Took the CSA plunge

Half a share seemed enough for our household. And the price of a half share varied quite a bit. I ended up paying $300 for 18 to 20 weeks of vegetables. So about $15 a week. Not too bad, actually. My main worries are - picking the stuff up consistently and eating it all before the next delivery/pick-up. Not that I am too terribly worried about much of anything, actually.

Days always seem weird to me when I a) get little sleep or b) get up to an alarm or c) get up early. This was two out of three. I woke up at 6:47 feeling pretty wide awake, so I stayed up since one of my alarms was set for 7:02 am.

Mom and I watched The Book Thief last night. Overall I enjoyed it. There were some weird bits. I couldn't figure out what the movie wanted to be. Death as a narrator was odd. Most of the actors seemed to be doing some stylized acting. Nazi Germany is tough to present, especially now that we are, sort of, far from it. Weird mixture of German speaking, English speaking and a combination - speaking English with a German accent. I love Geoffrey Rush. Well, it did make me think a bit and that isn't a bad thing.

The movie didn't finish till about 10:45 pm and I wasn't ready for bed - so I played some Civilization on my xBox 360 - in which I got caught up and suddenly realized it was 1 in the morning! Eeek! Mom, of course, took that time to be wide awake. Sigh. I think I got her to lie down for about an hour. Then I heard her up and about in the bathroom a few times the rest of the night. This morning, she was sure some woman was watching the movie with her last night. Yes, I have long hair. And she kept telling me that she wasn't getting in the bed because she was saving it for her mother when she came to visit. Her mom died in 1967. 

Got up, futzed around a bit and then headed down to The Smith. I was pleasantly surprised that my co-worker had had the forethought to remove the film stuff. All I had to do before the traveling theatre people arrived was replace the gels in the Cyc lights - which is a teeny ordeal. The company arrived right around 8 and Terren was not far behind. I stayed a little bit and made sure they were all set, then toddled home, feeling discombobulated. Oh well.

Oops - written and not posted till after midnight. Sigh.

Those Four little words we all long to hear.

It has been a while since I tried to make a quiche. So I attempted one today. I think it turned out pretty well, all things considered. Mom used to eat them at least. Anyway, tonight I head those four little words everyone who cooks a meal for someone else longs to hear, "It tastes like cardboard." Music to my ears for sure.

My mom thinks that I am super valuable to the Smith. She asks me if they appreciate me. I think they do, most of the time. I am making a list of things that have happened during my tenure at the Smith, big and small. It is actually a pretty impressive list. Ok, I think it is impressive. I might ask Kelly to weigh in at some point. And maybe Jessica. I guess this is partly because I want to be known partially for what I have done and not just for what I have done lately.

It is weird. I haven't really done much today, yet I feel like I have accomplished a good bit. I am slowly getting closer to being ready to video tape a puzzle put together. A friend asked me why I wanted to create the video - and I realized the answer: I love time lapse photography. In college, a couple friends and I put together a little stop action film. I wish I could find it. I found a lot of my other film work - ok, not a lot - I have found a few pieces. All crap - except for the Alice in Wonderland bit I did in High School - it had Abigail Saltonstall and Karen Bowlby in it - go me! And Doug Orr, Hunt Stehli and James Marquand. I wonder if I ought to digitize it and put it up on the internet. Yes, I think that will be another project sometime soon. I have it on videotape somewhere so I can get that digitally transferred somehow - actually I think Karl (my brother)(who doesn't read this blog - or much of anything since he is so busy!) might actually have that technology. Hmm. Anyway, I remember seeing time lapse photography of all sorts of things - flowers growing, buildings being built, I just thought a puzzle being put together would be cool. And it might help me to see my process. And document my obsession if I time stamp. Can I time stamp a time lapse film? Hmm. I don't know. We shall see, I guess.

One game down, many still to go. I finished Assassin's Creed Liberation today. I do enjoy the Assassin's Creed games - great historic places they recreate - and all the climbing around and exploring is fun. And there are some elements of Role Playing involved - not a lot, but a little.

And that is about all, really. And working on that Smith accomplishment list. And trying to get through a teeny headache - I don't often get headaches, so I am confused whence this one came. Maybe not enough water?

Despite starring Emma Stone, Amazing Spider-Man 2 was pretty bad. Fun, but bad. Glad I rented it from Netflix instead of watching it in the theatre!

Good things about being woken at 4 in the morning

Ok, there really aren't any good things about being woken at 4 in the morning. I would much rather still be sleeping - so I will type a few words and then slip back into sleep.

First, helping mom to feel a little less stressed is a good thing. I got her a yogurt and put more music on. Hopefully that will help her to feel more relaxed. Anything is possible.

Then, as I was starting to go back to sleep, I looked at my phone and somehow that reminded me (oh, right, there was a reminder on the screen) that the recycling needed to go out. Brrr. But I did get another little accumulated recycling out with the regular weekly amount of stuff. Huzzuh!

Off to sleep land, but first check snapchat - I don't get this app yet - out of the people I know on there, only one person consistently posts anything - and she posts two or three times a day. Then a quick look at a few other things - mostly instagram on my phone - then a game or two of Word Jigsaw. Then, oops, opened my computer - looked at Facebook - and found a cool animation that I shared on my timeline.

