Friday, March 22, 2019

Let it Ho: Fly on the Wall

Welcome to a monthly Fly on the Wall group post. Today 7 bloggers are inviting you to catch a glimpse of what you’d see if you were a fly on the wall in our homes. Come on in and buzz around my house. At the end of my post you’ll find links to this month’s other participants’ posts.

Fly on the Wall, a multi-blogger writing challenge | www.BakingInATornado.com | #MyGraphics




Remember that "bomb cyclone" they had in Denver last week? Well PurDude's job had flown him into Denver, rented him a car and had him working in their Bolder office for the week. The day after the bomb cyclone, the airport had reopened but the roads were still treacherous and he had a flight out. I was a wreck knowing he was driving from Boulder to Denver. I knew the airport would be a nightmare too once he got there.

He got to the airport (phew) three hours before his flight and called me. He was in a line to check in approximated to be about 3 1/2 hours long, and he said the TSA line was just about as long. He wasn't going to make his flight. I told him to call his company's travel agent and let her deal with it, but to stay in line whatever he did.

Got a text from him saying they let him go to the head of the line because he actually had a chance of making his flight, then another text one minute before take off saying his ran to the gate, just got there as they were delaying his flight. 

An hour and a half and two delays later he's on the flight. And that's when I got this text from him:

PurDude: Sitting in the plane and in comes a maintenance person with duct tape.
Me: Jump out the window and run for your life.
PurDude: Maintenance person with duct tape had a Purdue lanyard so that's a good sign I guess.
Me: Well, at least duct tape guy was well educated. 



Fly on the Wall, a multi-blogger writing challenge | www.BakingInATornado.com | #MyGraphics


At the end of last month on a Friday afternoon I got a text from College Boy about a change in his work schedule. I responded, then a minute later got this text: 

I just saw that Patriots owner Robert Kraft has been charged in Florida in a prostitution ring. 
Me: I know, I was just PMing with PurDude about it. Aren't you supposed to be working?
Hubs: I am, it popped up on my phone. 

It was then that I looked and saw who I was texting with.

Me: Ha, ha, I thought that text was from College Boy, not you. Sorry, that "working" comment was for him.
Hubs: Ok, I will let that ho.
Me: Ho? Like the kind that got Kraft in trouble?
Hubs: NO! That was a typo. I will let that go.



Fly on the Wall, a multi-blogger writing challenge | www.BakingInATornado.com | #MyGraphics

I was driving a route that I take often, and noticed a new sign at the corner where I was turning, telling the cars in that lane to yield to pedestrians.


Yield sign | Picture property of www.BakingInATornado.com
 
And I'm wondering about the need for that particular piece of information. Is it really necessary to tell drivers to yield to pedestrians? Because the other option would be to just go ahead and hit them, wouldn't it?

Fly on the Wall, a multi-blogger writing challenge | www.BakingInATornado.com | #MyGraphics

Our mud room/laundry room is off the back hall, right behind the kitchen. Hubs was in the kitchen waiting for his bagel to toast and I was sitting further away in the den working on my laptop. 

Our washing machine plays a song when it's finished its cycle. Not just a few notes, but it goes on for about a minute. 

The laundry machine completes its cycle and starts playing the song. Hubs stands in the kitchen. It finishes playing the song. Hubs stands in the kitchen.

Me (putting down my laptop, standing up and walking through the kitchen to the laundry room): I'll get it.
Hubs: Was that the washing machine?
Me: No, it was the ice cream truck driving through our back hallway.


Fly on the Wall, a multi-blogger writing challenge | www.BakingInATornado.com | #MyGraphics


Hubs comes home from work, brings in the mail and puts it on the counter for me to go through.

Hubs: There's something in there for PurDude from his employer. 
Me (looking at it): It says it's a tax form.
Hubs: That could be a problem, I've already done his taxes. I'll look at it after dinner, I may need to amend his taxes.

We had dinner and after dinner Hubs goes to where I keep his pile of mail and the letter isn't there. 

Hubs: Where's the letter?
Me: I put it in your pile.
Hubs: It's not here.
Me (looking at my pile): I don't have it either.
Hubs: Where else could it be?
Me: Well, the only other pile is the one I shredded.
Hubs (eyes wide): You shredded a tax form.
Me: Ummm, maybe?
Hubs: That could be really bad.

Hours later I bring the form to Hubs.

Me: Here. I went through the shredder, found all the pieces and put it back together.
Hubs: You did? That had to take you hours.
Me: Well, it was important, you needed it. 
Hubs: That's incredible. I can't believe you did that.

