Thanksgiving Follow-Up

Egads, has it really been more than a week since I posted?

So much has happened, but yet, not too much out of the ordinary.

Yesterday was Thanksgiving, we were to host my family. Neither of my brothers could make it so it was going to be my folks and the four of us. I called their house in the morning to find out what time they would be arriving, but there was no answer. No answer on Mom's cell phone, either.

Dad called later, from the hospital, Mom was in severe pain, she couldn't move her leg/hip. A couple hours later they called again, she was sent home with oxycodone and an order of bed-rest.

So the four of us had a quiet day at home, full traditional menu sans pumpkin pie. My parents were supposed to bring that. Kevin helped by peeling the potatoes, Fern made yeast rolls from the Joy of Cooking, Dan made his yummy stuffing. I made gravy. We forgot to cook the cauliflower or any green vegetables. Oh well.

We have oodles of turkey left over so I'm going to make oodles of turkey salad with my curry chicken salad recipe. I don't like turkey much, I need to have it doctored up with gravy, so looking at the large bag of leftovers is daunting. Might as well doctor it up, right? Oh, that reminds me, I need to get some pecans for the salad. Same with pork, I don't like it plain, got to doctor it up. My mom made pork chops by browning them, then baking them on a bed of rice in mushroom soup. (See? doctored up.) I haven't had that dish in a long time. hmmm. Need to add pork chops to the shopping list.

After we ate, I worked on a quilt top I had started at the quilt retreat last weekend. (Oh sheesh, I didn't even write about the quilt retreat, did I?) It's made from "homespun" type fabrics in orange, dark tan, forest green, and purple. It finished at the perfect size for a baby quilt, but it's pretty ugly for a baby quilt, being so dark and "homey" looking. I'll finish it up for a wall hanging. Darn, I really need to take pictures of these things so you can picture it when I write about them. One of these days I'll just post a slew of pictures and you'll have to figure out which posts they belong to. I might even award a prize.

I remembered to tune in to FOX at 4:00 for the Kaleidoscope ice skating show (see below). Did you? The football game ran long so the show had a delayed start. Fern and I found ourselves in the audience a couple of times, the most visible at 4:55 and 5:34. In the latter shot, you can see me holding up my camera following Scott Hamilton skate and do a back flip with Fern right next to me. I videoed that program of his which I'll need to upload so you can see it too. Darn, one more thing to remember, that camera is in my other jacket pocket. This picture was taken with my phone during one of the teleprompter segments where Scott was introducing one of the skaters. They did most of the intros at the other end of the rink with the stage behind them but did two at our end. These bits must have been cut because I didn't see it last night. Fern and I think they actually cut out a lot of pieces, including one skater entirely. Oh well.

On Thin Ice

I talked to the manager at Zaytinya about the missing money (see yesterday's post). She said she'd send me a $50 gift card, she wanted me to come back and try the restaurant again. She said she'd find out what happened in the mean time. I forgot to tell her I'd like to know, too.

After dinner, Fern and I hurried over to the Verizon Center for an ice skating show. I'm on the VC's email list so I got to buy pre-sale tickets. Turns out they were in the front row, rink-side, a little secret I kept from Fern, I wanted to surprise her.

Also, it turns out this was no ordinary ice show, but it was a show for the filming of the Kaleidoscope Thanksgiving special to be shown at 4:00 pm on your local FOX station on Thanksgiving Day. Kaleidoscope is a cancer survivorship celebration thing, which I didn't know about, either. I thought I was just taking Fern to an Ice-Capade kind-of-show.

Scotty Hamilton and Dorothy Hamel were both there, hosting and skating. Dorothy's still got it, let me tell you. Her split jumps were not as high as some of the younger skaters, but she was just gorgeous on the ice, smooth, effortless, just beautiful. I thought she skated better than Nancy Kerrigan. You can watch the show next week yourself and tell me what you think.

Fern had a good time, giving me the play-by-play of the skating: "that's a triple loop..." or "...a double axel...." It was fun to see her enjoy the performances. I'm glad we got to go.

There were several retakes of the skater introductions and long breaks between numbers so the whole thing lasted over three hours, but through the magic of TV, the special is supposed to be 90 minutes. We didn't stay afterwards when they were going to retake the shots of skaters' falls, so I didn't get to see what that was like. I'm wondering if I'll be able to tell where the skaters' programs were fixed.

Anyway, look for us, Fern and I are on the front row near the far corner away from the stage where a couple of the American Idol singers sang.



 

Tip of the Iceberg

Yesterday was my birthday, and before I go into a head-long explanation about what a delightful day it was (except for one thing), I want to get your opinion on something.

Fern and I are eating dinner at Zaytinya in downtown DC. Long story short, the bill comes, it's $41.80. I only have twentys so I put three in the folder and wait for my change. The waitress brings me back a five and six ones for a total of $11. Needless to say I expected $18.20. What the heck? I took my change and left, because I really didn't have time to wait around for a manager or an explanation, we had a show to get to.

What do you think I should do now? What would you do? I know where I'm going to start, but I'm not sure how far I should take my complaint.


 

Secret Lives

Have you ever had a secret to keep?

I'm not talking about a minor one like I have a stash of Reese Cups in the back of the fridge, but a long-term secret.

