Daily Notes- January 4th. Cold. Cold. Cold. Snow on ground is a shiny hard surface.

 Same old square with a new center.  I hadn't intended for the piece to get a new center.  I still am not sure I want to do all the unsewing this change requires me to do.

 And this is just sitting on top. Not stitched or anything.  I set the blue square on top just to make the pile NEAT.  And then I noticed.  And have kept on noticing.  Hell of a thing.  The 4 inch square is sitting on top of the patterned blue.  The orange stripe is sewn in.

I am thinking I had gotten too attached to matching things.  I am thinking I need to pay attention to this.

Sort of a Wake Up.

Well.  It's very cold.  I need another layer of wool.  A second sweater.  The house is so big and empty- it doesn't have any things to trap heat.  We never replaced the things we got rid of.  Three armchairs. Rugs. Curtains.  The wide expanse of hardwood is just that.  Wide. Bare.  Two couches.  One that husband naps on and one where I sit and read or watch Sports News and/or Ancient Aliens or Hallmark Movies.  I keep watching the waltzing movie.  Not much happens.  They dance.  The music plays.  People talk.

Yesterday's (and today's) book is Abbi Waxman's The Bookish Life of Nina Hill.  I finished reading it just before bedtime.  I may start it over again today.  A young woman who likes books.  Works in a book store. Was raised by a nanny while her mother traveled the world taking newsworthy photographs as her Life's work..  Abbi never  knew her father's name.  He dies. Has Abbi in his will.  So she meets 3 of his four wives and all her brothers and sisters etc. etc.  It's actually too much for her. 

Her dead father leaves her his favorite thing.  His black 1982 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am.  That's the very end of the book and it's not really ruining the story or anything to mention it.  I doubt many of you read any of the books I write about here.  No one's ever said they have.  But one can hope someone will read them.  

My coffee has gone cold and I have a full wash basket waiting for me by the washing machine.  I have NOT done washing.  In awhile.  Sigh.  I don't think I want to do any today, either. so. I'll make a fresh cup of coffee and settle into the old couch cushions.  Again.  At 75... I think I can do whatever I please.

Daily Notes- January 3rd. Dark, Wet and Dismal. Outdoors. Not in the house.

 Breakfast Sandwich.  If I could make one wish and have it granted right this minute- it would be this breakfast sandwich.   I love an oozy egg yolk.  I would prefer bacon to the ham. But would eat the ham.

So, here we are on Monday- the first Monday of the New Year.  I don't really need groceries.  So I am skipping the usual Monday grocery and Library visits. G feels he needs orange juice and shredded Parm. He can wait a few days.

My neighbor across the street has had several home tests be negative.  But she has read that she could be positive again after her 5 day quarantine....... and  test positive again in the remaining 9 days.  So she is driving to Walmart - the drive thru- to pick up an additional box of antigen test kits.  One a day.  She must be really anxious to get back out there mingling with people. I think she was letting me know I could stop picking up her mail and tucking it in her screen door. Masked.

I slept late and husband got up early and then took a nap before even finishing breakfast.  He just woke up. 1:30 pm.  I put his uneaten yogurt back in the fridge.

I had very very strange dreams.  Very.  Strange. Too strange to write down here.

But I remember them.  Yep........hard to forget them.

Patriots Won.  The Jaguar quarterback sure loves his hair.  That was ...... not my dream. The guy should stop with the hair. Really.

We also watched the Bengals.  Cincinnati.  That quarterback...wow beating the Chiefs.  And Tom Brady even managed to pull one back from disaster with the Jets and we were watching when AB had his breakdown strip show. We were eating the Football Pizza I almost forgot to make.  And it was a great Pizza.  And the football, while stranger than Truth- was entertaining.

My sports tv people are back from two weeks of vacation time.  So...good times.

Daily Notes- January 2nd. Dark, Wet, Chilly outside. Global Warming Alive in Maine..

 Books.  January is the month for Books.  Fiction of course.....but also gardening, cooking and sewing. I have to expand my horizons.  I started "mending" last year around this time.  The Time of the  Siege of the Capital and Democracy & Intelligence..  Mending.  It seemed appropriate. But it hasn't helped......

