Yesterday was a busy day. I had meant to get up at 9, but I turned the alarm off when it started beeping, and slept for another hour. Getting up at 10 is okay. It’s more okay that getting up at noon. Straightaway, I called the school district about my paperwork to get fingerprinted. Ms. B, the lady over the substitute teachers set up the appointment for me while I was on the phone with her and said to pick up the paperwork ASAP.
Once I was off the phone, I checked to see if grades were posted. No luck. So, then I grabbed the shopping list I’d been writing for the past week and checked the pantry for things that I thought about needing but wasn’t sure if we were really out of. That done, I started dinner, which was two roasting hens. We weren’t going to eat both of them, but the roasting pan I use is big enough to fit two. So, when we know we’re going to roast a chicken, we usually get two and freeze the second one whole and fully cooked.
I actually almost forgot to start the chickens. After checking my shopping list, I grabbed my purse and keys, got in the car and backed out of the driveway. I realized at the end of the driveway that I had gone through the whole process of defrosting the chickens the day before, getting the roaster down from the top of the kitchen cabinets, and pulling out all the spices, only to forget to season and start cooking the chickens. I have the worst one-track mind, I tell you!
Once the chickens were in the roaster and cooking, I ran to the post office for stamps so that I can finally mail Christmas cards. I’m running late with them, but that’s okay. There was a short line, but it was slow moving and I ended up standing in line for over 20 minutes. I kept a good attitude about it, though, and was nice and polite to the postal worker that helped me. I knew before I got there that they would probably be busy. It is the holiday season, after all, and packages must be mailed. Right? Anyway, I asked for two books of stamps and the postal worker made a noise of disappointment just before telling me that they were out of the “Virgin and Child” stamps and would I be okay with the “Nutcracker” stamps. I told her that it didn’t actually matter which stamps I got, and she perked right back up and said, “Would “Forever” stamps be okay?” What kinds of grief does the public give these poor government workers over the pattern on their stamps? So dumb. SO dumb.
Anyway, after hibernating in the post office for a bazillion years, I swung by the school district’s main office to pick up the paperwork for fingerprinting. That was a quick trip because the woman that handles the substitute teachers seems to be pretty well organized. From there, I headed to Wal-Mart to do the shopping. There were a few bathroom products I needed, like shampoo and facial wash, and I stopped by the books and magazines to pick up some puzzle books. I even remembered to pick up bobby pins (to keep the cap on my head during graduation) and safety pins (to keep the collar on the gown secured during graduation). Then I headed over to the grocery section and found everything on the list fairly quickly. I had to search a little to find cardamom in the spice section, but otherwise everything was in obvious places. Checking out, however, was not so simple.
I got in a line that only had two people in it. By far the shortest line. That should have been my warning. The person at the register looked to be almost done. Her basked was empty and she had her pocketbook out. The guy behind her, however had a basket and a half full of stuff. Apparently he was with her because once she pushed her empty cart out of the way, he just kept loading stuff on the conveyor belt. There was some strange sorting going on, too, because he kept setting random items aside on the metal end of the belt that doesn’t move. They kept discussing who had what money, and whether he was going to get that or if she would get this. And the cashier just kept ringing stuff up and bagging it. By the time these two were done, they had three shopping carts full of bags and a fourth cart half full of things they apparently decided they didn’t want. The fourth cart was left parked in the middle of the checkout lane, blocking me from gaining access to the belt. Grrrr! They just left it there! The cashier and I shared a glance, and I pushed the cart all the way through the lane and over to the side so that the empty lane next to us got to deal with it. I want to know what color the sky is in the world those two inhabit. Also, just what does it feel like to have the universe revolving you? Can you feel the tug?
Once I was able to check out, it took less than five minutes.
Anyway, once I got home, I unloaded my bags, put up the groceries and bathroom products, and then gleefully sat down to my puzzle books. About an hour later, the Kiddo got home from school, reminding me that his Christmas concert was that night. So, it was a mad scramble to find all his dress clothes, make sure he had all his music and mouthpieces, finding the video camera and trying to remember how to use it, and getting myself ready and presentable for a concert. I ended up just turning the roaster off and texting the Hubby that someone else would have to figure out what side dishes to serve with the chicken, because I wasn’t going to be home. I love this time of year!
