Water, water everywhere....

I finished the water portion of Beacon House:

Then the snow....I have to remember I want to add a lost mitten in the snow somewhere. It's not on the chart but I think I can wing it.

In other news, the Axe pony was the source of angst and lessening of the bank account today. The barn called to say she wasn't "acting right" and didn't finish breakfast. Not good- and made for upsetting flashbacks to the weekend Axe coliced over the summer and Bob died. Emily got there first & called to say "get the vet- her head is swollen". Which is kind of bizarre, but sure enough, when I get there, her muzzle is grossly swollen- close to twice its normal petite size. And very sore to the touch. The farrier came by too- he was supposed to do her shoes, but wanted to see what was up  with her face, and he said it felt very warm- like an infection. Long story short, after a sedation, a shot of pain killer, and a very painful oral exam, the vet thinks it's an allergic reaction to something she's ingested. She administered a steroid shot and gave me an Rx for steroid tablets. And a follow up visit mid-week.

Our guess was an infected tooth, but the vet said her mouth looked "awesome" - no cuts or foreign objects or broken teeth.

That's me: Mary "The strange, the bizarre, and the unexpected, day late and a dollar short, queen of procrastinators" Murphy. Also, very cold. Brrrrrr

I forgot...

what songs I had loaded into my Spotify account. It's been months since I've used it. Since before Bob died. And some songs still can't be listened to.
I need to make a play list of just good old '80's hard rock songs.

Begin again…

Well, I’ll jump right into it:

I had kind of lost my blogging mojo by the end of June, and then at the beginning July my boyfriend of 14 years passed away unexpectedly. Well, as unexpectedly as anyone with COPD for 3-4+ years can. And that kind of took the wind right out of my sails. A week after his memorial was my birthday, then a week after that was his birthday.  So it’s been a tough month.  I’m already starting to have more good days (those without crying my eyes out) than not-so-good ones, so I’m doing OK.

I don’t mean to relay all this for  sympathy, but as an an FYI for you. Whenever one of  the blogs I read just disappears without explanation, it bothers me. I assume it bothers you too. I wonder if they’re coming back, what’s happened in their life (if anything) and I keep checking back less and less frequently, until I relegate them to the “Low Activity” bookmark folder. I check that occasionally, and sometimes the blogger starts posting again.  So I can’t and won’t promise that I’ll post any more regularly for any time soon. I just don’t have the proper mind set right now. God knows a crabby depressed Xeyedmary isn’t a whole heck of a lot of fun to read.  Even on a good day.

My kitchen table is piled with various things that I have no ambition to deal with at the moment, and since it’s the best spot to take photos of my stitching, I haven’t been able to do that either. I have stitched a bit, filled in more snow and water on Beacon House, and worked a bit more on that Xmas sampler I can’t remember the name of- “Joy Sampler” by Lizzie Kate maybe?

I may clean the table off and be more diligent in taking progress photos, and just post those with little commentary. I think I can handle that.

Any whose: I just uploaded some photos I took  last month:

Here’s what I grilled for myself for my birthday dinner:

 

An angus burger with caramelized onions and American cheese on a bed of baby spinach with mayo & ketchup. Bob had promised me we’d go to our favorite diner in Mattapoisett for their SCL  burger for my birthday- which is pretty much what I recreated, but without the fries.

Emily gave me a couple of cupcakes- refugees from an event she baked for. And that’s an icy cold glass of Bud, for a toast to my honey.

Here’s my wittle bitty baby:

She’s been glued to my side- so sweet.

TTFN

Complaint Department…

If you don’t like whining & complaining, then don’t continue reading:

Google mail needs a filter to sort by senders so one may delete en masse.

Verizon needs to treat their 25+ year customers a little bit better. Why do new customers get the good deals and existing customers get bubkiss?

People walking their big dogs need to pick up after them when they defecate on my lawn. My dog doesn’t poop on your lawn. One of these days I’ll follow you home so I can return your dog’s poop.

What’s with the rash of telemarketers calling & texting my cellphone- which has been on the Do Not Call Registry since day one???

My local supermarket, Hannafords, needs to stop raising prices every single week. Their own brand English muffins, have gone from 99 cents (for as long as I can remember) up to $1.59 just last week. And they are out of their brand peanut butter, too.

The tattoo guy needs to stop living in his store.

