Flosculi

It’s raining today. Again. Normally, for me this would be cause for joy and celebration as I would dance around outside, barefooted, splashing around in the puddles as if I’d somehow miraculously acquired a pair of webbed feet. But I really don’t feel like splashing around today…quite the contrary. I’d much rather snuggle up with a huge blanket in front of a cozy fire and just forget about what it’s like outside. But since I am lacking in the fire department, and the only place to really snuggle up with my huge blanket is a place which is already far too occupied by Izzlets who are watching some Halloween show, I guess I’ll have to make do elsewhere. And that is what I am currently doing as I write this. I am sitting at my kitchen table (which seems to be a bit sticky…who was supposed to wipe it down??), looking out the sliding glass doors at the gloomy world outside. The clouds are hanging low in the sky, and seem to be becoming more and more menacing as the minutes tick by. The trees, which only a week ago were ablaze with colour, have been reduced to skeletal form in anticipation of their long hibernation. Here and there, you can see the stray leaf still clinging to a branch, determined to stay there until the bitter end. But as I watch the leaves that didn’t have quite the staying power flutter by on the brisk wind, I know it won’t be long before those last few are also blowing past my window. I really do feel like those last few leaves today…like at any moment the wind will blow me off my stable branch and into some crazy whirlwind, throwing my life totally off course yet again. I’m just waiting for it to happen.

I know it must seem…especially after all of that…that I’m depressed. I’m really not…it’s just a funk of sorts. One of those days where everything seems to be going wrong and you can’t do anything to fix it. Where you’re feeling rather overwhelmed with the everyday goings on in life…the same ones that you don’t bat an eye at normally. I know that by tomorrow all will be well again, but that’s not always the greatest consolation when you know right now that gust of wind could happen at any moment.

I really do think some if it is due to the gloom outside. It seems to be permeating everything today. Even my iPod, which I turned on to shake the cloudy gloom from my head seems to be plotting against me. Rather than playing my wonderfully upbeat repertoire of music that can’t help but lift the spirits, it seems to be stuck in some kind of rut, playing only those songs which are sad and depressing. Not good when you’re looking to listen to something to make you dance. Instead, I find myself lamenting over someone else’s lost love or life of misfortune. Yes, I agree…I think it’s time to either create a new, upbeat music only, playlist, or turn the darn thing off altogether. At this point, I think I’ll choose the latter. It’s just easier.

I’m sure things will be better tomorrow (after all, it is another day…). Perhaps the sun will be shining and the breeze softly blowing. And maybe my iPod will again be cooperative. One can only hope. But just in case all is not well, I have a stash of chocolate peanut butter ice cream in the freezer. One should always have a Plan B if Plan A doesn’t work out as it should…and chocolate peanut butter ice cream is always a good back up plan. At least here at Casa Izz.

video instruction courtesy of Jonathan Papelbon:

As for the ALCS, my Sox are down 3 games to 2, but I’m certain my Sox will go on to win it. I still, and always will, Believe.

Don’t expect much with this post. I’ve not had enough coffee for that. But I stumbled across this on an email list I’m a part of, and I thought it would be fun. Not that I’m expecting too much of a response, but hey, you never know!

What is your Faerie Name? Here’s mine, which seems to be very appropriate:

Your fairy is called Lichen Heartwand

She is a caster of love spells.

She lives in stony places and tumbling wastes.

She is only seen when the seer holds a four-leafed clover.

She wears heather-coloured dresses. She has colourful cerise wings like a bright butterfly.

Get your own fairy name here!

If you’re feeling adventurous, then post your Faerie names here as well. We can all compare notes or something

Now off to have more coffee and perhaps actually find something much more worthwhile to write about, HA!

