Call Me Wing Saver: Fly on the Wall

 

 

Welcome to a monthly Fly on the Wall group post. Today 2 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.

PurDude came home for a few weeks at the end of last month and the beginning of this month. When he walked in the door, I noticed that he looked different, he had changed his haircut.

Me: You're wearing your hair differently. I like it.

PurDude: Yeah, I'm growing a mullet.

Me: A mullet? They've been out of style for years.

PurDude: They're coming back.

Me: I'm sorry to hear that.

PurDude: You just said you liked it.

Me: Well, it's short, it's not long in the back.

PurDude: Maybe I'll just keep it this length, it's still a mullet though.

Me: Ummm, well, how about we call it mullet- adjacent?

 

 

He and Hubs were talking about the Denver airport, and Hubs was telling a story about how he once went all the way down to the sub-basement to recover his lost luggage.

PurDude: You can't go down there any more, the sub-basement is the headquarters for the illumaniti.

Me: That's not true, it's a conspiracy theory.

PurDude: You can't even get in the elevators, they have guards there.

Me: Come on, you don't think that the basement has been taken over by the illuminati?

PurDude: Oh, I know it.

Me: You know it? You have, like, illuminati radar?

College Boy came to visit. We had already eaten so he decided to walk to a restaurant down the street from us and got a quesadilla. It was gigantic, and he got fries too.

When he came back in, I went to sit with him in the kitchen. It was clear he'd gotten high on the way back home.

College Boy (after eating a ton of food): Mom, I ate the fries and half of the quesadilla. I think I'll wrap up the other half and have it for dinner tomorrow, I'll be over but I'll be really late again.

Me: OK, just stick it in the fridge.

About 20 minutes later, I was upstairs, when College Boy came to find me.

College Boy: Mom?
Me: Yes?

College Boy: I have something to tell you.

Me: OK.

College Boy: I just ate tomorrow night's dinner.

LOL.

It was freezing and miserable outside, Hubs, PurDude, and I were inside watching Purdue basketball. They were losing.

Hubs had to run out and pick up College Boy. When he came back, Purdue was winning.

Me: Go stand out front.

Hubs: Huh?
Me: They were losing when you left, and now they're winning.

Hubs: And?

Me: You need to go back out. 

Hubs: I don't think so.

Me: It's the least you can do, come on, take one for the team. 

Hubs: The team's just going to have to figure out how to win without me freezing my face off.

Me: Fine, keep your face, some team player you are . . .

I was working on the blog, so I set the timer on the microwave to remind me to preheat the oven to 350 so I could get dinner into the oven on time.

The timer went off, I got up, set the timer to 350, and sat back down.

In just under 4 minutes, I finally realized what I'd done.

Cajun Potato Wedges

I was trying out a new recipe for Cajun Potato Wedges. The heat issue is tricky around here in terms of preference. 

They looked good, it was taste test time:

Hubs: Oh, those are really hot. 

PurDude: These are nowhere near spicy enough.

I guess all we needed was to find Baby Bear's porridge potato wedges.

PurDude wasn't feeling well when he first got home, his throat was really sore. He put on a mask and took a Covid test, which was negative.

On his second day, his throat was worse. I was concerned he may have strep throat and with Thanksgiving in just 2 days, insisted he go to an urgent care. He was not happy with me when he came back. His throat was red but he had no infection.

Of course, on Thanksgiving Day he woke up with a bad cough, his chest was sore from coughing. I rounded up all of our cold medicine, and was in the kitchen with College Boy reading the labels. 

Me: Looks like most of these expired in 2020.

College boy: Those won't do him any good.

Me (looking at the last bottle): This one expired in 2013.

College Boy: Oh, you should keep that one.

Me: Why?

College Boy: It might be worth something some day, it's an antique.

I really wanted to get PurDude some relief. I called all of the local grocery and big box stores but, of course, they were closed on Thanksgiving. 

College Boy suggested I call a gas station up the street and see if they were open, and if they carried any cold medicine.

