Pet Peeve #56

Okay, this is going to be a short one. My pet peeve of the day. Why is it that I can never get into the work server when I really need to at home. If it's not a necessity I can get on no problem, but when it's really, really, really (and I stress REALLY) important...I can NEVER get into it. Now it's in writing and I can get on with life feeling better.

Where is Bridget?

It's been 2 weeks that I've been in a fog and I look around my house and realize that some housekeeping is in order. I wonder what Bridget has been up to all this time...she really has been slacking of lately. Now, for those of you that don't know, Bridget is the fictitious family maid that gets blamed when chores are not done. I have a feeling she has taken a leave of absence for a while. Although there are signs that she has cleaned in the bathroom while I was at work yesterday since no one has claimed responsibility for the random act of cleaning in there. Well, that was one of the major projects I had planned for this weekend so maybe I'll actually get some of the projects further down the list done this weekend. Without having to deal with the bathroom clutter mess it will take no time at all to mop up the floor (I have the tiniest bathroom ever created so not much floor space) and scrub the tub. I think I will leave the livingroom to the rest of the members of the household and move straight to the kitchen. It would seem that people are afraid to clean that room because they are afraid I will get mad at their choices of where things go. It also shouldn't take me more than a day to reorganize it anyway, which is more than likely why it has been left to me. The Squee baby has only just started using the kitchen regularly on her own under my watchful but distant gaze. I've had to hold in a lot just letting her do these things herself, but I realize that she won't learn if I keep stepping in and showing her how. That always seems to end in me doing it all and she won't learn that way. So, as long as it's a feasible method of getting from point A to point B I let it go. This can be very difficult at times. But, back to the cleaning and reorganizing thing. Squee has no idea where the best placement of implements is to facilitate common kitchen tasks. I can tell her where to put things as I reorganize, but it usually takes a whole lot less time for me to just do it myself. (in some cases I try several spots until I get the right one, and that frustrates her) The entire kitchen needs to be done to make room for an armour to house my dishes, glasses, and pots & pans. I am way excited about this. All these things residing in one place; sheer heaven in my book. Not some pans here, some over there, dishes creeping into the foodstuffs cupboards, stuff I use a lot on the top shelves that I can't reach...get the picture? I'm kinda jazzed after my hair appointment today because we talked a lot about redoing rooms and organizing stuff. It's like I can see the end of the tunnel...and there really is light at the end. So, wish me luck in my endevor to finally get this big chore done this weekend. I'll let you know how it went. I'll also tell you if I find Bridget cowering in a cupboard somewhere.

My week off

Last week I had seven days off in a row. It was impromptu since I had no official vacation time requested this year. Since I missed the deadline for my vacation request form last November all of my vacation time will be that way this year. Luckily for me we have a plethora of floating pharmacists this year; something that is unheard of in my profession since their is still a shortage going on. I've been told that this could work out for me since there are almost a dozen new grads that have signed on that should be licensed this summer and will need places to go to make up their hours this summer. We may even be able to take the Squee child to Disney World if all goes well. Although, we haven't told her yet because I don't want her to get her hopes up if it falls through.

