Feel Good Friday Disaster

It's Friday night, I'm tired after a busy week and I'm not feeling the Feel Good Friday so much right now. I did such a good job planning for my back to school exhaustion (which I usually think means I have a disease until I remember that I am just back to the school routine and it takes some getting used to after a summer spent doing this) that I suddenly hit the wall this week.  I'm back to my regular school frenziness and my body didn't get the message and I'm a drooling mess every day by like 5pm.  Then I revive but it's usually for nothing.

So, I now have to muster the energy to come up with 5 things that were great this week.  Maybe I can do it if I go in reverse order.

I have intentions of making applesauce and canning the apples we got last Sunday, as well as the large bag of cranberries k-ster got from work this week.  So, since I don't have to peel the cranberries, I thought maybe tonight I'd make some cranberry sauce and can it.  So, I did.  And it tasted good.  And I have a lot more cranberries to go.  Even though I already froze some and put others aside for my sister.

You may have noticed the new blogher ads to the right and that's because I am now part of their network.  You have to be approved and I was, so at least someone thinks the words I write are not pure drivel.  This also entitles me to be part of the Blogher bookclub which k-ster is NOT going to like very much.  He thinks I read too much already.  Ah but little does he know, I will get paid for reading.

Ok, really, it was such an unremarkable week, I have to stop there or I will start complaining.   This might be the most pathetic Feel Good Friday I've ever done.

You must have had a more entertaining week than I did, so PLEASE go write about it, put the Feel Good Friday badge on your post (it's over in the margin at the right) and come back and tell me where to go.

Oh and my feel good moment right this minute is that next week is a 4 day week with kids because we have a professional day on Friday and then that's the long Columbus day weekend, so we all get next Monday off.  And with this new schedule, I won't miss any kids, I will just pick up whatever number day comes next after the last day I see them.  No more missing the Monday class on a Monday holiday.  HA HA HA HA HA no one is safe from the demands of Mademoiselle Sparkling this year!!

My Post Office Hates Me

 

 This is very definitely a WTF Wednesday post! 

 

We live in a town where we still get mail delivered by mailmen and mailwomen in those white boxy truck things, like in the old days.  We have 3 post offices for this one town that is divided into 3 villages (sort of).  Now that the USPS is in a bit of a pickle, I'm distressed.

Because my post office has grown to hate me.

We have a very confusing situation, here on the compound.

First, we have a campground which means that in the summer, we sometimes get mail for people staying here.

Second, about 20 years ago, they realized we had 3 streets of the same name in town, so rather than renaming the streets, they added numbers to our address.  We went from 98 to 698.  That was when I lived in my parents' house, the newer one they built when I was in high school.  The house next door, which is where I live now and where I grew up, went from 88 to 688.

Yes, I am literally 50 yards from the next house but I am a whole 10 numbers different.  But did I go and question the postmaster over this weirdness?  Of course not.

Third,  I'm not married, so I still have the same last name as my parents.  There are some bizarre pieces of mail that come and still have that address as mine.

Fourth, we also have a car wash here at the compound and it's on a different road, but the post office knows that all mail for that should go to my parents too.

Are you following all of this?

And fifth, I went through a phase where I wanted to get mail for things but didn't want to give my real name, so I made up a name and still get mail for that very name to this day.  Lulu Lepou has been sent offers for loans, credit cards and most often, the New York Times at a great rate.

Add to all of this that I get mail for the ABWA scholarships here, the Run for the Arts for the Cultural Center and often things with my school name because I might have registered for a conference that way.

I don't  know why there would be any confusion, do you?

Here's an example of the kind of mail my parents get when they go away for just a few days.  This is in January.  When no one is even in the campground! 

Anymailbox, the mailcarrierpeople have always been able to keep it all straight, delivering most of my parents' mail and the car wash and campground mail next door, and all of my mail and k-ster's mail to me. 

 

Except for some phone bills because the technical address for the campground is my address and when people want phone lines, the phone company uses this for their land address.  

 

Seriously, why would anyone not be able to keep all of this straight?

For.e.ver., we had the same mailman, day after day.   And he would steadily come around the same time each day.  Every so often, he' dramatically change the time of day, but then it would become regular at that time, and so on.

Then we noticed that we weren't getting the same mailman.  And we weren't getting mail at the same time on any.  8am one day, 4;55pm the next, etc.  Not really a big deal, we were still getting mail.

