I Don't Know

Seems like this has been one looooooooooooooooooooooooooong week.  Glad it's over.

The funeral service for the Boss's sister was Thursday.  Other than that, it was a normal week.

Just boring!

And warm.  Not hot by TEXAS standards, but humid enough to just about shut my asthmatic lungs down as soon as I go outside.

Today is Billyboy's birthday!  He's 55.  He got his birthday bacon this morning and then he decided he wanted a pizza for dinner tonight.  He chose strawberry shortcake for his birthday cake.

OK, Froggy - before you get on me - I did blog!

Sunday Ketchup

I haven't done a Catch Up post in a while.  I think it's overdue.  So, here goes:

The situation with Bill's employer actually was over 2 years, now that I've had time to think about things.  It was pretty bad, but once we realized that her was eligible for the contract buy-out we realized just how crushingly bad it was.  Once we found out that he was eligible, there was no question in our minds that he was taking it.  We just weren't sure what day he was going to pick to be his last day.  His last official day was Friday, and on Thursday he received official notification that his job was one that was going to be eliminated as part of the cost-cutting efforts effective July 1 so he would have been out of a job anyway even if he had stayed.  Just further proof to us that it was God's care and provision.  About 2 dozen people had taken the buy-our as of last Friday, anyone who is eligible can still opt to take it if their jobs are also on the chopping block.

At some point, Bill will need to find another job.  But we will be able to stretch the timeline for that out for a while if we have to.  He spent last week trying to catch up on pachinko machine restoration and cleanings for some of his customers.  The calls and emails wanting restorations and cleaning just keep coming.  More proof that God is still watching over us!

Last Wednesday, there was really bad weather.  It was rainy early in the day, although the forecast was for last afternoon/early evening but the rain had stopped by the time it was supposed to start.  I went to the grocery store, I was just getting back in the car at 5:00 and the news report was on as I started the car.  The reporter stated that we were "in the clear" as far as any potential bad stuff.  About 7:00, the first of what turned out to be 4 separate tornados sprouted.  The first one was west of Tulsa and it went through the northern part of the city/county limits.  There were no deaths, but there were a lot of injuries and a great deal of damage.  The storm continued on east and it took the twister with it.  The next target was a small town north/northeast of Tulsa called Owasso.  Again, damage and injuries but no deaths.  The tornado dissolved but then the storm kept going east and 2 more sprouted.  The next targets were the smaller towns of Claremore and Catoosa.  Widespread damage but again, no deaths were reported.  (None of those are the area we live in.)  We joke about the forecasters, but this time it was no joke.  They just missed it and they missed it BIG.

Otter turned 24 on Thursday!  We got her a small birthday cake, I took it (and ice cream!) to her apartment Wednesday afternoon so that she would have it on her actual birthday.  J was there, so he put it in the fridge for her and I told him to remind her that on your birthday it is perfectly acceptable to have cake for breakfast!  She apparently listened, because she texted me that she had cake AND ICE CREAM for her breakfast on Thursday.  :)  We met J & Otter at a Mexican place for dinner on Thursday, it was really nice.

Maggie was dragging her rear again last week, so I made an appointment with the vet for her on Friday.  That was actually the only time they could see her other than Thursday, and I had already arranged the day off as a vacation day - originally Bill had planned to make Thursday the 31st his last day but then he found out that his insurance premium would be covered for April if he made the 1st his last day.  Anyway, on Thursday morning Maggie had a slight accident.  It looked like she was just not able to make it outside but she tried.  I cleaned up after her and then I realized that she'd had "potty problems" outside and that evening she was acting like she wasn't feeling too good.  I called the vet and let them know and they scheduled an exam for her.  Friday, I took her for a short walk about an hour before the vet appointment.  She was having really bad "potty problems" then and she had a blade of grass sticking out her her behind parts!  She was happy to get in the car but not happy to get to the vet's office, but she was even more unhappy when she realized that she was being taken back to the room to get her "rear alignment!"  The vet came back in with her after that, he said that her glands were actually not very full and that it looked like they had emptied on their own.  He said that sometimes happens and that she probably had a slight intestinal infection.  He gave her an antibiotic liquid dose (which she didn't particularly like) and then sent home a few days worth of antibiotic pills for me to give her twice per day.  She also got her nails trimmed while she was there.  She responded pretty quickly to the medication, although she did figure out that there was a pill hidden in the bread bite she got this morning - she spit it out at me!

OK, I think I'm caught up for now!

Taco Night 2016

Otter may have moved out to her own place, but we still have Taco Night!  Usually, the night before her birthday but sometimes it's a few days before.  Occasionally, it's on her birthday - depending on what/where/when her birthday dinner is.  This year, she chose a Mexican restaurant and the actual mean will be ON her birthday.  But Bill and I still had bean and cheese tacos for dinner tonight so I think it counts.  :)

Also, this is one of the 3 times per year that we actually have bacon.  Otter's birthday, Bills birthday and Christmas.  I just realized how much that sounds like Texas Seasons:  Summer, Summer, Summer, Christmas.  :)

Beyond that, it's been a pretty good week.  Bill is happy and non-stressed and that is a very nice change.

March 12

Hey!!

It's meeeee, Maggggiiiiiieeeeeeeee Moooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!111

It's my beffday today!  I knows thissssss because my mommom telled meeee.  I'm gunnnna gett a treeeatt soooooonnnn,  I hopes itz a bone like lasstt timme.

I'mz all by myselfs now.  My big brudder Frasier had ttooo go ttooo the Rainbow Bridge alreaddy.  He didnnn't waited for me to goes wifs himm but he telledd meee befores he wentted that he'll comme mmeeeettt meeee when itz myy turnn but that it wontz be mmyyyy tturnn for a lotz of times.

My mommom and Dadd plays wifs mmee alotz of times.  My firstest mom lives in anudder den nows.  She comez to seeeeez me lottss of timez.

Gotz to goez now.  I wantz my beffday treat.

Yay!  It's a bone!

Cold. Tired.

It's cold today and I'm tired!

Yeah, I know.  Not a very imaginative title.

Anyway.  It was very rainy all weekend, especially Saturday.  I had to go run a couple of errands, and literally every time I was inside anywhere the rain would quit.  When it was about time for me to leave and go outside again - yep, the skies opened up!  I would have preferred to just stay home and not have to deal with seriously bad rain, but that wasn't possible.  There waags a lot of street flooding, so I picked my routes carefully.  But I still wound up having to drive in a few absolute downpours.