Interesting title, no? But before you think I’ve decided to “go Amish”, which I’m not, let me explain things a bit. I’m not really going non-electric, it’s just that as of late it’s feeling like I am being forced into it a little bit at a time. Mr Izz is a big non-electric fan…wait, maybe it would be better, in lieu of the topic matter, to say fanatic (snicker). If he had his way, we’d have severed the ties to National Grid long ago, and quite contentedly (at least in his mind) lived pretending that Mr Franklin never actually found anything useful during that fateful kite flying expedition. Whenever we drive past an Amish farm at dusk, he longingly gazes at the lantern light emanating from the windows, muttering something about how wonderful it would be. I think he’d even don that characteristic C. Everett Koop beard and straw hat, if only the Amish were more Romish. But they are not, so my electricity is safe for now. At least that which is coming from the pole. I have my suspicions about the electric run items here in the house. It all began about 2 years ago…

Mr Izz has a catalog that he adores. It’s the Lehman Non-Electric Catalog. Lehman’s is based in Kidron, OH…right smack in the middle of Amish country. When we were still in Ohio, we lived fairly close to Lehman’s and would try to stop whenever we had to pay a visit to the midwife out there (which seemed to be regularly). But during those rare times that I was not pregnant (ahem), Mr Izz had to content himself with afore mentioned catalog. He loved to droll over all of those lovely things which do not require even one kilowatt of power to use, and he loved even more to tell me all about these items (I got really good at evoking my powers of enthusiasm on such occasions…I could even almost fool myself). You may be wondering how this has anything to do with my story. Well, to confuse you even more, let me tell you about a message board that I frequent. It’s a tin whistle message board, and at one point we were in the midst of a discussion about French presses (yes, on the tin whistle message board. Going off on tangents seems to be their specialty…which is more than likely why I fit in so well). I found out that a French press makes one heck of a cup of coffee, and doesn’t require any electricity whatsoever to run. So I brought this information to Mr Izz, thinking he’d find it quite interesting. Of course I was correct, and to make a long story short, it wasn’t too long before we owned one (from Lehman’s, of course). I fully admit that my coffee was far better and I was very happy with the purchase. But I also know that Mr Izz used my love of coffee and the promise of the perfect cup to fulfill his evil agenda. And despite the French press’s demise, and our having to drag out the automatic drip coffee maker out, he’s still on his crusade. The electric pot, as you may know for earlier postings here, is about to die the death. Coincidence? Perhaps…but there is more to this story that would indicate otherwise.

During our move to the North Country, as we were still in the process of packing up the moving truck, Mr Izz kept pestering me so I forgot to pack up the glass plate that goes inside the microwave so it can run (you have to have it there). Yes, he purposefully did this…I am absolutely sure. Here’s why I know this: since the glass plate didn’t get packed (and of course there is no way in heck it had anything to do with my scatterbrainedness…ahem), Mr Izz decided to put it into the van. Now, he could have made sure that it was well protected, but noooOOOOoooo….he put it in a place where it was inevitable it would end up in a million pieces. Sure, he tried to make it look like he had wrapped it in blankets and all of that, but I know the truth. So when it finally did come crashing down onto the pavement, I wasn’t surprised. He’d been trying to get rid of the microwave for some time anyway…and he’d finally gotten his way. And despite the promises of a replacement plate, I still am in possession of a microwave minus the necessary glass plate. Appalled yet? Oh wait…there’s more…

Regular readers might remember the dryer in our last house that died the death. It was loads of fun to hang laundry out in the snow…I love to hang it up, but not when I have to wade through ankle deep drifts to get to the clothes line. I endured it, however, because I knew that once we moved into this place, my dryer would be taken out of storage and I could use that. But my dreams of the “fluff” cycle were in vain. Apparently the electric coming into the house isn’t enough to support even my gas dryer, therefore we can’t use it. So I’m still washing and hanging, which isn’t too bad except now since the winds are getting a bit nippier and winter is poised to make it’s grand appearance. I, of course, think it’s just one thing of many in Mr Izz’s grand scheme to eradicate all things electric. I wouldn’t be surprised if he rigged the fuses to blow if I even think about using the dryer. But last week was the last straw.

