My God, Zel, what did you send?

In what now seems to be another time and place, Iowa played Georgia Tech in the Orange Bowl and beat them. Daniel and I bet on the game's outcome, loser sends winner foodstuffs. I was making plans to ship a carefully wrapped cheesecake. It was just going to be a matter of which one of the dozens that I make would be suitably impressive after being UPS'd across the country.

Then Iowa won.

Daniel has often said that while he is an exceptional cook, dessert is, cough, not one of his strong points. Well, purchased goods qualify as foodstuffs. A bag of Oreos is a foodstuff. A box of tea is a foodstuff.

After a few weeks, I was informed to watch my mail for a box. I watched.

And I watched.

And I watched.

About 20 days went by and there was nothing. Oh dear, this is awkward. What if he forgot? What if he really didn't want to send anything? It's not going to affect a friendship, the passing on a silly bet. What if he did send something but it's lost in the ether? I'd want to know. But if he didn't send something, then he's going to be shamed into sending something and I'll look greedy. Oh dear. Oh dear. Oh dear. I finally opted to ask if something had been sent because I felt he'd want to know it had not arrived. So...very...awkward.

He'd taken the box to the mailing department at work not knowing that personal packages are put dead last on the "to be shipped" list. Then, he attempted to ship it via USPS but had the box returned because "it rattled" and they thought someone had broken something inside. Seizing the box by the sides, as it were, he trotted it over to UPS and shipped it. I was to be on the lookout for it today.

I forgot all about it until I pulled in the drive and saw a box on the front porch. It's a nice box, sturdy and strong with my name on the top, but I haven't ordered anything...oh...wait. Return address. Ah! My goodness. It has some weight to it and yes, it does rattle. But I had been told the rattle was natural. I brought the box inside.

First Mija...

then Pilchard

examined the box. As you can see. It's a rather large box, very sturdy. It's a good shipping box. It was securely taped shut and I had to get a knife to get it open.

Upon opening, I discovered bubble wrapped packages. This is very interesting.

I could tell exactly what was the rattle, but I wasn't sure what the other thing was. It took some gyrations as I can be a bit of a klutz, but I got the big package opened and...

Hot cocoa mix and peanut M&M's. I could not be more thrilled! And in extremely useful, reusable containers.

I'm sure the cocoa mix is a highly guarded secret that I will have to exchange cookies, muffins and maybe a red devil's food cake with homemade milk chocolate frosting to obtain a refill.



The really funny and delightful thing about this is, on Friday, Carole sent me a box. It contained one item. It too, rattled. I knew she'd purchased this but was not expecting it when it arrived.



So, I shall slowly work through Carole's bag, which I did, in fact, open Friday night. Daniel's container will sit happily on the shelf next to the cereal, out of excessive heat and I shall have my favorite chocolate for the next 2 months. Yes, yes, I intend to stretch this out from now through the end of April.

Curiosity being what it is, there was an investigation of both the containers and, of course, the box.

It has been thoroughly investigated and approved as cat-worthy by both felines.

Instructions were included for making the cocoa. I have not had any yet as I had to, of course, come right away and tell everyone. I also found the amaretto I knew I had in the basement so my cocoa will be served avec l'amande. It's going to be fun raiding tonight.

And, lest I forget, there were instructions for the M&M's:

When I logged on tonight to compose this post, I noticed I had mail.

Hey! It's opened. I'm incredibly thrilled. You are the best and I do believe Mija and Pilchard would agree. Toss a sissal mouse into the box and it's been entertaining the cats off and on now for at least an hour.

I do have one question, however. Is that your real address on the label to where I might ship baked goods to bribe those friends you often have over for Sunday dinner into allowing an extra hour of WOW goodness so we can down the Iron Council?

Beverage: Slightly flat Coke which is now gone and which is about to be replaced by HOT COCOA!

Deb

That didn't look good.

I was going to make the last box of jello last night, to bring it to work this morning. Lime flavor. I actually need to cook tonight as I've used up all the edible leftovers. The ones with spots and fuzz are going in the garbage tomorrow evening.

I opened up the box and the jello inside was hard. This is not necessarily bad. The inner bag is sealed but high humidity could make it hard. Ripped open the bag and crushed the contents into a bowl. Now I notice that the jello has dark flecks in it. I didn't see any holes in the inner bag but this worried me. I picked up some of the small chunks. The dark flecks didn't look like anything other than, say, coffee grounds, but something just said, "Don't eat this." So, off into the garbage it went. I was kind of bummed because it's peanut butter sandwiches for lunch today and a big bowl of jello would have been very nice. As it is, I have most of the rest of the applesauce to go with my sandwiches. Once I finish the cranberry juice in the fridge, I will be out of fruit. (Yes, it could be said I'm 'fruity' enough, but I'd love some fresh fruit.)

There are frozen raspberries in the back of the freezer. I should make them into muffins. That would be good. I'm down to one large freezer bag of muffins but with vegetable oil on the counter now, I can make more.

I'm finding myself more resourceful and creative when I do cook. I have all these cookbooks. It's about time I put them to productive use.

But I still miss jello.

Beverage: Assam tea

Deb

It's what now?

I heard on the radio that today is the start of Meteorological Spring. Oh. Right. Sure. Of course.

