That Tired: Fly on the Wall

Welcome to our monthly Fly on the Wall, a blog post written in snippets. Marcia, Diane, and I invite you to catch a glimpse of what you’d see if you were a fly on the wall in our homes, at our writing desks, and in our worlds. Come on in, buzz around, see what we've been up to. Bet you laugh! 

We'd had about half of the windows replaced on our house last month. It was incredibly expensive, especially since I was adamant that we go with the company most able to replace our floor to (almost) ceiling windows in the kitchen looking out to the woods with the least amount of intrusion on our view. Most companies' windows had such large frames we'd lose a lot of that view.

So, we ended up going with a more expensive option. The bill was $50,000.

This month, Hubs put in the paperwork with our power company to get a rebate they offered, per window, for those windows that meet a specific insulation threshold. All of ours did. A few days later, I got a text from Hubs:

Hubs: I forgot to tell you I submitted the rebate request online for the windows. It could take up to 60 days to get it.

Me: It won't be a credit on our bill, they'll send us a check?

Hubs: Yes, $825.

Me: That's all? I was hoping it would be for $50,000.

Hubs: Well, I can always go to the casino, put it all on black . . .

Like many people, I'm useless without my morning coffee. My brain just doesn't work.

But then after 2 weeks of cooking special meals every night including all of PurDude's favorites, Thanksgiving, College Boy's Birthday, and our Hanukkah dinner (which we celebrate while PurDude is here), along with snacks and desserts, I was tired!

I had poured myself my first cup, grabbed my morning vitamin, put the vitamin bottle away and sat down in the den to let the coffee do it's thing to my brain.

It wasn't until later in the morning, after both of my cups of coffee, when I went to put my mug in the dishwasher. And found my bottle of vitamins in there.

It was so great having the whole family together for Thanksgiving. PurDude drove in from Colorado for 2 weeks. I love that he can stay so long, but I also hate that he's so far away the rest of the year.

I am so grateful that College Boy is local, at least I have one of the boys nearby. 

Two days before Thanksgiving, College Boy flew back to NYC for a concert he wanted to see. While he's gone he sends me pics, but the first one he sent concerned me. 

Apparently NYC has weed delivery trucks. And just like that I may have none of my sons living nearby. I mean, pot delivery trucks? How am I supposed to compete with that?

As I said, tired.

Each day I post online word game results to my Baking In A Tornado FB page, and many people share their scores there too. I had been playing Nerdle, a math game one night in those 2 weeks, and had the answer figured out, I'd win the game in 4 tries, I just had to switch 2 numbers (the 2 purple squares shown in the third row, below) from my third try.

But in the 4th guess, I didn't switch the numbers, I typed in the exact same wrong answer from my 3rd guess. Yes, I was that tired.

As I said, I had tons of snacks and desserts around. Most of us have indiscriminate sweet tooths, but Hubs really doesn't like things super sweet.

He wanted to figure out what to have for dessert one night, and asked me about the options. I had Chocolate Covered Brownie Balls, Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Layer Bars, and some Cookie Butter Shortbreads.

Hubs (reaching for the cookies): Well, this seems like something I'd be able to eat.

Me: Just what every home baker wants to hear.

Cookie Butter Shortbreads

And because the cook needed even more insults:

The funny thing about PurDude coming home over Thanksgiving and my making all of his favorite meals, is that I actually make one he doesn't like. Yes, PurDude does not like turkey.

We were watching a Purdue basketball game while the turkey was doing its thing in the oven, and at half time, some of the Purdue players were asked about what their favorite Thanksgiving dishes are. One player said that at his house, they don't have turkey, they always have fillets.

PurDude: Ooh, I want to go to his house for Thanksgiving.

The exhausted cook (yeah that's me): Thanks, kid.

 

And even more tired:

We were having a drink and snacks in the afternoon. I was having a glass of wine, hubs was having a can of beer, and PurDude was having a bottle of beer. Hubs had brought the beers up from the basement fridge. I watched while he opened the bottle with his bare hands.

Me: You need a bottle opener for that, it's not a screw off top.

Hubs (shaking his hand): Well, it is now.

