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Monthly Archives: December 2013

If you can’t reach me tomorrow…

17 Dec
The winning number...you saw it here first.

The winning number…you saw it here first.

I have five lottery tickets. The hubby has five. We have high hopes that we are hours away from becoming $636 million winners. If the best happens, here’s fair warning: we will drop off the grid for several months.

We’ve talked about this scenario on numerous occasions, but for much smaller jackpots. If When we win, we don’t intend to claim our prize right away. We’d like to let the dust settle, give people time to forget about the huge jackpot with the mystery winner. (Yes, winner, singular. We aren’t trying to be selfish, we just like to think positive.) Instead of heading directly to the lottery office, the hubby will stop by work to drop off his badge. Then we’re getting the heck out of Dodge via one of two escape plans.

Plan A involves renting an RV and driving leisurely around the US looking for a place to settle down with our millions. Between house-hunting and sight-seeing stops, we’ll research charities, investment opportunities, and financial planners so we can protect our windfall and help it do the most good. Once we feel our ducks are in a row, we’ll change our phone number, return home, end the anonymity, and claim our prize.

Since much of the US is currently experiencing winter weather that is not conducive to safely piloting an RV, I suspect we will actually have to implement Plan B tomorrow. First thing in the morning, we’ll be on the phone with a Cunard representative, booking ourselves on the World Cruise aboard Queen Mary 2, departing from Southampton, England, on 10 January. That’ll give us three weeks to close up the house, adopt the remaining angels on the Salvation Army’s Angel Tree at the mall, and shop for a cruise-worthy wardrobe. After 29 ports-of-call, 18 countries, and 119 afternoon teas, we’ll be ready to come forward and announce our mega-millionness.

So, if you can’t reach me tomorrow, rest easy. I’m packing my bags and dreaming big dreams. The hubby and I will resurface in a few months with a plan, ready, willing, and eager to share the wealth. Until then…

 
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Posted by on December 17, 2013 in How It Could Be

 

Domestic near-disaster

16 Dec
Not the best way to make tea...

Be careful where you drop the tea bags…

In the south, nothing says welcome home like a tall glass of sweet tea. So I cranked the stove to high, set a pot of water on to boil, and got ready to welcome.

Do you have any idea how quickly a Lipton teabag will combust when dropped onto an electric burner?

Instantaneously.

Do you know how big the flames are if ten teabags are tied together when they hit said burner?

Monstrous.

How do I know this?

Because I nearly burned down the house in that attempt to make some sweet tea. Not just any house. The brand new, paint-is-still-pristine, boxes-are-still-packed, townhouse of my then-boyfriend (now hubby, miracle of miracles). Nothing ruins the ambiance of a new home like soot stains on the ceiling and the aroma of scorched black tea layered over the fumes of just-laid wall-to-wall carpeting.

Luckily, there was no irreparable damage, and after a quick call to the insurance company to be sure his policy was up to date, the then-boyfriend (now hubby, miracle of miracles) was ready to forgive and forget.

Well, maybe not forget. The incident has come up each time I’ve unpacked the tea pitcher in a new house in the past ten years.

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Everyone has some kind of domestic disaster story, whether it’s a kitchen fire or a DIY project gone horribly wrong. If you’d like to laugh at commiserate with other people’s misfortunes, please, please check out the hilarious Domestic Disaster Diary. A slew of talented bloggers share their own near misses, creating a community of sympathy and solidarity for those of us who have good intentions but not always the best results.

 
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Posted by on December 16, 2013 in How It Was, Memoirs, Monday Mix, On Me, True Life

 

Weekly Photo Challenge: Community

15 Dec

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I’m not sure I’ve ever experienced a greater sense of community than when the Olympics came to London last year. It seems the entire United Kingdom was united in its excitement, support, and pride. The hubby and I had a chance to immerse ourselves in that community spirit when the relay route brought the Olympic torch to a village near us. For 70 days, on the news and finally in person, we watched as school children and shopkeepers, commoners and aristocracy, villagers and tourists all dropped everything to line the route and cheer the torch on its journey around the country.

 
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Posted by on December 15, 2013 in Challenges, Photography, Weekly Photo Challenge

 

Travel Theme: Still

14 Dec
Freezing fog coats everything, enforcing the world to stand silently at attention until the sun breaks through.
Serene stillness in an Irish churchyard.
Someone say, “You can have it,” so this poor lady can enjoy that Rolo!
Early morning serenity.
Nothing brings curious cattle to a standstill like a metal cattle grate.
Waiting in stillness for some poor, unsuspecting bird.
The calm before the dinner party.
The canal is so quiet you can practically count individual leaves in the reflection on the water.

I have so many photos that fit with Ailsa’s chosen theme of Still this week. I chose to stick with the European ones, but could do a whole other gallery from Japan. I guess my preference for shooting still subjects probably reflects my personality. I’m not still in the sense of couch potato (well, maybe sometimes), but I usually feel still on the inside, if that makes sense. I generally operate with a sense of inner stillness and peace, so I like to immerse myself in similar surroundings. And therefore I have ample opportunity to capture lots of stillness on film! 🙂

You can check out other still images by visiting Where’s My Backpack?

