Merry Christmas Ya Filthy Animal

The above quote is from "Home Alone 2" - the first "Home Alone" movie is in our regular Christmas rotation.  Another favorite of mine is "A Christmas Story."  I just finished reading the book that the movie was based on, In God We Trust:  All Others Pay Cash, by Jean Shepherd.  I was disappointed that the book did not include the famous tongue on the flag pole scene, or the swearing during the tire change scene.

It has been very cold again, temperatures in the teens, and we got 3-4 inches of snow last night.  The chickens are doing fine, although they do not like to go outside in the snow.  They are not particularly filthy animals, but they are pretty dirty.  We get 7 eggs from the 7 hens on most days.  We have these very nice and clean nest boxes that 6 of the hens always lay in, but one lady insists on creating her own nest on the floor!

J was able to come down to help decorate the new Christmas tree the Monday before Christmas.  Stella was obviously NOT in a holiday mood at the time!

My parents and J's friend, P, were here for Christmas dinner, which was delicious.  JP did a strip steak roast in the sous vide and then grilled the outside for a nice crunch, which we devoured with a bit of compound butter, along with melting potatoes, and asparagus with hollandaise sauce.

Shallot and Parsley Butter (Recipe from America's Test Kitchen)

- 4 T unsalted butter, softened                

- 1 small shallot, minced                         

-1 med garlic clove, minced                   

- 1 T finely chopped fresh parsley leaves

- 1/4 t table salt                                        

- 1/4 t ground black pepper                      

Mash all ingredients together with a fork in a small bowl, then dollop onto wax paper and roll tightly into a cylinder and twist the ends closed.  Store in the refrigerator but remove it to soften slightly about 10 min before using.

J had to return to the city the day after Christmas, and JP had to work.  I drove J back to her apartment and then visited the nearby Oriental Grocery where she used to work.  I had a short list of things I needed, but browsed for a while, wondering about some of the more unusual items, such as these:

L's 20th birthday was 2 days after Christmas.  JP was supposed to be off, but got called in for 4 hours as the clinic was super busy.  I made L's favorite cake, Tres Leches Cake, and we had a small celebration so she could open a few of her gifts.  We will have a combo party for she and I when J can come home again later this month.

We have still been in party mode this week, as it is New Year's and work schedules have been a bit more lax for some of us.  L invited several friends over for a New Year's Eve party, and they stayed overnight due to the above mentioned snow.  This made it a good time to stay in and enjoy some of my Christmas gifts:

Cocoa with cookie man

I got these fun glow-in-the-dark plant magnets!

Cozy socks by the fire...

So here is wishing you all a warm and happy New Year!

After All, There's Only 5 More Sleeps Til Christmas

So, Holiday season is upon us.  It has been pretty busy since I last posted...party, party, party.

J came home for Thanksgiving, and we also hosted JP's sister, brother-in-law, and niece.  I decided to make use of the wood stove to bake the sweet potatoes.  The remainder of our feast was prepared in the customary way.

While J was home we had a quiet, little birthday party for her - # 23.

That weekend, L and I went up to the city to see "Les Miserables."  This was part of her birthday gift.  It was great!

Several days later, at my office, I was finishing with my last patient when the fire alarms went off.  We evacuated the remaining patients and staff and waited around for the Fire Department to arrive.  In short order, they determined that a water line had burst in the ceiling of one of the staff offices, and caused an electrical fire in a ceiling light, setting off the alarms.  The water and smoke damage was pretty much limited to that office.  While restoration is ongoing, I am sharing my office with the providers who are currently "homeless."

I attended the retirement party for the Executive Director of the Library last week.  I worked with her for 12 years on the Board of Directors, but have seen her regularly since J was a toddler and we attended Story Time at the library.  L is currently her employee, so she was there as well.

L had her office Christmas party last week and is currently at another Christmas party with her friends.  I had my office Christmas party on Monday.  We did a White Elephant gift exchange, so I made some "Emotional Support Chickens" to exchange.

Last weekend, we got about 7 inches of snow Saturday into Sunday.  It was beautiful but too cold to appreciate!

