And the winner is....

It's time to announce the winner of the Smalltown Mom Share-The-Luck Fall Giveaway! Here's my old-school random drawing. The entrants:In lieu of a hat, I put the slips in a beautiful wine glass:

They were stirred, not shaken. Then Ernest drew the winner. (I should have rotated the photo before I uploaded it. Oops. However, I have been politely asked not to upload any more photos this evening because they cause lag when two certain people are trying to play their new Wrath of the Litch King WoW expansion. Since they were polite, I'm leaving it alone.)
Look, his eyes are closed. His other hand is still playing Wow.
And the winner is: Louise, of Potted Frog. Louise, e-mail me with your mailing name and address! smalltownmomblog (at) yahoo (dot) com

The ultimate package is still mostly a surprise to you as well as me, but it will be finalized by this weekend and definitely WILL include chocolate and other items made or obtained nearby, in keeping with my desire to shop locally.

But I am having a difficult decision over the chocolate: Louise, do you want a box of the See's Seasonal Pie Truffles that I raved about? (BTW, I just realized you were the only comment on that post. Is this good karma or what?) Or would you like a box of scrumptious assorted chocolates made 3 blocks from my house? Your choice, just let me know ASAP. Before I eat them all! And don't worry. Whichever one you don't pick will still be gobbled up.

And that made me remember how much fun I had with my only other giveaway, which was a pay-it-forward thingie. So I'm definitely doing a holiday giveaway in December AND I am planning a large book giveaway on my book blog. Details to be posted later!

Smalltown Mom's Leftover Challenge

In these financially frustrating times, people are stretching the food dollar ever tighter (ever more tightly? -- someone correct my grammar here because I hate it when I'm wrong.) One way is the pantry challenge. Karen at From My Noodle explained it over a year ago. Even Bossy is doing it now.

My personal challenge is LEFTOVERS. They pile up in the refrigerator. No one is willing to eat them unless I haul them out. Sometimes I call it buffet night and lay everything out on the counter for my men to forage.

Other times I try to get creative.

Tuesday night I used up these leftovers: 1/2 an onion, steak-some rather tough london broil, red wine sauce (from the steak), and chili beans. And with the addition of a few things from the pantry, made a batch of pretty good chili. And to top it off, I found 4 leftover biscuits! That's a total of 5 leftovers used.

Combining 5 leftovers at once (yes, the biscuits count!) might be a new record for me as far as numbers go. Although my personal best in taste will always be my chicken soup.

But I need new ideas.

What do you do with a pork chop? Oh, wait, give it to Frank. He will gladly gnaw on a leftover pork chop as a snack.

My leftover dilemma has grown worse as Frank has grown more independent. Sometimes he's here for dinner, sometimes he's not. So I often have unexpected leftovers.

The other night there was some salmon. And I couldn't bear to throw it away, but no one's going to eat it and I don't know what to do with it. That hurts.

What's your favorite thing to do with leftovers? Tell me. Be Creative. I need ideas!

Wednesday Evening with the TV

It seems like the TV is always on, but I don't watch a lot of TV shows.


The Handy Husband likes the Daily Show and Colbert Report repeats at 8 pm. He seems to prefer watching our oldest TV in the den, because he can flip the channels the fastest on it. (This was one thing he forgot to check out when we bought a projection TV seven years ago. We've replaced it with an LCD which flips a little faster, but still...I don't know what he'll do when the old Sony craps out. We've had it repaired several times.) So I never pay much attention to what's on primetime. Because it all flips by so fast.


Then I discovered Pushing Daisies. I loved it. Imaginative, colorful, mysterious and romantic all at the same time. I watched season one on DVD. Ernest watched with me. So all of a sudden, Wednesday had a purpose. We could watch Pushing Daisies together at 8:00, then MythBusters at 9. For a few weeks, Wednesdays were wonderful. Then they were woeful Wednesdays when it wasn't on for a few weeks. But wait, there's a new episode coming on November 17. Only a week to go.


So, what else should I watch? What's your favorite TV show this year, and why?

I Have Achieved The Impossible

Laundry. 6 loads, one day. All sorted and matched and put away*. That's the impossible.

