Off to work. Black Friday. If I don’t return, avenge me.
**Bobbio ** - isn’t it interesting the things that one does due to training and/or job become a matter of routine and no-big-deal, yet when applied in the right place at the right time, they’re suddenly important, possibly even critical? I’m thinking back to a Christmas about 20 years ago or so, when a bunch of us were staying at my sister’s house and in the middle of the night, a fire ignited in the basement (backstory - they thought the ashes from the fireplace were cold, so they shoveled them into a cardboard box. Several hours later…)
When the smoke alarm went off in the wee small hours, I was befuddled, as were most of the others. But my husband figured out what it was, ordered us out of the house (I had a toddler and one sis was pregs, the other sis was just in that befuddled semi-awake state) then went about finding the fire extinguisher and dealing with it. To him, it was no big deal - he was taught firefighting in the Navy, and he was just doing what he’d been trained to do. I’d had limited firefighting training, but when it happened, my brain failed me for a bit.
One sis had called 9-1-1 and the professionals checked out the place to be sure nothing was lurking that would reignite. In the end, they had to replace some carpeting and vertical blinds, and the house stunk for a while, and BIL burned his hands, and they bought an ash bucket, but considering the potential, all went well because of something my sweetie considered to be no big deal.
Not to lessen what you’ve done in your various adventures, but, yeah, what makes a good story later may have seemed very different at the time.
Non-related afterthought - yesterday was 44 years since JFK was assassinated, and when I heard it mentioned on the radio as we were driving to Mom’s, I was transported back to the 4th grade, sitting at my desk, hearing the principal over the intercom telling us what had happened. It was almost incomprehensible to me because way back then, I was of the impression that one was elected president because one was the best person in the whole country. It was just wrong to kill the best person in the whole country. But the death of the president became the beginning of the death of my naive child-self. Now I’m just old and cynical, but I do vote, so there’s that.
And yes, I’m up ridiculously early, but we crashed early last night and (thanks to the 2 toasted almonds) I slept very well. **FCD ** is still out, and my critter entourage has been tended to. I’m caffeinating, enjoying some morning solitude. Plans for today do not involve shopping, but they’ll probably include me painting the inside of the bathroom cabinet **FCD ** has fashioned, as well as several loads of laundry, and some kitchen cleaning. Oh yeah, a fun day will be had by both. Woo and hoo.
Happy Firday!!
Yay for you BBBobbio! I’m sure Beulah and family are doin’ some cheering of their own today too. It feels good to know ya done good don’t it?
MOOOOOM I think you need to get taken out for breakfast before tackling the painting. Just sayin’…
doggio is there an activation code for the cyborg lemurs just in case?
Cutie pie and others… ol y’all know who is not in favor of me broadcasting his pic. I figure he’s the one with the say so in this, so I respect his wishes.
Ok, later this mornin’ I’m off to the homeplace to be with family over the weekend. I’ll be back late Sunday afternoon. I may or may not be online some depending on the goin’s on and whether or not I get frustrated using mom’s computer. She has dialup and we all know how fun that is!
Be good! No running with scissors or other sharp pointed objects. Don’t pick your nose in public. No putting random things in your mouth. Eat your dinner. Clean your room. Wear matching shoes.
Later Y’all!
Bobbio - that was a great story! I hope the LOL is ok now. I love the feeling of helping random strangers. I can only imagine how it makes you feel to save a life. Wow.
Happy After-Thanksgiving! I’m glad it’s over. Don’t get me wrong, I loved cooking all the food and having guests, and having everything taste great! It just absolutely wore me out. I was pooped last night. My feet still hurt!
It was fun, though. My son and his roommate came over early for the Cowboys game, and Dad came out and watched it with them. (He usually stays in his room to watch football.) It was fun listening to them whoop and holler! Then Mr Rebo’s niece and NIL and their twin boy and girl, who are 16 years old. We definitely had a houseful!
I’m taking the day off. Maybe someone else will fix breakfast? : crosses fingers:
Y’all have a great Firday!
(Prepares mob and pitchforks)
We do a Worst-Day-Of-The-Year-For-Shopping, but ours is the day after Christmas. Boxing Day. I generally work it. It’s a lot nicer in a bookstore than it is in clothing retail, let me tell you.
Yawn. Sort of awake. I think our neighbours above were dressing and undressing over and over last night. Or reoganizing their bedroom or something. From about 12:00 until 1:15 (the time I put earplugs in) they were consistently making dresser opening and shutting noises, dropping stuff on the floor. Aagh.