Me (on the phone): You're open today?

Nice guy who answered the phone: Yes, until midnight.

Me: Do you happen to sell any cold medicine in your little mart there?
Nice guy who answered the phone: Let me go look.

Me: You don't have to do that, we'll come in.

Nice guy at the gas station: No problem. Yes, we have night time liquid, day time liquid, pills . . .

Me: That's great, thank you.

Nice guy at the gas station: Let me warn you though, they're not cheap.

Me: That's OK, nothing else is open, we're desperate, see you in a few minutes.

I hang up the phone and College Boy and I both look at each other, then we both break out laughing.

College Boy: Why did you tell him that? How much do you think they're marking that stuff up as we speak?

Turns out, you could by a small house for what they charged. And it turns out I was more than happy to pay the price.

The family was watching football in the den when I came downstairs. I went into the kitchen and turned on the light to check on dinner.

Me (looking over at the counter): Oh, I just found my glasses.

Hubs: I didn't know they were missing.

Me: Neither did I!

A fly on the wall this month would have seen me becoming an acrobat. Although not on purpose.

I was making Teriyaki Wingettes for the family. I bake them ahead of time, then heat them up on the grill. 

Of course, just before I lit the grill, it started to snow. Too lazy to put my shoes on and off each time I had to go out there, I put my flip flops on, taking them off and leaving them on the little rug at the sliding doors to the deck. Perfect.

The final time I went out, to bring the wings in, I didn't take my flip flops off at the rug. I took one step onto the kitchen floor and started flying through the air, headed for a hard crash onto the wood floor.

Did I try to put my hands down, break my fall? Nope. All I could think of was having nothing to put on the table for dinner. So with my left hand I threw that huge plate of wings onto the counter.

Saved the wings. Every one. Myself? Not so much.

 

 

 

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

Menopausal Mother

Cajun Potato Wedges

                                                                       ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
4 medium potatoes

4 TBSP butter

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

1/4 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp garlic powder

3/4 tsp salt, divided

1/4 tsp pepper

OPT: ketchup or sour cream for serving

Directions:
*Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease a large (15 X 10) baking sheet.

*Wash and dry the potatoes. Cut in half, lengthwise, then cut each half into 4 spears, Place in a bowl.

*Melt the butter. Mix with the cayenne, paprika, garlic powder, 1/2 tsp salt, and pepper. Pour over the potatoes and mix so they are all coated (using your hands is the easiest).

*Place the potato wedges, a cut side down, singly, on the baking sheet. Bake for 25 minutes.

*Flip the potatoes over, sprinkle with remaining salt, and bake another 20 minutes.

*OPT: serve with ketchup or sour cream.

Inconvenient Convenience: Word Counters

 

Counting my words again!

Today my fellow Word Counters and I are sharing our monthly group post. Each month, one group member picks a number between 12 and 50. All participating bloggers are then challenged to write something (or a few somethings, as the case may be) using that exact number of words. Today we share what we all came up with.

This month's number is 33. 

It was chosen by Me!

~ I've often used this post to air my complaints about the lack of customer service. Today it's about convenience, inconvenience, being denied the choice of shopping in store, being forced to shop online.

~ I like the convenience of shopping online, comparing prices, availability, ship time and fees, even having the convenience of being able to choose store pick up (if that's an option), or home delivery.

~ What I don't like is not being able to see and touch the merchandise. They can use all the descriptive words they can imagine, but it's just not the same as hands on.

~ Hubs needed a new laptop, knew what he wanted, but it was expensive. After daily checks, Hubs found it on sale. We checked our local store and success! Hubs and PurDude drove off. 

~ They were gone quite a while when PurDude called to ask what time I'd planned dinner. Dinner I knew immediately that had to be a bad omen since it was only one thirty.

Chicken and Snap Pea Dinner

~ So . . . they found the laptop, and took it up to the counter to pay. But it was ringing up at regular price. "That's because," the clerk explained, "you're looking for the online price."