I was tempted by Sourdough last year.  The creating and tending of a sourdough starter.  Still not sure I am that interested.  The Starter is like having a hungry baby in the fridge.  And we two, do not eat all that much (Breakfast and Supper). So daily loaves...not the best idea.  And husband likes store bought bread best of all.  Not homemade. Nothing really homemade is appreciated. He was raised on TV Dinners.

I am vaguely tempted by Crock Pot.  

I do have a Goodwill Crockpot ($4) out in the garage filled with black walnuts and pieces of rusted iron.  All I need to get it going is to plug it in.  Add water (perhaps melted snow which might have minerals etc. as I do not have a Pond anymore)  Then strain the contents and add cloth and heat.. and wait........

I might, first of all, cover the kitchen island and paint cloth.  I need a really great pink.  And a super blue. I want to paint something that looks like it was made in the dye pot. A good red would be pretty darn great. And a green- with acid or black understory.  The color samples in the book I got for Christmas have me wanting different, new to me colors. Madder. Indigo.

But today- it's Football and Pizza.  Got to see if the "sad and depressed" Patriots are interested in winning today.  They all seem to have lost energy and interest in the past few weeks.  I can identify with that.

I am reading (re-reading) the Bookish Life of Nina Hill by Abbi Waxman.  Her middle book Ordinary People is not very good and book four was okay but dragged a bit too much.  Characters from three of the books mingle a bit in this book.  Especially at the wedding with the camel.  The Garden of Small Beginnings is first.  I got a copy as a gift.

But...Pizza today and Football.  No time for reading.  Husband continues to work on the jigsaw puzzle. I go over there and find a piece or two and then start sorting.  Last evening we discovered we had put the edges together incorrectly and now- except for one piece- it might be correct.  I even got the ruler and measured it.  That's when we realized we had a few extra edge pieces in ALL the wrong places.

Daily Notes- January First, 2022- Twenty Twenty Two. Wow.

 I used to have Apps on my desktop.  I no longer have a desktop page.  It went away.  Retired itself.

I miss the little Weather box.  I miss the phases of the Moon Box.  I miss the Horoscope Box. I think there might have been a News Headlines box- I don't miss that.  That's four- I can't recall the remaining two boxes.  

I never make Resolutions.  I just try...everyday.... to do a good job. Get one or two things done.  Not all the things that need being done. Just one or two of them. The vacuum hose has been on the living room floor for weeks.  You just plug it into one of the hose outlets in the walls and vacuum. Easy. Central Vac. But dragging the hose (which kinks) around makes me swear like a sailor.  I am attempting to keep all the wood floors dust free with my Swiffer.  That's a Resolution of sorts.  And our eyesight isn't as great as it used to be.  And dust is hard to see. Yep.

We had slices of the "loaded" Tiramisu Cake last night.  Someone went a bit heavy on wetting the cake slices (at the grocery store bakery) with liquor. Whoa. I can still taste it this morning.

Today is Saturday and I woke up expecting it to be Sunday.  It's been a really LONG WEEK.

Husband took down the old calendar we write things on- and hung up the new one.  For some reason January has pink geraniums.  I found the calendar (for sale) one day at the grocery store.  The colors seemed Happy. It was the same size as the past three years of calendar.  Good sized blank squares to fill with doctor's appointments, haircuts, the few birthdays we have in the family, and I guess that's it..... oh and car appointments for service etc.  Dentist.  Wild and Crazy times.

I have my new desktop calendar install here on the desk under the computer.  The computer weighs a ton and a half.  The first whole week is blank boxes except for tomorrow.  Which means down at the bottom two days are doubled up.  Already 2022 is causing problems.

Daily Notes- December 31st- Street and driveway are wet but no snow or ice.

 My "inner child" is tempted by the tiny gingerbread cookie houses.  There was a "time" in my Life, when I would have made these cookie houses for a Social Tea Meeting at my house.  I was very social.  I loved putting together a party or a lunch or anything.  I had everything from cocktail glasses to champagne glasses to tea cups.  Plenty of tablecloths.  Cloth napkins.  Ah.  And I had friends.  Had.  Most of them have already passed on to the next Life.  I already feel like the Bus has left me behind.

