randomly chaotic and frequently mundane

in the assortment of groceries that were delivered today, i got a package of fun size candy bars. the new reese’s crispy crunchy bar. oh my god is it good. it’s like a reese’s peanut butter cup and a butterfinger had a love child that was rolled in nuts or something.

if i had to list my 10 favorite candy bars (and candies), most reese’s products would be on that list. i mean, peanut butter cups are just the ultimate, that goes without saying. and while they’re not at the top of my list, the “variations” on the classic reese’s peanut butter cup are quite good as well. then there’s reese’s sticks — the reese’s kit kats, if you will. those are delish. reese’s pieces… without nuts. the original version, you know… ET’s favorite candy? yeah. i was the odd kid who usually opted for reese’s pieces over m&m’s. and while it’s not a favorite, i do really dig the reese’s fastbreak, too. it’s one of woody’s favorites — when he’s in the mood for candy, that is.

it’s not a really great picture… but it’s got a great story behind it. gage brought his pillows into the living room one night and put them in the middle of the couch.  since i was starting to get sick (and he was still a little sick) and i was feeling a lot like crap i put my feet up on the arm of the couch and laid my head on the pillows.  gage got the blanket off the back of the couch and covered me up, then he grabbed a blanket from his room and laid the other way, covering himself up.  since the camera was on the coffee table and in reach, i couldn’t resist getting a picture (albeit a bad picture) of the cuteness.

and it is good.  started chicken soup.  the groceries arrived around 5, so it was a little late to have soup tonight (my chicken soup takes all day to cook).  this variation on the theme, since i make it different every time i make chicken soup is:

•  take 1/2 c. chopped onion and saute in a tablespoon of butter (in your stock/soup pot)
• add 1 14oz can of chicken broth, stir and get up any onion stuck to the bottom of the pot
• add 1 whole chicken (rinsed) and enough cold water to cover, plus a generous pinch of salt, pepper and garlic powder and a dash (literally, just a dash!) of cayenne pepper.
• bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer covered about 2 hours

that’s where i’m at now.  tomorrow the chicken will be disassembled.  bones, skin and the like discarded and meat returned to the pot where i will simmer until it’s reduced by about 1/3.  i don’t think i’ll be adding any noodles.  just chicken and broth.

i woke up with clear but painful sinuses.  they’re stopped up and running again.  i went 15 minutes without coughing, tho my chest did hurt a little.  now i’m coughing constantly.

4-6pm can’t come fast enough today (that’s when i get my grocery delivery which will bring medicine for me).

i took an antibiotic this morning.  i’m gonna try to drink mostly warm beverages all day, i’m hoping it’ll help me feel better.  i’m out of regular tea and almost out of honey (both are being delivered later, along w/ lemons).

i’m hoping a nice hot shower will be hepful… at least for some of the blah.

gage had a little bit of a fit this morning.  didn’t seem to want to put shoes on, tho he was very eager to go out in the rain.  i got a good deal of exercise trying to keep the umbrella over him while we waited at the bus stop.  and either we’ve got gigantic raindrops falling or there was snow mixed in with the rain.

when i was in college, psych 101 to be precise, we learned this trick for memorizing a list of 10 items. 1 person was asked to make a list of 10 things you’d find in a department store for us to commit to memory for a little quiz later.

i’ve never had a need to use the technique outside of that class… but 10 years later, i STILL remember that list!!!  so i thought i’d share the technique.  basically, you take a few moments to visualize the item in these situations:

1. run –  item running around a track
2. zoo — 2 monkeys playing with the item
3. tree — the item sitting at the top of the christmas tree
4. door — a door opening, and the item being there
5. hive — a swarm of bees flying around the item
6. sick — the item laying in a hospital bed
7. heaven — st. peter at the pearly gates wearing or holding the item
8. gate — railroad crossing gates down with the item on top of them
9. wine — a bottle of wine wearing or sitting on the item
10. den — a pair of lions pacing around the item

the list my class memorized was:

1. shoe
2. curtain rod
3. coffee maker
4. dress
5. wrench
6. rake
7. suit
8. towels
9. jacket
10. picture frame

it’s amazing what the mind can hold onto.  LOL

i have no medicine.  a few antibiotics, and half a swallow of nyquil.  that’s it.  i’ll probably take them tonight.  i did order some cough syrup and some more nyquil from the grocery store, among other things.  they shall be delivered tomorrow.

