Never Again (In My Kitchen)

I have a few things I am addicted to -besides nicotine, that is. One would be knitting and crochet pattern books. The other -cookbooks!

I've got a pretty healthy supply of cookbooks, in addition to subscribing to a couple websites, each of which list beaucoup recipes.

It's not that I cook all kinds of stuff -fancy or plain -all the time, but I do love to look through cookbooks, especially, and dream of whipping up some of the really yummy looking stuff shown in them. Same applies to the websites too.

I especially like to pick up the little specialty cooking booklets -put out by a major publisher of several cooking monthly magazines. After church today when Kurtis and I went up to the local store to get the Sunday paper, I spied a new one of these pretty little cookbook booklets. I leafed through it and a recipe in there looked really appealing to me so, after looking over the ingredients, I decided what the heck -toss the booklet in the cart and take it home to study it further.

All the recipes in this booklet were supposedly geared towards "Comfort Food." I liked that idea. Liked the thought of comfort food being something yummy but also without tons and tons of preparation too.

After perusing the whole booklet at home, that same recipe I'd briefly scanned at the store was still beckoning me, calling my name. Yessiree, it surely was doing that to me.

I had picked up a nice-sized piece of London Broil and had the idea in mind of cooking that up in the crockpot with a package of onion soup mix and another packet of brown gravy mix, all stirred together with two cups of hot water and poured over the meat to let that simmer a couple of hours so it would have a nice dark brown gravy with good meat as well as onion flavoring to it.

And, I decided to try the recipe I'd spied in this new cookbook booklet too!

The recipe consisted of shredded potatoes, carrots with a little bit of shredded onion in the mix and it was to be cooked in a white sauce with a "hint" of cheddar cheese melted into the white sauce. I don't know why, but it sounded "interesting" and the picture of the dish looked VERY inviting to me too.

Not knowing if anyone would be here to have supper with us, I decided that the initial recipe appeared too small, so I doubled it. That was my first mistake here!

I should know by now not to double a new recipe unless I have at least some idea of how the end result is going to taste -like maybe I have sampled a bit of the dish someplace else. Which, in this case, of course, you know I'd never heard of this dish before today much less ever sampled a bit of it too.

Well, let me tell you -the first comment about the potato-carrot-onion casserole came from Mandy. "Pretty bland," says she.

Yeah -had to agree with that assessment, I did.

But, considering Bill tends to regard my cooking as a bit heavy on the spices and way too spicy quite often for his taste buds, I thought maybe i might be something he would like.

WRONG!

What's more, as I dug into it, I discovered I didn't care for this item at all! Not even on itty-bitty little bit!

Before setting the food on the table, I had told Mandy I wasn't sure how this casserole was going to go over tonight as it was a bit of an experiment. After she took a look at it, she grabbed the camera and took a picture of it. (No, I have no downloaded that photo to my computer as yet plus she intends to use it first on her Facebook.

Wonderful! Let the whole freaking world in on the supper disaster at our house -complete with pictures at 11 p.m. Sure. I love that idea. NOT!

What really gets me is the description of this item in the cookbook -is that the lady who submitted it says that she has been relying on this for more than 30 years and states that is most certainly a strong testimony then for the scrumpdeliciousness of this casserole.

And to that I say, Lady, you need your tastebuds examined!

Thank goodness the meat was just right -done to a nice juicy tenderness, gravy really flavorful and all that. Plus I had a beautiful loaf of "Swedish Kaka" bread my neighbor had made and donated to the Fall Bazaar at our church yesterday to soothe my tormented tastebuds from this yucky casserole.

That, plus I also have a couple pieces left of the really tasty "Creamsicle" fudge-like candy I had purchased at the Bazaar yesterday too.

Oh well, what the heck you gonna do when a food experiment that looks to be so good goes awry?

While trying to eat this concoction, Mandy asked if it was a lot of work to fix and I said yes, and that only added more insult to my injured cooking spirit today.

That will be the last time I ever shred potatoes and carrots and cook them in a special white sauce with a hint of cheese in it too!

It looked about like a baked casserole of coleslaw and even that I think would have tasted a whole hell of a lot better than this dish did!

Considering all these recipes have supposedly been tried and tested for accuracy, flavor, ease of preparation and all that by the food editors of this little cooking booklet, I think maybe they all need to have their taste buds checked out too cause mine sure don't agree with this as being a wonderful entry in the world of wonderful "Comfort Foods."