Yesterday, Sunday, was my birthday.  For the next 6 months-ish, Bill and I are the same age.  He wanted to go to the Hog Trough (Golden Corral) for their breakfast buffet but I really didn't want to because we would have eaten too much.  So we had breakfast at home then we went to an antique store I haven't been to in a while (didn't buy anything) and then to a thrift store (found a real sun tea jar for Otter) then we came home for a while.  We decided to go to dinner so we went to a local place we've eaten at before and it was good.  I don't have chicken fried steak all that often, but we both had it last night.  The servings are huge, so we brought about half of each of our steaks home and Bill finished them for dinner today.

Bill is doing what he usually does when it's either vacation or holiday time:  he's sick!  I was thinking he might have the flu last night, but now I don't think he does.  He has had some fever but I don't think it's been very high - not that he will let me take it!  But he has his normal rash he gets after fever today, and he usually is on the mend when that starts, or at least is over most of the fever.

We've been home today, which we probably would have been even if he wasn't sick.  The rain converted to sleet overnight, which means that the forecasters got it right and wrong again. Right because we did get a little winter weather, but wrong because we were only supposed to get a small amount of sleet and the main storm line would be ending well west of us.  Of course, we had a pretty heavy sleet fall most of the morning followed by snow in the afternoon.  It was a good day for soup, and since Bill has been under the weather himself lunch was potato soup.

Tomorrow morning, IF the forecast is correct and I'm able to get out, I'm taking Otter's car to Chevy to get the ignition recall taken care of.  Then I'm going to pick her up from the not-exactly-next-door small town that J lives in, she went to OK City with J and his mom for Christmas and they came back on Saturday instead of Sunday or today like they originally planned because of the weather forecast.  We are also probably going to get the car titles officially switched.  The 02 is in her name and she will transfer it back to us, and we will transfer the 08 to her.  We have to get everything notarized and then we can get it all switched.  We would have done it a few weeks back, but the title never was sent to us for the 02 when we transferred it to Otter so we had to order a copy.  I also had to call Enterprise because they still have not sent me the information to register the 15 in our names.  The paper tags are only good for 30 days, and I'm on day 28.  I called them the other day and they said it takes 3 weeks normally.  We are well past the 3 week period and I told them that I was very concerned about the fact that we still haven't received the paperwork.  I know that the loan has officially gone through because we looked it up on the loan company's website and it looks like they've paid Enterprise.  I waited until after the mail came today, not that we ever really get mail other than mainly junk mail at home, just to be sure - although it was supposed to go to the post office box and as of Saturday's mail it still hadn't.  The person who handles that was already gone for the day but they promised to check first thing in the morning and will overnight the paperwork to me if necessary.  We'll see if they do what they say, they generally do so I expect them to actually call me tomorrow.  I hope so, *RHTW really does NOT want to have to educate Enterprise!

Maggie Moo has been really funny the last few days.  We have always given a specific type of "bone" as a treat to the dogs, Frasier would always take his outside and eat it immediately.  Maggie Moo would wait, she would put hers where he could see it and then she would wait for him.  If he even acted like he saw it, she would turn into the canine version of *RHTW on him!  The last one we gave them was on March 12, their "beffday" and then Frasier crossed the Rainbow Bridge just over a month later.  We have not given her any of them since then, but we thought it had been long enough that maybe it would be ok and she'd just eat it so that was her Christmas treat.  Well, she was certainly happy to get it.  But she didn't eat it.  She kept putting it in place where it was obvious and impossible to miss.  She acted like she was waiting on her Big Brother Fraiser to come attempt to get it and a couple of times we wondered if she was looking for him again - she hasn't done that since several days after he left us.  We decided that maybe it was a mistake to give her that type of treat after all, but then she started doing something else:  she kept hiding it.  She would "bury" it in whatever spot she could - her beds, her blankets, under the blanket I was using, behind things, etc., and she kept moving it.  After a while, Bill started unhiding it and moving it to where she could see it.  She would hide it again.  This went on for a while, and she was actually bringing it to Bill to hide from her after a while.  She had a great time playing with Bill, and he enjoyed it as much as the beaglebrat did.  Today, she finally decided it was time to actually eat it.  She seemed to enjoy it.  They come in packs of 2, so there is still another one.  She won't get it anytime soon, she doesn't need the extra calories!  But eventually we'll give it to her, and then if she still acts like she's waiting on Frasier then we will switch to a different treat for her.

I will probably post my year-end review in the next few days.  There have been quite a few things that I have not posted about but that have made this one of the worst years we've had in quite a while.  And indications are that next year might not be much better.  It's not all bad, there have been some good things and we are Thankful.  But it's been a rough year and 2015 has not been one of our better years.

Froggy?

You there?  I haven't blogged since the 7th and you have not been bugging me.  What's up?

Otter and Bill have switched cars although the titles have not been changed yet.  We were going to do that one day last week but we realized that the state never actually sent us the title to the 02 when we put it in Otter's name.  They don't show that it was delivered and returned, just that it was changed in the computer and they did send us a receipt.  But we never got the actual title, so we had to request another one be sent.  $13.00 and it should still be a few days, then we'll get the car titles switched around.  The insurance has already been taken care of, the 02 and 08 were basically the same as far as the premium was concerned, and the insurance company has transferred them so we are paying for the appropriate vehicle, but we are also all authorized drivers on each other's cars.

The 08 still has a recall issue with Chevy, which I'm going to take care of during the time I'm off after Christmas.  Chevy will make a minor change on the key itself and it has to be the official Chevy key, so the 02 is still and will continue to be out of lock as far as that particular recall is concerned.  I still think Chevy is trying to welch out of paying out any more money than they have to!

I'm happy with the new car.  When we bought it, the 2nd set of keys did not get transferred to the Tulsa office so we only got one set.  The 2nd set was sent to them and I picked it up last Saturday.  Bill now has a set, but he still hasn't driven it!

But now we all have safe cars with good tires.  Which will be important, if we ever actually get that wet & heavy winter that was forecasted to have hit us already.  Monday, actually had to use the a/c in the car.

I decided that we need a Christmas tree this year.  The plan was to get one of the artificial trees out of the attic, but that would mean moving about a billion pachinko machines out of the way of the attic access in the garage.  Ain't nobody want to do that!  (Yes, I know.  My TEXAN is showing.  Deal with it.)  So, I picked Otter up one day and we went to Hobby Lobby.  I bought a 4 1/2' artificial tree, ornament hooks, a couple of ornaments I liked and a 4-pack of plain stockings.  I forgot lights so I got some at Walmart but then I had to go back and exchange them for a smaller string!  I put the tree together last week and it's now in the living room with a crocheted lap blanket I made for Otter a few years back as a tree skirt.  I had a bunch of ornaments to turn into an ornament wreath, the majority of the ornaments on the tree are from that particular craft stash.