There were days when I couldn't get my grocery shopping done for all the stopping to have conversations  with quilting friends, work friends, with greenhouse customers with just "a question".  Life was abundant.

This simple little cookie house balanced on the edge of a cup of tea...........it's like opening a door to the past.

I managed to feed myself yesterday.  The Crock Pot Pulled Pork was  (is..as there is so much in the fridge even using the tiny crock pot) delicious.  I ate it with pasta.  It was cold here in the house yesterday.  A green salad felt too chilly to me.  Husband continues to eat the prepared (by the grocery) Chicken Parm meals.  Which is pretty amazing and easy enough.

I, just now, realized I have brown felt and white embroidery floss.  I could make a few little houses- six- for a Christmas Tree.  If I managed to ever have a tree again.  I was reminded that I had wanted to make a new ornament in early December but couldn't think of one.  And here it is- on December 31st.

I am thinking a tallish, skinny tree.  With wide spaced branches.  So I could fill the branches with all the ornaments in the boxes.  Lots of lights.  2022.

Daily Notes- Thursday, December 30th. 36 degrees, wet and dismal here in Maine.

 Well, almost done.  Record numbers of cases of "new" COVID here in Maine.  200K and counting. Our population here in Maine is 1.2 million souls.  So-- It's EPIC as they say.  I used orange crayon because orange seems to be the COVID color.

Grocery store visit today.  I bought a Tiramisu Cake.  Expensive but we are worth it.  I am also making pulled or BBQ pork in the crock pot.  First cooking was overnight. I did the shredding of the pork after breakfast and added in the BBQ sauce, some brown sugar and the cooking juices.  It smells delicious. I have some soft flour tortillas if husband wants to eat any.  I like it on top of a green salad. So I bought Romaine lettuces.

I am considering using the crock pot more often in the coming year.  I would welcome any recipes Readers of the Blog out there use and enjoy.  I am thinking my pasta sauce might benefit from Crock Pot treatment.

My husband drove me to the grocery today and gets to park up front with the handicap tag he has.  So, he got to witness an elderly guy in the handicapped car parked next to us---- get out of his car and "check out my groceries". I am laughing.             He also wanted my cart when I finished unpacking it.

When I got in the car...I mentioned to husband that he now "knew my demographic" for men interested in me.  "Good to know" was his only comment.  But he made sure the cake was in OUR car.

Daily Notes- December 29th. Cold with the Sun shining

 I wish I had been a better formed person when I was in college.  This is the sort of thing- not this good even in my dreams- but something simple and organic- that is what I should have been drawing. It's who I was and am even today.  But I wasn't well formed or emotionally healthy back then.  I was a mess. Just getting up on time and to the right class was EPIC ACHIEVEMENT on my part back then.

So my neighbor is home and beginning her 5 day quarantine.  She was in Boston and with New York City family members. (the NYC people tested positive).

So it goes after a indoor winter Holiday.  With eating and drinking so- no masks.

We had to shovel snow again yesterday.  This time I was exhausted and had to rest on the couch to regain the ability to breathe in and out with ease. Breathing in and out is something...not to be taken lightly these days.  Not one single thing on cable or on the TiVo that I wanted to watch.  The week between Christmas Day and New Years Day- stinks on television.

So.... I stripped the bed and did two loads of wash- turned the king sized mattress (I just spin it clockwise) and got all the fresh sheets back on and stuffed the down duvet into a fresh cover.  To say I was exhausted is to be too kind.  I felt every year of 75 when I was done.

Daily Notes- Tuesday, December 28th. More snow overnight.

 Dinner.  I prefer not to eat something cold like this in winter but....I wasn't interested in any of the leftovers yesterday.  Today I might be. Will be.  Or I will cook something.

 I ate this fruited yogurt while watching Ancient Aliens- Australia.  Did you know the Australian continent is one of the least explored continents?  And, it's isolated inhabitants have DNA going back 30,000 years?  Because no one arrived to dilute their blood until Captain Cook arrived. This is the sort of stuff that's on Ancient Aliens.  On the Regular.