Me (looking at his hand): Did you break your leg?

Hubs: No, but I have a pretty deep indentation in my hand.

Break your leg? Did I say "break your leg?' Yeah, I was that exhausted.

When it comes to laptops, there's new, and then there's new new.

I needed a new laptop, it's where I do my blog writing and picture editing. I'll only get one when PurDude is here because he knows how to get the new one set up and working the way I need it to. 

On the day we were celebrating Hanukkah, he and Hubs went to the store to get a laptop for me as a surprise. They had none of the one Hubs wanted for me in stock, but they had one that had been purchased and returned, certified to be in excellent condition. Hubs bought it.

PurDude spent the next day and a half setting it all up exactly as I wanted it. It was when I went to use it that we realized it was not in excellent condition, it was defective.

It was the night before Thanksgiving, and there was exactly one of the laptops Hubs wanted for me at another store, about 1/2 hour away. They ordered it, brought it home, and PurDude worked to get the new one set up and the old one wiped so it could be returned the day after Thanksgiving.

But it got a little difficult, figuring out which one was which, making sure the correct one was updated and the correct one was wiped.

Hubs: How is the new laptop working for you?

Me: This is the new one I'm using. Do you mean the new one, or the new, new one?
Hubs: Which one are you using?

Me: I'm still using the new one. 

Hubs: Not the new, new?
Me: No, PurDude is still setting up the new, new.

And I made him check 3 times before wiping the laptop to be sure it was the new, not the new, new.

And the next day, I had Hubs check the laptop before he returned it to be sure it was the new, not the new, new.

Phew.

SO tired.

We were having pizza for dinner. Hubs and PurDude decided to have a beer with dinner. I ran down to the basement, where we have a freezer and a second fridge.

Hubs: You didn't have to go down, I would have gone.

Me: No problem.

Hubs: What took so long.

Me: I had a hard time trying to find your beer in the freezer.

Hubs (laughing): Freezer?
Me: Don't ask.

We sit down to dinner. Hubs opens the can a brought for him and started to choke.

Hubs: This isn't beer.

Me (looking at the can): Oh, looks like that's one of College Boy's energy drinks.

Hubs: I will never let you go downstairs to get me a beer again.

Me: Works for me.

Last month I talked about College Boy. He buys and sells limited edition and rare albums, most all genres, but mostly rap. He flew into NYC for 2 days to go to a pop up store a local underground rapper (one of College Boys' favorites) was having to sell his newest album and merchandise. He spent the day with the artist, talked to his wife, and had his picture taken in some of the clothing being sold.

This month, he flew back to NYC. Another favorite artist who almost never does live concerts, was doing one at Lincoln Center on the night before Thanksgiving. College Boy was comp'd a ticket, merchandise, and a quick meeting with the artist.

It was a great experience, but I was really concerned. He was flying into NYC the Tuesday before Thanksgiving and flying home out of Newark, NJ on Thanksgiving Day. Air travel is a nightmare at the best of times, but two days before Thanksgiving? He could have ended up stuck anywhere.

Flights were perfect. He was SO lucky.

Until:

Two days after he got home, an initial bill came in the mail for over $400. Someone went into the Verizon store in Newark, started an account with College Boy's name and address, and walked out with phones and an iPad at a charge of over $400 per month (X 36 months = a hell of a lot of money). 

So, a deferred nightmare.

 

Now click on the links below and see what my friends have to share:

Menopausal Mother 

On the Border

Cookie Butter Shortbreads

                                                                       ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

1 3/4 sticks butter, room temperature

1/2 cup speculoos (cookie butter)

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp nutmeg

1 cup powdered sugar

2 cups flour

OPT: colored sanding sugar and/or cinnamon sugar

Directions:
*Cream the butter, cookie butter, cinnamon and nutmeg until smooth. Slowly, starting on the lowest speed until incorporated, beat in the powdered sugar. Mix in the flour.

*Divide the dough in half and roll each half into a tube about 8 inches long. Roll, individually, into plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour.

*Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cover baking sheets with parchment paper.

