Patt Saves the Day

I'm pretty sure I never blogged about this. I had every intention of doing so, but things got hectic and the photo was misplaced.

My friend, Patt, gave me this when I went to visit her over Memorial Day 2015. I had no idea something like this existed. She had retired from her administrative position and was cleaning out cupboards. "Maybe you could use this?" she asked. I'm ashamed to admit I didn't know what it was until she explained it.

It has saved my pocketbook and my work time. I found another one on a clearance shelf at Target. You see I have chicken noodle soup in this. But once I discovered Chef Boy-ar-dee still made Spaghetti O's, I started taking a can's worth in this one. So the one I got at Target is used for soup. You know, try as you might, tomato stains don't always come out of Tupperware after it's been microwaved.

This has made lunches so much better. I dump a can of soup or Sketti O's into the container and take it to work. Add a bowl of Jell-O or sliced fruit or vegetables and I have a full meal. I don't absent-mindedly hop in the car and head to Wendy's or Subway; the two closest restaurants; for lunch. It saves me money and I can work through lunch. There are days when you just need to get out because you need the break, but my finances are much better for not going out a lot.

I have the best friends.

Beverage:  Cranberry Tea

Deb

Games We Play

When computers were just taking off, the Minnesota Educational Computing Consortium (MECC), created one game which, above all others from that era, gets looked back on with incredible fondness. It was called "Oregon Trail". It was based on the Oregon Trail, the route settlers took from Independence, Missouri, to the Willamette Valley in Oregon. You could join the westward migration from many different points but Missouri to Oregon was the most popular and, given the privations of that time, there was safety and security in numbers.

If you had a computer in the 1990's, you probably had Oregon Trail. The premise was to get your wagon and family to the valley. Along the way, you had to ford rivers, deal with cholera, measles, dysentery, food shortages. You would restock at towns and forts along the way. In real life, if you left too early, your wagon and oxen were bogged down by spring rains. If you left too late, you'd have to cross the Rocky Mountains in snow storms. The infamous Donner party headed along the trail but turned, as some did, to head southwest toward California.

I know we had Oregon Trail on our first computer. The graphics were pixels, square boxes which depicted everything. There was a mini-game where, if you had bullets, and you could run out of those, you could go hunting when you would stop. It was such a fun game and the insidious "learning" that came with it made the game even more special. I know the computer lab at Carole's grade and middle schools had Oregon Trail for kids to play who did not own computers. I spent hours playing it, trying different times of the year to leave, and how long can I go without hunting before someone starves.

Last year, Pressman Toy Company released a card game version of Oregon Trail. It is hilarious.

The graphics on the card are pixelated and are fairly close to what you remember from the game. The challenge is the same; stay alive and get your party from Independence to Oregon. Along the way, you encounter the same challenges as the computer game gave you. The difference here is that you are working together to get at least one member of the party to Oregon. You lose if everyone dies.

Everyone gets "Supply" cards. These are the various things, like food, clothing, medicine, you'd need to ameliorate the "Calamity" from those red cards. The trail is the green snaky line and look. There are rivers to ford. You do that with a roll of the dice. When someone has to draw a calamity, the group pitches in to, you hope, stave off death for another few rounds.

Ah yes, death. Some things, like measles or cholera, can be fought with supply cards; medicine and clean water. But there are something things you have no hope to survive.

I have died of dysentery. The other instant death is snake bite. My friend, Lance, almost didn't want to play a third game because the first two games, he died, early on, of snake bite. He lasted a fair amount of time in game 3 but died of dysentery. I followed two rounds later.

Some of the instructions are a bit hazy. The game lends itself to "house rules" and can be played by any age from 10 up. It's for 6 people and does not work very well with 3 or less. The best hands were with 5 and 6 people.

It's also not very expensive. Target was, for a time, the only retail outlet carrying it. When released, last September, there was a rush to get it and, for a month, you couldn't find it anywhere. By Christmas, it was in ample supply. I think Target is still the cheapest place for purchase. I gave it to Carole for her birthday and to April and Perry for Christmas. I don't have a copy. I should get one.

If your kids don't know about the Oregon Trail, this would be a good way to start the conversation. Ruts from the wagons are still to be seen in Kansas and Nebraska. We have no concept of what it took to move a family of 4 across a country people knew nothing about. It's a fun game and, just like the old computer game, educational. *Gasp

Beverage:  Water

Deb

So You Don't Have To

I'm late with this food review. However, it's important to post my thoughts so, when they come around again, you have an idea of how I felt about these.

These were out around Valentine's Day. I'd heard about them from members of my World of Warcraft guild. I didn't get out much in February, so trying to find them took a back seat to just existing. Then, I had to go to Target for something and they were on an end cap. I won't eat coconut or mint M&Ms and I've heard a rumor of chili-spiced which is just...no. But something like this, I'll try.

As advertised on the package, they were pink, white and ivory. Taste? Well, they weren't bad. I've railed in this space about how I think M&M's needs to stay with what they do best: peanut, milk, and peanut butter M&M's. I'd allow the crispy ones. Those aren't bad either. The almond ones are blah. I know people who adore the coconut and mint ones so those can be on the shelf, too. But all the different flavors seem to me to be diluting what they do best. At Target right now are red, white and blue M&Ms. I can get behind changing the colors on the brands. That's a clever way to make them relevant to the upcoming holiday, but multiple flavors? I bought a bag of strawberry shortcake M&Ms. They were not horrible like the candy corn or pumpkin ones were, but they aren't anything I can't live without. There was a hint of strawberry but the overwhelming flavor was artificial white cake. Strawberry shortcake is an amalgam. It shouldn't be mostly about the cake. These were more bland than exciting.

