Thanksgivings

November 28, 2008

He smiled and closed his eyes.  "Winter Prey" by John Sandford ♦♦♦♦◊

Julie's comment on my Thanksgiving Adventures, Part One post reminded me that we, too had a leaky turkey. I'd stuck it on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator to thaw last week (Friday? Sunday? They've all run together) and then gone about my merry way.

On Tuesday I opened one of the vegetable drawers and found some moisture in there. Upon closer inspection the moisture was pink and the sad realization was upon me. Since the timing of my discovery coincided with the last minute mini-rush that comes when dinner is almost finished and everything's coming together at once, I pulled the drawer out and set it on the counter out of the way so that I could deal with it when the heat was off (so to speak).

Of course, Mr. W. (who thinks that if the wind changes you're going to get salmonella from tap water) wigged about the raw poultry juice and immediately started pulling stuff out and washing and disinfecting. While I'm trying to get dinner on the table.

I'm thankful that I didn't have to clean up the turkey juice mess.
I'm thankful that we were even able to have a turkey to make the mess, in these times when so many must go without.
I'm thankful that Mr. W. did not lecture, complain or berate me for my lack of foresight (and I think there was only one heavy sigh).

I have the remnants of whatever cold/flu I mentioned earlier. The fever's gone and the waterworks seem to have ceased. Today (Friday) I have more oomph and energy than I have had in days. That's not saying that I'm ready to go shopping or even vaccuum my carpets, but I'm actually A. Dressed and B. Not sitting in front of the TV with a box of Kleenex and a cup of tea.

eta: I had to laugh when I published this post. I am NOT sitting in front of the TV with a box of Kleenex and a cup of tea. I AM sitting in front of the computer with a box of Kleenex and a cup of coffee...

I'm thankful that I didn't feel pressured to make everything perfect for this holiday week.
I'm thankful that I didn't make myself feel guilty for not making everything perfect this week.

---

That cool new turkey lifter was a boon when it came to lifting the turkey from the roaster, but I was right when I worried that it sat too low in the pan - the bottom of the turkey was a little damp. I still had to pull out the big forks to transfer the turkey from the lifter to the cutting surface, because the handles of the lifter didn't fold down out of the way for carving. So, end result? I'm glad I didn't pay an arm and a leg for it; it ended up being an extra step and an extra thing to wash and in the end the cool factor did not outweigh the design flaws.

But, damn. Purty, ain't it?

My (step) dad made it his mission in life to cook a turkey that looked like a picture (and still tasted good, I assume). I remember when he and my mom would pull the turkey out partway through cooking and turn it and he/they would do other things to get the golden-brown bird.

Yesterday, my mom said that he'd be proud of my turkey.

So, mom made the fruit salad (Dole Tropical Fruit from those cool plastic jars, sliced banana and Cool Whip), the crunchy plate of raw vegetables and the rolls. J2 brought Onion Pie in a brown rice crust, a dish of sliced yams, apples and mandarin oranges cooked with butter and a tiny bit of brown sugar, and Key Lime Bars.

I'd made the pies the day before (and there was actually one left) and then made the turkey, the stuffing and the gravy.

We three she's sat down to a veritable feast.



And I couldn’t smell or taste a thing.

I confess I pretty much destroyed the part of the turkey that I tried to carve. That’s Mr. W.’s thing, so I’m woefully out of practice. Plus there was the learning curve with the turkey lifter thing.

There’s a fourth place setting there for Mr. W., but he wasn’t able to join us because he was sleeping. Carving duties aside, this made me very sad. Because he works nights, for almost the last year his days and nights have been opposite from the rest of the world (including me). Eating dinner at 3:30 in the afternoon would be like eating dinner at 3:30 in the morning for him. I’m pretty bitter about the fact that he has to work at all, but just sad that it’s changed his life so that he’s missing out on so much. He missed seeing the kids and grandkids when they visited this summer. He misses going to church. He hasn’t seen any of our friends except maybe in passing (and in a fog) and now, for the first time in 17 years, I haven’t sat down to Thanksgiving dinner with the love of my life.

I’m thankful that we have a roof over our heads and land under our feet.
I’m thankful that Mr. W. is willing to work in Hell so that we can live and eat.
And I’m most thankful that he still comes home to me at the end of his shift.