Woo hoo. What excitement. Now I am going to try to sleep some more before a long work day at The Smith. Zzzzzzzz

Oops, opened my yahoo home page by mistake - now I have a bunch of tabs open to be skimmed. Sigh.

And up again - mom wanted to tell me all about the messes she has been making. Yay. So I gave her some more fruit and some cold water and asked her to tell me more about it later. Hopefully, I can get another hour of sleep. Right. (I didn't)

Watched The Winter Bone last night and enjoyed it much more than I thought I would. I was going to watch it with mom, but at the last minute decided against it, which I think was a wise choice. I don't think she would have been able to follow it. I also watched a couple more episodes of Agents of SHIELD. Now I am up to the point where I need to watch a Marvel Movie (Thor: The Dark World - which I think I may have seen but can't remember - if I did see it, it didn't make that much of an impression on me, despite having Natalie heartthrob Portman in it) before continuing on with the series. I added it to my Netflix list anyway - maybe this time I will remember it. I wish Netflix kept track for me...

Games I Play

Yes, I am a player. If you didn't know that before, know it now. I like to play. I believe that play is part of what keeps one young at heart. Unfortunately, I do play the badder sorts of games as well. Let's start with those.

I need to play games with my mom. Most of them are for her own good. Whenever I go out, I am "going to The Smith." Even if I am not going to the Smith - that is where I tell her I am going. I sometimes add Wegman's to the places I am going and to the things I am doing. More information than that just starts her brain whirring - and that can be sad. I try to keep mom as calm as possible.

At home, whenever I need to "escape" from my mom - because if I didn't escape, I would go even crazier than I already am - I say I am "going to the bathroom." She can't really deny me going to the bathroom(even though she sometimes tries to). When I eventually return, I might tell her what I was actually doing - within reason. Playing xBox is just "playing," working in the kitchen is just that. Working on the computer (which includes checking Facebook - I mean, come on, that takes a lot of time and effort...)

Next is the answer game. Mom used to ask the same question over and over again. She still does, but the question has become "What am I doing?" or some variation of that. It is really hard to answer that. I am not one for giving her activities - when I have given her activities she gets even more stressed out. She doesn't do much, so my answers are pretty simple most of the time: You are going to the bathroom, you are lying down thinking happy thoughts, you are eating your lunch.

Just for your information, mom's cognitive skills are declining appreciably. I can say a sentence I said six months ago and today she can't parse it. I need to keep my sentences down to about five words to maximize her listening comprehension. No allusions, no big vocabulary words. Sigh.

I play games when I make meals. Ok, not so much play games as sometimes make two meals - or one and a half meals. For instance, if I make salmon for my mom, I will make something else for me. Or tonight, we had salad, hamburgers and sweet potato tots. On my salad I added green olives and mild banana peppers - two things that mom has made clear she doesn't like. And for our hamburgers (which I marinate in Worcestershire Sauce and stuff with cheese) and tots I added a few pizza pockets - again things that mom doesn't like. And I play with recipes - making things I have always wanted to make. Mom says she loves the egg drop soup from Main Moon on Exchange Street. Well, we are out of it - and there is still Chinese food left over - so I am going to make some egg drop soup for her. Yippee?

I try not to play relationship games, but I am a gamer, so...

Ours (which is in the attic) looks like this

Speaking of gaming - I love all sorts of games - from tic tac toe to chess, from old maid to bridge, from Stratego to well, anything. I own an xBox. Our first video game console was the Odyssey. I have had two NES's - both stolen - from the same house - on successive years (sad story that). I love to play pool. I wasn't a big arcade gamer, but did enjoy a few. Played lots of games on the computer and still like to. I don't have a lot of games on my phone - but the two I have currently (well, I have three but I don't play one of them too frequently) are bridge (yay!) and Word Jigsaw. I love them both and use them as rewards or time fillers.

Anybody want to play?

New Obsession

Who hasn't had at least one or two obsessions in their lives? Not addictions, at least, not in my case. I don't think I have ever been addicted to anything. Obsessed? Sure. Lots of times. The good thing about obsessions in my life thus far, is that they often end and that they haven't been particularly life threatening. My new current obsession is a teeny game on my iPhone called Word Jigsaw. I may even splurge on it and buy the pro package. We shall see. Right now, I am thoroughly enjoying playing the medium size - over and over and over again. Each game seems a little different and they last between 25 seconds or so to 5 minutes or so depending on how difficult I find them.

Nice day yesterday, besides a Smith SNAFU. The sound system didn't want to work, though it eventually did. After I had to let everyone go home. Sigh. Other than that, though, I had a pleasant day.

It started off with hot chocolate with a friend. Yes, an actual hot beverage. One of the few that I will occasionally enjoy. At Opus. I don't go there a lot, but have never had a bad experience there. I do sometimes still miss the Asian restaurant that was there, though...

I did a little grocery shopping (actually asked the scarf receiver to send me a selfie of her wearing the thing - though I doubt that will ever happen), bought a new pair of kitchen scissors (though these too have plastic handles - sigh) and partook of all sorts of free samples of food stuffs at Wegman's.

