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christmas,
recipes

Christmas recipes

Glögg

Glögg is a Swedish mulled wine that has been drunk since at least the Middle Ages. The word comes from the older glödg, which simply means heated. Nowadays it is traditionally served in December. Though you can buy it readymade, I always make my own, as I find the bought stuff too sweet.

½ bottle brandy
1 bottle red wine
1 bottle port wine (I use the cheapest possible of all three bottles of alcohol, as the spices dominate the flavour.)
25 grams of whole cinnamon
10 grams of whole cardamon seeds
10 grams of whole cloves
300 grams granulated sugar
15 centiliters of water

Lightly crush the whole spices and mix with the brandy After 1-3 days, strain and mix the brandy with the red wine and the port wine. Dissolve the sugar in the water on low heat, and add to the alcohol. Now it’s done, and just needs to be bottled. Will keep for several years.

Serve heated in small cups with whole almonds and raisins. Usually with gingerbread cookies and ”lussekatter” (saffron buns) to eat with it. In Sweden you can buy special cups for it, but cups meant for Turkish coffee are the perfect size.

The discarded spices can be re-used in a simmer pot.

You can play around with the recipe, and add other spices. This year I added two star anises and two tonka beans, some black pepper and allspice. Vanilla bean and dried orange peel can also be added. And you can use any sugar you like, this year it was a mix of rock sugar and some tonka-infused sugar.

Gingerbread

Mix together:
150 grams softened butter
2 ½ dl sugar
Add
½ dl golden golden syrup
1 dl cold water

Mix together in another bowl
8 dl white flour
1 tbl ground cinnamon
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cardamon
1 tsp ground clove
1 ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda

Slowly as the flour mix to the wet ingredients until a dough is formed. Cover the bowl and let it rest in the fridge overnight, at least for 12 hours. Remove about an hour before you plan to bake. Roll out very thinly, like 2-3 mm and cut out with cookie cutters. Heat the oven to 175C and bake for 6-7 minutes.

If you wish you can decorate with frosting. The traditional shapes of the cookie cutters are hearts, men, women, pigs and billy goats, but whatever shape you want is fine. I have collected a lot over the years, but my favorites are a pig and a man cutter that once belonged to one of my great-grandmothers, so it’s over a 100 years old.

TIP: These cookies are a hassle to move to the baking sheet as they are so thin. So I roll out the dough directly on a silicone baking mat so I don’t have to move them.

Knäck (Christmas Butterscotch)

This is a traditional Christmas candy. “Knäck” translates to crack, and beware, these are delicious, but can be hard on the teeth and fillings.

You need equal parts of double cream, golden syrup (or treacle) and sugar. I usually use 2 dl of each. Pour into a pot and heat until boiling, while constantly stirring. Adjust the heat so it doesn’t boil over and continue to stir. Cook until 126-130C, or until a drop of the mixtures, dripped into cold water, is easily formed into a ball. Traditionally poured into small (like 1,5-2 cm across) fluted paper cups.

It’s very popular to add chopped blanched almonds as the last step before pouring, though personally I don’t care for that. But for the amount above, you would need about ⅔ dl unchopped almonds.

Sunday

Picture 6 cat treats sprinkled on the carpet and two cats sniffing and then going to to their naps. That's zero star review of the approved cat treats. Julio ate one yesterday. Biggie did, too. This morning, Biggie did his usual begging for treats so I sprinkled the 6 out on the carpet. He sniffed at them and then gave me the stink eye and wandered off.

He peed a little - a very little this morning but then hopped out of the litter box and spent five minutes actively playing with Julio. He sure does not seem in pain or even uncomfortable. Just annoyed about the treat situation.

Nothing much going on today at least that I know of. I plan to go for a swim after I finish this. And then watch my usual Sunday morning TV and maybe some puzzling.

