Not On My Watch!

For my birthday, my best friend, Patt, sent me packets of the best instant hot cocoa on the planet. Seriously. This cocoa is incredibly good. Years and years and years ago (it seems, and then, didn't she just graduate? Time is fluid.), when Carole was in marching band in high school, to raise money, the band did Market Day fundraising. They bought food wholesale and you purchased this food in bulk. We used to get a lot of meat through them because things like chicken breasts and hamburger patties were individually sealed.

One of the things they sold, from November through March, was a box of Land O'Lakes hot cocoa. There were 6 different flavors in a box. Oh my! We would wind up buying 2 boxes per month and storing them because cold winter months require good hot cocoa to survive. I'm torn about which flavor was my favorite. This chocolate cinnamon was right up there along with their white cocoa and chocolate raspberry. Patt's cocoa didn't last very long.

Fast forward to Christmas and there are three packages of the same size in the box of Christmas gifts sent from Carole and Larry. I opened one and knew exactly what the other two would be.

Look at this! These are store display boxes of cocoa. You tear off the one side and the cocoa is easy access.

There are a dozen packages in each box. That's 36 packages of cocoa. I was sort of parceling them out because I didn't have any other cocoa, not even the mix in milk kind. I figured, the next trip to the grocery, I could get the Stephen's instant cocoa they have, assuming they had it. I've gone multiple trips without seeing it.

I mentioned to my friend, Terry, that I was low on cocoa. Christmas 2014, she sent me some Williams-Sonoma mix in milk cocoa and I've been working through that. The container was down to a half a mug's worth of chocolate. It's shaved and it actually goes very nicely on ice cream. The first week of January, I get a box. Inside is a note. "I read in your letter that you were nearly out of cocoa. That is not happening on my watch!"

The old container is to the left. In the middle are vanilla-tinged marshmallows. They are nice, but I tend to drink my cocoa without adornment.

I do, however, add more than the "recommended" amount of cocoa to a mug. It can sometimes be akin to drinking the syrup out of a can of Hershey's, for those of you who remember that.

Winter is saved. I just need to make this last until...oh...May, perhaps. The thing about Terry's cocoa is that it has to be mixed in milk. This is a great way to get calcium, at least that's what I tell myself when I'm on my third cup.

Beverage:  Water (I'm not bringing my cocoa to work. I don't want to share.)

Deb

Chasing the Storm

It's one thing to drive into the storm. The horizon gets dark blue black and you know you're in for a ride. It's another thing to see it creeping up on you. Such was the case on Thursday.

My friend, Terry, was in town on business so we managed to find time on Thursday night to get together for dinner. I got into the Jeep and headed east. Traffic. I didn't realize the Chicago Bulls were playing their last game of the season (They lost and so are out of the playoffs.) in Chicago. Traffic within 10 miles of the United Center crawled, at best. While at a stop light, I did more than just glance in the rearview mirror. The radio report was, "We're tracking a line of storms with potentially high winds moving east through the Chicagoland area." As if traffic wasn't moving well now, just wait until the rain comes.

It avoided me. I drove through some sprinkles, but the heavy rain, the stuff I can see in the rearview mirror, went around me. Later, during the evening, when we were eating, it rained heavily, but that, too, was gone by the time we left the restaurant and I drove home.

It needs to stop raining for a week and some of this should go to the southwestern US where it's desperately needed.

Beverage:  English Breakfast Tea

Deb

Morning and Evening

Here are a couple more shots of Chicago on my travels. This was sunrise last week as I headed north to a job. For those not in the know, this is looking out at Lake Michigan from near the intersection of the lake and the Chicago River.

I wish I could get a photo of the sunlight reflected off the condo buildings on the north side of the river. They look edged in gold leaf.

Here is a photo taken a couple weeks ago from Navy Pier.

One of my best friends, Terry, was in town to do a show at McCormick Place, a behemoth of a convention center south of downtown proper. I drove in to pick her up and go get supper. I decided Navy Pier, which juts into the lake, would be a good place; a variety of restaurants and ample parking.