The time at home was pretty pleasant, too. Mom ate her lunch easily. I played her music on a CD player - our new thing. Napped a little (didn't sleep particularly well for whatever reasons). I did some work on the puzzle (no picture today), cleaned the kitchen, later heated up leftovers - I really need to pull the trigger and get a new to the house stove. I can't decide whether to go for Lowes and a new, new one - or go to Universal Appliance and get a refurbished one. I am leaning towards UA because they are local and weird. We shall see on Monday or Tuesday. Later, I let mom watch Doc Martin while I went to my room and watched the second Percy Jackson movie. I tried to find out if the third was scheduled, but apparently it was canned. Oh well. The PJ movie was decent - as long as one had no expectations of great art.

I keep forgetting that tomorrow (Monday) is a holiday. I hope an aide comes, since we didn't have one on Friday...

More Bills

Where do they all come from? Goodness gracious. I would like a life without bills, please. Money sucks. And what does money really represent anyway?

That will be my distasteful task of the day! Yippee! I am looking forward to it being done with. Then I can get on with the rest of my exciting day. Playing, puttering and piano-ing. I put my electric piano - one of my best and favoritest purchases from when I was actually flush (meaning having considerable quantities of disposable income) back in the beginning of the century - in the back office, right next to my xBox. I feel I am more motivated to play/practice/learn because the piano is right there.

I took lessons a long time ago - I think for about four years - and like many a kid, was reluctant to practice. My piano teacher took it all in stride, though. I eventually learned to play a bit and memorized a few pieces of pieces. I still remember and can play (mostly) the first part of Scott Joplin's Maple Leaf Rag. Yes, I got hooked on ragtime after watching The Sting. I could play a lot of the music that was used in that film, once upon a time. Now, I can barely struggle through the beginning of Maple Leaf. But I sense some improvement. My goal is to have a repertoire of maybe 10 pieces that I can play without recourse to sheet music. And to be better at "faking." Ok, maybe not better, since I can't do it at all just yet. But someday...

On the theatre front - I heard back from one of the many letters I put out with some good information - she just had forgotten to reply to my message. (Sadly, my thank you note hasn't found its way to her yet - her mailbox is full...) I had, though, already grabbed the bull by the horns and went directly to the horses mouth. (Hmm, weird looking animal that conjures up...) Which is what I did with the second theatre bit as well. We communicated a bit and set up an appointment to meet, only for me to find that mom's dentist and eye doctor appointments interfered with both days that had been offered. Which is ok. I am in no tearing hurry on that project.

Any suggestions on what to read next? I am about to finish the last Rachel Morgan book. Boo!

'Spection

Introspection and retrospection are probably the primary two 'spections of which I write. When I am not actively adventuring outwards, I have the time, energy and inclination to do some inward adventuring. I believe that both are important to leading a quality life. No real retrospection recently...

Right now, my introspection is focused on my right shoulder. It is hurting for no apparent reason. I think it is something that could be solved by Chiropractic, so I might look into that on Monday. Maybe caused by my work on the opera?

What else am I introspecting? My mom. She seems to be deteriorating. Today she asked me about Hobart and William Smith - and if there were two colleges and how separate or unified they were. My words, not hers. She has lived on this campus for 60 years. Sigh. But she can still fake being fairly competent. I don't know what to do. The good news is that I might be getting help soon. Subsidized help. That would be awesome. We are having a fiscal review from the Ontario County Aging people on Thursday. Always fun, fiscal reviews. Have I mentioned lately that I dislike the fact that so much of life seems to revolve around money? If not, consider it mentioned...

For those of you who follow this blog, you know that I am generally an upbeat person. I do try to, and usually succeed, at looking at the bright side of life. My mom often calls me Pollyanna (and no, this isn't because she has forgotten who I am). Right this second, though, I am a bit on the blue side of things. I just found out that my housemate will be leaving the house in Clayton, NC. Which means that I need to sell my house. Which wasn't possible 6 years ago and is probably a lot less likely now.  And selling the house is not easy 600 miles away.

Then again, I get two little offsets, and though the whole house thing is heavy and weighs on me a bit, my mood is lightened by a) finding out that the lab for mom's blood test is just drop in-able - and b) getting another little baby step forward on Flippety.

As for every day things, I make a pretty tasty cream of broccoli soup Saturday night for dinner. With a salad. The soup was especially tasty! I halved a recipe I saw in How to Cook Everything, added some cheese and called it soup! Sunday, we had breakfast for dinner: egg, hash browns, bacon and waffles!

With home made croutons!

No caption necessary

And it was game night again Sunday! Yay, we won!

Brinner

Most of my day was spent puttering around on Flippety. I know the game has issues, but they are ones that I don't know how to fix. Yet. So I am fixing what I can and going on with my life. Sadly, one of the things that I don't know how to fix is going to also get the game kicked back from Apple. (An iAd issue) The things I can fix, I am fixing: graphics - trying to cull the ones that are copyrighted and not sized appropriately; and sound - I have a few sounds that needed tweaking. I am still working on both of those though I accomplished a good bit. I also did get iAds working (for the most part). Turns out that there was a step missing that no one anywhere explicates (connecting the delegate to the ad banner). I found the answer where I find a lot of my answers - on Stackoverflow.com.

Other than that, it was a pretty lazy day. I did manage to put up two of the three shower curtains. Cleaned the kitchen a few times. Made lunch. The regular stuff.

