So we thought while we were out, we'd get replacement hose for the washing machine because the old hose has far outlived its life and we have a leak in the laundry room. When we got home, I got out of the car, and heard this rushing sound. Not a soft lil trickle. Not a musical gurgle. This was full on open gushing rush of waterfalls pouring and pounding. And so now Jerry is taking tomorrow off to try to find the water leak, the outside hose pipe is busted for sure, and we now have no running water in the house as he turned it off at the road.

sigh.

We can't let the water drip from any of the indoor faucets tonight and it's supposed to freeze and so we are hoping against all reason that there won't be any worse messes and more broken pipes due to tonight's necessity of cutting the water off. Damned if ya do. Damned if ya don't.

imma claxton fruitcake

ok, i know we've all heard the thousand or so jokes about regifting fruitcake, about how fruitcake lasts forever, about how horrible it is, about how you could use it as a brick for propping your door open in the summer, etc. but here's the thing...i love Love LOVE claxton fruitcake. {that was a hint to go visit the website, subtle, eh?} in fact, i should be receiving a small royalty, as their PR person. cuz everytime, everywhere i have ever bought their cake, i brag and exalt the wonder of the claxton fruitcake. {ahem, *hint*hint*} why, just today, when i went to have a prescription refilled {perhaps there is a correlation, but i doubt it, i loved claxton fruitcake {*AHEM*} well before i began to take the meds...or perhaps that is just more support for the correlation, cuz dude, we all know i shoulda been on meds at that time, when i lived in georgia...ANNNnnnyway...} and while i was wondering around the drugstore, waiting for my drugs, i came across an entire display of claxton fruitcake. {*ahem*} the heavens opened, god's rays shone on those shelves {or it coulda been the sun glancing off the myriad of icicles hanging off the eaves...after all, it is literally freezing, as in 12 degrees...ANNNyyyway}, and all the candied fruit glowed like stained glass windows and i inhaled {causing the angels' chorus in my ears to gasp too} and took two lil cake/loaves up to the counter right away and began my bragging immediately. i told the cashier and the pharmacist and the other customer {who was edging away from me} that claxton fruitcake {*ahhhhh*} made in claxton, georgia is The Best. And this is what I said, twice:

If you hate fruitcake, or hesitate to try it cuz you've bought into all the stereotypes, try this {waving it in the air}; cuz it will change your life {i really meant to say mind}.

Claxton Fruit Cake {check it, ya know ya wanna}

baby~cakes!

Happy Birthday to my Jerry's oldest boy's baby boy! Today he is one year old. He's currently the youngest grandbaby, but not for long...

My Jerry's youngest's youngest is due at the end of May and she'll help even up the number of girls to boys amongst the grandchildren.


Happy birthdays for everyone concerned!

back to the grind

Today, I opted to burrow under the covers and read for the majority of the day. Then I got up, took a shower, put on some fresh clean jammies and swaddled my feet in two pairs of socks, and here I sit with my mug of hot peach tea that my Jerry made for me {cuz he treats me like I'm a princess}.

Our first week of the New Year promises to be a bit on the chilly side, with lows in the teens and highs just above freezing. I know your northern folk think we whine to excess when it gets a bit nippy, but that is cold no matter where you are! We're letting our faucets drip so the pipes don't freeze, so it sounds like a musical waterflow that you find in the Zen shops in here.

Supposedly, we might get a dusting of snow late Wednesday night or early Thursday morning or evening. Sometimes, we watch the flakes falling, but the ground temps melt it so it doesn't stick but maybe once a year and even then it's for a short time before the sun melts it off. But this time, I think it may stick and stay for a lil bit longer than usual. That'd be cool for the kids, but not so for the parents who just had the kids home for two weeks or so.