So, my recommendation is, if you like M&Ms and want something of a novelty AND they are on sale, buy a bag. Otherwise, save your pennies or support the original flavors. Sometimes I get concerned that they will be so busy trying for new flavors that they will forget to make M&M's with peanuts.

Beverage:  Water

Deb

Spring Project Or Paperweights

All those things you say you want to do. The list can be long, long, long. I tend to have motivation come in spurts. I'll feel exceptionally creative or motivated to accomplish something. Pieces will be collected and I'll get ready and bam. The motivation fades as quickly as it come.

I've been dealing with some issues with RA which I didn't realize were RA issues. I knew depression was a side effect of this. You gradually lose mobility and that can be very depressing. I can tell myself, repeatedly, to find gratitude in every day, but I often have to face the reality that I just cannot; that this gloomy mood is what I have. I find acknowledging the mood; feeding it even; works for me to slowly leave it behind. In the interim, I don't do much of anything. That can feed my sense of worthlessness. "If only I felt better, this project would be done."

Enter spring. It's hard for me not to feel a tug toward positivity when the crocus bloom and the sky turns blue and the winter coat goes in the closet for a good two weeks before being needed. I feel I can conquer things. I feel I can take those steps I've longed for to make my surroundings happier. That's necessary for my overall well-being. "Time to fix this," I think. Many times that enthusiasm, however, crashes headlong into the reality that I get tired more easily. Still, here we go with the rebirth of the grass in the back yard and the cacophony of birds in the trees.

Target didn't help diminish that exuberance. In one of my news feeds; ironically, a business feed; there was a discussion about their new Pillowfort line. Targeted to kids, it's gender neutral and features things without designations for boy or girl. It's part of Target's stated objective to make as much of their kids things for all kids, inclusive, rather than blue for boy and pink for girl. You can still find those things but girls like trucks and boys like dolls. Kids shouldn't be pigeonholed into colors and items because of their gender. I can't agree with this enough.

The article showed some items from the collection and one of them was a shelf unit.

It's a whale! I read dimensions but I can't always get my head around sizes relative to anything else. I could order it online and pick it up at my local Target. As I had to get a few other things there, this was a score. It's big.

It's going to go on the wall opposite the medicine chest and sink. When I held it up to the wall, the sadness of the long ago paint scheme in the bathroom was overwhelming.

I need a fresh coat of paint on the walls. If I'm going to make this a focal point of the bathroom, I need walls reflective of that. As if they were mind reading, I got a flyer in the mail from Ace Hardware. There is, this weekend as I type, a buy-one, get one free sale on their best paint. Seriously? I would need painting accouterments as I tossed all that stuff last year, when I was cleaning in the basement for the new washer, because the stuff was old. But cutting the big cost, the paint, in half, could motivate me to actually do this.

When I went to get garbage stickers, I asked about the smell. That could be a deal breaker. The smell, the volatile organic compounds, released as paint dries, are not good for people with breathing difficulties. I don't want my house to make me any sicker than it possibly is. If I have to wait until June, when I throw open the windows, would the paint have settled out? The good news is the sale paint is low VOC, suitable for pregnant women to paint walls with and it is guaranteed to not settle out for up to 9 months after being initially mixed. I grabbed some swatches and stuck them on the wall.

There is light blue tile in the tub/shower. I have a nautical theme in the bathroom which is why the whale shelf appealed to me. It's important to match, as close as I can, the tile. Ideally, you take a tile piece with you and they match it, but I have no idea where the extra tile is that I had. So, I picked what I thought might be close or complimentary.

While I was there, I thought about the neglected back door area. I was going to paint that yellow to compliment the minion poster hanging there. If this is a buy one get one, what if I actually bought the yellow for the back? I grabbed some yellow swatches and slapped them on the wall by the poster.

I wound up going with the bottom blue and the left yellow. In my head, I thought a light lemon yellow would make the poster "pop" on the wall. But the light lemon they had seemed too light, washed out. Hence, I've gone with a color that is an exact match to the one there. Funny how that works out.

Here we are, the end of March. I have two brand new cans of paint in my house. One sits on the kitchen table and the other sits on the bathroom floor.

I'm going to paint the baseboards and the trim around the door this blue. It will be immersion, which is why having a light color on the wall will work. The ceiling will be a bright white, when I get that far. Right now, I have to get the counted cross-stitch project done and I have a few days upcoming when I can just sit and stitch. I also have to prepare the wall for painting.

Gone will be the fish stencils and those solid color fish "stickers". They are a gel plastic. I forget how old they are. Carole was living at home when we found them somewhere and thought they would be cool. They have been, but, over the years, they have attracted and held dust and dirt. I just didn't have the gumption to pry them off the wall and repaint. I'll have to take the towel rack off the wall. I don't relish that. My fear is that I won't get it back up.

In my mind's eye, I picture doing this wall, then resting. Next would be the wall by the door and a rest. Then the wall by the sink and stool and ending with the bit of wall above the shower. It's a month-long project or, if I take a week off work, a full week's painting. The same thing goes for the back door area. A wall a week and it's done.

So, with the advent of spring, this is what inspiration looks like. Supposedly, this paint can be written on with chalk. If so, that could provide some artistic avenues in a nautical bathroom. Or I could buy this or this. Maybe the fact that I have cans of paint will keep me motivated to get this done. These are awfully expensive paperweights.

Beverage:  Dr Pepper

Deb

That's a Surprise

Over a year ago, my guild mate, Amber, who lives in Australia, sent me two packages of this cookie called "Tim Tam". I'd never heard of it. They are biscuit-like cookies with a flavored layer sandwiched between them and the whole thing dipped in chocolate. It was a lot of fun to have something from the other side of the world.

I was in Target a couple weeks ago and had to walk down the cookie aisle to get from point A to point B. I thought I wanted cookies to nosh on but not really, I decided, until I saw this.

