chochiyo_sama

I tidied up the living room, put away my clean dishes, and baked one of my box mixes of brownies so I would have a treat for Cynthia when she comes on Thursday. Then I washed the dishes from the baking. For a mix, the brownies were pretty good. I threw in a handful of chocolate chips to give them a little texture and extra "oomph."

I cleaned the litter boxes and swept the breezeway then settled down to work on the butterfly dresses again. I had one of those single serve salads and some Cheetos for lunch. The salad had chicken, green apple, dried cranberries, feta cheese, and some nuts in it and a green vinegar-tasting salad dressing. It was very good. I really like those premade salads--they make a nice meal and have a good combination of flavors and textures.

Jim David came over and hauled my garbage and recycling bins back up to the house. Mom and Tammy both called and chatted for a while. I had some cherry jello and a Kaiser roll with butter on it for supper--I wasn't in the mood for anything too extreme today.

That's about it--it was a quiet day. I didn't do a ton of work, but I was satisfied with what I accomplished.

mm

Current Mood: content
Current Location: my bedroom
Current Music: Late Night with Stephen Colbert

My cousin Jim and his daughter Cynthia came over this morning at about 9:45 and hung up my beautiful globe lamp. I have had it since the early 1980s, and it looks like something from the Victorian era--not quite so ornate, maybe, but I love it and the two matching side lamps. It didn't take them long to hang it up, and it looks just great! It will look better when I can afford to get rid of my garage sale (well, actually it came from the on-line Buy and Sell) couch and replace it with something in my beloved earth tones. After Jim hung up the lamp, Cynthia cleaned up all the plaster dust and crumbles.

I didn't have any strong desire to bake, but I had promised Jim a pan of pumpkin bars if he came to hang up my lamp, so I baked them and did up the dishes. I will frost them in the morning. Today I was smart and left out the butter so it would be soft tomorrow for the frosting making.

I cleaned the litter boxes again--the cats seem to be pooping and peeing up a storm! They love to sit on the edge of the bathroom sink and lap icy cold water directly from the faucet. I suppose it is fresher and colder than what's in their bowls.

It's been a pretty quiet day--I didn't do too much. I sat in the living room and admired my lamp hanging there so pretty and bright. In the evening I watched that new science fiction show about the asteroid hitting the earth in 186 days. The first episode was pretty good. All the leading men are pretty handsome. Of course, the government (in the show) is covering everything up and killing anyone who finds out anything about the situation. Would that really happen? Probably--but it is more likely, I think, that they would just ridicule anyone making such claims and ruin their lives that way.

I am old and barren, so if the world was impacted by an asteroid, I guess I wouldn't worry about my survival much. I would hope that the young ones I love would survive somehow. And the cats. The cats must survive. And dogs too. My only regret would be not having my grave marker with the image of Bastet on it being around for generations to scandalize everyone! Bwa ha ha!

Another day of no puke piles! I am feeling so happy about this. Both cats have been clingy--but I suspect this is because I was gone for two overnights. They miss their momma when she isn't there to cuddle with at night.

I guess that's it for today. Cynthia comes tomorrow and I have a significant list for her. She is such a diligent little worker. I only regret that I do not have any kind of hot dish to serve her. I guess I do have three kinds of yummy sandwich meat--honey ham, roast beef, and hard salami. And I have the Kaiser rolls which are really fresh and delicious.

We'll locate something, I am sure.

Current Mood: cheerful
Current Location: my bedroom
Current Music: neighbor mowing the lawn

I woke up this morning to Cora pounding on my bedroom door. I ignored her, hoping she would go away and let me sleep a little longer. That child must have her picture in the dictionary next to the word "tenacious." When the knocking alone wasn't sufficient, she began yowling, "Aunt Cheryl? Aunt Cheryl! Aunt Cheryl? Aunt Cheeeerrrryllllll." Finally I responded since it was obvious she was not going to give up.

She waltzed in, saying, "Why are you still sleeping? It's in the nines."

I told her I was tired and I would get up in an hour or so. Not the answer she wanted, so she continued to bug me until I told her I would get up if she would go and get me a diet coke. Then I tried to get her to go bother Grandma for a while and give me fifteen minutes to get my teeth brushed and get dressed.

No way. She followed me to the bathroom, jabbering away the whole while, and stood in the doorway watching me pee and then brush my teeth. I said, "Why don't you go ask Grandma what we should bake, and I will get dressed while you are gone." The reason she was pestering me so vigorously is that she and I have baked every Saturday for the last three weeks, and she wanted to bake again today.