It's on a small plastic table that we usually use as a plant stand.

The lap blanket/tree skirt that is folded around the tree and not allowed to hang down the sides because of this:

She's also the reason that there are no presents under the tree yet!  We don't do a lot of gift giving anyway, so I don't shop until a lot closer to Christmas.  But I did get a little bit of candy to go in the stockings.

I think I've posted this before:

Baby Bevo and the Texas crew!  They are in the small wooden rocking chair that was Otter's when she was a toddler.  The crocheted piece is the only piece of crochet that Otter has ever done, I taught her how and she did enjoy it but it isn't really her thing.  Which is fine, actually.  Anyway, I tied the end off so it won't come undone, put it in Baby Bevo's hand with a plastic crochet hook and the Texas Crew is accompanied by Crickey the crocodile, which is Otter's and mine and is from many years ago.  Crickey stays underneath the rocking chair, although at the moment he is also out of beagle reach and is sitting on top of the futon.

Today I discovered the yellow yarn ball was not where I left it.  It was in the bed Maggie has in the yarn room!  And it did NOT get there by itself.  The beagle is claiming to "no nuzzing" but I kind of have a hard time believing her!  I put it back in place, found the crochet hook (it had landed under the futon) and then I turned the entire chair around so that it's facing away from the beagle's bed and is a little harder for her to reach.

Otter texted me today.  Her next door neighbors are moving out and they offered her a futon.  She immediately said yes, and they even helped her get it into her apartment.  So she now has a couch and also a place for visitor's to sleep.  And probably still a pile of boxes that have been unpacked but not taken to the recycling center yet, which is probably still next to a pile of boxes that have not been unpacked yet!  Mostly her craft stuff is still waiting to be unpacked.  She's pretty much unpacked everything else and she has plenty of room in the 1-bedroom apartment, now that it 's just her.  She has not heard from Roomie, which is about what we expected.  Nobody is disappointed at that.  We were surprised that Roomie went backwards like she did, but in hindsight is is probably not surprising.  We're just glad that it wasn't worse, although I think everybody does feel sorry for the girl because she had a chance at being an adult and having a good, emotionally healthy life but she chose not to take that opportunity.

Bill is taking a few vacation days in addition to his nearly 2 weeks of holiday time and I'm taking the rest of my vacation at Christmas like I usually do.  He's probably going to spend most of his time working on pachinko machines, my main project (other than sleeping late and shopping!) is to work on my crocheted doily curtain.  Along with turning 53 2 days after Christmas.  Maggie's plan for our time off probably includes as many walks as possible, if the weather cooperates.

That is, when she's not napping!

Just Wednesday Stuff

Read this fantastic article that brings joy to TEXANS everywhere:

New Arrivals!

(By the way, real TEXANS do not call them horned lizards.  We know what they are really called.)

I found my WIP scrap blanket that I started months ago.  I put it aside because I am using end pieces of yarn and I ran out.  But I've acquired more as I finish projects, if there isn't much yarn left it gets tossed into the tote bag holding the blanket and then it will get crocheted on to the blanket.  I have several small yarn balls now, and I've been working on the blanket here and there as I get projects done.

This is so me.  The reason I dragged out the WIP scrap blanket is because I was taking a break on a cap I was making for Otter!

Froggy, this is just for you!

Way Too Early

Guess what time it is?

Its ragweed season!

It's early, but it's already started.  It usually hits in August, but it's already started to bloom here.  Thanks to the rainy, cool spring and then the rainy early summer.  I've been dealing with my summer allergies for a few days now, and I am NOT looking forward to the rest of the summer allergy season.  I think Otter is beginning to have her summer allergies, too.  I asked her if she needed anything from the store and she said one word:  CLARITAN.  At least she has an allergy medicine that works for her, unlike me.  My issues with allergy meds not working is very probably part of the Redhead Curse - the metabolism of medication part of it.

Sigh.

I know it's early, but I'm beginning to see reminders about flu shots.  I don't think anyone has the serum yet, but I generally get mine on Labor Day weekend.  Because I have a 3-day weekend and sometimes the reaction I have takes me all weekend to get over.  The reaction could also be part of the Redhead Curse, but it may not be.  A few years ago, some places started offering the shots in August and I got one the first year they offered it so early.  But then I went back to my Labor Day weekend schedule because that particular year was a bad reaction and it took me the weekend plus a couple of days.  I'll have to check with Otter and see if she wants to get hers when I do.  It may depend on her work schedule.  She does have a reaction, but it's usually pretty mild.  Although sometimes it isn't mild, but she has only had one time when it was a really bad reaction - the year that the Tulsa Health Department froze the serum and then it thawed out and they didn't know it; the upshot was that the serum was essentially worthless that year and just about everybody got the flu.  Including Otter and then me shortly after!

(Yes, I'm still getting ice cream as my after-flu-shot treat!)

Oklahoma rattled yesterday.  More than once.  Tulsa felt two of the earthquakes.  I was at work (in Tulsa) and did not feel the first one, but I did feel the second one.  I was sitting at my desk and I heard what sounded like the ceiling lights rattle, and then I realized that I felt something move slightly under my feet.  Otter was at our house (not in Tulsa) doing her laundry.  She was sitting on the couch when she realized that the couch was moving.  She called me, she sounded very surprised.  The first one was 4.0, it was as 12:49 p.m.  The 2nd one was 4.5, it hit about 1:15.  They were both centered in the Crescent, which is near Oklahoma City.  We didn't feel the first one, but it was felt in parts of Tulsa.  The 2nd one was felt in most parts of Tulsa, and quite a bit further.  Missouri and Kansas felt it and it was recorded on a sensor in Georgia.  Although we just felt it for a few seconds, it lasted several seconds.  Like Otter says, this is tornado alley - we aren't supposed to have earthquakes!  By the way, the beagle slept through both of them.  :)

So, Froggy.  Got any plans for tomorrow?  Like maybe a birthday cake?  Although I don't know what kind you could come up with, since you don't eat sugar and are mostly vegetarian.  Happy Birthday a day early!

Otters, Lions, Lambs

Otter is 23 today!