*Slice the dough into about 3 1/2 dozen 1/4 inch rounds. *OPT: you can bake some or all as is, or you can press some or all of the tops of each cookie into the colored sanding sugar, or a mixture of cinnamon and sugar. 

*Arrange on the baking sheets and bake for 12 minutes.

You Owe Me What? Fly on the Wall

Welcome to our monthly Fly on the Wall, a blog post written in snippets. Marcia, Diane, and I invite you to catch a glimpse of what you’d see if you were a fly on the wall in our homes, at our writing desks, and in our worlds. Come on in, buzz around, see what we've been up to. Bet you laugh! 

Hubs and I were in the den watching the Red Sox. It was late, I was tired in general, but I hadn't slept well the night before. Yeah, yeah, I'm making excuses. But then, I need one.

It was towards the end of the game and the game was tied. We really needed a run. I was hoping the batter would get a multi-base hit, but he walked. Which not only put him on base, but wasn't an out. 

TV announcer: Well, that wasn't exactly what they needed.

Hubs and I (at the same time): It was good enough.

Me: Jinx! You owe me a door knob!

Hubs: I owe you what?

Me: I don't know. It was the first thing that popped into my head.

Sometimes even I don't get me.

I had made an experiment for dinner. I do that often, so nothing new. Usually I have a pretty good idea of how an experiment will taste, but this time I had no idea, and I was a bit nervous about it. I had bought and grilled a rotisserie flavored turkey tenderloin and we both didn't like the flavor. There was a lot left over though, and I was determined to do something with it.

I decided to slice it, cover the slices with a smoky cheese, and bake it in a red wine sauce. I'd also make a salad and noodles. I told Hubs what I was doing and that I just wasn't sure . . .

I served dinner and we dug in. To our salads and noodles. We were both surreptitiously giving each other the eye. 

Me: Try the turkey.

Hubs: You try it.

We both went back to our noodles and salad. But inside I was laughing. He'd have to give in, because salad and noodles was plenty of dinner for me. But him? Not so much.

He tried it. And I had to stop my internal laughing, because, dammit, he didn't say a word.

He got me.

PS: He liked it. And I did too. Phew.

I've heard of some strange products, and some inventive marketing, but I was surprised and perplexed at a recent commercial.

A local supermarket was advertising a "frozen sack sale." I know these weird Midwesterners call bags "sacks." What I couldn't understand is what they were trying to sell.

Me: Frozen sacks? Like they're freezing paper bags and trying to convince people they need them?

Hubs: What would we need them for?

Me: I don't know, it's scorching hot out, maybe to put over your head to cool you off.

Hubs: That could be kinda dangerous when you're driving.

Me: Yeah, I love a good sale, but I think I'll pass.

Turns out it was a frozen food sale, a percentage off whatever you can fit in one of their bags. But, really strange marketing, if you ask me (they didn't).

I had some leftover grilled ham and asked Hubs if he wanted to put it in a sandwich for lunch this weekend. There was bread, mustard, and swiss cheese in the fridge. He thought that sounded great.

The next day, he came up from the man cave, made himself a few sandwiches and went back down. I noticed the ham was still wrapped in tin foil in the fridge.

Me: What did you have for lunch?

Hubs: A couple of peanut butter sandwiches and some chips.

Me: I thought you wanted that ham.

Hubs: Oh, I forgot.

I decided to put the ham, wrapped in tin foil, on top of the bread so he'd remember the next day. But the next day after lunch the ham was still there.

Me: I thought you were going to make a ham sandwich.

Hubs: I forgot again.

Me: I put the packet of ham right on top of the bread so you wouldn't forget.

Hubs: Oh, is that what that was?

Why do I even bother?

Speaking of food, I'd been hearing all over social media about this frozen chicken product that everyone seems to love. I had also heard that it was hard to find.

So, I was looking at all of the frozen chicken products on the grocery store website, trying to find the specific one everyone was talking about. Some were similar, but not quite right.

And then there was this one. Whatever this is, it's just wrong in all kinds of ways.

But my new Chocolate Toffee Slice and Bake Cookies? They are definitely right, in all kinds of ways.

