Wednesday Hodgepodge - Or How Did I Spend My Vacation?

Good questions this week From This Side of the Pond


1. Do you send Christmas cards? If so about how many will you send this year? How do you display the cards you receive? Or don't you? (gasp!)

Last year I skipped sending cards (except for the cards I handed out with homemade gifts to co-workers and neighbors). I still have 2+ boxes of really cute puppy dog cards that will just have to be slowly handed out because I'm not mailing them out anymore. First of all I never sent out many to start with, second all the people I would want to send them to are Facebook friends (except my Mom who refuses to be on a computer). If I get any, they go in a basket next to the fireplace.

2. When do kids become adults?

I think when they move out of the house. Whitney turned 18 just one month into her senior year of high school and while technically an adult, I never thought of her that way. After she returned home at Thanksgiving I realized how much mature she was just a few months out of the house.  In otherwords it isn't age it is seasoning that makes you an adult.

3. Does your 'beauty regimen' change with the seasons?

Nope, I do the same thing every day. Only difference is maybe a little more lotion on the legs at night.

4. What's something you like to eat that might cause another person to turn up their nose?

When I was young I would have said ketchup on scrambled eggs but I don't do that anymore. But now I think I'm pretty normal and do anything strange. I do like sushi and I know a lot of people don't like that.

5. Gloves or mittens?

Definitely gloves. While mittens are warmer (and important for a kid making snowmen) it doesn't help the driving aspect of my life.

6. What's the longest queue you've ever been in? Was it worth it? Queue=line but doesn't queue sound nicer?

Well this answer is obviously the lines at Disneyland last Christmas. The longest lines I've ever been in (even beat the lines at Disneyworld at Christmas). Would I do it again? Probably not there but I'll go to Disneyworld anytime.

Second longest, waiting in line for security at Paris Charles DeGalle airport. Oh my, I thought we were going to miss our flight home but lucky for us there were kind people who let us cut in the line to check in our luggage (which was another 2 hours wait) and that there were people farther back in line than us for our flight. That was absolutely the worst flying experience.

7. Besides Christmas, what is one thing you are looking forward to in the month of December?

My 10 day offs of work with only taking 2 days of vacation. The most generous holiday policy I've ever seen is saving up the holidays by OU for the "winter" break. So we are off Dec. 23-Jan. 2 with only two of those days as vacation days. No arguing for time off. We all get it off.

8. Insert your own random thought here.

My car accident settlement check is in the mail! I've already paid all my bills so now have to plan what to use it for. I've got ideas but just need to put some things in motion.

Holiday Cranberry Chutney

I've always made cranberries like my mom and grandma did...exactly like the bag with just one cup of sugar and one cup of water plus about half a box of strawberry jello. Well last year I decided to try something different and we loved it. And I did it again this year and everyone loved it. Our guest said it was better than her grandma's recipe (always a good sign). Dan couldn't get enough of it. I got the recipe at allrecipes.com. While they say put it over some cream cheese and use it as a spread, we just use it as our salad and so tasty.

Holiday Cranberry Chutney
courtesy of allrecipes.com

• 1 (12 ounce) bag fresh or frozen cranberries
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 3/4 cup water
• 1 large cooking apple, chopped (I used a Fuji)
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1. In a saucepan, combine all ingredients; bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Reduce heat; simmer for 15-20 minutes or until apple is tender and mixture thickens. Cool completely.
2. Store in the refrigerator. Serve over cream cheese with crackers or as a condiment with pork, ham or chicken.

This gets really thick if you make it the day before.

Time to Catch Up

Four days off and so much is happening. Without a laptop and with the office having a guest stay in it, my access to computers was limited. So time to catch up in my life.

The house is all decorated for Christmas. Day one was all of the regular decorations. That went well without any problems. I thought I was missing things but it was ok, I was decorated. Well when I unpacked the tree decorations the next day I found what I was missing. So now everything is decorated. Putting the tree up though was full of problems. It is a pre-lit tree and three of the lowest branches were dark. I spent over an hour trying to figure out which light was the problem but couldn't figure it out. The whole tree was already put together. So I just took a regular string of lights and tried to wrap it around the branches best I could. And then moved those branches sort of towards the back. Then I bought a new tree topper and thought I was going to love it. Unfortunately I don't. It doesn't light up and I didn't think that would be a problem. But at night you can't see it at all. It was only $10 and we determined that we were going to buy a new tree for next year so I'll just get another topper then.