 
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Posted by on December 14, 2013 in Challenges, Photography

 

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Desperation

13 Dec

adamickes-childsbootsPhoto copyright – Adam Ickes

She went shopping with her mother.

He went for drinks after work.

A sexy stranger. A drunken kiss. The wrong witness. Word spreads.

On the pier where he’d proposed six weeks earlier, everything comes undone.

The ring hits his chest, slips between the planks. Plop.

Gravel pelts his shins as her Mustang roars away.

Was she blinded by tears or the lights of the oncoming semi?

He shucks his boots, dives into the evening-calm water, wonders if the gloom of the lake floor is anything like her coma.

Prays if he finds the ring, maybe she, too, will finally resurface.

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I’m desperately trying to find my fiction groove again–my muse has been AWOL for weeks–no cards, no letters, no phone calls. There was finally a tiny spark of something when I saw this week’s photo prompt for the Friday Fictioneers, so I snatched at it and actually managed to churn out a 100-word story.

 
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Posted by on December 13, 2013 in Challenges, Fiction

 

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Gobble, gobble, gone

12 Dec

soupOn this, the two-week anniversary of Thanksgiving 2013, my two turkeys have finally been laid to rest. I had collected a tub of ugly bits…the pieces that crumbled off during carving and couldn’t be presented on the serving platter, the chunks that had to be pulled off the carcass by hand because a knife wouldn’t reach…and tonight they became soup.

I stumbled across a Leftover Turkey Soup recipe years ago, probably in the Kraft Foods magazine I was getting for free at the time. It is so incredibly tasty for such a simple soup, and I almost always have all the ingredients on hand (and if I don’t have turkey leftovers, it’s just as good with chicken–I’ve even purchased a rotisserie chicken just to make the soup). The best part is it’s done in half an hour, perfect for those days when I don’t have time to keep an eye on a concoction that needs to simmer all day.

So, just in case you’re wondering to do with your own tub of ugly turkey bits, here’s the recipe:

½ c. chopped onion
1 med. carrot, sliced
1 stalk celery, sliced
1 T. vegetable oil
2 cans (14.5 oz) chicken broth
2 c. water
1 envelope Good Seasons Italian dressing mix
2 c. cubed cooked turkey (or chicken)
½ c. bite-size pasta, uncooked

Cook onion, carrot, celery in oil until tender.
Stir in broth, water, dressing mix and bring to boil.
Add turkey and pasta, cover.  Reduce heat to medium-low, simmer 10-12 min.

This recipe makes 6 one-cup servings. Personally, I believe it is a mortal sin to make soup and not have enough left over to put in the freezer, so I always double it.

 
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Posted by on December 12, 2013 in Cooking

 

Let me see what I can whip up…

11 Dec

3:10 p.m. Phone rings

Me: Hello?
The hubby: Hey. Where are you?
Me: In the bedroom.
The hubby: Whatcha doin’ in the bedroom?
Me: Dusting.
The hubby: Gotta question for ya.
Me: Okay.
The hubby: Can you whip up something quick and easy for tomorrow? They threw together a party.
Me (hot-footing it to the kitchen to take inventory of the pantry): Uh, sure. What kind of something? Dessert? (Please say dessert, I see a brownie mix.)
The hubby: Oh, I don’t know.
Me: Would finger food be better? (I’ve got bunches of L’il Smokies in the freezer, I could throw those in the crockpot with some magic sauce. Easy peasy.)
The hubby: Are those sausage balls a lot of trouble? Those would be good.
Me: Do you have a way to heat things up?
The hubby: Just the microwave.
Me: Then sausage balls are out–they’re no good heated in the microwave.
The hubby: And if it could be in a dish I don’t have to worry about bringing home, that’d be awesome.
Me: (Well, crap. That rules out the L’il Smokies in the crockpot.) Sure. I’ll figure out something.
The hubby: If it’s too much trouble, don’t worry about it.
Me (wheels spinning): No, I’ll think of something, it’s fine.
The hubby: And do we have something we could wrap up for a white elephant gift exchange?
Me: Uhhh. (No.) Yeah. I’ll take care of it.
The hubby: Thanks, I’ll talk to you later. Love you, bye.
Me: Love you, bye.

…45 frantic minutes on Google…

 

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…quick trip to the grocery store to buy spinach wraps, a yellow pepper, ham, and a tree-shaped plate…

7:45 p.m. I give you and your coworkers a tree (thanks to the plate) made of Ham and cheese pinwheels wrapped in festive green tortillas, garnished with grape tomato ornaments, and topped by a somewhat anemic yellow pepper star.

ham roll tree

 
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Posted by on December 11, 2013 in How It Is, True Life

 
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