Oh, I have been spending a bunch of time on OkCupid - thanks to Marie's suggestion. I like the site, overall. It does seem to promote creativity and curiosity. Sure, there are the slackers who don't bother to answer any questions. And there are a few of the scammers with fake pictures and profiles. But they are easily weeded out. So far, I haven't found anyone too exciting. Well, there is one person, but she is too young and I haven't written her. Yet. Probably tomorrow (which never comes).

What does one call breakfast for dinner? Brinner seems to be a good solution. Brupper? Deakfast? Anyway, that's what we had last night - a Sunday night tradition, sort of, here at Chez Schoen-René. And what a brinner feast it was! We had bacon, ah bacon, an egg, hash browns and waffles. I haven't ever made waffles from scratch before. I have made them using bisquick. And I have made them both at Perkin's when I worked there years ago and at several motels around the country, but this was the first time that I have made them from scratch. They turned out pretty well. But they are a lot harder than pancakes! Goodness gracious. Separating eggs? Beating egg whites? I used sour cream in mine rather than just milk. And blueberries. I think everyone enjoyed the meal. I know I did!

It was game night! It hasn't been game night, for me at least, in a long while. We played a cooperative game that we played before, but we didn't do very well. Nor did we finish the game. Charles has a curfew. Tatiana and Jack, newbies, came to play. As did Daniel. Fun stuff!

Waffles!

Brinner!

Game!

This and that and maybe the other thing

The last couple of days, as you may have noticed, was all about (mostly) mom's reunion. Well, other thoughts have been percolating around in my head that I have not written about. So that is what today's exciting installment is going to be about. Read on, McFriends! :)

Mom and I finally finished watching Deadwood. Yay! It took a long time. I don't understand why Netflix doesn't wise up and send the whole season at one fell swoop no matter what plan one is on. Oh well. The series was worth watching for the most part. There was a bit of filler. And it ended kind of oomphlessly, with no one really getting what they deserved (bad guys that is). Maybe they didn't know that they weren't getting another season when they wrote and filmed the last episode.

I am percolating along watching all of the Stargate stuff. I remember watching the movie a long, long time ago. I enjoyed that. And over the years I had seen a few episodes here and there. Maybe 6 of them. Somehow I never got into it and watched consistently. Now I am on Season 9 (of 10) and am looking forward to the end. :) Seriously, it wasn't a bad show. It does make me want to watch Galaxy Quest again. Love that movie! Netflix online changed its interface - so far it seems for the better. Still don't see subtitles being readily available. But I often use my headphones when watching on my computer, so that makes it easier to hear. Has anyone else watched all of Stargate? It seems that the producers have a predilection for women with red hair! Yay! I do too, though I don't know why...

Today is the first real day of my long-ish vacation! Sad that I don't have someone special in my life to share it with. But happy to have it in any case. My plans are still forming for what to do in the next few days. I am leaning towards taking three day trips to visit beer places in the area. Ithaca tomorrow. Buffalo on Wednesday. Rochester on Thursday. Then Friday, drive East and stop at beer places on the way as I head to Maine slowly. There are a lot of beer places in Vermont that I would like to visit. We shall see if any of it happens. I might just sit around and do nothing instead.

It feels a little weird not worrying about what to make mom for lunch and dinner. And to be able to wander around the house aimlessly, clothelessly.  I know, scary image...

I tried uploading pictures to FB yesterday and it was taking forever! More than half an hour for one photo to get uploaded. That is just wrong. I will try again today and see what I can get to happen.

Still no beta testers for Flippety. Grrr. And I haven't really done anything to it or with it in the past few days (except play it on my iPhone). I am planning on adding a page for it to my website. Complete with Screenshots. Ooh, screenshots!

The plan for the Journey West is not really all that closer to being finalized. I haven't decided whether or not to try and sell books in Kansas City at the Flying Saucer, or just head north immediately. And where to stop - mom hasn't made any suggestions about what she might like to see or do, which isn't surprising. In fact, that is how she has always been. Sigh.

I was interested to discover that Smith staggers its reunion classes - so that the oldest classes are together on one weekend and the younger classes are together on another.

All (most) of the pictures I took at the Reunion are on my facebook page.

It's Snowing!

How exciting is that! Here it is, April 23, 2012, and we are having snow. And it is sticking - not to the sidewalks or roads, but everywhere else! Yay us! Aren't we the luckiest people ever?!

I need to write things down. I really do. I had a great idea for the central thought for a blog last night, but I didn't write it down. I did write down three ideas I had for my Flippety game, but nothing for the blog. Boo, hiss! I suck! And you all have to just sit there and take it! Hahahahahaha! (That was diabolical laughter btw.) Sometimes the ideas do come back, so maybe this one will.

Have to go out today. :( Mom is out of fiber bars. And we can't have that, can we? I can't think of anything else that we are short of. I will have to look at my shopping list.

Mom and I went through her basket of goodies that came off the shelves next to her bed. I was allowed to actually throw some things away! How radical is that? She was reluctant to part with some medicine that expired in 2009, the lids to two prescription jars that she no longer had, and the instructions for medicine that she no longer takes. Sigh. Sadly, I am similar in my reluctance to let go of things.

Other than that, it was a pretty quiet weekend. And the week doesn't look too crazy busy. We are going to try again to have an adventure on Wednesday despite that inclement, wintery weather that we are facing. Yay! Good thing that climate change isn't real!