Today was my Jerry's first day back to work and his desk is buried under piles of paperwork, requests, assignments, pleas of assistance, and other stuff that accumulated during the break and that most folks want done RIGHT NOW cuz it's the start of a new term at the university. So he wasn't too happy about it all, but he's got a really good attitude and knows that he can do it. Cuz he's the man. *nodding sagely*

nnnnnnnnnnesting

Wow, here it is, day four already! I feel like hibernating. Actually, I have been doing a fair amount of that lately. New Year's Day dawned with Jerry not feeling too keen and his grandson wasn't feeling so hot either. I'd talked with my mom later that day and she said that there has been a stomach virus going around out there, so maybe that was it. My Jerry's feeling much better, but his grandson isn't yet.

Hopefully that will change in just a bit. Wednesday he turns ONE YEAR OLD!! Yea!! I know everyone is biased toward the lil ones in their lives, but he really is very cute. Really. And he knows it too!

This past week, my Jerry and his oldest son along with his son had their pictures done so that we have three generations of the Wolf men for the grandson's first birthday. Aw, super sweet, right? Yup, I think so too!

Jerry's youngest son and his wife were visiting with us for a few days. His son spent lots of time hunting and did get a deer, a nice buck. His wife and I treated ourselves to a lil pampering on Saturday and had lunch and got pedi's and manicures. It's been about ten years since I had artificial nails and so it's been a bit of a trick to get used to these. I didn't get them very long, but compared to how short I usually keep them, they seem super glamorous. And what with having my hair cut last week, I feel positively decadently spoiled.

Well, I am anyway. Sigh. It was nice seeing everyone these past few weeks, but I'm so ready to spend some time with just my Jerry, settling into a routine. Perhaps I will get to do some cleaning, and unpacking {from my move here after the wedding}, and setting things to rights.

I haven't hung any pictures back up, nor put the items we set aside for safe~keeping out for display. And I've been feeling like I really ought to get into that. So, that's the big thing on my agenda for the next few months.

I say "next few months" because I'm aware that I need some time to just rest up and all. I've been feeling a bit worn down and in need of some serious nappage and jammie~time. Fortunately, I can do that. Cuz I'm good at that.

Practice makes perfect.

*wink*

well, hello there!

Earlier in the autumn of the year, Jerry and I decided to spend Christmas with my folks in Arkansas. So after his eldest daughter's cantata, we headed out. I'd had a slight dental mishap earlier in the evening, and shattered my partial. Ugh. So I felt a bit self~conscious as the missing tooth is an incisor, right in the front of my smile. But as Jerry's eldest daughter's mother~in~law pointed out, "your parents loved you the first time you were toothless" and ya just can't argue with logic like that!

This was my first Christmas as a married woman. wow. I had to sit and let that soak in for a minute. as a married woman. wow.

It was about this time last year that I met Jerry, his family, his friends, and his co~workers. And this year has been extremely eventful. I'm not gonna recap here, the entire year, just this past week or so, since the last time I blogged.

Since I've not seen my folks since the wedding, Jerry and I gave them their "thank~you" gifts upon our arrival. They were tokens of appreciation. Mom makes wine, so we had an assortment of bottle~stoppers and corks. Plus, I'd made a buncha wine~bottle bags. And we took some of the muscadine wine from Mississippi's only winery. And some drink~wear...coasters in the shape of flip~flops that attach to your wine~glass base.

The following day, Jerry, my mother, my brother, and I drove up to Fort Smith {an hour and a half away} to Snoopers, a used book~store that we'd heard about. We thought that instead of buying them lots of titles on our own and taking the chance that those weren't what they were wanting or that they'd already read/owned them; well, it just made more sense to let them choose what they wanted and then get them for them.

And we had lunch at a Chinese buffet while we were there. Then, the next day, Jerry went with Dad up to Fayetteville {about three hours} for my dad's eye~appt. They bought some seafood {lobster~tails, scallops, crab, shrimp, oysters} for Christmas eve and Christmas day dinner.

Plus, there were evenings of yahtzee, and days of audio~books, and meeting a few friends of my folks. And there was a light dusting of snow, phone calls to family and friends, and a few short jaunts to town with my mom. All in all, a wonderful visit.

My folks and I have some traditions and one of them is how we do Christmas morning. Most everyone that spends the morning with us once, then returns over the years to experience it again...it's more meaningful and more relaxing than most. We take our time. There is no rush and no frantic tearing into gifts and then it's all over in ten minutes. We enjoy the process.