Bill took the car back to her today, I met him at her apartment so he could get home. But first, I took her a small cake!  3 or 4 bites, but she was happy to get it.  I also took her and Roomie a radio.  It's am/fm/weather and is both electric and battery operated.  I put batteries in it and set it to the best Tulsa station for weather reports.  They are keeping it in a specific, easy to grab spot in case they need to run down to the basement or we have any storms at all - which do happen here, in Tornado Alley!

March came in like a lamb this year.  It seems to be going out like one as well.  After all, the lion hit last week and was on the high end of EF2, nearly a 3.  I sincerely hope that we don't get anything else, but as I said before - this is Tornado Alley, after all.

At least it's not Monday any longer.  :)

It's Taco Day!!!

That means that tomorrow is Otter's birthday.  She'll be 23.

Taco Night was still celebrated, even though she is now living on her own.  We just didn't have it at home.  We wanted to have her birthday dinner when J and Roomie could go, and that was tonight.  She gets to pick where/what her birthday meal is, and this year she chose El Chico.  So, Taco Night With A Twist!  I think I'm the only one that actually ordered tacos, although Roomie did have the fajitas.  Bill and J both had burritos and Otter had tamales.  The waitress was a little unorganized but when she heard one of us say that it was Otter's birthday, she brought her a free sopapilla and then she also brought her a free fried ice cream.  Yes, fried ice cream is real - it's an ice cream ball in a hard shell batter which is how it survives being fried.  It's topped with chocolate sauce and a little whipped cream type topping.  Otter, J and Roomie shared the ice cream.  She took the sopapilla in a "to go" container and will probably have it for breakfast tomorrow - if it survives that long!  Roomie's fajitas were a lot bigger than she thought so she also had a "to go" container and she was planning on making quesadillas tomorrow with her leftovers.  It was a lot of fun and the food was really good.

I made her a certificate for her workbench, although she already knew about it.  I put it in the card we gave her and she thought that was fun.  I'm not sure when we'll actually get the workbench, it depends on her schedule and also Bill's since he and the El Camino will be needed to pick it up.  She wants to put it together herself, but she also requests that Dad be there in case she needs help.  Possibly this next weekend.

We had an appointment scheduled with the associate pastor at the church we've been attending, but Bill had a lady who wanted a pachinko repair and she was going to be in town today.  We were going to meet at 4:00 and then pick up the Birthday Girl and crew but we rescheduled the church meeting.  Which was fine with the associate pastor, this is a very busy week for her.  I told her I'll call her one day next week and we'll see what works for a meeting to talk with her.  We have a few questions.

Our Easter dinner plans have changed.  Originally, I was going to pick up a small ham.  We were going to make either rice or mashed potatos and gravy.  But we decided to "go a different direction."  Bill's going to grill steaks!  We'll also have baked potatos and something to be determined later for dessert.  Otter is 100% in favor of steaks!  She'd have been happy with ham & mashed potatos but she is very much a steak fan as well.  I'll pick up a a few steaks and the assorted fixins when I hit the grocery store this week.

Bill shaved his winter beard last night, so I think that winter is officially over now.  Otter remarked when she saw him at the restaurant this afternoon that he no longer looks like Santa Claus!

This Monday night is very different from another Monday night in late March 1992!  But we had the taco celebration, so the tradition continues.  :)

March 12, Doggie Beffday and Mom

March 12 is Mom's birthday.  She's been gone for 14 years now, which is kind of hard to believe.  Mom loved animals and she taught us to love them as well.  So, we remember her by calling her birthday the dog's birthday as well.  Or, as the dogs would say, it's their Beffday!

(Mom would like her day being celebrated in connection with animals, it's not disrespectful.)

The dogs got extra treats tonight, we visited their treat can and they got multiple milkbones so they are happy.

Otter/Bill's car is fixed!  I took it to the tire place yesterday morning, I got there just after they opened and they were waiting for me.  The car was fixed in less time than they said and it was also a little bit less $$ than they thought it would be.  It seems to have been fixed right, also.  We've used this particular tire shop before for actual tires, including last week for Otter/Bill's car and we've never had an issue with them.  Otter met me at the tire place to give me my car back, then I drove her to work (across the parking lot!) and when the car was ready she walked back over there and got it.  She said that the steering feels much tighter and that she realizes now that it had felt like driving a boat before.

Frasier is entertaining tonight.  He's currently curled up in the floor, napping.  He's talking in his sleep, I think he's chasing something?  Maggie Moo is curled up on her blankets and underneath one of them, she hasn't been heard from in quite a while but it's a safe bet that she's asleep!.  Oops, there is a nose!  A beagle nose!  It just stuck itself out from underneath the blankets but that's all that I see of her. :)  Yesterday, the beaglebrat got stuck underneath the shed and I was really beginning to wonder if she could get herself out - she finally did, but I noticed that she was not quite as interested in getting underneath the shed this afternoon when I let them out, for some reason.

I was going to rearrange a bit in the front room.  My idea was to move the steampunk pachinko machine to the opposite side of the room (the door side) and then to move the yarn drawers down the wall to where the pachinko had been.  I was thinking I could move the futon against the wall/corner and that way it wouldn't be right at the doorway.  So, I took the pachinko off the table it sits on, moved the table to the spot I had planned and then I had to take everything (decorative) off the top of the yarn drawers.  I had to unstack the two smaller drawers off the top of the taller drawer units.  Then I moved the yarn drawers down to where I wanted them.  And that's when I realized that it wouldn't work!  So, I had to put it all back in place, in reverse this time.  At least I'll know why I have sore muscles tomorrow!

But we did have a discussion about painting that room and I think we probably will.  Not until after your visit this summer, Froggy!

Anybody Want to Help Catch a Groundhog?

We are sitting in front of the fireplace, which has a roaring fire going.  Outside, it's cold.  Like brutal cold.  It was pretty cool this morning.  It started getting colder late morning, which was predicted.  By the time Otter got over here, she got off at 4:00, it was really cold and windy.  She was here about 30 or 40 minutes.  When she left, it was extremely windy and the wind was C.O.L.D.  And it was misting.  Some of the mist was hard, frozen droplets.

 

I made chili for dinner tonight.  Wonder what it would taste like if made with groundhog?

 

Anyway.  Bill was pretty congested last weekend and on Monday he went to work but didn't feel too good  He came back home after a couple of hours and he's been home since.  He is much better, it was a "cold type" and not a "flu type" bug.  He's going in tomorrow and hopes to stay all day but we'll see what happens tomorrow.  However, I've also been fighting it and was pretty sure yesterday that I was losing the battle.  I didn't feel to good this morning but I went in anyway, and left about 10:00.  Only because I absolutely had to, I went to the grocery store on the way home.  It wasn't too cold then, but the temperature was beginning to drop.  I've been home and inside since then, except for when Otter left - I helped her carry something out to the car.