"I've seen my mom naked before," she said as I gathered up clothes to put on. "Naked people are gross," she went on to say. Yet, her big blue eyes remained solemnly fixed on me as she talked on and on about my cats, her cats, how diet coke is bad for you, especially if you drink it right away in the morning (I had demanded a can of diet coke if I was going to get up), football (and how it sucks), school (and how it doesn't suck), bacon (how delicious it is), and so on and so on.

At some point, Mom came in, and I had an audience of two while I got dressed. I felt like a goldfish in a bowl. LOL. A naked goldfish (although I was never actually naked).

So, anyhow.

I told Cora we had to finish Grandma's race car first. (Mom's church is having some sort of thing where everyone in the congregation has to decorate these little wooden cars and then they are going to have a pot luck and race them. Mom thinks it is a kind of dumb idea--so does Jack. I think it isn't a very churchy thing. It's more like something someone would do at some sort of a club, like boy scouts or something.

Anyhow, Cora painted the car blue last night, and today I made two tiny little license plates for the front and back of the car which say "ANGEL." I used clear red push pins for tail lights and tiny yellow buttons (the ones I use for my doll clothes) as head lights. I painted the windshield and the rear window on the car with white paint tinted slightly with blue. Finally, I glued a wing on each side of the car and a beautiful cross down the back where the "trunk" would be. When Jack came to pick up Cora last night, he put the tires on. I was afraid to do it, since Mom was told the wheels were very easily broken.

I am hoping I can get a picture of it before mom goes to church. I am quite please withthe way it turned out.

Cora wanted to go to the Ellendale Cafe for lunch, but it is closed on Saturday. She wanted bacon, so I said we would go to Perkins if Grandma wanted to. We then called Kim and asked her if she would like to join us, and she was very happy to do so. After we had already made arrangements with Kim, Cora decided she would rather go to McDonalds. Well, I had already called Kim. So we discussed it and decided that Cora could eat some bacon at Perkins with the rest of us, and on the way home we would stop at McDonalds and get her a happy meal.

Mom and Kim had burgers, and I had eggs and bacon because I planned to let Cora have my bacon. I had my eggs over easy and got toast instead of pancakes because I like to dip the toast in the soft eggs. Cora, the little booger, only ate three pieces of her bacon because she didn't want to be too full to eat her McDonalds. Kim bought a french silk pie to take home to her and Lucas. Yum. One of these days I am going to buy a slice of pie again.

We had fun there, laughing and talking. The food was good and hot. Kim wants to make a day of it next Saturday and everyone get their toes done then go to lunch or something. Cora was really excited about that because she LOVES to have her toes done.

After that, we went through the drive through at McDonalds. What a crazy order we gave the guy! One girl's happy meal with just a hamburger on a bun--no condiments of any kind, two twist cones (for me and mom), one plain cone (for Cora) and one sweet tea (for Kim). LOL.

Cora was then content and sat in the back seat happily chowing down her fries as we dropped off Kimbies and headed home.

Mom and I were really tired when we got home, and Cora was raring to go and bake something. I told her I needed to rest a bit and spend some time with my kitties. So, I went to the Lair and snuggled the kitties. Mom fell asleep in her recliner upstairs, and Cora put together her puzzles. I suppose she allowed me about an hour of rest before she was down here bugging me to bake. I didn't really feel like baking, but that child is relentless.

So, I found a recipe for apple cookies on line and we baked them. At first I was disappointed, but after I put the powdered sugar glaze on them, I found them okay. The apple cake we made last week was much better with its caramel glaze.

Jack called and said he was coming to pick up Cora, but Cora resisted, saying she was not ready to come home yet. So, he gave her until 7:30, which she still protested, saying she wanted to stay overnight. LOL. I think she would move in if she could.

She seems very happy and content here. And she is fun to have around. She chatters incessantly and makes all sorts of interesting observations about everything.

Jack took the time to put the wheels on mom's little car for her.

Mom and I watched a little TV and then went to our separate floors and cashed in our chips for the night.

Current Mood: okay
Current Location: Lair
Current Music: train rattling by

I was up past three again last night. I just can't get to sleep at a decent hour. I am almost always in bed by 10 pm, but the moment I lay down--BANG! All notion of sleep leaves me.

Today, I had to babysit Cora while Kari and Jack went to Caleb's football game. She arrived here at about 9 am. I was awake, but still in my pjs when she got here. She hung out in my room and talked to me for a long time. Then I sent her up to Mom so that I could get dressed. She was very excited about baking. We have become baking buddies. LOL. She told Mom, "I love to bake!"