Airlines need to quit it with the fees. A story on the news this morning said they’ve made billions-with-a-“B” on fees this past year (what do they think they are- oil companies??)

Seriously, the Occupiers need to go home. And stay there. I fail to see what political agenda they are trying to serve by pooping on police cars. When you start yelling at little kids walking to school, or preventing waitresses from getting to their jobs, while letting Michael Fatso Moore get away with insisting he’s “not in the 1%”, you’re not helping your “cause”.

And hey FLOTUS: if I want to eat  a cheeseburger with mayo and salt on it, it’s none of your business. I don’t bitch at you when you stuff your face with Kobe beef and lobster, on MY dime.

And now that I’ve regressed to political sniping, it’s time to call it a day.

God will this month EVER end……..

Long Time No See….

Hi there! I’ve been rather busy these past 2-3 weeks: one of the guacamoles has temporarily returned, my hours at work got cut back by one day (YIKES!), but I’ve been able to scrape some side job work to help make up the difference and I’ve been riding 2-3 days each week (fun!), plus walking weekdays at 5:30 am for 2 miles. I had my best friend’s husband’s 50th birthday party one Saturday, then a town group had a reunion of sorts the next.

Plus here in SE Massachusetts, it’s been as humid as I don’t-know-what, for what seems like weeks. I’m thinking we should be calling ourselves the Northern Bayou. Really- my salt jar has water in it, and all my envelopes are stuck closed!

Here’s my progress on Beacon House as of this morning:

  

That tree is all Algerian Eyelets, but they’re not too difficult or time consuming to do.  I stitched more this evening at Jeanne’s, but it’s so dark by the time I got home I’ll have to take a picture another day.

I took today as my day off, because Axe was having her shoes done today. Later, at my side job, my boss called with the news that one of the smaller big jobs we were waiting on was finally given the go-ahead-YAY! They want their plans in a month, so hopefully I’ll be back to my full hours soon, and this means the banks are lending again, and our big big jobs will be starting soon too.

Two Saturdays ago, we had our first reunion of my Rabble-Rowser group and I made these 2 desserts:

A Cappuccino Fudge Cheesecake and

A Lemon Buttermilk Cake with Lime Cream cheese frosting-Yum!

I also made a pan of Chorizo/Rice Casserole- very easy but so delicious I made another pan later in the week for myself. I’ll try to post that recipe soon. If anyone wants either cake recipe just leave a comment and I’ll post those too.

I haven’t even been turning my computer on some days- it’s back in my living room again, and I’m spent by the time I can sit down in the evening, and usually I opt for the couch.

Back to work tomorrow- it doesn’t take much of a disruption to my schedule to make me forget which day it is!

And then…..

I just got my computer back in my computer room, aka the kids’ bedroom for the past 2 years.

And obviously, it works. YAY!

Now on to re-arranging the living room, aka the computer’s home-away-from-home. First, I have to go take care of Axe. Miss Em’s ankle is toast.

We Are Experiencing Technical Difficulties…

please stand by.

*GONE*

I also cooked up The Pioneer Woman’s Dr.Pepper Pork Roast. MMMMMM!!!! I did it in my crock pot though, so I had to reduce the sauce a bit on the stove top. Good eating!

Yes, I’m still in here somewhere…

I even picked up a needle at lunch today for the first time since…...maybe January???? on that Wee Santa Em gave me for Xmas.

I WAS planning on stitching tonight but those plans got de-railed. I will try to take some pictures tomorrow- it’s too dark & messy right now. I have progress on Quaker Halloween (we skipped S & B last week) but as I was finishing up 2 weeks ago, I realized the center spider web was one stitch off-center. So that needs some ripping-out. Luckily that part of the motif worked up quickly, so I should be back on track soon.

Next month, I’ll be able to take this out again:

Sorry to be such a lackluster and sporadic blogger; just lots of noodgy stuff going on. In fact, when I went to the dentist Monday,  instead of  being my usual walking dead, my blood pressure was up to 142 over 74. Normally I’m low 90’s over 60. So now I’m conscious of trying to take deep, relaxing breathes and I’ve noticed my jaw being clenched more often- again with the dentist!

I know I have a back-up recipe on my computer somewhere, but I don’t feel like digging it out tonight. Maybe I’ll have a chance tomorrow.