Last Wednesday, when I walked out of my mother's house to head to Iowa City, the temperature was -35 with the wind chill. I had to stop and get gas because I knew a quarter tank of gas would not get me from Walker to Iowa City. There was no place to park the car so it blocked the wind. I wore the wrong coat. I did not wear my big fluffy down-filled Iowa Hawkeyes Starter jacket. I wore my reasonably warm Land's End coat. The wind would gust and go right down the neck. By the time the car was filled, I couldn't feel the tips of my fingers. Thank god Jeeps have among the best heaters in vehicles. I just cranked it all the way up and I was toasty warm in 10 minutes.

It was cold, even for me. This is the gravel road heading away from the farm.

Doesn't it even look cold? The wind was blowing right to left and there was minor drifting.

Because of my heritage, "cold" is a relative term. I'm not cold until the air temperature gets to below 10 degrees. Now that can be with or without a wind, but on clear winter days like this, if you can be out of that wind, you'll find the sunshine is very pleasant unless the air temperature, as it was, is near or below zero. It's just cold. Period.

We've had the third snowiest February on record, nearly 24 inches, with the total accumulation this year at nearly 60 inches. That's 5 feet. That's a lot of snow. I know some of my friends on the east coast will just laugh as they have shoveled feet of snow from different storms. Anyway one looks at it, that's a lot of accumulated snow.

There's melting now. I shoveled the driveway apron so Pam could get her car into the drive and a lot of that has melted. I'm looking for a newspaper that supposedly came but was probably buried. It's 2 weeks old but I kind of feel like I am on a treasure hunt. Wonder were it wound up that I haven't seen it yet?

So, to hear that we have started spring by another calculation made me chuckle. It's to be in the 40's this weekend here. I'm itching to start seeds indoors. I used to do that. Sprouting plants in the house is definately an indication of spring whether the weatherman or Mother Nature agree.

Beverage: Christmas Morning tea

Deb

Visiting Target

I used the gift card up. It's gone. Au revoir! Auf Wiedersehen!

What did I get for my card?

Half-way through the month, I made a list of vital necessities.

• Cat Food
• Conditioner
• Cough Drops
• Cereal
• Card for Carole
• Oatmeal
• Pasta
• Dr. Pepper
• Bread
• Vegetable Oil

You all know my math skills are shaky at best, but I stood in the aisles doing long addition to make sure I didn't accidentally go over the card amount. At mid-month, that would not have been good. With coupons and the 10¢ per bag discount Target gives you when you bring your own bag (I had 2), I discovered I could get a Valentine's card for my mother, too, and use only $3 over half of the card. I didn't want to use the whole thing because there is always the end of the month and bills. I felt very good about myself, my prioritizing and my math.

I trotted off today to get a few more items.

• Cereal x 2
• Toothbrush
• Cough drops x 2
• Kitty Litter (By far the biggest expense)
• Mr. Plummer
• Toaster Strudel
• Tuna
• Cottonelle Wipes

I had milk and bread on the list too, but I didn't like the selection at Target. My local Target is undergoing major renovations to add the fresh vegetable and meat selections of a SuperTarget store. While prices for milk and bread are comparable to any other store, I just didn't feel good about the selection, as they are moving things around and shelves are picked over. I have a wee bit of cash so I will dash over to the grocery tomorrow and get milk and bread. Yes, I do have milk delivered, but I was gone during the delivery time this past week, so I took a vacation hold. It will be Thursday before my fresh half-gallon appears in the milk box. I have cereal to eat before then.

I got one item not on the list, a box of Stash's Chocolate Hazelnut tea. I know that sounds weird, but, when it's piping hot, it's really, really good. Stash made the tea my sister gave me for Christmas, which I like and which I'm nearly out of.

Added up, subtracting coupons and the bag discount, I had to chip in $12.69. No, I didn't NEED the Toaster Strudels. They are a quick breakfast when I get up late. Plus, they were on sale and I had a coupon. I didn't NEED the Mr. Plummer. I don't use it unless my plunging attempts don't get the drain running faster. I know it's not good on pipes, but I can't unclog drains and I certainly can't afford a plumber. And I didn't have to get the tea, but it was on sale and it's not always on the shelf anywhere.

I have the cash. I treated myself to delivery pizza when I got back from Iowa. That's going to be it now for delivery pizza unless I am the recipient of some largess. I could afford it and I felt I was worth it.

I have done well. I'm still reading at least 4 magazines a month. The stack is shorter, although there is a long way to go. I am half-way through the book you've seen on the side here since November. My goal is to finish that this week. I was able to pay almost all of my bills. I forgot about the gas bill and the phone bill comes at mid-month and I will be hard pressed to pay that. I haven't written a letter in a month. Shame on me, but I have nothing to do at the office so that's going to change. I have not had cash to buy fresh fruits and veggies and I'm down to about 3 inches of cranberry juice. I have one box of jello left and I did think about buying a few more boxes. I have not gone to bed consistently by 11 and I need to, nor have I picked up a craft project and finished it.

BUT, I am immensely proud of my ability to pay for anything I want or need in cash for a whole month. I used my cards only for gas to go to Iowa, nothing else. I have proven to myself, for the second month in a row, that my needs and wants do not have to involve a piece of plastic.

Every change involves baby steps. As March dawns, I'm getting there.

Beverage: Chocolate hazelnut tea

Deb