Mr. Lissar decided to use his sick day to prepare for a weekend with the Folks. So he’s still asleep. I’ll make breakfast in about half an hour. I probably won’t be online again much over the weekend, so everyone stay safe and eat turkey leftovers. And drink heavily.
Funny you should mention that… We had a nice breakfast at Linda’s. I just finished (almost) cleaning my studio, plus I ran the vacuum in the laundry room - it was mighty dusty in there. Today will be spent indoors doing chores. Good times…
Could you at least create an artist’s rendition? Or maybe post a series of photos of people who share his features, then we could try to envision a face with this one’s mouth and this one’s nose and this one’s left ear… 
Incidentally, is someone on line for Monday??
BBBob that is a heartwarming story. Just one thing (the editor in me wishes to speak up), if you’re going to include it in a book:
reads like she tore the pendant away from Auntie and shoved it to the other side of the room - as in “ah, the old broad is dying - now I’ll get my inheritance” Please think about changing that sentance. [editor mode off]
another great line on this lovely Firday morning. But I’d love to know what you meant in place of “torpid” - or did you have some upcoming vocabulary quiz on your mind?
ask gardentraveler - she’s been keeping the list
Libby woke me up at 6.30 demanding to be under the covers as it was chilly here in sunny California. So I am up and trying to decide what to do today. I really need to clean before I put the tree up so I think I will breakfast then tackle that…
Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. doggio will will come in after you - leave no man behind!
I wasn’t drunk last night, but I sure as hell was torpid. Not sordid, not turgid, just torpid…
I redeemed myself somewhat today by taking a 2 mile (approx) walk. It is COLD out there–but wonderful. Brilliant sunshine, crisp air. My ears will thaw out eventually.
I am going to make the sweet potato biscuits today that my mom talked me out of yesterday. I miss them. Leftover turkey and biscuits for lunch! And work tomorrow…
Back to reality soon. <sigh>
Good morning everyone. I’m awake and trying to caffeinate.
Dinner was a big success and enjoyed by all. Everyone especially loved the stuffing and the sweet potato casserole. In fact, I have been informed that I’m bringing that to Christmas Eve dinner. I had also made a good bit of stuffing, stuffing both the bird and baking some in a casserole dish. There isn’t much left!
I was surprised and pleased that my husband ate gobs of the stuffing. It was a recipe I hadn’t tried and he’s not a fan of cranberries. The stuffing had dried cranberries and chopped dried apricot, along with a golden delicious apple, JD Breakfast sausage, celery and onion. Both my mother and MIL wanted the recipe.
My turkey turned out moist and full of flavor. I was kind of worried about that because I hadn’t make a turkey in years, and doubted my ability to make a good one. I worried for nothing, for I was victorious and conquered the bird!
I was one TAHRED puppy last night though and am glad it’s over.
Bobbio, once again, ya done good!
My daughter wants to get a haircut today. Personally, I’d like to just stay home, kick back, and sit in front of the fire and read. No such luck, though. I promised we’d try to make and appointment and I’m going to keep my promise.
I’ve got stock simmering now, I can’t wait to be done with it so I can put it away.
I hope everyone has a good day. I’m going to do my level best. In fact, I might make the kids warm up the turkey day leftovers for dinner tonight. I did ALL the cooking AND the dishes all day yesterday; they can cook and clean up tonight!
I will, because it’s a typo. It should be ‘anyway’, and I blame it squarely on my dying home PC, which drops letters. MS Word Spellcheck flew right over it.
Happy Firday, everybody. I’d rather be curled up in bned with Her Majesty, but alas, I have work that should be done. (Actually, it must be done, but not necessarily today.) I don’t know how much I’ll get done, though, since I’ve got a headache again today. Grrr…
Yesterday was just lovely. We had a delightful dinner out, and then we came home and changed into comfier (and warmer, since the temp was dropping rather precipitously) clothes and took the Idiots out for a long walk on the hike/bike trail on Kent Island. We found a lovely wooded stretch next to a wildfowl sanctuary, and it was so quiet and peaceful except for the leaves swirling and the geese honking overhead. It really, really felt like autumn, which was just wonderful. It was spitting a tiny bit of rain, but not enough to get us wet, just enough to make it fun. Then we came home and vegged in front of the TV the rest of the day. Which was again lovely.