~ Could he get the online price? No. Hubs had to stand in the check out line and order it online for store pick up. Once ordered, Hubs asked again for the sale price.

~ No, again. PurDude and Hubs were told that they now had to wait about an hour for order fulfillment. To fulfill the order, for the item Hubs was holding, in the checkout line.

~ Almost two hours later they returned empty handed. Update: the order is in the fulfillment queue and would be filled when his turn came, no exceptions for a customer standing there, they'd email.

~ Six hours later, after speaking to another store employee, Hubs was told the order was being expedited (LOL), he'd be emailed soon. Seven hours after ordering, the store closed. No email, no laptop.

~ Silence from Best Buy. The order wasn't ready in an hour, or another half hour, nor was it being expedited. All lies. Twenty seven hours after ordering, they agreed to turned it over.

~ Their claim of shopping convenience? Turning away a customer holding expensive electronics in one hand and a credit card in the other, telling him to pay online, then wait . . . a day? Decidedly inconvenient.

Here are links to the other Word Counters posts:

On the Border 

Messymimi’s Meanderings 

Chicken and Snap Pea Dinner         

                                                                                      ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups instant brown rice

2 cups cooked chicken, chopped

1/3 cup Canadian bacon, chopped

3 oz snap peas

1 can chicken and rice soup

1 1/4 cups chicken broth

1/3 cup chopped onion

1/2 tsp minced garlic

1/4 tsp pepper

Directions:
*Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease an 8 X 11 baking dish.

*Sprinkle the rice evenly onto the bottom of the baking dish. Top with the chicken, Canadian bacon, and snap peas.

*Mix together the chicken and rice soup, chicken broth, onion, garlic and pepper. Pour even into the baking dish. Cover with tin foil.

*Bake for 30 minutes. Carefully remove the tin foil, and bake for another 30 minutes, until the rice has absorbed the liquid.

*Stir before serving. 

 

 

The Holiday Marathon: Use Your Words

Today’s post is a monthly writing challenge. If you’re new here, this is how it works: my friend Diane and I picked 4 – 6 words or short phrases to submit to each other to craft into a post. All words must be used at least once. Both posts will be unique as we each have our own set of words we're working with.

At the end of this post, you'll find the link to Diane's post, be sure to check it out, see what words I sent her and how she used them.

 
I'm using: drool ~ doodle ~ dodge ~ deem ~ dramatic




                          
Holiday time is bittersweet. While most of you reading this are still up to your eyeballs in holiday cooking and baking and buying and decorating and preparations, I'm mostly done. I will make a turkey on Christmas for Hubs and College Boy and I, but the sides will mostly be leftovers from Thanksgiving. 

But only because I had everything else crammed into two hectic weeks. I ran that holiday marathon in record time. 

And I ran it sick. Although family is a time of sharing and caring, we could have done a lot less of the sharing part. Since what we were passing around was sicknesses of various sorts and kinds.

PurDude arrived late on the Saturday night before Thanksgiving and for me, it was on. The two weeks he was here I made all of his favorite meals, along with desserts and snacks. I made College Boy's birthday dinner, Thanksgiving. And, although Hanukkah started a few days after he went back to Boulder, we celebrated that too. I mean he couldn't be deprived of Crusted Prime Rib and Air Fryer Latkes.

We had Saturday night. After that, medical chaos. And although we were desperately trying to dodge each others' symptoms, we still managed to get all of our celebrations in. We Blessings take our holidays and family time seriously. We will not be denied.

As hectic as those 2 weeks are, I still try to extend it, dodge the lightening quick passage of the limited amount of time when I have PurDude home, when we're all here. Sick or well. 

But in the blink of an eye, his final full day here comes {{sob}}.

And on that last day, just in case I can bribe tempt him to stay just a little longer, I make another drool-worthy dessert.

