Going beyond!

Well, hey everybody! Where has the time gone? It's been months since I've posted but that does not mean that I haven't been doing anything...I have, and now is the time to be back on it.

So...to shorthand it ~ Thanksgiving was great, Christmas was superb, we've gotten past New Year's and there's some big football game coming up.  I finished at the lower end of my fantasy football league but still had a good time.

I have added a description to the blog title...views and reviews.  Since the window was an early theme, and my view from it, I wanted to keep the title...but also open it up a bit.  This is where you come in...facebook has been my friend in the past but its so unfriendly anymore when it comes to posting updates in a sensible fashion that I know a lot of my previous readers weren't seeing when I posted there was a new blog entry.  You have to like my blog itself ... become a follower, please, and pass it along.   If you do link to it from facebook, that's cool as it will let your friends know.  I promise not to beg you to follow me, but, I hope you will.

I am changing my focus on my blog posts a bit going forward. One of the things I've discovered about myself in the past year is my enjoyment of trying new food, new beers, new wines, and new spots to do all of the above.  I live outside of a of a big city, so there is plenty of the aforementioned, and while I am not kidding myself as to who reads this blog and who doesn't, I do look forward to expanding the audience a bit.

I am establishing a small group of women to aid my views and reviews.  We will go to breweries, wineries, eateries and pubs and will update you as to what we learned.  We're not in our 20s so we are not talking about going out and getting blasted...and sometimes, we might stay in.  I have an idea of 5 or 6 for a core group but it may be more and certainly different backgrounds, and there may be guests from time to time that accompany me ~ let me know if you are interested.  I also hope to do more traveling this year and beyond so I hope to add outside of my region information as well. 

My posts will update on Sundays and first up is Three Floyds...look for it next Sunday!

I hope you will continue to read the blog as the focus changes somewhat ~ I am still searching for the black pencil skirt so you might hear more about that, too!  I do hope to see you out and about, on the road and maybe, just maybe, sitting across the table from me.  I know not everyone loves and appreciates beer, wine and food...but everyone enjoys great company and conversation, right?

Soup to ah, nuts.

I took a week away from posting anything as there was just so much reading to do last week!


I didn’t do any purchasing last week although I certainly could have. Saw so many great deals and pretty things! I still have my list but I am also trying to put aside some money for a trip I hope to make in the late winter/early spring. If that falls into place, well, I’m going to want some spending money.

And, Christmas is coming! I am excited about the holidays! I think we are rushing it a bit in the stores and was disappointed to hear the bell ringer at my local grocery already but, I understand they may need to start their season early. I don’t oppose what they do, just seemed too early.

My family is so~so on pumpkin pie but we always feel like we have to have one at Thanksgiving. I did try a recipe this weekend, although fighting a horrific head cold, for Pumpkin Dump Cake. You can find the recipe I used at Cooks.com - Recipe - Pumpkin Dump Cake if you are interested. It was quite good and you still get the whipped cream…which, let’s be real. I did have to tweak it a bit as I had the wrong size pumpkin and evaporated milk, so had to use a brownie pan rather than 9X13. I know what you are thinking, I like my brownies in a 9X13, too!

Today, I am home with this bit of a head cold and cough as I was yesterday. Seriously, I laid on the couch and watched QVC for hours. If my purse was next to me, and not across the room, I probably would have a smoker, a turkey fryer and new can opener on its way to me right now, not to mention a Smithfield Ham. Husband finally came in and changed it to football ~ the remote was also on the other side of the room ~ and I napped.

I am having Progresso chicken and wild rice soup and here’s something else I have learned. I try to keep just a little cream on hand to add to canned cream soups and the like (not to mention spur of the moment fettuccini alfredo), and like with other sauces, I add a little bouillon to give it more of a home-made flavor. With a little pepper and croutons instead of crackers, this soup was amazing.

A bit of yearly review.

In the town where I work, there’s a shoe repair man. He’s about 80 some years old and all hunched over from years working at his bench. He’s a bit crotchety, too. He reminds me an awful lot of Pinocchio’s dad…what’s his name. Giseppe? Gipetto? Gelato? Anyway, you get the idea.

Last week, I took my clogs to Al to be repaired. The ones with the split right down the center. He braced the seam with a strip of leather from the inside and sewed the seam shut. It’s not the steadiest or straightest sewing I’ve ever seen, but, it saved my clogs for a while longer, I saved myself a few dollars and I was inspired.