Cat Attitude

According to the vet, Biggie should be writhing in pain, not eating, not peeing. Biggie, shockingly, is not following the script. I think he's basically miffed about the lack of Temptations. But, he's also not wild about the new food. He'll eat it but he's kind of like 'where's the good stuff, woman??!!' And he's not writing, just crawling all over me so I'll get up and get him some treats.

I broke my rule and volunteered to go to Safeway and get Joan some bananas. It is the very last time. I am not doing that any more. But my mouth did not get the memo so I went and got the bananas because I told her I would. The last time.

I figured out the wifi repeater issue and my signal is really strong and I think I know how to keep it that way.

Oh and Fitbit told me I'd been over doing it and should consider a rest day - hahahaha Oh Fitbit, your algorithm is not made for old fat people but it's sweet that you try.

Now for an evening of TV and knitting.

Saturday

Volleyball this morning. There were a lot of people and I play on the edge so balls don't get to me frequently which is fine. Today, I spent all of my non-ball time doing various water aerobics. It was great. I did a lot of in place high knee kick marching and twisting and stretching. Made the whole thing more fun.

Elbow coffee was a small crowd. John and Hazel are getting older very quickly. They keep getting locked out of their apartment - forgetting or losing keys. Bonny took them down on Wednesday and they got two new keys. Yesterday morning, when I got back from the pool they were in the hallway waiting for security to let them in because they had forgotten their keys. Today they missed elbow coffee because they had a conference call - their credit union, their son and them. Because they say, the credit union keeps scamming them. The good news is that they are here and not out there on their own.

Biggie does NOT like the new treats. Not one bit. But they both like both the wet food and the dry.

I have a dead wifi spot in my bedroom and I have a wifi extender. I can see that the extender is improving the signal very much but I can't convince my phone to use the extended signal. This will be my project this aft.

Bonny's out of vodka so 'you want to make a Costco run on Monday?' Sure, says I. I'm very low on coffee.

And that's about it for the hot news here. We are, today, a dry day between rains. Still really grateful to live on a hill.

(no subject)

Me:

Comet, or Ju, 27, Brazilian, but I only post in English.

I mostly post about:

I like posting about things I may be into at the moment, like a game I played or something I’ve found interesting, and some basic thoughts about them. Mostly I have been logging in my Solo TTRPG plays, my Doronai Nui adventures mainly. Sometimes a post about real life, but not much. The plan is to just blog about anything I feel like sharing.

My hobbies are:

I play video games, I solo TTRPGs, I draw, I drabble, some fandoming, and some light toy collecting. Want to read more.

My fandoms are:

My main fandoms are Bionicle (G1) and Transformers (G1, Beast Wars, Skybound, Prime, and some IDW), I also like No Man’s sky, and have been getting into The Dark Crystal. And a little bit of many things. I have been playing a lot of Vintage Story.

My posting schedule tends to be:

Sporadic. I’ve made an effort to post more frequently, but it’s more interesting when I actually have something that has been on my mind.

I'm looking to meet people who:

Post similar things or may like similar things. I’m not around all the time, and I’m a bit quiet, so I don’t mind people who are similar.

Issaquah made the NZ news!

I just got a link about our floods that actually does mention Issaquah from my friend Scott in New Zealand. He was quite amazed as am I.

I did pop into the vet and, turns out, they do carry the smaller bags of kibble and they had plenty and they had treats which are not Temptations but Biggie won't turn 'em down. Chewy is really dragging its feet over this order which is very non-Chewy like. But, I have enough for the weekend and I'll just go back on Monday and pick up some cans if I need to. The vet is very quick and easy to get to with very easy parking.

Timber Ridge does this Christmas Gala thing every year which is lovely if that's your cuppa. They open up all the dining rooms and spread out with all kinds of food and drink and it's a big party. If all you want is dinner, you are kind of SOL. I went the first year with a bunch of people and it was fine. Last year I just wanted food and it was a PIA. So this year, I'm just pretending all the dining opportunities are closed. My freezer is packed to the gills and I will not starve.