Wait...what? I've had the regular Tim Tam to the left. The caramel was new to me. I had to try those.

Here's a cross section of the cookie. There's the 2 biscuit layers and the cream layer with caramel and the outer chocolate shell. They are good but rather sweet. This is not a tray of cookies you'll sit down and eat all in one sitting.

For me, the attraction of these cookies is the connection I have to Amber. If I hadn't known about them, I would have passed them by. They aren't remarkable in their own right; more a novelty in the vast cookie aisle. What they remind me, though, is just how global life is now. These are an Australian cookie on the shelf of my Wheaton Target. Some executive made the decision to either import them or have a manufacturing plant make them here. I can't see them taking over much more in shelf space, but who knows. Something new and different could garner just enough of a following that we'll see other flavors besides plain chocolate and caramel on the shelves.

Beverage:  Dunkin Donuts Tea

Deb

It's About Time

These are the treats I feed the girls. Temptations, from Canada, come in a huge variety of flavors. Just as I like to vary my food intake, I change up the flavor of treats they get. I buy the 3 ounce pouch which can last us for a couple months, given they don't always get treats on weekends unless I go somewhere.

I was in Target last week and I always check the price on treats when I'm there. I know what they cost at the grocery so, if there was a flavor on sale, I would have purchased a couple pouches. They had this. It came in three flavors; tuna, seafood and chicken.

I'm thrilled. I've purchased bigger pouches but they don't always stay shut. This container has a snap close top. That will keep the treats fresh. This is going to last us a very long time. Plus, it is a great value. I'll augment this flavor with a different flavor. I have 5 pouches; 2 unopened; on the shelf. They already know the sound a pouch of treats makes. I'm sure they will catch on, very quickly, to the sound of a container of treats.

Beverage:  Dr Pepper

Deb

"Now is the August of my discontent"

In this soliloquy, which begins Shakespeare's "Richard III", he talks about the reversal of his family's fortunes. "Now is the winter of our discontent" is the exact line. "Winter" in this case, meaning the end of problems. We all know how the play, and the real life Richard the III's, life ended.

It's been a bad month for me. "Discontent" in all it's glorious meaning, is the perfect word to describe this month. So many days have slipped away. So many photos unblogged. There is, however, a reason. I came down with diverticulitis.

On August 1st, I went shopping with Pam. We had a glorious day of laughter and friendship, as we usually do. The next day, I thought I'd eaten something bad. It continued into Monday, August 3rd. I felt like I had the flu. Lots of sleep and on Tuesday, August 4th, I was tired, but I felt reasonably fine. That "reasonably fine" feeling grew ever more tenuous. It seems as if every other day was a bad day. Pain. Excessive tiredness. I felt like my abdomen was full of gas. "If I could just fart, I'd feel better," I would say as a wave of pain overtook me. Finally, self-treating didn't seem to be working and I went to the doctor on August 12th.

I was put on Cipro and Flagyl, two strong antibiotics. One of the problems with an infection is my compromised immune system thanks to the RA. I had to go off all my RA meds and carefully watch when I took my vitamins because they would counteract the Cipro. Unfortunately, one of the side effects of these two antibiotics and going off the RA drugs has been incredible tiredness. I finally gave up trying to remember when I took the Cipro so I could take the vitamins. Even little notes to myself would leave me perplexed. "Why does this say 8:10 and this one say 8:35?" Confusion is a side effect, too. I took to walking around the house with a note pad and pen, writing down what I was trying to remember. This went beyond the "Why did I come into this room?" This was an "I have no idea what I'm doing" memory issue.

Blogging was impossible. I tried, oh how I tried. There are a large number of photos to talk about. A month of photos has come and gone without a comment. I have missed me.

It took 5 days for the pain to subside. I've been off both drugs now since Saturday. I'm still tired, but I know that to be the cost of RA. I'm having twinges of pain in joints that were pain-free just a month ago. Heck, I was reveling in being pain-free. I need to mow the lawn now, after a month of not needing to do it. The idea now scares me. It won't be a 45 minute exercise. I may not be able to do it in one day. I feel I've been sent to jail and I have no "Get out free" card.

Through all of this, I've kept working. The pain wasn't so bad during the day that it interfered with work. It only got bad when I went home at night. I have been lectured about taking time for me. Perhaps I should have. I guess I'm of the mind-set that sick days are for when you're really sick and I wasn't into what I'd call "really sick" state. I did think I'd take this or that day off and then work would get crazy and I'd feel that I'd really inconvenience the office if I called off, so I didn't.

Depression set in. I have stuff all over my house, piles of stuff. I deal with a little bit but I wear out so quickly, that things don't get done and the knowledge that, just last month, none of this wouldn't be put away, mocks me. Even though part of learning to live with RA involves breaking tasks down into smaller, more manageable pieces, when I can't clean all the litter boxes because just doing one leaves me tired, that's minute pieces and even though that's what I should be doing, it depresses me when I can't do more without pain (because I'm off my RA meds) or getting overly tired.

There is a silver lining in all of this. My rheumatologist wants to change my RA medication. She feels the Humira was not stopping the progression of the disease. I measure progression by days without pain and I had a handful in July, before the diverticulitis. She measures it in a different way. So, having to go off all RA meds is good for her because we can go back to tweaking them. She wants to start me on Orencia, another injectable biologic drug. Unlike Enbrel and Humira, it's used only for RA. We're going to see if that helps. I'm not noticing any deformities in joints and, prior to getting sick, I could do a lot of things I hadn't considered before. I have another appointment for the diverticulitis on September 2nd and we'll go from there.

All of this has worn me down. I'm not eating properly or drinking adequate amounts of water. Pam had to come to my "rescue" and get me to Target to buy groceries so I would have things in the house I'd actually eat. Soup is my friend, but there are days when even that looks unappealing. I know this is a side effect and part of my brain says, "You need to eat." But the louder part says, "Shut up. She's tired. Go ahead. Sleep in the recliner." And, lately, that sleep in the recliner has involved a cat scan.