I am feeling a little stuck in my game development. And a little overwhelmed. I try not to think of all the work that has to be done to get the game ready for primetime. I try to look at just the little steps that I can take towards that goal. And then I get stymied by one or more of those little steps. Sometimes I sidestep and take a step in a slightly different direction figuring that I will come back to the step that I am skirting. But those are beginning to pile up without apparent resolution. I did ask someone who says they consult what his fees were - $80 for a one time code review - otherwise, $90 an hour. I hope that doesn't include pondering time! Not in the budget just now, in any case. So, I will soldier on. At some point. Meanwhile, in my stymiedness, I think I will make lunch...

Looks nice! (Taken at 6 in the morning...)

One Year Anniversary

Wow. I have been here in Geneva for a whole year. Where does the time go? Well, let's look and see, shall we? What happens in a year? A lot and nothing, it seems.

A year ago Thursday, I was living in North Carolina, when it suddenly became clear to me that I needed to be looking after my mom in Geneva, NY. My reasons for doing so were partly selfishly motivated, partly altruistically motivated.

I had no work in the area, the woman I was seeing chose to break off our relationship, I had an altercation with a friend and I just couldn't see anything keeping me in the area. Except for my house. More on the house later, perhaps. (Nope, not this post...)

Mom had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's back in January of 2011. But things had not been optimal for a while before that. I had had to take her car away in November of 2010. Some basics were being neglected and she had told me some things that made my heart ache. On top of that, I cannot stand the idea of my mom in a nursing home (at least not until her brain goes completely and she needs 24 hour care and can't handle basic tasks or remember basic things - like where she is or who she is or who I am). I figure at that point, the woman I have known and loved for 52 years will be basically gone and only a shell will be remaining.

So, I tossed a lot of stuff in the car and drove up here.

During the year that has passed, mom and I have done several roadtrips together, both short and long. Two trips to NC. Two trips to Maine. And various day trips around NYS - including a trip to the State Fair. We have done some work on the house and yard - not as much as I would have hoped, but anything is better than nothing. Mom is taking her medicine regularly, showers on occasion, eats fairly regularly and seems to be generally healthy and happy.

Over the year we have done some doctor's visits, some physical therapy and ruled out her needing hearing aids just now. Yay! We have done some cultural activities - going to plays, going to the opera, going to festivals (like the Garlic Festival), to a Renaissane Faire  and the circus. Mostly, I have done what I can to lessen mom's stress level and be as supportive of her as I possibly can be and to help her exercise her brain.

I have tried to carve out some sort of life for myself up here. My original thought was to go back to school and become a Chiropractor or perhaps a Chinese Herbal Medicine Practitioner - neither panned out. The big stopping factor was the need to do a year of human dissection. Not my idea of a good time, sadly. I am sure I would have gotten over it and gotten into it, but it daunted me enough to stop going forward. I was accepted to the school, though!

Next, I worked on and finished a decent version of Diary of a Plate Addict - a fun book, filled with pictures and words and stuff. Hmm, doesn't sound very appealing. If you like a chain of places called The Flying Saucer or if you like me a real lot, you must buy a copy of this book. From me. For an exorbitant cost. I have only sold 69 copies so far and still have a couple hundred lying around the house. So, do us all a favor, buy a copy. Now.

Following that project, I was a bit at a loss as to what to focus my personal energies on next. Lots of projects, nothing leaping out. So I decided to take some classes. After a bit of research, I ended up taking a Spanish Class at Hobart and William Smith. I think I eventually passed. I did enjoy the class (despite it being at 9 in the morning) and learned a good bit. Enough to make me very comfortable saying hello and goodbye in Spanish. Most of the time. After Christmas, adrift mentally once again, I decided to take a different plunge and teach myself how to write applications for iOS. I have three or four game ideas and a meditation clock idea (though lots of meditation apps are already out there) that I would like to see come to fruition eventually.

I have not done a lot of remunerative work. I did work for an Opera and earned a little money there. I had forgotten how much I enjoyed working in the theatre. Sigh. And I also earned a teeny bit of money helping someone move. I had been planning on doing it for free, but she insisted on giving me money - and who was I to refuse?

Romantically, well, it has been a pretty lame year. I did sort of date one person for a few months, but that ended with a whisper over the holidays. (She said she would contact me after the holidays and never did...) I have also had a bunch of inappropriate crushes and that is about it. Double sigh.

Read books, watched movies, went out to the movies, did a lot of Daily Challenge stuff, played xBox and generally had a very pleasant year!

And that is what has happened in a year. There is probably more, come to think of it...

What will next year bring? Wait and see is really the only answer. Thank you all of my loyal readers! Your eyes are appreciated!

Outings with Mom

Yesterday, I didn't get out to the supermarket until later in the day. And by that time, mom was up and dressed, so I encouraged her to come with. I know it is good for her to get out and about. And to do things like going shopping. Still, it is easier and more fun for me when she is not along. Oh well. My whole life can't be fun, can it? I tried to have as much fun as I could, given the circumstances. I did manage to keep mom from filling up the basket with stuff we didn't need, while at the same time giving heed to what she thought we needed. We didn't end up with too much in the way of extraneous crap. Yay! We didn't run into anyone she knew, which was sad.

