It was 1956

Our first full winter in Winston-Salem, NC and our first full winter in our 'new' 25 year old home. I was 7, my sister was 6 and little baby Bill (bill_schubert) was 4.

The weather turned cold just as the ancient coal fed furnace in our house died. We did not have any heat for several days. The house was cold but oh what fun.

Mother and Daddy spread out piles of blankets on the living room floor in front of the fireplace and we got to sleep there with them all night!! For more than just one night! It was such a great adventure.

But, even better were meals. Mom heated up the oven and pulled down the oven door and 'set' the table for us. Our three little stools around the door with the door as our table. We ate all our meals that way.

I have no idea what Mother and Daddy did about eating. I do remember that they did not think the whole experience was a fun as we did.

But on cold mornings like this one, I remember that time as one of magic.

Almost swimming

I gave, what turned out to be a passing thought, to making the long trip to the pool this morning. Then I remembered the Seahawks are playing at home. So. Nope. Not worth the effort. Maybe next week.

I am becoming an O'Keeffe's fanatic. I first tried it for cracked feet. Uncracked them totally in about 3 days. Then I got a couple of rough spots on my hands and gave the hand cream a go. Not as magical as the feet but the stuff is thick and not greasy and particularly good for pre-sleep application. This morning my lips have some really bad cracked places on them and I just popped some O'Keeffee' lip balm in the basket. I'm clearly hooked.

Today I'm going to make cheese straws/coins. I'm going to use Jiffy pie crust mix and jar cheese (Cheeze Whiz). I make even use the rest of the Cheeze Whiz and make cheesy rice.

Still working on square number 3.

Say Cheeze!!

I did break into the Cheez Whiz and used it all up.

3/4ths cup of Cheez Whiz went into a box of Jiffy Pie Crust Mix. With a half teaspoon of Cayenne. I fridged it for a while and then rolled it out and carefully (ha, not!) crafted sticks and coins. And a couple of other bits. 425 for 12 mins. [Edit: After they cooled (and Biggie stole two!) I thought they weren't cooked enough so back in for another 12. Now they are fine.] The new oven did both pans at once!



While the dough was chilling, I made rice in the oven. 1 cup of rice, 2 cups of boiling water, salt and 2 tablespoons butter. Cover with aluminum foil and bake at 375 for 33 mins. Perfect. Then I mixed it with the rest of the Cheez Whiz and more cayenne and spooned it into three single serving ramekins. 2 in the freezer, 1 in the fridge.



Come eatin' time, I'll either nuke them til they are hot or bake them for about 30 mins at 350. Either way, delish.

Porch Bandit - condo edition

We have this giant cupboard in the garage where our deliveries go. I always request that packages be delivered to my door but usually, they are left somewhere downstairs and the building manager gathers them up and puts them in this locker.

(This is a screen shot of the locker that I just grabbed from the video. That's a neighbor, getting his package that was delivered this morning.)



You cannot get into the rest of the building from there without a key. You cannot get into that part of the building without a key or a garage door opener except, turns out, one of the doors to the street was broken and a woman got in last night and fucking emptied that damn cupboard.

There is clear and full video of her (good shot of her face and a crystal clear shot of her butt crack) filling a wheelie bin and 2 massive shopping bags with all of the packages in that cupboard early this morning just after midnight. It's the damnedest thing.

I did not have any packages in there - going out or coming in. Whew.

By the way, that car you can see is the one that I left the note on offering to trade places. As of yesterday afternoon, the note was still there. It would be a lovely parking spot for me and my tiny car, plus I could watch my car on condo TV!!