It's kind of hard to see her, but she loves to stretch out in my lap. When we sit, we can sit for upwards of 2 hours. If only the purrs of a cat would cure what ails me. Mija will often jump up next to me and demand ear scratches. With the two of them next to me, I can almost forget this set back.

It feels like I'm going up hill through molasses. I keep telling myself that the aches and pains are old familiar territory. I'm not nearly as bad as I was in 2012, when I first saw Dr. Francis and, once we get the infection cured, I'll be back on the drugs that help with the pain. Things will be back to "normal", or what passes for normal. It's just getting there that is the depressing part.

Beverage:  Water

Deb

More Tartan

Look what Target had!

It's going to be a few years until I get to this as I still have a lot left in the top roll, but I was so thrilled. Maybe I should have purchased more than one?

Beverage:  English Breakfast Tea

Deb

Under and Then On Top of, the Deck

The other thing that occupied my time toward the end of November was the arrival of 4 feet. I saw "her" (I think it's a her. I haven't been able to reliably check, but it's just easier if we call it "her".) when I came home one weekend afternoon. She was just sitting on the deck. It wasn't overly cold, yet. She ran when I came close to the deck, jumped off, but didn't go very far. She just sat a good 6 feet away from the deck, watching me.

I had a cereal box I was going to recycle so I took it apart and poured a half cup of food on it. I set it near the back door, backed away and just watched.

It was like she hadn't eaten in a few days. She ate every last piece of food. So, I opened up the door and added another scoop, which is a quarter cup, to the box. She snarfed that down too. I watched as she left and she went under my deck. How long she'd been there is anyone's guess, but I felt, immediately, a need to care for her.

The next day, I pulled out the Kentucky Fried Chicken containers they have for sides and put food in one and water in the other. It was getting cold. We were about to get the first close to zero days of winter, along with snow. I worried. I fretted. I hit up YouTube and posted this photo to my Facebook feed. Friends sent links on how to made a cat house. I watched and read everything, but couldn't get to Target for another week. Still, I put out food every morning when leaving for work and although the water was frozen when I got home, the food was gone.

Finally, I made it to Target to get a plastic bin.

The one I really wanted didn't have a lid. I asked if they had extra lids in back and the gal went to look, but never returned. When plastic bins aren't "en vogue", like in January, it's really hard to find reasonably priced totes that have lids. But, if I remember my science, darker colors absorb heat so perhaps this is better than the lighter colored one that was a bit bigger.

Step 1 is to measure up from the bottom of the tote, 5 inches and then cut a 5 1/2 inch square. I have a simple hand saw that I've had for years.

I wound up bending the blade as I cut through the plastic. In the end, I got out my Cutco kitchen scissors and used them to cut the hole. They cut through just about anything and don't dull.

There was a quick check of the opening size and it was good to go.

Some instructions didn't cover the opening edges. They just left them raw. While not sharp sharp, they would be uncomfortable if the cat were to brush up against them. So I took some duct tape sent to me by my friend, Meredith, and covered the raw edges.

Yes, that is bacon decorated. Now for the inside.

All the videos and written descriptions called for straw to be used as an insulation material in conjunction with styrofoam. Well, at work, we get this 2 inch thick foam packing material.

This stuff is really good for insulating our equipment and for shipping things. We tend to get it in abundance and will, twice a year, send back to our shop, a couple boxes of it. Over the years, I've grabbed some excess when I've wanted to ship things so I have a grocery bag full. I put two pieces in the bottom, although one was a bit shorter than the other. I took two large rectangles and had to cut off about 3 inches to make them fit in the box.

I wound up doing a bit more cutting to get enough pieces to line the inside of the container except for that small spot in the corner. But this is big enough that a couple of cats her size would fit comfortably. This is where you would add straw on either side of the foam to act as insulation. I felt that width of the foam would help keep the cat warm. The next step is to cover the bottom with straw.

Target didn't have straw and I couldn't think, off the top of my head, where I could get straw. I have, however, dozens of small fabric squares which I've saved to use as rags. Those of  you who toss clothing that's worn out do not know the value in rags. They are so very useful for a variety of things. I took an old sheet, cut it into hunks and put a large hunk in the bottom, covering the hole. After the container was finished, friends said I should have gone to JoAnn Fabrics because straw would be available for Christmas displays. I never thought of that.

I used pine bedding which is for hamsters and gerbils.

I put about a quarter of a pound in the back of the container on top of the sheet. The bedding will absorb water from wet fur and, being on top of the sheet, I can easily pick the whole thing up and change it out. Here is the finished container.

Pleased with myself, I stuck this on the deck and waited for any evidence it was being used. I also got a dish with compartments for food and water.

We entered a very cold and snowy period right before Thanksgiving. I didn't see the cat, although I did see footprints in the snow and the food was being eaten. Then, the week before Thanksgiving, I opened the door to put the food out and she shot out of the container to dash under the deck. I was so thrilled. I set down the food and closed the door. When I opened it again, she was there eating, but took off under the deck. I started the car and she had come back up onto the deck to finish off her breakfast.

Over the next week, we got into kind of a rhythm. I would feed her on my way to work and pick up the dish when I got home. She seemed to get used to my patterns. Cats are notorious for preferring a sameness to a schedule.

There she is, waiting for me to bring out her food and water. On a couple of occasions, she came up to the back door and looked in, meowing at me. "Yeah yeah yeah. I'm coming."

When we got the first snow of the year, I swept off the deck to make eating better and less cold on paws. If the weather says we're to have precipitation, I take one of those Kentucky Fried Chicken containers and stick it just inside the doorway. I don't know if she goes inside then to eat or if she eats with her head inside but the rest outside.

