July book report

I finally finished a book! Mark it on the calendar, Gladys! Now I have only the one unfinished book from May (the one I keep misplacing), one that a friend lent me, and 3 Stephanie Plum books to go…August is going to be a busy month…

The book I managed to finish was “Feet of Clay” by Terry Pratchett. Some years ago I decided to start going through his Discworld books again from the beginning. I would read one, then some other book, then another Discworld, etc. Feet of Clay is #19. This series is just the absolute best for some fun times. Pratchett is a joy to read. I really urge anyone who enjoys humorous Sci-Fi to look into these books. There’s not a whole lot I can say about this book if you’re not familiar with the people, circumstances, etc. of the Discworld. The books can stand on their own and can be enjoyed in any order, I just find them to be more fun if read in order.

This book involves Golems who decide to revolt against the order of things, a nasty plot against the Patrician of Ankh-Morpork (the main city), a new Dwarf recruit in the City Watch, and the usual folks who make living on a flat world flying through space on the back of 4 enormous elephants who are on the back of an even bigger tortoise such fun…

Impossibly Good!!

I don’t know when Bisquick came out with the recipe for Impossible Pie, but I immediately embraced it. What an easy dish to make! Of course, back then, I had to bake them in a real oven. But that was OK, because the results were so great. And I could make two pies at once. I usually made the quiche-like recipes with leftover meat and veggies. I’ve made dessert ones and they’re good, too. Once I was able to make them in the microwave, I would make them more often, since it wouldn’t involve heating up the house. I could only make one at a time though. And by then I only had one 10” glass pie plate left. Smaller ones wouldn’t hold the entire mixture.

So began my quest for another 10” pie plate, WITHOUT RIDGES OR FLUTING. I quickly became aware that these plates were no longer made by Pyrex, ....Corning...., etc. I would look every time I went to Walmart or some such store, and never find what I wanted. I finally went online, and that’s when I found out that you can’t get them anymore. So I started haunting Salvation Army and other thrift stores. Nothing. Lots of small plates, but no 10” ones. Another good thrift store opened up here not long ago and they seemed to have a lot of glassware and so I would make it a practice to check in with them every once in a while. Nada.

During Marv’s vacation week, we happened to be at the newer thrift store, and as usual, I looked among the glassware to no avail. Marv sat down in a nice looking office chair to try it out and quickly called me over. I looked at him and he just pointed to the bottom shelf of some decorative glassware. I rarely pay that section any heed. There they were…2 glass pie plates, no ridges, no fluting, and they were 10”! It was like finding the Holy Grail…I may even have teared up a bit. I clutched those plates to my chest like a mother with her lost child and made my way to the register. Then we went to Salvation Army and just for the heck of it, looked at the glassware. More 10” plates! There were probably 4 or 5 of them, but I only bought 2, bringing my total for the day to 4 plates. Don’t know where I’m going to put them all, but by golly, they will be at my disposal! I will still treat my original plate with the respect it deserves, but no longer live in fear of it breaking. And I can now bake 2 pies at once if I want to fire up the oven! And even if I still want to use the microwave, I can make one pie, and be eating it while the second one bakes.

Of course, you know that now I will be stumbling over 10” glass pie plates whenever I go to a thrift store...feast or famine, feast or famine...

What I Did On My Vacation

Marv’s one week of vacation was spent at home this year. Mainly working on the home improvement stuff. We went to Home Depot a LOT.
We did take a day trip to Mt. Lassen to see the snow. It’s not every year that there is still a significant amount of snow in July. As always, the drive up there is beautiful. I love that area. It was surprisingly warm outside when we got there. At that elevation, we’d hoped it would be cooler. There was quite a bit of snow, but not as much as expected, since the day we went up was the first day that the road through the park was completely clear. It was still beautiful to look at though. We had a picnic lunch and ate outisde at the visitor’s center. It does my soul good to just sit and worship the God that created so much natural beauty.
The last day of Marv’s vacation we went to Paradise to some of the antique stores. We were looking for a different coffee table and maybe another table lamp for the living room. No table, but we did score a couple of neat lamps. AND I found a kitty figure that I had to get.
Not the most exciting vacation, yes, but still enjoyable. I can enjoy anything as long as I have my Marvy around. We stayed up late watching TV, slept in somewhat, went out for pizza and fast food more than usual. Even when he was puttering around outside and I was inside at the computer or doing household chores, just knowing Marv was around was enough to make me happy.