lord of the flies is on chiller… i’ve been wanting to see this since i read it.  so i’m watching.  it’s not bad so far.

tiger’s tail is a menace. seriously! he clears the table with it, and everytime he comes in from being outside he goes behind me (i don’t knwo why) and wags his tail all over the fridge. which wouldn’t be so bad, if he didn’t clear half of gage’s abc & 123 magnets off of it in the process! and there’s nothing quite like getting smacked in the face when he’s getting attention to the person on the other side of him!

i understand why people have their dogs tails cropped now.

the final two games in the 1st round of the nhl playoffs were played last night and tonight.  and i’m happy to say that all 8 of my 1st round picks were correct.  detroit won last night, vancouver won tonight.

8 for 8 in round 1.

someone on link and blog challenge posed an interesting quesiton… ‘if you could only do 1 craft for the rest of your life, what would it be?’ that’s an interesting question for me. since i grew up in a crafting household. i’ve learned how to do so many interesting crafts from my mom and tutu (my grandmother), and gone on my own and learned things they weren’t interested in. it would probably be one of three…

1. cookie cutter ornaments that tutu taught me. they’re simple. made of felt, 2 pieces cut out into the same shape — we used holiday cookie cutters (traced) and pictures we cut out of holiday coloring books. they’re sewn together by hand, a little stuffing is added and then they’re decorated w/ paints, sequins, glitter, etc. this year i got re-interested in making htem. made a bunch, even did a few for halloween, so you can really make em for any occasion.
2. because we vacationed in miami all the time and went to the beach no matter what the season to collect seashells we had a lot of shells. my mom used to do all kinds of things with them. she’d decorate the frame of a mirror, simple jewelry/treasure boxes… she even made animals and clowns out of shells. i only learned to do a few things, but i enjoyed it, and i would of course learn to do more…
3. ceramics. my mom was huge on ceramics. she was one of those people who bought the greenware, cleaned it, then once it was fired to bisque she painted, glazed and all that. i’ve done a few pieces… but nothing compared to what she’s done. and i love doing it. it’s kind of relaxing, actually.

speaking of crafts, this post reminded me of something. when i was growing up we knew a lot of people who were very crafty… one woman my mom was friends with would make these little birds that she sold. now, to make them… she would go into a pasture and collect horse shit. and by horse shit, i mean horse shit. she would bring it home… and fry it (no, i’m not joking), then once it cooled she would add the beak and eyes and feathers and feet. they were interesting. charming until you found out what they were made of. who was buying them i have no idea. but apparently there was a market for them.

i sent out a bookbox w/ 11 favorite books or books by favorite authors… it included stephen king’s IT, fannie flagg’s fried green tomatoes at the whistle stop cafe and into thin air by john krakauer among others.  i sent it out in july and it arrived home today.  i’m so excited.  it came home with:

• left behind, by tim lahaye & jerry b. jenkins
• piercing the darkness, by frank e. peretti
• the hiding place, by corrie ten boom w/ john and elizabeth sherrill
• a light in the window, by jan karon
• the confession, by beverly lewis
• joshua and the children, by joseph f. girzone
• into the wild, by john krakauer
• i’ll be seeing you, by mary higgins clark
• legion, by william peter blatty
• message in a bottle, by nicholas sparks
• the perfect husband, by lisa gardner

there are probably a few that i won’t read.  i find it ironic that the box went out originally with into thin air and returned with into the wild.  i was actually thinking of reading it.  also i think it’s funny that i got legion in this box.  i had a copy that i sent out thru paperbackswap.com about a month ago without reading it.  it was an older bookclub edition so it didn’t have any synopsis or anything.  the paperback copy that arrived today DOES, and it looks like this is the book that the exorcist III was based on (which i happen to love).

in a previous post, i listed my picks for round 1 of the nhl playoffs.  6 of the 8 matchups have been decided:

predators vs sharks — i chose the sharks, correctly i might add.

ducks vs wild — i chose the ducks… and i was right.

