More Covid Organization Projects

I'm beginning to wonder whether the things we do while we are in self isolation are actually essential, something we would have done sooner if we'd had the time, or if they are just make work projects to keep us busy.

At our house, we have a fair sized pantry filled with quite a few canned goods. I thought it might be a good idea to take inventory of the contents. I was afraid that some items had been there for awhile and would get outdated or remain unused when new products are bought. I made an inventory which I soon decided was not an efficient way to keep track. I listed how many of each item there was, then changed the numbers as the cans were used...messy.

After a short time, I decided to sort out the contents of our jelly cupboard as well. Same issues as the pantry. In fact, you might say there are more pantry type items stored in the jelly cupboard

I came up with a better plan. After creating the chart, with enough boxes in each direction, I put an / for each  thing we already have. I taped the charts to the inside of the cupboard doors. As the
 products are used, we will put a line through and end up with something like an x. That's the theory. There's space to add to the list at the  bottom. I have left a conspicuous pen to be sure that what's used is crossed off. Essential or make work project? So far, it's working well and I like it.

I also decided to do something about my jewelry. I found a hanging holder which was formerly my daughter's. I'm sure she's forgotten it exists since she's no longer even in the country. I hung it on my bedroom wall near the closet. How sensible. Now I can see my earrings and perhaps even use some of them instead of  wearing the same ones every day. I also found a hanger type jewelry holder that I'd forgotten about, in my basement. I've owned it for a long time but, like so many other things, it was just sitting idle. It has a clothes hanger and is two sided...brilliant. It will store costume jewelry and larger items...eighty in total. The concept of "shopping your house" is becoming more and more handy for me these days.

I decided that whatever I don't wear/use in the next year, will be disposed of.  The left holder looks pretty good on the wall. The one on the right, once filled will go into the closet and hang with my clothing.


My next project will be an attempt to deal with shoes. I have not as yet figured out a perfect storage solution. I've tried see through shoe boxes, boxes with photos on the outside, racks, and hanging organizers. All of these take up space which I don't have. It leads me to think that perhaps I just need to downsize. Alas, I'll miss my multitudinous Birkenstocks. On the other hand, as the expressions goes, "How many shoes can you wear at a time?"

Now I Am An Old Purple Woman

Many people are familiar with the poem, "Warning" by Jenny Joseph which begins, "When I am an old woman I shall wear purple."  Essentially, she suggests that when people are older, they don't care as much about what others think of them. They have the freedom to do as they please, without feeling the need to impress others. I believe this to be true. She also suggests that some people should be a bit quirky before they become old, so that nobody will think them odd later in life. It doesn't work. People still think I'm odd, but alas, I don't care that much about what they think. So clearly, Joseph has a point. 

This week, I was busy. We had an old brown bookcase in the garage. Why does most furniture have to be brown anyhow? During one of my energetic moments, I decided to paint it, so that it could be placed the bedroom. I wanted my impossible pile of books to be organized enough that they could be shelved, and hopefully read. I knew I wouldn't offend anyone who has issues with the painting of wood, since this shelf was made of ***chipboard photo-paper. After a trip to Home Depot, I learned that I needed to use primer, then cover with two paint coats. What colour was I going to pick? 

After careful consideration, I decided to paint my bookcase purple to add some life to the room. Back in 9/23/11 "Missing Blogs...Updated Digs" I redid the bedroom in shades of green and aubergine, and although some changes have taken place since then, the basic colours have remained the same. I like them.

The whole time I was using the purple paint, I was reminded of the children's story, "Harold and the Purple Crayon". I wondered how it would look if I sketched and painted Harold on the side of my shelf. At no point did I care what people might think about this odd childlike shelf showing up in a bedroom. On the other hand, not many would see it and it would probably bring me joy.

Although I had some issues with the paint adhering without lifting off the photo paper (not sure if the primer preparation was correct), I eventually succeeded in completing the additions to my satisfaction. I protected it with varathane, and it was done...night time appropriate with moon and stars.

My books are now stacked and the room makes me happy. The colour  breaks up the boredom of the rest of the brown furnishings.