So it was a nice Turkey Day. Today, alas, Papa Tigs had to go in to work for at least part of the day – not his choice, but he needs to supervise some other folks getting some stuff done while as many people as can take the day off. I have no idea when he’ll get home.
Sounds like everybody had a nice Thanksgiving, too (who had one, that is), and it was nice to see new photos. We were all such adorable children!
Back to the salt mines. Maybe.
Finally! My daughter’s first college app has been sent off. Yeah, she’s pushing it a little late, isn’t she? I told her she needs to ensure that all of them are submitted within the next two weeks. I got the :rolleyes: from her.
Still nice and quiet here. It is freakin’ COLD out though! It’s still completely white with frost outside; a hard frost.
I should do something productive, like laundry, but I have a case of the donwannas. I worked hard all day yesterday and would like a little chance to kick back.
I said torpid and I meant torpid. God I think I ate more yesterday than I have for the past month.
I am no longer torpid, but I am hungover. :: crawls back under blankets ::
We’ve got one of those things too, and that’s exactly where Ms Turkey* was. Good thing - the oven was jammed with other stuff, and that’s with our across-the street neighbor bringing yams and green bean casserole. That fridge I got as payment for an IT job came in handy as well. It was bursting at the seams with beverages and overflow from the kitchen fridge.
Eight guys, at least four of whom are firmly in the “bear” category, did serious damage to a 19-pound turkey and everything else. Afterwards, it felt like I ran seventeen loads of dishes through the dishwasher.
While I’m thinking of it - DH is famed for his countertop roaster turkey. The turkey is seasoned inside and out with Bell’s poultry seasoning and the cavity is filled with a bag of cranberries and a box of golden raisins. A bottle of blush or white Zin goes in the bottom of the roaster and I believe there may be some butter involved - probably in the cavity with the fruit. The net result is more like slow-cooking or braising than roasting and even the breast comes out moist and tender. It’s very forgiving as well - once, we lost track of time and the carcass actually collapsed after about two hours too much cooking, but the meat was still delicious. The only drawback is that the skin is pretty much inedible as it doesn’t get the slightest bit brown or crispy - it usually stays as pale, floppy and icky as it did when the raw turkey comes out of the bag.
- Most turkeys sold in the grocery store are hens. The toms are usually reserved for restaurants and delis.
Oh my goodness! I have a metric buttload of stock. I’ve filled up one of my biggest storage containers with one potful, but I’m not sure I have another storage container big enough to handle the next pot. I still have to strip the good meat from the carcass to throw in there too.
I’m currently waiting for the carcass to cool down enough to let me handle it comfortably.
I still haven’t accomplished anything other than cruising the net and checking e-mail, etc. I’m such a sloth today…
Oh my goodness! I have a metric buttload of stock. I’ve filled up one of my biggest storage containers with one potful, but I’m not sure I have another storage container big enough to handle the next pot. I still have to strip the good meat from the carcass to throw in there too.
I’m currently waiting for the carcass to cool down enough to let me handle it comfortably.
I still haven’t accomplished anything other than cruising the net and checking e-mail, etc. I’m such a sloth today…
I thought about being a bum today, but little bits of ambition jumped in there, causing me to:
- clean my studio
- changed the furnace filter
- vacuum the laundry room
- wash/dry/put away 3 loads of laundry
- make a trash/recycling run
- vacuum the main living areas
- haul 2 wagonsful of firewood from the stack in the lower yard to the rack outside the back door (including a small stack of wood in the garage for easy retrieval.
I still need to tidy the kitchen and think about something for supper, tho I expect it’ll be the miscellaneous assorted leftovers from Mom’s. I just took a caramel custard pie break - yum. Make a custard pie. Pour Smuckers caramel sauce over it. Eat. Yum.
I also need to paint the inside of the new bathroom cabinet white gloss, but **FCD ** is in ManLand sawing and planing and otherwise making dust, which is not what I want on my paintjob. So that’ll get done tomorrow, I guess.
Tomorrow’s big job is leaf sucking and mulching. **FCD ** will drive the mulcher around, I’ll rake out the inaccessible spots and help him dump each mulched load. Then we’ll come back inside and moan and cry about how much we ache. Medicinal ice cream may also be involved.
As for me, cooking and kitchen tidying is probably the balance of today’s motivationalitudeness. (is to a word. Or at least a concept.)
Now how the hell did that double post happen? I submitted once.
My daughter has decided we can wait until tomorrow for a haircut. Yay! Now I don’t have to worry about going anywhere.