I noticed this morning that the inside of my car is disgustingly filthy. Well, not quite that bad but still it needs some love. I thought to myself I should be sure and get it cleaned up before my brother comes in a month. Then I thought hmmmmm I could put this on his Todo list!! hahaha nah. We have a very excellent strong vacuum system just around the corner from my parking space. I just need to roll it over there and do the deed. It's a very small car - so a very small job.

Now it is 1 pm and I have not even watched Jeopardy yet. I hate to get behind schedule!

Famously wet

Timber Ridge - the place where I live - is in a small kind of bedroom community of Seattle called Issaquah. Issaquah has a population of about 40,000. It's been raining here in the Pacific Northwest. A lot. But, Timber Ridge is on a hill. And, yesterday, I went to the vet's and back and only saw large puddles.

But, last night, I was watching the national news on ABC when all of a sudden they were showing a national news guy standing in water reporting that Issaquah Creek (which runs through the town) had overflowed its banks and folks downtown had been asked to evacuate! Then I saw several photos of places very nearby that I know well that had replaced their parking lots with deep rushing water.

So wild to be so close and so surprised. I do feel isolated here in the cult but I thought that was my imagination. Turns out, nope.

Thinking back yesterday, the vet did ask me if I had had trouble getting there and I just kind of brushed it off as weird. Sorry, Dr. Vet.

So now I'm high and dry as usual but also way grateful.

Biggie seems fine. Normal. Yesterday morning when I got up, I gave him gabapentin which the vet techs really appreciate as he is not very fond of stuff they do to him. Usually, it just makes him a giant stuffy after about 2 hours and he stays that way for the rest of the day. Yesterday, he never really settled down. He was staggering when he walked so I know he had it in his system but he was feisty as ever and the tech did report he was not happy with their working on him. Last night all he wanted was to sit on my lap which is not handy or usual but fine. This morning he seems back to usual. And is still peeing just fine. And eating fine and now waiting for his morning Temptations. Sorry, buddy.

Chewy is being a little slow to fill the order for his new food and it's beginning to piss me off. They need approval from the vet which they got yesterday. And I uploaded again this morning. And still the order says 'pending approval'. Even if they ship it today and it arrives this weekend, it will still be Monday or Tuesday before it gets up here. Maybe I'll go back to the vets and buy some there to tide over. The problem is they only sell 7 lb bags of the kibble. I don't want to store that much. Plus I have 4 pounds being delivered from Chewy. Ok. am in chat with Chewy now...

Hazel stopped by last night. She had somehow gotten her tablet into safe mode. Easy fix. She plays solitaire on it a lot. It's one of the few things left that she can see enough to do. Then she asked me if I'd come help John with his computer. I used to do this quite a bit BUT then their son took over and I was happy to relinquish. I do not know where son is now but Hazel said they had gotten scammed by BECU and gotten it all fixed but then it happened again yesterday. The way she was saying it did not make sense but that's Hazel for you. I told her that no, I would not be able to help. I learned my lesson with Myrna's computer and Myrna's son. She assured me that this was different. But, touching someone's banking on a computer leads to nothing good. I told her to contact Brandon or Michael (our two IT guys) and they would help him. She was ok with that and I was so relieved.

Someone (son?, Timber Ridge?) tried to talk Hazel to moving into Assisted Living. John is still living in the nursing wing. She refused. But she really needs it. She keeps locking herself out of her apartment - multiple times a day. Now they apparently are having banking issues.

While I have sympathy, their problems are not mine to fix. And my trying will only make things worse. I learned my lesson the hard way. But, at least I learned it.

Ok Chewy was able to remove the 4 lb bag from my order so I'll go to the vet's today and buy some there.

But, after I swim. My leg does not hurt today so I need to get back to walking. Walking to the pool counts.

Entry tags:

In the Words of Gandalf

... Mason did NOT PASS his first attempt at getting a driver's license.

On the flipside, he seemed in decent spirits about it. It seems that he did the the exact same thing that Jas (his partner) did wrong on their first test--he turned left from the far lane. Apparently, the tester did not seem to feel like a lot of other notes were necessary and told him to practice a bit more and come back in a week. All and all, for a fail, not bad at all.