Most of the day was spent puttering around on my concentration-like game. Flippety is what its working name is. I got scoring working. And I figured out how to get the high score from one place to another. My goal today is to get some persistence working. Saving the game state when someone quits, that sort of thing. I dreamt about it all night, in fact. Erroneously, I am sure. I think, though, after some of the tweaks I have made, I will start with preferences - turning off sound effects and background music. That seems like an easy place to start.

The plan for the day is to do some errands - like laundry. Mom may or may not go after all - it is really up to her. I don't like to force her to do things if I can avoid it. I figure at 81 (almost 82 - her birthday is in May) she can damn well do as she pleases. And if she wants to lie around feeling miserable and sad for herself all day, who am I to gainsay her? I would like to do three things - post office, Friehofer's (for bread stuff) and laundry. Later I do need to get a few more groceries and things. Like tissues. Mom has gone through a lot of boxes of tissues. I hope fewer than before, but it is hard to tell...

Saw a first tulip out and about in the yard. How exciting is that? To think that tulips were once a huge commodity. Weird wacky world on which we whirl...

Pretty Tulip! Only $400!

Now what?

I am a little sad today. Not in a depressed sort of way, but forlorn. I finished three things recently and am at a loss on what is next and how to proceed. (Not really, but it makes for thrilling blogging, doesn't it?) The things I finished were - the Sixth Season of Bones - that is all that Netflix currently has streaming - they have disks for the Seventh Season, but I haven't taken that plunge yet - the last published book of the Wheel of Time Series - goodness, a lot happened in that book - and it was left with a few major cliff hangers. I had thought I had timed it really well, to be finished with the series again just as the last book was released. Only to find out recently (as I think I mentioned in the past) that the book had been delayed until January 2013! I should live so long! I think it is some sort of anniversary thing - poop, though. The third thing I finished, finally, was the Knights of Amular - Reckoning. Eh. I liked Skyrim better.

Doors close, doors open. So far, nothing has wandered in on the book/Audio book front and I am open to suggestions and thoughts. I do like Science Fiction and Fantasy best, but will try to read most anything suggested. So, suggest away!

As for gaming, I have started LA Noire - a 40s period game which, so far, has been interesting (I played about half an hour last night). I am liking it so far - built by the people who do Grand Theft Auto. I still have a few others that are sitting on my shelf waiting to be played, but I think this one will be entertaining.

As for watch to watch on Netflix next, I am taking this opportunity to watch Jekyll. Saw the first episode last night. Interesting.

Ooh, made some more candy last night. Sesame candy. Not something I can eat lots of, like the Almond Butter crunch - but good anyway! And pizza. Sigh. One day I will make a nice, round, happy pizza. This one was a smidge over done, but still tasty.

Pretty on the way to the reading on Thursday night

Pre cut candy

Post cut candy

Not so round, yet tasty, pizza

Busy Weird Week

Not really busy, but we do have two, count 'em, two commitments: an appointment with an ear, nose and throat doctor to see if we can address mom's drippy nose and itchy ears. And later in the week, a haircut for her! Yippee! Ain't we got high times to look forward to?

And it is Monday! Yippee! A FB friend posted a cool picture of someone leaping off a cliff - I think it was supposed to be inspirational - it scared me just a little bit. :)

We got some snow last night and yesterday. Some of which actually stuck to the ground! And it is supposed to be 59° on Wednesday. What is that about? Weird indeed.

Last night was game night - I haven't attended in a while for one reason and another. There were three of us, and we played a co-op game (where players work together to try and beat the game together) based in the world of The Lord of the Rings. Yay Sauron! It was tough, but we managed to win. Without losing any of our heroes! Yippee for us!

Game night in full swing!

Two New Followers!

Welcome, welcome, welcome! I am humbled by your followingness. You are great! Huzzah!

In one of the Facebook notes I wrote the other day - ok, all the notes are blending together - but that is something else entirely - I said something about the blog - that is is about the little stuff - and almost all of life is made up of the little stuff. And that hopefully it provides a little respite from the hullabaloo, it might give an insight, an encouragement and if I am lucky, a chuckle. Yay!

I may make it to 50 followers yet, one day after all. Perhaps. Maybe!

My brother and his wife had their baby Jenna this morning really early! Congratulations to all three!

Gee, as for us here in the house in Geneva, NY - not quite as big a day. I wrote a lot of FB letters yesterday. Not getting depressed about the lack of responses yet. I also went food shopping - and no - she wasn't there (she being the future light of my life). Oh well. I will keep my eyes and heart open to what the Universe may provide. Then I went to Rite-Aid and gave my card to the woman I saw yesterday. I think I have actually seen her before - she works at Fox Run and I think I flirted with her once there (really badly) a while ago. I doubt she will write - well, she probably shouldn't, actually. Whatever, moving on. Steak and artichokes for dinner. I am leaning towards chicken wings again tonight. Mom really enjoyed those the other day. And maybe home made potato chips And not sure what else.

Lastly, it was game night. I didn't check my email a last time, and sure enough, Charles had written to cancel since no one else was going to come. I got there and he was gracious enough to let me come in and play for a while. We played chess - the first time for me in 30 years - I really don't like to play chess - it stresses me out way too much. But we played anyone. And then we played a fun two person card game that involved monsters and dragons and magic and stuff. Yippee! I like games and game night! :)

My camera finally died. I have co-opted mom's camera. I hope she won't mind too much...

Not close enough, but still appetizing looking, right? Love artichokes!