When I picked her up, it was a lovely 70 degrees and sunny. She was staying at a hotel to the left of the buildings on the left side of the photo. It would be a 15 minute drive north to Navy Pier. As we turned onto Columbus Drive to head north, the Jeep was rocked with a blast of wind. We'd had the windows down but the wind coming into the Jeep was about 10 degrees colder than the air temperature when I picked her up. The locust trees in Grant Park, bright yellow, lost a chunk of their leaves which created this yellow curtain as we drove north. The smell of fall in the Midwest was instantly upon us. As we prepared to turn right to head into Navy Pier parking, the clouds rolled in. This is the view when we came out of the parking garage to the pier. Skyscrapers in Chicago were effectively cut in two.  The predicted cold front had arrived. Although I'm afraid of heights, at a time like this, I wonder what it would be like to be in the clouds or if there was a way to be above these.

We had a lovely 2 and a half hour dinner, with very attentive service. The sky grew dark as the sun set. When we left the restaurant, the clouds had passed. I should have tried to take some photos of the night skyline; it's beautiful; but I'd neglected to bring a coat and it was downright cold.

There is a joke in this neck of the woods. "Don't like the weather? Wait 10 minutes and it will change." Yeah.

Beverage:  Black Cherry Sparkling Seltzer

Deb

Baby, It's Cold Outside

The second polar vortex of the month has arrived and with it comes snow overnight and crystal clear days which will leech all the warmth the city is able to trap during the day into the night air. We love comparing "how cold is it by you" and the weather people get their undies in one huge knot over "dangerous wind chills".

The first vortex came with a dumping of snow.

That was a bit tough to deal with. I cleared the deck and the front steps and cleared a path to the Jeep and to the mail box. The rest could sit. An aspirin later and I was fine, tired, but not achy. That's how it's been all winter, so far. I take an aspirin before I go to shovel and that seems to prevent the aches I might usually get from ever occurring. My rheumatologist reminds me that aspirin was the choice of doctors for a long time to treat arthritis. Therefore, as long as I go slowly and take the occasional aspirin, I'll be fine.

I just shrug at the cold weather warnings. See, this is what winter is up nort'. We have snow. We have cold. Sometimes that cold gets below zero in places. It's bracing and the star gazing at night in the winter just cannot be beat. Man, you can see the underside of God's throne. I'm convinced of it. I think that's part of the Milky Way right there and, if we're really lucky, the Northern Lights put in an appearance. I remember them dancing across the northern sky when I was a girl, undulating waves of green. Dad used to wake me up, if I'd gone to sleep, and come watch them from a northern window. Living in Chicago doesn't allow one to see them owing to light pollution and the fact that they aren't visible this far south.

But, there is a very real danger in the cold if you aren't prepared. Wind exposed skin will freeze within minutes at the temperatures we've had during these cold snaps. Blood vessels constrict and reduce blood flow to the extremities first; hands and feet; to protect the core where the vital organs are. Continued exposure causes the water in cells to freeze. Those cells die and take the skin with them, creating black patches where dead skin is. It's not pretty and looks like third degree burns. So, keeping wind exposure to a minimum is paramount. But what if you don't have an attached garage and have to go from the back door to the Jeep? Well, I write a friend and ask if she had some foresight that others didn't.

My friend, Terry, knit me a scarf and fingerless gloves for Christmas.

They are a light gray and complement my slate gray winter coat. I would not use the gloves in this cold because I want to keep my finger tips warm but the scarf. Let's see. So far, I have worn it a total of 7 days. It's about twice as long as the scarves I crocheted so I can double wrap it around my head and neck. My crocheted scarves were really for the neck, to be wrapped around and employed with a hat.

Terry has a knitting club she goes to and I wonder if these were made as part of the club. I love it. I very nearly made a scarf for myself but couldn't decide on the yarn and, by the time I'd finished my last scarf, I was kind of sick of making them and needed a break.