This year, I played elf and distributed the gifts. This year, my mom did not get out all her decorations {I didn't either, but that's cuz I abhor coming home from away after Christmas and taking all the decorations down and packing them away}, just a simple few touches in the living room. She'd covered a small table with a red cloth and placed her picket~fence with a snowman atop it and then the gifts were all piled around the table on the floor and table~top.

In my family, gift~giving has always been about practical stuff you'd use. Yes, it's stuff that you'd like {that's the fun} but almost always stuff you'd need or use. Growing up, it was almost always the time I'd get my boots {if this was the year I'd get them}, a pair of jeans, some socks/underwear, perhaps a sweater, and always a few books.

My mom always Always ALWAYS gives me a small pocket calender. It's another tradition that we share. Right up there with cookie~baking.

So after a breakfast of french toast and eggs, I with my MSU stocking cap on handed first one gift then another around. Everyone had their coffee {tea for me} and we all watched while a person unwrapped a gift. They usually guessed what it might be beforehand and sometimes were dead~on and sometimes were dead~wrong. There were some gifts that caused surprise and some that were funny and almost always there is a duplicate or two {this year it was Jerry's christmas light sleep pants~~both mom and i got him a pair}. Some gifts get passed around, like Jerry's eldest son's gift to me {my mother insisted that she should keep the pottery piece out of harm's way, cuz I'm a klutz, and altho I thanked her for her thoughtfulness, I did bring it home with me, where it now sits on the dining room table. it was one of the two pieces that he had displayed and won the state's award for}.

After we were done with the gift exchange, Jerry told me that he liked doing things this way and that it makes it seem more appreciated. I agreed. But then this is the way I've done gift~giving since I was a child and cannot imagine not wanting to enjoy the other's excitement and enjoyment any other way moreso.

Altho we enjoyed our time there, it was time for us to come home. On the way, we stopped to eat a late lunch and saw a CNN clip focused on Starkville {there'd been a fire in an apartment and killed three young woman and six small children}. By the time we'd reached home, there had been a few folks calling from away about it {concerned about the location and the individuals involved}.

In other news, Jerry's sons and their wives are coming in tomorrow to ring in the new year with us. Jerry is roasting his turkey and making the traditional coleslaw, cornbread, and black~eyed peas. He enjoys my traditional pork and sauerkraut but I elected not to do that this time as it may be better to wait til it's just the two of us {I've no idea if anyone other than the two of us enjoy pork and sauerkraut}, and just do this area's traditional meal. Altho we decided to go with his turkey instead of the ham.

I baked cookies for Jerry. I had told him that the next time I baked cookies from scratch, I would bake him some sugar~free ones. No, he is not diabetic, but since he has had gastric bypass surgery, he processes heavily sugared foods and drinks {including alcohols} differently and the effect of sugar~bombs can make him faint &/or vomit...not pretty to witness and not pretty to experience.

So I baked a cream~cheese cookie for him that I adapted to sugar~free. The cookies are extremely light and tasty with pecans and walnuts. Very moist. I've a feeling they won't last for long!

And perhaps tomorrow, I'll bake some bread.

So all y'all have a happy new year! be safe and stay warm and dry...it's always better to start the new year healthy and happy!

Bab's dog, he poops.

This afternoon, Jerry's eldest daughter and her family came over to exchange presents because none of us are going to be here over Christmas. The kids tore into their mountain of wrapped stuff and of all the toys, the one that preoccupied us all the most was Barbie and her pooping dog, Tanner. Jerry swears he didn't realize the dog pooped, but I tell ya, that was the entire theme of this particular Barbie set up.

So there we were, four adults and two kids, fascinated with the pooping dog. There is so much to say, where to start? The poop is magnetic, so when it's not being played with, it can hang out on the fridge.

It comes with a pooper~scooper. Barbie scoops up the poop, deposits it into the trash~can. The back part of the trash~can is actually a detachable treat~box. So then you can sprinkle a few treats into Tanner's food~bowl. Feed Tanner. Let him/her poop. And then start the whole deliciously delightful process all over again!