So, now about my week off. It was nice to not have to get up at the crack of dawn to be at work until almost bedtime, for an entire 7 days. It relaxed me more than I had hoped and rejuvenated me enough to be able to make it through the weekend of work that was absolutely crazy-busy. I was actually very surprised at how relaxed I had become on vacation due to the fact that it really didn't seem so relaxing at the time. My heart was heavy as lead since the first day it started. The week off started normally with a visit from my mother to get her hair done and then a breakfast date afterward to catch up and converse about life the world and everything. Pretty much it is our morning coffee routine only in person. That went well, as it always does and after that she went home and I got online to cruise the rest of the world. About an hour after I got home (that puts us at about 1pm) the phone rang, it was a friend of mine from PA. A friend that should be at work at this time of day, but I'd been trying to get a hold of her for a week or so and kept missing her. So, I figured she took Friday off and was calling me to catch up. Well, yes and no. She was at work, but she had news that I really didn't want to hear...but it had to be told. I mutual friend of ours had passed away and they were making the arrangements for the funeral and she asked if I and the big bear could get a hold of the people here in NY who knew him and relay the information in case they wanted to come to the wake and funeral. Not the best way to start a vacation but at least I was on vacation which left me the time to help take on this task. It ended up a series of phone calls between me and my friend and giving the information to my husband who in turn called "the guys" with updates on what was going on when. I had only met Skip a few times, but he was the sort of person that doesn't take too long to get to know. He was an upfront and personal kinda guy. He also had one of the warmest souls that I have ever met. My husband and his friends have known Skip much longer than me. My husbands group used to do security for Star Trek conventions and Skips group (and I'm sketchy on these facts because it's been so long) at least used to go to the conventions as group called the Keldans (not sure if that is spelled right). Now they may have done security too but I'm not solid on that fact. The important thing is that's how they all met and became friends. Several of my husbands friends (and himself included) joined this other group. Mainly on the fringes due to the distance involved. It is through this intermigling of groups that I met my friend in PA. That meeting is another long story for another day, although it does also explain my first meeting with Skips wife which was a series of phone calls back and forth about a very stressful situation happening up here. Seems my role in life is anchorman, absorbing and delivering information to people as it comes in. Out of the friendships formed through all of this we have stayed the most in touch. Since we talk quite frequently, or more to the point when we do talk it's for hours, each groups members have been able to keep up on what is going on with each other. So, no one had missed out on much of what has been going on all these years. Which brings us back to the news of Skips death. It was kind of like a cloud hanging over our home last week. There were things that needed to be done, but the only real things that got done were funeral related. As it turned out my husband was the only one from up here that showed up to it. There were 2 others that tried but they were out of state working and couldn't get away in time to make it. I think employers need to change a little bit about how berevement time is allocated and I realize that if they made it so that any funeral was allowed time off the problem that would cause with slacker people claiming every funeral listed in the paper as due time off. But, something needs to be done. The only way we could swing it was because I stayed home with the Squee child (she had school) since I was off that week. Even for us, had I been working it might have not happened being that the day of the funeral would have been my only day off that week.

I guess that you can tell by this post that my mind is still a little scatterbrained and moving in tangents that tell a lot but explain nothing. That's kind of how I feel right now.

This is why I keep it simple

Yesterday (Wednesday) the Squee child came home and handed me two papers from school. They were from her latest project assignment at middle school. She had to pick a country and make up a menu from that country. That wasn't a big deal, she already had that part done. The catch was that she had to make one of the items on the menu for class on Friday to share with a class of 20 students. I was intrigued and the project seemed fair enough albeit a little strange for an English class to bring in food items, but I was game. Now, as a pharmacist with a five year degree in mixing and proportions the kitchen does not scare me. I have also logged many hours growing up in the kitchen with my mother and older sister (2 of the best cooks out there in my opinion). I like trying new recipes and I can separate eggs and fold with the best of them when the need arises. I have to admit that my latest exploits in the kitchen have been breads from an Irish cookbook and many of my dinner creations have been adaptations of italian cuisine (chicken parmetorre comes to mind) I got to the bottom of the page and my heart sank to a whole new depth of dispare. At the bottom of the assignment page, which luckily required a parents signature to set in stone, was a space to put what dish the child was going to prepare. In bold pen the words Chocolate Souffle were staring at me from the line provided. The second paper she had handed me was a recipe for chocolate souffle that insisted that it was easy to put together. Well, duh, souffle is easy to put together, it's keeping it afloat once it's baked that's the hard part. All sorts of things ran through my mind at once including how do I tell Squee, who is brimming with exitement about the project she just handed me, that we can't make chocolate souffle. So, I managed not to crush her world entirely. She was not aware of the problem of souffle becoming pancakes if it is jostled even slightly. I told her it wasn't her fault because the recipe had no mention of this one basic fact anywhere on the recipe. In fact it toted throughout the page how easy and fun it was to make. Boy, I feel sorry for all the other people that printed this off of this persons web page and didn't know about the volatility of souffle. I am tempted to check out this persons comment section on the site to see if there were any questions about why their souffle looks more like a crepe. Talking about this situation with my mother I decided that the souffle was invented first and the crepe was invented shortly after the first souffle batch fell (yes, I realize that crepes are cooked on the stovetop and souffles are baked...but it's funnier my way). So, after much stress and mind blocks, mainly because I don't do much french cooking...too much heavy cream ... we came up with chocolate mousse. Creme Broullee was out due to the lack of a blow torch in my kitchen, although I probably could have improvised with the grill starter thingy. I'm not sure it would have enough gusto to carmelize the sugar fast enough though. That and the taste would be wasted on a bunch of 6th graders. Squee is dissapointed, but I'm thinking I'm off work next weekend so maybe we'll make soufflee then. So, in conclusion my day started with getting Squee off to school, getting the trash up to the curb and a trip to the local store for mousse mix and milk. I was back by 8:30am and have not quite known what to do with myself since I got off the phone with my mother this morning. I guess I should just rest up for the next crisis Wondermom needs to tackle.