The girls have noticed her. Mija saw her first and there was some growling. My back door is a full window so they can look out onto the deck. Mija left the back door and, although she's gone back to the door, hasn't seen her. Pilchard, on the other hand... Last Thursday, she came up to the door and Pilchard, whom, you have to admit, blends in perfectly with the night at 2:30 a.m., was sitting there, watching. I was awakened by the usual growling, hissing, spitting of a very angry cat. My initial reaction was that the girls were having an argument, but the noise was in the kitchen. I dashed to the back and saw the cat sitting on the top step of the deck. She saw me and, as I tried to calm Pilchard down, slunk down the stairs. She did not eat on Friday. I saw her on Saturday. She came and ate and then left the deck to go toward my neighbor's back yard. I have not seen her since, but the food is gone when I come home from work.

I called Tree House Animal Clinic in Chicago. They are an absolutely wonderful no-kill shelter in Chicago who advocate for "community" or feral cats, in addition to being a full service veterinary clinic. It's possible the presence of an angry cat on the other side of the door scared her from using the shelter. It's also possible that because we have had milder weather, the cat has other options. My keeping food out every day and the fact that the food is gone means the cat is still coming by to eat. She may, eventually come back to the shelter. Some cats just won't use them. The gal to whom I talked said she has 3 boxes in her back yard and none of them are used by any of the feral cats she cares for. HRH sits by the back door and watches now. I would hope this is not a deterrence to using the shelter. I would feel horrible if the cat is living under someone's deck because of Pilchard.

The other question I had was how to keep the entrance clear of snow. We had the 3rd snowiest winter on record at the beginning of this year and some of those snows would cover the entry. She said some people have a table they put over the entry to keep it snow free. I could use the plastic table I have for the deck. If I got a hunk of wood, I could put that between the table and the tote and the west wall of the deck. That would further keep the snow from accumulating or blowing into the house. Plus, it would give me some time to get the area clear of snow since I always shovel off the deck and to the Jeep first anyway.

My goal is to get her to trust me somewhat so I can take her to a vet for a check up. The gal at Tree House said they have traps to rent and they have experience handling strays. Her ear is not tipped which is what community cats who have been spayed and neutered and returned to the wild have. It's important that she be up-to-date on shots and that she be spayed. I suspect, because she didn't run from me, but went under my deck, that she used to be someone's cat who was shoved outside. I want to make sure she's not microchipped and just lost.

So, that's what I've been doing with my time. I thought about shoeing her away, but I realized it would bother me, greatly. I can't not do something. Cats are highly resilient creatures, but providing the best I can means she'll have a better life. I need to add more bedding this weekend to plump things up.

I don't know that even if I could win her trust that she could come inside with me. I think the problems I have with the girls getting mad at one another would be magnified, but I'm doing the best I can. I'm going to call her "Rosalind", after my favorite female Shakespearean character, at least until I know a different gender.

Beverage:  English Teatime Tea

Deb

Calming the Stress, Photo 28

It's been a very long winter and early spring. The amount of going going going that I've had to do has started to wear on me. It's times like this that finding gratitude in daily life becomes a bit hard. I really have to look around and outside of myself to see what I can be grateful for when another client wants his stuff NAO and I have more things to do outside the office so what I do inside the office doesn't get done. You know the feeling. You want the world to STOP so you can get off, just for 24 hours.

A guild mate of mine got engaged to his long-time girlfriend. They are wonderful people and parents to a trio of very, very cute kittens. I had to send a card. I also had to be out in the field, yet again. So, I combined the work with the play and ran by a Target store to get a card. The thought crossed my mind that Target sells carbonated beverages and having some of those wouldn't make the long hours and the travel go away, but it would make them easier to bear.

To my surprise, there was a sale. You had to buy 5, but even the regular price in this Target was cheaper than the regular price in the Target near me. Although I prefer cans or bottles for portability, one must always be open to price, particularly on soda. You can see I dove into that Dr Pepper as soon as I got home.

Now, it hasn't made the travel any less of a bear or eased the knowledge that I will be working overtime through the rest of the month to get everything done. But I am grateful for ice cold beverages in the fridge for those days I stagger home and just want to collapse.

Beverage:  Scottish Breakfast tea

Deb

Lights Fantastic

The lights have arrived. Ryan looked at Menards for the lights I want installed in the back half of the house and 2 of the 3 had to be ordered online. Figures.

I ordered them on a Thursday after I got home from work. The first one arrived that Saturday. I had to run errands and was quite surprised to come home to a box on the front steps.

This is the light for the back bedroom.

It's going to look so nice. Maybe I'll be inspired to slowly change that space from store room to extra bedroom, although someone staying would have to understand this is also the cat's room. We'll see. Even if I make it into a reading room for me instead of storing all sorts of stuff, that would make it more inviting.

The kitchen light arrived toward the end of last week. I thought it would be like the above light with the light inside a box inside a box but it's just the light inside the box.

It's nice and big and will make a great impact on seeing in the kitchen. I'm excited.

But, before Ryan can install these, I had to scrub the kitchen ceiling around where the light was going. We don't think about washing walls or ceilings so much when we clean, but over time, the tiny droplets of whatever you're cooking go up and attach to your ceiling. I would look up at the blotches and get depressed at the thought of climbing up with a wet sponge, scrubbing and climbing down the step stool. For small tasks, the step stool is fine. For scrubbing the ceiling, the thought of the climbing up and down and being steady while I scrubbed made me really nervous.

So, when I went to Target with the gift card, I looked in the scrub brush section, since I needed a new toilet brush anyway, and I found this.