Chocolate Toffee Slice & Bake Cookies

I went to a big box store website to see what summer merchandise might be on sale. This should be fun.

When I scroll down the home page, I'm looking at cute oven mitts, earrings, hair clips, bracelets . . . 

Then I get to a section marked "curated with you in mind." Ooh, I wonder what they've picked out just for me.

Scroll . . .

It's vacuum cleaners. Every single item. Vacuum cleaners.

I feel so judged.

 

Hubs came up from the man cave wanting me to check my laptop to see if I have internet. I did. He didn't. The basement is far from the router, and every now and then he has an issue down there so he brought his laptop up to the den to try it.

His laptop did connect up here. He left his laptop open on the ottoman, and went over to the couch to watch TV. As I was walking away from looking at his laptop, I tripped on the bottom leg of the ottoman and fell.

Hubs: Oh no, oh no, don't break my screen.

Me: Your screen is fine. I may have broken my foot, but your screen is fine . . .

I play a lot of online games and post the results to my Baking In A Tornado FB page twice a day. People who also play post their results too and we compare our games. I have a morning thread, where I post the morning games, and then an evening thread where I post the afternoon and evening games. 

For the evening games, they become available at 7:00 pm (central time), and I try to play them right away so I can get them posted to my FB page. Hubs had taken to reminding me when it's 7:00, so I know the games are live. So, I'd gotten used to not having to pay attention to the time.

Until last week.

Me (looking at my cell): It's after 7:00. You're fired.

Hubs: It's 7:01.

Me: You're still fired.

Hubs: I'm looking forward to hearing about my severance package.

I mentioned before that College Boy will often order food from one of those delivery apps. So often, they screw up his order and he ends up getting food for free. We often laugh about what they've done this time, from leaving his order at the wrong house, to bringing him someone else's order, to them just arbitrarily changing his order (and then charging him more because what they chose for him costs more). It's kind of a game, whenever he orders food, to see what he gets. Once we're done laughing, he goes on the app and gets a refund.

I came into the house one evening and he was eating a burger and fries.

Me: Did you order that to be delivered?
College Boy: Yes.

Me: So what did you actually order?
College Boy: A burger and fries.

Me: So where did they deliver it to?
College Boy: Here.

Me: You mean you're going to have to actually pay for dinner?

College Boy: Yes, can you believe it?

Actually, turns out, getting what you ordered is so much less fun than opening a surprise dinner bag.

Watching the Red Sox again, they were playing the Baltimore Orioles. There had been a rain delay so by the 8th inning, it was getting really late.

The Orioles were up and the crowd started chanting. I felt the same way so I was chanting with them.

Me: Let's go home! Let's go home!

Hubs: What are you doing? You are home.

Me: The crowd is tired and so am I. I'm chanting along with them "let's go home, let's go home."
Hubs: Umm, Os. Their team. The Orioles. They're chanting "let's go Os, let's go Os."

Me: Oh. Never mind, then.

 

Now click on the links below and see what my friends have to share:

Menopausal Mother 

On the Border

Chocolate Toffee Slice & Bake Cookies

                                                                       ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

1 1/2 sticks butter, softened

2 tsp chocolate syrup

3/4 cup powdered sugar

1/2 cup baking cocoa powder

1 cup flour

1/4 tsp salt

 

1 cup toffee baking bits

 

Directions:

*Cream the butter and chocolate syrup until smooth. Slowly beat in the powdered sugar until incorporated.

*Mix in the baking cocoa, flour, and salt to form a dough. Roll into a log, about 9 inches long. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour, up to 2 days.

*Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cover baking sheets with parchment paper. Remove the dough from the oven and slice into about 3 dozen 1/4 inch rounds. 

*Place the baking bits on a plate, press one flat side of each round into the toffee, then place onto the baking sheets, toffee side up.

*Bake for 14 minutes. Allow to set for 2 minutes before removing from the baking sheets to cool completely.

 

Zig, Zag, Flee

It's not so much that I was hearing voices. I mean, that's not . . . you know . . . healthy. But, truth is, I wasn't. Healthy. Physically. 

