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Leftovers
I went to mom’s house for Christmas eve dinner and brought back tons of leftovers. Pork. rolls,rice, beans and an assortment of other goodies. And a simply awesome garlic mojito sauce that I just can’t get enough of. I’ll be grazing on this for two days.
Today, Christmas day, for lunch I have had another full meal; a little of everything. Later it was pork sandwiches with cooked onions soaked with the mojito sauce. Then another full meal this evening. All this is great, but too much of a great thing is not good either. I am already having happy thoughts of pizza, gator burgers and grilled salmon.
I have returned, over the years, to family, friends and neighbors’ houses the day after a party in order to help clean up the leftovers and a few times for lunch, the next day after that. On the second day, however, instead of pork and rice it morphs into pork hash and a salad with bean soup; still pretty good. Some foods just taste better the next day. The flavors have had a chance to meld and make your tast buds do the wave. But usually two days of leftovers, even great leftovers, is about my limit. I have never seen an official report on the subject, but I think that two days is about the normal lifespan of leftovers.
“The average lifespan of leftovers.” I think it would make a good tv game show question.
My favorite leftover? Beef stew.
Second favorite: Spanish polenta with pork. (tamal en casuela)
I love Christmas songs. Well, most of them anyway. But listening to these two songs in particular bring questions and some observations to mind:
Why on earth would anyone would want a hippopotamus for Christmas? “I Want a Hippopotamus For Christmas”-The was song performed by Gayla Peevey in 1953. Leave it to a ten year old to want something like that. Most want ponies but nooooo, not her.
Kids have always been really smart, only they were not given enough credit. This song proves it. Listen to the song. She clearly knows what she wants, eliminating any other possibilities. She suggests that santa does not have to go through too much trouble bringing it to her, to just bring it in thru the front door. When confronted by mom with the negatives of owning a hippo, the possibility of being eaten, she has done her research and points out that they are vegetarians. No problem! Brilliant! If it is anything like my two daughters which have me wrapped around their fingers, I can just picture dad checking online at hippos-r-us for product availability the day after christmas. But nowhere does she say why she wants a hippo. An inquiring mind wants to know.
Grandma got run over by a reindeer-1979 by Elmo and Patsy.
First of all nobody saw nuntn’ right? No one saw a renegade reindeer, it had to have been an evil reindeer, not one of Santa’s reindeer of course, that ran over a cold and disoriented old woman wandering out in the snow on Christmas eve. IF, that is what happened. I still suspect the family. Very strange; the supposed grieving family is still partying, while trying to decide what to do with the old lady’s presents. That’s has got to be the motive, the presents. So the family blames it on Santa and his reindeer. It’s easy to blame it on the jolly old guy who hangs with north American deer, and drinks way too much coke. But he doesn’t bother anybody. I think the case needs to get reopened. We have DNA test now that were not around in 1979.
I like to give credit when credit is due. I also try to look at the good side of things. I have issues with this global warming thing. And I have issues with electric cars and this whole Go Green movement thing. But, I really do want to thank everyone who was involved with it. You have made my life easier AND saved me money. I just realized this today while trimming and adjusting the Christmas tree.
- Christmas Lights
The tree we had when I was growing up had those screw in bulbs like the ones they used to use in a night light. I remember my dad would buy one or two packages of five every year unless my mom would want to make the whole tree one color. But the bulbs would last a long time along with the entire strings. According to my dad, some of those strings were from when I was born.
The tree would look great. All bright with the decorations and the tinsel and the glass ornaments. It was just magical.
I also remember you could almost roast marshmallows by the tree due to the amount of heat the thing would give off due to the bulbs. On the few days it would get cold you could use the tree as a heater. And every once in a while you thought the thing was going up in flames when some of the tinsel would hit the bulb and start melting.
Then around the late 1970’s the miniature lights appeared on the market. It was a few years before we switched over to these lights because at first they were expensive. The first place I remember seeing them was at one of our trips to Disney World. They looked great from far away and very nice up close. My dad went kicking and screaming to the store to buy “the new ones”. We threw the old ones into the trash even though they were working perfectly. They were cooler though, but you still had to use more due to the fact that they were not as bright at the other ones. And no more burning tree smell. The other drawback was they seldom lasted more than one season. I swear that I would put them away in January, nice and neat knowing that they were just working and take them out in November/December and only half would be working. And somehow it would be in a big tangled mess. Whoever designed them was taking some serious narcotics. How can you design something that if one little thing (a miniature bulb) goes out the other forty-nine (bulbs) would stop working. I would spend hours trying to revive them only to give up and go to the store to buy new ones. I could have purchased a car with all the money I spent on new lights.