I decided to buy bagels from this really awesome bakery in town…their bagels are to die for. I don’t buy them often, so when I do, I’m usually very excited to toast one and slather it with butter. Yum! But I was patient (I know! Can you believe it?). I wanted until breakfast the next morning to have one. I got breakfast ready for the kids, then took out my bagel (no, I don’t share such wondrous things with the kids. Are you insane?) and gleefully sliced it and popped it into the toaster. They popped up in about a minute, but weren’t even remotely ready, so I popped them down again. It was then that I noticed that the coils weren’t heating up. I tried to pop them down again, but to no avail. The toaster was not working. I started to panic, thinking that I wouldn’t be able to have my toasted bagel after all, until I remember the broiler in my gas stove (notice, it’s a gas stove). I heat it up, put the bagel in there and after much time consuming work, took out my toasted bagel. Sure, it tasted fine, but life would have been much easier if my toaster worked. And how do I know that Mr Izz is responsible? Well, get this….when I went to the office to tell him about it, he didn’t even blink an eye. When I asked if we were going to get a new one, he totally blew me off (!). Of course, you might argue that he was studying and didn’t really even hear me because his mind was on Anatomy and Physiology. But this was far more important than school. This was my toaster we were talking about. His lack of concern for my mental well being over the issue just furthered my convictions that there was sabotage afoot (arrr!).

And all of this just proves that I am going non-electric, albeit forcibly. Today it’s my toaster, tomorrow Mr Izz might have built a big, huge hamster wheel and make us all take turns running in it so he can work on his computer because he snipped the lines coming into the house. Go ahead, scoff. He may look like he’s studying his nursing notes, but I know he’s really building that wheel. Either that, or I need to stop going to all those websites about “conspiracy theories”. But I’m sure that if I went to one of those sites and presented them with these details, they would side with me. Egads…maybe I need to get out my tinfoil hat…that hamster wheel could very well be emitting some kind of thought waves to make me think I want to go non-electric! Have to run…..

how, in October, your second favourite baseball team (you know, the one that’s playing the Yankees…) can become your biggest rival overnight? Today is Game 1 of the ALCS Championship. In a mere 4 games, Boston could be the AL Champions, and off to the World Series. I’m confident…yeah, the Indians will be tough, but we’re tougher, and on a roll. Bugs? Go ahead…we’re not like those wimpy Yankees. We can take all that you bring on, so go ahead and bring it!

Oh, but anyway, I wasn’t going to write a challenge to my Tribe friends. I really hold no animosity toward them…in fact, I’m forever grateful that they trounced the Evil Empire. They’re hot this season. That’s one thing I’ll give them. I just hope they don’t mind if I get my broom ready now…

My real reason for posting today (besides to say GO SOX!! BECKETT ROCKS!! ) was to share this totally classic picture. Some creative Cleveland soul took the time to make this, but I don’t know who that creative soul was. This unfortunately means that I can’t give credit where it is absolutely due. I apologise for that. But it’s good for a laugh or two, and so I’m sharing it here. It really is priceless

The last few weeks or so have been crazy. You see, we’ve had visitors coming and going, and going and coming almost as if I were running a country Inn or fancy hotel (without seeing the profits of said ventures, of course). Everyday, someone new happens into the family, and everyday their appearance is wholly unexpected. Maybe I should start asking if they intend to pay for their lodgings…

The whole phenomenon seemed to begin sometime around International Talk Like a Pirate Day (arrrrr….!). For days after, we had various pirates visiting…some with eyepatches, others with peglegs…sitting down at the dinner table like they lived here without even asking permission. And the weird thing was no one seemed to care too much (except for me, apparently), for no one said a word or seemed to even take a bit of notice. Furthermore, our already overcrowded dinner table was still only as overcrowded as it is usually, despite the daily additions. Strange…

Finally, after what seemed like forever, the pirates made their way back to the harbour and out to sea, and along with them went the constant “Arrrr matey”s and forceful requests for me to “swab the deck.” I must admit I was a bit relieved. Attempting to entertain a band of buccaneers isn’t always an easy task. You never seem to have enough rum to appease them, and your larger kitchen knives seem to disappear, only to resurface between the teeth of a particularly large picaroon. But even as their appearances dwindled to nothing, our adventures were far from over.