Then I noticed that a few times, I'd put up my little red 'I have mail to go out' flag, but they wouldn't come!  I'd hear them go whizzing by.  BUT I HAD MAIL TO GO OUT!!

So, I went to the post office and asked.  They said they don't have to stop if they don't have mail to give you.  Well, then why waste the time making the plastic flags if they don't have to be noticed???

One time, I caught a mailman as he was delivering and I asked why we get mail at all kinds of crazy times.  He said that this road is not really on anyone's route, so they just kind of grab it at random.  Strange, because this is kind of a busy road.  Mail trucks will drive up and down this road several times before and after bringing us the mail.

So, about a year go, the post office's clear dislike became apparent when they left me with this.  I kind of ignored it and no one cared.

Then, I noticed that I'd hear the mail truck, back and forth, back and forth, but I wouldn't get any mail.  The next day, a piece of mail would have the words "box blocked" written on it.  It seemed that my vehicle was blocking the easy access to the box.  Like they had to get out of their vehicle to go to my box.  Except that they had two options to get to my box and one of those options wasn't blocked.

Neither wind, nor rain.....

We had a guy for a while who would park out on the road and walk the 100 feet in to put my mail in.  I'd even shovel a path out to the road when we had crazy snow.

Then that stopped.  And repeatedly, when the "box was blocked" we wouldn't get mail.

We got another nasty note, looking as official as the last one, saying that the box was not in a safe area and if they can't safely access it, they can't deliver.

Now, I don't know what they mean by safe.  We have no dogs, so that can't be it.  It's not on a hill or mountain.  It's safely off the road, so no one is going to drive over them as they put the mail in the box.  We don't have a meth lab in that barn back there.   He has to simply drive around this island and put the mail in the box.

So, instead of moving it out to the street, I wait.  I'm kind of stubborn like that.

Since we don't have the same carrier every day, not everyone cares.  Some will come into the driveway even if The General is parked right in front of it.  During the summer, when it's more of an issue because I'm home more, I will run out to meet the mailman so he doesn't have to get out.  And he never says a word about it.

So, who is this mailcarrier that doesn't like us?

Saturday mornings are the biggest issue because we are usually home.  It's now become normal that I park on the lawn or over by the barn so that the mailman can "safely" get to the box.  K-ster has a habit of parking off the driveway, but from the road, it looks like he's on it, so they sometimes won't come in.  So they give us the mail the next time with the note, again on a piece of my mail, that says "box blocked".

Nor sleet, nor snow...

Now, here are some of my questions:

Is the post office allowed to WRITE ON MY MAIL?   EVER?  We used to have a guy who would put boxes inside one of the trucks in the yard if it was bad weather.  And he'd write "package in truck".  Really???  What if that truck wasn't one of ours????  And can they really write on my mail?

Is the post office going to use some of their bailout money to fill in the hole they create every day?  They peel out every day and there is now quite a hole.  It makes it dangerous for ME TO GET MY MAIL!!  There's no danger in the delivery, unless they are worried that they will never get out of the hole.  That they created.

Does it matter that I taught and enjoyed both of the kids of one of the people who brings my mail?  And they liked me?  Shouldn't I have an "in" there? And get my mail every time I'm due?  Like there they are, all of the mailmen standing around waiting for the mail to be ready and they are like "oh, have you been to that unsafe house?  The one with the BLOCKED BOX? "  And she'd be like "Oh, give them a break. She was the best teacher my kids ever had!"

When they 'accidentally' give me mail for other people on this street, should I bring it to the post office and get nasty and rub it in their faces?  We are all busy and live with pressures at work and make mistakes.  But since the nasty notes have been left in my box, I've noticed a surge in the amount of mail that is definitely not for us.  Sometimes, we get our neighbor's entire stack of mail because it was just behind ours.  But, I say nothing because I understand the confusion of my parents' mail.

And then there was day that k-ster was getting a new phone by mail.  He tracked it online and it said was to be delivered that day.  The mail came and went, no phone.  So he called the post office and they contacted the driver.  He said he hadn't been here yet and came back within minutes with the package but no "forgotten" mail.  Hmmm.  Curious, no?

So, like the character in that Adam Sandler movie that perpetually wants his "$2", I just want my mail.  And I want the mailtrucks to stop taunting me.  And I don't want my mailman writing notes on my mail.

 

If you are a mail carrier and you do your job well, I apologize if I have insulted you.  

 

If you are a mail carrier and you suck as much as ours do, well then SUCK IT.