Oh, yeah, and in Hell you apparently literally work your arse off. So I'm also thankful for this (note the huge sleeve not filled with arm, the back pockets forward of the side of his body and, well, the big gap in front is pretty self-explanatory):

Labels: babble, holiday

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Holiday Adventures, Part One

November 27, 2008

I had no idea who I was. "Firestorm" by Rachel Caine ♦♦♦♦◊

I don't have a "Holiday Adventures, Part Two" (yet), but I want to leave my options open, you know?

The turkey's in the oven as I type. This year J2 and my mom are both with us, so we have a 25 pound turkey (we would anyway, but it sounds better to say it's that big because we have "company"). Sir Turkey has a new roasting pan and a new fancy-dancy rack. The rack is fancy because it has lift out handles - but I'm not sure about the rack part, it seems awfully close to the bottom of the pan. Good thing the turkey doesn't spew liquid, so it won't be boiling in it's own juice.

A couple of years ago I posted "my" convection turkey cooking instructions on my blog here. That's mainly because I always had a hard time finding the info (and there's a definite lack of decent convection cooking cookbooks out there). The one thing I forgot to put in the instructions post was to take out the extra racks before preheating the oven. I am consistent, at least, in that I don't remember to take out the extra racks (to make room for the turkey) until they're a whopping 400 degrees.

Yesterday I made the pumpkin pies. I used a different brand of pumpkin (yes, I use canned) and the pies are a bit different. Nothing major and let's get real - it's hard to go wrong with one of my pumpkin pies (I'm not so forgiving of store-bought pies).

So, for Holiday Adventure, Part One I give you:

The Not-So-Great Pie Disaster of 2008.

Is it wrong that I was glad I wasn't wearing one of my cute aprons so it didn't get all mucked up? Kinda defeats the purpose, doesn't it?

Silly me tried to use foil pie plates (no, I don't know why either, it just seemed the thing to do at the time) and as I said, the pumpkin mash is different (not as dense), so I had slingy-sugary pumpkin goop all over.

Just what I wanted to do, is stop and clean the oven and mop the floor before putting the pies in the oven. I finally put the foil pans into my glass pans (seriously - don't ask me why I had to have foil, I couldn't tell you) and it worked out.

Last night's dinner was Reuben Casserole (I wanted to introduce the recipe to my mom) and teeny-tiny asparagus spears. Yum! No leftovers!

I have a cold or the flu or something that makes my head want to explode when I bend over. Do you have any idea how much bending over is involved in cooking a Thanksgiving Dinner? I apparently have a fever, too, because I'm cooking in short sleeves and I'm barefoot (all of the other necessary clothing is present, as well) - and I still keep stepping outside into the 36 degree temps.

Labels: holiday

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Stored in a Safe Place

November 23, 2008

Delroy shrugged.  "Hugger Mugger" by Robert B. Parker  ♦♦♦♦◊

Dear Aunty Babble,

I am working on a wonderful [___________] (fill in the blank - quilt, sweater, scrapbook, etc.) and I cannot find the [_______] that I just cut/had in my hand (circle one or both).

I haven't moved more than 2 feet from my machine/chair (circle one or both) and it's just GONE. What happened?

Signed,
Finally Lost It

Ahhh, yes. You are experiencing the "Stored in a Safe Place" phenomenon. It is quite common to artists and crafters, I know from personal experience. I am not sure about other professions or hobbies, but I hazard to guess that this is a universal occurrence. Note I did not say 'global' - I can't prove it, but I'm sure that there's some cyanide-breathing multi-ped out in the galaxy somewhere that's thinking, "Zerbinetky-swurm!" as I type.  (No, I don't need to translate - y'all know perfectly well what that means.)

There's no clear rule for how long your "safely stored" items will stay in storage, nor is there a measurable percentage of probability that when you do find them, you'll actually remember putting them in that safe place. Unfortunately, there is also no guarantee that you actually will find said items again.

Depending upon your patience level, your sense of whimsy and the literal availability of additional materials, you may try this common tactic:

Re-cut your missing items. Once you've done so, the probability of finding the original missing items is exponentially increased.

This also frequently works with purchasing a replacement item. Poll your friends as to how many seam rippers or size 7 dpn's they own - or should own, if they were all retrieved from the safe place at the same time.

Oh, one more thing: It is very unusual, once you've found "the safe place", that you will find all missing items at the same time. It is fully possible that if you return to a place that you have searched multiple times, the missing item(s) will appear there, as if they had never been moved. I think it might have something to do with inter-dimensional time- or space-shifting.

Live long and prosper, my friends.

