Karen

WHAT is THAT?

October 29, 2011 by Karen, posted in (it's all about the) food, family, Midlife Crisis, no fear

My husband usually calls to chat when he’s commuting from work. “Remind me when I get home; I have something for you,” he said. I wondered what it might be. He often brings home little surprises. Sometimes it’s a pastry of some sort, or a plant, or a book that he thinks that I might like.

Not this time. This time, my husband brought these home from work. They were on the kitchen island in a small plastic baggie.

I looked at them through the baggie. I (cautiously! oh so cautiously!) eased them out of the baggie. I laid them out on the island.My husband stood just off to the side, watching, amused.

“So, what the heck are they?” I finally asked him.

“Guess,” he said.

My first thought was this: “Brian Dennehy called; he wants his pods back.”

🙂

He didn’t laugh. He really doesn’t get my jokes.

“Are they an insect of some sort?” I wondered, distracted by the little black “legs” protruding from the surface. “Nope,” he replied.

“Give me a hint, at least,” I begged.

“Well, it’s a fruit,” he said, unhelpfully.

A fruit? Really? Really? I considered this.

A very hairy, masculine strawberry? On testosterone, maybe.

After a while, I gave up, but he still didn’t divulge the fruit’s identity. He cut it open, removed the center (after which I was leaning back toward my pod theory) which turned out to be a smooth white spongy oval that resembled a small hard-boiled egg, except that there was a pit where the yolk should be.

It tasted like a grape. This, actually, was not useful in helping me to identify the fruit.

Turns out, it’s a Rambutan. So I tried it, which enables me to proclaim that at the age of 49, I got to try a fruit that I’d never had before…and may I just say, “Eeew.”

It is experience that I’m not in planning to repeat.

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Critters in the Attic Update

October 19, 2011 by Karen, posted in family, friends, no fear, Someone's gotta say it

Critter free, day three. I’m feeling hopeful and confident enough to say what we did to have driven them away for good.

Well, there was some activity in my bathroom ceiling above the shower. I turned on the exhaust fan and left it running around the clock for a couple of days (okay, all week) and I didn’t hear them there again.
Also, we blasted the TV (or the stereo, if there was nothing good on :)) near the end of the house from where we thought the varmints were coming and going…I think that helped.
Interim measure (used when husband was away and I was on overload from sleep deprivation): I slept with the pillow over my head to block out that scratching, scratching, scratching noise that made my stomach contents heave up into my lower esophagus….
My husband made several trips up to the attic~ no easy feat. It entails hauling the ladder from the garage to the house, then up two flights of stairs to a closet in my office. He then had to squeeze through a very small cut out in the closet’s ceiling to get into the attic…no unlike how the squirrel must squeeze through an opening about the size of a quarter to get into the attic from outside in the first place. A sonic repellant was set up and lights were left on.
Traps were set. Nothing was caught, but maybe the critters took the bait. We saw one squirrel in the front yard yesterday that was looking more than a little ragged. Yay.

What I learned as we talked with people about what to do about this problem is that almost everyone we know is dealing with it right now (or knows someone who is). This gave us a sense of camaraderie, a feeling that we weren’t in it alone. We were all rooting for each other and against the critters. Lots of people had advice and all of it was good. My motto: “Try everything” was tempered by my husband’s motto: “Let’s think about it first,” a combination that has served us well over the years and did not let us down this time.

Angels at Clay Hill Farm

October 17, 2011October 17, 2011 by Karen, posted in (it's all about the) food, friends, no fear, restaurants

My friend Kristen recently offered me the gift of angels in the form of a visit to my house. It had strings attached, however. One must, after hosting the aforementioned angels for a period of time, send them on their merry way to the households of three other people.

I could not think of three other people who would have been willing to take the time to host. Sadly, I passed on the gift.

