Monthly Archives: May 2009

We waited to see the Digital 3-D version at our local (1,000 feet from the doorstep) theater.  Up, up and away we went to movieland and were not disappointed.  Ed Asner voices the principal character and, knowing that, I had to keep from thinking of him as Spencer Tracy in “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?”

Adults, please bring a tissue or two as you’ll need it.  There are poignant moments in this film that parents, grandparents, and even childless baby boomers like us, will love.

Yes, Jim and I go to childrens’ movies.  We’ve never missed a Harry Potter, though tend toward the 10 p.m. show. We loved Monsters, Inc., Toy Story, and Jim loved Wall-E.  On TV I never miss The Sound of Music, even though we own the DVD.

No Mom, it was raining out, thundering and lightning, when we went to the 2:30 show (I’m convinced she can see me from above).  We did not waste a perfectly sunny Saturday afternoon at the movies.  And the one we were caught at ten years ago was all sister Lisa’s fault.  I said we were going to the beach and she said the mall, at the same instant.  Gotcha.

This is a movie I want in our scant library, along with Ratatouille and Enchanted.  They’re great movies to have on hand when kids visit.  This one is especially good, because it speaks to people of all ages.  I’ll paraphrase this: everyone wants to live atop the mountain.  It’s how you get there that matters.

That said, we have no home at the moment (in a fully furnished place) so we could sell one car, attach helium balloons to the other, put Dug (scratch that, I mean Zoe, sorry girl) in the back and steer the car somewhere south of Florence, Italy.  As long as I don’t have to wear those darned 3-D glasses!  Cheers, Dee

Yes, Mrs. Smith was very good to me. Before Montessori existed she got me into the violin program a year before any other student.  So at second grade, age six, I was a music geek.  By third grade I was tuning all the violins and violas, so they had to show up early to practice.  I was second chair by fourth grade and concertmistress when el primo broke his collar bone.

Piano ensued, ballet ceased, then all music education ceased except Santa bought me a cheap beginner guitar at age 12 and three of us gals took up a folk ensemble and we practiced between trips to the ice cream truck.  “500 Miles,” “Day is  Done,” “Blowin’ in the Wind” were our repertoire.  I did the chords and tried to sing harmony but the other two couldn’t get it and started singing with me.

We were a middle school disaster.  But we had to play at the variety show.  I believe we performed “Day is Done,” still one of my favorite folk songs.

Now I’ve taken up the guitar and have been given many exercises but have only done a few.  See, I don’t want to master “Stairway to Heaven” or even “Layla.”  I just want to play some acoustic guitar for me, for Jim, for family and friends to sing to.

It’s not that I’ve not been practicing.  A flood of music that I might be able to play has entered my mind these past few weeks.  Dylan, Baez, Dave Mason, and more.  My task is to make sure the lyrics are correct, then I try to replicate the chords with ones I know and ones I can learn.  It’s kind of scary as I wake up at night knowing a chord progression I couldn’t figure out the day before.  We’ll see what happens, hopefully next week.

Food songs? Apart from Neapolitan songs while eating pasta, I don’t know.

I do know a poem, from the Child’s Garden of Verses, that every child loves to hear; The Goops.  All I  want to do is play a few chords and have family and friends sing.  I hope I learn enough to make them happy. Cheers, Dee

On this morning’s “news” show I watch to find out if Jim needs a coat or umbrella, Today showcased a new book entitled “How to Shop for a Husband…”  I checked out the name on Amazon.  No, they don’t have the genuine article, a husband by mail, but do sell the book at a discount.

I haven’t read it, nor do I intend to.  I met my husband nearly eight years ago.  I was 42.  We met by chance two weeks after 9/11 at TGI Fridays during lunch.  We talked for over three hours and shook hands in the parking lot after swapping phone numbers.  My heart didn’t go pitter pat until the next night when he called me for dinner and a movie and took my hand after opening my car door.  We’ve been together ever since.

When it comes to same:same or same:opposite, we’re both.  He’s physics and math; I’m behavioral sciences and arts.  Each of our bookshelves are technical in nature but his involve numerical recipes and all kinds of software and mine include the recipes I know from cookbooks I’ve acquired over the years.  He’s a little bit country, I’m a little bit rock and roll.  Oops, I’m actually more folk-rock and classical, including opera.