Our of curiosity, for those of you who drive, did you pass the first time? Do you have any funny stories about spectacular fails?

I feel like I might know a few people who did, but most of my immediate friends did not. I failed three times, I think? I'm not exactly sure, but I know it took me slightly longer than a lot of my peers. My memories are pretty fuzzy about my tests. The thing I remember the best is that I wore a black beret (don't judge. It was the 80s) to my final test and I took my hands off the wheel while driving to adjust it and somehow I still passed. Apparently, the tester felt that showed confidence rather than foolheartiness.

I'm still not great at keeping both hands on the wheel.

Bladder Rocks

Yep, that's Biggie's Latest Adventure. The vet did an ultra sound and you can see one big one. She was surprised that Biggie didn't have any symptoms. It should be painful but while he considered it an indignity and annoyance to go the vet, he's not showing any signs of pain. But taking him off the medicine and back on to Very Expensive Prescription Food turned out to be the best option. We go back in 4 weeks and do another ultra sound. Unless he shows distress or can't pee and then we go back immediately. And, even if all goes smoothly for 4 weeks, if the rock is still there, probably surgery. Again.

Both Biggie and Julio like the expensive food, very much. so there's that. Do not tell Biggie, tho. but Temptations are a thing of the past. As are lickables. I bagged up the food and treats. I'll take them to the cat food bank.

The vet gave me some food samples. And I stashed some cans away when I switched them last year. So I've got enough on hand til the Chewy order gets here. I hope. All I've got now is canned stuff. No kibble, no treats but, hopefully, the Chewy order will be here soon.

Why in the heck did I not remember to get some grated parmesan when I went to the store to get the grated cheddar??

Also today I have a pain in the leg. It's in the middle of the thigh of my left leg. The right leg is usually the one that hurts. And this is a very weird pain plus a fair amount of weakness. The chairs at the vets are all really low to the ground and I was not sure I'd ever be able to get out of them once I sat down. It feels like if someone were to massage my thigh really hard, it would fix it. Hopefully it will fix itself today. I can at least walk around the halls here safely as they all have nice railings.

I was downstairs yesterday before the festivities but they had already lined up all the chairs. It was a weird sight.

It looked very different and couple of hours later. It was really fun to watch the parade. The employees dressed up either in costume or in really nice non-work clothes and they merrily high 5'd the old people. And, according to accounts, had a marvelous time. Very fun.

The Timber Ridge dog park is like a dog pond today but the rain has kind of stopped a little. All around us there are massive floods. The interstate is closed just north of here due to a giant mudslide. We're breaking water records all around.

I need to get a load of laundry started.

New to Dreamwidth

Hey everyone! My name is Leslie but I'm usually called Lilith online. Either works. I used to be on LiveJournal for years then fell away once Facebook became a thing. I am venturing back to LJ and I will also be posting here as well. I remember having really great connections on LJ and I am hoping to find that again.

Name:

Leslie aka Lilith. Either is fine.

Age:

45. I've always been an old soul and now my body is catching up.

I mostly post about:

I don't know yet. I think it's going to be mostly a diary kind of thing where I talk about my life and thoughts and dreams and goals and the nice stuff and the bad stuff. A little bit of everything that makes me ... me.

My hobbies are:

theater, acting, directing, doing tech, art, singing, writing, photography, anything NASA (I go to the Space Center a lot), thrifting, true crime, documentaries

My fandoms are:

Anything Broadway, Marvel, Wicked, paranormal shows, Star Wars, Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, Taylor Swift, etc

I'm looking to meet people who:

Are chill. Some things should be serious about some things, but also a sense of humor is great. I am very "woke" though. Please be aware I am "woke". I am also disabled and will talk about my illness and disability issues. And I am mom of an nonverbal son who is autistic and those subjects will come up. I am adult too so I'll bring up adult issues as well, like sex.