I watched because they also gave me lots of lovely Ancient Art and Cave Wall Painting to look at. And after a wall painting/rock carving- I got to see the actual Milky Way and lots of Cosmos - so I could appreciate how similar they were in content.  I also got to watch the men mix Earth into lovely colored body paint.  And paint themselves. And, they also smoked and ingested various intoxicating substances to reach "a higher plane" and communicate with the Ancient Gods.  It was quite beautiful.

Certainly MUCH better than the extremely AWFUL football games.  OMG.  What has happened in the past 10 days to football?????   There was more excitement (less athletic ability) in the fist fights on the benches and in one case...on the field.  If I remember correctly. I've stopped watching.  

I spent the Time after Australian Ancient Aliens watching old recorded (TiVo) Christmas movies.  I watched the waltz one again (fives times in two days).  It's actually titled Christmas Dance.  And I watched the one where two children  are seated at the children's table at Christmas Eve Dinner.  We see them grow up.  Year after year. Until they break each other's hearts.  And I watched the movie where the marketing ex goes to Vermont to manage an old bookstore for a month.  Falls in love. Then leaves. Comes back.  There's one more I forgot to watch.  The "kiss in the elevator movie".  I hope I didn't erase it.  There were three elevator movies. Only one was good enough to see again and again.

Daughter called from a bookstore yesterday where she found shelves of romcom.  None of it was my kind of romcom.  I have two here on the ottoman.  And another five on the book table.  But my head and my heart are tired.  And sad. And feeling rather broken hearted.

It snowed.  So I shoveled my way out to the street to get the newspaper.  And then dragged the recycling can back up the driveway but gave up when I got to the sidewalk.  My chest hurt.  Difficult breathing. I decided not to have a heart attack and die in the driveway. Stopped shoveling.  Did you you know women rarely survive a heart attack???? Or heart surgery. Husband's surgeon and nurse told me. A Warning.

Daily Notes- December 27th- Sunshine. Clean Driveway. Bills Paid.

 We'll be going for a ride in the car in a few minutes to return books to the library.  It would be lovely to be able to walk to the library instead.  Daughter lives close enough, in Town, to walk (but she doesn't).  I have often thought it would be nice to live in Town.  To walk places.  To take a walk and get a coffee and read a book or have a short conversation with someone. Husband doesn't do conversation. Never has.

The car, and the need to drive everywhere, creates a wall of sorts between me and the Town where I live. Years passed with me not being the friendliest of people.  Now..I like to be around people for short periods of Time.  I often think....I could manage to be around people more often and for longer periods of Time. If I practiced.  I miss the greenhouse and the many people with problems.  I had lots of great conversations with them.  It seems like forever, ago.

So..the library.  And returning books and the one puzzle we managed to finish. The one on the table is taking a very long time.  Way too busy.  And there are only a limited number of piece shapes.  So easy to put the wrong ones together.

We had football pizza last night.  Ugh...the games were brutal.  The chat today on the one show I watched- equally as brutal.  COVID has ruined everything for many of the Teams. The Patriots played poorly. It was almost like no one was coaching them.  Well, I was...but no one was listening.

Daily Notes December 26th- Snowblower and Shovel Day

 Well, even when one doesn't bake...the baked goods seem to find their way into the house.  Yesterday I had a chocolate chip muffin.  Today Football Pizza which I make myself.  I haven't baked the Boozy Cake yet- maybe tomorrow.

And G used the snowblower and I used the shovel to clean up the mess that the snowblower leaves behind. We got rain followed by snow and then rain again so mostly we had a layer cake of hard and soft snow. Now it's all clean dry asphalt and 36 degrees.  Cross the street has a plow guy and it looks really awful over there and she's lost half the side lawn.. plow guy digs right into the grass.

Christmas was a lovely day.  Great gifts, Phone calls and the Christmas Burritos were very tasty and I got so many great books... and read one of them......delightful.  

Daughter also found a book titled "the Modern Natural Dyer" and it has a list of dye plants.  So I am making a list for me to have handy in my purse and one for daughter to carry when they go plant shopping next Spring for the Landscaping business. 