summertime blog

Really have had the blogging blahs lately. Nothing really much to talk about. Doing some home improvements, trying to downsize all the crap we have, general chaos throughout the house. So of course, that means, MEME TIME!!!!

1. What is your current guilty pleasure/obsession?
This was originally two seperate questions, but there are two things that I'm equally obsessed with and also find them a guilty pleasure:
A new Fishdom game
Colin and Justin's Home Heist

The first is the 6th Fishdom game that Playrix has come out with and I HAD to buy it. I love that game! All of them! Spend HOURS with them! 'nuff said...

The second is a show on BBCAmerica that I stumbled across and was so taken with it within the first few seconds that I hit "record" and then started recording them all whenever they came on. Colin and Justin are a couple (both proessionally and personally) of interior decorators from Scotland who go around in Canada finding homes that have been decorated in bad taste and then turning them around. They are such campy hoots that I knew Sarah would enjoy them as well, and I was right. Whenever she visits, we get in a good dose of Justin and Colin. I usually spend my lunchtime watching at least part of an episode. When I get to the end of an episode, I hit the "keep" button so I know that's one that Sarah hasn't seen yet. I LOVE those guys! Except for some of that wallpaper they seem so in love with...

2. What item from your closet are you wearing the most lately?
Well, some time back I wrote about going through my closets and getting rid of some stuff that had seen better days. One of those things were my capri pants that I've had for years. I had figured that I had one more season out of them and then they'd go bye-bye. As it turned out, I couldn't part with them. They are so cool to wear when it's really hot. Even jean shorts are too hot sometimes, but those capris are a much lighter weight cloth. So I decided those would now be my kickin' around clothes.

3. What was the last "fun" thing you bought?
Well, shopping for Lia is ALWAYS fun, but for a totally fun thing JUST FOR ME: black bras! I've always had white bras, because that was what came in my size. At least in the discount stores, which is where I get my stuff. No Victoria's Secret for me. I refuse to pay those outrageous prices for something no one (except Marv) is going to see. And Marv doesn't care what bra I'm wearing. Finally the kind of bra I get came in rosewood as well as white, so I got a few of each kind. I looked on the company's website and found that they had black, but not in my size. One of the last times I went to Walmart, I discovered that they had finally come out with my bra size in BLACK! Wow! They had 2 in stock, so that's what I got. Of course, I have to be careful not to wear something light colored when I wear a black bra, but for some reason it gives me a lift (no pun intended) when I wear black. Now if only it came in red...

4. What are you reading right now?
Oh man, have I fallen astray in THAT department. Just so much going on with the house. That's why there was no update on books in May or June. I started a book in May, and was really enjoying it, and then "things" started happening, and I misplaced it. Couldn't find it to save my life. So I started another one. June came and went with more "things" going on and the house stuff as well. Then I found the May book! Buried under music on the piano! Of course, the logical place.... So now we're in July with 2 half-finished books.

5. What's for dinner?
Leftovers! We had hot dogs on the Weber last night, and there are 3 left for Marv, along with a bit of pork 'n' beans. I'll have what's left of the chili (for chili dogs, ya know) and some leftover fried chicken from the other night. And for dessert we have leftover watermelon. The first one we'd gotten this season and it's a good one! Kept it in the fridge for 2 days. Nothing better than ice cold watermelon!

Well, I have to admit I feel better now that I've blogged. In fact, I've changed my title. It was "eh" before.