Nope. NOPE! Never again will this item be fixed -by me -and served to anyone in my family!

They can rest assured in that!

A Blink of the Eye

I hit the publish button a bit early as I had forgotten to add that this is my "Only the Good Friday" post. For anyone who isn't familiar with Only the Good Friday, it was set up by blogger Shelley Tucker of This Eclectic Life and although it initially was set for Friday publications, it has changed to now being "Only the Good" on any day! Check out Shelley's blog for more information on posting about the good things as you see them in your life.
We've all heard, most of us also often cite too those adages about how quickly children change, grow up, become adults and are out on their own.

Somehow, I rather think the events I'm revealing here today really do serve to show the "Only The Good" side of life. Let me know if you agree or not.

"In the blink of an eye" -or so it seems -those things occur and we're left wondering just how it could be the years can pass by so quickly.

And by the same measurement of time, we know too how fast things can happen -often terrible, life-altering events -that seem almost beyond belief too.

Take for example the horrific automobile crash I wrote about here about 2-3 weeks ago now in which the young couple, parents of two small children, were both killed -dead at the scene of the accident -and those two children lost the people responsible for their care, the individuals who loved them so deeply now gone forever.

Other things can happen too that may not have as tragic an ending as that accident but that can change one's outlook, the mode of operation, from an event that had the potential of being completely life-altering but thankfully, didn't quite materialize in that manner.

Just enough though to perhaps scare the living daylights out of us though. An event that maybe makes your blood run cold as you think of this and what could have happened, thankful though that you were lucky enough to come away physically unscathed perhaps but mentally, changed.

We had just such an event here in our family this past week.

My older daughter phoned me Monday night and I could hear the panic in her voice as well as in how she was breathing too while trying to talk to me. Her voice was quivering, lowering, then rising, quiet then angry and loud.

She began to unfold the events of that day to me and the more she talked, the more I could feel the terror creeping in, deep inside me too.

Her son, my oldest grandchild, is twelve years old now -a big boy; very tall for his age as he surpasses his Aunt Mandy who is 5 foot 7 1/2 in height. He isn't heavy but is quite well built for his age and height. He's also generally a pretty calm young man too -usually quietly taking in the scenes of things happening around him. That trait, it would appear, worked well for him on Monday afternoon.

His mother and dad have shared custody of him so some days he goes to his paternal grandmother's home after school and other days, he rides the bus to where his mother and her fiance live. Monday was a day to ride the bus to his mother's home.

The bus stop is maybe a half-mile from their home. It's a very quiet country road, winding past some newer homes and a big farm house belonging to an Amish family.

He was about half-way home when a car drove past him, moving rather slowly he noted, went up to a driveway and turned around. As it came towards him, the car began to slow down, more and more, until the driver pulled up and stopped alongside my grandson.

Speaking to the boy, the driver began by telling him he knew my grandson didn't know him and that he didn't know my grandson either. He also added that he realized too that he didn't know the boy's parents nor did they know him too. But, he was wondering if he could give the boy a ride home, that he would be very happy to do that for him.

All the things that we try to teach children and hope and pray that they absorb and remember came into play then in my grandson's mind as he began to think -and to realize -this just wasn't right.

He then tried to concentrate on remembering whatever he could in the way of details about this man, about the car too, so he could give a good description of what was taking place.

The man repeated again and again, his offer of a ride for the grandson and the boy stayed his distance from the vehicle as he pointed out a house almost across the road from where they were then and said "It's okay. I'm just going to my friend's house right there."

Finally -much to the boy's relief -the man took no for an answer and as he pulled away, he spun the tires and sped off.

My grandson then hurried home as quickly as possible and told his mother immediately what had just transpired. She and her fiance then called the police and reported this event.

After coming to the house and talking to him, the police told him he had done an excellent job of remembering various characteristics about this man - older, probably early 50s, salt and pepper hair, very blue eyes. Although he didn't get the make, model or year of the vehicle, he did remember it was a burgundy color and also, noted that there was a bunch of junk-type stuff on the front seat of the car that had the boy thinking too if he'd accepted the offer of the ride, just where would this guy have had him to sit?

The police went to the farmhouse of the Amish family and spoke to a son of theirs who verified having seen the vehicle and his description matched my grandson's as well.