Then another friend told me about Clay Hill Farm’s current Monday night special. Rev. Ruth Kramer apparently can speak to angels and, more importantly, tell us what they are saying. She gives readings every Monday night (for now) at the restaurant. I’m interested in that, I thought. It occurred to me that since I couldn’t have the angels come to me…could the angels be bringing me to them?

I made plans for tonight to go hear what they have to say to me. The bonus is that dinner at the restaurant is part of the deal.

Because even when it’s about the angels, it’s still all about the food.

🙂

Critter Crusade, Part 2

October 13, 2011 by Karen, posted in education, friends, no fear, shopping

So, the baits we (read: ‘he‘, my husband; he did the actual crawling around up in the crawl space) put out yesterday were not effective. It sounds now as if the critters brought in some reinforcements, so we were forced to regroup and redouble our efforts.

First stop: Tractor Supply Company in Sanford. Anyone who has read my blog knows that I love the TSC which is why we went there first. Well, that, and because it was on the way home from the gym and we had limited time today since it was a workday. We split up to make the most of our time. My husband went to the pest control section and talked to the (as it turned out) very knowledgable staff person about…options. I stayed up in front and browsed the books and magazines (I love books and magazines! This was very soothing to me after my difficult night listening to non-specified critters running overhead). Spent $10 and left with a small bag of …ideas (like reaming out the bait pellets and filling them with peanut butter).
Next stop: Wal-Mart (sorry, Sheila). Waste of time. Staff person told us he had nothing in hardware to address this critter issue, to try looking in sporting goods. What? What? Wal-Mart = Waste of time.
The next planned stop was the hardware store but we ran out of time, so we just came home.

In the interim, I put up a plea on Facebook for ideas from the front. Who has fought this critter war and won it? Well, I got lots of very welcome responses (thank you all!) but no one who actually claimed to have evicted the little devils on their own, without bringing in the professionals. My friend Mandy gave me a good website from The Humane Society to check out. My friend Denise gave me the names of some good exterminators (you know, just in case). My friend Kristen gave me moral support and commiseration.

Actually, it’s amazing how many people are dealing with exactly the same issue right now. We found a person at the gym, a person at TSC, and people on FB all with critters in their attics right now. I guess it’s gonna take the village…

Maybe some of our efforts were successful today, since I’m not hearing any critters overhead at the moment and it’s well after dark as I write this. At this time last night the antics in the attic were already in full swing.

Here’s hopin’.

What’s in the attic?

October 12, 2011 by Karen, posted in no fear, relationships

There I was, sound asleep, minding my own business, when what do I hear? I had no clue. A loud noise awakened me, but I had no idea at first from whence it came. I lay there, listening hard, wondering why oh why does this always happen when my husband is away?

Suddenly, I hear it: scratch, scratch, scratch directly over my head. As in: above the ceiling. In the attic? OMG. OMG. (Did I say OMG?). All I could think of was that it was mice. Ew.

The next night my husband was there. He heard it too. Time to get serious. When things get tough, the tough get going…to the hardware store… for, um, supplies. Surprise! They aren’t cheap (but I bet you knew that already…). We took them home. My husband went up into the (God bless him) attic (read: crawl space) and scattered said supplies about. We waited, breath bated…okay, mine, not his.

The next night was pretty quiet, actually. Could our efforts have paid off so fast? I was nearly giddy with relief…until the next night.

The next night, it sounded like the intruders were having a wild bowling match. Over. My. Head.

Well, they carried on, having a grand ol’ time, waking me up periodically throughout the night. Finally, around 7:30am my husband and I were discussing the situation and wondering what to do next when out of the corner of my eye I saw (through the window) something drop from the roof and thump! hit the ground running…a squirrel!

So, now we’re waiting, traps baited.

To be continued…

Baking healthy

October 11, 2011October 11, 2011 by Karen, posted in (it's all about the) food, baking, books, family, friends, health, quest for the best

No, that’s not an oxymoron…or is it? I set out to bake some muffins that wouldn’t comprise my total recommended caloric consumption for the entire day.