You do know that all of this silliness is just the precursor to rhapsodic turkey posts later in the week, right? I currently have over 70 pounds of turkey in my house right now (Mr. W. notwithstanding).

Actually, I'm thinking of feeding Mr. W. frozen vegetables and ice cubes so I have room to store another frozen turkey.

I'll let you know how that flies.

Labels: babble, THESE

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London Bridge, Take 2

November 22, 2008

I asked Argus to take me down to cabin three, so I could pack my bags for home.  "The Lightning Thief" by Richard Riordan ♦♦♦♦◊

Same number of stitches, size US10 needles (instead of the usual 10.5 for adults). New-to-me tubular cast on, courtesy of Knitting Daily.



Oops.

Maybe the third time will be a charm.

I've also discovered that I have some sort of pinched nerve action happening. Or, as J2 would say, "a musculoskeletal event". There is not one chair in my house that doesn't make me numb or tingly somewhere in my hands, arms or shoulders if I sit for more than 10 minutes. Knitting or not.

It has been suggested to me (and it makes sense) that the weight placed on my "shoulda" muscles by my bra straps could be causing the problem. Well, I got all semi-scientific to test such theory. Don't worry, I closed all the drapes and didn't turn on the radio (less of a temptation to boogie-on-down) so the black-eye potential was minimized.

The results were negative, in more ways than one. I realized I'm wearing a wool sweater.

Since I'm ringing tomorrow at church, maybe I'll just stretch out on the couch and watch a video. It wouldn't do for the mad bell-slinger to show up with a numb or tingly hand, now would it?

I wonder if they still sell those boot things that you hang upside down from to take the pressure off your spine? I'd check the local Goodwill but I wouldn't even know what I was looking for!

Labels: knitting

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London Bridge Is Falling Down

The Wardens were at war with the Djinn.  "Windfall" by Rachel Caine ♦♦♦♦♦

Okay, I don't get it. #1 Grandson has requested a hat (and scarf) for Christmas. His mom has suggested the London Beanie, found at a link from the Head Huggers webpage. Check out Joe Studley wearing the beanie here. See how Joe looks all manly and the hat goes over his ears? Hold onto that... it will be important in a moment.

So I swatch and I swatch because the pattern says worsted/aran weight yarn, 20 sts/4" with US 7's. Well, for me to get 5 stitches per inch, I would have to go down to a US 6 - and the darned thing would stand up by itself over in that there corner. After swatching with different needles for an hour, I decided to be brave. Okay. At 5 stitches per inch, the pattern says to cast on 72 stitches. If I do my math correctly, that's 14.4 inches. Nooooooo, it can't be 14.4 inches. The ribbing must stretch a lot.



Or not.

(The pink is only to hold live stitches - the beanie will be red and white.)


So I go over to Ravelry and check it out. (And why, when I click someone else's link to a Ravelry page/pattern, do I get sent to the front page and not where I'm "supposed" to go? It has NEVER been successful, that clicking stuff.) Oh. I'm back. There are 406 London Beanie projects. 26 blog posts about this puppy. Glowing, glowing, glowing... but everyone who's mentioned it says it fits their "little boy" well. One person said it fit her 18-month-old perfectly.

WHAT? Other than the blog posts, I see nothing on the Head Huggers pages, the pattern page, or the Ravelry page(s) that says this is a child's hat. Joe Studley sure didn't give any indication. And I'm sorry, but I'm pretty sure that Isaac's head is larger than 14.4 inches around.

Okay, so I don't actually NEED a pattern to make a beanie like the London Beanie. In fact, it was totally unnecessary for me to spend the 2½ or 3 hours swatching, knitting and researching this thing.

But I had whined or griped or sent pissy vibes to The Girl about always (okay TWICE) having to make up patterns for what the kids wanted and she was kind enough to find some patterns for me to use. Damn.

I know, I know. It truly was generous for the designer to share his hard work with the masses for FREE. I sure haven't done any such thing (though I always have grand plans). If I say 'I'm not complaining' I'd be lying because that's exactly what I'm doing. Ungracious? Probably. Inaccurate? Possibly not. But then again, maybe I'm missing something very, very basic and obvious here. If I have, I humbly apologize for casting asparagus upon this pattern.

I think I'll go back to my standard hat recipe and try to inject some non-pompom-related cool into it. There may not be pictures until after Christmas...!