Footnote: *for the sons it's in piles that they are supposed to put away as soon as they are off their computers. Yeah, right, like that will happen. And Frank should be doing his own laundry. He may have done it a few times. But I do give him notice when I'm doing laundry. "If you want me to do yours, bring it down. Now!" Sometimes he does.

1. Whites -- full of socks that somehow ONLY I can match. Why is it so difficult? I should make a chart. HH - puffy white. Ernest - grey heel/toe. Frank - ankle socks. ST Mom - leftovers. It's sad, I have been wearing Ernest's outgrown white socks. Get a life, STM!!! Get some girly socks. The Sock Loft is calling me.
   
2. Red/Yellow/Purple -- mostly mine, a few HH t-shirts


3. Blue/Greens -- mostly the HH's jeans and Ts


4. Blacks -- This would be all of Frank's (except socks) and most of Ernest's. Frank's laundry showed up just in time for this load.


5. Another load of whites, because Frank's socks showed up late


6. Sheets -- Our bottom flannel sheet ripped irreparably, but I found an old one in the cupboard. We are now mismatched in a totally colorful way.

If I fold another thing tonight I will scream.

Thief!

On Saturday night, the Handy Husband was sitting in the other room, totally stealing my reading glasses! I was going to paparazzi him but that felt mean. So instead of stealthily covertly sneakily surreptitiously taking his picture, I'm substituting this:

And NO, I'm not dissing the Handy Husband here. Peter Boyle as the Monster in Young Frankenstein is totally HAWT. In fact, add him to my Secret Boyfriend List. (Is that leopard he is wearing? MMmmm.)

I'm going to get my husband some reading glasses of his own so he too can look like this sexy beast.

The Share-the-Luck Fall Giveaway

I won! I won a scarf hand-knitted by Mrs. G!

And so to pass on the good karma, I'm going to give away a Fall Surprise gift box. It's a surprise because I don't know what's going to be in it yet! But it may include chocolate. So if you want to enter, leave a comment. And on Friday, we'll do the low-tech random generator by pulling the name out of a hat.

Favorite Things Meme

What's Your Favorite? Or Favourite?

I saw this twice the other day, first on The Guider ...those Brits.. hours ahead in the time zones....and later on Jen on The Edge.

1. Political show - Jon Stewart and the Daily Show. That's what I watched on election night. Can't get any better than that.

2. Picnic food - Deviled eggs if they are kept cold. Must. Make. Some. Soon!!!

3. Mixed drink - Margarita or Mojito or Pomegranate Martini. I don't have mixed drinks too often, so it's hard to choose.

4. U.S. President - the new one.

5. Kind of student to teach - the one who has a little bit of trouble, but totally gets it after sitting with me. Not happening enough this year....

6. Hobby you do or wish you still did - I've had a lot of hobbies that have petered out over the years. I'd really like do learn to play an acoustic guitar. Maybe Ernest will teach me.

7. Sports commentator - You've got to be kidding me. I don't do sports. OK, Dick Button on figure skating. Or Jim McKay on the Olympics on ABC. I'm going WAY BACK.

8. Sport to watch on TV - I will watch NHRA drag racing with the Handy Husband. NO, its NOT the same thing as NASCAR.

9. Animal to have as a pet - CATS CATS CATS CATS

10. Halloween costume you have worn - I love every year. Gypsy, Pirate, Mary Poppins, Cleopatra, Dorothy.

11. Kind of dessert - Cheesecake.

12. Comic strip - A) Medium Large, home of Teenage girl president and other great stuff. In the commercial world, he does Sally Forth. B) Dare I admit my secret sick fascination with Mary Worth when she was stalked by Aldo, the Captain Kangaroo lookalike. and C) Frank shows me funnies from Cyanide and Happiness.




13. Style or make of footwear - my LaPlume Leopard Slides. Why does the website call this a snake print? It's LEOPARD, I tell you. Or cheetah. Or even ocelot. I will accept any spotted mammal. But it's so NOT snake.

14. Ice cream flavor - Chocolate all the way baby.

15. College or university president - Excuse me???? Who knows that? I'll say Robert Huttenback who was the chancellor of UCSB when I was there 30umpteen years ago. There was a small scandal back in 1987.

