by jphilo | Mar 16, 2012 | Daily Life
This morning, I thought today’s post would be about the boiled peanuts we sampled at Hominy Grill in Charleston, South Carolina a few weeks back. The plan was to wax eloquent about this bizarre food, which our waiter said will soon be featured on the Bizarre Foods television show.
But that was before my day from support center hell began.
My descent into darkness began with a call to Mom’s long term care insurance company support center. It was the third such call in a week long effort to solve the mystery of the missing invoices. Invoices they say were never received. Invoices Mom’s in-home care service worker can prove were faxed, but she cheerfully resent yesterday. Hence my call today to see if they’d arrived.
They had.
Buoyed by success, I felt strong enough to tackle two more mysteries. The mystery of the missing Address Book contacts after installing OS X Lion on my Mac and moving to iCloud yesterday – for those of you already lost in the string of technical jargon, join the crowd. The only advantage I have over you is that I can spell the jargon – and the mystery of the missing invoice documenting the purchase of OS X Lion.
I shouldn’t have been so buoyed by success.
After three hours in the Apple Support Inferno, the first mystery was solved. My 800+ contacts are now safely restored to my computer’s Address Book. The invoice, on the other hand, the kind that usually hits the email inbox two seconds after clicking “purchase” has not yet arrived. The email that did arrive said, “They understand the importance of this issue,” and “They are looking into it,” and “It should arrive within 24 – 48 hours,” and if I’d like to chat further, call this number.”
I’m waiting the 24 – 48 hours.
Still, the day didn’t go up in smoke. My contact list is intact. Not only that, the list is floating around in the iCloud somewhere. Plus, I provided some dandy ammunition for MobileMe support person Joshua when he enters the “Can You Top This Level of Ignorance?” break room contest. Also during our online chat, I put together and baked an apple crisp. And because I’ve had enough Apple this afternoon, there’s no temptation to sample the crisp before taking it to friends later today.
I can’t stand the heat and am staying out of the kitchen.
by jphilo | Mar 9, 2012 | Daily Life
Since arriving home from our relaxing vacation on Tuesday night, I’ve been scurrying around like the white rabbit from Alice in Wonderland:
Paid the bills – late.
Took Mom to lunch – late.
Got the hubby’s birthday gift – late.
Cooked his birthday meal – late.
Arrived at my physical therapy appointment – late.
Went to bed – late.
You may have noticed that many of this week’s blog posts were late, too.
Like this one.
Partly ’cause I’m distracted by not being ready for tomorrow’s speaking engagement.
Partly ’cause all this lateness led to a big case of blogger’s block.
In fact, I couldn’t think of anything to write about until I read my friend Clare’s latest post about in-a-cup-muffin mixes. Clare blogs about food at NanaClaresKitchen.com and lately she’s been on a cake-in-a-cup and muffin-in-a-cup kick. The kick started with a recipe that’s been around for a while, chocolate cake in a cup. But Clare is a creative cook, and in the next few weeks, she came up with her own recipes for:
Cinnamon Muffin in a Mug
and
Caramel Apple Cake in a Cup
and
Blueberry Almond Muffin in a Mug
The last post is her in-a-mug pièce de résistance. In it she provides a recipe for basic muffin mix. The dry mix can be made ahead of time so it’s ready for whatever in-a-cup-or-mug treat strikes your fancy.
I plan to make the mix and start striking my fancy once this Alice in Wonderland late phase ends. But for now, it’s time to put the finishing touches on tomorrow’s speech or this white rabbit will be in hot water.
Hmmm.
A new idea for Clare.
White Rabbit in a Cup.
On second thought, maybe not.
by jphilo | Feb 27, 2012 | Daily Life
During January and February, my days were consumed with research for a new book proposal about post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in kids. Consequently, I learned just enough about several mental illnesses to endanger my own state of mind. All this new information sent me into a tizzy of worry and self-diagnosis, resulting in the following list:
- The great pleasure I find in the order and symmetry of the picture above is a sure sign of obsessive-compulsive disorder.
- My penchant for list making could be another sign of obsessive-compulsive disorder, or it could be a coping mechanism I employ to hide early onset Alzheimer’s.
- I probably have an eating disorder because one of the marks of an eating disorder is obsessively thinking about food. And I think of food at least three times a day, sometimes more.
- Kids can be traumatized in many ways, and one of them must have happened to me during childhood so I must have PTSD.