It's meant for scrubbing your shower but what attracted me to it was the ability to extend the handle. After having it on my kitchen table for 3 weeks, I gave it a try last night. It works. The scrubber end does not contain any soap so I added a bit of dish soap. It worked up a good lather which I hadn't counted on and which forced me to have to rinse the scrubber head quite a bit. It seemed to do exactly what I needed it to do while I was standing on the kitchen floor. Rinsing was as simple as washing out the brush and going over the ceiling sections I'd scrubbed.

Now, barring any last minute snowstorms or jobs that need to be done on Saturday, I should have new lights Saturday afternoon. Crossing my fingers.

Beverage:  Cranberry Raspberry Seltzer

Deb

Despicably Tempting

While wandering about Target with the gift card sent anonymously, I chanced across these at the junction of the men's and boy's sections.

This produced an audible chuckle and I used my camera phone to take a photo to send to a friend.

I stood there for several minutes. They had my size. Like so many people, I'm captivated by the minions in the Despicable Me and Despicable Me 2 movies. I hope the creators are stingy with how they license the characters. If they wind up on everything, their value and attraction diminishes.

I almost bought the shirt. After all, I have a $50 gift card in my wallet. But I needed kitty litter and cat treats, highlighters and post-it notes, a new toothbrush and toilet paper. A tee shirt, even one as cute as this, was not on the list and would not have been a good use of the gift card.

I think about it, however. It was created for St. Patrick's Day and is probably still available in the store. (Notice, at right, the Guinness boxer shorts.) It would make me smile to pull it out of the closet and wear, but I have a lot of tee shirts. I passed it by but I enjoy this photo. It makes me smile.

Beverage:  English Breakfast tea

Deb

Score!

The game plan was to go to Mariano's and then to Target and then to CVS. I needed a few groceries and I needed to pick up a new prescription for the pain in my right leg. I had only one thing on my mind at Target.

Score.

Target employees had dismantled over 80% of the Valentine's display by the time I walked into the store at 9:15 a.m. Easter M&M's have been artfully arranged on the end cap where, the week earlier, Valentine bags of pink, red and white sat. I nearly panicked. I couldn't see any Valentine candy. Giving the employees wide berth, particularly the gal tasked with lowering an extending sign that just didn't want to collapse, I found the candy on a back set of shelves. All the M&M's were lumped together, arranged by colored bags, but in one small section. There were probably 7 bags of these left. The sign said 30% off.

Yes, I admit it. I was sorely tempted to grab all 7 bags. My favorite flavor has been the peanut filled ones, Mr. Yellow. But when I stumbled upon these 2 years ago, he was replaced. Thankfully, they are only available around Valentine's Day and I've only seen them in Target. Must be something between Target and M&M special flavors. (I think the bag on the very bottom of the Easter display was coconut. No thanks.) I only took 4 bags, however. It seemed wrong of me, no matter how much I like these, to take all that was left. Seven bags looked kind of greedy. I wouldn't have had that angst had they been down to the last 4 bags. MINE!

So, I'm good now. I have not checked to see when Easter actually arrives, but I shall ration these and then head over to Target the day after for some pastel Mr. Yellow. With some luck, I can make these last through Easter, through spring and, perhaps up to Memorial Day.

Beverage:  Black Cherry Seltzer

Deb

I Got a Date

He's not very tall, but he's really good looking and he wears the most intoxicating cologne.

I'll be heading to Target tomorrow in the hopes of getting a few more of these. That will use up the $2.36 left on the gift card sent last month. Priorities, you know.

Beverage:  Huckleberry tea

Deb

Quite Unexpected

This is the happiest monster I've seen in some time. He also made me incredibly happy.

Two weeks ago, exhausted and looking forward to a weekend, I came home at the start of yet another snow storm. I bring in the mail and there is a flyer for services I'll never use and a plain white envelope. The handwriting looked sort of familiar, as if it was my friend, Patt's, but the postmark was suburban Chicago. It felt as if there was a credit card in the envelope.

My mind started racing. "Oh my lord," I thought. "Did I leave my debit card somewhere and it was turned in at a Chase bank and they mailed it to me? Where could I have left it?" In case you don't know, I have a tendency to make things worse, in my mind, than they actually are. I tell myself it prepares me for the absolute worst thing and then I can feel relieved when things really aren't as bad as I extrapolated them to be. In these few minutes, I ignored the fact that Chase would have called me had I left the debit card somewhere and it was turned in, or, at the very least, I'd have received calls from their fraud protection division, the nice people who found the problems last September. I hadn't heard from Chase since they sent me a replacement debit card for the one I had used at Target during the time data was compromised.

I also ignored the fact that I had seen nothing on my bank accounts to indicate the card was missing AND I had just used the thing not 2 days prior to the receipt of this envelope. That should have told me this was not my debit card. That I thought of my debit card first should give you an understanding of how often I'm using my credit card, which is, very little. This is good. All of these things should have been clues that this was not a bad envelope, but my worries jumped through the roof because it felt like a credit-sized card.

So, I ripped open the envelope and, wrapped in a plain white sheet of paper was this monster. I had to actually sit down, I was so flabbergasted.

To whomever sends me these, thank you. You have made a very gloomy, very tiring, very wearing winter a whole lot better. I am humbled by this.

Beverage:  Yorkshire Gold Tea

Deb

A Target

Yes, I was one of those people who shopped at Target from November 29th through December 15th. Yes, I used my debit card to pay for my purchases. Fortunately, it does not appear that my account has been compromised. All those charges are mine. And, unlike others, Chase's decision to trim ATM withdrawals and point of sale purchases to $100 and $300, respectively (since changed), didn't affect me. I rarely use an ATM for monetary withdrawals and any purchase over $200 has been thoroughly researched by me before I hand over my plastic.