I dug an old pair of hubs shoes out of the back of his closet and took those in next. I am happy to report the things have new soles and insoles and look almost new. Thing is, hubs is really hard on his shoes and he needs shoes that are good, solid, comfortable as he is on his feet all day. All day. Man never sits down, I swear. We have been looking for replacement shoes for a while but haven’t found anything he liked as well and of course, they no longer make this style. So, this was a happy solution until we do find the next pair. Now, I’m not going to lie, it wasn’t cheap to do all this repair ~ almost as much as a new pair of shoes. But, we have not put the old ones in the landfill and he’s good for the winter at least.

Something that has started to gnaw at me…the things we throw away and never wonder what will become of that item. One of the things that really bothers me is when I see a big rubber garbage can all torn up for some reason or another and it’s getting thrown out. Now I don’t have a solution, mind you, but it bothers me that the big rubber garbage can is in the landfill. It’s the same reason why I hang on to my T*ware that hubs has melted in the microwave. I can’t stand the idea of them in the landfill for generations. Remember all those diaper pails? Where are they now? I mean, I didn’t keep mine, did you?

In the past I’ve told you that I don’t make New Year’s Resolutions but do a birthday review. I’m going to try to be more deliberate with what I purchase and what I toss out. I have a lot of tossing to do around here but I will try to repurpose before I do. I’m going to be a better citizen of the world, of the universe even…somebody’s got to, so why not me. In fact, why not all of us?

Zombies?

This past weekend was a birthday for me.  I can't accept a year has gone by, to be honest.  It seems like the last few years have really sped through. I've been swept up and although not a person of high impact decisions or weighty directives, I think "if my life seems to be speeding, how do folks who are feel?" I mean,really, some days my toughest decision is if I am wearing jeans to work or the other jeans. 

As my birthday drifts off the calendar for another year and I recap, here's what I know.  I received two grandsons since my last birthday.   That's awesome, isn't it? I went from working part time at a job that I really love, to getting to be there every day.  Some super wonderful people have come in to my life.  I became less introverted and more introspective.  I am also less skeptical, more trusting.  I have had some absolutely fantastic conversations coming off of three or so years of barely speaking to anyone outside of a trusted circle.  I have my days, oh yes, but all in all, I've begun to rebuild trust.  I don't hide.  Not me, not any more. 

That gets me to zombies. I push to do new things, try new places.  This past weekend of my birthday we drove north to visit a couple shops and breweries we heard about over the last year.  Made a full day of it, the weather was beautiful, the color change in full swing.  We got to a destination spot and the town was attempting a record setting, verified, Guinness Book worthy Zombie Walk.  Now, even though I have a night or so every once in a while of not being able to sleep, and hubs gets up too early, I don't think we qualify as zombies.  Families and young people out in force, in full zombie garb and makeup, to be counted and certified for the attempt with numbered wrist bands.  I am not sure they made it as we cleared out before zombies and their offspring, yes, even some little zombies in strollers, over ran the town...but, it was about as organized an event, with live music, that I have ever seen. 

Who knew?

The ever growing list

This past weekend was like many others, like many of you had, too much to do and too little time. I finally got to the “big city” with some time to spend on trying to complete my growing personal shopping list. Here’s a reminder

My list:

• A black pencil skirt 
• A white blouse (no collar!)
• Black boots
• 2 pairs of jeans
• New foundational garments
• New socks

The maybes: 

• Brown boots
• 1 or 2 dresses
• Off white lace shirt
• Good walking/training athletic shoes 

Recent additions: 

• New black clogs
• Grey boots or “booties” 

So, I looked down at my feet the other day and was mortified to see the seam up the center of my right shoe, which I like a lot ~ a pair of black leather clogs ~ had split open! I don’t really know how long I have been walking around with a big ol’ split in my shoe but I was not too pleased. The left one has the start of a split as well. I am bummed. Now, I have worn the heck out of these shoes for the last year, but still.  I need to replace these shoes and pretty soon. 

Since I found myself in the big city with a bit of time on my hands, alone, I decided to go for the foundational garments. Ugh. What a chore. They change styles and fabrics all the time and why? Furthermore, you know you have to try on about a million bras before you find the right size and style for you. Yes, I know they have bra ladies at fine department stores. I was not at one of those. I’m just a tad frugal at times and quite frankly, bra time is one of them. 

  

I trekked into the dressing room with 10 bras at a time, 3 times, 2 stores. I felt beat up. After I conquered bra land, I tackled underwear…panties (for a lot of people, this is not a favorite word for some reason). Why have they stopped making all cotton panties? What was wrong with all cotton panties? I found them to be functional. But, failing at all cotton, I settled on just a few pair of some sort of blend or another by Vanity Fair. They are fine, thank you. They are underwear ~ enough already. I am super glad to have new underwear folks, and if any of my male readers are embarrassed or uncomfortable at this point, I do apologize but seriously, boxers or briefs and that’s it? You have no idea. 

