Batten down the hatches, frigid is coming!

Tags

cold, freezing, postaday2013, weather, wind, winter

Argh and brrrr. Starting tomorrow it is going to be insufferably cold for at least five straight days. We are speaking of temperatures with the high’s getting to 20 and the low’s settling at 0. My bones are whimpering already at the mere thought of leaving the house. I have been reading that the weather hasn’t been very cooperative over in Europe either. Airports have been filled with poor passengers stranded, the roads or trains haven’t been of much use either. with the snow and ice. I know that it is very cliched to speak of the weather when it is being annoying. I suppose that I am complaining not only because I can’t do anything about it, but it gets exceptionally frustrating when the extreme cold front decides to park itself over your neighborhood. I know that I am not the only one and I should absolutely not complain for one second because at least I have a house to shelter me; not like those poor souls who lost everything to Hurricane Sandy. Those storm victims have still not been made whole by their insurance companies. I can’t imagine the stress and the fear that has to dominate their lives just trying to survive the day to day. So I am walking back from my complaints. I know that it won’t be cold for very long, only a week or so, this too shall pass.

Last night my hubby and I rented the dvd Loopers; the movie with Bruce Willis, Emily Blunt and Joseph-Levitt Gordon. It was an excellent movie; the reason why I used the word excellent is because the ending threw me for a complete loop. I did not see that coming. I must admit that the whole time, space continuum equation had me confused here and there but It’s not as if time travel is an actual working theory, so I’m not sweating my confusion. The only criticism that I can think of, and I am not aiming it solely at Loopers, is the dystopian feel to the futuristic movies of the past several years. Why can’t we have a hopeful vision of the future in a movie or two? Gene Roddenberry had a beautiful vision of the future and we saw it in Star Trek. I’d like to see more of that.

New Year’s resolutions update

Tags

books, postaday2013, writing

How's it going with your New Year's resolutions? Write the full report.

My only New Year's resolution was to finish the novel that I had started in 2011 during NaNoWrIMo. I have laid out the last chapters and I ordered, from my library, some historical reference books to do the last research on New York City circa 1920's, so with all that, I am in the home stretch of putting my novel to bed in terms of the writing.

The next step will be the editing and after that is done, I will be writing cover letters and sending it off to possible agents and publishers. If that doesn't work out then I will see about self-publishing. Now I am getting ahead of myself. One step at a time. Focus on writing.

My turn to play with my shiny new toy

Tags

Christmas present, dinner, dry rub, pork shoulder, postaday2013, pulled pork, slow cooker

Have you ever received a present, say a new pot or pan, and you opened it on Christmas Day but you kept it off to the side because it was so shiny, so clean and so new, that you didn’t want to use it; it was just too beautiful. That is how I treated my Christmas slow cooker present. Today is January 20th, almost a full month since Christmas and I have finally broken down and baptized my slow cooker with a dry rubbed pork shoulder. As I am writing this, it is still running on low with another hour or so until the pork is finished. It smells nice in the kitchen but I am dying to see how the pork turns out. I have made pulled pork often in the oven using an ordinary roasting pan so it will be interesting to see how it turns out this time. The only modification that I made with the slow cooker is that I put the pork shoulder on a bed of sliced onions and garlic with a cup of chicken broth. I venture to think that the sauce will be quite flavorful after it is all said and done. I’m keeping my fingers crossed. 🙂

Religion or politics?

“It’s never a good idea to discuss religion or politics with people you don’t really know.” Agree or disagree?

I agree, at least for myself. I abhor conflict and those two topics are potential landmines because mostly everyone has an opinion and the possibility of disagreement is fairly high. Moreover, politics and religion produce such strong emotional responses that for almost strangers, a disagreement can produce itself quickly and diffusing it can be tricky.

These two subjects are emotional powder kegs. I don't know why. I know that within my own family, I have an uncle who is a devout catholic, ultra conservative and I do not discuss many subjects with him because I love him and I don't want to have him angry with me, especially over a subject such as homosexuality. I believe that a person's sexuality has nothing to do with his or her character; we are all sexual beings and I don't care if you like boys or girls or both, do not care. My uncle sees homosexuality as an abomination against God, end of discussion. That is why we don't discuss.

If I encountered someone who I didn't really know and they felt that way; I wouldn't be so inclined to censor my feelings on the subject and conflict would ensue. Because my statement would be if your God is a loving God, how can he deprive his creatures love? If your God is perfect than how can he have made these people, as you say, imperfect? I could go on and on but that would result in ugliness I am sure and I don't want that.

So I keep my political opinions to myself; I write about them often, which is much safer and my feelings on religion are kept to myself as well. It is private and I don't feel the need to justify how I feel about religion to anyone; that is between myself and the universe.

Someone got a shiny new toy

Tags

automatic, dealerships, men toys, postaday2013, toys

Today my hubby got a new toy. I really like it when he gets any new kind of toy because he, like me, reverts to being a child with excitement. I’m not saying that he jumps up and down clapping his hands together in delight, that would be me. I mean that his eyes, very blue, light up and they hold that joyful glimmer that you see in young men when they have something exciting to try out for the first time.

Today my hubby picked out something shiny and sleek, elegant in its carriage, powerful yet quiet, deceptive in its speed. German in origin with a history and a reputation as well as four wheels, the toy made my hubby’s eyes crinkle with pleasure and excitement. My hubby and I took the toy for a spin and it felt as if we were traveling in a spacious bubble, separate from everyone on the road, gliding past them insouciant, without a care in the world.

The new toy has a name, the AMG E350, courtesy of Mercedes Benz. I’m happy that my hubby found the car that he really wanted because it is his mode of transportation for work so it is only right that he be excited about it. We needed to get rid of our older vehicle anyway so everything worked out for the best. My hubby will leave our newer car at home and he will take his car at work. Every one is happy. Hooray!