As if . . . I didn't, of course, I found it in the trash (phew). He, of course, didn't ask about it being in one piece or the food stains on it. 

Being a smart husband, lesson #1: 
Do not question the process, just accept the results.



Get out your fork and knife for this Open Faced Shredded Pot Roast Sandwich. The tender roast is slow cooked in the crock pot with vegetables, shredded and served over toasted Italian bread. | Recipe developed by www.BakingInATornado.com | #recipe #crockpot
Open Faced Shredded Pot Roast Sandwich


Hubs comes into the den from the kitchen to talk to me. His pants and shirt are soaking wet.

Me: You're wet.
Hubs: The button on the back of the kitchen sink sprayer got stuck.
Me (laughing): So you pointed it at yourself?
Hubs: No, it was already pointed that way
Me (still laughing): So you were cleaning the sink with the sprayer pointed at you?
Hubs: No, I . . .
The harder he tries to explain the harder I laugh.
Hubs (half laughing himself realizing I'm not going to stop laughing at him no matter how he tries to explain): Oh, shut up.
Me (laughing): I'll stop talking. But I can still laugh . . .


Fly on the Wall, a multi-blogger writing challenge | www.BakingInATornado.com | #MyGraphics

I wrote a post recently about our (now former) internet provider shutting us down. We set up with a new provider and just to be sure whoever is hacking our service, I have programmed the modem to only allow access to certain devices. I had to find the mac addresses of all of our devices and input them individually into the modem.

Everything went smoothly except we could not get Hubs' laptop to connect. We'd go into his laptop info and get the mac address, try, fail, go in again and find another mac address, try, fail. I was confused because each item should only have one mac address, we'd found 3 associated with his laptop.

PurDude came over that weekend and looked into the laptop system and found another mac address. Nope. Finally we saw that Hubs had something turned on the changed his mac address. It was a security feature for when you use your laptop frequently on public wifi. We turned that off, got his current mac address and voila, internet.

So basically Hubs' laptop has spent the past 5 days playing "catch me if you can" with us. And winning. 


Fly on the Wall, a multi-blogger writing challenge | www.BakingInATornado.com | #MyGraphics


I have "comment moderation" on my blog, meaning that any comments that are left here (please comment, I love them), have to be approved by me before they post on the blog. One of the main reasons I have it is because I get all kinds of fake bot comments, often with links they're trying to get onto my blog, which I delete. Often they're strange and off topic. Sometimes they're advertisements.

I had written a blog post for my "Blog With Friends" group, we all pick a topic each month and come up with a project that fits the topic, this month the theme was "Winter Thaw". My contribution is always a recipe, of course. The name of the post was Hash Brown Crusted Shrimp Quiche: Winter Thaw Blog With Friends.

This is a bot comment left on the post: "Thanks for finally talking about Hash Brown Crusted Shrimp Quiche: Winter Thaw Blog With Friends. Loved it!"

All I could think of was "wow, if I had known there was a long standing need for someone to finally address the issue of Hash Brown Crusted Shrimp Quiche, I could have written this post four years ago.


 Fly on the Wall, a multi-blogger writing challenge | www.BakingInATornado.com | #MyGraphics

FB was wonky last week and it ended up totally screwing both my friend Mari and I.

I know that Mari goes grocery shopping on Tuesday and that she was stopping by my house later in the day. I was on FB and saw she was on too so I sent her a PM asking her to pick up some eggs and butter for me. FB gave me an error message and didn't send my PM. I could have texted her but just decided to run out and get the few items. I didn't even think to mention it to her later.

Thursday morning my doorbell rang. You guessed it, it was Mari holding eggs and butter. Apparently FB decided to send her my PM that morning. Mari, great friend that she is, got dressed, ran out and bought me eggs and butter. When I stopped laughing I brought her in the house and made her an omelet. Least I could do.


Fly on the Wall, a multi-blogger writing challenge | www.BakingInATornado.com | #MyGraphics


I told you the story, at the beginning of this post, about PurDude making it home from a business trip to Boulder Colorado during the "bomb cyclone". The Saturday after he returned he was going away with some high school friends so I asked him to come to dinner on Sunday.

Me: Can you come to dinner Sunday.
PurDude: What's for dinner?
Me: Well, it's St. Patrick's Day so I'm making corned beef, cabbage and new potatoes cooked in beer with soda bread.
PurDude: No, I don't like corned beef.
Me: Jeez son, it's about being with your family.