I know that Artist Supply in Portland has all the dyes for sale.  I could just visit Portland someday and buy them- it's just with reactive asthma I am afraid of the powders.  Inhaling them. Killing myself. So the plant material itself sounds safer.  The Maine plant catalog never has Madder root. Always sold out.  And then..I wonder if I actually want to get into this dye pot thing.  When I can paint the cloth the color of madder. I have a picture of the color-- I can mix color.  It's something I am good at.

The Patriots lost.  Sigh.  I had a few spoons of ganache to soothe myself.  Now a book to read.  

Six more days on my desk calendar page.  Daughter got me a new calendar- just like this one.  Perfectly DELIGHTED.  That's me.

Daily Notes- December 25th. Merry or Happy Christmas to All!!!!

 Merry Christmas.

Gifts were found on the couch where we sit doing nothing, sewing or reading or watching tv.  They got into the house all by themselves while we were sleeping.   Books.  Candy.  That's what I got and fruit flavored sparkling water (lemon and strawberry-rhubarb) that mix very well with gin and vodka when everything is ice cold. All from Trader Joes about a 40 minute fast drive from where I live.  

I still haven't gotten my wish for a local Trader Joes.

Husband got a stack of new coloring books of mandalas and a BIG new word search book.  He is circling words as I type these.

Our son called from California.  He has to get up early to make the call.  But he does it.  Lovely boy.  Lets us talk and ramble on and on.  A true gift from his heart.

We were eating breakfast at noon.  We are really degenerate adults. I am reminded of how I scolded the two 18 to 20 something -year old children when they got up past noon.  And now...it's me doing it.

I was up late.  Two of my old favorite sweet Hallmark movies on TiVo.  I watched them both twice.  The last- the Christmas Waltz (a busy business man learns to waltz) had such sweet music to accompany the waltz lessons.  I mostly just kept hitting rewind to listen to the music.  Like winding up a music box. I think I might have done it for a few hours if the hour wasn't so late.  I am going to check the CD's I own- to see if I have a waltz.  Last year it was Edith Piaf.  At full volume. In French.  Glorious.

Daily Notes- December 24th. Christmas Eve.

 Christmas Eve.  One of the Twin boys came by yesterday with a gift of homemade cookies.  And News. Regarding the hockey ice rink not yet built.  The Puppy who now outweighs both boys.  He said he couldn't visit longer as he had many cookie deliveries to make to the neighbors.  We wished him a Happy Christmas. 

An email from another neighbor getting her sleigh ready to travel to see her son and her three (or four) granddaughters.  Four if her daughter travels north as she is traveling south.  We are picking up mail and watching the house while she is gone.  We got a bottle of wine and a glass jar of Brandy Balls.  Yum.

Cookies, Brandy Balls and Wine.  I melted a can of sweetened condensed milk and dropped in pieces of Lindt very dark chocolate 85%.  Ganache.  I did a very very tiny taste test and am "sugar" dizzy - not even using the amount of chocolate asked for in the recipe- It's cooling.  Later today I am baking the Boozy Chocolate Christmas Cake.  And I might loosen up the Ganache with some Kahlua.  I need to make a quick trip to the grocery for Vanilla ice cream.   

I planned dessert but not actual food.  

And really....who cares????  I can have a Christmas Grilled Cheese&Ham Sandwich. With Cheetos. And husband will be happy with the usual Chicken Parm he has every day. I can buy something to eat at the grocery..  

I am not making the Christmas Eve Polish Potato and Sauerkraut Pierogi.  Making them last December nearly killed me.  I might be too old for it.  I tried to come up with some sort of "easier" meal that included all the Pierogi ingredients but didn't come up with anything....yet.  Any Bohemian/Polish Cooking People out there with ideas?????

So...Merry Christmas to all.......you mean the World to Me.  What a Gift you have been to me all these years.  

And, yes, Paula...send more yarn.  In a bag this time not a box and closer to February....when I have worn new holes in my socks!!!! Connie- how did you know my big frying pan needed a big potholder????? thank you.  

Daily Notes- Thursday, December 23rd Sunshine and 21 degrees.

 Occasionally, I use my brain to make life easier.  Today I pulled out the really old Scrabble game (we upgraded a few years (many years) ago to one with little indents for the tiles.  So they didn't move around. This old school one has a flat board.  

