Loved the book, loved the film, and can’t stop laughing. If you get it, let me know!
But is it vegan?
The Art of Baking
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Category Archives: Humor
Serenity NOW!
My life’s odyssey doesn’t seem to be a straight line to bliss, that’s for sure.
The oven situation was NOT the easy fix I’d hoped for. It’s going to take a whole new electronic panel which’ll take several days to get here.
On the glass half full side, the technician helped me purchase the part online, saving about $100, so I appreciated his honesty. He didn’t charge for today’s visit and diagnosis, and the cost for his labor is reasonable.
As I bemoaned the horrible timing, he suggested I purchase a toaster oven. I had meant to do that a long time ago and forgot, so this was a great solution to my dilemma. I ran out and got one that day AND it was on sale, a fact that makes this Grandma very happy.
If every cloud really has a silver lining, mine is now pure gold with diamond sparkles. Charlotte’s new behavior is to run at me from across the room, jump in my arms, wrap herself around me and say, “Charlotte hug and kiss Grandma!” Over and over again. That two-year-old with the titian hair and her curly big brother expressing their affectionate and exuberant joie de vivre wipe away any and all angst about the oven.
Just now from Theo at 5:26 a.m., “Wake up, Princess Rosebud!”
Right behind him from Char at 5:27 a.m.,”Grandma, where’s apple pie?”
It might be a day late, but they WILL have their apple pie!
Have a happy and safe 4th, everyone!
Adapting To Circumstances
More craziness from my little Universe, but I’ve learned to adapt.
The repairman will be here in a few minutes. While I’m HOPEFUL he will be able to find a solution and fix the oven immediately, there are no guarantees.
Since I still have working burners (the oven is a separate built-in wall version), I searched around for recipes that could work on a cooktop.
I discovered Skillet Granola, tried it, and LOVE the way it turned out. I used my own recipe with oil and maple syrup and a lot of cinnamon. The extras like raisins and hemp seeds and coconut can be added later, but the actual oats are crispy and delicious. AND I didn’t overheat the entire house, which is something to remember when it really gets summery here. Now my original Angel Boy will have his granola, so I’m a happy mom.
My research also revealed many recipes that can be adapted for a cooktop: brownies, manicotti, even pizza. In the unfortunate event that this repair needs a part that has to be ordered, I am much less stressed now than I was yesterday because I’ll continue to fulfill my very important Grandma job of feeding all the creatures.
Thank goodness the anticipated breakfast burritos and buckwheat pancakes are not in any danger.
*Still no resolution with my WordPress issue, but I’ve accepted that the problem might be bigger than an UN-Happiness or Sadness Engineer can help me with. It’s the Universe sending me a message over and over again. OK OK! I hear you loud and clear. I will set it aside for now as it’s obviously NOT the right time.
**An update on the missing pan…still nowhere to be found. This is a real mystery and I have no clue.
Home is Where the Heat ISN’T
More shenanigans from the universe.
I planned to make a gigantic batch of oatmeal raisin cookies so the little people would never feel the disappointment of an empty cookie jar.
I’m on schedule with freshly made mango black cherry ice cream (a flavor request) chilling in the freezer.
Everything was going according to plan until I turned on the oven to preheat and nothing happened.
No heat, no nothing. The panel showed that it was on and preheating, but there was no heat.
UH OH. Those cookies aren’t going to bake themselves.
I was stuck with a batch of cookies all ready to go on two baking sheets with the rest of the mixture in the refrigerator waiting their turn, along with a batch of granola for my son.
I WAS IN PANIC MODE.
NOTNOWNOTNOWNOTNOWNOTNOW
No oven means no baking, no pizza, no lasagna–and that totally stresses me out because this grandma loves nothing more than to watch my kids and grandkids eat the food I lovingly prepare.
It’s a win-win for all of us!
I ran next door to my very very nice neighbors who fired up their oven so I could bake the cookies, (for the price of a few for them to eat, which is a fair exchange, an easy quid pro quo).