Em has been house-sitting for friends this week, kind of inconveniently far away from here, so I’ve been walking Axe around the indoor-another chance of trying to relax! She’s such a good pony!

Chick pea needs a walk, and American Idol is coming on.

TTFN

UNCLE!!!

I give up- stop with the snow already! More for mid-week??!!!Notice how quiet Al Gore’s been these days?? I’m going to have to start working on Saturdays to make up for all the snow days…GGGRRR!

A giveaway alert:

Jan at Belafonte Notes is having a 2nd Blogoversary giveaway- and the prize is extraordinary! Check it out and enter- you have until February 2nd.

Yesterday I had to replace the baking element in my oven. Now it seems to run 50 degrees hotter than indicated. To replace the temperature sensor will cost close to $100 for the part, from what I could google. Between that & the $35 I paid for the element, that’s 1/4 of the cost of a new range. Ranges don’t seem to be sale items these days, so I’ll just have to see how difficult this temperature thing will be to get used to, and keep my eye out for sales. The one I have is at least 15 years old. More GGGRRR!!!

The boy sprained his ankle badly at work on his way to clocking out Friday night. His right (driving) foot. His supervisor agreed to put him on light duty, but we still don’t know how he’s going to get there- he & Em are on different shifts. Well, I suppose he may have a day off in the middle of the week for a snow day…

Off to check my baking chicken….

Take THIS NY Jets!

VB, Lilly spoof coach Rex Ryan's foot fetish: MyFoxBOSTON.com

Well, I hope they improve the fabric department…

Jo-Anns Fabric has agreed to an acquisition. Story here.

In other news, I’ve been dealing with Chicken issues. She came home from the vet Saturday evening. Her hernia was repaired, although the surgeon said she had never seen the “deviation” (my choice of word for lack of better description that won’t gross out my last two readers) Chickie unexpectedly had. The surgery went well, I was told, the doctor had to rearrange some things that she never had to before.

So poor puppy finally seems to be on the mend- her plumbing seemed to work correctly, at will, this morning, and her appetite is finally returning. One more week before I can take her for suture (and satellite dish) removal. Hopefully, at the same time, she can be given unlimited access to the house so I won’t have to lock the cats in the basement for the day- no stairs for Chicken for the time being.

Tomorrow is  day off; I’ll be finishing my baking, and probably braising my short ribs for Christmas dinner. My presents are all wrapped (??!!) early for a change and I just have to get Bob’s son some beer and a few stocking stuffers, and I’m done. You  know, Christmas gets a lot less stressful the less money you (have to) spend. Less running around, less thinking, less wrapping, less trash. I may even find some time to stitch!

Happy Christmas Eve eve!

Anyone see my mojo out there?

I haven’t cooked anything since I burnt the roof of my mouth Sunday with a freezer pizza. I’m not kidding- it still seriously hurts! I had a teaspoon of peanut butter a little while ago and even that irritated it!

This re-zoning crap has me alternating between “Mad-as-hell-and-I’m-not-taking-it-anymore” to resigned depression of the living hell my house will become if what is proposed is allowed to be built across the street. I won’t identify what & where for anonymity's (mine) sake. Regardless, it’s been lots of late night meetings, the scheduling of which is escalating as the Town meeting date approaches. I haven’t even been stitching much- I’ve been cutting back on coffee and I just tend to FreeCell-out at lunch. For being ahead of the game with my September ornament back in August, I’m now going to be behind- I haven’t touched it since I posted a photo over a month ago. I’m also hopelessly behind in my new TV season watching. At least I have On-Demand.

Izzie has resumed his inappropriate peeing again. In addition, he’s been falling off the arm of the couch when he’s been sleeping. I think it’s time…

Chickie has been doing a lot better. She didn’t like the oil on her food, so I found some tablets that has all the essential vitamins & minerals for a healthy coat, and she loves those. I also give her half a chlortrimeton twice a day. I can tell it works because when she gets to the 12-hour mark, she gets a little itchier.

Sue from Liv ‘n Laf sent me  a heads-ups on this from Ink Circles. Now I have to figure out where to get it. And when to stitch it.

Bob’s been in & out of the hospital several times recently with his breathing issues. Can’t give further info because I don’t have it. I’m convinced he has something worse than COPD and he’s not telling me. He doesn’t seem to get better, and he’s on every inhaler there is. The latest hospitalization resulted in the diagnosis that he “can’t be on Advair anymore- he’s been on it too long.” I try not to dwell.