Cuz the poop truly comes first.

I'm not exactly sure how you get the dog to eat, but I did see it has hinged jaws and I think you either open its mouth with your finger and force~feed it. Or its ears wriggle and I think when you stroke its ears, the mouth opens. Either way, it seems pretty accurate, cuz dude, when I've tried to give my dog a lil pellet of sorts, it requires my pushing the pill half~way down her throat and then holding her mouth shut til she swallows.

But I do know how to get Barbie's dog to poop. And that's the fun part anyway. You push its tail down and when it pops up, the poop falls out its butt.

Then ya do it all over again!

How fun is that?!?

Santa's Ride

There's been so much going on lately that I'm requiring more rest than usual. And last night I said more than a few choice words, repeatedly, because imma ijit and as I was collecting my nightly meds, the top of one bottle went one way, the bottle fell outta my jittery hand and a goodly portion on my Zoloft went down the drain. See, in my old place, I kept my meds in a cabinet in the kitchen and here I keep them in the hah~UGE medicine cabinet in the master bathroom, which has his/her sinks and so when the bottle goes oohpsee outta my hand, the pills roll down the damp sink surface. Since this does not usually happen to me, I haven't taken precautions like opening the bottles over a towel. So now, I'm a lil low on three months worth of Zoloft. Grrrrrrrreat. sigh. It couldn't be one of my PRN for anxiety drugs, now, could it? Those I have extra, but nnnnnnnoooOOOooooo. sigh. So I gotta go on Base after we get back from Arkansas and explain that imma ijit and show them the remaining de~coated pills {the damp sink took that outta shell right off them there pretty blue pills}. Maybe they will be able to help me, or not. I'm just not so sure at this point, but I do have enough for another lil bit anyway, at least to get thru the holidays.

whew.

So Jerry got up this morning and donned his Santa Suit! {cuz that's how I now think of it, with caps and an exc!a!mat!on po!nt!} and strapped on his half~helmet and mounted his bike and rode into town, while I buried my head under the comfy covers and snuggled down for a bit of an extension on my long~winter's~nap. Jerry stopped at WalMart and gassed up. Rode thru town twice, did the campus, and in general, just tootled about. Most folks loved it! Lots of parents pointing him out to their kids, lots of camera~phones and folks calling out to him.

One truck pulled up in next to him at a light, and three flannel~bound hunters were in the cab, looking kinda rough from the fight with the deer this morning in the field. One indicated the antlered buck in the bed and hollered, "one less for your sleigh, santa!" Jerry assured them that was alright, he'd have the understudy stand in. Jerry didn't bother explaining that his reindeer are female, as they have better racks than the guys do.

There was one lil boy that just grabbed Jerry's heart and yanked it right outta his chest. He was a lil boy who beamed at Santa and just grinned and grinned and grinned and had all sortsa love for Santa. So Jerry talked with him for a few minutes and then he asked, "have you been a good boy?" Oh yes, the boy assured him with hah~UGE nods. "What would you like for Christmas?" and the boy ducked his head, and very softly said, "big daddy."

The lil boy's mother misted up a lil and she said that his grandfather was big daddy. Jerry told her that is what he called his grandfather too. And she said that he died last month. Jerry hugged the lil boy and then he told the lil boy that there are some things that there are some things that even Santa cannot do much about, but that he {Jerry} had a Big Daddy too and he misses him still. And that that's ok.

While Jerry was telling me about this, his own eyes misted and my throat clogged and I thought that that is just one more reason that I love him so. Jerry always knows just what to say in situations like that. He speaks from the heart, and shares just a bit of himself. It makes others feel so much better.

Jerry said that when his extremities were numb, he came on home. By then I was up, but I'd not run out with the camera in enough time to catch Santa on his ride. So you can take a look at an older pic that's been in the journal before.

The Santa Suit! is put up for another year!

Weeeeeee Read!

Emerson Family Fun Night was tonight and we celebrated the Wee Read program with door~prizes, hola~hoops, singing, reading, story~time, cookies and drinks, face~painting, and pictures with SANTA!!!!

