I was in Meijer’s Saturday doing some last minute grocery shopping for Christmas. As I am going down the isle, I couldn’t believe my eyes. Right next to the Christmas candy were some big red heart shaped pillows. Valentines Day stuff!! We haven’t even made it through Christmas yet!!

Ah yes, the next big holiday is Valentines Day. I suspect that come Tuesday, all of the Christmas stuff will be 50% off or even more. Gotta make room for the Valentines Day stuff.

Unfortunately for the retailers, Valentines Day is not a major event; candy, cards, flowers and lingerie for the most part. Of course, if you happen to own a flower shop, candy store, card shop or lingerie store, Valentines Day may be your busiest holiday. But for the rest of the retailers Valentines Day is not that big.

The first problem with Valentines Day is that it is centered around a limited motif. Unlike Christmas which has Santa Claus, reindeer, elves, snowmen, holly, Christmas trees, etc. Valentines Day has only the red heart.

There is only so much that you can do with the red heart. Red heart shaped pillows, candy boxes, balloons, pasties, that’s pretty much it. And lets not forget heart shaped cookies and cakes.

Realizing this dilemma, retailers have move into just the color red as in red satin pajamas or red satin sheets. Associating the color of red with Valentines Day offers the retailers more versatility as they can use the same products for both Christmas and Valentine Day. Genius!

Anyway, it annoys me when retailers start putting out merchandise for the next holiday when the immediate one has not yet even occurred. It is bad enough that they get the stuff out the day after the previous holiday. And, I suspect that in another week or two I will be able to buy a new swimming suit but not a winter coat. Oh well.

On a December evening, about 9PM, a couple of years ago, someone rang our door bell. As I flipped on the outside lights, I noticed that there was no car in the driveway. We live in the woods and our nearest neighbor is 100 yards away. On the other side of the street is a cemetery, so we don’t get a lot of walk up visitors, particularly from the cemetery.

I opened the door to discover a 50ish woman with chin length blond hair. I had never seen this woman before but judging by her facial features, I would say that her heritage was Scandinavian. And, I ventured to guess that her first name was probably Ingrid.

She asked if she could use the phone and I told her yes. As she came in, she explained to me that her car was in the cemetery, running, and that she had accidently locked the doors.

This sent chills down my spine. Why was she in the cemetery at 9PM? Was this some sort of witchcraft? Some Druid ritual? I tried to put a good spin on the event by believing that maybe she grieving the recent loss of a relative and came to the grave site to light a candle or leave some flowers. Then my sick little twisted mind kicked in, “Maybe she is taking comfort in the loss of a relative and wanted to make sure that the bastard was still dead.”

She stated that she was going to call someone to bring over her extra set of keys. She made her phone call but apparently the person she was calling was not at home. So she left a message.

She then decided that she would just walk home to get her extra keys. I offered to drive her if she wanted, but she declined. She said that she didn’t live that far away and that the exercise would be good for her. And so she left.

About 5 minutes later, the phone rang and the voice on the other end asked, “Is Ingrid there?” “Who?” I responded. He said “Ingrid. She just left me a message from this phone number.” I said “Oh, you mean the 50ish woman with blond hair.” He said “Yes”. I said “No, she left about 5 minutes ago.” He said “Thank you.” and hung up the phone.

“Ingrid” I smiled to my self. Can I call em or can I call em.

Still, I have to wonder what a 50ish woman would be doing in a cemetery at 9PM? And why did she leave the car running in the first place? Was she just making a quick stop or did she leave the car running in case she needed to make a quick getaway? And more to the point, was she meeting someone there? How many women would go to a cemetery at night, alone? I guess I will never know the answers as to Ingrid and the cemetery. While this is not the strangest event for this house hold, it is one of the more interesting ones.

Christmas time brings gift giving to a height. With gifts comes wrapping paper. But before you wrap the gift, it needs to be contained in something with smooth symmetrical surfaces, namely, a box. Such was the case for my oldest daughter.

In her pursuit for a small box for wrapping a gift, she came across a 3″x3″x1″ jewelry box in our Christmas box repository. Upon opening the box, she discovered a pair of gold colored earrings.

Since these were clip on earrings and not pierced earrings, my daughter thought that they were cuff links. She brought them to our attention as we sat around the evening meal. Assuming that they were my cuff links she announced that I must have forgotten them from Christmases long ago. As I pulled them out of the box, I noted that they were not cuff links at all but earrings. Thus the mystery begins.

Everyone, including myself, has pierced ears. So, who were the earrings for? We came up with three possible conclusions:
1. They were a gift for someone else that was forgotten, ala Griswalds.
2. They were a gift from someone else that was to be exchange for pierced earrings.
3. They were a gift for someone else that needed to be exchanged for pierced earrings.

In reflecting back on the earrings, everyone sort of remembers them, but it would have been from a time long long ago. Mean while, my 2 ½ year old grand daughter enjoys being a fashion queen by showing off her gold colored clip on earrings.

Back a few years ago, a friend of mine developed a rather severe cough. This cough would come in 5 minute spells several times a day. Once the spell was over, he was fine. But during the spell, he could hardly breathe.

