Another adventure.....or something.

Today, the love of my life is going into the hospital. On Tuesday he is going to have open heart surgery to repair a valve. We knew about this since late summer and he picked this date himself so that this wouldn't interfere with work very much. That's my guy.

Here he is at a table at a restaurant in Portland. Probably pondering life, or if he'll have time for a second beer or not before it gets dark. (That light colored one is mine, he didn't start out with 2 beers...)


Lovely windows in this old port restaurant, right bratcat? (up on second floor this time...)

Sun setting on gorgeous buildings that line the streets of the Old Port.


The Old Port was wonderful on this cold, sunny day. Christmas decorations, carolers, and millions of tiny white lights. Spent the day with Mr. Downeastdoingstuff's sister having all the fun we could muster. Sunday was spent home with relatives and friends watching football and eating chili, trying to relax.

Downeastdoingstuff Junior and his sister will take him to the hospital in the morning. I will go to school and go up to see him right after school. He will be undergoing more tests all day getting ready for the surgery.

He says he is ready for this. I might be ready, as best as I can. I know that the surgeons do this work day in and day out, but never to my guy. In the end, he will be fine, probably better than he was. It's just going to be hard to watch the person that I love go through this pain.....

Wish him well.

Thanks.

I love you Birdman.

Snow day.....

It was bound to happen. The first snow day. 

Sequestered inside, forced to drink tea and listen to Christmas music and the crackle of the fire in the woodstove. Making a list and checking it twice.

Admiring my 10 year old french fry from DiMillos restaurant relegated to be an ornament.

Mr. Downeastdoingstuff thinks it's stupid.

It's my favorite decoration on the tree.

I had to glue Joseph's head back on today. Mary and the baby were glad to see this after living with headless Joe for 4 days.

Here's to you, Mrs. Robinson....

If you’ve ever seen the movie The Graduate starring Dustin Hoffman and Anne Bancroft, you would know that there was one word that was supposed to change the world.

Plastic.

And actually, since the movie came out in 1967, plastic HAS been the word. If we had all listened to that party guest, Mr. McGuire, giving recent college graduate Dustin Hoffman advice and invested in plastic, we’d all be able to replace all the plastic around us now that is slowly killing us with something else, like glass.

But plastic is quite amazing stuff.

Heck, you could make an elephant out of it.

Or a pair of designer sandals. Abercrombie probably sells these for $150 plus tax. One size fits all.

You could make a pair of polyethylene pants to show off your assets.

Or outfit your pooch if you have a 16 oz. dog.

You could name your band after it. 

Some people have plastic surgery. Over and over again.

No comment.

But best of all, you can recycle it. Start by collecting a few plastic bottles. Store in your back yard until you have enough to make something with it. 

Like what?

You can make a polar fleece jacket from plastic soda bottles!

Here are the directions:

1.Cut up clean plastic bottles into a gajillion tiny, tiny, tiny itsy bitsy pieces. (See below.)

2.Put all the pieces into water to clean and remove all dust. 

3. Dry all the microscopic pieces of plastic thoroughly, one at a time.

4. Put into an oven proof container and melt in a gigantic oven at 482 degrees until it's melted thoroughly.

5. Then mix the old plastic with new melted plastic that has not been used before. (Called Virgin Plastic) (EBay probably has it.)

6. Force the melted plastic through your regular 'spinneret'. (The metal disc with holes in it you have in your cupboard somewhere) (see below)

    

                        This makes the plastic into threads which harden when cooled.

 7. Run the plastic through your thread stretcher-outer machine that stretches the threads to twice as long.

 8. Dry thoroughly.

 9. When dry, the threads are more like yarn rather than plastic. Roll into balls or wind onto a spool. (Sometimes the electric or cable companies leave large wooden spools on the side of the road.) 

10. Knit into a polar fleece jacket. (See below)

As wonderful as plastic is, there is current research out there that says that certain plastics are hazardous to your health. Especially using the wrong kind of plastic for your food or drink.

You see, the harmful elements in some plastics leach into your food or drink. This will probably do something bad to your body someday. I have no idea what that would be, but it probably is not good. 