There were so many funny lil stories that I cannot share them all here. First tho, it was funny when we were driving down because I'd toot the horn and the car next to me would be glaring and I'd point to Jerry sporting his Santa look and then the adults would get all excited and smiling and waving and push their hands up against the windows and act like lil kids. So fun!





After we pulled into park, some of the kids were still in class~rooms and they would run to the windows and one asked why Santa was in a car? The teacher thought fast and said that the reindeer need to save their strength for the big night next week.

The pictures were fun! Most kids just loved it, lit up, ran over to him and climbed up on his lap right away, and some chatted away for the longest time. There was one lil girl who replied "YOU" with a pointed finger into Santa's beard when he asked what she wanted for Christmas.




And some kids came back later in the event to present him with a custom card they had just made. The first one was lil Gina, who quietly whispered into Santa's ear that she just loves him and then she grinned up at him and there were cell~phones and all sorta cams pointed their way right then! And then there was the lil boy who shunned sitting in Santa's lap cuz he is way too old and sooOOooo over the whole Santa thing, only to run up and hug him numerous times as we were leaving.

All in all, great fun!

bbbbbbbbbbbbbrrrrrread

I've been tinkering with bread baking lately. No two batches are the same, because there are so many variables that come into play. The temperature of the room {during the risings}, the humidity, the weather outside, and then there is the actual bread itself. Since I never really measure things, my bread is probably more variable than most. But perhaps not, as most folks who bake bread tend to use similar methods, that is they go more by feel of texture and elasticity of the dough. Sometimes the yeast is very active, due to the room's characteristics {even the air flow makes a difference}. Since I love the adventure of bread baking, these differences thrill me!

I've been hankering peanut butter ribbon bread that I made last year {or the year before, time is taffy}. It was just regular {flour, butter, yeast, water, a bit of salt, and some sugar} bread, with some peanut~butter kneaded into the last rising, just before it goes into the loaf~pans. Really good with bananas! {i LOVE peanut~butter and naner sandwiches *grins*}

SO this time, I decided to substitute the peanut~butter into the batch in place of the initial butter into the sponge. The sponge is a slurry~like mixture that you start with. First, you pour a quart of hot water over a stick of butter. Then you mix in about two tablespoons of salt and a fourth of a cup of sugar. And three cups of flour. This is a thicker liquid. This is the base of the sponge.

In the meantime, you mix a smaller quantity of warm water and two tablespoons of yeast together in a glass dish. After you've prepared the slurry above, you should be able to see whether the yeast has indeed been active. You should see lil bubbles forming on the surface of the yeasted water. Also, there is a smell that is very particular to activated yeast. If this is the case, that is your "proof". If not, then you merely need to proof another small bowl of yeast in water rather than throw out the entire sponge you'd have made.

If indeed you've good proof, you add that to the slurry and that is your sponge! Take your time, don't rush anything. Do this by feel. Good bread does not result when you are feeling pressured and harried. Even if you are not too sure of things, don't worry, bread forgives lil differences by still being BREAD.

Once you've added the yeast into the butter/water/salt/sugar mix {the proof has been added to the sponge}, then you add about five pounds flour. If you do this cup by cup, and mix, you will notice the texture changes from a slurry, to a batter, to a dough. Eventually, the dough will be a bit drier than wetter, and when you see that it will hold its form rather than spread formlessly, dump it out of the bowl onto a lightly floured surface. Let it rest.

You've been working it pretty hard. It's exhausted. You need to let it rest.

While its resting, wash out your bowl. Dry it thoroughly. Then coat it thickly with butter or shortening. After a short time kneading the dough, just so that you can make sure all the flour and yeast are spread evenly throughout the dough; place the dough in the bowl, and set in a warm spot, cover it with a clean towel. And let it do its thing.

It should rise to about half again its orginal mass. Punch it down, flip the ball of dough in the bowl so that the bottom of the dough is now the top, and cover it again. Let it rise, then dump it out on a lightly floured surface.