Since he never had a spell in the doctors office, the doctor assumed that the cough was caused by his blood pressure medicine. So, the doctor tried several different blood pressure medicines but to no avail. Finally, the doctor took him off of all blood pressure medicine but the cough still persisted. Perplexed, the doctor started down the allergy road.

Fortunately for my friend, he had a coughing spell in front of the doctor. Seeing the violent coughing scared the doctor so much that he decided right then and there that this was no allergy and that it was something bigger than a medication problem. The doctor would not even let him leave the office until he was sure that the coughing was under control. The doctor even sent out for lunch for the two of them as he reviewed all of the symptoms. After conducting some tests and getting the lab results back, the diagnosis was in. Pertussis!

Both the doctor and my friend were shocked. After all, my friend had been vaccinated against Pertussis as a child so why would he be getting Pertussis now? My friend concluded that he must have been exposed to it while in Canada several weeks earlier. But what both the doctor and my friend missed was that fact that someone who had been vaccinated still came down with the disease as an adult.

In checking with the CDC, they noted that there is no life long vaccine against Pertussis. In fact, the vaccine that most of us 50ish people received has an effective immunity duration of only 5-10 years. After that, we are all susceptible to Pertussis. And given that fact that the medical community seems to be in general denial that it still exists, means that it may be more common than we know. In fact, my friends doctor could not diagnose the disease until he ran a simple lab test. And had he not witnessed the violent coughing spell, the complaint would have been dismissed as environmental.

Now, according to the CDC, Pertussis can have varying intensities from extreme, as in the case of my friend, to mild. And Pertussis was not even suspected until my friend actually had an extreme coughing spell in front of the doctor. So my question is that if an extreme case of Pertussis is dismissed by the doctor as a problem with medication, what about a mild or moderate case of Pertussis? The person sitting next to you that seems to cough all of the time could have a mild, undiagnosed case of Pertussis.

A co-worker of mine complained of have some sort of cold that seemed to hang on for weeks. His main symptom was periodic coughing spells. Several weeks later, I too came down with similar symptoms.

I would have coughing spells that would last for maybe 15 seconds and then I would be fine. At times, the coughing would be so violent that my ribs would hurt. Thinking that this would pass after a few days, I did nothing. Finally, after 2 weeks, I went to the doctor.

The doctor looked down my throat and listened to my chest and then announced that I had a cold. But according to the CDC, Pertussis can only be confirmed by a lab test and not looking down a throat or listening to a chest. Besides, a cold doesn’t last for 8 weeks. If I had pushed the issue, I am sure he would have suggested a change in blood pressure medicine. The bottom line is that Pertussis is not considered to be an option unless the doctor actually sees a severe coughing spell.

The doctor gave me some prescription cough medicine which worked really well. One teaspoon of that stuff and I was asleep in five minutes. Unfortunately, it only lasted for about 4 hours and then I would start coughing again.

Besides my ribs hurting from the coughing, I was also suffering from a lack of sleep or should I say a lack of restful sleep. Every time that I would start coughing, it would disturb my sleep. While I seldom woke up from the coughing, I was still not getting a restful sleep as a result of the coughing.

All in all, my “cold” lasted for almost 8 weeks. Upon checking the Pertussis web site, I had the classic symptoms of a mild case of Pertussis; bouts of coughing, producing thick mucus and last about 8-10 weeks.

My conclusion is that :

1. Pertussis is much more common than most people realize.

2. Mild cases are almost never diagnosed.

3. Severe cases can not be diagnosed without a lab test.

Every year, it seems that we get right down to the wire for getting out our Christmas letter and this year was no exception.  At least this year, we got the letters in the mail before Christmas.  Not a record by any means but it is a start.  I hand delivered them to the Post Office in an effort to speed up the delivery process.  I don’t know if it will help but I feel better knowing that the USPS now has them.

Monday was writing the draft.  Tuesday was reviewing the draft with Kathy.  Wednesday was finding the address list on the PC.  (It is a yearly event) Thursday was lickem and stickem.  Shazaam, it’s done for another 365 days!!

Actually, I do enjoy writing the Christmas letter.  I am just always amazed as to how quickly Christmas arrives.  It seems like there should be another week before it is Christmas.   Maybe next year we’ll do better.

Today was Lasagna day. So, early I was off to the store. My first stop was Gary’s, the local meat market. Having secured the needed ground beef, it was off to Meijers. A quick swing through the dairy section yielded Parmigiano Reggiano, Ricotta and Mozzarilla cheese. Next isle, International foods. Tomato paste and Lasagna noodles. It is there that I spied it; Oven ready Lasagna noodles!!

What a neat concept! Lasagna noodles ready for the oven! Great!! My biggest complaint with making Lasagna is cooking the noodles. And, it is not that I mind cooking the noodles themselves, rather, it is the size of the pot needed to cook the noodles.

Large noodles require a large pot and the large amount of time needed to bring a large amount of water to a boil. And then, after words, cleaning the large pot as it is too large for the dishwasher. But, if I had noodles that were oven ready, the whole pot issue would vanish!