Plastic containers have secret codes imprinted on the bottom of them.....a triangle with a number in it. Some plastics are OK and others are horrible. Look HERE to see what the codes signify.

So in light of all this information, my intention had been to purchase glass containers for storing food. Only thing is......I never did it. I meant to. But never did.

Friday night was my lucky day.

We met a couple of awesome, new friends....blogging friends....that we've had a blogging relationship with.....almost since we started our blogs.  Meeting someone you've never seen, had no idea what they look like and had never spoken to was quite interesting.

So after making a total fool of myself, going up to the wrong couple and acting like they knew why I was accosting them, we finally met Mr. and Mrs. Bratcat!

We had a wonderful evening, caught up on everything there is to talk about....

AND ! I got a gift!!!

Wonderful GLASS containers to store food in. What a surprise. Very clever, Ms. Cat.

Thank you both, so much.

Thank you for a wonderful time.

OH, N.Y.C., the whole world keeps coming....

Lyrics from the musical ANNIE....and so true.

In fact, the days we were there, so was the whole world! It was so crowded, the whole world HAD to be there!!

(Hey, I'm from Maine, where it's a 'traffic jam' if there are more than 3 cars at the stop light.)

Here are some images from our journey.

The view of the NYC skyline from the ferry terminal to go to Ellis Island. (Jersey side)

Blustery, raw day.

In a line boarding Miss New Jersey ferry. Notice the buildings to the left with the green roofs, one pointed and one round. The Twin Towers used to stand behind them.

Another view from the ferry terminal.

The terminal building from my seat on the ferry. It was great. I picked the seat right next to the heater. Nice.

Entrance to the Ellis Island Museum.

The immigrants traveling to the United States lugged their crap around in these types of luggage.

Next day, in the city. We started walking around at 42nd Street, wandering around aimlessly, crashing into 'stuff' as I was walking mostly looking UP.

Leaving Times Square.

After seeing Radio City Music Hall, Rockerfeller Plaza, and many store front displays, we ended up in Central Park.

Still pretty crowded for a park.

As picturesque as these things are, they have a certain aroma.

We ended up around 72nd Street and the Dakota, where John Lennon lived and died.

Yoko Ono donated a million dollars to Central Park to create a haven for John Lennon fans to wander, sit, remember and imagine.

After walking all day, we took the subway back to the bus which took us back to our car.

A lovely day was had by all.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.........

I can’t cook a turkey. Well, what I mean is, I don’t like cooking a turkey.




I try very hard to end up at someone’s house for Thanksgiving. 

Trouble is, when we get back, the very next weekend, Mr. Downeastdoingstuff suggests we cook a turkey so that we have his favorite thing.....leftovers! He gets bummed out when we don’t have left over turkey for turkey sandwiches because we’ve managed to go to someone elses house for Thanksgiving.

 So guess who cooks a turkey the next weekend so that Mr. Downeastdoingstuff is happy? I like Mr. Downeastdoingstuff when he’s happy.

BUT.....To me, handling a turkey is like fondling a corpse. It’s too dang big to be food. (see above photo) (Right?)

I know, I know.....I eat beef and cows are, in fact, much bigger than turkeys. But I don’t put a cow’s lifeless, cold carcass, sans fur, into my sink. And then stick my hand into it’s innards to pull out more innards. How disgusting would that be?

Well, a turkey is the same. Whole chickens I can handle, barely, but I can.  A hamburger is no problem. Even hotdogs don’t gross me out. And they probably should......

So we’re going to my cousin’s for turkey. Driving over 350 miles so that I don’t have to touch someone’s dead skin. It’ll be worth it.

But who am I kidding? You know what I’ll be doing next weekend. Sigh.

Unless.........someone invites us over to their house to eat next weekend.

Right, Donna?

Lobsta !

Lobster is a treat for most folks. But do you ever wonder about the first person ever to eat a lobster?? If you were the first person that came across that thing pictured above, would you think...."yummm! dinner!" 

Not me.

That thing is as close to a monster as anything I've ever seen.

That being said, I DO eat lobster. 

We mostly cook it at home. I've documented the event for you.


Only one minute left! 

Frank......use sunscreen next time.

Add some corn to the menu.....