Earlier on, when I was doing the priming, I decided to also coat a rocking chair which I had retrieved from a neighbour's trash. There wasn't much wrong with it except that a dog had chewed part of the seat at the back. Wood purists of the world might take issue with me. When I turned the rocker over, I was surprised to make some discoveries. Still, it will become my next art project.

Although I'm not yet certain how I will complete the chair, I do know one thing for sure. It will not be purple.

 ***Chipboard photo-paper shelf - No real wood was harmed in the painting of this bookcase.

Lumps, Bumps, and Annoying Night Things

Today, as I was changing my sheets and re-making my bed, I discovered something. There were two large bumps, one near the pillow area, and one close to the centre of the bed. Mystified, I felt around. Sometimes, things cling to sheets and get stuck in odd places. Usually though, it's a ***sock (a partial explanation as to where the other sock goes after doing laundry).

Clearly, these lumps were impossible. My pajamas were in the wash. My shorts, shirt, and slippers were on my body. I had no missing pets. Hmmm...could I have amassed that many dust mites since my last wash? Gross, NO!

On the other hand, I like to think of myself as somewhat of a ***"Princess and the Pea", and these bulges would clearly explain my sleepless nights of late.

Since I have a zip on mattress cover to protect against any alien type infestations, there was only one thing left to do. I had to locate the end of the fastener, a feat in itself, then open up the mattress cover sufficiently to seek out the offending "things".

After pulling out all the extra fabric around the edges of my bed, wiping my now perspiring brow, and locating a tiny zipper pull, I did it. I must admit, I was nervous. I unzipped what I now remembered was a king sized mattress cover on my queen sized bed. It was the only anti bedbug one available, and I purchased it during a time when we could still go travelling without pandemic fears.

I zipped,  I zipped, thinking two sides open would be sufficient. Once my head and most of my body was inside the cover, and my bare, but slippered legs were flailing in the air,  hubby arrived to inquire as to what on earth I was doing. "Are you washing the mattress cover?" he asked.

My mission was not hindered, as my muffled voice shared with him the issue of the mystery protrusions. Hubby is used to me by now, well, sort of, so he just carried on with what he was doing allowing my imprisoned self to seek out the offending bumps.

The only thing I learned during my spelunking betwixt the formerly unsullied mattress and the massive protective wrapper was that there was clearly something invasive between the layers of  fabric. After a few minutes of thinking, and wondering whether I should slit part of the seam to determine what it was, I came to the most logical and sensible conclusion.

The mattress cover was padded, and the mattress cover was king sized. Clearly some of the excess padding had wadded itself up to create the illusion of something more compelling. Yes, that's it and that's what I'll believe until the next time I change the sheets.

I re-zipped and smoothed the cover as best I could, put clean sheets on the bed in a slimming dark purple colour, so that the lumps are less apparent, and went about my business. Now, I'll see how I sleep tonight, and what happens next week when I once again change the bedding.
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***Seinfeld's hilarious bit about missing socks
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmQxyOROXtA

     
***See Blog - The Princess, The Pea, and Prince Charming  8/4/10
https://rockinrobinsramblings.blogspot.com/2010/08/princess-pea-and-prince-charming.html

Wild Rice, Cranberry, Walnut Salad

I have learned to be much more food flexible in my old age, and also during this pandemic. My best suggestion is to be creative and/or lazy.  If you don't have an ingredient, try a substitution. If the recipe looks as though it has too much of one thing or another for your liking, change the recipe. If everything has to be made from scratch, think twice about how to adapt the recipe. It usually works out without too much of an ensuing disaster.

***Allergy alert - The recipe that follows contains walnuts, but any types of nuts can be substituted including pine nuts (I don't care for these), almonds, or pecans. I've only tried it with walnuts so far.

Whereas I was less than enthusiastic about my recent attempt at Jambalaya, this recipe is definitely a keeper. I think it's been around for a long time. A rice salad with very few ingredients, it tastes delicious even though it doesn't look too appealing to everyone in the photo...wait, nobody's in the photo. It doesn't look appealing to everyone the way it appears in the photo...better.  It also keeps for several days in the fridge.