  

I did a quick run through the shoe department at two stores, looking for boots, clogs and whatever else caught my eye. My plan was to head to DSW to check out a big ol’ selection (and where I got my clogs last year) but ran short on time after the tremendous amount of trying on bras I had to suffer. I also looked briefly at dresses in one shop and did a very superficial search for a black pencil skirt, but hated all the material I felt. That’s how I shop…glance over the colors selection, left to right through the entire displays. Zero in on colors and then feel the material. Many, many items do not get pulled from the rack as I don’t like the feel of the material. I stay 100% away from acrylic sweaters…I don’t care how they feel or how great they look on the display ~ their life is limited. No black skirt on this pass. I did see a crazy print skirt that I may have to find online as they did not have my size. 

  

Earlier this year I picked up a little “bohemian” style sleeveless top. Now, I am not into sleeveless so much but did pair this top with a cotton cardigan and really like it. I stopped in to the same store to see if they might have this shirt in other colors, on clearance and in my palette. They did and even though one was not quite in the palette, I bought it. It’s almost in the palette and I already know I like the shirt. So, a bit of overkill, but I have 3 and next summer is not that far off (ha!). I splurged on a red blouse that just screamed to me as I walked by. If you know me, you know I love me some red. Even on sale it was a bit pricey but made well and great material. May push back the white blouse and besides, you know I’m not sold on that idea anyway. We’ll see.

So this shopping trip went pretty well. I like what I bought, although I will go through everything one more time before tearing tags off to wear. While I was in the dressing room with all the undergarments I noticed my pants were at least 1” too long and pooling around my black clogs. How did I not know this? That looks super dumb. I really need a full length mirror.

Ah, the midwest

A few months ago hubs turned 60.  He’s a good 60, I am happy to say.  It’s a big deal but he is not one to like a lot of hoopla.  I wanted to do something pretty special and just around the right time, a coupon offer came across my email that was just the right thing. 

After some schedule changes and some of the family not being able to attend, we made it in to Chicago over the weekend to embark on one of the sight-seeing boats to travel the Chicago River on the architectural tour.

The weather was perfect and the tour the same.  If you get a chance to go, do it.  It’s informative,  fun and entertaining.   The guides are well rehearsed and probably have some theatre background.  Ours, a lovely young woman named Ali, talked the entire 75 minutes.  She was good, and I imagine they all are.   She didn’t break stride as my 3 year old granddaughter performed the Dance of the Seven Veils or something with a scarf belonging to her aunt ~ pretty much at Ali's feet.  I’m sure not all the boat passengers were amused but I also know some of them were charmed, and Ali just kept right on. 

A long walk down Michigan Avenue, some ice cream and a welcome train ride back to Indiana completed our excursion.  We decided not to eat in the city on this trip as we had the grandchildren with us and instead picked up some favorite food to go once we got home and enjoyed the remainder of our day around our own dining room table.   Hubs and I have decided we’re going back to do it again and eat a great meal following the boat ride.  A real date. 

The day that followed brought an impromptu trip to the apple orchard, some great laughs, great pictures and, I hope, great memories.  Get  out there and enjoy it, friends!

Two steps forward.

I really do have more going on in my life than shopping and cooking.  It just seems these are time  munchers.  I spend an awful lot of time thinking about things I need to purchase, or would like to purchase, either for myself or others.  I also spend a fair amount of time thinking about food and what to make for dinner. 

I get frustrated over not having the right thing to wear, or cook ~ recurring themes here in this blog, I know.  I’ve started a list of things that I would like to buy and everyday there is a new item added to the list.  What’s happening now is that there are food preparation items taking the place of clothing! My lists are starting to intermingle…maybe even inbreed! What happens when my underwear hooks up with that omelet pan I’m checking out?

This past week, because I had really whined about doing all the cooking around this place, hubs said he would make a big pot of chili.  I had spent the entire morning planning out the menu for the week and making out the grocery list.  I was happy to turn over a meal.  More than happy.  I thought “Someone has finally heard me! I really don’t want to be the only one!” I was stoked, grateful and sure, gleeful over it. He noticed!

Fast forward to later that day ~ groceries put away, chili is being stirred, ready for serving.  Digging around in the fridge, hubs says “So, were you making these crescent rolls for tonight?”  I laughed and said “Really? When in 35 years have I ever served crescent rolls with chili? That doesn’t even sound good!”

 

He said “When in 35 years have I ever paid attention?”

And, there ya go.