Husband was having difficulty with his Jumbles.  So he stopped doing them.  It's one of the exercises for his brain and thinking processes that I encourage.  So....I got out the little stand and assembled the letters and presented it to him and he figured out the word pretty fast.  So......that felt like a "good thing".

Nothing much on tv so I did a bit of sewing- felt bored and ate too many things- I tend to eat when not involved in doing something- be it tv watching, reading or sewing or even mending socks.  Today I have all the supplies for mending the underarm sections of my favorite sweater.  I have the cashmere donor sweater ready to cut into patches.  And my friend in Colorado sent me sock mending yarn so I will be using some of that for the patching.  I already mended my socks.

The sweater I am wearing is more patches than original sweater.  I have more of the donor for the sweater  I am wearing so eventually it will be a "new" sweater-all the sections being sandwiched and sewn together.  But who cares????  In Winter, I am wearing my old black wool ankle length coat. That's all people see.  The old white haired woman in the huge black coat.  When I do fall on the ice- I tend to bounce. Or at least I did bounce when Riley would pull me down to the ground on our snowy slippery Winter walks.  That old coat has saved me from serious injury.  Many times.

I mended and patched the sweater I have on.... on January 6th.  During the rioting at the Capital.  I was standing the entire time.  I could not sit down while all that violence was going on.  I patched.  And the patching looks like I how I felt that day.  This is the first time I have worn the sweater.  Since then. Pretty emotional.

I am thankful for my friend in Colorado (who I have never met) for sending the mending yarn for my socks..  I mended four pairs of socks that I love almost as much as these very old worn thin sweaters.  Daughter checks Goodwill on every visit for a black, dark grey or middle grey cashmere sweater for a one or two X woman. Even men's sweaters.  These sweaters are all over 20 years old.  One or two might be 30 years old.  They don't make them like this anymore.  New sweaters are very thin and they smell funny.

I  hand wash the sweaters with a very nice lightly scented body wash that Trader Joes used to sell..   They stay soft and bouncy with a neutral smell..

Daily Notes- ICE and more ICE on all walking surfaces this morning.

 My Sports Radio Show is playing all the hilarious stuff from the year.  Dirty Christmas Songs with the dirty words bleeped out.  Last song was all bleeps- which was actually even funnier than having words. And they are re-playing calls from listeners which are so so funny. Lots of Naughty.

The snow plow is driving around spreading salt etc.  To take care of that ice.  Husband has gone out to spread sand on the front walk and steps- where he face planted one year.  Wow.... was that exciting. Lots of bruising, swelling and luckily no broken teeth.  His nose took the major hit.  

We had pizza last night.  And watched the Washington /Eagles game.   Today Gary returns to Chicken Parm and I will be having Pantry Soup.  We got mail this morning- it came late yesterday- two Christmas Cards- one from my brother and sister in law.  I am still looking for some kind of "FANTASTIC" recipe to use up the two boxes of instant vanilla pudding mix.

My Master Gardener Friend Patty left us a stack of gifts.  I got really lovely boot socks.  Soft and cozy. And a puzzle.  Husband got rub on tattoos. My library friend left him a stack of new puzzle books.

The only "event" today is husband taking his car in for an oil change and state inspection.

Temps are now 40 degrees and snow melting pretty darn quick.

I managed to get two cloth items finished- added another round of strips -- and now have them starched and basted to batting.  Now I have to wonder what to do- hand or machine quilting.  Since they are almost 100% hand sewn, I think I need to hand quilt.  I am not that great at it.  But in the ditch- who sees it?

Daily Notes- December 21st- First Day of Winter. Cold and White outside.

 So here we are- First Day of Winter.  The Long Slog until March or April.  Sometime Spring is Late showing up here in Maine.   I plan to start seeds in my recycled milk jugs on the back deck the first week of January..  Mostly Marigolds.  They were very much appreciated last summer.  By me.

I have been thinking of growing my tomato plants in the compost bins this coming growing season.  It's sunny there.  Soil is deep.  Watering might be a problem as I will need to run a hose over there or carry water.  I didn't notice ANY pollination of flowers on any vegetables in the fenced garden the past two years. No blueberries.  Very little rhubarb.  I worked so hard over so many years to get that raised bed fenced area going.  It was great for many wonderful years.  Abundance. And now Old Age.