I didn't do anything 'much' to change this recipe (unusual for me) which I found in several different online locations including a page on anti-aging foods...yayyy. Let's see if it helps. Here's the version that my stepmom used, and that I am also currently using. 


Cranberry, Rice, & Walnut Salad


Ingredients in red.

1 cup rice - brown and wild is suggested, but I substituted long and wild rice. Is there really much difference? ***I also have been known to use prefab rice. In other words, something of slightly lesser nutritional value and much less work. On the other hand, if you're a purist and you have an hour to kill, go ahead and use wild rice that you need to cook. I think the brown takes a little less time.

When rice cools (if you're using cooked), mix with  1/2 cup of dried cranberries, and 1/2 cup of squashed walnuts. I had to use halves which I put in a bag and crushed with a rolling pin.

For dressing -

Whisk together 2 tablespoons of olive oil, 1/2 tsp. of sugar (I used sweetener), 1 tablespoon lemon juice (from a real lemon or from a squeezy plastic lemon), a tsp. of rind if you have any kind of citrus fruit, like the aforementioned lemon (not the plastic one) or an orange-like item with rind, salt, pepper to your taste.

Assemble by pouring dressing on rice mixture, and serve. I've also seen versions using roasted nuts that have been cooled, and versions that are warm salads. I like to refrigerate mine prior to consuming.

Et voi​là. There you have it...easy peasy.

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***Prefab rice example. I don't use them often because of the plastic, but this one comes in two, one cup sizes so I just use one of the two for the recipe.  The plastic cups can however be recycled, or up cycled and used for other purposes.

Creole Jambalaya Fatigue

Well, it's Friday again. In my perception of time, the only day more frequent than Friday is Sunday. I know this because I have a drug (prescribed) which I need to take on Sundays, and it always seems to be Sunday. So many days now mush themselves together.

I saw a meme that said 2020 doesn't count so really, none of us are a year older. Tell that to my body parts which at this point seem to be aging at warp speed.

On the bright side, it's a beautiful, warm, t-shirt day today with no wind, so I was able to walk with minimal allergy discomfort. After my morning trek, I struggled through a jambalaya recipe, the meal which I had planned for today. Personally, I don't really care for any kind of multi ingredient, one dish type food. I guess I'm more like the kid who likes everything separate on a plate. Hubby on the other hand really enjoys jambalaya.

I learned through extensive recipe googling, that there is Cajun jambalaya, and there is Creole jambalaya. The difference is that the Creole jambalaya contains tomatoes and Cajun does not. Since I'm fairly certain that the restaurant meal which hubby likes, is reddish, I opted for the Creole recipe.

Here's the Martha Stewart Cajun recipe I found.

https://www.marthastewart.com/1512701/cajun-jambalaya

I soon discovered why this meal is expensive in a restaurant. Besides having many costly ingredients, it's time consuming and exhausting. I used the following recipe but substituted kielbasa because it's what I had, and because I have no idea what andouille sausage is.

https://www.gimmesomeoven.com/jambalaya-recipe/

 Here is my completed jambalaya.

I have made some discoveries which will provide shortcuts should I ever actually consider serving this again.

Shortcut # 1 - Chop all the veggies, chicken, shrimp, and sausage the day before. I now have                                             peppers, onions, parsley, chopped and ready to go in my freezer for many recipes.

Shortcut  #2 - Look at several recipes and find the one that looks easiest. I neglected to do this.

Shortcut  #3 - Go to M&M's Meats and get their frozen Jambalaya. I can't guarantee it's any                                                                good.  Haven't tried it.

Shortcut #4 -  My favourite - Order take out from CJ's restaurant. Go for a walk. Bring it home, and                                                   pretend I made it.

So, we just consumed the jambalaya that it took me all morning to make. It tasted pretty good, even to me. Apparently, the one from the restaurant is preferred. Next time, I'll definitely use shortcut #4.

Covid Cooking

I had never intended this to become a cooking blog, and it really isn't. If I share recipes, it's because I have a plan which I'll explain later.