 

Otter went through the rest of her boxes today.  She took one of them with her, and a few things out of one or two of the other boxes.  She took her gumball machine and she also took her traffic cone.  Yes, she has a traffic cone - and it's a real one.  Grandpa gave it to her a few years ago (which thrilled her) and she left it here until she had time to get organized and  figured out where she wanted to put it in her apartment.  It has been decorated in various ways over the years, it had a batman cape on it at one point and it may well be her Christmas tree next December.  She'll be back on Sunday to do laundry, and we're going to get the boxes moved to the attic then.  Otter wants to look in a couple of boxes of hers that have been in the attic for a couple of years, so she's going to go up there with Billyboy instead of having him bring the boxes back down, then take them back up again.  She wants to borrow my vacuum, if Roomie forgets to borrow her mother's.

 

Otter's birthday is at the end of March.  She already knows what she's getting from us.  This is going to sound strange, but keep in mind that she is very much her parent's daughter.  We're giving her a workbench!  She's going to keep it in her dining room - they weren't using the table as an actual table, so it's taken apart and stored in the closet.  The workbench will fit against the wall in their dining room.  The one she wants has a pegboard back and 2 or 3 drawers in the front.  It also has plug-in outlets on each side.  It comes from the tool store she works at.  She knows about it, we had to tell her early because she was talking about buying one soon.  She will probably get it early, I'm just not sure exactly when.  For one thing, Billyboy and the truck will have to go get it and then it will need to be carried up 3 flights of stairs!  She might need him to help her put it together, but she's pretty handy herself so he might just be in an advisory capacity.  She wants to get the vacuum before the work bench is delivered and put together.  She really needs to get her own vacuum, it was on her list when she moved but cooking utensils and kitchen stuff were a little more important at that point.

 

OK, that's it for tonight.  I'm really tired.  Bill's sitting on the other end of the couch and he's dozing off.  Which means that he's snoring!

Tuesday?

I think it's Tuesday.

 

At any rate, it is cold and getting colder.  Our high was 32 degrees and we got there about 6:00.  A.M.!!  The next cold front is probably here, it was cold all day but when I was walking out of Wallyworld it felt like the temp was dropping and dropping fast.

 

Bill got up before I did this morning, then when I did manage to get up there was a nice, warm fire going.  And a beagle who moved around on her blankets several time - but never, ever took her rear parts off of the rocks around the fireplace!

 

A while back, I started a yarn wreath.  I put it aside for a while, since I didn't really have a place to put it.  But I knew I'd eventually have a guest/craft/sewing/YARN room since I started it after Otter started making her plans to move out.  Today, I finished it.  I took pictures, but blogger is having issues and not letting me post pictures at the moment.  I hope to eventually get it on the craft blog.  Blogger's issue is probably with the last (unwanted) update, because that is when a bunch of problems started.  Anyway, the yarn wreath is finished and it is now hanging on the door to the guest/craft/sewing/YARN room and I'm pleased with it.

 

Bill needed to visit the tool store today.  Otter was off work, so he didn't get to be waited on by his favorite cashier.  But he did get another tool, actually he got a special type of mask to use when sanding so that he can still breathe while operating the sand blaster.

 

I also went to Hobby Lobby, for fabric for another project.  I am making a shadow box.  I actually have one that Mom made.  It has things that belonged to a special aunt of ours, referred to here as AJ.  It has her watch (her wrist was impossibly tiny), a thimble, ring (no stone, just the ring part itself) and a few crochet hooks that she used when making doilies - as in thread crochet, and a small doily she made.  The glass came off of the frame a while back.  I decided to redo it, but this time I'm going to include a couple of things that were Mom's - a crochet piece that she started but never finished (it's a cover for a clothes hanger), a fabric strip that was her size marker for the clothes hanger covers and the plastic bag that both items were in (because she wrote on the outside of the bag what it was) and also a fabric scissor holder that I helped her make.  I bought a clear plastic box frame and today at Hobby I found some really pretty quilt-ish patterned fabric to line the back of the frame with.  Also will eventually be put on the craft blog, assuming that blogger and my fembot computer start talking nicely to each other!

 

While I was making the yarn wreath, I discovered something else:  I have no glue sticks for my glue gun!  I have a sneaking feeling that they might have run off to a certain apartment I know of.  :)  I had to go get lettuce anyway, so I went to wally and got glue sticks.  I paid for the lettuce, but it didn't get home with me.  Everything else did that I paid for, so I get to go back to Wally in the morning and get my missing lettuce!

 

Bill cleaned the hallway carpet yesterday.  When we (ok, he mostly!) cleaned the living room carpet recently, he stopped at the hall.  And it was obvious a) exactly where he stopped and b) just how dirty the carpet really was!  Now the hallway carpet is clean and the last of the dog-ish smell seems to be gone.  I hope that we can keep it that way.

 

Otter came over yesterday.  We took her the car Monday afternoon, we met her at an arcade she was at with J and a couple of their friends.  She went home and went to bed about 7:00 p.m, then got up at 1:00 a.m. to get to work at 2:00 a.m.  She worked until about 9:30 a.m., then she came over here and we had Christmas with her.  I wanted to go to Michaels and she wanted to go with me.  We hit a couple of other places and then stopped at Dairy Queen to get lunch to bring home.  I think it was around 2:30 or 3:00 when she left go to home.  She was pretty tired by that point, which was understandable considering how long she'd been up!  Anyway, she gave Bill a collection of sci-fi movies and some of them are pretty "bad" - exactly what he likes!  She got me something fun for Christmas:

Seems she's heard me (and many, many, many others - we are legion) talk about how all those cell phones (and a lot of other things we enjoy/use today) wouldn't even exist if a brilliant man had never imagined Star Trek.  So she got me my very own communicator!  Bill's had as much fun with it as I have, it makes assorted (correct) noises and has various ST voices with various ST phrases.

 

**But she got me something even more special for my birthday:

Meet Gerrold!  Actually, "his" name is Gerrold Irving Kahless.  I named "him" but "his" nickname is Fred.  (Because the Irving Feinberg was incorrectly referred to as Fred in something I read about Star Trek many years ago.)