Two days later, the school principal called the grandson to his office to speak with him about what had happened, to commend him for staying calm and using his wits to remember as many details as he could. He also informed the grandson that the police had told him they have had two other reports of a man matching much the same description and driving a car of the same color within the school district in recent days too.

All of this brings to one's mind, of course, the terrible things that COULD have happened between my grandson and this stranger. It also makes one very, very thankful too that nothing that dire did occur.

But how quickly -had that man jumped from the car and overpowered my grandson -would his life, his parents, mine, the other grandparents, his aunt and uncle's have changed -drastically!

He may be a big boy for his age but if taken by surprise -as my son said when I told him what had occurred - he could easily have been overpowered, knocked out and carried off.

Way, way, too easily.

I had a lot of hesitation about writing this post. I wasn't sure I wanted to tell the whole blogosphere about what had happened for fear of causing more concern or embarrassment to my grandson, perhaps even to my daughter too in the process. Initially, I was to shaken to pull my thoughts together in a somewhat cogent manner to even write about this.

But the more I thought about it, the more I thought that I have to write this and show how some people do use various methods to accost our young people and also, how important it is that those youngsters are able to come forward to tell what has happened. Also then to reiterate how easily someone could possibly snatch a child, even a pre-teen who looks pretty capable of handling and defending himself, and make off with the individual.

And so I write this now as a warning to parents, grandparents, caretakers -whoever -and also to children and teens -of any age range -to be extremely cautious, to never, ever accept a favor or ride from a stranger, regardless of how nice, handsome, clean, polite, that person may seem.

And to be sure to relay any and all information about someone who doesn't belong and who is acting somewhat strangely to the adults in one's life and then also, to the police.

I am so grateful today that my grandson was unharmed but that still doesn't keep my mind from racing to the "What if" aspects of this scenario. I'm so grateful that my grandson kept himself cool and calm; that he thought to tell the man he was just going to the house across the road, that he thought to organize his mind to be able to take in as many details as possible too and perhaps those things in his report will help the police to locate this person and get him away from the potential of harming any child in the future too.

All of that happened just so quickly -"in the blink of an eye" -you could say.

So take the opportunity everytime it presents itself too to show those closest to us just how much we value and love them -extra kind words, more than the usual hugs and kisses too perhaps. We never know when it might be the last chance we have to do that, you know.

And please, above all, stay safe!

The Zoo -In Fine Form!

Just thought I'd give a little bit of an update here on how things are going with all the animals we seem to have acquired of late.

The two calico kittens were adopted last Thursday -same day, as you may recall that we were so lucky to have had Sammy, the dog, bequeathed on us.

Sam and Nina -the Mama Cat -have not (and by the looks of things probably are not going to either) made anything even near to a truce. All she has to do is growl and hiss at him and he runs headlong into whatever may be near by. Gracefulness is not an attribute of his, that much is for certain.

Now Chino -the gray cat -and Sam are cautious friends. Not shaking hands exactly but Chino is adapting a bit and abiding to Sam's wishes to play -occasionally. This simply means that they take turns chasing each other around the downstairs, then up the steps and a turn around through all the bedrooms and back down the steps all at a break neck pace too.

Now Kurtis dearly loves to watch Sam and Chino chase each other around and he likes to put himself into that mix too! One major problem with Kurtis doing that is that he pays as much attention to things that could be in his way as Sam does so it becomes a pretty raucous little adventure then for him and the animals as well as for us watching them and hoping no little boy gets injured in the process.

Actually though, I worry a lot about the potential destruction of furniture during some of these little romps. Makes me really relieved that we haven't invested in some expensive LCD TV or big stereo set-up that could easily get bumped, knocked over and broken when they get on a roll, ya know. Much as I'd like to have some stuff like that, I think it is for the best that we wait -probably a decade or so till the kids get better oriented to how to behave around good furniture I suppose.

Aside from that, the only other pet-related news here is that Maya decided for who knows what reason that the remaining calico kitten -a cute little fluff ball -needed to have her fur trimmed. So she found my sewing shears in my sewing machine in my room and Mandy just happened to walk in on her, catching her in the act of snipping some of the kitten's fur off her belly! Kids! Go figure, ya know.