Recently, a friend and I read and discussed the book, "Recipe for A Perfect Wife,"  by Karma Brown. The author describes the lives of two housewives, one from the 50's and one from present day, both of whom occupied the same home during their marriages. Their stories intersect when the current inhabitant of the house, a hopeful author-wife, discovers the other's recipes which were left behind in the basement.

Although my friend and I originally discussed dressing up and recreating some of the recipes, this idea was soon abandoned, well, except for the dressing up part. She made the meat loaf and didn't like it. I made the chocolate chip cookies and they were good. We gave up after that...just as well, since neither of us were remembering 50's-60's type food with fond memories.

This did give me an idea, however.  I know that almost anything is available on the internet nowadays, but, old recipes, especially family favourites, or mom's versions, are not always easy to find. In fact, my children have been known to ask for ingredients and techniques to create certain dishes that they remember and always enjoyed.

With my daughter now married and living far away, I had an idea for her next birthday. I decided to  create a book of recipes and ship it to her. I thought about the various forms this could take...recipe cards, hand written pages by mom (do I have that much time left in my life?), and so on. Finally, I concluded that if I take photos of things that I cook, and write up the recipes on the computer, I could print them, add little messages/asides/jokes, and compile them into plastic protectors in a binder with a "catchy" front cover. So that's my plan. That's why every now and again, tried and true or even experimental recipes that turned out well might show up on my blog.

Books can be different things to different people. They can be educational,  riveting, thought provoking, shocking, suspenseful, or inspirational. I thank the author of this book, Karma Brown for the inspiration to leave a piece of myself, in the form of "Mom's Favourite Recipes", for my child.
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Pandemic Planting

I am about to make a statement that will be very unpopular.

I hate gardening. There, I said it.

Every year I see people painstakingly working in their gardens. They tend to shrubs, trees, blooms, and make the yard lovely. Some have extensive vegetable gardens. None of these activities have ever appealed to me. In fact, it's beyond the realm of my comprehension how digging, planting, weed pulling, and repeating those steps ad infinitum, or for a couple of months at least, is in any way enjoyable. It makes my knees and back ache just thinking about it.

Having said that, every spring, I shop for, and plant an array of flowers in our yard. I usually spend a small fortune and don't pay much attention to what I select from the local garden centre.  I just pick what I like.  It's  a one time annual deal, just like the flowers. Sometimes, I have a theme, like when Canada celebrated its 150th anniversary of confederation.  I planted red and white, adding a few small flags to the design. It looked pretty.

So this year,  I'm late. The weather has taken awhile to warm up but today, I acquired a solid collection of flowers.

I decided to make the activity a little more fun for myself. Prior to working, I created a short "Mosquito Lady" video to get in the mood. Then I got down and dirty...and I do mean dirty. I was covered head to toe by the time I was finished burying all the plants I had schlepped home. (Turn up volume to fully appreciate my silliness).

After a couple of hours, I  packed away the tools, saving them hopefully for next year. It was time to relax and enjoy my efforts.

Fanatical Tidying, Organizing, or Not!

Every now and again, someone comes up with new and wonderful ways to downsize, clean, de-clutter, or sanitize your house. The books and websites are becoming as trendy as culinary t.v. shows and cookbooks.

Understand that I'm not being critical when I say that I think each person needs to do what they find helpful to them. If spending countless hours folding and organizing your clothing into little squares is what you enjoy, go for it. If setting a timer for twenty minutes to clean areas of your house works, more power to you. There is in fact no area of my house that can be cleaned in twenty minutes, but that's another problem.

Almost everyone's heard of Marie Kondo and her philosophies by now. She's a delightful young woman who shows you how to "spark joy" by folding and organizing your underwear (of which you shouldn't have too many), into tiny bundles that stand up on their own, like little soldiers in your dresser drawer.

During this time of covid isolation, I'm continuing to provide entertainment for myself. Through it all though, I have to give kudos to hubby for tolerating my nonsense.

As I  was folding laundry last week,  I decided to Marie Kondo the sheets. That means, once they are
folded in the correct and most space efficient manner, they get placed inside a pillow case, never to be seen again. While I was doing this, I figured, why not add some pizzazz. Wow...never noticed before that the word pizzazz has pizza in it. Reminds me, it's lunch time. But alas, I digress.