- Taking out all the garbage, cleaning the bathrooms, doing the laundry, and emptying the dishwasher before going on vacation points to a yet undiscovered, reverse housecleaning phobia which I hope they name “Philophobia” after me.
- The desire to name a mental illness after myself pretty much proves I have a narcissistic complex.
- All this worrying about having a mental illness points to an anxiety disorder, don’t you think?
Believe me, that list is only the tip of the mental illness iceberg. If everything I’ve self-diagnosed was on that list, you’d think I was crazy. But I’m not.
8. Time to add self-delusion to the list.
by jphilo | Feb 20, 2012 | Daily Life
I have a bad case of blog envy this morning. It started when my husband borrowed my camera to take guitar-making pictures to post on his website. Pictures like this
and this
and this
and this
to engage the world in the construction of the guitar he’s making. Pretty cool, huh?
So cool it gave me a raging case of blog entry because guitar makers like Hiram, my friend Clare who blogs at www.NanaClaresKitchen.com, and other crafty souls – even the Decorah eagles’ nest – can post engaging, fascinating pictures people flock to see.
Writers have no such advantage. I suppose I could post pictures of a manuscript rough draft like this
and then post an update when a new sentence is added, like this
or jazz things up by highlighting de-dangled participles, like this
to get people excited about what I’m writing. But the progress of a bunch of words on a page will never be as interesting as the building of a guitar, making cashew chicken, or waiting for baby eagles to hatch. This explains why we writers are so often such tortured souls. We slave away in front of our computers, wrestling words into stories while the rest of the world makes visible progress on guitars, meals, and other stuff that’s for the birds.
But no more blog envy for me. I won’t grow bitter. Instead, I’ll spend the morning purging my manuscript of exclamation points and commas and poor grammar. It’s not a glitzy job or an easy one, but somebody has to do it.
Such is the life of a writer.
Sigh.
by jphilo | Feb 14, 2012 | Daily Life
Five Things to Like About Valentine’s Day, 2012
- The slow increase in daylight since December 21 becomes obvious on Valentine’s Day.
- My afternoon will not be spent supervising a roomful of students on major sugar highs.
- Our monthly writers’ critique group meets tonight, which means the evening will be spent with some of my favorite people.
- I’m going out to lunch with my husband and mom, the two people who have known me the longest, seen me at my worst, and stick by me anyway.
- Coconut, caramel, maple nut, and peanut butter-filled chocolates.
Five Things to Dislike About Valentine’s Day, 2012
- The slowly increasing hours of daylight can not hide the fact that Valentine’s Day is still in winter.
- My afternoon will not include sweet notes from young children.
- An evening with my writers’ group sounds more fun than getting dolled up and going out to eat with Hiram – him elbowing through the crowds while I fall off my high heels.
- I’ll be eating salad at lunch while the people who have known me the longest, seen me at my worst, and stick by me anyway eat burgers and fries.
- Marshmallow and cherry-filled chocolates.
What do you like and dislike about Valentine’s Day? Add to the list by leaving a comment!
by jphilo | Jan 30, 2012 | Daily Life
Six Marks of a Good Weekend for Him
in no particular order of importance
- The unranked college basketball team you love, (ISU Cyclones) coached by a guy you admire (Fred Hoiberg)beats the 5th ranked team in the country (Kansas U).
- You’re at the end of the potluck line at church and there’s still plenty of food.
- It’s nice enough to jog outdoors even though it’s January.
- You find time for 2 hours of Suduko.
- Your wife suggests going to a movie like Red Tails ’cause she knows you love WWII era flying movies.
- You talk to both your kids and their spouses on the phone about how their weeks went…and they’re doing well.
Six Marks of a Good Weekend for Her
in no particular order of importance
- The library emails on Friday to say it’s your turn for the audio version of Sue Grafton’s newest novel, V is for Vengeance and your husband picks it up for you on his way home from work.
- You have the ingredients to make enough food for the church potluck so something will be left for your husband who always is at the end of the line.
- It’s nice enough to walk outside even though it’s January.
- You find time to watch a few episodes on the Scrubs, Season 1 DVD from the library.
- Your husband forgoes popcorn at a boring WWII flying movie in favor of really good coffee and muffins at your favorite coffee house afterwards.
- You talk to both your kids and their spouses on the phone about how their weeks went…and they’re doing well.