I have to admit- there are fewer and fewer insects flying about.  And they do the work of pollination. I have hand pollinated in my younger years.  Now- it's too hard for me to be out there everyday.

Sports Boston was dull and irritating.  The evening Football games- like watching high school football in August.  No one knowing what the heck they are doing.  And getting hurt.  When Omicron and Delta teamed up- everything should have been cancelled.  Or delayed.  I did hand sewing. My eyes got blurry.

Here in Maine the hospital numbers keep going up and up and the UNMASKED population stays unmasked.  I want to move to a State with good numbers and a population that stays masked.. I know- that's "crazy talk".   No State has good numbers and a population that stays masked.

I took inventory of the pantry and the freezer and fridge.  Seeing what's available for our Dining Pleasure. Today we'll be having Pizza with, hopefully, the Washington Football Game and the Patriots Practice Team Quarterback (with not even 7 days notice) leading the Team.  What could go wrong??? I guess it should be What Could Possibly Go Right.  I have a good feeling about this.  Washington has spunk.

Daily Notes- Monday, December 20th-- Snow Day!!!!!

 Snow yesterday- G and I got to clear the drive and walkways.  He used the snowblower and I used a shovel.  I had started to think we wouldn't get snow this year.  It's VERY bright outside with sun shine and temps going to the high 30's and even into the 40's.  Snow will become ice overnight.

Football.  I stayed up late last night and alone- the snow removal tired husband out--and watched the Saints take Brady and Tampa apart.  

One part of me felt bad- the other part just thought it was wonderful.  Brady can be beaten. And at the very end- 9 to zero- Brady smashed his Microsoft tablet and then threw it in the dumpster behind him.  And to add more battery acid to the burn- the coach that brought him down was the Saints practice team coach, I think------- everyone else had COVID. The Saints real Q-back has something wrong with his foot and he was on the sidelines screaming and yelling and so so proud of his TEAM.

Today (I think, but this week for sure) the Patriot's Practice Squad Quarterback is heading up the Washington Team. COVID is making opportunities for some bench players to SHINE. We'll see what this guy is made of.....And I like the Washington Team.  The resemble old school Patriots from years ago. Just get the job done guys.

Today the Sports shows have plenty to chew.  The Patriots epic mess of a loss and then Brady"s REALLY EPIC MESS.......I have cloth chosen, thread and a needle- ready to listen and hand sew.  Let the good times roll.......Soup is ready to eat when I get hungry.  Nothing to do but enjoy the day.  Sigh.  Happy Me!

Daily Notes- December 19th- Snow overnight. Possibly 3 inches.

Well, inserting the picture a new way and now all sentences begin in the middle of the page. It's always something.  You get this image because I made soup for myself yesterday while it snowed. And my soup looks very much like this image of vegetable soup off the internet. 

Cabbage, carrot, onion, tomatoes, white beans and two potatoes. Pantry Soup - Covid 2020.

It's very tasty and good to have in the fridge.  I added a handful of small pasta shapes.

We couldn't SEE the Patriots game yesterday as it was on a streaming service and nothing we have  "streams" and especially nothing that streams FOX. But I got updates of the score as it was happening on my phone.  We lost. I will need to wait until Monday's Sports TV to find out how and why.

Instead of Football I watched a very good interpretation of A Christmas Carol. And I enjoyed it very much. And before that a Lifetime movie which was pretty interesting.  We got to see the guy naked from the waist up several times which I didn't mind in the least- he's very good looking..  I was thinking the director was just inserting that footage at random times to keep viewers interested in a rather "nothing" plot.  And the guy brought the girl the same fake Irises, twice.  One flower bent to the side.

I'm going to put on my boots and heavy black wool coat and shovel the front steps and sidewalks. Husband is out with the snowblower doing the driveway in from to of the garage. A very large space that takes forever to clear.  We have done it with shovels before- when we could breathe.

 

Daily Notes- December 18th. Snow is promised by 5 pm. No sunshine. 45 degrees.