So I located a ribbon, tied everything up, and left the sheets on the bed for hubby to put on the high shelf. He probably had no idea what to make of this new found pillow-like package. It was too early by a week or two for his birthday.  By the way, I doubt Marie would approve of the wrinkled case and the disorganized bow, but alas, I have to save some part of my persona lest I turn into too much of a ***Stepford wife.

It's not as though I don't have any goals or plans for each day although it's not the way it used to be when our agenda was overflowing with trips, meetings with friends, doctor's appointments, dinners out, baseball games, etc. Nowadays, the calendar is empty, save for the occasional Walmart curbside grocery pickup...our biggest outing. Apart from that,  everything is limited to what can be done around the house, inside and out, or on a walk. I guess that's about it. 

I am not, nor have I ever been a person who can blindly and rigidly follow a schedule that's laid out. I also have a limited attention span, often moving on to another thing while abandoning the first. You might call me flexible, spontaneous, scatterbrained, or whatever other word fits the category.  So I told my friend who follows the Fly Lady website, that I'd more likely be a gnat or a mosquito lady. 

Based on that idea, I came up with my own "Mosquito Lady" plan. When we were first in lockdown as I like to call it, because it sounds better than isolation, quarantine, or captivity, I was a mad cleaning machine. I had this crazy idea that I could get my whole house tidy and sterilized in a few days...something I hadn't accomplished in years of living here because I actually had an active life. I also thought I could pursue all the hobbies I'd never had time for. End result, it didn't happen. Part way through, I became resentful, fed up, and went on a ***"Dead to Me" Netflix binge.

My new plan because I am retired and fortunate to have the luxury of doing this, was to do housework and cook for an hour or two in the morning. Then after lunch, go for a walk, pursue hobbies such as reading, writing, practicing keyboard, painting, crafting and lingering in the tub (not necessarily everything every day or in that order).  This has made me much happier.  

I do occasionally make lists and meal plans, but that's difficult for me because it's not in my nature. On the other hand, I've done some pretty odd, out of my comfort zone things lately and found them strangely satisfying.  

Perhaps I'll just go binge watch some Marie Kondo videos on Netflix after all.

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***Stepford Wives - A 1970's Ira Levin book and later a movie about a group of men who created robotic versions of their wives. These robots were physically perfect and also immaculate house keepers with no individuality or interests other than keeping the men happy.

***Dead to Me - Good show. Great cast. Somewhat irreverant and unlikely, with terrific writing and cliffhangers at the end of each episode. Not everyone's taste but the clever writing makes it mine.

Lazy Veggie Moussaka

I used to make eggplant parmesan. At some point, I lost the taste for it. I think the problem is that I'm not much of a tomato fan,  plus I got turned off by the incessant heartburn that comes with pregnancy and/or old age. I'll let you decide which category I fit into.

Details of my tomato aversion are in a previous blog dated 9/16/10 "You say tomato and I say bleeachhhhhhhhhhh.....".

I do not mind eggplant, and since Walmart curbside pickup sent two not one, and more zucchinis than I had ordered (a whole other blog), I tried a new recipe. It looks lengthy and complicated but it's not any worse than making lasagna. It's definitely more nutritious without all the pasta carbs, and just a bit of yummy fat.  Also, I learned that you need to be flexible, especially these days. So I bent over backwards...not easy at my age, and created this from what I had lying around the house...food items that is. Because I wanted to make it meatless, I looked up regular and vegetarian/vegan options. I combined ingredients and procedures that I found online, with my own ideas, then adapted and simplified the recipe because I'm lazy. It's a bit of a process, but not that difficult. It just has a few steps. Ingredients are in red letters. French terms are my attempt at chef-speak.

By the way, it was delicious. It can get a bit salty so be aware when adding this ingredient. Also,  please excuse my comments and asides. I can't seem to help myself.

***Fun Fact - I was curious as to what moussaka, a Greek word, means in English so I google translated it and you'll never believe it! In English, moussaka is....moussaka.