The turkey dinner turned out great. We didn't rush in the morning and we thought the dressing was going to be too moist, but it was perfect. And the leftovers were good to as was the turkey noodle soup we had last night. We get that again tonight, which is perfect since it is cold outside.

Movies watched...lots. We went and saw the Muppet Movie in a sold out theater. By the time we got there the only seats left were in the front. I guess I can put up with a crick in my neck watching those funny guys. Then we watched Elf, To Kill a Mockingbird and Gone With the Wind. The last two were for Whitney's history class. Add that to a bunch of football games and there wasn't a lot of time for other watching.

Black Friday shopping...didn't do. I'm not crazy. I don't need anything that bad nor do I spend that much money that anything looked like it would save me money. So total Christmas shopping done is zero. Which is fine. I usually shop online anymore and get free shipping. Why go out in the cold and then find out a store is out of something when I can shop and ship and never leave my house.

Walmart on a Saturday morning after Black Friday and the weather is cold/windy and there is a home football game...EMPTY!!!! Let me just say what a pleasant grocery shopping experience that was. I even had both girls and they shopped and I shopped and we each walked up to a check out lane without waiting. WOOHOO!!

Christmas music...playing on my computer and car radio station now constantly. 

Office...decorated for Christmas. 

While unpacking my Christmas stuff I found a lot of things I bought on superclearance last year. I had a lot of plastic bowls that have snowman on them. I probably spent ten cents on each of them and must have thought I would fill them with giveaway stuff. So now that I see those I think I know what I'm going to do. It does involve food but it is easy crockpot stuff and makes a ton so I think I'll fit my inexpensive but homemade criteria.

Movie Review - The Muppet Movie

First of all, I haven't seen a movie in a real theater in years, so this is a treat. But once I heard that there was a new muppet movie coming out at Thanksgiving I knew I had to go.

For anyone who grew up with the Muppet Show, this is a definite must see. Oh how I loved watching that show with my family. The laughs and smiles it caused were so wonderful. I still have to smile at Pigs in Space or the Swedish Chef. This movie lived up to all that and more.

It is campy, but it is made that way and with taste. It was obvious that the writers were huge fans. It seemed to be a combination of the tv show and the first movie. It even had references to the first movie (travel by map, Sweetums at the car lot). But it also was current (I hate to admit it but I didn't get all the cameos).

But the best part was the smile I had on my face the entire movie. Plus me singing along to the Muppet Show theme song (along with my head nod). The best song was the chickens doing Forget You.

And we can't forget the message behind all muppet movies/shows. That we are all one family. We may look different but underneath we are all the same. A good, kind, loving group of people/muppets.

Don't judge by what you look like. Even a pig and frog can fall in love.

Let the decorating begin!

Today is traditionally the beginning of Christmas decorating in our house. And as I went into the attic with Dan to pull everything out, I realized something. I have a lot of stuff. Like boxes and boxes of stuff. And yet, not enough stuff. It is way too easy to put everything out. Maybe its because I don't have a lot of places to put things. Maybe its because I just have the same stuff and I keep putting it into the same place. So I think I need new stuff.

The tree will go up tomorrow because this afternoon is a real treat...we are going to see The Muppet Movie. At a real theater! The last time I went to a movie was probably three to four years ago. I was shocked at how expensive movie tickets were. Even with the matinee price it is outrageous. Makes much more sense to wait til it comes out on dvd and rent it at redbox for a buck.

Dinner is easy tonight, leftovers. Although I'm going to have to make a new batch of mashed potatoes because we ate them all yesterday. Lucky for us we made an extra pan of dressing. Plus the bird has been taken apart and the bones are in the crockpot making stock so we can have turkey noodle soup. Yumminess is on its way.

Wednesday Hodgepodge - It's A Five Day Weekend!