The cookies baked just fine, but the granola burned to a crisp. OMG, that’s never happened before.
The oven repairman is coming tomorrow and hopefully it’s not a major issue, but I have no idea what’s wrong.
Dear Universe,
Why? Why now?
There’s No Place Like Home
I’ve tried to post this for the last three days but it won’t edit properly and the final draft looks like source code.
Oh well, I’ll try again.
I’ve had the worst day when it seems as if everything is going wrong. Have you had days like that?
I’m having other odd issues with WordPress. The solution should be simple but for reasons I can’t explain, there is no one at WordPress that can help me. They respond to questions I haven’t asked about issues I don’t have and offer solutions to those, while not helping me with what I know would be a simple fix with their support.
I decided to take a break from contacting WP’s NON-support UN-Happiness Engineers to relieve my frustration by doing a little grocery shopping. Everything went smoothly at the store but when I was back in the car, I took a sip of my water and accidentally dropped the cap under the seat. Somehow or another, that caused me to choke on the water that I was trying to swallow, and I ended up with a gigantic coughing jag as if I was drowning in the ocean.
I finally stopped coughing, took another very careful sip of water, and laughed at the absurdity of this scenario. I figured the universe was advising me to GO HOME AND STAY THERE.
Safe and sound, there’s no place like home.
Have You Ever Had a Dream Like This?
Have you ever had a dream that seemed to have been stitched together from a plethora of unrelated bits of fabric–a crazy quilt dream?
Here’s the parts I remember from last night’s dream:
There was a house in the forest.
Someone was trying to get in. He was holding a small old suitcase with a clown face on the front of it. (EWW, I know!)
I was tricked into opening the door and was subsequently taken hostage; locked away in a metal shed in the forest. It looked something like a high school locker but a bit bigger.
I managed to get out because the only thing holding the door closed was a bent up paper clip.
Once I got out, I encountered a deer with a string of solar fairy lights entangled in his antlers. He and I bonded and I was scratching his head.
We started to walk away when I heard someone from the shed calling for help. No one else had been inside when I was there!
When the deer and I went to investigate, we found Dick Van Dyke and liberated him. (Yes, DICK VAN DYKE!) He immediately started doing sit-ups and stretching, extolling the virtues of exercising at his age. OK old man, we get it. You’re fit as a fiddle.
Together, Dick and I gently removed the lights from the deer, although it didn’t seem as if he was bothered by them or in any pain.
DVD and I made a few phone calls to the police to search for the person who committed the crimes, but I’m not clear on the outcome because that’s when I woke up. My rational mind and my subconscious mind didn’t like what was going on.
As an aside, I don’t even LIKE Dick Van Dyke; I’ve never been a fan of his acting or his dancing or his persona. He wasn’t on my radar and I hadn’t read anything about him recently. I didn’t appreciate that he was hijacking my dream while I wanted to hang out with the deer.
There was an element of danger and fear, but feeling happy with my new deer friend. Other than that, I have NO IDEA what the message might have been, and now that I’m awake, the details are fading.
I guess maybe it was a warning to be more careful about who I open my front door to? I dunno, but I’m still shaking my head.
Daddy Day Lineup
Surf lineup, that is!
Happy Bio/Step/Deadbeat Daddy Day, whichever one applies.
Perplexed
Have you ever misplaced something that should not have been misplaced?
That’s me.
It was time to straighten out the pots and pans cabinet after the whirlwind fam visit so I’d be prepared once again to be a chef, baker, and short order cook.
Everything is now nicely organized, except for this:
I have a twelve-inch non-stick saute pan with a red handle and a red see-through lid.
I have the lid –exactly where it should be– but the pan is gone. I used it not too long ago because it’s the perfect size as an adjunct to the giant non-stick pan I use for bigger recipes.
I looked everywhere, every cabinet in the kitchen, even the freezer though it’s really too big to fit, to no avail.