A few days after the exit of the pirates, in walked in the Superheroes. I thought the pirates were weird…these guys were way worse. At the most inopportune times, Superman would fly through my kitchen or Spiderman would swing through the living room. And the main topic of conversation seemed to always revolve around who was more “super strong” or who had the coolest powers (“NO! Web slinging is by far the best!!” “No way!! Heat Vision is way cooler!”). And you know, I really thought they would have been much taller than 3 ft. something. Anyway…

The Superheroes ate with us, watched movies with us, played football with us. It’s really funny how well they fit in despite their super human powers…almost like they’d always been part of the family. But they too had to go on their merry way at last…off to fight crime in some distant city, more than likely named something like Metropolis or something similar. Now that they’re gone, however, I find myself missing their super human antics. And the little secrets I found out about them as well…they were well worth the fly bys. Never once did they allow their secret identities be known (and I never was able to guess, despite my constant efforts), but here and there they did slip up, and I was able to find out a few key things about them because of it. For example, Superman gets extremely cranky by 1pm and really has to take a nap (you know…so does Éamon. Small world!). So, everyday like clockwork, he would crawl into my bed, with a cup of milk, and fall fast aslepp until about 3, when he woke up expecting a snack (hmmmm….Éamon does that too. I wonder…). I even have a picture to prove it, just don’t tell him that I’ve shown it to you all. He may not like that and I’ll have to call Spiderman and have him come to prove who really is the “super strongest”. You know…he really does look familiar in this picture…like I really should know who he is….

No, it’s not a typo…it truly is Soxtober here at Casa Izz. October is playoffs and then World Series month. With the Red Sox being on top the whole season, this is just fruits of all the work our boys put into the regular season. We deserve this…the Sox are going to win the pennant, and of course this is OUR year. The Series is ours (see how positive I can think in regards to important matters such as baseball and my beloved Sox?)!

The first two games of the series with the Angels were great. In game one, Beckett was totally in the zone. There was no way the Angels were going to get past him and his greatness that night. Of course, his having the absolute greatest catcher in the whole of the MLB didn’t hurt (have I mentioned my infatuation with Jason Varitek? SIIIIIIGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!). All in all, it was a great game.

Game two was a bit harder to come up with the win, but my man Manny came through (just like I thought he would) with a 3 run walk-off homer in the bottom of the 9th for the win. That’s two down…one to go for the sweep. It shouldn’t be too difficult. Then it’s on to the Indians. They may prove to be a bit more difficult. But for now they remain my “second favourite team” since they are playing the dreaded Evil Empire. Their game last night was spectacular….poor Derek “Cheater” was totally bugging out (HA!). But the Indians went on to win after 11 innings. Great, great game. This is why I love Soxtober…the baseball is fantastic. Well, not always, but this year it is. Read more about what’s going on at the Red Sox Official Site!! Well worth the time. And check out some of the Red Sox sites I have on my blog roll. These guys have really taken a lot of time to keep you up to date on the goings on with the Sox, and I highly recommend their blogs.

Not much else to say here…I’m having a feeling that both AL teams will sweep their series, and then it’s going to get even better. The match up with the Indians will be quite interesting this season. They really are hot. But I’m sure my boys won’t disappoint me this year. We’re going all the way just like we did in 2004. I’m certain of it.

Go Sox!!!