Knead it to let the gas escape, while reactivating the yeast. Cut it into loaves, and then knead and shape each individual loaf. Place the loaf of dough into a pan that has been greased. Cover and let it rise for a final time.

Then let it bake at 350~ish. It will rise for a certain extent until the heat of the oven kills the yeast. So be sure to leave some amount above the pan so that there is enough room for the dough to expand. After awhile, check it. If it seems done, firm to the touch, nicely browned; take it out and flip if from the pan. Knock the bottom. If the bread remains firm with a nice hollow sound, then let it cool. If not, then place the loaf back in the oven {you can set the bread directly on the rack}.

I know I skipped lots of detail. But that's basically it! Nice, warm yummy bread!

Oh, wait...I forgot that I was actually telling you about today before I segued into details about bread baking in general! Sillee mee.

Ok, so I used the peanut butter instead of the butter in the sponge. Right from the start all that peanut buttery goodness was distributed and incorporated into the dough and was there thru all the risings and just got better and better. sigh.

I just finished bagging up 18 loaves. Yea!! Tomorrow, I will drop some off for my counselor and thru her, the fellow at her church that helped me last year with some financial difficulties when my car repairs were more than my month's income. I call him Mr. Anonymous, and I continue to appreciate his assistance last year cuz it made a difference to me then, and to me now. He helps many folks in that way, and it boggles my mind that folks accept the help but don't extend a thank~you in return. I know that because last year, I took a plate of cookies to my counselor and gave it to her with a thank~you card for Mr Anonymous because I figured that she knew to ask him, so she'd be able to pass on the gift. Mr Anonymous said that I was the only person to ever thank him in all the years he's been doing that! So this year, I remember how much that made me want to thank him again.

So if you too want some peanut butter bread, just let me know! *wink*

{Kathy, thank you for the wedding gift. Jerry was so excited yesterday that when I walked in the door after my bookgroup, he was all "look what Kathy sent, look what Kathy sent" about the box. So I opened the box and took out the gift still wrapped and let him open that. And we both wanted to thank you very much!}

yearning for yarn

i love yarn. i don't have the luxury or the wherewithal or the budget to be a yarn~snob so there are many types of yarns i've not even actually seen/felt, let alone tried. it's insane how much a small hank of some yarns can cost!

walmart had been a good source of yarns. there was a nice selection available, from bulky to baby~fine, in amazing color combinations, all sorts of brands, and such. not so the case anymore. sigh.

yes, there are alternatives. they are fewer and fewer, it seems. hobby lobby carries quite a variety, but they are very Very VERY proud of their skeins and tend to charge way more than i'd be willing to pay on a regular basis. i've bought from others who are de~stashing, and that's always hit or miss. besides, i like to see and feel the yarn before i go plunking down coinage. ya know?

since yarn can be made from a hugely diverse amount of materials, you'd think it'd be more readily available. i recently was reading that many renewable vegetative sources have been used. i knew animal fur and hair was fairly tapped out, i mean, you can save your cat fur or your dog hair from grooming and have it spun into yarn that you can then work into garments. even silk worms do their part in the yarny demand. oh! but plant fibers!

sure, we know about cotton and hemp. but did you know that corn and banana leaves are fibrous and used in yarns either blended or solo? even the sea does its bit, sea silk is a lovely soft yarn using the cellulose from kelp {sea~weed}. bamboo is renewable and used in yarns. soy, too.

and there are many yarns made from recycled products. i've used caron's simply soft, which contains a small amount of recycled plastic. we certainly have all sorts of recycled fibers to be considered!

so all that got me thinking...kudzu. we have PLENTY of kudzu. kudzu produces a strong fiber, as it ages. however, the young tender shoots of kudzu would yield a soft silky~smooth fiber that i can only imagine letting run thru my fingers.

wow, whatta win~win that would be!

tids and bits

Last night, my Jerry and I went to his mother's assisted living home for their Christmas party. There are just under thirty residents and a nice staff that truly cares for them. In addition, there were many friends and family that joined in the celebration. All told, there were two rather large sized rooms filled with folks for the dinner, and afterward, there were four gentlemen from First Baptist who performed vocal treats for us all, including a request from a small child for Rudolf. We all joined in on a few tunes, and it was great fun. My ass was sore from the metal chair by the end of the evening and I noticed that quite a few residents retired to their rooms after dinner, but there was still a packed room of about fifty for the vocalists.