My New Apple Peeler

How's that for a stimulating title?

I had never been anywhere to pick apples, except the local Stop and Shop, and now that I'm a professional canner, I plan to can lots of applesauce while the apples are still brand new.

Thus, my master plan to go to an orchard and pick apples since it's September in New England and that's what I'm supposed to do.  Then I'm going to come home and make a million jars of applesauce.

On Sunday, k-ster, my sister e-ster and her crew all went apple picking.  According to her, it was only a half hour from her house.  And it was, plus about another half hour more.

I wasn't sure what to expect, but I pictured lots of rows of trees with people standing guard to make sure you didn't take more than your fair share or harm the trees.  I was pretty surprised when it was all independent and no one cared what you did as long as you didn't cross the yellow ropes.  Which people did anyway to sneak a few apples.

I wanted to know which types of apples I was picking, but there were no signs.  Just lots of red apples, red and green apples and greenish apples.  All kinds of sizes.

And this guy, picking some apples like he was a professional or something.  Height had its advantages, but I still got plenty even at my own 5'2.5" level.

When all was picked and bagged, k-ster and I had 42 pounds of apples.  A bushel is 48.  That's a lot of apples.   But, the recipes say it takes 21 pounds of apples to make 7 quarts of applesauce, so I don't think that's soooooo many.

And I made a pie already, so that's a couple of pounds less.  And I might just eat a few before I can get to canning them.

But here's the real reason I brought you here today:

I have no idea what this brand of apple peeler/corer is, but it's so cool!  I looked online and they all seemed to be between $14-$20, so I got the $14 one on amazon.com  It took ruining one apple to figure it all out.

I had no idea that this little magic was going to happen.  I was shocked after the first apple went through and was like a slinky!  I just cut the stack in quarters and used them in my pie.

The peeler makes these cool stringy peels that most of the time were all one long string from one apple.

After the pie went in the oven, I had to see if I could also peel potatoes with this thing.  I have made mashed potatoes maybe 5 times in my life.  I just don't care about doing things with potatoes and don't buy them very often.  I mostly just make potato salad and I don't peel the potatoes.

I didn't get any pictures, but it peeled the potatoes just as nicely, so I made some mashed potatoes for supper.  K-ster was surprised.

Along with apples, the farm had lots of other produce growing, and of course, a pumpkin field.  You could just take one of their picked pumpkins, or you could go out in the field on the hay ride for $2.25 and "pick" one.  K-ster and I were not interested.

And yet, someone forked over the cash and off we went.  Since I had my very own homegrown pumpkin, I didn't need to buy one.  But this one right here bribed me with being able to pick my own corn when we got out in the field.

The kid driving the tractor wasn't sure about picking corn, and no one else was, and I didn't feel like getting arrested in the middle of a cornfield, so I skipped it.

Did I mention the VERY hot day that it was?  We've had a lot of rainy days and Sunday was supposed to be cloudy and rainy.  But then the sun came out.  And we were meeeeeeelting.

So, big plans for the weekend include a lot of applesauce being made and processed.  Maybe I'll be really good and get a batch going in the slowcooker and be ahead of myself.

Then we're on to cranberry sauce because k-ster has access to as many free cranberries as I want he wants.

John Deere Green

My sister a-ster and I have some unspoken john Deere thing going on.

I bought her a t-shirt from Canada that says John Moose in the John Deere emblem. 

She bought me a fleece that has the giant Deere emblem on it.

You know that as soon as she had that baby I knew I had to make something Deere related.

Oh Joann fabrics, you give me so many endless possibilities with your John Deere themed materials.....

Linking here:
http://www.glitterglueandpaint.com/throwback-thursday-13/
http://www.skiptomylou.org/
http://www.nothingbutcountry.com/

It's Feel Good Friday Time

So, here we are, it's Friday evening, and I'm just finding the time to do my Feel Good Friday roundup.  But, at least I'm doing it, so read along and then chime in with your own!

I've had this ring for a long time.  Until Tuesday, this ring had an opal in it.  I should say that k-ster gave it to me, but technically, k-ster gave me a ring that I did not like and when I took it to the store, this is what I liked in exchange.  Opal is my birthstone and I happen to think they are very pretty.  My favorite part about this ring is that it is square.  You don't see square opals very often.  If I had a nickel for every time I've received a compliment on that ring, I probably could afford a diamond by now~!
 
People tell me all the time that opals are very sensitive, they crack in the cold weather, blah blah blah.  I have never taken this thing off and I've had it for about 10 years.  I beat the odds.