Mom went to Harmony today to visit the Amish community with her church group. She was afraid she would get back after dark, so I drove her to the church and dropped her off at about 9:45. Cora elected to stay here by herself while I took Mom to the church. She was playing an odd little game with all Mom's beanie babies. She had bears set up all over the living room. She talked and sang and played with those critters completely without self-consciousness. I was very amused by it all. "Bearathon" was the name of the "town" she had set up, and there were creatures in "Heaven" (the shelf above the fireplace) who watched over the creatures down below. She has a very creative little mind.

I tried to grab a little nap while she was playing, but she kept noticing my eyes were shut and telling me, "You are NOT ALLOWED to go to sleep, Auntie Cheryl. We have to BAKE today."

So, even though I didn't feel much like it at the time, I got out the stuff and we made a double batch of chocolate chip cookies, a batch of peanut butter cookies, and a raw apple cake with a caramel glaze. Everything turned out very good. She was very into measuring the ingredients. I had fun working with her. She had so many questions, like "Why do we need to put in Crisco?" and "What does flour do for the cake?"

When Kari and Jack got back from the football field, Kari called and wanted to know if Cora was ready to come home and go shopping in Owatonna. Cora immediately replied, "No. I want to stay with Aunt Cheryl." I was really hoping for a little quiet time in the house with mom gone, but it was not to be. Cora was here from 9 in the morning till 5:30 pm. We had a very nice time together, though. I don't regret losing out on the time by myself.

She took a couple of breaks from baking with me to read her book Junkyard Dog or play with the Beanie Babies. She didn't really enjoy putting the cookies on the cookie sheet. She also watched a couple of kids shows on TV. One was I, Carly, and another was SpongeBob Square Pants.

Kari and Jack called and wanted to invite me and Mom over for Papa Murphy's pizza and to watch the movie Thor, which they just picked up today. I didn't expect Mom back till 7 or 8 pm. But to my surprise she got here before Kari and Jack did. Fortunately, I had already done the dishes, wiped down the table, counters and stove, ad swept before she got here. I had split the apple cake batter into two small square cake pans, and both baked up nicely. They came out of the oven shortly after Mom came home. I was making the caramel glaze when Kari and Jack and Caleb got there.

They headed home after Jack hauled my kitty litter out to the garbage and Cora got her messes cleaned up. Mom and I followed shortly afterwards with one of the two cakes I had made. We had Papa Murphy's pizza--one was pepperoni and cheese with garlic sauce on one half and regular tomato sauce on the other. They also got a thin crust veggie delight for me. I prefer vegetables and no meet on my pizza,

Thor was just as good the second time through. The actor that plays Thor could eat crackers in my bed any time he wanted to! There were a lot of small, clever, cute things in the movie. For example, the point where Thor is all cocky, saying, "You DARE threaten THOR, the god of thunder with that puny...." Then the chick tazes him and he falls twitching to the floor. LOL. Then in the hospital, when he's yelling to all the doctors and orderlies that are trying to subdue him, "You are no match for THOR..." And one of them shoves a needle in his ass and puts him down. LOL.

Mojo, the new kitten let me hold him for quite a while. He is a big flirt and adorable. He purred and purred and purred. He made me miss the kitten stage...but I still remember the curtain climbing. I don't want to go through THAT again. LOL.

Kari and Jack brought me back a baggie of Bing cherries as a "thank you" for taking care of Cora. She was no bother. She's a pretty good girl, even if she did lecture me on the evils of drinking Diet Coke. LOL.

That's about it for me, I guess.

Current Mood: worn out.
Current Location: Lair
Current Music: Absolutely nothing

I am pleased to announce that I am in the process of enjoying an unexpected but much relished four-day weekend.

I took Thursday off as a personal day so that I could have the electricians come and figure out why I wasn't getting electricity upstairs in the bedrooms or in the stairwell. (The bathroom was fine, which allowed me to run an extension cord across the hall so I could plug in my TV and my alarm clock and phone base.)

I expected there to be a problem in the basement with the breaker box, but it was in the other suspicious place--the attic. I expected that the attic would be the source of the problem if the breaker box wasn't because the damn squirrels think my attic is the Hotel California...they check in and don't ever want to leave. And believe me, from the noises I hear coming from up there at all hours, I think it is probably some form of bdsm squirrel brothel. I try not to put mental images to the noises I hear. I'm too young for that sort of knowledge. Ugh.