My posting schedule tends to be: daily/weekly/monthly/sporadic/etc

My goal is to post at least weekly, maybe twice a week. My illness can throw me for a loop and suddenly I can't sit up some days. So, it depends on my spoons.

When I add people, my dealbreakers are:

If you are conservative. We just won't connect or agree on things, and I am at the point in my life that I want peace. It's better to just move along. I'm also not Christian but I do have Christian friends, but I am not into Christian Nationalism. If you are, we won't be a good fit. I identify as pagan/witch. I'm also LGBTQIA+ and have a trans son.

Before adding me, you should know: I am unapologetically myself. I can be a strong personality and I will always say if I disagree with someone, but I won't be rude about it unless I am needing to match energy being thrown at me.

Entry tags:

It's Wednesday?

Okay, once again, I have failed to keep on keeping on with the blog. But, the vibes of Wednesday called to me, so here I am (as is becoming typical.) I have no idea what it is about Wednesday that provides time for me to think, "Oh, right, DW," but it does seem be The Day it Happens.So here we are.

Today, Saint Paul is blanketed in snow. I note this as it applies to several things I want to talk about.

First, my car, which is in the shop. It has not, in fact, failed me in any serious way. But, Mason is taking his drivers' license test tomorrow and our car needs to pass inspection. One of the things it needs to have? Two working front lights. What does it NOT currently have? YOU GUESSED IT. I was almost not able to bring the car in today because firstly, Troy is booked up weeks in advance due to all the holiday driving/travel that people do. I was able to plead my case with him and we agreed that if I dropped my car off ASAP in the morning, he'd just pop that new light into it at some point in between the regular work. If he has time, he'll make things more profitable for himself by giving me an oil change (which I told him to feel free to do, because Troy prices very failrly and a single light change is going to cost me almost nothing.)

But secondly? The sky opened up and DUMPED snow on us. I don't know the official number of inches, but we crested at least 4 inches (10.16 cm for my metric friends) because Saint Paul declared a Snow Emergency.

For out of town people, a "Snow Emergency" isn't really an emergency as in "OH GOD EVERYTHING IS SHUT DOWN," but more, "Hey, Saint Paulies, time to move your car to one side of the street or the other so that the plows can come through!" It's also the day when snow emergency workers, like ticketers, go to work.

You may recall from previous episodes that last snow season (2024-March 2025), I worked as what Saint Paul Public Works colloquially referred to as "taggers." Our official title might have been "ticketers?" But, our job was to drive around the city and write out parking violation tickets, get cars towed, etc., so that the plows could come through and do their thing.

I am hired for the snow season (2025-26), however the job has changed. We are now "runners" and will be no longer writing tickets. That job is now in the hands of retired and reserve police officers. What does a runner do, you ask? Let me describe it and you can tell me if you think this job will be any fun. A runner will ride along with a police officer, brush the snow from license plates, and stick tickets in windows.

Yep.

There is a reason they did not interview me for this job, nor ask for a resume.

However, it feels like a job that really doesn't need to exist, doesn't it?

The saddest part is that I LOVED being a tagger. It's sad because everything I previously loved about that job, the police officers now do. I believe I wrote about this at length before, but basically the things I used to love about the job are all very silly. No one likes handing out parking tickets. However, there were some "fun" things that absolutely played into that part of every kid who used to make siren noises and run around pretending to be a cop. (And yeah, ACAB, but when I did this, I was 5 okay??) Like, in the old job we used to get to use the radio to call in vehicles in need of towing, etc, and we got to use a code that included our temporary badge number. RADIOS, y'all. They're just fun. Because you get to say, "Over." Or in our case, "Clear." Once trained, we got to go out, alone, in company car with heated seats and (sometimes!) heated steering wheels. We got to put on the flashing lights. We got to wear a safety vest. We got to learn the somewhat arcane process of handwriting tickets in those old booklets you sometimes see if you watch 1970s cop shows. DUMB STUFF. But, like, it made the job tolerable, you know?