It's part of my ritual on these frosty mornings, grab the scarf and wrap it around my head and sides of my face over top my ear muffs, toss the ends over my shoulders and put on the coat. That scarf isn't going anywhere once I put my coat on. No frostbite is getting to me, even if I'm outside shoveling the walk. The only thing I have never, ever figured out in all my years of living where winters are cold, how do I keep from steaming up my glasses.

Beverage:  Asbury's Afternoon Tea

Deb

Makes Me Easy to Buy For

The Christmas gifts this year were heavy on food. That's not necessarily a bad thing. Once the food is gone, there's nothing to have to dust or find a spot for or thank the giver profusely for while thinking, "OMG, this is the most hideous shirt I have ever seen. What was she thinking?"

My friends know me quite well. Meredith sent the hot cocoa 9 pack and the two boxes of tea. Patt sent the chocolate chip cookies from a company called Geoff and Drew's. I've never heard of them before. I have yet to eat one of the cookies. That's on tap for tomorrow.

Terry sent the adorable snowman ornament complete with two pieces of chocolate. The scone mix, the chocolate cats and the Crater Lake hot cocoa mix are courtesy of my daughter.

I've been working on the hot cocoa mix. She sent me Ghirardelli hot cocoa for my birthday. That's definitely a sipping kind of cocoa, rich and chocolatey. The Crater Lake hot cocoa is from her trip west in September and it has a tinge of huckleberry in it. That might sound a bit weird but it's really good. My problem is that I make the hot cocoa and then get side tracked so, by the time I come back to drink it, it's tepid cocoa. Still, there is a lovely berry flavor, not at all overpowering to the cocoa. I'll probably drink the whole bottle and then start on Meredith's cocoa flavors. Might last me through January.

I kind of like being somewhat predictable in this fashion. You know that if you send me chocolate or tea, it's the right size, always fits and is always appreciated. Plus, I toss some of the chocolate into my work lunches and I think of you when I eat it.

Try doing that with a sweater.

Beverage:  Irish Breakfast tea

Deb

Please Don't Faint

The preparations for sewing the jacket I'm wearing to Carole and David's vow blessing ceremony included clearing off the living room table. I had deposited items that I wanted to address but which were not crucial to life, such as bills. I have trained myself so bills go in one specific place, period, and immediately upon receipt. I don't even open them. They go rightthere and I always know what I have to pay.

Letters, cards, interesting bits, well, they get piled. I don't have a filing system. I have a "piling system". Oh yes, the thing I want should be in this pile here. On the table were letters from Christmas cards, Valentine cards, "thinking of you" cards, letters received in the past month, a really old one from December and one from January. That friend told me she was moving two blocks north. I don't think I have that address. Wonder if she did?

So part of the clean up of the table was to NOT just move the pile into the office but to go through each and every piece of paper and do something with it. I have enough stamps. Patt and Terry sent me note card-sized stationary for Christmas. I have no excuse other than my inertia and, on Saturday, I was overcoming that.

Two parcels with baby gifts were wrapped, labeled and made ready for shipping today. I hand wrote 8 letters, applied my stickers and stamps and made a pile next to my purse on the kitchen table. Have to take my purse in the morning so I have no excuse not to grab the stack.

On purpose, today, I did not pack a lunch, which forced me to leave the office in search of foodstuffs. That allowed me to swing by the post office and drop everything into the mail. Therefore, some of you could see an honest to gosh letter by Wednesday. I know you will be shocked. I hope, ultimately, you will be amused and maybe even happy to receive it. I'm feeling so good about clearing off that table, I'm looking at the table in the office and thinking, I should look through this stuff. Some people might even get 2, count 'em, 2 letters because I find something from you I know I didn't answer.

On the down side, I'm running out of stickers. I'll have to watch for Hobby Lobby's 50% off sale and see if I can squeeze a $10 sticker purchase out of the budget.

Beverage:  Dr Pepper

Deb

Letters

Look! Another three letters are ready to be mailed tomorrow. Yes, that's right. I said "another". I dropped 7 letters in the mailbox today. I have more to write but I was so proud of myself for getting this far, I felt like bragging.