This event has me thinking about how we use these plastic cards to which we assign our wealth. For a long time, I didn't have a working amount of credit or a debit card. I did everything with cash or checks. Now, if I have a couple of dollars in my wallet, I wonder what I forgot to pay. So thoroughly have I integrated the idea of handing over my debit card to buy something that if a merchant doesn't take debit cards, I take my business elsewhere. That's a far cry from just a few years ago.

There's been a huge hew and cry, rightfully, about the security in place to prevent hackers from obtaining our credit information. As I write this, there's a debate about whether the hackers obtained PIN numbers for cards stolen. Target says, "No", while others are saying, "Yes". I know I'm slated to get a new debit card from Chase to replace the one which I just replaced, you'll remember, in early fall, due to a random hacking. Again, I don't appear to have lost any money nor had any fraudulent charges on my card. I used my debit card late in the affected time period so perhaps they just didn't get to my number. Forty million is a lot to sift through. I was told, when I was hacked before, that once you are hacked, your new number is flagged for an unspecified period figuring, they had my number once, they could try again. (That's an unsettling thought, that, by virtue of the luck of an autodialer, I could be targeted more specifically.)

I've read several articles about European credit and debit cards, how they differ from ours. Their information is coded on a digital chip, while we have a magnetic strip. To use what's called the "chip and PIN" card, you must input your PIN number when you swipe your card, always, for every purchase. It's much more time consuming to create a chip instead of a strip and, over here, banks issuing cards want the merchants to pay for the chips while the merchants think the banks issuing the cards should pay for the chip. How many times have you tried to use a card with a strip only to have it not work? I was told at the grocery to just wipe the strip on my pants and then try to swipe it again. That pants swipe usually does the trick. That doesn't seem like a very good security system, when I can get my card to work by wiping it on my jeans.

I realize the change from strips to chips would also involve point of sale changes, but, in Europe, they can usually handle not only a chip but also our antiquated strip system on the same machine, although many places are refusing to process our strip cards. We're arguing about who should pay for increased security while our data becomes increasingly vulnerable. We're targets here primarily because it's so easy to swipe our data off a magnetic strip.

Part of the blame for this is us. I realized just how much I rely on that rectangle of plastic. It goes everywhere with me. I use it for everything from Dunkin in the morning to Dominos at night. Gas, groceries, hair cuts, Jeep repairs, parking, clothing, cat food, you name it. It's all been put on the card. It is predicted that, within the next 5 years, paper checks will go the way of the dodo bird. Everything will be on a card that gets swiped. Heck Google has an application called Google Wallet which they hope will revolutionize how you tote around your money and how you pay for things.

I don't want to come off as a Luddite here, but I think we really need to look at how we utilize technology to spend. Speaking only for myself, if I look at my spending habits, what I usually spend money on; whip out the card for; I could estimate how much in a given month I spend on Dunkin' and keep that amount of cash on hand. It's harder when you head into the grocery, but my cell phone has a calculator feature and I could be tapping prices into the phone as I shop. "Okay, I've reached my limit of $70 today. Time to go home." Paying by check is a time consuming process at the point of sale, but I never had a check stolen in the decades of using my checkbook.

We are such creatures of habit. Convenience sometimes seems to take precedent over other things. With the new year just a week away, I'm considering reverting to cash for goods and services, leaving the debit card in my wallet and using it only for gas and emergencies or payment with vendors I trust implicitly. It gets problematic when buying on the Internet but there are ways to be more secure when doing that or just not shopping there. As I get my paycheck directly deposited, reverting to cash for goods means a trip to the bank to cash a check for physical money. I currently can go months without setting foot in the bank. Maybe that's something I need to change. Maybe I need to be as well known in my bank branch as I am at Dunkin and Panera.

I think it's something to consider. I also think we, as consumers, need to agitate for the kinds of credit and debit cards the Europeans have. It's not enough to have sophisticated fraud detection services in place when the easiest way to get my information resides in my wallet on the back of a 5 cent piece of plastic.

Beverage:  English Breakfast tea

Deb

So You Absolutely Don't Have To

And there is, yet, another entry in the M&M's "What Were They Thinking" adventure.

I have Francesca to "thank", "prepare", "warn", me about these. Back in September, I wrote about finding the Raspberry M&M's and how sad I was that they just weren't good. Francesca emailed me the following day.

One of my grandchildren brought me a bag of Candy Corn M&Ms. They've successfully ruined TWO of my favorites (and you can publish this!). They are orange, yellow and white and white chocolate inside.

Don't bother!!

But the thought was nice -- her mom knows I like both those candies so thought it would give me a chance to try these.

Again I say "UGH!!"

I had no idea what she was talking about. I hadn't seen anything like what she described. "Maybe this is a regional flavor," I thought. But when I went to Target and chanced upon the Pumpkin Spice M&Ms, right next to them were the Candy Corn ones. 

Although I had been warned, I simply had to check these out for myself. Let's just say I'm passing along the warning with some extra exclamation points for good measure.

These are awful!!!!

I cannot, in the strongest terms, explain how bad these are. I ripped open the package and was almost overpowered by the stench of sugar. It's a sickly sweet smell that just doesn't go away. I like the bright colors of the M&Ms, but the smell was constant. Real M&Ms don't smell like that. Real M&Ms don't really have a smell unless you stick your nose right into the bag. I would walk into the office and that's all I smelled, sugar.

Taste? Sugar. Sugar. And more sugar. The mix of candy corn and white chocolate destroys both flavors. I really like the Hershey white chocolate kisses. That's what white chocolate should taste like. I can eat a few pieces of candy corn. I even like the ones that are pseudo chocolate. You've seen them. They are beige, tan and brown instead of white, yellow and orange. There's a whiff of chocolate about them, real chocolate. These are, well, in keeping with Halloween, the term I could best come up with is "zombified". They are just bad...bad, bad, bad, bad.