devils vs lightning —picked devils, devils won

sabres vs islanders — went with the sabres, sabres didn’t let me down

thrashers vs rangers — picked the rangers and they SWEPT IT

senators vs penguins —went with the sens, sens won

so i’m 6 for 6 so far.  on the last two series i have the canucks (vs stars) and the wings (vs flames).  the last game, or games as the case may be, of these series should be interesting.  i’m still pretty confident that my picks will stand.  hmm… i should have made a bet on round 1, LOL.

that’s the new rule in the bathtub.  actually it’s an old rule, just presented in a different way.  on the upside, i’ve probably got the cleanest bathroom floor on the block, lol.

so i’m going thru this book of herbal medicine i got from paperbackswap.com.  there’s a lot of interesting stuff in there.  i’ve tried a few basic things, like a cough soother (hot honey lemonade) which was highly effective.  alas i only had enough lemon to make 1 cup.  there are a few other things i want to try to help some of what ails us.  like a compress or soak next time woody’s foot acts up — since western medicine has failed helping that (miserably, i might add).   i’ve still got a lot of reading and research (since i’m not going by a single source) before putting some of the stuff in this book to use.

i took a piece of salmon out of the freezer and put it into the fridge thursday night.  haven’t cooked it yet.  i’m not sure if it’s still good.  i doubt it.  at the moment i can’t smell or taste anything, so i have no way of telling.  i’m thinking it will probably be thrown away.

so i’ve started a new book.  acceptable risk by robin cook.  not really part of any of my book challenges this year.  so far it’s pretty god, tho i’m only about 80 pages along.  there’s an interesting salem witch trials angle going on here.

it’s kind of sparked another interest in me… i’ve always wanted to learn a little more about the salem witch trials.  now i’m wondering what books on the subject would be best to start with.  there are a couple mentioned in this novel, but i haven’t checked yet to see if they’re actual titles or if cook made em up for the story.

gage clearly has an interest in cooking.  maybe it’s because he watches me so frequently…

he was in the kitchen, where i was heating up some chili for dinner that was previously frozen.  he pulled up his little chair and stood on it (i need to get that kid a stool), took the lid off the pot, grabbed the spoon and proceeded to stir it.  gently, too.  he didn’t spill or splash or slop anything on the stove.  i was watching closely.

i’ve noticed that he really pays attention in that arena as well.  if i say “careful” he moves slowly, deliberatly and handles everything gingerly.  if i say “hot” he moves as carefully, but also makes an obvious effort not to touch the stove or the pots on the stove.

he loves putting pasta in water on the stove — so much so that i’m glad i have a kettle for tea making.  sometimes if he wants spaghetti he’ll get a pot out of the cabinet, fill it with water, put it on the stove and come get me.  he takes me to the stove and says “please.”  i have no doubt that he knows HOW to turn the stove on.  he just DOESN’T.  i like that.

so i’ve been doing some reading off and on today about this preservative in vaccinations called ‘thimerosal.’ i guess there’s some speculation and theorization that it causes autism, or that it causes mercury poisoning (which, i guess presents like autism in small children?).

why am i reading up on it? well, someone on an autism/asperger’s board i’m on apparently had her child (who had been diagnosed w/ autism) tested for mercury poisoning and apparently he has it.

it’s interesting.

i keep thinking about 1 of gage’s vaccinations in the first 2 years. i don’t remember what it was called, but it was supposed to be a combination of 3 shots (i don’t remember what 3). so one stick instead of 3. sounded good to us… the next visit they told us that there was something up with the vaccination they gave him and they would have to re-administer 2 of them, because they weren’t effective or something. a couple of years later while bitching about doctors with an acquaintance, i mentioned that particular incident. she said something about those “combined” shots being known to cause autism.

i don’t know about KNOWN… since everything i’ve found says that there’s no evidence to prove the theory of mercury poisoning (and i can’t find anything linking “combined” vaccines with autism), but i can’t help but wonder if perhaps we should have gage checked for mercury poisoning.

but then… what if he does have mercury poisoning? then what? chelation therapy?  what after that?  i mean… i’m not stupid or naive enough to believe that if he DOES have mercury poisoning that the therapy would give me a perfectly “normal” child in the end.  it just doesn’t make sense that it would work that way.  if we’re talking about damage done because of mercury being in his system, logic would dictate that removing the mercury wouldn’t magically reverse the effect.

i have much more reading/research to do on all of this… i just gotta figure out where to begin.