I’ve often wondered where weird photos of odd things come from.  Many of the times the photos are manipulated to enhance or change a scene.  My thought is if the photo is unretouched that there must be some redneck involved in the photo subject.  Today I am here to tell you that those photo opportunities just happen.  I was working in a store the other day and I could hear a phone ringing.  I looked around as no one was answering the blasted thing.  I am not a hired receptionist so I don’t answer it.  However this is what I saw when I glanced down to the left of me,  a portable office.

That’s weird, it seems all I’ve been doing is working and since I don’t really write about work, I haven’t written anything.  And the only reason that I’m making time to write is because I’m out of town….for work.  Huh!

So here’s a quick update.

Weather has been cold, I mean really cold.  Idaho cold!  The kind of weather where it’s sunny and gorgeous but you know that all the plants that you bought back in the spring time will never see the light of day again due to the extreme cold.  I liked it, it reminded me of how I could possibly like winter again, for a short time, maybe. Naaaah! Stop holding your breath on that one.

We had a Holiday Gathering at our home this last weekend.  We didn’t have one last year and it was nice to have a year off, we didn’t have a summer party this past year either…what’s wrong with us?  Nothing, we’re  just lazy!  About two weeks before the party we (as in me) decided that the stain glass window in the bathroom needed to come out, and the framing around it, and the bathroom needed new paint.  If you count all the primer the bathroom got at least 4 new coats.  One coat of paint required a ‘family meeting’, because the color was, shall we say, awful?  I was out of town, (of course) and Sweet Husband tackled the job.  He’s a natural, and also did house painting for a few summers with some pro outfit, so he’s pretty good.  anyhoo, the color was icky and so we went back to the drawing board.  Oh and on top of that we decided to wall paper one of the big walls…yeah what a couple of dorks we are.  But it all turned out fine and it looks like a bathroom of this century, or at the very least the last decade of the last century. 

Well it’s a short post, but now I’m off to get some sleep…work calls early tomorrow.

Day Two:  Sandwiches made with leftover rolls, butter and previously carved pieces of turkey make their ways into our menu.  Apple pie has always been better on the following days, and the ice cream only gets bigger with each scoop as does our waistlines.

Day three:  Mashed potatoes, thin tasteless gravy, and stuffing are not enhanced by any amount of time spent in the microwave, and yet, it’s our next meal.  We shovel it down like it’s our final dinner and wipe our mouths as we conclude with a small, not quiet so silent, ‘bur-rap’.

Day four:  The cats can finally take their pleasure with the turkey leg bone as we’ve picked what meat we can for our meat pie.  The bone is polished white within the hour and I wonder where the small aged kitten draws its strength from to conquer such a beastly meal.

Day Five:  We’ve finally left the house and our world is bright with lights all around us.  There are odd variations of red, blue, white twinkles raining down upon us in a variety of shapes.  Tree, stars, melting ice, we’re surrounded by lights that will surely only shine for a short amount of time within the next month or so.  We have passed into the next holiday era. Our walk is brief.  We stroll across the street, to our nearest neighbors, who have invited us, in all of their newness as a couple,  for a hosted dinner of turkey, potatoes, stuffing, gravy and pie.  We don’t resist the invitation for dinner, for as in the words of the Borg….restiance is futile.  mmm, futile!

Isn’t it odd that a day can start and end with the same pie?  Oh my this was a yummy pie. My last attempts at baking a pie weren’t met with very successful results.  Unless you like a sticky messy pile of goo on your plate topped with ice cream, then I can fix you up most of the time.  This pie however was near perfect.  The only thing that would have made this pie more perfect is, if it had brought itself to me on a plate covered with vanilla ice cream.

I have determined that baking is a science and I am not a scientist.  I’m more of a “wing it” sort of gal as I like to throw in additional flavors when I cook for tasty combinations of savory goodness.  We have a friend that is a tremendous baker and she is that way because she is very careful and precise in how she goes to task.  She is also very good at sharing, which is unfortunate for our waist lines.  She thinks nothing of baking scones, bread and cinnamon rolls in the same weekend.  However when it comes to creating something out of the fridge with what she has, she doesn’t have the ability or imagination to bring it all together.  I used to make cookies because I was bored and had time.  I was also rowing so I had the built-in calorie burning mechanism going on.  Now cookies are something that I do once a year and it’s only one kind….my yearly thumbprint cookie, coming to a kitchen near you in mid December. I never waver on this recipe, it’s my favorite and if I did it more often I would grow weary of its delight.

So yesterday it was Sweet Husband and myself for dinner.  Sweet Daughter was with us overnight but then she was off to her mom’s for dinner.  This was an odd year for us as we are usually with family, but that has been put off for a day in order to celebrate his sister’s Birthday.  We knew that we would still want to eat, so we did a small dinner.  We cooked about a 10lb bird, had brussel sprouts, dressing, mashed potatoes, a yam, rolls and pie.  Neither one of us over ate, much.  We have plenty of leftovers to last a few days…which means minimal cooking.  Unless you count turkey soup, turkey pot pie, turkey casserole and potato pancakes.  Yeah, we’re done cooking for a while, but not necessarily done eating.

All in all it was a nice relaxing day, unless you were the turkey, then not so much.  We did go for a long walk so we could have this sort of meal with minimal guilt.  All of the tasty morsels turned out fine, and we ended the evening with pie so good I didn’t mind fetching it myself.