But the fun part was never, ever: go out in the cold and stick the ticket on the windshield.

Is the pay good? I mean, it's OKAY. But the shifts are TEN HOURS. It's never less than that.

Also, speaking of ACAB? I'm not particularly thrilled at the idea of spending ten hours in a squad with a cop. What are we even going to talk about? The last ICE protest I went to? Because "say, were you there?" could get pretty awkward, pretty quickly.

By chance, I had to turn down this snow emergency. As noted, Mason has his big test tomorrow and I need to be available to drive him out to the test facility. I do not try to work the late shift because I'm pretty sure Saint Paul would not pay me for sleeping in the squad car, and I can not do 8pm to 5 am. I'm too old for that shift. Luckily, there's usually also a day shift.

I'll let you know what it's like when I finally do one, though. Maybe I'll be surprised and there will still be awesome things.

Legs and back

My legs and my back are very whiny these days. There are three things causing this. 1. I'm old. 2. I'm fat. and 3. I'm lazy. The first one is absolutely not fixable. The second one is fixable but the sacrifice is not worth the fix to me. I'm not at all interested in changing the way I eat or what I eat.

But, there's a slim chance I could make inroads on the third one. Godknows I have the resources right here at my finger tips. My swimming laps is not really worth that much. I don't use my legs much at all and I don't swim fast enough or tight enough to even move the needle on the cardio scale. It's better than sitting on the couch but only marginally. I need to walk and stretch and walk and stretch. There are miles of weather controlled, flat walking trails literally outside my door. There is an entire gym of fancy equipment a short walk away.

Yesterday, I conscientiously walked away more than usual. I made extra trips downstairs to the lobby area and went the long way round on a few of them. I clocked maybe a third more steps than usual. Today the plan is to spend 30 minutes in the gym. 15 on the elliptical and 15 on one of the bikes (which are more chairs with pedals). I'm convinced I have the motivation to do this today. Tomorrow it may be gone but today, I'm going to do it.

This afternoon is the employee Christmas party. As is the Timber Ridge tradition, the employees gather in the back dining room by department groups. The residents line up on either side of the hallway between that dining room and the large meeting room. Then the employees parade through the cheering residents. It sounds cheesy and it is but also a big crowd pleaser with employees and with residents. Of course the employees get the afternoon off, a big party with music and dancing, a box of homemade Christmas cookies and... a cash bonus. So they are looking forward to it the most.

I woke up at 2 and had a bit of a problem getting back to sleep but then did and slept right through to 7 which is way late for me so now it's 9 and I have yet to even get out of my PJs. So I'm going to do that now!

Current Mood: awake
Current Location: The sofa
Current Music: A very large fan

What's up?

Hi folks, I hope you all are doing well. Not good at doing these intro things, but I'll give it a try. I'm Lesley. I'm in my late thirties, happily married and I have one cat child. I love books of all types, I'm currently making my way through the Dungeon Crawler Carl books, Tv shows including The Golden girls, How I met your Mother, Grace and Frankie and others. I love all kinds of music, and I enjoy baking. I welcome people of all backgrounds and stuff, I'm a Christian myself. as for what I write about in here, To be honest, there's only one entry in here, but I plan on changing that. I will most likely write about daily life things, and sometimes about what I'm watching/reading/listening to as well as mental and physical health stuff. I am totally blind, so sometimes I will write about that. If there is anything else you wanna know, feel free to take a peak at the profile. I will be writing in here probably every few days to every week. Depends on the mood I'm in. I hope all of you have a good day, and if you celebrate them, happy holidays

Seeking New Friends

Name: Georgiana or Georgie. Neither is my legal name, but they are what I use here and in most situations.

Age: Forty-two.

I mostly post about: Entries may consist of anything from short summaries of my day, to surveys, to essays on various topics, to interesting links and quotes that I find, along with my commentary on them. Lately, I have been writing reviews of opera recordings from the 1950's and earlier. I have no interest in politics and modern celebrities. I wish to keep my journal light and happy as much as possible.

