Writing in the Corner

I bought five new tees online - they were on sale for $10 each. After shipping and sales tax they came to $12.80 each. White, green, blue, chocolate and lilac. They have elbow-length sleeves, which will hide my huge arms.

We bought a new washing machine today, because ours is dead. We waited to buy it hoping that there would be great sales today but I didn’t do a lot of “pre-shopping” and we are not the drive-around-to-five-stores-to-find-the-best-price kind of folks. So we probably did not get a great price, but we are satisfied.

We looked for additional cables for The Kid’s “Mindstorms” because his kit is missing one. Toys ‘R Us did not have the cable kit so I will buy it online. Five for $10. Not bad. Spare cables are probably a good thing.

I received my semi-annual bonus check and an expense reimbursement check in the mail today. This was happy and surprising. However, I am not going to do any more shopping based on the receipt of these items without letting them cool off for several days - maybe even several weeks.

There are two Christmases. People who are all annoyed about the “Happy Holidays” forget that. Christmas’s origins are pagan; traditions co-opted by Catholicism to assert ownership over the feasts. There’s no indication that Jesus was born anywhere near December 25th, but it IS really close to the winter solstice.

So here’s a Christmas: Parties. A tree. Family nearby. Presents. Cookies. Music. Feasting.

Here’s another Christmas: God with us. A poor young woman and her husband far from home. A baby. Shepherds. Angels. A star. Glory to God in the Highest, and on Earth, peace and goodwill to all.

I like them both.

I went to church on Sunday. I heard a quote given that I liked very much. Practical advice for keeping Christ in Christmas (and it doesn’t involve picketing Wal-Mart or writing letters to Target or listening to Bill O’Reilly. Thank the goddess.)

This Christmas, mend a quarrel. Seek out a forgotten friend. Dismiss suspicion and replace it with trust. Write a letter. Give a soft answer. Forgo a grudge. Forgive an enemy. Apologize. Try to understand. Examine your demands on others. Think first of someone else. Be kind. Be gentle. Laugh a little more. Express your gratitude. Welcome a stranger. Gladden the heart of a child. Take pleasure in the beauty and wonder of the earth. Speak your love and then speak it again.

Christmas is a celebration, and there is no celebration that compares with the realization of its true meaning—with the sudden stirring of the heart that has extended itself unselfishly in the things that matter most.
- Howard W. Hunter, December 2002

I hope my readers have a Happy Holiday this year. And if the shoe fits, Merry Christmas.

From The Pompous One, who doesn’t know me from Eve. I thought this was a fun meme. She didn’t tag me, I just stole it. So did she, so she can’t complain.

I decided to use this as a sharing exercise with my DH. His yesses are bold, mine are italic.

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland/world
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal in a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Gotten flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guard in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a lawsuit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee

My grandmother’s thrift gene is starting to emerge. I am reluctant to dispose of real food, even if it means extra work, and will turn leftovers into something else whenever possible. This is really easy to do on holidays, when leftover turkey begs to be made into a tetrazzini, and a spiral sliced ham demands to be converted to ham and beans. But what to do with more mundane things? Like stale tortillas?

Yesterday we ate out at our favorite Mexican place in New Orleans; the Superior Grill. It’s on St. Charles on the streetcar line. We don’t get into NOLA often for meals, because the last thing DH wants to do on a day when he doesn’t HAVE to drive to New Orleans is drive to New Orleans. But he had to pick me up at the airport in Kenner yesterday, so we stopped at the Superior for an early dinner.

We have been looking for good fresh tortillas pretty much since we got here with no success. The Superior makes their own tortillas, so I bought a dozen on a whim. We had them with lunch today, and they just weren’t that good. They probably would have been fine yesterday, but they didn’t hold up well. Rather than throw them away, I tried to salvage them. I took bits and pieces of recipes for “Tortilla Crisps” I found on the internet and merged them to make Garlic Parmesan Tortilla Crisps. Here’s the recipe:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

6 small flour tortillas
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. salt
generous 1/2 tsp. of dried parsley
1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper
2 Tbl. parmesan cheese.

Line a large sheet pan with foil for easy clean up. Brush both sides of one tortilla with olive oil. Stack another tortilla on top of it, so the bottom rubs against the oil, and brush the top. Stack and brush the tops of all the tortillas one at a time.

Mix the spices. Starting at the bottom of the stack, sprinkle evenly with the spice mixture.

Using a knife or pizza cutter, slice the tortillas into strips. Spread the strips in a single layer on the sheet pan. Sprinkle evenly with the parmesan cheese. Bake @ 375 for 15 minutes or until crispy and lightly browned. Remove from oven and let the strips cool and crisp before serving.

I didn’t really know how this would turn out. They taste fine, but since I was going to toss the tortillas anyway, I wouldn’t have been out anything but some parmesan cheese, spices and olive oil if the experiment had failed.

I’m working in the office again this week. As usual, I find it difficult to stay focussed with so many people around, and it’s even HARDER to stay focussed since I’ve had trouble focusing lately. So I hung a sign on my door:

Easily Distracted…
Come on in!

And then closed the door. I wanted people to be sure to understand that I wasn’t being anti-social, but I didn’t want the general chit-chat in the environment to draw me away from what I should have been doing.

I got a lot done, still did some schmoozing, and the day was over before I knew it.