Category: friends

Critters in the Attic Update

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.

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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….
  4. 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.
  5. 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

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

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.

  1. 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).
  2. 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.
  3. 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’.

Baking healthy

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.”

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Staying in touch

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

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!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Time is on my side

by Karen, posted in (it's all about the) food, family, friends, local fun, Midlife Crisis, yoga

I went to see my friend Stacey for a massage at Mainely You Massage a few days ago. I had picked the time so that I would not have to rush around to get there. I had the entire day off from work and had planned things to do (lunch and book-browsing with my friend Kristen, visiting another friend Teresa at her ice cream shop to try some new flavors that she created, dinner out with both of my children at the same time!) to which I was really looking forward and about which I was very excited. I arrived 15 minutes early for my appointment, after seeing my daughter of to school, my husband off to his job.

Stacey said, “How are you feeling this morning?” and I paused (completely uncharacteristic of me) and considered this question for a second before I responded. “Rushed!”  I was feeling like there wasn’t enough time. I felt pressured. “And there’s not one reason for my to be feeling this way!” I admitted. I pretty much always feel like I don’t have enough time to do the things I want to do, yet here I was, at the beginning of a day filled with exactly that, and I was still carrying this feeling around!

“That is a mantra that you created,” Stacey offered, inviting me to be focused on the thought, “I have plenty of time,” which is true, instead of  “I don’t have enough time,” which is (usually) not.

Wow.

As I went about my day, I started to really notice my thoughts, and was shocked at the number of times just that morning that I thought, “I don’t have enough time”!

Louise Hay, in many of her books, writes about the idea that, basically, “What you think is what you get.” I’ve believed this but for the first time I considered it in a different plane, almost, because even when I really did have all the time I wanted, it was right there in front of me, I didn’t see it.  Wasn’t appreciating it.

Has this ever happened to you?

Vacation week (continued, day 2)

by Karen, posted in (it's all about the) food, family, friends, local fun, movies, tweens

Saturday (Day 2) was a full day.  Yoga in the morning at Windsong Yoga with my favorite yoga teacher Kristen. Then stopped in at Fetch’n Fun for their fundraiser for The Lucky Pup Rescue.

Chicken Parm made by the tweens

Then my daughter and I picked up her friend Madi for a tween day. Library first (the girls did a scavenger hunt and got a prize), then The Smurfs movie at the Wells Five Star Cinema. The movie was much less annoying than I thought it was going to be. I was even asked by my daughter to stop laughing so loudly, so there you go. The nice surprise of this movie was that I knew and liked some of the actors: Hank Azaria (where’s he been?) and Jayma Mays (Glee).

Next, we headed down to the Wells Harbor for the All Together Now concert. The bugs were out in full force so we left halfway through it (no reflection on the band; they were great!) and stopped at Big Daddy’s for ice cream, right on the way home. Good day. Got to do lots of stuff on my (vacation) wish list.  At the end of the day, I read an email from my cousin Kathy (who’s two weeks and two days older than I) asking me if I’d made a “Bucket List” for the second half.

Nope. Not yet.

(Just put that bucket list on my to-do list).

Then a quick stop at the grocery store to buy the missing ingredients for the Chicken Parmigiano recipe that the tweens wanted to make for dinner. Home to play some Wii Just Dance 2, then cooked dinner, which turned out to be wonderful (worth putting the oven on in the heat of the summer for).

Oh, and did I mention that I did two rounds of dishwasher filling and emptying and 5 loads of laundry as well? And my online class that I had hoped to do on the day it posted (Friday) is still not done. Here’s hoping for a Sunday completion.

What (I think) I am doing on my summer vacation

by Karen, posted in (it's all about the) food, Date night, family, friends, Karen's Kitchen, local fun, restaurants, yoga

Nothing gets done without a plan, right? Write it down, make it happen, as the saying goes. Well, I’m writing it down. Universe? Make it happen!

First, the not fun, obligatory things:

  1. Friday: waste the day emptying out the fridge and freezer into coolers with ice packs, then waiting for Sears to deliver our THIRD new fridge in as many weeks (dont’ ask)…then putting it all back in. BONUS: I’m really starting to get the hang of it! Here’s hoping that the third time is the (refrigerator) charm…
  2. My online class will post new lessons on two Fridays and one Wednesday during my vacation. I plan to complete them on time. (Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!).
  3. Feed, clothe, launder said clothes, and in general care for the fam to the extent that they will let me (read: do things for them that they can’t or won’t do for themselves~reference laundry).

Okay, now for the fun stuff:

  1. Saturday: Yoga at Windsong Yoga in South Berwick. Yay! Then going to the Lucky Pup Rescue Fundraiser at Fetch’n Fun in Wells ( and yes, Annie, we are bringing cash for the raffles!). Then in the evening we’ll go see the free Wells Harbor Concert. This week it’s All Together Now, a band we’ve seen and really liked in the past. 
  2. Sunday: brunch with my friend and her daughter (who is my daughter’s friend) at The Good Table in Cape Elizabeth. We’ve been there twice before with our friends and all I can say is if you’ve never been there, GO! Go on a Sunday morning if you can. They will have you at ‘cinnamon buns’.
  3. Acton Fair. Not sure which day yet, but definitely going. Probably stop on the way to or from at Ted’s Fried Clams on Route 109 in Shapleigh. Stop in at Somethin’ Sweet to see Jen the fabulous baker of said sweet somethin’s. 🙂
  4. Try for a Sea Dogs game.
  5. Saturday August 27 is The Chili Fest at the Wells Jr High School from 11-3.

Miscellaneous fun stuff to fit in where and when possible: Read. Write. Beach. Garden. Not set the alarm for any reason. Glow bowling at the Bowl-a-rama in Sanford (call for times: 207-324-2401). See Crazy Stupid Love if at all possible at the Wells Five Star Cinema. Farmers Markets. Arundel Ice Cream Shop for Mounds Ice Cream (if I can tear myself away from the Pecan Banana Bread and Cherry Vanilla Chocolate Chunk…).

Oh yeah, and eat copious quantities of cupcakes and whoopie pies. Heh heh heh…(what can I say? I’m predictable).

🙂

The devil you know: part 2

by Karen, posted in education, friends, quest for the best, Someone's gotta say it

I feel obligated to update you all after my first post about buying a new cell phone.

First I went to Radio Shack where I bought a Samsung Flight II. It was a cute phone and I chose it because it was the closest to the one my daughter has (that after a rocky start, I ended up really liking but that they don’t sell anymore). I took it home.

It was a problem from the start. The battery wouldn’t stay charged for more than 12 hours (and that was only if I didn’t use the phone at all!). The nice man at Radio Shack tried to tell me: “That sounds about right.” Huh? Did he really think I was going to believe that?

I decided that maybe it was just a bad battery and exchanged it. That was my second mistake. The new phone was better than the first one, but still terrible. I took it back, got out my old phone and decided to start over. Square one.

I asked a few of my friends what kind of cell phones they had and if they liked them or not. I was very surprised to discover that most people do not like their cell phones. The exceptions to this rule were few, but they did have one thing in common: they all had iphones. I told my son that I was getting a new cell phone and he said, “You might as well get an iphone.”

Well all-righty then. That’s what i did.

Epilogue:

i‘m in love, i‘m in love (with my iphone!) and i don’t care who knows it!

🙂