Labels: knitting

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Perfection and Compliments

November 21, 2008

"I quit." "Chill Factor" by Rachel Caine ♦♦♦♦♦

One of the hardest things for me is to NOT point out my (perceived) mistakes. Let's get serious, though. For some of us, the glaring error is only in our own mind and there are zillions of quilters and non-quilters who would be thrilled to reach the level of quality that isn't good enough for "us".

It's really difficult to give myself a break. I have to pay close attention to identify the perfectionist point where my quilting becomes a chore and frustration rather than a creative delight.

Heh.

I don't want to give y'all the wrong impression. I'm a perfectionist but I give myself permission to be NOT perfect. It's a constant adventure, I tell ya. Mild (yet adorable) OC tendencies are probably to blame - but I figure I can fuss and futz to my heart's content UNTIL it ceases to be fun, yanno?

F'r instance, I've commented about how frustrating the Shape Cut thing is to me. That's because I am so particular about accurate cutting. The last time I used the Shape Cut, did I go back and check and trim all of the 400 or so squares I'd cut? No. I "wung it" :snort: on all but the most unusable squares. Some got stretched a smidge, some got eased. Only 3 or 4 got re-cut. I got over myself. (eventually)

I've been told that graciously accepting a compliment is one of the hardest things for humans to do (dogs and cats seem to have no problem with it). Frequently when I compliment someone and they start off on the "if only..." stuff, I rest my hand on their arm and say, "Say thank you. That's all you need to do." (Subtle, ain't I?)

It's particularly hard with my new quilters. I try to remind them that quilting is supposed to be FUN and to assure them that the world will not be irreparably harmed if their intersections or points aren't perfect. At the same time, I'll give hints or tips on how to do their next quilt better. Hopefully the constructive support will influence their way of viewing their work and the work of others, while still encouraging them to grown and improve with each project.

Now I'm off to dig out the storage/guest room in preparation for my mom's visit next week. If I'm not out in two days, send in the dogs...

Labels: babble

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It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like...

November 05, 2008

"Well then, Billy—let's get on with it!" "Maisie Dobbs" by Jaqueline Winspear ♦♦♦♦◊

...Thanksgiving!

Last Tuesday before Halloween I cooked my first turkey of the holiday season - a full month before (U.S.) Thanksgiving. Uh... YUM!

Mr. W. was truly Wonderful - he not only brought the turkey home to surprise me, but after I'd cooked it, he did the dishes AND cleaned and cooked the carcass - filling at least 6 quart jars with juice and bits of meat. The ultimate fast food in our house.

I also made stuffing/dressing, mashed potatoes and gravy. I tried a new-to-me recipe for potato rolls. It was a LOT of work (the rolls) and they ended up tough, though tasty. I thought at first it was because I cooked them in my dark muffin tins, but the tops were tough, too. I must've either over-kneaded them or done something else wrong. No big. I was just one seriously happy camper (aka, "Happy as a Pig in Slop") right up until the leftovers ran out on Monday.

I wore my summer apron all day while in the kitchen. And I was barefoot. But that's as far as THAT goes.

Speaking of aprons, Kathleen was kind enough to send me a couple of pictures of the apron I made for her as a birthday present.

Does this look familiar? I've made one like it before. This is from the Susan Branch free pattern (online here - scroll down).

I am soooo impressed with how well it fits her. (Looks like crap on me!)



This cracks me up. It's an action shot. (The glass of wine is not just a prop!)

Her husband tells me (unprompted, even) that she wears the apron frequently. Really, I couldn't ask for more.

I hope she wears that thing down to the threads, and enjoys every minute of it.

Labels: aprons, holiday

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Quilt Something!

November 04, 2008

What else mattered?  "Obsession" by Jonathan Kellerman ♦♦♦♦◊

eta: Thanks to E, I've learned that the ability to comment on this and other posts has been impaired. Since I didn't DO anything in my template or settings, I can only guess that Blogger has intentionally or unintentionally introduced a new "feature". Since it's been so long since I've left myself a comment, I don't know if what I've done to "Fix" the revoltin' development will require you, the commenter, to click an extra time. If so, you're welcome for the opportunity to burn an extra calorie.
(Oh, and please send me an email if you still can't comment. Thank you.)