I texted son/DIL just in case they packed it up and took it with them (not unheard of to do stuff like that) but they don’t have it.
Quite literally, it disappeared.
That’s why I’m perplexed. I don’t often LOSE things; I take good care of my possessions –I even have pots and pans from my mom dating back to the 40s and 50s, not kidding.
I mean it’s not like I lost something tiny like a contact lens or a pair of earrings…a pan takes up space and can’t simply walk away on its own, right?
If you have any suggestions, please let me know. Otherwise, I will continue to be perplexed.
(If I DO locate this missing pan, I’ll update.)
What Are You Watching?
Actually, I don’t watch much TV, but when I do, it’s often because DIL tells me I NEED to watch something she binges as we tend to like similar themes.
Now it’s the new Dynasty on Netflix. I LOVE it. It’s trashy, campy, with often ridiculous plots, but I’m hooked. I never really watched the original Dynasty because I was busy being 1500% MOM to a newborn and didn’t have time. The star of the reboot is most definitely Fallon Carrington, played by Elizabeth Gillies. The surprise is when she first broke out in song. Her voice is beyond amazing and adds another element to outrageous musical episodes. If I were the writers, I’d figure out any way possible to showcase her voice, too.
And then there’s yummy Grant Show as Blake Carrington; I’ve had a secret crush on him for YEARS, ever since he was Jake on Melrose Place.
On Amazon Prime, I’m warming up to Silks, about the dilemmas and problems that modern day barristers have to face and what it means to become a silk. A Silk or Queen’s Counsel is an eminent lawyer who’s appointed by the Queen to be one of “Her Majesty’s Counsel learned in the law.” . Their gown is made of silk instead of cotton.
Dropping on July 8 is the reboot of one of my all time favorites, Gossip Girl. Based on the bestselling novels by Cecily von Ziegesar, the original show ran from 2007-2012. This extension of the pop culture classic series finds a new generation of entitled New York private school teens introduced to social surveillance nine years after the original blogger’s website went dark. The only sadness for me is that it features all new characters and while I understand, the truth is that NO ONE can replace these originals:
Blake Lively as Serena van der Woodsen, Leighton Meester as Blair Waldorf, the Queen Bee, Penn Badgley as Dan Humphrey, dreamy Chace Crawford as Nate Archibald, Taylor Momsen as Jenny Humphrey, and sexy Ed Westwick as Chuck Bass. Top-notch casting for sure.
Of course, I’m also anticipating the new season of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. Filming was delayed due to Covid but I think they started up again.
What types of shows do you like or do you not watch anything at all?
Black and Blue
Sunday afternoon in SoCal was warm, sunny, and windy. I was intent on my project, hanging outdoor lights from the deck all the way to the grape arbor.
Picture me standing on the highest rung of a medium-sized step ladder. As I reached my arm as far as possible to secure a line of bright lights, I felt one of the ladder feet sink deeper into the soil than the others, creating an uneven support system.
In a split second that seemed to last an eon in slow motion, I knew before it happened that I was going to fall, that there would be no way to recover, nothing to hold to break the inevitable tumble.
And so I fell.
Arm still outstretched, I became airborne as I crashed to the ground, step ladder tangled in my legs.
I thought for sure I broke something (I’m no stranger to broken bones) but I suffered only bruising, no more damage than black and blue discoloration to remind me to be MORE careful in the future. My luck might not hold out if I tempted fate again.
If anyone had been filming me, I’m sure it would become a viral vid on YouTube or TikTok with the hashtag #stupidity, but alas, I was alone with my bunnies and butterflies and the lizards that got scared and ran off to hide under a rock.
There are more planets than Mercury in retrograde; maybe this was a message from one of them? I dunno, but I can verify that the lights look festive and perfect for late nights in the garden, just the effect I was looking for, well worth the pain.
Enchanted Seashells | Princess Rosebud 