I know that we here in the good old US of A have a holiday for just about everything…not for the pursuit of days off, but in our lovely Capitalistic way, to keep the greeting card companies in the black each quarter. Typically, I choose to ignore about 99% of these faux holidays because I don’t like to subscribe to the mindset behind them. Just my little opinion on that, for what it’s worth (oops! Did you guess I’m not really a Capitalist? Shucks…). But as I was Googling around (can you believe that’s a real verb now? What is the world coming to?) just for fun, I happened upon a calendar that immortalises each and every holiday that has ever been concocted. From National English Toffee Day on 8 January, to National Chocolate Covered Anything Day on 16 December (that’s one I actually might celebrate, and with gusto! HA!). Some of them I thought were funny enough for a snerk, but most of them were just silly and not worth the time and effort to expel one. But one day in November caught my eye, and my approval…no, not National Carbonated Beverage with Caffeine Day on the 19th. I don’t even like very many carbonated beverages with caffeine. The day I’m speaking of is 28 November, which apparently has been forever dubbed as “National French Toast Day. Now, anyone who has been reading my blog from it’s beginnings (not that it has been all that long, but there are at least a few posts to wade through until you make it back that far) knows that our weekly French Toast Day is like a ritual here at Casa Izz. Every Saturday we have French Toast with bacon and real maple syrup. It’s something the kids look forward to each week (wouldn’t you if weekly fare consisted mostly of oatmeal and cream of wheat?), and our days are quite often measured by how far away from “French Toast Day” they are. So finding out that there is a national holiday devoted to this anything but French dish was very important to me. It’s something we really ought to celebrate here at Casa Izz….I’m not going to go so far as to send out greeting cards (sorry Hallmark), but we’re going to do it up even though it falls on a Wednesday. French Toast Day on a Wednesday…it should be fun. If anything it will confuse the heck out of the kids. They won’t know what day it is for at least a week. That should be humourous at best, don’t you think?

Cool thing? Yeah, it was. I can’t wait to tell the kids. They may be almost as excited as they are for International Talk Like a Pirate Day! Off I go to write it down on the calendar!

It’s been an off week (alright, we did this one…I don’t need to get into it again). Today (as we drift into afternoon hours) seems to be the pinnacle of that offness, with the day just spinning out of control and me feeling like pulling my hair out would greatly improve things. I don’t really feel too much like writing, but they say that writing helps. So as I sit here at my computer, attempting to extract ideas from my brain (they’re in there pretty well it seems), I’m finding that nothing of note is really forthcoming at all. At least, nothing that I could possibly put into written form. This is where this becomes a pictorial essay. Putting my day into words is elusive at best. And more than likely would be excessively boring to anyone who decides to meander over to my little blog to read it. In other words, since I don’t feel much like writing anyway, but I’m feeling like I should feel like writing, I’ve decided to go about it in a completely different way. I’m doing it in pictures! This should be fun, don’t you think? Let’s get started….

Picture one: What I feel like doing right now

Picture two: What I should be wearing

Picture three: Where I more than likely should be living right about now (although I really don’t fancy shaving my head for the occasion…and I really think that other colours rather than just white would be so much nicer. Pink would be nice, don’t you think?)

Picture four: The alternative to the above three pictures

So there you have it…how I’m feeling today, in pictures! Wasn’t that fun?

Egads…I never in a million years thought I’d ever entitle a post with that lovely little ’80s flashback. I hated it then, and still do now. But if you can muddle though my post, you’ll see it’s very appropriate.

My week has been off…well, actually, the whole month of September was off, and it seems to be creeping into my October as well. I’m hopeful that since it’s only the 3rd of October, that things will calm down in time to save the month from offness, but we’ll see. At this rate it won’t, but then of course I’m not the eternal optimist I’d like to be. You see, an optimist would have said that it will absolutely get better…I’d like to say I’m merely a realist rather than a dreamy, rose-coloured glasses idealistic optimist, but in reality, I’m just a pessimist trying to disguise herself as a realist. But I’m working on it…and I’m sure that I’ll achieve optimistic perfection at some point. Not convincing? Oh well…at least I tried.