For all 2 of you who don't know what Gerrold/Fred is:  Tribbles!  "His" name should be self-explanatory after you read the article, also you can probably figure out why "he" is in quotations and also why "his" last name is Klingon!

**I raised that girl right.  Birthdays are separate from the holiday they might happen to fall on/by.

The Borg Queen is pleased!

Day After Motorcycle Day

I got snow for my birthday!  It was very pretty, but it didn't include much in the way of ice so I was still able to go to the flea market yesterday.  The flea market opened at 8:00, I got there about 10:30 and left about 11:30.  Empty handed, but it was still fun.  Lots of overpriced Fenton this time, very little of it was actually rare or hard to find.  Just high priced.

 

The snow got heavier in the afternoon.  We still were able to get out for dinner, Bill took me to a local diner that we have never eaten at but always wanted to.  It was a nice birthday meal, I had chicken fried steak.  First time I've had it in something like 12 years, and it will probably be that long before I have it again.  But it was so good!  After we ate, we went to Hobby Lobby and looked around.  Of course I bought yarn!  It was a fall color and the fall colors are about to be replaced with the spring colors, so I got 2 skeins and it's now in the stash drawers.  I did get a little yarn de-stashing done yesterday, Roomie got a cap made in red yarn which I have had on hand for a long time.  And still have on hand, it was a larger size skein.  I think I used about a third of the skein on her cap.

 

I made my own birthday "cake" this year.  I made a pan of brownies, but I didn't get them baked until today.  I used an entire bag of chocolate chips in them this time, so they are going to be extremely chocolate!!  I went to Braums on Friday and got a carton of strawberry cheesecake ice cream, because you have to have ice cream with birthday cake!  Or brownies.

 

We closed our booth out a few days early.  And moved it to another antique mall that opened a few months back.  The new one is in a slightly better area, the old one isn't bad in the sense of crime or anything like that but the new one will get more traffic and is a little easier to see from the street.  It's a couple of miles closer to the house.  We went to the new place this morning to see if they had anything coming up in the near future, and Bill worked out a deal with the owner today.  We thought that we were going to have to bring the machines home for a while until we found a new place, but the owner of the new mall was willing to make us a good deal so we went to the old place as planned and retrieved machines and then took them to the new place.  It's almost the same rent, just $10 more and she does not charge the 10% commission on sales that the old place did.  And she advertises, unlike the old place.

 

Otter got back from her Christmas trip to Oklahoma City with J and his mom.  We met her this afternoon to give her the car, she goes in at 2:00 a.m. tomorrow morning and nobody was willing to get up and get her to work at that awful hour!  She left her laundry here when she brought the car back to us last Tuesday, I told her that I would do it for her so she got a laundry basket full of clean laundry today along with the car.  She's going to let me know what her schedule is for the week and then we'll see which day we'll have Christmas with her.  Also, I hope to be able to have a shopping day with her sometime this week.

 

I have a picture I took yesterday that I might eventually get posted here - if Blogger will cooperate!  Actually, the problem probably is not Blogger but most likely the last windows update that changed so much on my laptop.  Anyway, the picture is one I took yesterday after the dogs went out in the back yard to play.  Frasier went out first, and it looks almost exactly like he was hopping on one foot and only one foot - he's got a lot of coyote tendencies and that is one we really notice, the single file walk that they do.  Maggie Moo, on the other hand, uses all 4 feet and it almost looked like she just jumped straight up and down, leaping from place to place instead of actually walking.  Silly dogs, but we like them!

 

I'm not making dinner tonight, we went out for breakfast and ate late.  Bill got into the cookies while ago and even though it's nearly 4:00 neither one of us is really hungry.  I'm thinking I might make nachos or something like that.  Maybe!  It's an F & F day for sure today.

Christmas Eve 2014

(Please see my other post today, it's below this one)

 

I know it's Wednesday, but it really feels like a Friday.

 

My day started early.  I didn't sleep too good last night, who knows why!  I woke up for the final time about 4:15 and basically stayed awake until about 5:00, when I just got up and started the coffee - after letting the dogs out and feeding them breakfast!  I had seen a listing on craigslist for a pachinko machine last night and the seller answered my email, so he and Bill made arrangements to meet.  Which meant that I had to go get $$ for Billyboy.  At 6:00 a.m., I went to the nearest ATM machine and got him the money he needed.  I left for work about 7:30.

 

(Bill actually had another person lined up to buy a machine from, so he met them both today and bought both machines.)

 

I got to work in plenty of time, there was zero traffic today.  There hasn't been much at all this week and there was even less today.  I had very little to do, Younger Boss got there not too long after I did and we pretty much just sat and talked for about an hour.  I was just about finished with my 10 minutes worth of work by that point, at about 9:45 he decided that since he didn't have anything to do and I didn't have anything else, we should just turn off the lights, shut the doors and call it good for the day.  The Teenager decided it wasn't worth coming in today.  I left shortly before 10:00.  Bill was just getting home from his pachinko shopping errand, we pulled into the driveway at the same time.

 

We both wanted to go to Hobby Lobby, so we headed up there.  Yes, I actually got Billyboy to go shopping on Christmas eve, and he went willingly!  I got modge-podge "glue" and some clear acrylic sealer for a project I'm working on and he got model paint to use on some of the pachinko parts.  We went to Cici's pizza buffet for lunch and there were only a couple of other people there.  We went to Big Lots next, I found a few Christmas ornaments for my wreath project and a couple of other things I wanted.  There were a few people there, more than were at Hobby Lobby and Cici's, but not very many.  The next stop before heading home was the liquor store - that's were the crowd was!  It's Wednesday, so that means wine is 10% off.  That usually is a big draw for their customers, but this was the Christmas Eve stocking up for the festivities crowd.  I did buy a bottle of wine, as well as vodka and both will last us for quite a while.  But most of the people in there seemed to be buying several bottles of lots of different things.

 

It's been a fun day, somewhat different than usual for Christmas Eve.  For one thing, Otter is out of town.  She went to the Oklahoma City area with J and his mom for Christmas, they were going to go today but J's mom said it would be easier if she could come get Otter after work yesterday and take her back to their house then they could leave earlier this morning.  Otter worked about an hour later than she was originally scheduled for yesterday, then she kind of flew back to our house to bring the car home - as well as the little amount of dirty laundry she had accumulated since Saturday (I told her I'd wash it for her if she'd bring it). She also wanted to pick up a tote bag from me to take her clothes, etc. for the trip and also I had gotten her some more allergy medicine since she was about out.  I took her home and visited with Roomie for a few minutes, then J's mom got there just as I was leaving.  I really like J's mom, she's a very nice person and I was comfortable with Otter being driven to another part of the state with her and J.  Not that it matters, Otter is an adult but still...  Froggy, I bet you know exactly what I mean!