Melt some butter.....healthy butter.....if there is such a thing.

Yummmmmmmmmmmmm! Another monster conquered.

What the?????????????????

Help!

Call the authorities!

Up the terror alert.....

What, what, WHAT is this white stuff on my rhododenrons this morning??????

Say it ain't so............

Delicious Chocolate Chip Pumpkin cookies....

I'd  like to share this healthy, yummy recipe. Pumpkin is a fruit or a vegetable or something isn't it? And they're lower fat than the original recipe! (see note in recipe...)

Recipe:

4 Cups All-Purpose Flour....you can make part of it whole wheat flour.

2 Cups quick or old fashioned Oatmeal

2 tsp. baking soda

2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 tsp. salt

1 1/2 Cups butter or margarine, softened....I use  3/4 Cup butter

and 3/4 Cup applesauce....... cutting the FAT !!   Click on it, I dare ya.

2 Cups brown sugar

1 Cup granulated sugar

1 16 oz. canned pumpkin

1 large egg

1 tsp. vanilla extract

  

3/4 C chopped walnuts, more or less, whatever you want.....I don’t chop them. I like them chunky.

1 1/2 Cups chocolate chips

Preheat 350 degrees. (how the HECK do you do the ‘degree’ symbol on a computer!!??)

Combine flour, oats, soda, cinnamon and salt.

Cream butter.

 

Gradually add sugars, beating butter and sugars til light and fluffy.

Add egg and vanilla.

Add applesauce IF using to replace part of butter.

Alternate additions of dry ingredients and pumpkin, mixing well after each

addition. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts.

.....If you need to make the dough thicker, add more flour to compensate for the liquidy applesauce, if you used it. It's a pretty sturdy dough.

For each cookie, drop 1/4 C of dough onto a greased cookie sheet.

Bake 20 to 25 minutes.

Makes about a million cookies.

(I make mine much smaller....using 1/4 C of dough makes a pretty big cookie. I like mine smaller. Eating 5 or 6 smaller ones instead of 2 large ones must...I say, MUST...save calories.)

Enjoy!

BOO!! Another project....

Are you scared? You should be. It's another project you can make 5 minutes before Halloween.

Your very own ghost. 

I told my kids at school that it's a real ghost. I'm sure there are a few that will go home and tell their parents that I have a real ghost in my room. My classroom can be spooky at times, that's for sure.

This real ghost is about 12" tall. Not really big enough to cause any mental or psychological problems if you see it.

Want to know how to make it? Then keep on reading. If you don't want to know, go to www.hulu.com and watch any episode of any tv show you want to see. That's how I got caught up on Glee, Modern Family and Community. I have tried watching the Office multiple times and just don't get it.

Nevertheless....
Get any bottle or something like a bottle. This will determine how tall your apparition will be. Add something round to the top for the head shape. Twist a wire around the neck of the bottle and bend it into whatever position you want the arms to be. I then bent the wire around at the ends to make 'hands' and padded the 'hands' with some scrunched up masking tape.

I took a piece of plastic wrap and draped it over the armature.

I taped the plastic wrap to position it around the armature better. I bought some liquid starch and some 100 percent cotton cheesecloth at the grocery store. (Before I got to this point.)

I draped the cheesecloth over the armature from back to front to see how much cheesecloth I would need. Leave a little extra so you can bunch it up at the base. Cut.

Unfold the cheesecloth because it's all folded up when you get it. And then double it before you use it. Pour some starch into a bowl.

Dunk the cheesecloth into the starch to soak it.

Carefully remove the cheesecloth from the starch. Don't wring it. Drape it over the armature and arrange the folds into however you want them to be. I did mine on a paper plate. I bunched up the cheesecloth at the bottom to give it good support and arranged it into the shape of the paper plate. (Actually it was a styrofoam plate but don't tell the environmentally concerned teachers I work with. They would have a coronary.)

Ready to dry. It takes a long time. Don't attempt to remove it if it's at all wet.

When it's all dry, carefully pull it off the armature. Cut out some black felt into eyeballs and a mouth of your choice. Tell everyone it's real.

That's it!

P.S. Did you know that you could actually make CHEESE with cheesecloth?