Martian Food

It seems as though even the vegetables are dressing up for Halloween. But underneath it all, this is real old fashioned cauliflower, aka Romanesco Cauliflower.

Lately Little J insists that there are only two vegetables worth consuming, carrots and corn. The days of disguising vegetables as broccoli trees and purple beet happy faces went out with the highchair. Even a plate full of martian Christmas trees that Grandpa had to travel all the way to another planet to get didn't impress Little J. Not even one little nibble. Oh well, Grandpa and I thought it was... well... interesting.

You know you are getting old when...

You tell someone of a younger generation to...

and they don't get it.

Monsters Under the Bed

It's almost Halloween and there are Scary monsters everywhere. Consequently, Little J has been refusing to stay in his room at night. For years, I have been amazed at how easy it has been to get him to sleep, most nights anyway. Unfortunately 4 is the age of the monster under the bed and Little J is no exception. Darn. I've tried monster spray and night lights. He has new bedtime buddies and the cartoon before bed routine has been eliminated. We've read the monster under the bed kind of books. Nothing works. Help.



Meanwhile Little J's favorite cartoon character is Scooby Doo. Guess who came to trick or treat in the park this afternoon? None other than...

Managing Waste

A couple weeks ago everyone in our little city received this useful kitchen collector. Because I wasn't exactly sure why we were the recipients of this useful kitchen collector, I read the accompanying instructions. It seems this container is meant to be a convenient place to store all our recyclable food scraps so that we can place them on top of our green waste cart on our regularly scheduled weekly pick up day. We are under no circumstances supposed to contaminate this waste by lining this useful kitchen collector with plastic bags of any type. So, who wants to keep a container full of fruit and vegetable peelings, table scraps (including meat, poultry, fish and cheese), eggshells, coffee grounds with filters, tea bags, bread, paper bags and towels in this useful kitchen collector all week long? Did I mention it has a convenient little lip on the back so it can conveniently hang on the cupboard knobs? I'm thinking wolf spiders, which seem to be quite prevalent in our household at this time, would find a new breeding ground there. I'm sure Wanda would appreciate the easy access to fish bones. It seems a better use might be something a bit more sanitary and a lot less odoriferous, like perhaps all those garbage bills that have been piling up around here...

Creatures in the Night

Wanda was all cuddled up next to me a couple nights ago, ready to sleep through the night, as she has been doing for the last week or so. Suddenly there was a thud on my pillow. Wanda leaped three feet into the air. I reached over to turn on the light just in time to see a giant hairy eight footed monster scurry under my blankets. As Wanda peered into the sheets, ready to pounce on it, perhaps in an attempt to valiantly redeem one of her lost lives, I flew out of bed, ripped back the covers and screamed. Wanda watched with perplexed amusement as I wadded the creature up into the sheets and raced out of the room to fetch hubby to remove the offending beast from my room.

The next morning I mercilessly sprayed the entire room with ant and spider killer. I put a double dose around each window and door frame. I now understood what my daughter in law meant about those bedskirts providing avenues for spiders to creep up under your covers. I considered removing the skirt until I remembered that my visitor had definitely dropped from the ceiling. I sprayed the heat ducts above my bed not giving thought to what the repercussions might be when the hot air hit the vents later that evening. Just for extra measure, I sprayed under the bed and doused the entire bed skirt.

This morning I awoke to find this creature in my bed. I’m a little grateful that it was dead but wondering if there are any surviving brothers and sisters. Note: Wanda did not sleep with me last night.

Happy Birthdays

Little I is 3 and almost as big as Little J who happens to be 4 1/2. The kissin cousins had a frolicking good time this weekend. First the birthday party and than a morning at the park. Meanwhile, grandma is ready for a diet. Yes, I know that's a 4 letter word. But notice I didn't bring it up after the cruise. Somehow I didn't gain weight on the cruise, just gained bad habits. I think I just might have gone over the edge this weekend after a red hat tea, and two birthday parties. I never want to see another cake, crumpet or cookie. Ever. At least not today.

3 Generations at 4

C...achoo

I heard these funny little c-achoo c-achoo noises coming from the kitchen. Wanda tried to tell me that she has caught Little J's cold. Funny Wanda. I can tell a real achoo from a c-achoo. Then Wanda tried to tell me she had planned to clean up the paw prints in the bathroom. If that were true, wouldn't she be using toilet tissue? Wanda is losing ground rapidly... I think she has 3 lives left???

Paws to Redecorate

Wanda pawsed to redecorate my bathroom again. This is just the sink. She also managed to do the floor and my entire shower. 4 lives???

Landfill

Albany Waterfront... The Bulb

After the storm on Friday, and a busy day red hatting yesterday, it was time to get outdoors for a little exercise and nature. It just so happened my sister was free to spend a couple hours outside today too and she gets the credit for this adventure.

Where is it? I couldn't begin to describe it as well as Persis. Read about it here.

While little sister was busy picking blackberries, I checked out some of the art. It was getting late, shadows were getting long, I stumbled on this little gem... the words on the bed...