16. Internet news source - Yahoo News.

17. Vacation spot - yet to be discovered.

18. Wine - Too many to count.

19. Way to waste time instead of working - uh, what I'm doing right now? The internet? Blogging? Greatest time waster in the universe.

20. Student excuse for late work - I never turned in work late.

21. Reality show - Little People, Big World

22. Jewelry on a man -Only if he buys me something first.

23. Pizza topping - margarita -- fresh mozzarella, tomatoes and basil. Not shared by my pepperoni loving children.

24. Children’s movie - The Wizard of Oz and Sleeping Beauty

25. Celebrity you wish would retire - Jerry Lewis. While he does an admirable thing with his telethon, he has said a lot of inappropriate S**t.


Tag yourself!

MayBe?

I didn't intend to be part of NaBloPoMo because who needs that kind of pressure? But except for November 1st (and remember I did have 5 posts the day before) I have had something to say every day. How strange for me. It must be all that good karma from the real NaBloPoMo bloggers. I'm not making any promises, just BloPoMayBes. And to make this post about something real, not just blogging, let me state right here and now:

I got my cake! It wasn't really cake, it was the See's Thanksgiving Pie Truffles! And they are delicious. But I seriously doubt there are any "I got my See's" videos.

I found this, which my kids instantly recognized.




And there's this, which is what I was originally searching for but it took more than 5 seconds to find.




P.S. Frank prefers the Apple Pie. "While they are all really delicious, I prefer the pumpkin," is Ernest's final review. He's the only one to have tried all four flavors.

Saving Grace For Another Year

I wanted this blue angel. Badly. Oh, so badly. And the HH wanted her too, and was willing to sell his yellow friend, who's a pretty tight squeeze.

This is NOT a good picture of Belinda Bleu. Yes, I've named her already. This is from the website where you can change the color. She really looks less trashy flashy gaudy.

Oh, yeah. That's a better picture.

But ...well...you know...the financial thingies took a serious downturn. And who would buy the yellow car now? So the blue angel is still waiting in car lot heaven.....which is probably good, becuase the HH and I would have fough tooth and nail been conflicted over who would get to drive her.

Therefore my Grace and I are hanging out while longer. Although she almost has 100,000 miles, she's still a grand old lady. She's not ready for the retirement home yet. And best of all, her registration is down to only $156.

But still...Belinda and I could have had a blast.

Skipping Christmas? [Nooooooo!!!!]

That's what I overheard yesterday, from two clerks at the local market. They're skipping Christmas.

No, people, no. Don't do that. You don't have to spend a lot of money... But please, don't make this recession worse than it has to be.

Support your local merchants. I plan to patronize a new store, The Sock Loft. (Owned by a theater mom. Although I didn't have to carpool her son even once this summer because I think he had to work in the sock store all summer. I'm not a real theater mom, like the Matron, I'm just an occasional theater mom.) But back to the socks? My Beloved Niece and her Magical Mother might get excited about that.

And then there's the Book Loft (no, the stores are not related). I'll buy Christmas books there. There is a Strega Nona pop-up book that looks delicious. Remember when the spaghetti pot overflowed??? Think of it in 3-D. And I hope they still have the Maurice Sendak Halloween pop-up.

Support the fine craftspeople that sell their goods on Etsy. Like Jen.

Or visit a local crafts fair. Like where I went this afternoon. And found some lovely handmade things:

A cat pillow in case our cat gets lonely. Or we get lonely for her. (The bright red blanket is in case she has a hairball there, because she's done that a lot in that spot. Yes, we are giving her hairball remedy stuff. But she's old. Hairballs happen.)

A necklace to go with my Christmas Party Dress (which I bought online at Coldwater Creek Outlet last year for $30).

Christmas gifts for the Beloved Niece and her Magical Mother. What, you thought I would show the gifts? I can keep secrets.

Other ideas:

Bake something for a friend. Marie has shared her scrumptious recipe for Pumpkin Rolls. These are totally on my things-to-do list.

Donate to a local rescue mission help fund holiday meals. Yes, they sent me two letters on the same day. I feel guilty.

Knit baby hats for Direct Relief International. My Lovely M-I-L is a regular contributor. And even I, the procrastinator, finished a few hats for them.