It turns out that there were some bare wire splices up there, and that was causing the problem. They fixed the issue but said that there is a lot more potential problem material up there and that I should really have it taken care of soon. Ugh. Fortunately, the issues that they resolved on Thursday, including fixing the three-way switch for the stairwell light, cost me only $166. I was expecting it to cost an arm and a leg. I was so relieved when it was such a small amount. Whew. Dodged a bullet.

While they were here, one of them told me that the deputy sheriff had pulled up next to their van to tell them that the roads were getting treacherous and that a lot of schools were dismissing early. I texted one of my homeroom kids and asked her if they were getting out, and she texted back that they had been released at 10:45. So, not only did I get a day off, but I can continue on, mostly unimpeded, with my curriculum. It's always a pain to have a sub because they literally cannot go on with what you were doing because (a) it isn't their area of expertise, (b) I have my own unique ways of presenting material to the kids so that they "get it" and I also have my ways of checking in with them to be sure they "got it," (c) you have to come up with detailed activities that are educational for the kids, fun enough for the kids to be willing to do them, simple enough for the sub to comprehend and perform without a lot of previous knowledge about the subject area, and extensive enough so that the sub has material to keep them busy for most of the class period. It's a lot of work to get ready for a sub, and it's a lot of work to pick up afterwards and finish off the activities with the kids, and it takes a big bite of time away from what I *was* doing with them, which requires some revisitation of what we did before before we can move on again.

Sigh.

Only another teacher can really understand the woes of having a sub.

And the subs, God bless them--they have the toughest times of all...

So, anyhow.

I began Thursday by tossing all my laundry down the stairway. They came earlier than I expected, so my house was still sort of a wreck. I had a ton of dirty dishes. So, while they were here, I did dishes and assembled my new vacuum cleaner. I still haven't used it yet, but today's the day.

I was freezing cold all day because of the godawful temperatures, so I turned on the oven and baked chocolate chip cookies and something that Shane Lesley told me about--cornflake macaroons that his grandma makes. I looked them up on the internet and found a recipe. It is my plan to gift him with a little baggie of them on Monday. Assuming we do not have some freaking blizzard and have another snow day!

The recipe did not make a very big batch, and I believe I overbaked one pan as they are like little rocks. Sigh.

However, the ones that turned out are very chewy and tasty.

In the event that you would like the recipe--here it is:

Cornflake Macaroons

1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
3/4 cup flour
5 cups cornflakes
1 1l/2 cups flaked coconut

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Cream butter and sugars.
Add eggs and vanilla
Mix in flour.
Stir in cornflakes and coconut.

Drop by teaspoonful on parchment lined cookie sheets. Bake at 375 for 8-10 minutes.

You have to watch these carefully as they go from really raw to over baked in seconds.

Next time I make them, I will be using some pecans as well, as I think they would benefit from that.

Brad Paulson came by to plow my driveway while the first pan of chocolate chip cookies was baking, so I hooked him up with a big plate of fresh, warm cookies. The man had the look of bliss on his face as he was leaving my house. LOL.

I did not really anticipate a snow day on Friday as the storm was supposed to blow itself out in the night. I was hoping for a late start so that I could at least see clearly when I drove to school. However, while I was watching KTTC news, I saw that many area schools were already posting late starts. And after a bit ROC popped up as closed for Friday. I didn't cry too hard at the thought of having another day off--but I did miss my kids.

Current Location: kitchen
Current Music: the sounds of clothing tumbling in the dryer.

I couldn't fall asleep last night. The last time I looked at the clock it was 1 am. As a result, I couldn't get out of bed soon enough to take my garbage to the curb. So I will have to have the stinky stuff sitting in my porch until next Tuesday.

However, once I DID get up, I got a lot of stuff done.

Before I did anything else I made scrambled eggs so I could get some protein in my system and take my meds.

I started my laundry right away too. I had four loads--three of clothing and one just a blanket. It is all done, folded, and upstairs now EXCEPT the blanket. It is in the dryer and I will get it before I go to my mom's tomorrow.

I baked chocolate chip cookies and cherry winks and also dipped pretzels in almond bark and sprinkled them with colored sprinkles. Everything turned out yummy.

I put away all the clean dishes--there were quite a bunch of them--and when I was done cooking, I cleaned up the kitchen surfaces and did up the dishes.

Jim Engvall stopped over and widened out my driveway for me a bit. I shouldn't have any trouble getting out. He carried my laundry basket of gifts out to my car for me. I am very thankful for that since it is hard for me to walk without my cane now, and my lawn is uneven and there is snow everywhere. I packed Jim and DeAnn and Josue's gifts into a big garbage bag so they'd be easier for him to carry. I only had chocolate chip cookies baked at that point, so That's all he got. If they stop tomorrow I will give them some dipped pretzels and some of those cherry winks. Those turned out really really good. I wanted to make Russian Tea cakes as well, but I burned out.