                                   
                                                      VEGGIE MOUSSAKA A LA HILDE

Prepare and set aside the following while preheating oven to 400 degrees.

2 medium eggplants partly peeled and sliced lengthwise
3 potatoes, peeled, sliced lengthwise
3 medium large zucchini sliced length wise. Put on paper towels on a baking sheet, sprinkle with salt, leave 30 minutes to remove liquid and bitterness, then dry off.

 When eggplant is dried, put all sliced veggies on olive oiled cookie sheets and bake 20 minutes at 400 degrees.

Bechamel Sauce  (can be prepared while eggplants are salted)

Equal amounts butter (or olive oil), and flour (approx. 1/2 cup of each)
salt/pepper to your taste
3 cups milk (warmed...essential)
1/4 tsp. nutmeg

Instructions - In a large saucepan, melt butter or heat olive oil depending on your preference. Be careful not to burn. Stir in flour, salt, pepper. Stir with wooden spoon to create a roux. I think a roux is a fancy french cooking term for a combined lump of flour and melted butter. (see pic) Using a whisk, gradually add warm milk, whisking to prevent lumps. Continue cooking until slightly thickened, stirring with wooden spoon again. Add nutmeg.

Cover pot in wax paper to prevent layer of skin from forming. I put a lid on top of waxed paper. You can probably use plastic wrap or paper towels but I can't promise you'll remain skinless.

 
Lentil Sauce

Make this when veggies are roasting in oven.

Lentils  I used a normal sized can of green ones, drained and rinsed. They were nice and small. Buying dry, soaking, cooking etc. is too much work. I feel like black beans would work in this recipe as well, but haven't experimented yet.
1 medium onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 can crushed tomatoes - I used flavoured "Aylmer Accents" (made in Canada),
because I like it better...whole undrained can. No, they don't pay me for my endorsement.                                      ***Note to self - look into getting paid.
1/2 cup broth or water (if you want)
1 tsp. dry oregano
1/2 tsp nutmeg
pinch cinnamon
olive oil tablespoonish

Instructions - In a decent sized pan, saute (French for fry 'em up gently) onions and garlic in olive oil for a few minutes until it smells good. Add lentils, tomatoes or accents, broth or water (I didn't add any because I left the liquid from the canned tomatoes in there), and spices. Simmer for about 20 minutes.

Assembly - the fun part

I used a 9x13" casserole type baking dish. I know this for a fact because during covid isolation boredom, I decided to measure all my pans and write the sizes on the bottom with permanent marker.

Covid Query - Why are baking pans measured in imperial and not metric? Could it be so that they can bake in a Fahrenheit oven?

Pour half lentil sauce in the bottom of pan (hopefully it's not too runny...mine wasn't).  Layer the veggies in an order of your choice. At this point, if you want but not essential, you can toss a few specks of some kind of  grated cheese between the layers. I did, although I didn't use much. I just had a brief flashback remembering eggplant parmesan and the veggies looked a bit naked.

Pour remaining lentil sauce. Cover entire casserole with bechamel sauce and smooth it out. I hate wrinkly sauce don't you? The photo was taken mid smooth.
Bake in middle oven rack, still 400 degrees for about 45 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from heat and let stand for 20 minutes or so. I covered it loosely with foil to keep it hot. Cut into squares. Here's mine, right out of the oven.

Refrigerate leftovers for up to 3 days, I hope, because we're having them today after 3 days.

Oreos - A Covid Cookie Confession

Who knew that I'd ever write a blog about Oreos? Yes, the cookies.

Google tells me Oreos have been around since March 6, 1912.  I haven't been around quite that long, but I do remember them as a kid. In fact, I feel the need to finally confess that as a child, I may have single handedly contributed to the rodent population of Little Italy in Toronto. Let me explain.

My parents and I lived in a second story flat on Clinton Street when I was about seven or eight years old. By flat, I mean a small bedroom for three, a tiny kitchen, and a bathroom shared with two other families. Wow!

We were not very well off  since my parents had just moved to the city from a gold mining town wayyyy north of Superior. At first, they  took whatever jobs they could get. This improved somewhat when mom got a position at the Imperial Bank of Canada, and dad began as an audio technician at CBC.