My hobbies are: studying dandyism, Received Pronunciation, the Regency, and the Italian language, reading, writing, cooking, baking, playing cards and dice, and enjoying warm weather.

My Other Interests include: coffees, teas, antique menswear and accessories (usually Edwardian), chamber and classical music, old opera singers, plants and gardening, crafts, and history and nature documentaries. I love wit, wordplay, and sarcastic humour without vulgarity. I also love cats.

My fandoms are: I don't have any.

I'm looking to meet people who: are positive, who share my interests and can introduce me to some new ones, and who enjoy at least some elements of high culture. While the minimum age I will add is twenty-one, I tend to get along with those who are older than I, particularly seniors. I am also single and searching, but since this isn't a dating community, I'll just say that you can find more about that in one of the sticky entries in my journal. You can also find my Mastodon and Escargot.chat information there.

My posting schedule tends to be: It varies, from a few posts in a given week to a few in a single day. Often, I post what I call filler entries toward the end of the month. These are entries posted on one date but for another. I try to post a few entries per week.

When I add people, my dealbreakers are: minors (I prefer at least over twenty-one), depression and/or anxiety (posted regularly), bad self-esteem, life drama, recreational drugs, religion or politics (posted regularly), a lot of bad grammar and spelling (unless you're learning English), and frequent obscenities. Please note that I am totally blind, so if you mostly post images, I won't be able to comment on them, as I cannot see them.

Before adding me, you should know: I have no time for political correctness, lies, or drama. While I always try to be civil during discussions, I share my opinion without reservations. If you are easily offended, please do not add me. I have a very dry and witty sense of humour. Otherwise, feel free to read my profile and/or posts and add me if you wish. I will most likely reciprocate. I also comment when I have something to say, but there are times when I don't read my friends' page for awhile, and I am trying to change that.

Timing

On Thursday, Biggie has a vet appointment at 9:30. Volleyball ended at the regular time this morning (8) and I stopped and picked up mail on my way home and then had coffee and breakfast and farted around on a few websites and then got up to look for my earbuds then back down again for more internetting and now it is 9:25. So... I think, Thursday, I'll have ample time to get there without being rushed or late.

I still haven't found the ear buds. I've had them out and charged them up within the last couple of months but even in the case, the damn things are so small, they can easily hide nearly anywhere. I guess a grid search will have to happen today.

And I'm going out. Shredded cheese and Amazon returns.

Amazon Prime video lets you add subscriptions to other streaming services. Initially, I thought this was cool. Especially when Apple+ won't let me sign on, much less give them money. I was able to see all the Apple+ I wanted via Prime. So, when the black Friday sales hit, I grabbed some deals. Turns out not to be the great deal in all cases. The HBO/Max you get via Amazon Prime is NOT their entire catalog. That was a bit of a blow. Ditto with AMC+. On the up side, both are monthly so I can cancel any time but still. Had I known, I'd have gotten the HBO/Max special via their website where you do get everything they offer. AMC+ doesn't matter. There's only one 6 episode show I wanted to see - "The Assassin". I'll watch it and cancel the subscription and know better next time.

Today is cookie day. Every year volunteer bakers all over Timber Ridge make all kinds of cookies and take them down to the meeting room. Then they are distributed into boxes with each box getting about a dozen and a half home baked cookies. They will be handed out to each employee tomorrow at the Employee Christmas Party. I signed up to help put cookies in boxes. I also volunteered to help dispose of any that get broken. I'm a giver.

But, I'd better get dressed first.

Random Monday

I had a, mostly, online friend who died a few years ago. He was Jewish and always bitched incessantly about Jesus music this time of year. He always acted like it was an unexpected insult. It amused me every year. Now when I hear background Christmas music, I think of him. I'm pretty sure that would piss him off.

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I think I'm a fairly good communicator. I try to consider my audience and how they might receive what I'm trying to convey whether it is in writing or orally. This journal is a great test. I am surprised how often I totally miss the mark. I can tell by comments when the point I was trying to make landed somewhere off in never never land. It's humbling.