"I think the world lies twice:

First by telling us that we are alone,

and second by telling us that we are not."

E. Miller

Bizzy-Kitty

My sister's cat, aka as MiniKitty. Not related to my cats except in the adopted sort of way. Wanda would be envious of the Bizzy-Kitty scratching box. Maybe Santa will bring her one.

Acorn Wars

We have acorns. Acorns everywhere. More than I've seen in the 37 years I've lived in this house. Bouncing off the rooftop, pinging off the cars outside my bedroom window. We have two huge oak trees in our front yard. Yet somehow, the entire yard is covered with acorns. All the way down the steep driveway too. Every morning.

The cleanup is a humbling task at best. Try to rake them and they escape between the tines. Try to sweep them and the scatter in all directions. Bribe Little J to fill a basket for a lovely Halloween display and his interest wanes within three minutes.

Even the squirrels can't keep up and we have fat squirrels. So what do we do with all this fresh ripe oak fruit? Hubby suggested we show Little J how to eat acorns. I went searching for a recipe. This is one of the things I found. Interesting but if you venture down the page a bit, there is a rather ballsy picture of a nutty squirrel. Scary. Enter the site at your own risk.

By the way, I'm skipping the acorn pancakes. Not eating those fat squirrels either. I'd have to be nutz to do that.

My Gift Registry

It all starts sometime in our early twenties. Our friends start getting engaged. They register for engagement presents. The wedding nears and they register for wedding presents. Not many calendar pages later, we get the notices that they have registered for baby shower gifts. The gifts don't automatically stop once the registration process ends because after that we get invites to all sorts of gift giving occasions honoring our friends plus their kids birthdays, graduations, anniversaries, retirement. Heck I even had a friend who threw herself a big divorce party.

Last weekend I enjoyed a stage production wherein my favorite act was the one with the always-a-bridesmaid-never-a-bride young lady decided to register for herself at the local department store. It started me thinking about how I might be able to register for something. I'm getting old. I've got it all figured out. If I register now, I'll be able to stock up for those golden years. If I work it right I'll survive without that retirement fund that my kids have spent. So here it is... the beginning of the list:

1. Cruise tickets to anywhere. Please check with me for available dates. I want to make sure none of the gifts overlap and hope to cover the entire calendar of my existence.
2. Limousine with young driver, one with patience, lots of it (he will only have to work if I'm not cruising)
3. A porter to carry my bags from ship to ship
4. Starbucks coffee cards so I can stay awake
5. Heavy perfume... what was that called? something like April Showers?? Or perhaps talc would be better, as long as it has a strong scent.
6. Blue hair dye, if I have any hair left, otherwise some new red hats
7. One of those canes with the rear view mirror, hidden flask (just in case), and horn
8. A walker - the kind with a basket for all my crafty things, with a seat to sit on, a purple one, so I can block the aisle in style
9. Red or purple reading glasses 2.0 and better
10. An Ipod with extra high volume control and hearing aids with lots of batteries
11. Cases of Ensure and Hershey bars
12. Depends, hopefully I'll still be a size medium. Even more hopeful, I won't need them but will just have them around for the less fortunate old friends.
13. Stretch pants with expandable waistband and gift certificates for Sweet Tomatoes
14. Soft soled shoes so no one will hear me sneaking up on them
15. Cases of Gas X, I don't want to be one of those old farts. Or better yet, a Kazoo so I can make noises from both ends.
16. A super powered scooter with blaring horn to warn people to get out of my way
17. A big totebag full of ziplock bags for buffet meal leftovers
18. A large coin purse filled with pennies so I can annoy the people behind me at the market
19. Scrapbooks and supplies so I can bore everyone with my memory pages
20. A rocking chair, one of those fancy massage ones with speed control
21. Large numbered telephone with your number on speed dial
22. A fill in the blank obituary form
23. Stationary and postage stamps so I can send you thank you notes, if I live long enough

Oh geeze... just make an appointment for me with Dr. Kevorkian, or whatever his name is.

Paw Prints

Paw prints. Black paw prints. First I spotted the ones on the ceramic tile floor. I followed the trail up the painted cupboard doors, across the corian countertop and into the corian bathroom sink. Now who would be the culprit and what did she get into? Here Wanda is, innocently cuddled up to Mr. Rusty on my bed. After close inspection of Wanda's paws, it has been determined that Wanda has done a recent fireplace inspection, and thank goodness she did not use it as a litter box. Why is the countertop on top the kitties? Could it be the end of Wanda? Another life gone... poof... I forget, maybe she has four lives left?

Through the Eyes of Children

During our cruise to Alaska, everytime we walked through the art displays on the Promenade Deck, Little J would stop and pause by this picture. One time we had to reprimand him for touching this 3D piece of art. A few days into the cruise, we were talking about the art auction and wondering if perhaps we should place a bid on this since Little J was so intrigued but somehow we thought it might be a bit inappropriate for a four year old. On the last day of the cruise, Little J stopped by the art for one last look. I pulled him along, well actually dragged him away. His comment... "Grandma, why didn't you buy that mountain picture for me?"