L and I had tickets to see "The Nutcracker" on Saturday night, but it was postponed to the following evening due to the weather.  JP got our drive cleared, and the Township got our road cleared just in time for us to get there!  It was a very good show.

We decided this year that our old Christmas tree had seen better days and could retire.  We took advantage of a 50% sale at Balsam Hill, and purchased a new pre-lit tree, which arrived this week.  We are waiting to decorate until Monday, when J can come home for the day.

JP has started his new job this month and is enjoying the fact that he can get home in 20 minutes after his shift ends!  He is working his first weekend this weekend.  L and I worked on baking cookies and other Christmas treats today.

I'll leave you with one last picture of a gorgeous sunset that we witnessed this week on Poplar Ridge.  Only 5 days until Christmas, and much to do...

Winter Projects

Well, we made it through Christmas.  It was lovely having J home from college for an entire month!  She is back in school for her final semester.

L also celebrated her 19th birthday 2 days after Christmas.

We actually got a bunch of snow this year, followed by really cold weather, so it stuck around.  I think we had a total of around 10 inches from Jan 6th through the present.  The girls and I got a chance to play in the snow together after 2 winters of no snow!

Because there hasn't been much outside stuff to do lately, I have worked on some projects indoors.  I have done a couple of my yearly puzzles:

J got me this Hercule Poirot one for Christmas - 
I have also read 3 Poirot books in the past 11 days.

L brought this one home from The Louvre for me.

This project I did before Christmas - made this picture frame for L out of a cool box that salsa came in:

JP gave me a new Lego set for Christmas, this one came with a lighting set!  So I have built Notre Dame this winter as well.

The fake leather on our cool table/ottoman was peeling and flaking and looking terrible, so I decided to recover it.  Unfortunately all of the fabric stores nearby are closed, so I ordered new fake leather from Amazon.  As you can tell, the true color looks a lot different than the picture on line. 😕  It does look a whole lot better though.

My next project will be on a larger scale, and I think we'll need to call in some professional help.  The hot water valve under JP's sink sprung a leak and ran all night down into L's room.  It messed up her ceiling and 2 of the 4 sides of her window well, as well as the drywall below the window.  The carpet was soaked too.  We moved her into J's bed for a couple of weeks until everything was dried out and cleaned up, but the repairs have not started yet.

In addition to this, I will be picking up some extra work, but most of it can be done remotely - I am covering labs and imaging for a couple of providers at another Family Practice who are out on extended leaves - this should last through the end of February.

I also joined a Gym - can you believe it?  I plan to exercise there twice a week while L is having extended medical visits north of here.

The forecast is calling for more snow tomorrow.  Stay warm and safe, everyone!

Blue Christmas

It seems like a long time since I last posted, and I guess it has been 2 months!  It has been a very stressful time, and I don't feel like I can get into too much detail here, but L withdrew from college for mental health reasons at the end of October and we have been on a journey to get her better since then.  Frustratingly there has been very little forward progress.  On one hand, I'm glad that she is here where I can SEE her, but on the other hand it is heartbreaking to see how miserable she is day in and day out and not be able to do anything about it!

I kind of feel like my entire life has been on an extended pause punctuated by short bursts of panic and small breaks in the clouds every now and again.  At the same time, life is barreling forwards regardless, and Christmas (believe it or not) is in 2 days.  I am going through the motions, but not feeling it this year.

On top of everything, both my practice and JP's have been purchased by another company and so much is still up in the air with that - neither of us really knows what this means for the "bottom line."  Basically it means that both my home life and my work life are pretty stressful at the moment.

Some of the bright spots lately have included:

- carving pumpkins (grown right here on Poplar Ridge) with L.  Hers is Elmo on fire, mine is Elizabeth Bennet (one of my favorite literary characters.)

- hanging out with JP's sister and family for Thanksgiving, including my great-nephew (named Bennet in honor of one of my favorite literary characters) who is a fun little guy.

- making some tiny doll house items from a kit gifted to me by J's roommate/BFF and additional daughter by proxy.

                                        

- being unable to find a cheese advent calendar for J, so making my own.