I don't really have an excuse not to write a small note to my friends this year. My friends, Patt and Terry sent me note cards, small enough for a quick note that says, "Yes, I think about you. I'm fine. How are you?" Each of them made their note cards. How can I not use them?

I have stamps. I've been working through the bag of stamps Carole and I collected over the years but are not going to save. I just need to spend $4.00 for a couple sheets of 10 cent stamps and I'm good to go. I have no real excuse other than the blahs and not wanting to write.

But, I'm telling myself, reminding me, really, how much I enjoy dashing off a few quick paragraphs. It prompts people to remain in touch. This month, at least, I am accomplishing one of my resolutions.

Beverage:  English Breakfast tea

Deb

Feeding the cat

It was time to empty the Lucky Cat Bank.

I mentioned last year how we got this bank from the Japanese pavilion at Epcot Center at Disney World. There was some lore with it. A white cat with the raised paw was to signify luck. You were to feed the cat but not count the amount of money you fed it. By this anonymous method, you watched the amount of your change grow.

I couldn't get change to stay in the bank anymore as the interior contents were up to the slot at the back of the head. Originally, the bottom hole was covered with green felt. But that had to be removed in order to retrieve the coins in the bank. And we discovered quarters don't come out easily, so a groove had to be carved in the bottom hole and quarters had to be turned on edge and pulled out. So, the only coins in the bank are pennies, nickels and dimes. When you don't spend them, however, eventually, they add up.

I emptied the coins from my wallet. That's the pile to the right containing a few quarters. Then, I peeled the tape off the bottom and started shaking out the contents.

It turned out to be a goodly amount of coinage.

All of this goes into a bank Carole and I made over 10 years ago, right about the time her dad left us. We were feeling very low and wondering how we were going to make any ends meet, let alone pay the mortgage and utilities and provide for the few things she needed in high school. We decided we needed some symbol, something to rally around as emblematic of how we weren't going to be beaten down.

It's a heavy cardboard heart-shaped container. We decorated it and I used a quote from Shakespeare's Tempest Keep. Prospero says it in Act 4, Scene 1.

Our revels now are ended. These our actors,

As I foretold you, were all spirits, and
Are melted into air, into thin air:
And like the baseless fabric of this vision,
The cloud-capp'd tow'rs, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve,
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff
As dreams are made on; and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.

I used this quote to remind us that as long as we had dreams, we were good. There are days when I don't believe my sentiments, but, for the most part, I have held to this. As long as I can dream, I am good.

I have emptied this container three times since we made it. All the times were in preparation for a vacation. I don't empty it until the lid won't sit on it square anymore.

It's about half-full now. Buried under the coins are a few dollar bills I added back in June. I try to resist the urge to fish them out. I can't remember when I emptied this last; I might be going on 2 years now. With a debit card in my wallet, I rarely carry cash about, although I have been doing that in an effort to keep track of where my cash goes. If all I have to spend is the $3.00 in my wallet, I'm going to think three or four times about buying that overpriced bottle of soda.

I have no clue how much was contributed to the dream keeper. That's as it should be. If I remember correctly, I've turned in $117, $98 and $86 in coin and bills.

Remember how saving your loose change was something everyone did? You walked into a home and pretty much everyone had a change jar. My friend Terry had a jar that she and her hubby filled with pennies. It was dubbed the "Pennies for Paris" jar. They turned it in and put the proceeds into a fund to go to Paris. I remember her saying it wasn't much every time they turned it in, but it certainly added up.

It may be an anachronism to save one's change. For me, however, it is a reminder of how far I've come when I can put a couple handfuls of coins into a dream.

Beverage: Scottish Blend tea

Deb

Thank you, Terry!

These are brownie pops; a pumpkin, a ghost and a black cat. (Background provided by my own black cat.) I haven't actually eaten one, but they are so neat, I had to share.

Beverage: Huckleberry tea

Deb