When my Jerry and I got home, we were more than ready to get settled in. And we watched "So ya think ya can dance", a show that I had been watching on a regular basis tho I missed last season and this one to last week. Next week is the finale and tonight we get to see who makes this week's cut and is going on to compete next week.

Today it got up to the low sixties but tonight it's supposed to get down to the low twenties. So all ya'll bundle up, get snuggly with your honey, and have a good night!

you got questions? i got answers. {the two may be unrelated}

dudes! well here's a few answers to a few questions that folks have been asking...in no particular order.

i've not yet gotten my thank~you notes out and yes, the wedding was about six weeks back so i have no excuse other than my big fat lazy ass hasn't sat down long enough to actually write them and assemble them and post them. that's my plan for the rest of the week. maybe. sigh.

cheater~cookies...i made the name up. i just said, "these are what i call cheater~cookies" cuz they're not made from scratch like so many of the other things i do. use the sixteen ounce {small} container of sour cream per box of dry cake mix. the batter will be moist, do smaller {teaspoon drop} cookies, set at a lower than usual temp {maybe 300~ish} for a longer period {15+ minutes}. the reason is cuz you want the cookie to dry out, without burning the bottom. no greased/floured sheets. trust me on this. do one sheet, then tinker with the temp/size of cookie/time til you find what works for you. and then write it down so you can refer to it later when you decide to do them again. by the way, my mom calls these Big Fat Cookies {cuz when i was a lil kid i used to bake something similar, we cannot find the original recipe for those tho, so that's part of the reason i go with "cheater~cookies" as a name. works for me!}.

and yes, i did bake some for the folks on the coast while i was there. we were thru with one ceremony, but had time before we were going to leave for dinner, so i baked an incredibly rich batch of chocolate chip cookies. cuz i'm the devil and we all know there is a special place in hell reserved for my "eat these calorie~ladened cookies, NOW" sillee self. *winks*

and yes, later that night, i baked a batch of bread. even scaling back on the batch, i still ended up with six rolls, five loaves, and two smaller baby loaves meant for one person's consumption. this batch was not a crusty bread but instead more on the soft, tender side of Parker Rolls {traditional yeast rolls that most folks in the south eat with their sunday dinners}.

and 54.

i think that answers most of the questions that have come my way recently.

ch~ch~ch~ch~chilllllleeeeee

Chilly Willy has made numerous appearances in my journal and yet here he is again...cuz we just got back from the coast to a home of 40 degrees. eeeek!


we went to the coast because my jerry's youngest son's wife was graduating with her bachelor's. she's already a nurse, but having this new degree means that her pay~grade goes up and she is ready to continue with her next level next year.

WAY TO GO, JENN!!

~hiatus~ {or not}

It's occurred to me that it's been awhile since my last post, and in the meantime, we've had a wonderful Thanksgiving and a few other things have been going on. Like, my Jerry got all his christmas presents wrapped. He was done with the shopping months ago, well all but one or two things. And my surgery on Monday went well.

So I thought I oughta let folks know that I may be scarce these next few weeks. I can't really to an entire entry at this point covering all sortsa stuffs, and that's what brought to mind that I wanna let folks know that if I don't post for awhile, I'm alright.

The surgery took more outta me than I realized {literally}.

We are planning to go away this coming weekend and I'm thinking that when I get back, I may be a lil more tired than usual.

Gee, even this post is taking me much longer than usual.

So the long and short of it is...I'm alright, not to worry; but may not be posting overly much for awhile.

Or I may be posting just fine as per usual.

Either way, I wanted to wish everyone a very happy last month of the year!!! We're wrapping up fall, heading into winter and soon christmas dinners and trips and specials will be upon us and then the new year starting and then the winter blahs will settle in for lots of folks and so on and so forth.

Time's taffy.