And now -off to (hopefully) get caught up again on my blog reading. This is gonna be one really rough week to keep current with reading, posting and doing anything else too because this Saturday is the day of our annual Fall Bazaar at our church. So Thursday afternoon from noon to 3 p.m., Mandy and I have volunteered to help with cleaning the church social hall. Between Thursday night and Friday, I have to get my fat self in gear to do a bunch of baking -bread and cookies, maybe even a cake or pumpkin rolls. Who knows? (The bread is a definite though as it's an item that is a very big seller at our bazaars.) Then, Friday night, Mandy has to work so I'll be here with the kids trying to tie up any loose ends on stuff I'm supposed to provide and Saturday, well -that's the big day for the bazaar!

My older daughter, hopefully her son too, my son, his girlfriend and her daughter, plus Mandy and the two kids and I are all going to try to meet up at the bazaar and have a nice lunch together with the proceeds going to a very worthy cause -our WELCA group at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Lanse, PA!

See you as I can over the rest of this week is about all I can say for now!

No Scaredy!

Halloween is now history for 2009. Although, judging by the amount of candy stashed in bowls atop the freezer (and the refrigerator too) it looks like we will be enjoying the fruits of this event for quite some time though. Lots and lots -and did I say -LOTS of candy to be had here! (Now, keep me away from it, will ya please?)

Just thought I'd give you a bit of the highlights from the past couple of days.

Here's Kurtis on Thursday (Oct 29th) showing off his new "big boy" haircut. He still has a goodly amount of waves in his hair but the curls -not so much. So as a result, he doesn't look like the same little toddler he was early Thursday afternoon when Mandy left to take him up to Nila's hair salon to get a trip job on his hair. Here he is after the shearing!

Sure he's still a handsome little dude, alright -but darn it, I miss that curly little head full of hair!





Friday, Mandy and I went up to the school to watch the elementary children with their Halloween parade. We found seats in the middle section of the auditorium and were down front -in the middle part -hopefully thinking we would get a better view from there of the kids and that I could get some decent pictures too. But that didn't work quite the way we wanted it to go as there was a guy about 4 rows in front of us with this big bald head that kept getting in the way of just about every darned picture I tried to take -or so it seemed.

Click the photos to make them a bit larger and more viewable -okay? Here's the beginning of the parade -led by the kindergarten class of Sue Lawrence. Sue is pushing a wheelchair with student, Ana Diviney, in it as Ana had injured her foot about a week or so ago during soccer practice.
Here's Maya's class -or part of it anyway. She is the little purple fairy princess right in the middle of the line on the stage.
From the Second Grade class, the one in the middle (again) in the blue wizard costume is Rachel, daughter of my son's girlfriend. (She's a fairly frequent visitor these days to our house and gets along quite well with Maya although her mother keeps telling me she is bringing the kitten she took earlier this summer from Nina's earlier litter back to us. I keep telling her we have a very strict "no returns" policy though! LOL
The punk rocker, fourth from the right (with the green hair) is Bill's other son, Shane -a sixth grader this year.
This is a rather (understatement there!) blurry picture of the one that I thought was the best costume -bar none. The one on the very far left of this shot is the "Headless Horseman" and the costume included a horse of the stick variety but all trimmed up that the child was holding. No one that I've talked to who was at the parade seemed to know who this child was -not even if it was a boy or a girl (and I can't recall what grade class this was either -but anyway, you'll have to take my word for it that it was most definitely an excellent costume!

Saturday night -Mandy and Bill -of course -took the two little ones out to do some trick or treating along our street and then, across town to the home of a lady who cooks at Kurt's school and after that, on up so that Jim and Charmaine (Mandy's former bosses at the old restaurant here) could see the kids too!
Here's Mary Poppins (Mandy) with her little brood -Elmo (Kurtis) and Purple fairy princess (Maya) all ready to leave to go trick or treating!

Mandy said when they got home that when they stopped at the house where the cook from Kurt's school lives, Jackie (the cook) loves to pull pranks on the kids who come by her house on halloween and this year was no different. She was dressed as a ghost -white sheet over her and had a mask on, and carried a big old bell in her hand. And she was hiding behind their pickup truck when the kids arrived. So she started walking towards the kids, shaking this bell and Kurtis wigged out -totally! Screaming! Terrified! So Jackie then removed her mask and walked over to him, talking softly to him and telling him to look to see who it really was. Which, surprisingly enough, he did look up at her and when he realized it was "Miss Jackie" -he reached out and touched her and said "Is okay. No scaredy, Miss Jackie. I Okay!" Just too darned cute!