A precious photo

Tell us about one photograph that means a lot to you.

my dashing hubby

 

There is a wedding picture that means a lot to me. It is the one of my hubby and I, right after our wedding, when we are in the car and my hubby appears so happy and excited. The look on his face is one of the many looks that made me fall in love with him. He was and is so handsome with that glint in his eye, that assures you that the wheels are always turning and you never know what is next.

Ingredients for a tasty weekend

Tags

bitter cold, cooking, food, homecooking, hot meals, postday2013, soup

Today was bitterly cold for poor Jack and I. I promise you that our walks were unenjoyable to say the very least; the high today was a mere 21 degrees Fahrenheit with a wind chill factor of I don’t know how much lower. The only thing that can get the chill out of your bones is hot and hearty soup and if not soup, than perhaps some slow cooked pork roast.

So that is what prompted me to take pictures of this weekend’s ingredients. These vegetables will be transformed into various hot and delicious dishes. The butternut squash will become roasted butternut squash soup with sage and roasted garlic, the broccoli will be blanched and then sautéed with garlic,that is the plan for the vegetables. The accompanying members of the meal, the meat and fish will be transformed as follows; the pork shoulder will become slow roasted pulled pork and the flounder filets will be sautéed and sprinkled with lemon. All this will transpire during the course of this weekend. Just the smells emanating from the oven and the kitchen, I think will be enough to warm our cold bones. I hope that what the smell and anticipation does for me, it does the same for Jack. He isn’t allowed table food but he is allowed to smell what is cooking and I hope that in some small way the smells makes him feel all warm and happy.

Surreal?

Describe your idea of a surreal experience.

Back in 1997, I was diagnosed with basal cell carcinoma on my upper lip, the area encompassed parts of my upper lip and the philtrum, the medical term for the area between the upper lip and the nose. On the day of my surgery, I didn't know exactly what was to transpire because no one knew exactly how far spread the cancer was, so that was a little bit much for my little brain to deal with, I must say that in light of all my uncertainty, both of my surgeons were fantastic.

My first surgeon, the one who cut away all of the cancer using the Mohs technique, Dr. Christine Hayes, was a champion. While she was doing her work cutting, cauterizing and suturing, she worked very quickly and efficiently surrounded by her two nurse and an assisting surgeon. It was such a friendly and polite atmosphere, so many pleases and thank yous, they also sang me a rendition of Frere Jacques with me translating the verses into English. Now tell me that isn't surreal enough for you. Listening and translating a French lullaby while your surgeon is calmly skimming cancer cells off your lip.

My second surgeon, Dr. Michael Lewis,was the teaching plastic surgeon on staff so when it was time to repair my lip, I had a full audience. Dr. Lewis needed a skin graft from behind my right ear and as they were draping my head with the green surgery sheets, all I could think of was the Bionic Woman from the late seventies. Oscar's voice was in my head "We are going to make her faster, stronger, we have the technology". Since the side of my head was completely numb all I could do is hear the work being done, I could hear the fat being scraped off the skin before and after hearing the scissors cutting off the skin and I could hear the needle going in and out of my skin as Dr. Lewis was sewing my skin back together behind my ear. It was so bizarre.

All in all the worst part of the two surgeries was the awful smell of my flesh burning as they were cauterizing the wound at several different stages of both operations. It is the worst smell in the world; sweet and cloying, it's enough to turn my stomach nowadays. That day my little brain was too overwhelmed by the things that had been done to my upper lip, it truly was a surreal experience that seemed to last a bit too long.

Our poor little Jack; the ham

Tags

dog sweaters, dogs, Jack Russell Terrier, pets, pictures, postaday2012, puppies

first time I had Jack in my arms in 2010

the baby girl and Jack at our house

Rex meeting Jack

Jack showing off his piglet belly

Jack looking morose

 

 

 

Jack still looking morose

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Poor Jack , he really doesn’t appreciate the New England winters, especially this one, since this one is more to the norm than last year’s. We have had snow at least three times, I believe, and pretty frigid temperatures. What prompts me to say poor Jack is despite the fact that his winter coat and his sweaters provide him with a layer of warmth and a barrier against the wind, he still looks all morose whenever I put them on him. It deserves taking a picture simply to capture his forlorn expression on “film”. I have also noticed that in all of his pictures he has an over-sized head in comparison to the rest of him. His head looks like it could tip him over face first onto the ground. He is so cute though and he looks exactly like he did when we first brought him home just twice the size. The little piglet.

I promise you that WordPress is frustrating me with their new media and formatting procedures. I am keeping my patience and I am still learning but it is frustrating nevertheless, so I apologize if you are going to see pictures cutting into text or copies of pictures, this is a work in progress and I shall get there eventually.

Jack looking forlorn

Jack looking like he is about to tip over with his large head

The top five items

If you had to evacuate your home in an instant, what five items would you grab on your way out?

If I had to evacuate in an instant and I didn't have to worry about anyone else or Jack, our little Jack Russell terrier, I don't know that I would have the presence of mind to go and grab the irreplaceable things that we own. I can honestly state that we don't own anything that is financially worth risking our lives over. It's not as if we are housing any van Gogh's, Monet's or Degas, how I wish, but alas we don't.

However in the sentimental value department where do I start and how do I choose? There are the baby albums, the babies artwork, the stamp collection given to me by my grandfather, my hubby's stamp collection given to him by his father, the frames made by my father, the paintings done my my hubby's mother and so on and so forth. How do you pick and choose when you are running out of the door in a disaster situation. I suppose that the best thing to do is to chuck everything out of the window and hope that the shrubs and grass will cushion the fall. Who knows by that time, I might have to leap out the window as well, joining all of our precious items on the way down.