-seeing the sun rise over the frosted valley on my way to work last week.

This morning I had the chance to meet up with my dear friend for coffee and a catch-up.  That was wonderful!  I do have one batch of Christmas cookies in the fridge before slicing and baking.  L has a long appointment and then is going out with friends this evening.  J is out Christmas shopping.  JP is working.  I should be cleaning, but can't get motivated. 

Let me leave you with a little bit of the Christmas cheer that I've been able to generate:

Aqua

We finally got city water up on the Ridge last week.  It has been a LOOOOONG and expensive process.  JP has been hauling around 750 gallons of water about twice weekly for the last 3 years since our 3rd well failed.  We have amazing water pressure considering that it is coming up the hill about 250 feet in elevation!  The downside (which I hope and expect is temporary) is that it smells and tastes terrible - likely from the water coming through miles and miles of new plastic pipes.  We have installed a new filtration system under the kitchen sink for drinking water and we deal with the rest.  What a relief!!

Once spring has sprung for real, we can work on landscaping the side yard that JP has been driving through with over 6 tons of truck, trailer and water, as well as where the new water lines were buried all the way down the hill.

So, what else has been going on all winter, you may ask?  Good question!  I feel like things got so busy for a while that I didn't know which direction I was going half the time!

J came home from college for about a month.  It was wonderful having her here!  She and her roommate came home with a puppy that none of their parents were expecting!  It sounds like she has been a nice addition to their little "family" in OH.  She and I did some Christmas shopping and decorating together, including carving "Hannukah Lanterns" out of pumpkins from the garden on Christmas Eve (since we never got around to carving Jack-o-lanterns over Fall Break!)  I did a snowflake; J did Gonzo as Charles Dickens from "A Muppet Christmas Carol."

L has stayed very busy with homework - so much so that she doesn't have time to do much else.  She and I did go on some college visits before Christmas, and she has also been working on College Application Essays and some scholarship essays as well.  Right now I believe that 2 colleges not too far away from home are in her #1 and #2 spots:  Chatham in Pittsburgh and Slippery Rock.  She did have time to help decorate the Christmas tree and make Christmas cookies.

Stella was the only one that I could convince to pose in front of the Christmas tree this year.  Very suddenly over the past 2 weeks, she seems to have lost pretty much all of her hearing, so that's been interesting.  We lost all of the other fuzzy pets over the past year - both kitties, and the bunny.  So I finished making personalized grave markers for everyone out in the Pet Cemetary.

We were able to celebrate Christmas with JP's sister, BIL and niece.  We made tamales again for Christmas dinner, which were delicious!  We will be neighbors with these folks in the future in VA, and it's always fun to hang out with them.

My big Christmas present from JP this year was another Lego set - this time Diagon Alley.  I started by deconstructing the Titanic (my gift from last Christmas.)  And then spent evenings building 8 buildings in Diagon Alley from the Harry Potter movies.  I also used some Birthday money to buy another Lego kit, which was a Japanese Garden and Tea Room.

Titanic...RIP

Diagon Alley

We got several inches of snow mid-January that actually stuck around for several days.  It was enough to disrupt school a bit, but L never got time to play in it with me, and J was already back at school.  I basically just enjoyed the beauty of it, and of course, shoveling it!

We have celebrated several birthdays (Mom, J, L, and myself) and 3 holidays (Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year) since I last reported, and I already sent out care packages for Valentines Day to the college girls last week.

I have continued to do my refrigerator bulletin boards weekly:

Fridge Facts - Cold Edition

Fridge Facts - Success Edition

Fridge Facts - Darkness Edition

I also managed to finagle a food exchange between myself and a friend who is an amazing pastry chef:  I baked him a quiche, and he baked me a dozen amazing cinnamon rolls!

L is now adding musical theater rehearsal to her schedule.  She has landed the role of Snoopy in "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown" at school.  Their first show is late March and they still have not received scripts, so rehearsals have been a bit sketchy.

Right now, I need to go make some guacamole and jalapeno poppers for Super Bowl supping.  Hip hip hooray!