Have coffee mug in hand ready to leave in 16 minutes, taking DH to the dealership to get his SUV ‘updated.’ Not a re-call but something has to be updated (diff?). For this I am putting on heavy clothes, coats, scarves, gloves and earmuffs – at 28 degrees at 7:30 am, to follow him and return home. It must be love!
Christmas for us is basically over. One more lunch this Thursday and then REST! The big item this year was getting step-son David’s “Calendar” quilt done, as in finished, labeled, hemmed and in the box. It arrived at his Oregon home one day before his 47th birthday to be opened at his party on Saturday evening. His brothers have not sent any messages about his response but I await the news.
Leaving for the post office NOW! Sending the LAST few Holiday Letters from the Fuchs” and will home after the stop-drop – stop, pick up and back home.
DONE! Did I say 28 degrees? Make that 26 degrees, brrr!!
The last of the holiday mail is out and DH is in the garage waiting for a load of mulch to be delivered at or about 8:30 am. Love these days, we’re not going anywhere (no car), and all is peaceful UNTIL the dealership calls to say the car is ready for pickup. Then after the drop-off every one scatters.
Yesterday was our matinee for the UNC Playmakers performance of Shipwrecked. It was a riot and I give it a four-thumbs-up. Thinking about the nearly 12 years we have been subscribing to Playmakers we feel it only gets better and better. What’s it about you ask? Hard to say – it is not so much about the story (which is totally predictable) but the method. The protruding stage allows for the main acting out front with partial views of the prop-sound-effects-extras working behind the scene. The whole production is about the timing of sound, moving props, switching scenes (one set-different locales), much action and totally imaginary. It was a riot! Think Barnum & Baily Circus meets Indiana Jones as told by Entertainment Tonight! And so much better than their usual productions of A Christmas Carol, the Little Prince or some other fairy tale which has been done to death.
The neighbor-gifts are out. Early each season we receive peanuts from a NC farm source, the gift of Neighbor 1. That is soon followed by a tin of assorted sugar cookies and drop cookies from Neighbor 2. Yum! Our contribution to this exchange is, or has been assorted, seasoned nuts. Or it was until this year. In the fall of each year I begin making sheet-pans full of toasted, spiced or sticky nuts and baking until thoroughly dry. Saving pickle jars and making labels is another task I will not delve into here. But this year I fell behind in the nut-prep and just when I got organized and purchased about $40 worth of nuts – when DH protested. Seems I have embarrassed him! Whoa!
For my daily dose of blog reading I find that nearly everyone has posted a recipe for something I would not consider making. Gooey rich brownies, banana bread with cream cheese, extra rich pecan chewies; apparently their husbands have not objected to giving un-healthy treats.
True the holidays are over produced and over rated and too much about excess but where did I go wrong? Since my nutrition-phase and fitness-zone extends nearly three years and counting he feels it is hypocritical of us to eschew sugars and fats but give them to our friends (?). Perhaps he was right; I had not considered that Christmas gifts were an excuse to kill off your friends with kindness. But still this hurt my ego and I felt all too damned and condemned. And I already had batches of spiced pecans in the ready.
So I gave up the extra nut-making, put the readied nuts in plastic containers (ugh!), packed in really nice gift bags (the $$ ones), and enclosed our holiday newsletter. Done! Sorry folks, your nut treats have been condemned this year and likely forever. As our newsletter announces the fact we are planning to move to the CCRC within two years, the nuts are [as they say] history. I still feel that we have short-changed our friends but part of the cleaning-out, downsizing and simplifying is also giving up expectations. Some of those traditional expectations are really hard to give up.
Dinner tonight will be out of my newly stocked freezer. Vegetables prepped for steaming or soups, mushroom gravy (totally vegetarian), extra meatballs and diced chicken plus basic peas, corn, etc.; I can do several suppers by just adding or switching ingredients. This supply is expected to last for most of the season as I have many house-related tasks to accomplish after January 1.
Next up: Thursday sister [Jan & Rich] are coming here for her birthday lunch. Now let’s see: what can I make for a birthday luncheon without loading on sugars and fat? You are right – a calorie-less birthday cake is just not possible. But then we need something healthy before dessert.
Life is hard. bb
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