Jumping into the twenty first century, the new LED lights are awesome! I just pugged them in again and they all worked! Second year in a row. Yesssss!!!!!! No more trying to fix them. No more having to buy new ones every year. And I am saving a few cents on the electric bill. And no burning tree smell.
- LED’s
So, thank you energy police for making them manufacture these lights. If not for you, I would still be trying to find that one bad bulb in that light string of 100. They made my holiday more enjoyable. It gives me more time for consuming homemade eggnog and other spirits.
They do just take a little getting used to. They are a little brighter than the old ones and they give off a lot of glare. They remind me of the head lamps they use on cars these days.
Every time I see that type of light I think there’s a Christmas tree coming around the corner.
I cannot remember when was the last time I had written in cursive. I mean a sentence or a paragraph. Except for my signature on the occasional check or credit card slip I honestly do not remember the last time having written something in cursive. A quick call to my two oldest offspring and they confirmed my thoughts. “Hi dad. What, cursive writing? I haven’t done that since…….forever. Possibly, since junior high. That is so twentieth century dad.“ A few more gray hairs popped out.
The Google Gods bring up quite a few recent articles about “The death of cursive writing.” Searching deeper I found articles from back-in-the-day, circa 1985, proclaiming that teaching cursive writing is unnecessary. Wiki cites that around 1960 the necessity of cursive was questioned, so it seems that this is not a new subject. I did a quick unofficial poll and found that most write in block letters but some, mostly older folks, still wrote in cursive.
I vividly remember doing my best not to do my writing homework in elementary school. I hated learning how to write that way. But eventually I got it. I can still remember how to write it, but to be honest, I had to look up how to write the letter z. I wrote all the words to Hotel California in cursive which was the same thing I did for drafting class but using block letters. It looked pretty good, considering how much time has passed since the last time. If I could only remember the last time. I wish my grammar school English teacher Mrs. Ward could only see this now. She would be proud.
It looks like cursive is slowly fading away. With schools not really concentrating on teaching it and since most everything is done on a computer screen and a keyboard, cursive handwriting will soon disappear.
I think I will write my last will and testament in cursive just for laughs. I am guessing by that time, they will have to scan it into a program to decipher it because nobody will know how to read it.
Harry Morgan(On Right)
Good-bye Col. Sherman T. Potter and Bill Gannon. He made those characters from MASH and Dragnet come to life and made them part of my childhood. He made all his characters true and real. A very long career with significant roles in many movies and tv, while always maintaining a low key in Hollywood. He was one of those actors that don’t get enough credit, love what they do, are excellent at what they do, but are comfortable with making others look good.
Rest in Peace Harry Morgan.
It’s official. Winter is here. It’s snowing on WordPress.com
I like it!
It’s chilly around here. Not outside but inside. Outside it’s still in the 80’s. In here, it’s frigid. Penguins are knocking at my door wanting to hang out.
Midterm progress reports were received yesterday. The report was not good. Letter grades dropped from the last 9 week period, so the once celebrated, once all-knowing and all caring, gentle ruler, known as The Dad, is now seen in the same light as one of the worst dictators in the world. I am now considered the brother of the wicked witch of the west.
Standard rules were placed in effect for the duration of the term. Picture clouds rolling in, thunderbolts and lightning, very very frightening, when the teen was informed that ,GASP!, the use of the game console will no longer be available along with use of other things. I remember thinking a few choice words when I was being told by my parental units that I was going on probation due to not acceptable (READ: CRAPPY) grades. Maybe the words and phrases used have changed over the years, but I am sure the intended feeling is still the same. I am sure it is not I love you.
The standard sad, “oh, woe is me, my life is over” attitude is here. Everytime she walks by and looks at me with those sad eyes and the sad “my life stinks face”, all I see in my mind is that pitiful black cloud with sad eyes over her head. The cloud is also raining by the way. It will be like this at least until Janurary or If see the grades go back to normal in the next few weeks.
But I have been doing this parenting thing for the last twenty-five years so the forecast is continued cold shoulder but will improve slowly.