 Not Christmas but it's a tree and there is snow.  We are promised snow, bad traffic (roads) etc etc. (power outage is standard here in Maine) Husband is filling the bird feeders so the birds will be able to eat if it snows..  I have emptied the paper shredder into the compost bin.  The coming rain or snow will get it wet.  Decompose all the shredded junk mail.  For awhile there I even shredded the daily newspaper.  

Last night NOVA and the Milky Way.  And the Big Bang.  And in billions of years- the end of all this. So enjoy what you can.  It's not forever.  This Glorious Galaxy.  The Boston Public channel has an entire evening of the Great British Baking Show.  Our cheap ass station does not and will possibly do Fund Raising instead.  

 I made Confetti Cookies for husband yesterday afternoon.  I had to do so much clutter clean up to get open space for the Kitchen Aid Mixer.  And the cookie sheets and then the cooling racks.  I had to dig around for all the items that go into the cookies.  He forgot to eat them.......

I haven't written Neighborhood Cards yet.  Last year they all got a set of two handmade potholders.  But not this year.  And I am not feeling like I want to make more cookies.  I do intend to bake another Pumpkin Pie.  I enjoyed that.  Football Game tonight so we'll have Pizza.

Husband did a Word Jumble puzzle this morning.  He used to do one everyday and then they got difficult and he stopped.  Today...he unjumbled all five words.  Has the limited screen time been a factor???

Daily Notes- Good Morning. Promised snowstorm can't actually happen at 50 degrees.

 This small simple kitchen reminds me of my grandmother's small house.  Just enough room for a small table-my daughter has it in her house- and a few mismatched chairs.   On one visit we made strudel. And stretched the dough so thin with the backs of our hands- you could read through it.  Lovely apple strudel.

The weather was supposed to be wintery but I went out to get the morning paper and it's very warm- no coat or jacket needed.  And the driveway was wet- overnight rain. Global Warming is real in 2021 here in Maine where we used to get 48 inches of snow overnight- many times in each Winter.  No more of that.

Terrible Thursday Football.  The early injury.  We watched even though I have no interest in either team. The game was sloppy. Mismanaged.

I have a new 500 piece puzzle on the table.  We are picking out the outside edges.  To get started. Husband finished up the 100 piece children's puzzle.  I didn't get to do much beyond the edge pieces.  It's like that here.  Disinterest in something until I show interest and then-  the puzzle I  had hoped to add to my activities- no longer mine.  Perhaps that is how I should go forward with this memory loss thing.  Show interest in my own activities to get him to lessen the use of screens and then he'll take over my projects.  Screens which impair his cognitive skills and short term memory.   No new memories- so long term is wasted as well.

Let's imagine what the iPad is doing to young children. And their attention spans. What will their adult lives be like.  Who will change their diapers?

Daily Notes- December 16th- Haircut Day- Dark with Rainshowers

 I think these are chocolate ganache balls with additions of sprinkles and pretzels.

I got my haircut and was the only person in the shop wearing a mask. And I said "I wear it to protect every one I love".  Period.  Full Stop. And everyone went back to minding their own business. And not making eye contact.

Dee was right.  Hallmark 2021 is different.  Kissing.  Lots of it. And well done.  Public displays of Affection.  I'm happy.  Each new movie I have watched has been a delight and my old favorites are showing up and I enjoy those as well.  It's a Great Holiday Season.--even without a decorated tree etc.

I am liking this "easy Christmas".

I finally got a cabbage for Dee's Pandemic Pantry Soup.  Which I make all the time with the addition of a large squirt of Heinz ketchup. Last time I made it- I subbed Brussel sprouts for cabbage as the cabbages were HUGE at the supermarket.  Today- still big but not huge. So, let the good times roll....I am having SOUP.

I bought a few things for Christmas Holiday Meal Prep.  Not as much.  Daughter is still on the Leaky Gut Protocol and is now re- introducing food (very slowly) into her diet to see which re-ignite the inflamation. She has lost all the pre protocol swelling.  Can wear clothing a few sizes smaller now. So will not be having the regular Christmas Eve Food- possibly not ever again.  Reminds me of my brother. Allergic to everything.

I need to turn on my Sports Show- Urban Meyer got fired overnight.