Both Chess (stress) in the background and Battle Zone (?) in the front! Fun!

I need to eat something

But that means that I have to do my yoga - 'cause I don't eat until I have done my yoga, most days. But before that I have to do my blog - why? So that both my loyal readers and I can feel like we have accomplished something today. And accomplishing something always makes feeling happy just that little bit easier.

Yesterday was a lovely day - the weather was bizarre, low 60s on the 29th of November. But it is always pleasant to have a temperate day when it is not expected. I didn't do a whole lot - except for going to meet with Sebastiano - my Spanish oral presentation partner - at the college pub, which I don't think has a liquor license. So why is it a pub? Anyway, we worked for about an hour - he had some corrections and suggestions. I am also planning on going to see Wendi tonight and ask her to read it with me a few times - maybe she will make a few suggestions and corrections... And then Friday is the day of oral presentation! Hurrah! I will be happy to be done with it. And it will be my last day of classes. Double hurrah. Maybe I will take more classes again one day - but next semester I need to be footloose and fancy free to be able to try and sell books.

Speaking of selling Diary of a Plate Addict, I am sending off some more copies today. One set to someone whose set got lost in the mail, one to Jeff, my great and long time friend, a couple to my sister. Juliet pointed out that the cost felt high to her. And it is high. I am the first to admit it. I pointed out to her that the book costs a lot to print, ship and I pay taxes on it. Then there is all of the time and effort that went in to creating it. And people are going to be buying it as a souvenir/impulse buy for the most part. I am counting on beer to help sales! It is, after all, a full color book. And although, as was the case with Bar Dreams, it is not a breathtakingly wonderful book - it is good and solid and enjoyable. Since I am charging $20 a pop, I suspect some people will balk at the price. Oh well. I am not going to discount my efforts at this point. Maybe when I get to April 15 and find that I have only sold 5 copies, I will change my tune. But for now, $20 it is. It is sad, though, that more of my "friends" haven't bought copies. Whatever. Moving on. Anybody else tired of hearing my whine about no one buying copies of the book?

Anyway, I cooked turkey tetrazini last night. Simple stuff. I think I needed more pasta in the dish. Oh well. It was still tasty - I used all of the leftover turkey that Juliet gave me. Yippee!

Anyone ever heard of playing blackjack with the stakes being a truth or dare question? Fun stuff. :)

Pictures from November 29, 2011:

These were packed really, really well from the printer!

Pretty - a better camera could have done a better shot...

More stuff and less turkey would have been good - live and learn!

Snow Day!

As can be said of many places, the weather here in Maine changes rapidly. When I looked at the weather for the week before leaving Geneva, there wasn't a hint of snow in the forecast. Then, suddenly, a snowstorm was called for - six inches - and sure enough, that is what happened. Yippee! It looked yucky out there. And it was. So yucky, in fact, that I balked at moving my car for the plower who comes and cleans out Juliet and Paul's driveway. I have no snowboots, no winter like apparel and the stuff was blowing around and ick. So Juliet just ran out and did it. Yay her! I managed to stay inside and do much like I did yesterday. More Skyrim. I know, boring for the rest of you - but this is just the sort of game that I enjoy. Still would like to design one one day. Growing up, as I did, at the advent of D&D, it is a little surprising to me that I never became a DM (Dungeon Master). It seems like it would have been perfect for me - creative, directorial. But I never did. And although I played, I never got into it as much as some people. I still enjoy it, whenever it does happen...digression!

So, what all happened yesterday, besides playing? Well, we had lunch and a tea time visit. Lunch was brunch - yum - and the visitor is a neighbor of Juliet's, Laura. Lovely woman. I just popped down to say hello and then left the three of them - mom, Juliet and Laura, to chat. She only stayed an hour. Not one to overstay her welcome!

Next exciting event - dinner! Juliet cooked salmon pasta and a great salad. It is going to be sad to have to go back to my own cooking. I tried to articulate the problem I am having with cooking - picking a menu - and Juliet was very helpful with pointing out cookbooks. I will have to look through some of the ones we have at home and see what pops out at me.

And that was it - the sum total of excitement yesterday. Today is Thanksgiving! Hurrah! If it weren't for the pilgrims, I wouldn't be here. Things would certainly be different...So for that part, I give thanks. For what we did to the indigenous population - well that continues to suck. Someday, the human race will evolve as a whole and most of us truly will love each other as family. Right. Well, it could happen! Here's to a happy planet!

Pictures from November 24, 2011:

Yay snow - on the outside!

Brr

Brunch for lunch!

Salmon pasta for dinner!

I think this is a great mom picture!

Travel Day

And when I say travel day, I mean, all day travel! Goodness. From 11 am to 9 pm. I might actually be getting to the point in my life when I am not willing to do these drives straight through. We shall see, but this one was nip and tuck, especially during the first 6 hours or so.

Getting ahead of myself. The day started, gray and dismal and cold. Joy. But my 82 on my Spanish exam brightened my day. Yippee! I could have gotten an 88 but I messed up the conjugation of beber (to drink) in the subjunctive three times. Or maybe four. Anyway, only two more grades to go - the oral presentation, which I am sure we will do fine on, and the final - which worries me a little, but not too much. I will have a whole week to practice verb conjugations after I get back from selling 300 copies of Diary of a Plate Addict (my internal goal) in Raleigh. Ok, I doubt I will really sell 300, though it would be awesome. Book sales are not going as quickly as I would like. I am at 996 and holding. Sigh. Anyway, moving on...