A friend can't find these in her area so I happened to find myself in Target the other day. I had to search the candy aisle to find a bag. The pumpkin ones were gone too, replaced by bags of collections of candy. I don't know if this means this wacky experiment in taste combinations is over or if they only made just so many and if you aren't quick on your feet, you just won't get any. What I'm hoping is that M&Ms fires the guy (and it HAS to be a guy. No woman would unleash these abominations on the world.) who thought pumpkin and candy corn were great ideas.

If you happen to find these on your store shelf, do yourself and your wallet a favor and don't buy them. Leave them there. Leave them to rot. I ate a couple handfuls and said, "Forget this noise." The rest was left for the raccoons. I took the bag into the kitchen and it sat on the table for a few days before I put them out. Every time I walked into the kitchen, there was that smell, that overpowering smell of sugar. You shouldn't be smelling your candy before you get to it.

And, even though I know raccoons will eat anything. I felt kind of bad for them. At least with moldy leftovers, there might be some nutritional benefit.

Beverage:  Water

Deb

So You Don't Have To

One of my Facebook friends alerted me to a new seasonal M&M's flavor.

Now, I love pumpkin. It, along with apple cider, define fall. I love pumpkin bread, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin waffles. The pumpkin donuts from Dunkin' Donuts are kind of meh to me, as are the apple cider donuts that people rave about. Give me warm pumpkin pie with a sidecar of cinnamon ice cream. Oh my. That's pretty close to heaven there.

But Pumpkin Spice M&M's? Well, they were on sale at Target so I decided to give them a try.

Black, orange and forest green. I suppose in a candy dish this might be an appealing color combination. Coming out of the bag, not so much.

And the taste? I'm not sure whose idea it was to create this but they should never be allowed to suggest flavors again. Initially, there was a flavor of pumpkin. Now, after having about half the bag over a week's time, I'm not finding them appealing at all. I would like to have weighed in on this attempt before they decided this was a good idea.

Dear M&M/Mars,

Not every season or holiday needs a special flavor. Stick to what you do best, chocolate.

Sincerely,

Deb

In other words, I can't recommend these at all and I dumped the last quarter of the bag on the deck table because I couldn't stomach them anymore. The raccoons liked them.

Beverage:  Seltzer

Deb

Because I Promised

Dr. Francis wanted to see me in a month. She wants to make sure the stiffness in my left wrist and the inflammation in my right eye were just bumps in the road. My September appointment was on the 27th. One month away is very close to Halloween. There was a light bulb moment. I will come on Halloween. One of the nurses quipped, "Will you come in costume?" "Of course," I said. It was two days later that I realized exactly what I'd agree to do.

Now I'm on a mission to make a Halloween costume that meets these criteria.

• Inexpensive. I am not spending $40 for a costume that I will wear once. I don't go to Halloween parties and, other than the doctor's office and work, I probably won't wear it again. 
• Something I can easily change into in the rest room at the doctor's office or, that I can wear while I drive to her office

And the most important criteria ...

• Won't get me kicked out of the Outpatient area of the hospital. 

While bemuses stares and giggles are acceptable, having security called is not. Therefore, the suggestion of going as a witch is kind of out. I thought about going as Tim the Enchanter from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. I have the hat. It was a Christmas present from a friend one year. I could use a broom handle as a walking stick and making a long cloak out of black fabric wouldn't be that hard. There are patterns to make the knights' costumes from this movie so perhaps there is a pattern to make the cloak.

So far, the suggestions have been to go as a teapot, a panda or a crayon. I've seen the crayon sewing patterns. While that is a fantastic idea, in the end, I think it will be too expensive.

Then, I was in Target and walked by the lingerie department. Christmas gift ideas are out and they had a rack of these.

I think there's potential here.

Beverage:  Huckleberry tea

Deb

Well, This Is New

Found at Target.

Plus, they were on sale.

I'm usually up on my M&M's flavors, but this was new to me. These were located right above the coconut filled ones and some people had intermingled them. I don't care for coconut so I spent a few minutes sorting the bins and getting the coconut flavors back to their section. Both have white bags although the coconut ones have blue lettering, not brown.

You'll be wanting to know how I feel about these. Did I eat all the bags? Well, they are interesting.

White chocolate is a bit of a different animal than milk, semi-sweet, or dark chocolate. The chocolate solids that give chocolate its brown color are removed to make white chocolate. It's pretty much cocoa butter, milk solids, salt and sugar. I've found, in my years of eating chocolate, that the flavor of white chocolate can vary quite a bit. The quality of the chocolate the manufacturer starts with affects the taste of the end result. M&M/Mars should know a bit about chocolate but this is also mass produced and, therefore, the taste is affected.

I found the flavor to be a bit "off". The mouth 'feel', and, for a chocoholic like myself, how the chocolate feels in your mouth is a big factor in the overall experience, was a bit waxy. I don't usually chew my M&M's. I suck on them to remove the outer shell and then get the full taste of the interior flavor. With the peanut butter ones, for instance, I'm left with an explosion of peanut butter taste. The white chocolate here, didn't dissolve as well as say Lindt white chocolate does. These are not super sweet. In fact, I think they are similar in sweetness to M&M's dark chocolate filled. But I felt there was a waxy-ness to the chocolate itself. It's not grainy, I've had grainy white chocolate, it just wasn't as good as it could be, at least for me.

So, I have eaten about a third of a bag so far. I eat a handful and that's all I care to have in a sitting. I'm a notorious snacker but I won't reach for these every time I think I have a snack craving. Also, I don't think I'll be buying these again. My all-time favorite is the chocolate cherry ones they have at Valentine's Day. When those are gone, I'm very happy with M&M's with peanuts. I wouldn't be sad if these didn't make their selection long term.

Beverage:  Dr Pepper

Deb