1. Let's start with something controversial...dressing or stuffing? What's it called at your house and what's included in your recipe...cornbread? oysters? sausage? chestnuts?

Nothing controversial on this one. It's dressing and there is only one way to make it. White bread and sage. Lots of sage. And lots of butter. Plus you cook it in the turkey so it gets super moist.

Anyone who disagrees with me can just leave me more to eat.

2. Who do you sometimes compare yourself to?

Absolutely no one.

3. When were you last inside an airport?

A couple of weeks ago when I flew back from Washington DC. It is sad when I know the DC airport as well as the OKC one. I even know what fast food they have at the gate.

4. What is one side dish that absolutely must be included in a turkey dinner?

Just one side dish? How about three? Dressing, Mashed Potatoes and Gravy, and Cranberries.

5. What Christmas song do you dread hearing?

Feliz Navidad.

6. If someone approaches you and asks for money do you give it to them? Do you drop money 'in a tin cup' that belongs to a person on the street? Do you have a specific charity you support during the holiday season and/or year round?

I never give money to people on the street. I donate money to my church and I also play Secret Santa to a foster child.

7. Share a favorite Thanksgiving memory. If you live in a country that doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving share a favorite memory associated with food.

Watching the Macy's parade. I always love to watch that. Although now that I'm older I realize it is all lip sync stuff. But the big balloons are pretty cool.

8. Insert your own random thought here.

The office is all decorated for Christmas (I spent my morning doing that). And when I get home Whitney and her friend will be there. And then the cooking will commence.

Ergonomics and Glasses

Yesterday I had the environmental safety people come and look at my work station to make sure I'm ergonomic. I found out that I have very bad tennis elbow from overuse of my mouse and I needed help. Boy did I learn a lot.

First of all, my keyboard was about 1/3 to the left of where it should be. You are supposed to line up the middle of the keyboard to the middle of the monitor. This looks pretty wacky since I have a big keyboard on my little laptop docking station. I also had my chair and monitor too low. So now I've crammed myself into the corner of my desk so that my right arm has as much support to be neutral as possible. This is not an easy position to get into because the wheels on the chair have to be just so so that I can get myself close.

Then he taught me a trick which I didn't know about how to increase the size of the fonts on what I'm reading. I've been using reading glasses for a few years and it never seems to work right. But now that my monitor is farther away than before, the glasses really aren't working right either. So I've zoomed the screen to probably 150% and can read it it for the most part. I'm still not happy about this because my spreadsheets just aren't going to work that way, but for general stuff it should work.

So what have I learned through all this. Most of us don't know what we are doing with our computer workstations and we need help.

Crafty Update

The pot pouri smelled pretty good but I think it isn't going to work as a gift. I may try and find a recipe that doesn't involve having to cook it on the stove.

I was think for the candle I might try and find some pretty pins to cover the ribbon seam. The button idea Skippymom had may work too. I would just need to find the right kind. The ribbon is sparkly snowflakes so that limits the buttons.

I made cookie in the jar mix last year so can't do that again. That worked well for most people but my boss looked at it like it was a foreign object. Too complicated for him.

At least I have a few weeks to figure it out.

Holiday gift preparation

This is year three of homemade gifts for co-workers and neighbors. I wanted to try something outside of my normal (meaning no cooking for these gifts). So I'm in practice mode right now.

The first thing I tried was decorating a candle with pretty ribbons. While I have the ribbon on and it looks nice, what I had bought to cover up the ribbons seam isn't working. I'm still trying to figure out if I can come up with a good way to cover it up. But overall this is successful.

The second thing I'm trying to homemade potpouri mix. I found a recipe online and am trying it out as I type. It is one that you cook on the stove and just keep adding water to it. I can smell the cloves but nothing else yet. I really hope it starts smelling like cinnamon soon.

If neither of these work, I guess I'll have to come up with a third idea. I like to keep it inexpensive but still nice. Any ideas?

Crockpot Mexican Pulled Pork

The grocery store had a huge pork sale last week so we bought a bunch. I still have lots of BBQ pulled pork in the freezer so Dan wanted to do something different with the porkbutt that he bought. He found this recipe and we had to triple it because our pork was so much bigger. It turned out delicious and we have so many leftovers. We will definitely be eating well this winter. As long as my freezer can keep up with our meat production. Yikes, I didn't realize how much having one less person in the house changes our food consumption.