2 years ago, as I was leaving the barn, I got into The General and the opal fell out, right into my hand.  I marveled at the timing.  Had it been 5 seconds earlier, it would have fallen on the dirt and that would have been the end of that.

I took it to a jeweler who glued it back on and said it looked great for its age and that she was surprised that it was that old and had been worn non stop.  A few months later, I took it to the same jewelry store to ask about resetting it in something with prongs and a different jeweler went nuts.  She was like "we would NEVER touch an opal.  We don't TOUCH opals" like they have diseases or something.  That store has now closed after like 50 years, so go figure.

I've looked at it a few times recently, thinking it looked strange, but it didn't seem loose.

On Tuesday, I was in a rush, making copies, and I ran out of paper.  I put two reams in and as I was taking my hand out from the second ream, I hit the ring on the tray and I heard a PING.  I KNEW IT! I KNEW from the way I put my hand in there that would happen.

After frantically searching the tray, I gave up and made my copies and went back to my room.  I was sure it was in the tray, under some place that I couldn't see, so my plan was to ask the service guy to dismantle the machine the next time he comes. 

As I was leaving, I knew I had to search again, so I went back in with a flashlight. After laying flat out on the floor, looking under the copier, I looked inside the tray itself.   The speckles in the stone caught the light and I found it!!

Now I know I've got to reset it in something with prongs.  Glue is not going to keep this thing in its place.  I am currently wearing the ring without the stone, while I wait until I can find a jeweler who will touch opals.  The ring itself is getting very thin on the band, so it's really time for me to do something. 

I'm just glad I found it!

Now grab the button, go write about your feel good moments this week and tell us where to go!

Is It Just Me?

Does anyone else out there have a problem going from summer clothes to winter clothes?

I go just about the entire summer without long sleeves or long pants.  The first time I wear a sweatshirt or long sleeves, my arms freak out.

The first time I wear jeans, I feel trapped.  Capris don't seem to have the same effect and I do wear them on occasion in the summer.

But I have a very strict rule that once the summer clothes go on, nothing that resembles pants or winter clothes can be seen.  Unless it is super frigid, which can happen on very rare occasions.

Usually, there will be a few really cool nights in the summer when I put on a sweatshirt if I'm outside, but that didn't happen once this summer. 

So, thanks to a pretty cool weekend in the 50s and 60s, I've been forced to don some long sleeves and even a pair of jeans. 

Ugh.


Like I said the other day, I am so not ready for this.  I think it's a passing thing, but fall isn't too far around the corner.

Can't do it.

Can't face the shorter days and colder nights.

This Might Be A CHeap Attempt To Get You To Look At My Abs

Most of my workout bottoms are either spandex/cotton bike type shorts, or capris.  I don't usually wear a lot of running shorts.   Even for running.  They usually ride up or just make me feel blah.

If I wear running shorts at the gym, I feel like if I do something on the floor, my butt falls out the leg opening.

Enter the best pair of shorts EVER.    They are the Champion® Women's Woven Running Shorts and do you think I can find a single pair left in this universe?

My sister gave me these just this past Christmas, and I have not been able to find the right kind since.  She got them at Target for like $10 and they still have them listed on the website but out of stock.  I guess everyone and their mother liked them too.

See the super wide band at the waist?  And the very wide tie?  There is something magical about these two things that no other short has ever had for me.  I like the tie on the outside because it just seems to fit there.  And the very wide band makes them stay where you tie them.  I have a serious problem with shorts moving all over my hip/waist area and when I'm running, that is not ok with me!

Here's the thing.  They say woven, but they are wind pants type material.  To me, and to the search engines, woven means that mesh stuff that lacrosse shorts are made of and they are not my thing.

Another thing that I love about these shorts is the back.  That white stripe is a great decoy. 

These shorts don't have built in underwear, but I can wear my real underwear and it's not obvious.  They are just loose enough in the leg/butt area that they don't cling.

And when I ran today, they didn't ride up much in the inner thigh area.

Now, I know you are thinking "psht, I bet I can find them online" because I would be thinking the same thing.  I have googled the bejesus out of these things and the best I can come up with is either a truly woven short(ew yuck) or a similar short with a skinny waist.  The wide waist on this really is the key.

And no, I did not go all review crazy and give up the general day to day trivialities that I usually blog about. 

Champion did not compensate me in any way for this commentary, though I would be most happy to review products for any workout wear in the future.