It has not been an easy row to hoe (or is it ‘road‘? Whatever). First of all, I have a husband who will always tell me exactly what he thinks of whatever it is that I’ve baked (or cooked, for that matter). I understand that there are some people out there that appreciate this level of truthfulness.

Usually (at least when it comes to my culinary efforts) I do not count myself among them.

I found a recipe that largely drew me because I had everything I needed already to bake them immediately, so I made them while my husband was at work. I figured we’d have them for breakfast in the morning. I tried one (okay, three) when they came out of the oven and thought they were just fine. I tupperwared them up and went to bed.

The next morning, there the lovely muffins sat on my kitchen island. My daughter tried them. She said they were good. My friend Kristen tried them. She said they were good. I mentioned this to my husband, as he eyed them suspiciously, blatantly not trying them. He apparently was not convinced.

I tried again. “You always say you don’t like baked goods because they’re too sweet. This recipe is not too sweet, which is partly why I chose it.”

“Okay, I’ll try it…” he said. He picked one up. He gingerly took a bite. He turned and spit said bite into the trash. “Ugh, that’s horrible!” he said. He started to throw the remaining piece out when I grabbed it and said, “Stop! I’ll eat it! It’s good!”

Later on that evening, after I’d mostly forgotten (but only partially forgiven him for) his performance earlier in the day, he leaned over and whispered…”You know, I even threw one of your muffins to the chickens this morning.”

“They threw it back.”

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Heavy sigh

October 2, 2011October 4, 2011 by Karen, posted in (it's all about the) food, fitness, health, Someone's gotta say it

I watched a Dr. Oz episode that I taped last week, just for something mindless to do for an hour. I usually tape them every week, read what the topic is, then delete them without watching them. This time there was one I wanted to watch…something about losing weight and maybe becoming a millionaire…great! Sign me up for that, right?

So I watched that program describing Dr. Oz’s Transformation Nation. I was motivated! He’s partnering with Weight Watchers and the program is FREE. I went to the website last night to check it out. It’s actually very similar to the Weight Watchers online program, except that it calculates calories instead of PointsPlus. So, after about 3 hours of completing quizzes, entering lab data, and logging food and activities for the day, I was set to go. I uploaded my picture and started Day 1 of my Oz-blog.

Life was good…until this morning.

When I (still motivated, after getting on the scale and finding I’d lost a little over a pound) tried to log in to set up my food plan for the day, and found it that none of the info had been saved. The website didn’t recognize my email address.

Is all lost?? Is it true that you get what you pay for?? Should I just suck it up and pay Weight Watchers Online to build on what I started yesterday?

I hope not. In the meantime, while I wait to hear back from Dr. Oz’s customer support, I will try to stay motivated.

P.S. I’m not very optimistic about that.

*NOTE: Weight Watchers is currently waiving the joining fee “for a limited time”.

Staying in touch

September 24, 2011 by Karen, posted in (it's all about the) food, friends, Life in the cube, local fun, relationships

Have you ever left a job and said, “Hey, let’s keep in touch!” with a fellow coworker? Or perhaps the reverse happened: a friend from work moved on to greener pastures and you were sad when you heard her say, “Hey, we’ll keep in touch!”

Why? Because let’s face it: how many of us actually do that? Especially when you don’t live that close to each other. Live, like an hour or so away from each other. Since I am a person who is ‘directionally challenged’, I don’t drive to places that I don’t know how to get to if there’s any way to avoid doing so (yes, I’ve heard of GPS. Don’t care.).

Well, I have a friend who moved on, and we have done that “keep in touch” thing. It’s been more than a year now, I think. How are we doing it? I think the credit really has to go to my friend Shawna, because her idea was for us to meet for lunch once a month.

And we have. It helps that her new job is only about 20 minutes from where I live (and is mostly a straight line to get to :)) and that there are a lot of restaurants within a five-mile radius of her office. Even if there were none, though, it would certainly still be doable. Hey, maybe I can’t find my way to unfamiliar places, but I can pack a bag lunch!