But I'm not talking about a deep, dark family secret that you've had to live with for years, or even generations, either, like My great-great grand uncle was the illegitimate son of Walt Chrysler and we still get a check every month to keep quiet or something less traumatic like Grandma loved me best so I got seven and a half times the inheritance my brothers each got.

No, I'm talking about a regular secret but the outcome won't be for a while, like I just scored front-row seats for myself and a special someone to see Bon Jovi when they are on tour next spring.

When you first get a secret like this to keep, you're antsy, jittery, even jumpy, afraid you'll spill it at any second. Then, you're absolutely sure someone, will catch on to the reason you're so jumpy. You're afraid the recipient of the tickets will try to buy their own and you have to start cooking up reasons why going to see Bon Jovi is a bad idea just in case you need to use them.

After you've had the secret for a while and the coast seems clear, you get a false sense of calm. You're not jumpy anymore, you're not bursting with anticipation.

One day, the radio station will have a contest to give away tickets to the concert and you almost say out loud Oh, I don't need to call in, I already have FRONT ROW SEATS! but you catch yourself just in time and the secret is not divulged.

Life goes on for you and your secret. You even forget about it, may book something else for the same night, (or book a vacation that week), or you may even get so lax about it that the topic will come up in casual conversation and you start to say, I know, I can't wait to go but have to change your words mid-sentence.

Ever have a secret like that?

I'm just asking.




 

Bolder or Dumber?

I imagine this conversation:

"Maurice, go scout out some food for us."

"Sure, be right back. Mmmm, butter."

"Hey, Betty, Maurice never came back, can you go check on him and bring back some food for us?"

"Sure, be right back. Mmmm, butter."

"Hey Steve, wonder what happened to Maurice and Betty. Maybe they got lost in the dark. Maybe you should go and check it out while there are still lights on and they're watching TV."

"Sure, be right back. Mmmm, butter."

So that's how Steve got caught in the trap after dinner last night. Maybe Steve really had a mousy name, like Micky or Squooshie. Or he really was a "Minnie."
I didn't ask.

Fixin' Stuff

Yesterday, if you hadn't heard, the Montgomery County traffic signal computer crashed. On the same day, the Metro (buses & subway system) communication computer crashed. I immediately thought it was sabotage, someone was up to something no good. Maybe I watch too much TV. Oh, speaking of which, have you been watching Flash Forward? It's on Thursdays at 8:00. And this morning Dan told me they have a character on 90210 with my maiden name. How cool is that? And this is a week after they had a character with my daughter's name. Neither computer problem affects me, but I hope they fix the computers soon. Well, maybe I don't, Mo. county folks are snooty enough, wouldn't dare live in PG county, well, HA, look who's laughing now.

Another thing fixed: I got the link in my sidebar working to my brother's new blog. He got the posting-by-email thing working too, so now he can take a picture with his blackberry and email it straight to his blog, which he did.

We had to delete another mouse this morning, I can't wait until we get their entry-way fixed, my handywoman is coming next week. Can't wait! I'm tired of these varmints helping themselves to shelter in my house. Yuck.

Another Place to Visit

I'm trying to get my brother started in the blogging world.

He's a long distance trucker and does runs all over the east coast. I thought it would be cool if he'd post pictures of where he goes every day. I get calls from him, "I was in Maine yesterday, the leaves are still pretty," and I'd think "show me!"

He'll be posting at Beagle Adventures when he figures everything out. Hopefully I'll get my sidebar link to his page working tomorrow.

Please stop by and visit him sometime.


 

Ceramics Mob

Saturday Kevin and I went to the ceramics studio for firing day, the day when the high-fire and raku kilns get fired. Kevin and I did a couple raku pieces (pictures later) and they turned out great.

Remember back in June when I posted about my car's twin parked at the art center?

Turns out, the car belongs to Eunice, a delightful woman who also takes ceramics classes. I think she likes it as much as I do that our cars have a twin, and we joke about driving the right car home.

On firing days we park behind the studio near the kiln instead of the front public lot. At the end of the day, it's easier to load your car that way. She opened the back of her car to load her supplies and I hollered over jokingly, "Get out of my car, Eunice!" She just turned around and grinned.

I need to pause her and explain about echolalia if you don't know already. Many people with autism will echo what they hear without the same inflection the original speaker used. If I ask Kevin, "How was your day, Kevin?" he'll reply "How was your day, Kevin." with a very flat voice. I'll have to repeat the question before he realizes it was a question for him to answer and not just blindly echo back. He is a full-fledged teenager now and his voice is so low, his echos come out quiet and almost gravely.

So, on Saturday when he hears me holler to Eunice, he repeats it a moment later in a voice that's so quiet, low and flat, it sounded like a mob threat: "Get out of my car, Eunice."


 

Too Much Top Chef?

I woke from a dream the other morning, but didn't remember much of it until later in the day when I was cooking in the kitchen. That's when I remembered Bryan Voltaggio was there, but not his brother Michael. Mike Isabella may have been there, too.

Bryan, Michael, and Mike are "cheftestants" on the current season of Top Chef and are from the DC area. I can't remember what the dream was about, nor any dream for that matter, I just tend remember people and/or places, and in this case I remember hanging out with Bryan, the better-looking Voltaggio brother, and having a very nice time.

Don't tell my husband.


 

Life in the Age of Technology

I found myself asking my husband to delete the mouse in the mousetrap over the weekend.