We made this in our largest crockpot and put it in the sink overnight because we were afraid it was going to overflow. It didn't do that but it certainly was FULL.

Mexican Pulled Pork
courtesy of SparkRecipes

2 1/2 pound Pork Roast
1 can tomatoes with diced green chiles
1 small can diced green chiles
2 tsp taco seasoning
1 tsp cayenne pepper or to taste
3 cloves minced garlic
1/2 cup chopped onion

Place 1 can of tomatoes with diced green chiles on the bottom of your slow cooker. Place pork roast on top. Mix can of green chiles with the other ingredients and slather on top of the roast. Place slowcooker on low for about 8 hours. Shred pork (should happen very easily), then place back in slow cooker and mix with the juices. Can be used for tacos, enchiladas, sandwiches. 

We had a 6 pound pork butt so used 3 cans of tomatoes (really only needed two), a big can of diced green chiles. The spices we also increased a lot...6 T of taco seasoning, 1 T of cayenne pepper, 6 cloves of garlic. We had misread the recipe and thought the original took 1Tablespoon of cayenne and thought oh my goodness. But the person who submitted it had just capitalized the T and then added the little sp afterwards. Whenever we see a big T we always think tablespoon.

We just had it on some really good flour tortillas and I put a little cheese on mine. It tasted just like pulled meat you would have at a Mexican restaurant. A definite keeper recipe.

Wednesday Hodgepodge - A Visit to My Youth

1. What song reminds you of a specific time in your life and what is it about that song that makes you remember?

Foreigner's "Cold As Ice" always takes me back to junior high. It was the last couple of months I lived in one town and I always think of the boy I had a crush on then. Then we moved and that was that.

2. What's something you've given up on?

The media being sane about anything. Can you people all not talk about the same stupid stuff?

3. What's something you'll never give up on?

My child.

4. If you had to cook something from scratch in the next hour what would it be?

Well since I'm at work that would be rather difficult. But if I were home we have a pork loin in the fridge that would be cut up and made into delicious breaded pork cutlets. Oh those are tasty.

5. Have you started Christmas shopping? Decorating? Listening to Christmas music?

No to all three. I did get my list for shopping for the secret Santa I'm doing for foster kids. And I did buy a new snowman but haven't put it out yet.

6. What do you know about your parent's wedding?

Big Catholic wedding. Mom converted to marry Dad in the church. And she kept the dress and I tried it on for my wedding but decided all the itchy crinoline wouldn't be good. I did take a button off of it for my something old though.

7. I can't believe I ___________________.

ate the whole thing? Yes I quote commercials.

8. Insert your own random thought here.

Friday have to take Whitney for CT scan of her sinuses to figure out where the pressure is on her tear duct. Then schedule surgery to fix that and her deviated septum. Over Christmas break. So she can recover in time to go back to school. Merry Christmas to us.

Dealing with the Hospital ... ARRRGGHHH!!!!

So it has now been 1 1/2 years since my car accident. I have been trying for months to get my bill straightened out at the hospital for the ambulance ride I took. The excuses I've gotten have been ridiculous. Basically it all boils down to the fact that my insurance paid what the negotiated amount was and then said I don't owe anything. The hospital insists that I owe $610. They really didn't know who they were dealing with. A less stubborn woman would have paid. But I knew I didn't have to. The insurance company says I owe $0.

These are the excuses I got from the hospital.

1. You initially said your husband would pick you up then changed your mind so you owe the money. What this has to do with anything I don't know.
2. You were paid directly by the insurance company (not true)
3. The explanation of benefits says "You May Owe this Amount" which was zero. That could mean you could owe a different amount. (that made no sense)
4. There was some initial problems with payment and supposedly insurance refused to pay but then they paid. So I owed the money that wasn't paid.

All of this was all interesting but since they accepted payment from the insurance company, they would be breaking their contract with them if they forced me to pay. I told them this and was told "Well it may look like that but that isn't true." What a bunch of baloney. I work with contracts and believe me if one party breaks it, it negates everything. Does that hospital really want to tick off a major insurance company?