Peppermint Toffee Bars

But, of course, he has obligations, work, and those ski mountains are open and calling his name. {{sigh}}

Not to sound overly dramatic, but when that travel day came, I kinda felt like an online meal service as I packed up 10 frozen dinners (leftovers of all of his favorites), 3 loaves of quick breads, snacks, and desserts for him to take back to Boulder.

Now, as I sit here, absentmindedly drawing in (and doodlling not nice words in the margins of) the trump coloring book College Boy bought me to make me laugh, I'm grateful that College Boy is local, that I can see him every day. And when my mind goes to Boulder, I deem that his eating those homemade meals is a virtual dinner together. 

Because that's all I get . . . for now. 

Well, that and some much needed rest.

 

Here's the link to Diane's Use Your Words posts:

On the Border

Peppermint Toffee Bars         
                                                       ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1 stick margarine, softened

1/2 stick butter, softened

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg yolk

1 1/4 cup flour

3 TBSP baking cocoa

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup corn syrup

1/2 stick butter

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup heavy cream

1/2 tsp peppermint extract

1/4 cup mini chocolate chips

1 (9 oz) package Hershey's Candy Cane Kisses

Directions:

*Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9 X 13 baking dish.

*Cream margarine, 1/2 stick butter, sugar, and egg yolk until smooth. Mix in the flour, baking cocoa, and salt until it forms a dough.

*Press into the bottom of the baking dish. Bake for 15 minutes, remove from the oven and set aside. Leave the oven on.

*Microwave corn syrup, remaining butter, brown sugar, and cream for 1 1/2 minutes. Stir and microwave for 1 minute more until hot and bubbly. Stir in the peppermint extract, then barely swirl in the mini chocolate chips. Pour into the crust and bake for 20 minutes.

*While the toffee layer is baking, unwrap the candies and and coarsely chop.

*Remove the baking dish from oven, but leave oven on. Sprinkle the chopped candy over the toffee layer and immediately return to the oven for 1 to 2 minutes, until the kisses are melty.

*Gently swirl the melted kisses around the top of the bars, then allow to cool completely before slicing.

Hurrah: Monthly Poetry Group

 

 Last Friday of the month is for

Monthly Poetry Group to rhyme.

Diane, Mimi, and I take turns,

If You're Happy and you Know It, the theme this time.

 

As usual, today I'll try,

a poem to write . . . or fudge.

Whether I'm successful or not,

you get to be the judge.  

 

Hurrah

Holidays are a hectic time,

there's so much going on.

Parties, gifts, cookie exchange,

and Secret Santas are drawn.

Planning and then preparing for

meals, and snacks, and sweets.

Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, birthdays too. 

Come to my house, everyone eats. 

Working in the kitchen, I

await kids from near and far.

Excited, anticipating, as

I listen for their car.

Making their favorite recipes,

and trying a few that are new.

I double up on everything so, 

they'll have some to take home too.

 

Peach Pecan Pie

No matter how much work it takes,

it bothers me not a bit.

'Cause having us all together here,

makes me happy. And I know it.

 

Before you go, stop by these blogs for more poetry:

 

On the Border

Messymimi's Meanderings

 

Peach Pecan Pie

                                                                       ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1 pie crust

1 peach

4 TBSP butter

1/4 cup peach jam

1 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup light corn syrup

1/2 tsp salt

3 eggs

1 cup chopped pecans

1/4 cup pecan halves

OPT: whipped cream for serving

Directions:
*Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 10 inch pie plate.

*Remove rhe pit from and peel the peach. Slice about 1/3 of the peach and set aside. Chop the rest of the peach and set aside separately.

*Melt the butter. Whisk together the butter and the peach jam. Once mixed, whisk in the brown sugar, corn syrup, and salt. Finally, whisk in the eggs. Mix in the chopped pecans and the chopped peach. Pour evenly into the pie crust.

*Arrange the peach slices and the pecan halves on the top of the pie.

*Bake for 40 minutes, tent with tin foil, and bake another 40 minutes. Cool, then refrigerate to set.

*OPT: serve with dollops of whipped cream. Keep leftovers refrigerated.