Got home and got packed. Mom was all packed and mostly ready to go, which was great. Of course, she did go to the bathroom just as we were ready to leave. But better then, than needing to stop five minutes after getting on the road. It didn't take me too long to pack, though I packed a lot - including the xbox. I know, a sad testament to my obsessions. Sigh.

The drive was long and uneventful. I was tired for much of it, but judicious use of a) mom's nattering, b) sunflower seeds, c) various other food substances, d) the occasional stop and e) sheer will power, I managed to not fall asleep while driving! Hurrah! That is always a win in my book. Traffic was negligible (yay) and there was no inclement weather to drive through. Really, although a long day, it really wasn't a bad drive at all.

And we arrived to yummy fresh chowder that my sister had made. She is such a good cook! One day I will be as good a cook as she is. Ok, probably not. But still, it is something to aim for!

We all went our separate nighty ways and I stayed up and played Skyrim for a long while. And then was a bit cold in bed. I think I need to go out and purchase a nice warm, light quilt today. We shall see if I can face getting in the car to do so. At least here in Maine there are very few year rounders to take up the roads!

Pictures from November 21, 2011:

See! Gray day!

What needed to go in the car

And how it fit!

The first pit stop - there used to be a footbridge that spanned the thruway - long gone

Note that my bowl did not yet have yummy chowder in it

Time to play!

Packing Problems

The problem with packing is that it always falls off...ok, that isn't really the problem with packing. It will take me about ten minutes, once I actually start to do it. I love traveling in the car. That way I can toss in anything that won't fit in my suitcase. I need sweaters or at least warm middle garments as Maine is going to be a few degrees colder than it is here. Instead of packing, or getting ready to go to class, I am typing a bit - I would like to post this before heading off into the Sunrise. Well, the sun will already be well up in the sky, but we will be heading East.

Yesterday we had breakfast for dinner. Yay! Scrambled eggs with cheese, bacon and French Toast. Yippee! And I played a lot. Sigh. Oh, then it was game night! And we played bridge! I think that Charles and James are getting the hang of it.

And I put the garbage out! I know, big news! That's what you all read this blog for, to know when I put the garbage out...

Ok, back from class and time to get cranking!

Photos from Sunday, November 20, 2011:

Skyrim is going with me to Maine...

So, not so appetizing looking - it was a yummy dinner, though!

Yay trash!

To Skyrim or not to Skyrim

I broke down and ordered a copy of Skyrim - the next Elder Scrolls RPG. Sigh. I probably shouldn't have done it for three reasons - 1) it may well be a huge time suck - 2) I can't really afford it and 3) I already have games I haven't played. Sigh. Double sigh even. Well, I have resisted the temptation so far. I must admit that I am toying with the idea of taking the game, box and monitor with me to Maine when we go on Monday. We shall see.

Maybe I oughtn't to write my blog after I have eaten lunch. More leftovers and some freshly made coleslaw have put me right to sleep. Well, I did get up a little early today to be wide awake for my Spanish exam - which I am pretty sure I passed, but that is about it. I got confused on one verb and misconjugated it all over the place. Poop! Maybe I will just take a fifteen minute power nap and get right back to it. Ok - naptime.

Well, that's a bit better.

Two more great people have purchased copies of Diary of a Plate Addict - Tim, a friend from High School, and Matt, a Saucer friend who I haven't seen in at least a year, maybe two. I got both packages in the mail yesterday! Yippee! Only 996 more to go to reach my goal of 1000 copies sold by April 30, 2011. All help is appreciated! :)

Mom and I went out yesterday, at mom's instigation. We went to a closing/going out of business jewelery store and I convinced her not to buy a watch for anyone. Nor any jewelry. It was tough, but I stuck to my guns. We did end up going to the Linden Exchange across the street. Years ago, mom took some clothes in there that she thought were decent and worth some money. The Linden Exchange would sell things for whatever they thought they could get and would give a percentage of that to the donor. Well, mom is sure that they put low prices on her stuff so that the workers could buy the things for themselves, instead of putting higher prices on the things and her getting more money. She hadn't been in, to her recollection, since then. Must be 10 or so years at least. Anyway, we ended up getting a sweater, that she thinks is too small now, a kid's piece of clothing that we are going to give to Karl and Candace for one of their kids, a towel, because mom liked it, and three stuffed animals - a kiwi, an ostrich and a fish. Mom likes her stuffed animals, here in her second childhood! $11 dollars and mom was a happy camper (instead of a watch for $150)!

Went to a reading last night with no expectations. I like to live with no expectations. Anyway, Wyatt Mason was the presenter - critic, author and now journalist. The piece he read was about his visit to Beijing and meeting Ai Wei Wei. I had heard of Ai but didn't know much about him. The piece was great and reminded me of my time in Beijing and in China - though I was there years and years ago now.

On the way home, I noticed that it had indeed snowed a smidge! Yay!

Photos from November 17, 2011:

The store that mom almost bought a watch in - apparently it has been open since 1905 or so.

Two more kind and brave souls bought copies of Diary of a Plate Addict - 996 to go!

Mom's Linden Exchange haul!

A poster for the reading I attended

First snow in Geneva. Probably not the last. :)