After an hour on the phone yesterday, I had enough. I called my insurance company and told them what was going on. They called the hospital and after getting the run around and leaving multiple voice mails they finally got the hospital to agree that it is a patient write-off.

Now I'll believe this when I don't get another bill from them saying they are going to put it on my credit report. Which if they did, I would go ballistic.

Thanks goodness for my insurance company taking care of this. It has turned into a fulltime job.

Meet Me on Monday

Linking up with Meet Me On Monday today because I'm stumped on a blog post.




Questions:

1.  Does your family/friends know about your blog?


Yes they know about it (well except for my mother because she doesn't use a computer). Whitney will send me texts to tell me to blog again, like she did last night. 

2.  What is your favorite card game?


I used to love pinochle and spades (I was awesome at spades). But haven't played either in several years. And I had a solitaire book when I was a kid that had about 50 ways to play so I got good at a lot of those. So I guess I don't have one anymore.

3.  What do you wear to bed? 


An old tshirt and if I'm hot, a slip. Lately I'm hot a lot thanks to changing hormones. Blech.

4.  What is your favorite kind of French Fry?


A just cooked McDonald's one. Probably a good thing I don't eat there very often.

5.  What is your usual bed time?


I usually go to bed about 11pm. 

Skunk Attack

So as my plane landed last night in Oklahoma City to end my roadtrip, the entire plane filled with skunk smell. I mean like when you run over a skunk in the road skunk smell. Everyone kept looking around and finally the flight attendant announced that yes it was the lovely aroma of a skunk. The pilot came on and said that we didn't hit the skunk. If we didn't hit it, why in the world would it be spraying itself on the middle of a runway? Were there other critters out there that it needed to tell get away from my turf? Maybe he thought the plane was invading his space.

The only good thing was thing is that it didn't permeate the luggage in the bottom. That would have been a mess.

Washington DC

While I have been spending a lot of time in meetings, I've also had a little bit of time for myself.

Like last night I ordered room service. I've only done this one other time so it was pretty cool, at least for me.

Then at lunch we had this lovely plated dessert. We've had quite a variety of desserts and this one was very pretty.

And then after the sessions were over today, a couple of us walked to the White House. I've been there a few times before but the people I was with hadn't, so it is always interesting to hear their comments.

Self portrait - not my best look

The extensive protest outside the White House

Finally some fall colors

The Capitol Steps

Last night at my conference we had the Capitol Steps be our entertainment. I had seen them on television and really enjoyed seeing them in person. I'm always in awe of people who can be clever in how they skewer politicians. And boy is there so much to skewer here in Washington DC. I took some video but I can't get anything to upload from my hotel room. But they had all the hot topics covered including the Occupy Wall Street movement.

Those of us in the audience got some great laughs since we all have to deal with the government in some ways. The big laughs came about the "supercommittee" trying to cut spending. I think we all know how that is going to turn out.

The Earth moved and other things

Saturday there was not one but two earthquakes in Oklahoma. The first one was at 2 in the morning and I slept through it. But the second one was at 11 pm and it was 5.4 and we ALL felt it. It was quite something. My facebook newsfeed blew up in the minutes after and we could get a text out to Whitney to check on her. It felt much crazier to her on the 7th floor of her dorm. Terrifying was her description.

Today I flew to Washington DC for a meeting and had a couple of interesting things. First the woman behind me was in above the knee, skintight leopard boots. She probably had 30-40 bracelets. She was on her way to LA to become a model. Of course I got to overhear the whole conversation on the flight.

The woman in front of me almost had a breakdown because the flight didn't have snacks for sale. Now mind you this is a 30 minute flight from OKC to Dallas. They announced that there would be only limited beverage service. And she didn't understand why they didn't have snacks when the on-flight magazine said they did. Listen lady, it is less than 30 minutes, you can wait to you get to Dallas and buy something there.

I'm not sure what to think about the fact that the plane took several minutes before they okayed us for takeoff because they were "calculating our weight" since we were a full flight. That doesn't sound good.

