Welcome to a monthly Fly on the Wall post, where Marcia and I invite you to catch a glimpse of what you’d see if you were a fly on the wall in our homes. Come on in, buzz around, see what we've been up to. Bet you laugh!
Hello.
Yeah, I got it backwards, the "hello" most often comes before the "good-bye," not after.
Just call me Lucy. 'Cause the voice in my head right now is very much Desi, rolling his eyes, looking at me and saying: "you've got some 'spaining to do . . ." And no, btw, I'm not dating myself, that line is iconic.
So yes, I quit blogging. I wrote my decision and explanation in rhyme. The poem Finale, was my last post of 2023, my last post of the multi-blogger writing challenges I've been running for almost 12 years, and my last post. Period.
I lied.
OK, I didn't lie. It was the end. I was done. I was a little sad, but mostly both relieved and at peace with the decision. A lot of factors went into making that choice, and nothing has changed. I meant it then and I mean it now.
Except . . .
Peer pressure.
Yeah, I'm blaming you. Or thanking you. Maybe both.
I was happily minding my own business, peacefully enjoying my retirement from blogging. My writing time had reverted back to reading time, nothing like curling up with a warm throw and a good ebook. And, although I'd stopped posting my unique Baking In A Tornado food based word games to my BIAT facebook page (after having shared almost 5oo of them), I still play and share 13 online word games with my friends there twice a day.
But three things happened to make me waver.
After posting my finale, so many of you reached out at the news of my decision, took the time to tell me that you enjoyed my blog, appreciated the writing challenges I'd developed, would miss me. I'm grateful, honored by your words. But still done.
But there were many mentions of Fly on the Wall specifically, how fun and funny they were, how much a monthly peek into the more humorous aspects of our family life both resonated and amused. I had long known these monthly posts were reader favorites, and they're a fun, carefree post to write, too. Surprisingly, there were more than a few suggestions that I just continue sharing this monthly update. Hmmm.
Next, I heard from Marcia. She's written these Fly on the Wall posts with me every month since January of 2012. She's mostly stopped blogging, is a paid writer on multiple sites now, but never stopped writing these Fly on the Wall posts, and would like to continue. I told her she was welcome to continue without me but . . . hmmm, I'm thinking about it now . . .
And the last piece of the puzzle is the recipes. Although I wasn't posting them, I was still developing them. Not at a rate of two a week, but as they came to me. So, like with Valentine's Day coming up, I tried out this idea for Prosecco Pasta. The recipe was written up, photographed, pretty much all dressed up with nowhere to go.
Prosecco Pasta
So, I sent Marcia a message: "I can't believe I'm saying this but. . ."
It's actually kind of embarrassing, after that whole public good-bye. I mean can you really call it a comeback tour if it's only been a 3 week hiatus?
Yes, my retirement seems to have lasted under a month. Less finale, more intermission.
Or maybe a finale followed by an encore.
So, hello. Again.
New plan.
Instead of my normal over 100 posts and recipes per year, there will be 12. I'll probably be making very few graphics too. Now I'm not ruling out another piece here or there when . . . you know . . . I have something to say that's just bursting to come out, but I'm committing to 12. A monthly Fly on the Wall.
I hope to see you all back here on the third Friday of each month for a look at what I've been up to. My greatest hope is that I continue to make you laugh. With all that's going on in this country, in the world, every laugh is worth its weight in gold. OK, that might not be the best analogy, since a laugh doesn't actually weigh anything, but it sure can help reduce the weight of the world . . .
And I gotta say, any fly with a strong enough constitution to survive this weather and actually be on my wall, at the very least deserves to be entertained.
Because it has been freezing around here. I mean like -14 degrees that, with the wind chill felt like -42. And not just here, the weather has been colder than normal everywhere. So, a few snippets of what's been going on in my little patch of the frozen tundra:
There is no question that it's not safe to be outside in temperatures this extreme. We'd had 2 snow storms, about 7 inches of snow each, with only one day in between. And, of course, our snowblower would not start.