Snowflakes that stick to my nose and eyelashes

Okay, it's time to get my whine on. I really don't complain about much, especially things that I can not control. I am however very tired of white specks that keep falling from the sky this winter. I realize that I reside in upstate NY and that snow is a given between October and up until May some years. This year however is ridiculous. I know we've been way overdue for a mostly snowy winter for quite some time now. The last few years have been fairly low on accumulated snow fall. Most of the recent years have only given us two or three 6 incher storms with a few flurry outbreaks. This year however has been different and I had a feeling it was coming when we had no snow at Thanksgiving. My postulate that if it snows on Thanksgiving it is a grey Christmas with no snow and if there is no snow at Thanksgiving it is guaranteed to snow at Christmas seems to have been correct again. Although this year it has been a little excessive. There have been only one or two weeks since December that it has not snowed. There was also one week where we had 3 storms that gave us 6 inches apiece; more in the hill towns surrounding my area. I consider myself a person that actually likes snow. I like it on my days off because I can watch it from my livingroom window with a hot mug of coffee in hand wrapped in a throw blanket snuggled up with a cat. If I'm working and it's snowing it means my morning is slow customerwise and I can get a lot done before they realize that it isn't stopping anytime soon and they sally forth to go about their daily routine. Having lived in the northeast all my life (my husband has as well) I never have to run to the store for supplies before the "storm of the century hits" and deal with that whole mess because this time of year the pantry has extra food stored for just such an occation. Sure dinner may have to be frozen or canned ravioli but it still eats. Probably the only thing we've really had to go out and get before a storm is milk, but these days if you have to you can get that at stewarts or even a lot of gas stations up here. You pay through the nose, but since you want to gas up your car before the storm anyway it saves a trip to the grocery store and dealing with the masses. For anyone reading this who is not from the northeast and wonders why you gas up the car before a storm there are 2 reasons (one of which my sister mentioned that I never had thought of because the first one was good enough for me). First and foremost: You may find yourself stranded for lengthy amounts of time out on the road due to traffic accidents(the most common occurance), weather conditions making driving over 20 miles dangerous (it once took me 2 and a half hours to make the 40 minute drive to work once), and the least desireable reason, you have found yourself stuck on the side of the road or in a snowbank and have to wait for a tow truck to come and get you (had this happen twice, once when my windsheild wipers quit on me so I had to pull over and once when I blew a flat and ended up skidding slowly into a snowbank). During a really fierce snowstorm you can wait a good long time for help to arrive. I was lucky both times because there was nothing wrong with my engine so I waited in comfort. Just remember folks that if you are in this type of situation and you leave the car running ALWAYS open a window. The last thing your rescuer needs to see is that he/she has arrived to save you and you are already dead due to carbon monoxide poisoning. That's your public service message for the day. My sisters add on to the gassing up thing is that it makes the car heavier and that is better for traction. My car is frontwheel drive (my husbands is 4 wheel drive) so I'm not sure that it would work as well, I would also have to crank out the figures of how much a gallon of gas weighs to figure out how much extra weight is added. If you go by the theory that every little bit helps though, then it helps. Adding that weight to the bag of sand, cat litter, or de-icer pellets you just put in your car (that most of us up here have) then you're talking something. Oh, and the aforementioned items serve a dual purpose, most of them can be put around your tires should you end up stuck to the point you can't rock your car out. Not so much of a concern now that I take the "big wheels" to work now. My husband 's vehicle has something called clearance that my little station wagon does not. My car does well in snow but not deep snow...gets stuck all the time in that because it's so low to the ground. I fear I have offened the snow gods because as I have been writing this the storm outside has gotten significantly worse, Tiddly-Pom. As I look at it through the window pane I realize that it is still beautiful. Carefree little flakes dancing in the wind. I just wish there weren't so many of them this year, that's all.