The dog greeted every single kid that came to our house Saturday night with a very loud serenade -barking his fool head off -but made no attempt to go outside and pretty much stood either beside me or behind me while making all the racket he possibly could manage! I needed ear plugs by the time it was all said and done.

Near as I could calculate -as I was trying to keep a running tally in my head of how many kids we had this year -I think we had between 48-50 folks show up here. And of that number, only about 2-3 of the kids were known to me. A heck of a lot different from when I was a kid as we only went to houses where the people knew us and then, the game was whether or not they could then guess who we were beneath those costumes. That was the fun part of trick or treating back then!

How times have changed, huh?

Well, I think I will go to bed a lot earlier than my usual retirement time tonight. It's been a very long day here as I woke up about 4 a.m. today and didn't go back to bed and to sleep then till well after I got home from church and had supper started! Then I snuck in a nap in the chair for about an hour and fell asleep there again tonight too -after supper for yet another little cat nap! But I 'm still really tired from being up that early -and so were the kids tonight too as Maya also got up early (around 5:30 a.m.) and Kurtis was up and awake around 7:30 a.m. too! So see, I couldn't have gone back to sleep then even if I'd tried to!

Hope Halloween was as much fun for you and yours as it was here for ours -and for us!

Looking forward already now to next year's event!

Happy Halloween (a day late)- but better late than never, right?

Down Two, Up One

Have I posted any kitten pictures lately? For that matter, have I even written about the cute little creatures since maybe the week they were born? I don't think I have, but as senile as I am at times, I may have done that and forgotten too.

However, I think today is National Cat Day -or something like that. I'm sorry -can't remember the exact title but if you go check out Fermicat's place, you'll get the full scoop there. If it is possible for someone to be a bigger cat lover than my daughter Mandy, I do believe Fermicat holds the honors for that!

But anyway, in honor of National Cat Day, I thought I'd show you a picture or two of the lovely bunch of coconuts -er cats -that we have here.
Here's sort of an overhead shot but at least you can see a little of each of the six kittens. For whatever that is worth, ya know.

Well, the kittens will be seven weeks old tomorrow and since they've been eating kitten chow now and drinking water out of the dispenser for a little over a week, it's time for them to move on to bigger and better (hopefully) places.

And, I'm really happy to announce that today, two of 'em did just that!

These two -sisters -left today for a new home with Duane and Kelly Luzier -my son's boss and his wife! They asked for two of the calicos when the kittens were only a day old!

And boy, not that I didn't like these two -or the other four remaining kittens -but I was really happy to see them go. Two down, four to find homes for. Time to get cracking on that now, isn' it?

But, before I go any further, I have to tell you that we had three additions to the household zoo Sunday night. Yeah, like we needed more animals, huh?

This time the additions came in the form of three lovely little bunnies -sorry but no pictures available of those three residents in our basement at the current time. As I write this, Bill is busy in the basement trying to build and then erect a pen to the back of the house so the bunnies will have a roof over their heads and won't be hop-scotching all over the cellar anymore.

These arrived compliments of my son-in-law's son Shane's grandmother -Bill's ex-mother-in-law. Seems Shane had managed to get these three bunnies from heaven only knows where and brought them home to the house he, his sister and grandmother share with his youngest aunt and her husband. And it seems that the uncle there had more than a bit of a hissy fit, insisting that Shane turn the bunnies loose in the backyard and he would then use them for target practice the next day. And of course, this cause a huge ripple effect in that household with Shane crying rivers of tears and Grandma getting very upset, so much so that she called Bill and asked if he(we) could take the bunnies and care for them. Supposedly this was to be until other arrangements could be made but after four days, I guess Bill figured he'd been suckered into taking them and raising them so he'd best build a house for them!

Wonderful! Just what I always wanted!

And then today, when Mandy got home from having taken Katie to the podiatrist, she brought another present home for the family!

Allow me to introduce you to Sammy!

Seems the lady who owned Sammy took ill suddenly and is in the hospital. Also, apparently her ailment is such that she will no longer be able to care for this cute little mutt so Mandy, it would appear, was in the right place at just the right time -or is that the wrong place at the right time -whatever, and she ended up bringing Sammy home to live with us.
Yes, he is a cutie though, isn't he? And he's very friendly and nice -the kids love him and he is easy with them plus -a big bonus when getting a dog -he's already housebroken! Knows a few commands too -like "get down" (off the furniture!)