Lifelong feminist that I am, he is the breadwinner and I’m the helpmate.  But we’re partners in a joint endeavor.  We enjoy spending time together, with friends and family, travel and the latest movie.  But we also have very different passions that make life interesting.  He will glom onto something and learn all about it, like finding the best large monitor at the best price or giving me this blog to maintain.  I cook and have just taken up the guitar and birdwatching.

Ladies, if you’re a warm and caring person, consider a “geek.”  I did and met my soul mate.  Is he enervating some of the time?  You bet.  Am I?  Yep.  I’m pretty smart (not in math) and for a long time went out with guys dumber than me.  Even in college.  Then I met people who could converse about politics and history and current events.

Remember the really nice guy you were friends with in high school, president of the chess club and math team?  You should have gone out with him, rather than the quarterback.  Shallow people don’t make good spouses. Maybe together they do, but the rate of divorces in Hollywood is astronomic!

The romance will change over time and it takes a married person to say that.  I always looked at those photos of the engaged couple on the sofa together reading the paper and drinking coffee.  Ain’t gonna happen.  My husband is over six feet tall and he alone can’t fit his height on a regular sofa!  Who you’ll be looking at is your life partner, someone to laugh and cry with, vent at and be vented at, raise children and deal with in-laws, work issues, home issues and money issues.

Perhaps the shopping angle isn’t such a bad thing after all.  I’d stopped looking for someone to share my life with and at a time I least expected, met my best friend and the love of my life.

Good luck, ladies and gents. Dee

That’s about as close a call as I want with a skunk!  Jim stayed upstairs, where the open sliding glass door transported the noxious odor indoors.  I smelled it downstairs but it took until the breeze wafted down the stairway before my eyes started burning and my mouth tasted of sulphur.

Jim closed the slider and turned on the bathroom fan and he and Zoe went to sleep.  A few hours later I braved the upstairs, but I left the fan on overnight.  By morning the odor was gone and nothing carries the skunk’s scent including upholstery, bedding, carpet, our hair or clothing.  It was a lot more fun going for a train ride today than looking for de-skunking products and scrubbing every inch of the house!

We’re just glad it all worked out.  No-one wants to spend a holiday weekend like that!  Cheers, Dee

A few weeks ago when there was snow on the ground we smelled skunk, with all the doors and windows closed.  Well, today we had the MBR slider open for a few hours on a glorious Spring day and… yep, you guessed it.

My country boy didn’t recognize the stench at first until I called upstairs for him to shut the bedroom window!  Now we’re wondering how bad it’ll be in here overnight and in the morning and whether clothing, carpets and upholstery will have to be treated.  I did find a food grade natural product that breaks the chemical bonds that create the sulfur odors.

Other than having the door open for “fresh” air, no-one did anything wrong.  Oops, I opened the door when we returned from lunch and a movie.  But a skunk didn’t get into the house and Zoe had nothing to do with it.  She was indoors sleeping at the time.  But if her fur stinks in the morning, we’ll have to treat her too….

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Tonight I made pork chops, bone-in, from Whole Foods.  I made up a portion of a recipe I used to host a family Christmas dinner a couple of years ago, which was a bone-in pork roast with hard cider gravy.    One of the chops looked a little dry and I’d bought one bottle of hard cider a few weeks ago to marinate a boneless loin (ridiculous for two, especially as Jim doesn’t like most leftovers).  So I put both chops in am 8×8 pan and seasoned the chops with salt, pepper and a bit of dried rubbed sage, then poured the bottle over it and let it sit on the counter, covered, for an hour.

I dried the chops, re-seasoned and dredged in flour, sauteed, rested while I made the “sauce.”  I tried to reduce the entire marinade with extra chicken stock.  It was too sweet.  I adjusted the seasonings and included a mere teaspoon of apple jus on top of each chop.  It was late so I made corn and frozen fries.  Tomorrow night we’ll probably have the last skirt steak (a great buy) as there’s just enough chimichurri in a sealed airtight bag in the frig.

We’ll miss Memorial Day with family in Texas this year and wish them well.  Jim’s Uncle Bobby customized his own smoker, on wheels to be towed with all the fixin’s.  He babysits his briskets for 13 hours.  Hate to say it but I’ve had no BBQ out here and it’s been a while. Gotta get back to Texas.

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Here’s hoping you’ve a better aroma in your home this evening than we do!  Even if you burned dinner, it would be better, trust me!  Cheers, Dee