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I am soon to be 77 years old. Multiple times a day, nearly every day, I find myself thinking 'when I get old, I will...' or 'I'm never doing that when I get old...' And then I find the brake pedal and realize, doh!

Out in the wild, people drop dead of 'natural causes' every day at ages much younger than 77. Of course, here at the cult, where the average age is mid-80's, I'm quite young. I'm pretty sure that's how my perspective gets skewed.

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I am out of shredded cheese. Not out out but close to out and I use that stuff on everything so this needs to get remedied. I might wait until tomorrow when the house cleaner is here. Or Bonny usually goes to the QFC on Mondays because that's when the new flowers come in and she does love her fresh flowers and she could grab me some cheese.

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I've had my swim. I need to empty the dishwasher and probably get dressed. Oh and make the bed. And then...

Entry tags:

This week’s practice

( And, some WOW… )

Death spurts

When someone dies here, they put out a small frame with or without their photo and with their name and birth and death dates. It stays for a week. I have seen weeks when there were 5 or 6 frames out. But, lately, like since Halloween, deaths have been few and far between. It's been a few frameless weeks. Until yesterday. When I got out of the elevator on the way back from volleyball, there was a group of non-residents getting in discussing funeral plans so I knew the no deaths string was broken. Turns out it was Harriet's husband. Harriet was the first person who ever left me a thank you note for my creatures. I did not even know who she was then. But now I do. She's a force. She's in charge of the pea patch program and next year will be head of the Food and Beverage Committee. And she has a giant golden retriever named Apple. She and Apple sometimes visit volleyball on their way back from morning walks. Also Apple has a job visiting folks in the memory wing.

I never knew her husband but saw them at the Abba cover concert last year. He needed a walker to move but clearly was ready to boogie. He kept getting up to try and dance and she kept getting up to try and stop him. Over and over and over again. He looked like a ton of fun. As most of us here, I have a healthy stash of sympathy cards. I'll drop one off for her on my way to swim this morning.

It's still dark out and foggy. Perfect for swimming. I think I'll go do that.

Entry tags:

Week in photos

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Meh

Volleyball was a mess. We have one very bad actor and he was on his worst behavior this morning and several of the regulars were there so we quit early. Elbow coffee was not horrible but not great either. Again, good people missing and we did not quit early.

Sigh.

Yesterday I broke a light bulb and did not have a replacement but did have a couple of things on my list for Dollar Store so went there and got a bulb that kind of works. But mostly could not find stuff on my list. The Amazon smart bulbs do not work in my bedside sconces because they are dimmable fixtures. The bulb I got at Dollar Store says it's non-dimmable right on the box but I bought it anyway. Instead of stopping at Lowe's or Home Depot or even fucking Safeway, like a normal person, I just came home. The Dollar Store bulb at least doesn't flicker like the Amazon bulb but I still need better ones - one for each. Why am I being punked by light bulbs???

Anyway, Hazel and John need a new calendar and they always get their calendars at the Dollar Store and they came to elbow coffee to ask us to get them one next time we are there. So Bonny and I are going this afternoon.

I started writing this entry and hour ago and keep getting distracted - squirrel!

I have an Instagram account and scroll through daily. I rarely post anything but I do enjoy looking. There's a dude in London who has two sisters who sent him a giant box of advent adventures. Every day he must deliver a gift to the person on the card. Generally it's a first name and destination. He posts videos of his finding someone with that name in that place. It's charmingly delightful. fridgeplug

While I keep a short list of people I follow, most of my feed is people Instagram thinks I need to follow. I get a lot of 'babies with their Dads' and 'dogs with babies' and lately, it's Tai Chi for old fat people (kind of on point, that last one). At least, for now, I'm out of the fat boobs that need bras phase.

Dinner's ordered for pickup downstairs and Bobby's probably about ready to go so I'm done for now.