In addition to my burnt mouth, we’re back to the soupy weather. So here are some things from Tastespotting that look good- cooking vicariously, if you will:

Pina Colada cake

Mexican Chicken Casserole

Cranberry Orange Scones

Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls

Chocolate Covered Cornflakes

7-Second Cheesy Broccoli Potato Chowder

Parmesan, Herb and Garlic Popovers

mmmmmpopoversssssssssssss………….

Twue Blood

"Deaw-y bewuved..."......Name that movie!
Eight vials of life later, and NO fainting! I surprised myself. And I was only 10 minutes late for work. It would be awesome to be a match- the testing process takes 60 days, which would come to mid-November. Wouldn't that be an incredible Christmas present for someone??!! (And I continue to NOT think about any potential discomfort I may undergo......please don't remind me!) OH! And if I'm a match and I undergo the donation process just before Thanksgiving, maybe I WON'T have to cook dinner this year!!!! Ssee, always look for the silver lining. Happy voting!

In Closing…

here’s the final shot of  last week’s apple pie:

I took the liberty of drizzling a bit of caramel sauce on top of the ice cream; I hope no one minds. The store brand crust was surprisingly light & flaky. And the Granny Smith apples were perfect- tart the way I like it, but without having to use lemon juice. And guess what? Diabetic boy now has the pod (like the pump, but smaller) so he can eat almost a normal diet. No more cooking with Splenda!

In unrelated news, I give my blood samples tomorrow for bone marrow matching purposes. Plus it’s primary day, plus it’s re-zoning hearing night. I’ll be a busy, tired girl.

Back at it…

Quaker Halloween update:

I spent the entire Labor Day weekend dreading having to go door-to-door with a petition in my little neighborhood for a re-zoning issue. Speaking in front of a large group is my number one phobia; going door-to-door is a close number two. I waited until Monday evening around 6:00. One household wasn’t home and a second homeowner wanted to wait for her husband. So technically, I’m not done. And I’m already procrastinating about returning to those houses. Jeesh! I think I’m going to “forget” all about it. Yeah, that’s the ticket!

PS

Chickie ended up being fine. She's back to all her doggie activities: chasing the cats away from her food dish, going up & down stairs again (I have to warn her to slow down), she even pulled out some of her toys. Thanks for your good thoughts!

I'm still here somewhere....

busy week last week: 2 nights of town rebel meetings, plus a painful stomache ache since last Sunday left me with little leftover energy to type, never mind stitch or cook. I had dry cheerios for breakfast and a one-slice ham sandwich for lunch all week, then I had crackers for supper Monday, oatmeal Tuesday, nothing Wednesday, pastry at Jeanne's Thursday, nothing Friday. I picked up some of the pink stuff Friday, and that's been making me feel better. I can tell it's wearing off when the raging heartburn starts, but at least I've been getting a breakfast and a late lunch/early supper in.
Well- off like a herd of turtles!

A Finish!

“December Swirls” by Bent Creek on 28ct. natural linen w/ specified floss

My next start:

“Red-Winged Blackbird” by Bent Creek on 28 ct. natural linen. Obviously, I’ve turned him into a Black-winged red bird, or a red blue jay as Bob calls them, aka: a cardinal.

Jeanne gave us each a zippered pouch- she scored a deal on a multi-sized set from TJ Max. AND she baked her delicious blueberry coffee cake. I have a piece for breakfast tomorrow.

Mild Rant Alert:

One of the boarders at my old barn posted a R.I.P. about her horse on Face book page, who passed away yesterday unexpectedly. He was a sweet horse- I really liked him- she could be wacky, which means she must be terribly upset. She didn’t deal well when her other horse passed away a few years ago. Anyway, a mutual FB friend coincidentally made a mobile update, just after the memorial post. (At least I thought it was coincidental, based on what I knew or thought to be this girl’s personality and the fact that she’s in another state) The mobile post was a joke about “Is there any horse that doesn’t suck money out of your wallet?” The answer “ Yeah, a dead one.”  It was so horrifying and insensitive I had to write a private message that she may want to remove it, because this mutual friend’s horse had just died. I don’t know how FB works, but the joke post appears on my page just before the memorial and it’s SOOOO awful!! I just rechecked, and the joke is still there, now with comments adding insult to injury, literally. Not about the specific deceased horse, but the 2 people are FB friends so I know the grieving one can read the other’s updates, and vice versa. The fact that the offending post is still there makes me think she a.) doesn’t care  and/or  b.) made the joke specifically and intentionally in reference to the deceased horse. I’ve tried to politely point out her faux pas on the assumption it was unintentional. I guess she will be my first “un friend”. Gah!