Hubs was putting on his coat and boots.
Me: What are you doing? It's not that cold in the house.
Hubs: I'm going out to shovel.
Me: No.
Hubs: No?
Me: This weather is not conducive to human life.
Hubs: I'm just going to shovel a little of my side of the driveway, we need to be able to get at least one car out.
Me: Hammer or boiling water?
Hubs: What?
Me: When you freeze out there, would you rather I break you into shards and carry you in the house in pieces? Or throw boiling water on you and you can slosh in on your own?
Actually, our snowblower not working was just the tip of the iceberg (so to speak). Hubs got enough of the driveway shoveled that he could get his car in and out. But when he was done, the garage door would not go down.
We could not get the snowblower repair shop to even answer their phone until the next day. We could bring it down, but they'd get to it when they got to it.
Hubs put the snowblower in his car, got almost to the street when his car got stuck in the snow. We shoveled, and pushed and pulled and rocked the car and even put cardboard under the wheels. Nothing.
Good thing we pay for towing insurance.
Or not. None of their providers could come today. We could find someone ourselves or they can try again tomorrow.
To summarize: Snow on the driveway. Snowblower in the trunk of the car. Car stuck in the driveway, garage door stuck up.
Wait, I'm not done. What were we arguing about that night? College Boy ordered food for us all. The delivery company dropped it off at the neighbors' house (they were away on vacation).
And we were at an impasse as to how to deal with it. I wanted Hubs to go get it. Hubs wanted College Boy to go get it. College Boy thought we should just have cereal for dinner and let the neighbors find the frozen food when they got home.
He had a valid point . . .
Around this same time, the NFL playoff games were being played. One game was postponed, but another game, being played at night in below zero temperatures was going to be played as scheduled.
Me: I'm worried about this game tonight (yeah, I'm such a mom). It's just not safe for them to play.
Hubs: There are actually heating coils below the artificial turf. And when the players are on the bench, they have heaters and coats.
Me: What about when they're not on the bench. What happens when there's a lengthy series of plays on the field?
Hubs: They'll be running around playing the game.
Hubs: They'll be running around playing the game.
Me: Yeah, it's all fun and games until someone's nose falls off.
I had been texting with PurDude during those frozen days, and I remembered to ask him something I'd been wondering about.
Me: I've been meaning to ask you, do you ever use your foreplay?
Yeah, that's supposed to say fireplace.
A few minutes later, Hubs comes up from the man cave. I'm sitting on the counter with my feet in the sink and the water running.
Hubs: What are you doing?
Me: Defrosting my toes.
Me: Defrosting my toes.
Now click on the links below for a peek into another blogger's home:
See ya next month!
Prosecco Pasta
©www.BakingInATornado.com
Ingredients:
1 TBSP butter
1 TBSP olive oil
1/4 onion, chopped
1/2 red pepper, chopped
4 oz mushrooms, sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup vegetable broth
1/2 cup Prosecco
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/8 tsp red pepper flakes
1 1/2 cups fresh spinach leaves
1 cup heavy cream
1 box (16 oz) rigatoni
Directions:
*Melt the butter with the olive oil in a large saute pan over medium heat. Add the onion, red pepper, mushrooms and garlic. Cook, stirring, until the vegetables are soft.
*Mix in the vegetable broth, Prosecco, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, and spinach. Allow to come to a boil, stirring now and then. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
*Melt the butter with the olive oil in a large saute pan over medium heat. Add the onion, red pepper, mushrooms and garlic. Cook, stirring, until the vegetables are soft.
*Mix in the vegetable broth, Prosecco, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, and spinach. Allow to come to a boil, stirring now and then. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
*Add the heavy cream and cook, stirring now and then, for another 10 minutes.
*In a large pot, boil the past to al dente, approximately 10 minutes. Drain the pasta, then stir in the sauce.