 

We had sunshine yesterday and blue sky, for a couple of hours.  It was very nice, for the short time it lasted.  Last night, it was supposed to be winter again but it never really got here.  This morning, when I was running around for Billyboy at 6:00 a.m., it was pretty chilly and slightly misty.  I saw one or two tiny snowflakes, but that's all we got.  I still needed my leather jacket when I was out and about, but it's more cool than cold.

 

After much discussion, Bill and I are still having our traditional Christmas Eve picnic, but on a smaller scale.  We have fritos and bean dip, but not potato chips and onion dip; we have some different cheeses that I'll slice up and some ritz crackers as well as some type of wheat cracker that I forgot the name of.  But no captain's wafer crackers this time, and just a couple of different cheeses.  We have a Hickory Farms sausage that will go with the cheese and crackers, and I got a can of black olives.  And a jar of Claussen pickles!  But we don't have that much of any of the ingredients although we'll probably have leftovers.  And I'll have my soy eggnog, with a little bit of rum added to it.  We're having bean-bacon-cheese tacos for breakfast in the morning, the bacon is not negotiable - we only have it a few times each year, and Christmas is written in stone that we will have bacon if it's at all possible!  We did have it an extra time this year, it was part of Otter's comfort foods she requested before she moved out.  But normally, it's three times each year:  Otter's birthday, Bill's birthday and Christmas.  Since Otter's moved out, she will probably have to manage it on her own for her birthday breakfast!  Also, we'll probably have it a couple of times in the next few days because there's just the two of us to eat it. :)

 

Otter will probably get back on Saturday, which is my birthday but she might not be home until late in the day so I'm not anticipating seeing her then.  We'll see her on Sunday, I'm not sure if I'm going to go get her and bring her back here to get her laundry and the car or if we'll take the car and laundry to her at her apartment.  Either way, she will have the car by Sunday evening because her work shift on Monday starts at 2:00.  AM, as in just past midnight!  Ain't nobody willing to get up and get her to work at 2:00 a.m.!

 

Either Sunday or Monday, we're going to the booth and get all the pachinko machines we have for sell there.  We have decided to close the booth up, we actually decided early in the month and gave the shop owner notice.  It was a success for the most part, but we are going to call a halt for a while.  Bill may get another booth at another antique mall in the (possibly near) future, he hasn't decided for sure about that yet.  He sold 2 or 3 machines through the booth and I sold most of the small stuff I had.  But I don't have any more small stuff and neither of us are really willing to get back into that side of things - it would be a matter of buying things just to resell and we've "been there, done that" before.  We did it with eBay for a few years and it worked great, but it also can take up a lot of time and room.  The last few machines that Bill sold were actually sold through our website, 2 of them were at the booth so we picked them up and shipped them off to their new owners.  So, it's time to close out the booth.  For now, anyway!

 

Now, I think I'm going to get busy with my yarn.  I'm about half-way through with Sweetie's scarf and then I'm going to make a cap for Roomie.  Roomie wants a red one, so both Sweetie's scarf and Roomie's cap can be considered de-stash projects.  I don't use much red, but I have a couple of skeins of it on hand.  I might buy more of the yarn I'm making Sweetie's scarf out of, it's my favorite Red Heart color:  Monet.  I like to always have it on hand, I find a lot of uses for it.

Early

We have a tradition of going to the Dollar store on Christmas Eve, and if we can, we also go to a thrift store.  It didn't start out to be a tradition, it just kind of became that.  Otter will be out of town over Christmas, she's going with J and his mom to spend Christmas with his mom's family - and she's nervous about "meeting the family" also!  :)  They are leaving on the 24th, so we decided to still get our traditional shopping in.  We just did it early!  When Otter brought her laundry over, we went up to the dollar store and it was very crowded.  We also went next door to WalMart for something I wanted and they were busy but not as busy as I've seen them on a normal day.  Otter did not let me forget about a thrift store, we hit Goodwill as our last stop.  She found a couple of things there, I did not but it was still fun.  They were pretty busy, too.

 

While she was here, Otter got her chocolate chip cookies made to take with her over Christmas.  She made a few dozen and Bill got the "leftovers" so he's not feeling left out.  Actually, her got the ones that were a little too brown but he's not complaining.  :)

 

What I bought at WalMart is 4 Rubbermaid boxes with lids to hold Otter's fabric stash.  They hold about 18 gallons and stack well.  They fit very neatly into the closet.  I combined two smaller, flat boxes and one large flat box into three stacking boxes and there was still room for a little more.  I have one more box to fill and two flat boxes to empty still.

 

We finally rented the movie Guardians of the Galaxy.  I might be in the minority, but I really thought it was stupid. Not good stupid, just stupid.  Otter saw it when it came out and she liked it already.  Bill enjoyed it, but I was really bored and not amused.

 

Froggy, I did finally discover that Blogger has added the word verification to all the blogs.  It's an anti-spam measure, I'm not so sure it works though.  I still get spam comments, but they don't go through because I have comments emailed to me to approve.

 

As of today, Billyboy has one week left in being married to a younger woman!  I catch up with him next Saturday.  Toadles, you still don't get a motorcycle!

Dad

Happy Birthday, Dad.  We miss you more than we can put into words.  But we know we will see you again someday.

 

I'm going to go have my blues & greens now.

Sunday Birds Toads and Water

It's Sunday so I guess I'd better blog.  Otherwise, Froggy might get mad at me and since I have already tormented her today by sending her pictures of a drink cup from the place we got lunch at (Braums!)...

Bill mowed the yard this morning.  It was overgrown again, but not as bad as it was when we had it mowed by Slow & Clueless a week and a half ago.  We got just enough rain a few days ago to start the grass growing.  It was still very damp when he mowed, but it was so humid that it wouldn't really dry and he finally just got tired of waiting and mowed it damp.  With frequent stops for a baby robin!  Flying lessons were taking place in the back yard and he didn't want to run over it.  At one point, he had me go move it off of the fence at the dog yard because Frasier might have had a snack, if he'd seen the little featherbrain.  The baby robin was pretty stubborn, but I think that the parents finally got it to fly off with them.