From time to time they would purchase cookies...not really essential since mom often made magnificent European tortes. Cookies were somewhat different though. Mom only made the special varieties of German ones, pfeffernuss, almond crescents, linzer, and oblaten, at Christmas, hence the purchases.

I remember on one occasion we had a package of Oreos. I'm not sure why.  Perhaps they were on sale at Mr. Morris' Grocery store on the corner. There was nothing appealing looking about them. After all, they weren't Peak Freans shortbread, chocolate chip, or graham wafers (the other occasional purchases).  In fact, Oreos had a disgusting dark brown exterior, slightly bitter, that stuck tellingly between your teeth. The only redeeming feature was the lining...white "stuff" of some creamy consistency, probably pure sugar.

One day, when I was home alone after school, I searched for a snack. There wasn't much around except canned goods, the blender my parents had purchased to make skim milk from powder, and a packet of Oreos. After considering the depth of trouble I'd be in, I went for it, grabbed a handful and tried to eat one. My contorted mouth after tasting the cookie helped me decide on a new plan. I had to think fast. Where would I hide the evidence? I headed for the kitchen window which faced the back yard, opened it somewhat, and began an epic activity which has haunted me for some sixty years.

As I pulled apart each cookie, I savoured the edible sandwiched centres, lick by lick, considered the outer wafers, then tossed them from the second story, watching them spiral to the ground below.

Surprisingly, nothing ever became of my misdeed...not from my parents, and not from our landlords. Either the cookie shells disappeared by means of wildlife, or  they were so well disguised in the dirt that they became compost. To me they had certainly tasted like something akin to soil.

Why did I think to write this now? Well, I haven't checked Snopes, to see whether this is a real thing or not. I have decided that I don't want to know. Someone posted it on Facebook  thus bringing back memories of the great cookie caper.

Lots of No Time

You'd think that during pandemic isolation, there'd be lots of time to do things...like blogs. That's actually only partly true. I must admit that I am happy about a lot of things I've accomplished...special fun days which included dressing up and torturing my spouse; working on some hobbies (painting, reading, playing keyboard, writing); house cleaning...hiss boo, no excuse, and cooking...ugh. I'm becoming more efficient, and more inventive even though I dislike both of the latter tasks. Waste of time if you ask me. On the other hand, what else do I have to do?

As I previously mentioned, I have started no fewer, (yes the correct word, rarely used anymore is "fewer") than a dozen blogs and finished only two. At least I think I finished two. There's probably one that I stole from someone else, so perhaps three. As for writing, I've done a bit...messages/emails to friends. Perhaps I can incorporate these someplace. I certainly have a lot to say, and I definitely have plenty of opinions.

I think what happened is that my head is so full of "stuff", that I can't focus on the direction I want to go with any one of my blogs. Then, there are also occasional interruptions. I read somewhere that interruptions are the greatest suppressors to imagination and trains of thought. My train is easily derailed. I have the attention span of a gnat, and am fortunate to know this about myself.  I knew a writer once that wrote during the night, quiet, isolated. I suppose that's why some authors disappear into cabins in the woods. Or perhaps that's a myth and just how we perceive writers.

It's not just the blogs that are unfinished. I currently have a partially completed painting on my easel. It still needs some layers and shading. Not an original idea I might add. I saw it someplace on google and it appealed to me. The colours have been changed to protect the innocent or however the expression goes.

I have also been working on a small piece of unpainted furniture, trying to come up with some colour and design. I figured, if I don't wreck it, I can go on to bigger and better pieces.  Besides, I'm so immature that when my friends phone and ask what I'm doing, I can say, "I'm just painting my stool."

Then I cackle and laugh like some four year old repeating the words poopoo, peepee, and diarrhea, over and over, as they love to do.

Here's a picture of my stool before I started painting it. Ha,ha.                         

Well...that's about it for now. I'll try to recap some of my other adventures later. I have already shared them on Facebook, so I suppose that also contributes to my laziness in blogging about them.

Take care. Wash your hands. This too shall pass.