The drawback to his entry was primarily that it was very unexpected so I had no time, since no warning given, to gather the kittens and put them someplace where they could maybe meet him gradually. No! Mandy just came home, opened the door, let him in and kittens scattered throughout the first floor of the house! And I had to go on a search and destroy mission then to locate all six of them because Duane and Kelly were on their way here to pick up the two calico sisters pictured above in this post! Took the better part of an hour -maybe a bit more -till we finally gathered up at least the two kittens they wanted to adopt!

Chino -our grey cat and who is very loving and frequently is a bit of a pain in the dupa with her demands as she insists on sitting on either my lap or Mandy's and manages to get herself situated there whereby she blocks any view at all of the tv screen -spent the afternoon and better part of the evening parked in the side windowsill in the living room. But at least she was quiet in her disdain for this white furball of a mutt that was now sharing her space here.

Nina -the Mama cat -was not exactly the epitome of being a social diva. Not. At. All! She spent the bulk of the afternoon laying under the table and growling at Sammy, the dog. A couple of times, in his naivette, trying to show he really is a friendly little fellow, he got a bit too close and she lashed out at him -causing a few yelps of pain.

Then, she promptly went to the kitchen and proceeded to eat most of his dog food from his bowl!

This evening though, as I was loading some picture of the cats, kittens and Sammy to my Facebook, a racket erupted in the dining room with chairs banging around, one landing on its side and some really, really loud barking then yelping and crying from the poor dog. You'd have thought he'd been mortally wounded by the amount of noise but I think Nina just clipped his nose a good one again.

However, all this commotion brought Bill running upstairs from the basement to see what had happened and then, he grumbled to Mandy and me -after we said it was just Nina slapping Sammy -that they'd better get acquainted and become friends and do it fast too! And back down to the cellar he went.

As Mandy and I stood here in the living room and both of us shot him the finger at the same time!

Yeah -like mother like daughter I guess, huh?

Or perhaps a better description of us would be "Great minds run in the same channels."

Your choice there.

Still Dealing

Although my mood has improved, somewhat, since the very low and obnoxious state I was in Monday, it's still not up to what it should be. At least not in my opinion. (Probably not up-to-par for those having to live with me either, I'm sure.)

But then, considering some of the things that have been annoying me, a change in attitude and actions in some of those "near and dear" to me probably wouldn't hurt either. But I am trying to work my 12-step-program through Al-Anon and in doing that, I have to recognize what I can and what I cannot change and then, work on the issues that I do have control over and leave the others to manage their stuff!

Sounds simple enough in theory, but sometimes, especially when one is accustomed to being very independent and doing as she pleases for many, many moons, those habits are damned hard to drop by the wayside.

Just a couple little tidbits though from around the house over the past couple of days.

Late last week, Mandy and I discovered something from Kurt's teacher that she had posted on her facebook.

It started with a post she had made in which she said she never thought she'd see the day she would be telling a student to "Stop licking your knee." When I read that I thought with all the little quirky things Kurt does, that isn't one of them -not to my knowledge anyway -so I made a comment back to that effect.

She then replied that most definitely it was not Kurt doing this and added that he is doing really great. The shocker though was when she also said that he was a regular little "cleaning machine" and that as soon as she told the kids "Five minute warning" he would rush into action, picking up toys and papers and stuff all over the place.

Mandy and I looked at each other -amazed. In pretty much a state of shock at those words. Kurtis? Cleaning up? How could that be?

So we decided to test this out then and there and we got his attention and told him "Five minute warning, Kurtis."

Boy, his teacher was right! He hopped off the couch and started to pick up his matchbox cars, crayons, books and even trying to put many of these things away then too. Since then we have found this only works when Maya is not there to provide opposition to the idea of cleaning up and then, he seems to like to follow in the direction of whoever he considers to be his peer support group at the time -that being Maya, of course!

So the clean-up battles rage on -and ON!

Sunday provided a classic scene of the clean-up your mess wars that flare up here almost daily.

The living room floor -the usual battleground -looked like it had been bombarded from virtually every possible angle and I got after Maya to start picking some of this stuff up before getting any more toys out to make it even worse to deal with and she gave me her standard answer.