Offer services: Beloved Niece, do you want a free evening or Saturday? Because I'm hankering for a date with Mr. Thomas.

Give a useful gift. Movie passes? Magazine subscriptions? (The HH gets free gift subscriptions for Road and Track when he pays for his own, so those of you who got R&T last year? No surprise, you're getting it again.) Food and drink items are always welcome in our house.

Plan a lovely holiday dinner. Turkey is cheap. My guest list is open.

I know the economy is bad, but let's not give up on the holidays. Shop at the businesses that mean the most to you.

And we can blog about our holiday decorations, too. No charge for that!

How can we be both economical and support the economy at the same time?

What are your holiday suggestions?

[Not] Getting Things Done

I'm all about not getting things done this week.

The laundry pile (clean) is still not folded. 4 days.
The bills are still not paid. 5 days.
The Halloween costumes are still not put away. 6 days.

I'm hoping that by admitting this in writing, I will embarass myself sufficiently to get these darn things done today!

However, on the plus side the dishes are washed and the dining room table is clear.

What annoying little task(s) have you put off this week?

[Update: Laundry folded, bills paid. Two out of three ain't bad. Halloween costumes, while still not put away, at least are not longer on the foot of my bed.]

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

The good:

Ernest picked up his winnings from the orthodontist's contest. That's a strange semi-rhyme (Dontist/Contest). He was really happy. "I don't usually win things," he said. That's how I often felt as a child. I was so surprised when I won a teddy bear at a Sons of Norway Christmas dinner. I might update this post later with that picture, if I can find it.

The bad:

Frank had "stomach flu." I asked him where he got sick. "On the bridge." This is the pedestrian bridge at his community college....I pictured him splattering cars 100 feet below, but he said he made it to a trash can. This photographer has a beautiful series of photos on the campus. Click the link if you're curious.

Photo From Kaplan Aspect on Flickr.com

Also...the beginning of the month and paying bills. Huge bills show up at the end of the year. Car registration (3 of 4 cars), car insurance (all of them), and property tax bills. Ouch. The reason I'm never EVER EVER selling my mother's house? And why we're going to live/retire there some day? Because the property tax is grandfathered...under $600. Our own house's property tax bill? Huge, even with the Prop 13 controls...because it still goes up every year. And we've owned it 20 years. Up up and away.

The ugly. [You've Been Warned]

Something happened at school today. Do I err on the side of caution, and fuggetaboutit? Or do I speak my mind, couching the situation in euphemisms and comparisons, so you get my drift without me saying anything incriminating.

[Update: OK, I did speak my mind and that post was up for a while, but then my overly cautious sense of judgement kicked in and I decided to delete that part. I'm leaving your comments, however. Thank you.]

Hello, Mr. President

Am I jumping the gun here? Jon Stewart announced it. And that's where I get my best news from! My M-I-L even called me. She was watching CNN.

Hey, and I haven't even named names the name yet.

I am proud of our country.

Signs of Fall 2008

When the days are as warm as we've had, sometimes it is hard to believe fall is here. But here are some signs of fall as I see it.

Leftover Halloween candy, of course.

And See's Pie Truffles...boy did I drop hints to the person named Frank who might pass by one, nay TWO, See's Candies in the near future on his way back from school. Should I have been less subtle? Because I didn't see any in his hand tonight.

The first fire in the fireplace..the Handy Husband is worrying about the size of his woodpile already. But his fires are magnificent.

Simpson's Treehouse of Horror. It took nineteen years before they did a Great Pumpkin parody.

The horror of the leaves on Frank's car. These are chestnut leaves. This tree is on its own cycle...first to turn brown in September (yet the leaves hung on until we got a small bit of rain) and first to turn green in February. Seriously, this tree has a scheduling problem.

The rotating seasonal artwork #1. In our master bath, we have a series of seasonal prints the Handy Husband brought back from China several years ago and I forgot to change the season until I thought about this blog post.

The rotating seasonal artwork #2. We used to have a calendar hanging at the juncture between dining nook and stairway. No one ever used the calendar. So we recently hung a picture there instead. I get fall and winter, and I think Ernest's art will get spring and summer placement. Yes, I painted this.
And the political signs, of course. Don't forget to vote tomorrow. We voted already, because I like to avoid the polling place.