We also meet periodically for other things too: we saw a show (Legally Blonde) at the Ogunquit Playhouse (we love the plays that Sally Struthers graces!) and we go to Merry Madness in Portland’s Old Port every year (this will be our 6th year going, weather permitting). (I think).

Keep in touch with your friends. Good ones are hard to find.

Susan Conley at Kennebooks

September 21, 2011September 21, 2011 by Karen, posted in books, friends, good grief, health, local fun, no fear, relationships, writing

Susan Conley recently came to Kennebooks to read from her book, The Foremost Good Fortune. Susan is a Mainer, raised in Woolwich. In addition to being a great writer, she is also a great reader. Maybe this is because (as we learned in her talk) Susan is a poetry teacher, and when she reads passages from her book aloud, in her slow, sing-song-y sort of way of drawing out the syllables, the consonant sounds…it makes her book sound like poetry. Could this manner of speech perhaps be connected to her learning to speak Mandarin?

I also learned that hula hooping and badminton are “huge” in China. That she was involved in the founding of The Children’s Room.

“Memoir is all about honesty,” Susan says, and further states that “you feel it when it’s not (honest).” This is why, after her writers group read her earlier drafts of this book they basically asked her, “Where are you in this?” and she ultimately rewrote so that she was now “showing up” on the page. “You’ve got to take us to those places,” her writing friend said, of “emotional complexity” that were lacking in the earlier work. Oh and of course, I learned the significance of the title of the book.

🙂

Susan started writing her book, was diagnosed with cancer, then started writing it all over again. A different book. This book. She says she told her story in the present tense in the book and thinks of it as a love letter to her sons, who she hopes will read it one day.

Finally, The best thing that I learned is that Susan has been cancer-free for three years.

Susan may be back at Kennebooks in March as part of the Maine Women Write Book Club. Consider joining! The first meeting is slated for mid-October at the time of this writing. Call (207-967-6136) or email Ann (ann@kennebooks.com) at Kennebooks for more information. Hope to see you there!

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How to grow a watermelon

September 18, 2011 by Karen, posted in (it's all about the) food, gardening, local fun

How do you grow a watermelon? Darned if I know. Here in Southern Maine in spring and summertime, the growing (of anything, really) doesn’t (usually) come easy.

Someone must know how, because I see them all the time at my local farm store, Spillers. I see them at the Farmers Markets. I see them at the supermarket. My favorite gardening book, The Garden Primer by Barbara Damrosch, devotes pages 457-465 to the topic, therefore one must conclude that she must also believe that it’s possible to grow them here.

When my husband decided he wanted to grow watermelons, we picked up some seed packets. We hedged our bets by also planting some seedlings that we found already started at Agway. We tried for three years to grow watermelon to no avail…until this year.

This summer, I even saw them (briefly) in my back yard, on the vine that grew from the seeds that we lovingly sowed in very early spring. . . we had such high hopes! This would be the year! And a miracle happened…this was the year! We had a few fruits on some of the vines. We even glimpsed one good-sized watermelon growing on one of said vines. We were so happy!

We were so naive!

We were happy for about three minutes, which must have been about how long it took before whichever critter from the wild also noticed it and took matters into its own hands–er, mouth. Our next trip out to the garden to lovingly gaze on our produce prodigy ended in tragedy as we noticed the large bite that was taken out of the side of it.

😦

One of the smaller ones remained, so despite its size, we brought it into the house. We weren’t willing to risk losing the last intact melon. With bated breath, I cut it open.

There was enough for my husband and I each to have a teaspoon of watermelon.

The fruits of three years labor. Reminds me of the $64 Tomato.

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P.S. Buy the books at your local bookstore, such as Longfellows or Kennebooks (in Maine), or Literary Bookpost (in North Carolina).