I saw it yesterday at the checkout at my grocery store. It was the cardboard display right by the swipe machine. It has the little slips of paper that look like forks. Three colors with three different amounts printed on it. $1, $5, $15 dollars. I think to myself, “Man, here we go again”.
The checkout girl starts scanning my stuff. While she is running my Oreo’s over the scanner, I am trying to decide whether to give or not, and if I do how much? But I just threw a few bucks into the Red cauldron with the lock that’s hanging from a tripod. And now they want more. They, being everyone who asks me for a donation (READ: Money).
Darn, the last item. If I swipe the card real fast and enter the pin while looking busy, maybe she will forget to ask. Nope. The next thing I hear is “Would you like to donate 1, 5, or 15 dollars to blah blah charity for the hungry?” I sneak a peek behind me at the rest of the people in line. I know they are looking at what I do next. Now I know how a contestant on who wants to be a millionaire feels like. I quickly decide and concede to the intense pressure put upon me by the cashier. Not wanting to look like The Grinch’s half normal brother I say “A buck please.”
Now the grocery stores are doing collections for charities. They figured it out. They figured out that you are more likely to be generous while your peers are looking at you, and put on the spot, than to call you at home. It is a sneaky way to get money out of us, but it works. It works so well it seems to be everywhere. But I have my suspicions that the stores are making money on it by possibly claiming a tax deduction on the funds that are donated and possibly collecting the interest earned on what was collected before they wrote the check to the charity. I can’t seem to find an explanation on how that’s handled,
I live by a few rules, one of them being “You take a little, but you give back a lot.” I sometimes give to those at the stop light, for that could be me. And the way things are going it can happen in a heartbeat. But I don’t like doing that. Many times I have given money to someone because they were hungry, only to see them walking out of a liquor store.
I like to stick to my church and one of the major charitable organizations. Although some of them are a bit top heavy, they are the best at getting the money to where it was intended to go. I would believe any major grocery store chain or retail chain would only associate themselves with honest charities so I really do not have too much of an issue with giving at the checkout sometimes. So, I’ll just stick with the church and a little at the grocery store.
Not just this time of the year, but all during the year, one should help those who are not as fortunate.
There but for the grace of God, go I.
I almost got duped. I let my guard down for a moment and almost got duped by a teenager.
Something didn’t seem right. Last weekend, she had mentioned to me about getting her project board for the yearly science project. I didn’t; it just slipped my mind. And she did not remind me. I was under the belief that it was due sometime before Christmas break. So I did not think about it anymore.
She reminded me twice on Wednesday.
It was one of those parent moments that I knew something was not right but could not quite put my finger on it. From the experience of raising her older brother and sister, which are now adults, I knew something was amiss. Ah, teenagers. God bless them. Their stroke inducing actions make your hair turn gray or fall out and make you thank goodness for your daily workouts to keep the blood pressure in check.
T-day came and went and of Friday morning we were off to the local office max for foam project board and some glittery boarder, glue, printer ink and snazzy glue on lettering. Forty dollars later we on the way home, I commented on how good it was to see her working so diligently and being focused this long weekend on finishing the project. I received a smile and a nod. Hmmm.
For the next few hours, I saw her taking pictures, setting up lighting, freezing ice cubes, testing her hypothesis; just running around like a mad scientist. Luckily, big sis came by to help her do the layouts.
Watching her run around, I was still scratching my head. “Humph” I kept saying to myself.
“Dad, I need to print these pictures please.” Off I went with SD card in hand to the drugstore. Still thinking to myself, “Humph”
When I got back I asked her “So, this is for when?”
“Monday” she replied, and stared at me for two seconds. Then she said “For extra credit.”
My parent bs-o-meter went off. Bells and warning lights were going off in my head. Yup, something was wrong. “So when is this project due again?” “Monday, for extra credit.” She said again. Yea, right I said to myself. After some more questions, with my best Sgt. Friday from Dragnet impression, the truth came to light. It was due on Monday. Not for extra credit, just due on Monday.
This is a strait A student who was trying to do some damage control.
She forgot. And she knew I would not be happy about it. Once she figured the gig was up, she started singing like a jail bird. So with my best dad face, I explained it would have been better to just say that she forgot or whatever than lie about what was going on. Life goes on.
I can’t help but smile and think back to when I was a teen trying to backpedal and do my own damage control for some stuff I did or didn’t do.
Ahhhh……teenagers. They will never change.
I just found out she got a 97 on the project. Life is good.