Pumpkin Architecture

Ernest likes to build complicated pumpkin structures. Here's the 2008 model (the triple decker -- pay no attention to those other pathetic attempts. They weren't his):

I like his little hatchet:

I think he borrowed from his 2006 design:

And here's the 2005 edition:

Welcome to My Nightmare

Something's been off this Halloween. I didn't feel up to decorating or being creative or even participating in this exciting e-mail I just received:

Agent Name: Mr. Ken Smith
Tel:+44 703 198
8640
+44 703 198 8711
Email: ( mr.kensmith14@live.com )

This is
to inform you that you
have been
selected for a cash prize of
#1,000,000 (British Pounds) held
on the
20th of October 2008 in
London Uk.

Fill the below:

1. Name:
2. Address
3.
Country of Residence:
4. Telephone
Number:

Yeah, right. Welcome to my nightmare instead. Ernest and I were searching out great halloweenish songs, and of course Alice Cooper's 1975 masterpiece came up. Ernest likes Devil's Food with the Vinnie the P introduction...so I'm playing through the whole things on iTunes.

...And then I realized what's wrong....what's making me feel so discomfited...

dis·com·fit
tr.v. dis·com·fit·ed, dis·com·fit·ing, dis·com·fits
1. To make uneasy or perplexed; disconcert.

I didn't see Alice Cooper this year. THAT'S WHAT'S WRONG. So here's a little Alice, to make me feel better.



And I'm also thinking back to October 30th of last year when Bruce rose out of a coffin. But I'm coughing and sneezing and too tired to find a good Bruce video on YouTube.

"Happy" Halloween seems the wrong thing to say....So does Elvira's "unpleasant dreams..." so I'll just say Ah-CHOO and goodnight.

Live Halloween Blogging #3

In this picture... Ernest reminds me of Warren Zevon:




And Ernest looks a lot like his dad, too.


Hopefully he will be a great musician, but won't be an alcoholic who dies of lung cancer. And if the genetic gods are willing, won't lose his hair too early.


Here's a little Werewolves of London for your Halloween evening pleasure. I feel a little like Stevie Wayne. Is the fog rolling in?

Live Halloween Blogging Post #2

All hail Mr. Thomas, the BEE.

I'm just a bit misty now because Ernest wore the bee costume when he was LITTLE. And now he is the BIG guy kneeling next to his cousin.

Here's Ernest in the bee suit, way back in the 1998's.

Yes, it was a little oversized back then. And the knee-length shorts? Size four on a two year old...because he was "STURDY." But he stretched!

Live Halloween Blogging Post #1

6:22 p.m., Pacific Whachahoosit Time (please, do we set the clocks back soon because it is eerily dark in the morning???). It WAS 6:22 before I tried to upload the pictures which took a while, and then I lost something and had to regroup. Live blogging is not for me. I've got a massive internal edit function.

So... some time later..

The doorbell rang, and I found Tolouse-Lautrec at the door.

Truthfully, it was my nephew McQueen on his knees without the shoes. I reposed him with the shoes for greater theatrical effect. Because I'm that way.

McQueen and Ernest left for the haunted house. With a cell phone, just in case. But they are brave, unlike me. And McQueen's among his own kind (clowns).

Here are the intrepid adventurers.

Trick or treaters are slow right now. One group at 5:45, the next didn't appear until 6:15. Ernest is hoping for leftover candy because I bought a lot of chocolate.

OK, I've finally finished this (after a pizza break) at 6:35. No new trick or treaters.

WHAT IS HAPPENING???

Ernest is home.

OH OH OH Mr. Thomas is approaching our house. Post over. Camera ready!

6:40

Math Skills Pay Off

Ernest won the $100 "guess how many skulls are in the jar" contest at his orthodontists office!

There were a bunch of plastic skulls mixed in with a lot of candy, and the winner had to come closest to the correct number of skulls. Ernest said: "I used my math skills" to estimate the number. I suppose pi was involved somewhere.

He's pretty happy. I wonder what he will do with the $100? A video game? A sword? A giant Lego? Or just stash it away in his secret place?

If you won $100 today, what would you do? I'd go out to dinner!