I think it’s fairly obvious that I don’t do a lot of self promotion, or I would have had many more excellent guesses on the cheese contest.  So with that said, WE HAVE A WINNER. Richard guesses 1323 pounds and although that is over by a few pounds he is declared the WINNER.  You will be receiving in the mail a selection of fine cheeses.   Can you email me your street address, no PO boxes please. 

The largest cheese I’ve had the pleasure of cutting was called a Mammoth Cheddar and this one was 1000 pounds.  This is a young cheddar cheese and very mild in flavor.   The yellow cheese encased in wax, was on a wooden pallet so it could be taken in and out of the cooler every night in order to lower the possibility of mold.  It took at least two people to begin the initial cuts and this was done with a piano wire wrapped around two wooden handles.  Before we could start the actual cutting, we would score the wax.  This was done for a couple of reasons…first to show how we were going to divide the cheese into sections.  And secondly to create a trough for the wire to be placed into to maintain a straight cut.  This cheese was busted down into manageble pieces and it was usually done on the sales floor of  the store to create ‘theatre’.  It was a fun process and we sold a lot of cheese.   I don’t remember being sore after slicing up this bad boy, but I bet I’d be sore if I attempted that now. 

I couldn’t find  an image of a 1000 lb mammoth cheddar on the intertubes, but click on the link and read about the history of cheddar.  This woman does outstanding carving on a variety of cheese, it’s amazing and I’ve seen her work at some of the conferences I’ve attended.  This particular mammoth is about 350 pounds as a point of reference for what 1000 pounds might look like.

See it pays to pay attention and make guesses…I think I’ll have another contest soon….what will it be?

Dude! Today is November 13. Those trees will be kindling by Christmas. I’m just sayin.

Just in case you couldn’t tell, this photo was taken from a moving car, on the freeway.  You might also want to know that I was not the driver, but I was the snapper of the photo.  One more fun fact?  I posted this via my cell phone…I love technology.

It’s Cheese Gromit!   I know I don’t talk in details about what I do at work, but I just had to show what I was doing the other day.  I take this exercise, task, whatever, for granted because I’ve done it a million times over.  I’m not sure if you knew or not, but I get paid for “cutting the cheese”. I know, it sounds like the dream life of an 11 year old boy.

This particular cheese is from a 175 pound wheel which is about 3 feet across.  What you see are the quarters, which are approximately, 32.5 pounds each.  When I was introduced to this piece of cheese, it was still in it’s half form and needed ‘washed’.    I’m 5′2″ and this cheese is on an average sized table, the cheese comes up to my shoulder which makes it a bit awkward for handling, turning, or cutting.  The cleaning solution in the bottle is water, salt and a very small amount of apple cider vinegar.  I spray the rind of the cheese, saturating it to loosen any mold and then use a brush to get the remaining bits of mold, wiping it all clean with a cloth towel.  If I had not done that, the mold would have been passed to the cheese as I cut through it, thus reducing the shelf life of the cheese.  It took me about an hour to wash the cheese.  You will want to thank your local cheese steward for doing this EVERY time with wheels of parmesan or large Swiss.

The ‘tool’ sitting on the table with the gray handles is the wire that I use to cut the cheese. (I hear giggling every time I write ’cut the cheese’ ).  It took me another 2 hours to bust this dude down to managable 8oz portions.  I was located in a very prominent part of store so I also got to sample to customers, who then went on to purchase, completeting  the perfect retail circle of life.  Someone else got the honor of wrapping, and pricing the cheese.  The next step would then be displaying it in the cheese case, which I also didn’t have to do.  My time was up at that store and I needed to move along to the next opportunity.

This is not the largest piece of cheese I’ve cut.  Any guesses as to how big the largest piece was?  There will be a gift of cheese coming your way if you guess correctly.   Come on, say cheese.

My life lately has been consumed with work and since I generally don’t write about work, I haven’t written much.  So instead I’ll entertain you with some new choice for the blog layout and photos.  In fact if you like to participate in this blog layout, suggest a photo, or send me one.  If you don’t have my email addy, it’s over —–>>> beneath my photo.  If I pick your photo, I’ll also send you a PRIZE!!!  Did I say prize?  Yes I did, oh what could it be? 

I like change.  That word alone causes trama and panic in a lot of people, but I am not one of them.  Perhaps it’s my gypsy like nature, the nomad in me, or I simply get bored quicker.  But I like to tweek my environment, by moving furniture, painting walls, or doing a remodel, most likely to the chagrin of my Sweet Husband who will most like be recruited to ‘help’.  Yesterday I brought home a side table that needed to be assembled.  What is not told in the instructions are any tools you might need and the fact you will need the arms of Kali to minimize the frustration level.  Insert piece Q in tab B, but only after you have to redrill the hole in piece C.  After a few choice moments we finally accomplished this task and we now have matching end tables, like real grown ups, with matching furniture.  Hell it only took just a little over 50 years to not look like the early college collection from the Goodwill.

So about the change thing.  We’re going to paint the living room, mostly because it needs it, not because I really have a burning desire to remove everything in the living room and dining room.  But it will be fresh and clean and new.  I also like new.  That doesn’t mean it has to be ‘brand’ new, but simply new to me.  Yes we will use new paint, I do have my limits, and, and, and… and what? I’ll just post some photos when we are done.  You’ll like it I promise.  And if you don’t, you come here and paint it.  Now that’s a prize I can live with. 

Our best sides!

How can a cat so small, Meoww SO loud, have Poops bigger than my arm, and be so in want of food she will bite the hands that feeds her. She’s still for sale…