Later on I'm talking to College Boy:

Me: I can't believe your brother isn't coming to dinner Sunday.
College Boy: Well mom, it's not like St. Patrick's Day is a major holiday.
Me: Jeez son, it's about being with your family.

And later still to Hubs:

Me: You sure did a poor job raising those boys.
Hubs: You think I'm going to ask, but I'm not . . .

Now click on the links below for a peek into some other homes:

Never Ever Give Up Hope  
Menopausal Mother 
Spatulas on Parade
The Crazy Mama Llama 
Go Mama O. 
Follow Me Home 



Baking In A Tornado signature | www.BakingInATornado.com | #MyGraphics






Open Faced Shredded Pot Roast Sandwich
                                                                       ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Ingredients:
1 can French Onion Soup 
1 can Cream of GOLDEN Mushroom Soup
1 cup vegetable broth 
1 onion, sliced
2 1/2# beef chuck tender roast
salt, pepper, garlic powder
4 new potatoes, chopped
1/2# baby carrots 
8 oz mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
1 Italian loaf

Directions:
*Spray your crock pot with non stick spray. In the crock pot, mix together the canned soups, vegetable broth and onion. Turn onto high and cover.
*Heat a large skillet until hot on medium high. Sprinkle the roast on all sides with salt, pepper and garlic powder. Add to the skillet, sear on all sides and add the meat to the crock pot.
*Cook for one hour, turn the meat over and cook another hour. Turn the heat down to medium and cook, turning the meat now and then for 3 more hours. Add the potatoes, carrots and mushrooms. Cook for an hour.
*Remove the meat, shred and return to the crock pot. Cook for 2 more hours.
*Slice the Italian loaf into about 3 to 4 inch pieces per sandwich. Slice each piece open, toast and place on a plate. Top with about a cup of beef, vegetables and sauce.

16 comments:

  1. What a nightmare experience at the airport fro your son. When I hear stuff like that, I #1 am glad I don't fly and #2 am glad I live in Florida. I love, love, LOVE the comment you made to hubs about the ice cream truck, HAHAHA!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Loved your stories this month, Karen. I was going to ask your opinion before on Mr. Kraft, but I didn't know if it was too "touchy" of a subject. LOL. My LG washer sings a tune that I thought was cute 25, 000 loads ago. Now, it's more like a nagging family member. So glad your son traveled safely from Denver. I thought worrying about our kids would get easier as they got older??

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ha, ha, you made me get up and go check my washer. Nope, not an LG, a Samsung.

      Delete
  3. My experience at the airport was similar to your son's because bad weather was making it difficult for planes to land. Our flight was 45 minutes late and I got the brainy idea to ask for a wheel chair. The agent pushed my chair at a remarkably rapid pace to the gate. I never would have made it otherwise. And then the flight was delayed 2 hours LOL. Regarding the whole pedestrian thing -- where we live it is law with big fines if you don't stop for pedestrians attempting to cross the road. However, it is abused because many peds walk into the street without looking both ways and yes, they do sometimes get hit. But it is always the driver's fault. Something is wrong with this picture.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It is amazing to me, especially when I'm in NY, how bold pedestrians are. They literally take their lives in their hands in the most callous ways, expecting drivers to stop on a dime while they dart in and out of cars.

      Delete
  4. I think that whomever raised boys, they did an OK job. They are just the right combination of smart and snark, and they still communicate with their Mom on their daily lives. Good job!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ha, although they definitely are smart and snarky, getting them to communicate with their mom has become similar to pulling teeth.

      Delete
  5. Hi Karen - had to laugh about the person fixing the plane with duct tape! I'm sure you worry more with your son traveling, especially with a "bomb cyclone!"

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, winter travel is especially worrisome, without a doubt.

      Delete
  6. Ok I have stopped laughing at last and just want to sat this was a bloody funny post

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I am so glad you laughed, Jo-Anne. Hope you have a happy weekend.

      Delete
  7. love the sign. It's funny the signs you notice after you've visited the traffic circle for a while. I guess places like Cairo and Pakistan are real need of traffic signs altogether, as my sister just visited Cairo recently and said the roads are scarrrrry! Glad I live in America.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah, I remember the traffic in Seoul being terrifying.

      Delete
  8. Smart hubs, he didn't ask about the 'all in one piece' tax form and he didn't ask about the rising of the boys. Lots of giggles this month. Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah, after all these years, the man is finally learning!

      Delete

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