When Bill was mowing the front yard, I found a tiny toad in the grass.  It was smaller than the top of my thumb.  It was a toad and not a tree frog, it was just very small.  I relocated "him" to the back yard to be free of being mowed as well as the fact that it would have more access to water, hiding spots and mosquitos.  How did the little squishy thing repay me?  He leaked!  I wasn't really surprised, they tend to do that.

The first rain barrel has been full for a while but we haven't been using it.  The spigot was plastic and the twisty part broke off a while back so we left it closed until we could get a metal spigot to replace the plastic one.  Which we forgot about!  We've been using the 2nd rain barrel, every time we get it down to a point where Bill can consider moving it back into place (it got out of place when it froze over the winter and the bottom shape changed), it would rain again.  Bill remembered the first rain barrel spigot issue today, so we went to Ace Hardware and got a metal one.  Which was the wrong size, so I had to go back and exchange it.  He drained the first rain barrel and cleaned it out, then he put a mosquito dunk in it and put the metal spigot on it.  It's ready for rain now.  Of course, that probably means that it won't rain for a while...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOADLES!

Blogger is being odd today, it won't let me justify the margins and eaven everything up.  Which is a real problem for the Borg Queen!  Everything in it's place...

(Nevermind, I found a backdoor way to fix it.)

Wednesday?

I know what day it is, but I have had to be reminded all day.  I don't know why, but I have been off on what day is actually is all week long!

 

Yesterday was Froggy's birthday.  I did get a card in the mail to her and I texted her birthday wishes.  But that's about the only thing I know for sure this week!

 

I spoke with Toadles yesterday.  He reminded me about something today, which I knew of but hadn't done the math for yet:  Dad earned his Purple Heart 70 years ago,

 

Rain today!  Lots of it, at 3:30 when I left work the radio news was on and they were reporting that Tulsa had received at least one inch of rain.  Just since mid-morning.  It came down all day and some of the rain was heavy.  It's quit now, but there is probably still more on the way for tonight and tomorrow.

 

Bill got the first truckload of firewood yesterday.  He went to the lumberyard and loaded up the back of the White Lightning, but when he went to pay for it - they told him he could just have it for free this time.  We've made a good start on the wood we need for this winter, but we want to get more.  Anywhere from 2 to 4 more truckloads.  He was going to get another load today, a little rain wouldn't have been a problem but it was too much rain today so it'll be next week sometime.

 

The "sometime" is subject to change.  I'm getting Billyboy to the doctor tomorrow, he has a spot on his left hand that is in all probability the next skin cancer to be removed.  It's actually been coming up for a while, but there were some changes where Bill works and they were unable to take any time off at all before July 1st.  But since the dermatologist couldn't get him in until tomorrow, it doesn't really matter I guess!  He's not seeing the same doctor he saw last summer.  For good reason, that dermatologist turned out to be the one I went toe-to-toe with when Otter was little and she got sub-standard care.  Sub-standard would actually have been better than this guy!  But we didn't realize that until Bill saw him the first time last summer and we decided we didn't want to change doctors in the middle of treatment.  However, we knew that when it was time for the next skin cancer removal (there are always more!) that we'd be finding a different doctor.  The one that Bill really liked retired a few years back, but we are going to the same office he was out of and Bill will be treated by another doctor in that practice.  Keep your fingers crossed that he's a good doctor and that Bill likes him!

 

I'm taking tomorrow off, Bill is off both tomorrow and Friday.  The doctor may say that he wants to just do a biopsy and then have Bill come back later for the removal, but Bill will not go for that.  He'll need to get it all out at once, or at least give it a good try.  So, I took tomorrow off and Otter is off on Friday if Billyboy needs home nursing - which he might, but I don't think it will be like last year's skin cancer removal from the bridge of his nose.

 

I'm tired.  Otter had to be in to work at 5:30 this morning, so she got up about 4:00.  Bill woke up somewhere around that time, they both tried not to wake me up but I think the lights on in the office/pachinko workroom and Otter's bedroom were just enough that I was aware of them.  I tried to go back to sleep for a while, but it was hopeless so I got up about 4:30.

 

Friday is the 10th Anniversary of when we moved into our current home.  Our tradition is that we get pizza, since it was the first meal we had here.  When we moved out of the old house, we had McDonald's because that was the first real meal we had there - it was actually before we moved in, but the house was ours at that point because we had closed on it that afternoon.  We decided to continue that tradition here.  If we ever move (I'm not planning on it!), our final meal here will be pizza as well.  We have pepperoni pizza every August 1st or as close to it as we can.

 

Pizza Pizza!

Of Fish, Squirrels and Stuffz Burgers

It's Billyboy's birthday today!  He's 53.  I had to ask him, in case you are interested.  The reason I had to ask him is that I'm 6 months younger than he is but I can never remember how old I am!  So, now I know how old I am (52 until December) and that Bill is 53.  So, I'm married to an older man for 6 months and he's married to a younger woman.

 

Otter has been known as the Birthday Squirrel on her birthday since she was little bitty.  I don't remember how we came up with the name, but I think it was a play on the words "birthday girl" and she loves animals so squirrel was a natural nickname.  She's not ready to share the Squirrel nickname, so we decided that Bill is the Birthday Fish.  It just works for him so we're going with it!

 

The Stufz burgers worked ok, but they weren't as easy as it looks.  They weren't difficult, and they actually tasted very good.  Mine was stuffed with chopped onions and shredded cheese.  Bill put cheese, onions and chopped jalepenos in his.  Otter, being Otter, went with a plain hamburger - no stuffing!  But they were beef burgers, so she was happy about it.  Bill thinks that they might work better on the grill instead of cooking them on the stove, we'll probably try that the next time.  But it would have been just as easy to make stuffed patties the old fashioned way - meat patty in one hand, stuffing in the middle and another patty on top.  Then form into the shape and cook.  But it's a gadget and Bill's an engineer...

 

Otter and I went to a thrift store this afternoon.  She found a backpack to use at TNT next month.  I found a new & unused foam padded slim laptop case that actually fits my laptop.  $14.99 for the exact same thing I priced at Staples for either $69.00 or $72.00.  I'd say a got a good buy.  I found a few other things, but nothing spectacular.  Otter tried on a corset (actually meant to be worn as a blouse, it had spaghetti straps and strings in the front) but it was a little too small for her.  Which is a shame, it was a very good quality and looked really cute on her - except for the fact that she couldn't breathe!  It could have been worn as a blouse by itself or underneath a jacket.

 

The pineapple upside down cake is in the oven.  I was going to make it last night, but they are really better warm because of the brown sugar.  So I made it when we got through with dinner.  Smells really good!