Heh. Apparently, last month Edna got a lot of blog time over here at Chez Babble. Notice there, where it says in big print, "Go, Edna, Quilt Something!" Okay, so I added the punctuation... If you click-to-big, in smaller print, it says "Brenda, Quilt Something!" :snort:

(Fine print: Word cloud brought to you by Wordle.com)

Last night as we were walking Puppy Butt around the house so she could do her thing, I looked in the window of my sewing room and really liked the look of the flimsy that was hanging on my wall. Look almost like a real day-core item. The next window was the storage/guest room. Totally blank, white, boring wall.

So hoping to remedy the boring wall situation, I pulled out the shoebox-sized plastic bin this evening that holds scraps and hunks of fabric from a couple of lines that I've been hoarding. The 'collection' started out with Nancy Halvorsen's True Friends line. I've added similar-feeling fabs to those and used them to make Patti's Quilt. Patti's Quilt is on the bed in the storage/guest room.

As I'm pulling the fabrics out of the box I'm finding partial fat quarters, some left-over 9.5" squares and rail fences from the quilt and some of the posies. I run across some background white/light rectangles with HSTs sewn to each end of them - though they're 12.5" so won't fit with the other stuff. I find a couple of lone HST's (is that self-cancelling? 'a couple of lone...'?) and some actual yardage of the True Friends fabric that I was apparently planning to use as backing for something. (Quick snap pic late at night...) THEN look what I pulled out of the box:



Huh.

11x43" if I finished it as is, though I have plenty more fabric that could be used to add another border, to hang above a full-sized (double) bed as sort of a headboard-looking thing.

And I have an option: The leftover squares, rail fences and posies. I have enough of them to essentially make an extra row that matches the quilt - 9x54" (or 63") before borders.

Go figure. I have choices.

In scrappy news, the 1,188 light-colored 2.5" squares that I've been whining about for months now are no longer the dark cloud over my head - I'm down to needing "only" 400 light squares now (and 250 dark/mediums and a similar number of 4.5, 5.5 and 6.5" long rectangles, but I'm not complaining).

Of course, that's if I don't break down and try to do the Quilting for Less Mystery Tablerunner that has smitten me. Not the Thanksgiving runner because I'm being strong and not looking, though I'm saving all of the clues, but the runner whose steps have all been posted and I looked at the solution. It only requires 152 light/white squares. Should be a walk in the park, eh? Sheesh.

Labels: blogging, quilting

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How Cool is THIS?

November 03, 2008

Even if that role was the difficult and presumptuous task of correcting His mistakes.   "Garden of Beasts" by Jeffrey Deaver ♦♦♦♦◊



So, last month Debi organized the Fall into Fall Quilters Giveaway. I enjoyed wandering through the participants' blogs, finding new ones to follow, being inspired here and there. I didn't enter all of the "contests" even though I did enjoy all the new-to-me blogs.

I did enter at Quilting Nanny - and I won something!

This is the coolest thing I've seen in a long time. The cover is quilted and bound (and quite yummy-feeling), it holds a composition book, with a place for pens and (in my case) a skinny calculator.

I'll admit, my first thought (after the unformed tactile-pleasure thoughts) was "I wonder if I should make these for Christmas gifts?" The jury's still out on that one.


I've already written to ask Sandy if the fabric has been prewashed (it has) because I know that I'm going to get this baby grubby, carrying it everywhere with me. I've already taken it on two show-n-tell outings.

Click here to see all of the incredi-cool prizes she was offering. Her generosity still makes me shake my head in wonder. One thing would have been cool, but the number and cool-factor of the prizes she offered - including a finished quilt and free long arm quilting - just blows me away.

I am a blank book/notebook fool. Seriously. I always have at least a small spiral notebook with me (because my memory isn't reliable!!), and there are 10 or 20 larger journal-type books floating around my home. If I see a pretty one (or a well-made inexpensive one), I'll snap it up and stick it in the bookshelf.

I don't journal, at least not in what I consider the "diary" sense of the word. I've mentioned here that every night before I go to bed I write down what I did during the day (ref the "unreliable memory" above), but I don't write feelings or dreams or anything like that. It's more in the line of "vaccuumed" "worked on basket shawl" and "frogged basket shawl" (uh, that's another post, I'm sure). This daily inventory is done in a calendar/datebook I got at the Dollar Store.

The blank books are for anything and everything. Drawings. Lists. Math (surprise!). Rough drafts. Sometimes I write a list in one book and it gets buried on the horizontal surface that, twice a year, serves as a dining room table. Then when I need to refer to the list, I can't find it and I end up starting over. In another book.

My life is just one big adventure, doncha know.

Labels: babble, blogging

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