The concert was lovely, as junior high band concerts can be, and we got home around 8:30. Mom and Dad finished dinner and everyone was just sitting down to eat when we got home. Apparently, everyone else was running late too! The chicken was wonderful, falling off the bone, and very juicy. At least the part of dinner I had done turned out really good! Buttered rice and mixed veggies were added, making for a very tasty meal. Once dinner was done and cleaned up, and the extra chicken was stored and frozen, it was time for bed for those who had to work or go to school. I decided to get a head start on holiday baking and made a double batch of “Million Dollar Cookies” from the Pillsbury bake-off. They really should be called Double Peanut Butter Cookies, since that’s what they are. They’re a little bit of a pain to make, but at least nothing was from scratch. I love home baked cookies, but I’m more likely to buy refrigerated cookie dough than to make them from scratch. These are a little of both. They turned out really well, but if I ever make them again, I’ll need to remember to reduce the baking time. They should be more chewey and less crispy than they really are, but at least they taste good!
Today was another busy day, but not like yesterday. Again, I got up at 10 (seems to be the time for me to get up in the morning), got dressed and headed into Humble to have my fingerprints taken. My appointment was for 12:40, and I got there by 12:15. Not bad considering I’d left at 11:30. I figured that it would take me a little more than an hour to find the place because I’m just not used to finding places in the Humble area. The people working at the place were about to go to lunch and suggested I do the same. They were due back at 12:45. I mentioned to them that I had an appointment for 12:40, which was before they were supposed to get back. The girl nodded, as if this was an expected occurrence, and said that they were running late but would attend to me just as soon as they got back. Okay. I could have gotten very indignant and pissy, but I didn’t. I was early, and I was anticipating a bit of a wait. So, what’s the difference if I wait inside or in my car. At least in my car I had the radio to keep me occupied. So, I told the girl that this was no problem and that I’d be waiting when they got back. She seemed a little surprised that I was going to wait there, in my car, and not take her suggestion to go get lunch, but I wasn’t hungry! So, I climbed back into my car, turned on the talk radio, and sat back to wait. Just a few minutes later, an older woman waved me inside. She explained that their lunch was being delayed by the pizza delivery people, and that there was no reason for them to not see me while they waited. So, in less than five minutes, my fingerprints were taken, my photo was taken, and I was on my way home. Well. Okay, then!
I got home around 1:40 because traffic was so heavy. I talked with Dad for a little while and worked on some puzzles, and then the Kiddo got home. He has midterms starting tomorrow, and his first one is in Algebra. He hasn’t been doing very well in that class this year, so he asked me to sit down and work with him for a bit. I’ve been working with him all semester and his understanding of the concepts seems really solid, so I haven’t been able to figure out where the disconnect is happening. Well, apparently he wasn’t connecting concepts to math, because that’s what we did all afternoon. I think he feels a lot better about his test now. I even gave him a couple of practice problems to work, which revealed some other small issues that we straightened out, but overall he did well.
During the study session, I had to get dinner started. Tonight, I made Potato, Cheese & Broccoli soup – from scratch. I got the recipe from my nephew, who made it for us when we visited with him the day after Thanksgiving. So, in the middle of graphing lines and solving algebra problems, the Kiddo and I peeled and cubed potatoes, cooked a roux and essentially made the entire soup together. All while studying for his midterm. What is so remarkable about this is that he never got impatient and short with me, and I never had to talk him off of the ceiling. It turns out that he’s been stressing pretty badly over his Algebra tests, which really is part of the problem. So, I also gave him some test-taking strategies and some tips to de-stress mid-test. He seemed really appreciative of the help and the advice and I have full confidence that he’s going to do well on his test tomorrow.
And now, I have stamps to put on envelopes and maybe a couple of puzzles to solve, then it’s off to bed with me!
While I was working, I spied an unopened bag of blackeyed peas and decided right then that we must have them for dinner tonight. So, first thing this morning, I looked the blackeyed peas and got them started on the stove. I should know better than to not check on them frequently – especially if you put a lid on the pot – because they made a huge mess on my freshly cleaned stove. You can’t really see it in this picture, but there’s a grey haze around the outside edges of the burner grate, and the whole outside of the pot is covered with grey bean streaks. When I lifted up the lid, I had blackeyed pea hulls go everywhere. You can actually see one hanging onto the grate at the very front. It’s just peeking over the edge. The other side of the stove was not spared, either. It’s like the whole stovetop had a grey, fuzzy monster lay on it and leave behind it’s fuzz. And I can’t really get to any of it to clean it just yet, becuase it’s too hot to deal with. By the time the stove cools off enough to clean, the grey fuzz will have had adequate time to harden and become one with the stove top, making my job just that more difficult. But those will be some tasty, tasty beans.
