Maxima

Today we woke up to alot of snow and it was still snowing.  We did not have the blizzard that they were saying (15-18 inches) but we did get 13.5 inches in St Paul.  We have not had that much in one snowfall since March 1999.  It was so much fun to look outside and see piles and piles of snow.  Mona could not go out to pee because she is not used to snow up over her shoulders.  I had to shovel her a path then she would go past the driveway.

I put the webcam on our neighbors Tim and Judy (blue house)when they shoveled their driveway.  Maybe you saw them.  Then we decided we better get at ours because we had to leave at 1pm to go to Love, Janis at the Ordway.  Blips put on his orange jacket so you could see him next to the snow (also on the webcam).  Suddenly the garage across the street opened up and Tim went over to start Carol’s snow blower.  Carol inherited it when her mom died two years ago.  She has no idea how to work it.  But her mom is an inspiration to us since at age 75 her mom was still using it to blow out her own driveway.  When it finally started, they yelled at us to stop shoveling.  Thank goodness…..the stuff at the end of the driveway would have taken us an hour shoveling together. (see the snow up to Blips waist) Well, the snowblower is a new thing at our end of the block so everyone wanted to try it.  That is Carol in the red jacket…..she said she “fell off the sidewalk”.  I believe it because yesterday, I was just picking up the newspaper and fell off the step and sprained my little finger on one of my new rocks.  It was so much fun to be out in the snow playing with our neighbors.  Mona got to join us because there were no cars out on the street and no dogs for her to chase after, so she can be outside the fence.  The kids played in the middle of the street….sledding and digging a tunnel.(see their dads in the background clearing the driveways).  We have fun, generous and caring neighbors, I love living here.

We put some sandbags in the back of my Grand Vitara for extra traction with my 4 wheel drive and took off for Love, Janis.  Last time we went to Andre Rieu we paid $15 to park at Riverplace.  The same parking ramp has parking for Ordway but we decided to park a few blocks away.  As we pulled into Dayton’s (which is now Macy’s but I refuse to call it that) Blips noticed a sign that says…..free parking on Sundays.  wooo hooo!!!!  You know how I hate to pay to park   We stopped for a large mocha(four shots of espresso) at Dunn Brothers, strolled through Rice Park.  There is such a soft muffled sound to everything when there is new show.  So it was a very special feeling to stroll up the the Ordway, mocha warm in our hands and have the doorman greet us and open the door.  Well, the picture does not show too good but he is wearing a top hat and tails.  Our seats were perfect.  The talking Janis Joplin was very good.  She had the voice and manerisms perfect.  The singing Janis had the movements perfect also.  The singing was good, very good but it also was not like the real Janis.  How could it be?  At times I lost myself and actually pretended that Janis was back with us for a few moments.  If only it could be true.  I wonder what she would sing today?  She did not sing Cry Baby, which is my favorite.  But she did sing Try(just a little bit harder) which is probably my second favorite.  So, I recommend you go see it when it comes to your city.  Too bad they can’t change the ending and let her live.

Here is a picture at a little park half way between the Ordway and Dayton’s.  We needed to stop at Walgreen’s to get a splint for my sprained little finger.  And….uh oh, next to that was the Candy Store.  They have the BEST carmel corn in all the city.  You know how Blips loooooves carmel corn.  And they were just making it fresh, so we got a bag of warm carmel corn and three popcorn balls(butter rum, butter vanilla, and cherry). See that red hair?  Well, kiss it goodbye.  I am going to try something lighter this week.

Today was a blast.  A real blast.

When I was a kid, my two brothers and I always looked forward to our dad’s birthday.  February 16th.  On dad’s birthday, mom always got him a box of heart candy.  Now, these were expensive and the only time we ever got to eat this fancy candy was on dad’s birthday.   It was always a very large box too!  We never got this fancy kind of candy on our birthday or any other time of year.

As I got older(like about 25) I realized that mom always bought the heart shaped box of fancy candy on the 15th when everything went on sale for half price.  She kept up the tradition all these years even though my dad passed on in 1998.  It is a tradition I treasure also and share with people I trust.  I remember so clearly, two years ago when Mir brought to work a small heart shaped box of candy on the 16th and handed them to me.  (I had told her how difficult it was getting to buy half price hearts on the 15th because all the valentine stuff now goes on sale early and sometimes is sold out on the 15th). I knew that they were half price hearts to show me how much she cared and to help me get through the day.  Dad’s birthday is a tough one each year but the half price hearts tradition helps. 

I miss my dad alot but he said something to me when he was 80 that I treasure.  We were sitting outside on the metal 1950’s lawn chairs and I was telling him about something I wanted to do.  He turned and looked me in the eye and said, “E….if it makes you happy, then it makes me happy”.  I was stunned into silent bliss.  You see, my dad up until that moment, had always thought he knew what was best for me including what made me happy.  If I close my eyes, I can be right back to that moment in time.  And funny how memories are.  I can remember the joy of sharing with the five of us more than the taste of the fancy half price hearts.

When it snows here the freeways and streets are full of chemicals plus sand plus salt to help people get around.  You just can’t stay home if it snows.  It also has been very cold….way too cold to wash the car because the doors and locks will freeze shut.  In fact many carwashes are closed because the water freezes before it can go down the drain.  I noticed how dirty the cars were when I tried to play The Game.  You know, where I and some friends on the internet start at 001 and find car license plates in order.  I am on 084 and just saw 083 today.  It took two weeks to find 083 because of the dirty plates.  I can’t see the plates…..wash your cars!!!  This is my daughters shiny black car.  You can even see the salt/chemicals on the black driveway.  I left her a little message on her door.