So my month…it’s off. Has been for a while, but not in a totally horrible way. Just off as in I can’t get all the things I need to get done in as timely of a manner as I’d like. The one example that seems to shine forth like a beacon on this issue is grocery shopping. Now, I’m not going to pretend that grocery shopping is something I like to do. Actually, I abhor it. I wish that I could just wiggle my nose like Samantha on Bewitched and just have all the groceries appear so I can put them away without setting foot in a grocery store. But as I lack the necessary nose wiggle, to the grocery store I go for my weekly escapade into the mundane. Now, I usually like to do this on the same day each week…it’s easier to accept the mundane when you know it’s coming at the same time and in the same place each and every time you venture into it. But because my week/month has been off, the day I end up going tends to vary from week to week. So while I would have liked to have it all done on Monday, today ended up being my day to do the grocery shopping. Yay.

It all went off without a hitch…I took Terrence with me (and I could tell that he was exceptionally enthusiastic about the sheer prospect, let alone about the task itself), and we wheeled our cart up one aisle and down the other, collecting those things that we needed along the way. The only time we hit a snag was when I forgot to go down the first aisle (hey…it’s laid out totally weird. Sure, I shop there weekly, and should remember the layout of the darn place, but that first aisle is shorter than the rest. Anyone would have made the mistake of missing it), and then couldn’t find the dry beans and Ramen Noodles. I went down aisle #2 3 times looking for them, but of course couldn’t find them until Terrence “found” aisle #1. Of course, he found it humourous. I didn’t. Oops…I hope Mr Izz doesn’t see that part…I’ll never hear the end of how I “lost aisle #1″.

We gathered up what was on the list quickly…after the losing of aisle #1 anyway…went through the check out, packed everything into the car, and headed home. Upon reaching the door, the kids heard I was home and came running out to help bring in the bags (aren’t they wonderful?). As they brought in, I unpacked and started to put away. And with the help of a couple of Izzlets, we got all of the groceries put away quickly and somewhat efficiently. I plopped down into a chair and let out a huge sigh…the grocery shopping was done for the week. Thank goodness!

Fast forward to about 3pm when I need to start dinner. I had put the dried beans (you know, the ones from aisle #1) in to simmer as soon as I got home, so they were merrily bubbling away as I gathered up a few onions to chop up for the chili I was making for dinner tonight. I chopped, and cried….they were pretty strong onions…and put them in to sauté in my big, huge chili pot. That’s when I discovered that the ground beef I had taken out for the chili was missing. I looked on the table; I looked on the counter; I checked in the refrigerator and the freezer just to see if it had inadvertently been placed in either of those areas. Nothing. Ok…it looked like dinner was a no go for tonight (pessimism, I know…but it seemed to be pretty realistic to me. No ground beef, no chili. No chili, no dinner. Logical, don’t you think?). I was stressing big time, having the kids search the toy box and the toilet for the missing ground beef that one of the littles must have taken for some evil purpose…yes, I really was convinced. So Mr Izz gets in on the insanity and tries to get to the bottom of it in truly logical fashion. He asks where the ground beef was when we last saw it…it had been on the table. Was it on the table when we were unpacking the groceries? Ummmmm……maaayyyyyyyybe, I say, as I take Terrence aside and tell him to look in the pantry (you see, by this time I was fairly certain were the ground beef was, but I didn’t want Mr Izz to see how foolish I was, so I did this all on the sly). Next thing we know, Terrence, being the incredibly smart son that he is (ahem), comes out of the pantry with the 3 pounds of ground beef in his possession. “I wonder how it got there?” I innocently ask, looking sideways at Mr Izz, who just shook his head and went back to the office to study. So what happened? Some well intended child (or even perhaps me…I really couldn’t tell you at this point) put the ground beef into the pantry because I had said to put all of the food away in the pantry. This, of course, must have meant the ground beef, for it too is food. The “Case of the Missing Ground Beef” had been solved…and none too soon either. I had to get the rest of dinner going or else it was going to be late!

So there you have it. I’m no longer asking where the beef is, thank goodness. The chili is almost done, and the kids are more than ready to have their supper. And I’m vowing to not be so scattered as to lose 3 pounds of ground beef in the pantry every again. Of course it will work too…my optimistic outlook will ensure that (snort).