Back Again....almost...

I;ve been barnsitting for the past 4 days; I have Garden Grew photos and Quaker Halloween and my July ornament and a sweaty Tshirt. I was going to say sweaty armpits, but thought Tshirt sounded more lady-like. 'Cause I'm all about the etiquette.

Yeah....rrriiiighttt!!!

Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom

Still no real cooking for WWW; here’s a link to the next thing I want to try from King Arthur flour:

KA Donut Muffins. The reviews suggest making them in mini-muffin cups so that they really do taste like donut holes.

Back to my post title:

Yesterday I heard a rough scratching noise coming from my kitchen. I went to check it out, because Em’s cat has been doing a lot of scratching lately, and I wanted to deter her from causing damage.  I ended up not catching her in the act, but noticed an empty box, and thought, “well maybe she was scratching that or pulling the tape.” This afternoon, around the same time, from the living room, I heard a noise in the kitchen so I snuck out to see what the cat was up to again. I looked about and saw her lying peacefully in one of my kitchen windows. I heard the noise to her left and saw this little bastard squirrel  clinging to the screen on the outside, having ripped a 1" x 2" hole and a quarter-sized hole below that. I gasped a WTF  and he jumped to the roof. I followed outside, and he was up at the ridge, looking down at me  and laughing. (Didn’t Brendan Fraser & Brooke Shields just do a movie about this???)

I knew from other squirrel-in-the-house-horror stories that I needed to repair the screen ASAP, so I ran right out to the hardware store for some screen patches and rodent deterrent, and in the less than 15 minutes it took to get back home, he has made an "L"-shaped 6" x 2" rip out of the first hole, and made an additional attempt in the second window screen with a 1-1/2" x 3" hole (I have a double window over the sink). Luckily, I had the foresight to close down the sashes before I left, other wise I would have a new roommate. And now my little patch kit is nowhere big enough to fix the holes. I’m going to have to re-screen both panels.  Mother-F-*&%^X*(*!!!-er!!!!!!!!!!!!

Right side (from outside):

Left side:

In 13 years here, I've NEVER had this problem!!!! With all the cooking I do, and we don’t leave  food out on the counters; I have NO idea what has attracted this vermin!

On top of it all, Emily's cat was lying in the second window watching the squirrel's break-in attempt. Useless piece of shit.

Plus I now can’t open my kitchen windows- my largest source of air circulation in the whole downstairs.

I swear I must have tortured babies and kittens in a prior life to have this kind of luck! I really don’t have time for this!!!

Living Large

I finally broke down & installed the window A/C in my bedroom- aaaaaahhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!! I was even able to dry my hair with a dryer before work yesterday because I was cool and dry, instead of pinning it up wet.

Today’s project was getting the A/C fixed in my car. It was a hole in the condenser, just as I thought. The local garage was able to fix it, parts & installation, for about half of the evil mega-corporation, Toyota. Unfortunately, the shield Toyota designed for the next model year up from mine, will not fit and cannot be altered to fit my car. And thanks to our illustrious, stimulus big spender of a president, EVERY free kin’ highway I have to travel to get to work has been ground up in prep for re-paving (can we say for the 3rd and 4th times respectively for Rt.24 and Rt.495, since I moved down here 20 + years ago????) whether they need it or not. Which is probably where the rock that caused the hole came from, and will probably come from again. *SIGH*

So I’m air conditioned all over the place.

The guacamoles left me a birthday present:

That’s a doggie bed duvet, and a photo book of historical photos from the area. (shout out to Liv ‘N Laf- I think there are some relatives of yours in there! Sue’s been M.I.A. while she moves into a new home). Here’s the card:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here’s last week’s progress on Quaker Halloween:

Not much to show- it’s too hot to stitch, or it was until I got my A/C.

I think it’ll be a DQ ice cream instead of birthday cake after the dishes tonight. I best get crackin’!