I called Jim Cronin and told him if he stopped on his way to work, I would give him some cookies. I gave him a baggie of chocolate chip cookies and a baggie of dipped pretzels.

I tidied up quite a bit, but didn't get the vacuuming done like I had hoped to...I also did not sweep and scrub the kitchen, but I will attempt to do both tomorrow before I got to mom's.

My suitcase is packed except for my sewing stuff. I need to sort out that stuff and perhaps cut out a few more outfits to sew while I am at mom's house.

Right now I am under the covers. My knee hurts and my back hurts. All those trips up and down the basement steps are probably responsible.

At least the laundry is done. And my suitcase is packed and my baking is done.

I am going to try to clean the bathroom before I go to sleep tonight. At least, I want to clean the toilet and the sink. The floor can wait.

I might try to vacuum my bedroom rug too, while I am at it.

That's it.

Current Mood: achey
Current Location: bedroom
Current Music: NCIS

It is horrifying how rapidly the beginning of school is approaching. Bleah.

(Don't get me wrong--I love my school; i love my job--but I love the freedom and limitless POSSIBILITY of summer.)

I baked today. I baked a double batch of chocolate cookies. So Carmen, Phil, Sue, Nate, Sam, and other frequent denizens of crazy house--send me a mailing address and you will receive a nice present in the mail within a couple of days.

I also made a fluffy dessert that consists of jello, a package of cream cheese, a cup of sugar, and a can of evaporated (non sweetened) milk beaten to a froth. This is all combined and poured into a yummy graham cracker and sweet butter crust. Unfortunately, MY evaporated milk had gone bad. When I poured it into the bowl to whip, it was a urine yellow color. Definitely not a good sign. So I had to throw it away--along with the other can I had, which was in the same condition--I think I bought them both on the same day. So, I called Jim to see if DeAnn had a spare can. She didn't but she was on her way home, and he called her on the cell phone to have her pick up a can.

I brought the stuff that was ready over there (along with a large container of cookies) when I went over for supper. We had grilled chicken, grilled zucchini, pasta salad, and watermelon for supper. After supper, we just sat out on the patio until it got fully dark. It was kind of amusing because a bat was swooping around catching bugs, and he collided with the clothesline and kinda bounced off the side of the garage. Heh heh heh. He needs to take his radar in for a test to be sure there are no "bugs" in it. Hee hee hee.

When we went into the house, I whipped up the evaporated milk and finished making the dessert. We stuck it into the refrigerator to "set" and watched a little TV (a very rare thing for me). I worked on my sewing, so watching TV wasn't too horribly painful for me.

Then DeAnn showed me her pictures from her vacation/artists' retreat way up north by Canada. The scenery was breathtaking. I need to go someplace remote and isolated to work on my writing next summer. Sigh. Some place where you can see AMAZING sunsets every night...

These were digital pictures, so we viewed them on her computer. Computers and amazing things! Then, I asked her to turn on her IM so I could see if Peter was still up waiting for me to come a play scrabble. He was. So we chatted with him for a bit. He turned on his web cam for us--he has a very charming smile. :)

He sent us pictures of his dogs. DeAnn said Baby looked like his name should be Satan. But I said, "No....look at his face. There is no meanness in him." The Doberman was adorable. She had the happiest little doggie smile on her face!!

Before I went home, we pulled out the dessert and had a few bites. Jim, who is solar powered, was already in bed asleep by then. The dessert wasn't fully set, but it still tasted okay. We'll have more of it tomorrow. I left it there.

DeAnn and I may run into Rochester tomorrow to see a movie. She is going to update her library card so she can down load audio books, and I may do the same thing. It would be AWESOME to download them right off the net. Then I can listen to them on my computer while I work. I need to make better use of the Rochester library--I mean, I am right there every day during the school year. I should be taking advantage of all it has to offer!

I'm tired and ready for bed right now. It's already midnight. Eek.

I'm gonna try to get a few things done in the morning before DeAnn and I go to Rochester. Like vacuum the rugs and sweep the kitchen floor.

It would also be nice to do a little dusting downstairs. It's an inch thick down there! (Well, not really, but it's pretty bad.)

That's it for tonight, kids.

Nightie night.

Current Mood: sleepy

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chochiyo_sama

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Tuesday--a Quiet, Moderately Productive Day

My Globe Lamp is Hanging!

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Another Productive Day.

Another WEdnesday of Summer Bites the Dust

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October 2024

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