Ok, today I am glad Blips is out of town.  There was an announcement at 4:45 that the Hastings Bridge over the Mississippi is closed both ways.  No traffic north or south.  There was an accident on the bridge with a fatality.  So, I am glad my husband who is usually on that road exactly at that time…..is out of state.

And then on the news is the recall of peanut butter.  PEANUT BUTTER.  It made 300 people sick with salmonella.  yuk.  So, if you have Peter Pan lot # 2111 then throw it out.  I am glad we have Calve in the cabinet.

BUT…..the best news of the day is the announcement by Al Franken to take back Wellstone’s US Senate seat from Norm Coleman.  Say bye bye to Washington DC, Norm!

Check out http://www.alfranken.com

Today I am in the process of roasting two turkeys.  One is 12 punds and the other is 11 pounds.  I don’t know how much that is in Euros (hehehe) but the oven is full.  I decided to make them while Blips is gone because he is not fond of turkey……and the whole house is full of the roasting smell for all day.  He can miss out on that then.

I just finished making valentine cookies to send to my 6th grade teacher, Miss Patterson.  She is 97 and just moved into an assisted living apartment from her home.  She can still take care of herself but has fallen a few times and as she said, “It’s not the falling that is scary…..it is that we can’t get up”  So, she is in an apartment where they check on her a couple times a day.  I made her some hearts with red, bright pink and pale pink sprinkles.  I plan to visit her this spring when all the snow and dangerous weather is done.  She is a 7 hour drive from here in Nebraska. 

Blips and I went out to dinner at Bona on Friday night for Valentine’s Day.  He is in North Carolina for the 14th and I have wanted to take him to Bona for a long time because they have such good curry there.  It is Vietnamese and one of my girlfriends is originally from Vietnam.  She always helps me select something that is not spicy.  And another girlfriend and I have always loved the red bean drink.  It comes with ice chunks, very sweet coconut milk and you stir it together and eat it with a spoon.  ohhhhhh lekker!  It looks like coke but is actually a lot of tiny red beans.

What I eat is a bowl of rice noodles, cucumber, lettuce, lemmon grass, bean sprouts, chicken and peanuts sprinkled on top.  It is called Bun Ga and is also known as Z-3 on the menu (for Americans who cannot pronounce Bun Ga:)  Bun Ga comes with a spicy(not hot) vinegar sauce with shreded carrots that you pour on the top.  Ohhhh, I am hungry for it right now!  I had Jasmine tea with it.  I prefer green tea but jasmine was nice.

Blips had curry chicken and liked it so much he was half done before he remembered to take a picture.  It is served ‘family style’ where the item ordered is placed on the table to serve from and everyone given a plate to eat from. (try to look at just the serving plate and not the eating plate).  Another highlight of the evening was we got a place to park in their 5 space parking lot (for free)that they share with Dominos Pizza.  They are located on the University of Minnesota campus and parking is very hard to find.  And you know how I HATE to pay to park!

Just in case any of you “older” women were contemplating having another baby. With all the new technology regarding fertility recently, a 65-year old woman was
able to give birth to a baby.  Remember the news?  Here is the REST of the story!

When she was discharged from the hospital and went home, her relatives came to visit.
“May we see the new baby?” one asked.
“Not yet,” said the mother. I’ll make coffee and we can visit for awhile first.”

Thirty minutes had passed, and another relative asked, “May we see the new baby now?”
“No, not yet,” said the mother.

After another few minutes had elapsed, they asked again, “May we see the baby now?”
“No, not yet,” replied the mother.

Growing very impatient, they asked, “Well, when can we see the baby?”
“WHEN HE CRIES!” she told them.
“WHEN HE CRIES?” they demanded to know why. “Why do we have to wait until he CRIES?”
“BECAUSE, I forgot where I put him.” 

Mona has had trouble in the past 3 weeks with cracked and bleeding paws.  She really did not like the doggie boots that I got her.  We have quite an ‘arguement’ when I try to put them on.  But I can get the back ones on and out the door before her dancing around knocks them off.  We got red boots so we could find them in the snow.  They stay on for about 20 minutes and then when I notice them gone, we have to drop back and find them.  Here she is with her sweater(called Fido fleece) and her back boots.  Mona…. our bully pit in her sweater and boots

My girlfriend is here from Sweden.  It has been about one year since I last saw her.  We started the day out with coffee at the last place we had seen each other.  It was a wonderful day and it seemed like she had never left.  Lots of laughter and that wonderful deep warm feeling of true lifetime friendship. 

The picture of us did not turn out so here is a picture of our lunch.  The “coffee” with the spoon in it is actually my black bean soup with 1/2 chicken, bacon, dijon mustard sandwich.  Mir had french onion soup also with 1/2 a sandwich.  Then a nice lady came by with a basket of cookies (for free) and we each got the double chocolate with nuts.  mmmmmm

We spent the next evening with Irish as we occupied the two love seats in front of a fireplace.  Coffee, poppyseed muffins, blueberry scones, and they had to throw us out at closing.