Mentally, I was doing OK. A little depressed, a lot exhausted, but mostly OK. Well, except for the messages. 

Not auditory messages, visual. Delivered through a daily game I played. Seemingly mocking me at first, but later offering some pretty sound advice.

 

So, two things. The first one I'll give you the bare minimum in terms of information. Because I neither want to relive, nor will you want to hear all the gory details. And it was gory around here. 

Little by little, in the end of November through the middle of this month, we were sick. We being PurDude, (who was home from Boulder for 2 weeks for his brother's birthday, Thanksgiving, and Hanukkah), and then College Boy, and finally me.

PurDude's first morning here, he had respiratory symptoms. On his day 8, his brother exploded in the middle of the night, gastrointestinally. On day 11, I had respiratory distress and PurDude, still having his respiratory issues, was also exploding gastrointestinally. He went to an urgent care and they did lab work. All negative. He didn't have Covid, strep, flu, RSV . . . apparently, we were all suffering from . . . nothing.

 

Not to be deterred, I still made all the celebration meals, desserts, and snacks. So, at least I was functioning. And somehow it all got eaten. Whoever was well enough on any given day, ate whatever I'd made. Well, along with their jug of Gatorade.

Almond Cranberry Sauce Cookies

 

On day 15, with just some minor congestion, PurDude ran for his life, escaped, drove back to Boulder. Two days later, not to be left out, I joined the explosion party. And two days after that College Boy went for round two.

At the 3 week mark, everyone was pretty much better except for me, I was still coughing and congested.

Now the second thing: I play a lot of word games and post my results twice a day to my Baking In A Tornado Facebook page, where some friends there share their scores too. I wrote about it in Wordle, Nerdle, Curdle. I even wrote You Are What You Phrase, about the game Phrazle, which is the specific game choosing to mock me a few weeks ago.

I clicked on Phrazle this particular morning, PurDude was back in Colorado, College Boy was back at work but I, a week behind them, was still sick, and exhausted, and sad that our holiday celebrations were . . . how do I say this? . . . a shit fest. And although I was ready to play the game, figure out the elusive phrase of the day, I just kept saying to myself over and over again "how did this happen? How can we all be so sick with (according to the lab tests) absolutely nothing? Where did this come from?"

And there it was, the solution to the puzzle? Or a cosmic answer?

OK, that's just mean. Yeah, maybe we zigged when we should have zagged, but it's not like we had any warning. I mean, none of us are aware of having seen some big cloud of medical crud headed our way, so how could we have known to initiate evasive tactics?

Believe me, we would have. Zigged, zagged, or just flat out run for our lives.

The next day, since we clearly didn't zig, zag, or flee, Phrazle shared the only strategy left to me:

And the following day, I guess the advice was not to dwell on a ruined holiday season. Once I was better, apparently the puzzle gods recommended that I:

 

Finally, finally feeling just a little bit better, and hoping that with the illness was going the percieved subliminal messaging, I got to the Phrazle portion of my daily game routines. Hoping against hope, but afraid to look in the mirror, I wondered if I was starting to look human again. Seems Phrazle had reverted to snarky:

Oh, and btw, were you wondering about Hubs? Bet you can guess who it was who'd been tending to the boys while they were exploding. Well, let's just say this: Hubs . . . perfectly fine, from start to finish, not so much as one single wayward sneeze, dammit.

Almond Cranberry Sauce Cookies         

                                                                                      ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients: 

2 sticks butter, softened

1 1/4 cups sugar

1/2 cup jellied cranberry sauce, room temperature

1/4 tsp almond extract

1 egg, room temperature

2 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cup white chocolate chips

1/4 cup sliced almonds, chopped

Directions:
*Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cover baking sheets with parchment paper.

*Cream the butter, sugar, cranberry sauce, and almond extract until smooth. Beat in the egg.

*Starting at the lowest speed, beat in the flour, baking soda, and salt until it forms a dough. Mix in the white chocolate chips and chopped sliced almonds.

*Bake for 11 - 13 minutes, until the edges start to brown. Allow to sit on the baking sheets for 2 minutes before removing to cool completely.