Friday Fragments

It's time once again for Friday Fragments with Mrs.4444 over at Half-Past Kissin' Time. Also Follow Friday with Java at Never Growing Old.

** Pumpkin bars were so tasty and I had a couple left to take home. Needless to say I have no more left after we devoured them last night.

** I'm really loving my new fall tv choices. Both Revenge and Person of Interest were really good this week with twists that weren't expected.

** We had our first frost this morning. I think it is safe to say we won't be getting to 100 degrees until next summer.

** Whitney enrolled for the spring semester and got all of the classes she wanted. How often does that happen for a freshman? Probably helps that she was there at 8:15 in the morning.

** She also got to go to a big lunch yesterday in downtown OKC and sat with people from the OKC Thunder. She actually volunteered to sit with them and I applaud her for that. You never know when meeting the right person at something like that lands you an internship or a job.

** I hear that there is some big football game tomorrow that is supposed to be the best game ever. Could you at least play the game before saying that. And I officially don't like either team but I dislike LSU so I'll say Roll Tide.

** I leave early Sunday morning for a research conference in Washington DC. There are two organizations that are for research administrators and I've never been to this one's conference. I've marked up my schedule of sessions and there seems to be a lot for me to attend. Here's hoping that I'm right.

** I'm glad that the snow for Washington DC was last weekend and not this weekend. I've been to DC too many times in ice/snow storms that I don't want to do that again.

Pumpkin Bars

Today is our annual fundraiser for the United Way and we have a soup kitchen. I decided rather than bring soup I would make dessert. I pulled out an old recipe and boy am I glad I did. The house smelled so good. They were very easy to make and I'm sure they are going to go fast today.

Pumpkin Bars
Recipe courtesy of Food Network - Paula Dean

Bars:

• 4 eggs
• 1 2/3 cups granulated sugar
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 15-ounce can pumpkin
• 2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda

Icing:

• 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
• 2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Using an electric mixer at medium speed, combine the eggs, sugar, oil and pumpkin until light and fluffy. Stir together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and baking soda. Add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture and mix at low speed until thoroughly combined and the batter is smooth. Spread the batter into a greased 13 by 10-inch baking pan. Bake for 30 minutes. Let cool completely before frosting. Cut into bars.

To make the icing: Combine the cream cheese and butter in a medium bowl with an electric mixer until smooth. Add the sugar and mix at low speed until combined. Stir in the vanilla and mix again. Spread on cooled pumpkin bars.

Dentist Freebies

So yesterday was my twice a year teeth cleaning. I'm pretty good about doing this especially since I have dental insurance. And you know they always give you a new toothbrush and a little tube of toothpaste. Well at checkout they have a huge basket of other goodies...chapstick, floss, different toothpastes, toothpicks, pocket calendars, etc. And then they have a basket of goodies in the bathroom including mouthwash. So I grabbed a six month supply of floss, toothpicks and a bunch of other things. I figure if I have to spend money there the least I can do is make sure and keep my teeth clean.

Oh who's kidding now. I just get the stuff because it is free. The keeping the teeth clean is a bonus.

And once again, no cavities. Thank goodness I have good teeth because I don't want to have gum disease, root canals or fillings.

Cooking Show Overload

I love to watch cooking shows. I've gotten so many good recipes from these people. I've also gotten some not so good recipes but hey, its just one dish. But if you look at my scheduled recordings on tv, there are way too many of them. And now there is not one but two cooking competition shows. Oh my.

First is the Next Iron Chef-Super Chefs. It started Sunday. And it has some of my favorite celebrity chefs (love Anne Burrell personality but her dishes never seem to make me want to cook them). And Dan will watch this one since he likes the chef too and they aren't sniping at each other. They can cook and he likes that.

The other is Top Chef. Oh my, 29 contestants. Really? I realize that you taped it in Texas but that doesn't mean it had to be bigger. It starts tomorrow night and I know they cut it down to more manageable number. But wouldn't you hate to think you had a shot and then show up and immediately realize that a bunch of you were going home. These people do have to give up a lot to be on a show so at least give them a fair chance.

So add those to my already loaded schedule (thank goodness Project Runway ended so Thursday only has two shows) I'm going to be busy with my tv watching.