NO!

And that meant the war had officially begun. I kept after her for about 30-40 minutes, off and on, telling her to get busy and pick up and each time, getting the same negative response.

Finally -when my patience had worn down completely -I warned her that if Grammy has to pick this stuff up, it will be heading for the garbage. She knows that I have at times in the past, picked toys up, stuffed the offending items into garbage bags and then, with respect to most of those toys, just hid the bags for a couple of weeks or so. I'm not sure if she realizes that I have hidden the stuff but she does know I will fill garbage bags with their toys from time to time.

A lot of the things out on the floor on Sunday were new items -things she had received a week earlier for her birthday so I though maybe she would still be really interested in keeping those available to play with and I could then use them for special emphasis.

So, when I came to the pile of brand-new coloring books strewn around the room and I asked her if she still wanted them, she nodded her head and said "Yes." I then asked her if she was gonna help pick up but each time -even with the new items -she continued to say no to helping pick up. With each "no" I then put the item into the bag and as I placed it in there, I would tell Maya then that she could "kiss that baby goodbye."

As I went around picking up ALL the toys and with each item, as she refused to help, I ended up with all the books, crayons, toys of all types -some hers, some belonging to Kurtis (who was asleep while this was going on ) -all bagged up and on the dining room table. She wanted to know about the toys that belonged to Kurtis that I had picked up and I told her that Mommy would go through them when she came home and she would pick out Kurt's toys then. (Some toys -like crayons -are automatically shared though by both kids -well, they are "Supposed" to be shared, let's put it that way.)

I started to walk away from the table to go finish preparing supper and I heard Maya saying something behind me. I turned to look and there she was, leaning over each bag, mumbling something, and then gently kissing each bag of the toys.

So I asked her why she was doing that and she told me, "I'm kissing them all goodbye."

And no, that gesture didn't soften me up and I didn't open the bag and remove any items from them either. But I did get a good chuckle under my breath.

DONE! Finally.

I know I've mentioned being in this kind of bind before -on numerous occasions -but last week, between the grief, the mad, mad turmoil of the massive cooking over Tuesday and Wednesday, then the work in helping serve the funeral dinner on Thursday all added up to a couple of things.

It created some very achy legs and a back that felt like it was gonna snap in half a couple of times as I tried to recuperate on Friday and Saturday of the past week.

It also put me way, way, way behind in my blog readings!

I know -some might say I could have/should have just clicked on the "Mark all as read" button on my reader but truthfully, I really do hate to do that. In my mind, that is cheating. I may not always comment (something some who know I can be as long-winded and rambly on my comments as I am with my posts and maybe are grateful for the absence of commenting at times) but I do try to read as many of the posts that pop up on my reader as I possibly can. Once in a while, I might just sort of scan through but usually, I do read what all of you have to say.

I figure it's only fair to at least try to do that.

It's taken me what seemed like forever though to finally wade through the mass of postings on my reader since last Wednesday but I did it -having just finished clearing out my reader completely about 15 minutes ago now!

And I'm really glad that I was able to do that too!

I read some really great pieces you -my blogger friends -had written and for that I want to thank all of you for your work, your efforts, in putting these piece out here! I'd like to be able to go through and spotlight every last one of you -but that would take me till Lord only knows when to do that and right now, I'm feeling very much in the need for some sleep!

I'm also -thankfully -beginning to lose the rotten edge my being had allowed in to my inner self that pretty much took over me for the bulk of the day yesterday. And, some would say I am really crazy in saying this, but I owe a lot of that change in my attitude from then to what it is now, to having read some of those posts tonight and into this morning!

Well, that and a great big bowl of chocolate marshmallow ice cream that may have helped a bit too. Chocolate is almost as good a soothing element at times as any little old anti-depressant or Xanax tablet can be, don't 'cha know?

And, if any traces of the really yucky, nasty mood haven't yet been cleared out when I get up in the morning, I think then I will take the advice of blogger and Facebook friend, Terri, and bake some bread!

Yeah -it's another of my "cure-alls" for days when I'm sinking into an abyss of a mixture of depression and anger and need a way to vent without totally boring the pants off everyone in the blogosphere.

And with that, I bid you all a sweet good night and thank you along with that for helping me clear my space, my air and my mind a bit.