I picked up the box of noodles to check the price. After all, the more that a food is processed, the more it costs. If the cost is too high, I may opt for the inconvience of the pot and conventional noodles. But wait, the cost is the same! 🙂 Oh happy day! Lasagna without the hassle of the large pot. What will they think of next? Sliced bread?

As I am starting to put the noodles into my cart, I hear a noise. It was the sound of dried noodles in a box. If these noodles are oven ready, how come they sound like the regular, dried noodles? Hum. As a matter of fact, as I peak through the little window in the box, they look like the regular dried Lasagna noodles. I would have expected Oven Ready Lasagna noodles to be already cooked as in already to go into the oven as in “oven ready”. Soft and pliable oven ready. But this appears not to be the case.

A quick survey of the box yields a recipe for, you guessed it, Lasagna. As I read through the recipe, it requires the use of 8 oz of oven ready Lasagna noodles with their special “oven ready” Lasagna sauce. Now, the question that enters my mind is what do they mean by oven ready Lasagna sauce? Do you have to use their sauce in order to take advantage of the “oven ready” noodles? Will my favorite, tried and true, sauce work with these noodles or will the noodles come out tough and chewy? Suspecting the worst, I continue reading the box.

There at the bottom it read “cooking instructions”.  Surly this must be something simple as soaking the noodles in boiling water for 15 minutes, much like I do for the dried mushrooms that I get at the asian market. But alas, “bring 4 qts of water to a boil and add the noodles”. Well, it looks like a large pot again or risk tough noodles.:-(

Out of curiosity, I grab a box of conventional Lasagna noodles to compare the difference. Four quarts of boiling water, check. Stir until done, check. Cook time, ah, now there is the difference. Oven ready, 8-10 minutes, conventional, 10-12 minutes.

Somehow, being able to save 2-4 minutes on cook time is really insignificant compared to the amount of time needed to boil the water and clean the pot. I opted for the conventional Lasagna noodles to use with my favorite sauce. As I expected, it took me 15 minutes to bring the water to a boil and 15 minutes to clean the pot afterwards. Perhaps next time I will take the chance and try the oven ready noodles with my non-oven ready sauce. But for now, coventional sauce with conventional noodles.

When I first set up this site, I included a lot of personal information on the site.  But then I was hit with a lot of paranoia about identity theft etc. and so I decided to delete all of it.  I may change my mind after a while and include a bit more information.  We’ll see.

I guess my thinking goes something like this.  People who know us don’t need to know that information as they already know it.  Likewise, people who don’t know us don’t need to know that information as it is useless to them.  The exception would be someone who doesn’t know us but would like our information to create their own identity for illegal purposes.

I figure that I can still talk about personal subjects from time to time.  It is just that I don’t think I need to have all of our vitals permanently posted on our website.  I guess that makes sense.

I have this theory about parking spaces at Meijers (grocery chain); namely, that the closest spaces to the door will fill up first. No duh! The postulet to that is that the closest spaces to the door will empty out first. Now this has some meaning.
Let me explain.

While the amount of time spent shopping will vary from person to person as will as the departure time, there is an industry average as to the amount of time a shopper will spend in the store.

As the first shoppers get the close parking spots, subsequent shoppers arrive and park further and further from the store. But, eventually, the average shop time for the first arrivals is met and they leave the store and their close parking space. Of course, some of the later arrivals may leave earlier than the average shop time predicts. Thus the trick is to asses the fill pattern of the parking lot.

With Meijers, their parking rows are perpendicular to the door and the driveway is between the door and the parking lot. By assessing the parking row second closest to the door, you can determine the likelyhood that there will be a parking spot in the row closest to the door. If there is an open parking spot in the first 10 spaces in the second row, there will not be an opening in the first 15 parking spots in the first row. Likewise, if there is not an openning in the first 10 spaces of the second row, there will be an openning in the first 15 spaces of the first row. Quantum Mechanics!!

I know, I need to get a life!

Today, we are have ribs for dinner. Most people who have had my ribs are impressed with them. While I am not claiming to have the best ribs in the world, I do think that they are in the running. And, I must admit, they are quite good.

First, we boil them for about 30 minutes. After they have cooled, we put on a dry rub of Chinese 5 spice, brown sugar, paprika and other ingredients and let them sit over night in the frig. The rub seems to have a tenderizing effect on them. The next day, we get them out and put them in a round wire rotisserie basket. From there, we put them on the gas grill.

I prefer gas as opposed to charcoal because it is easier to control the cooking temperature and it is a whole lot faster than charcoal. Besides, I don’t have a charcoal grill large enough to handle the rib basket. (I do have a small Weber that I use for cooking steaks.) I add wood chips to the flame to give it a nice smokey flavor and makes up for not using charcoal. When I see the fat bubbling nicely on the ribs, I know that they are ready for the next phase which is the sauce.

The sauce is mainly ketchup, with molasses, soysauce, lemon juice and some Dave’s Insanity. When I apply the sauce, I do it while the basket is turning. I just sort of dribble it slowly until the ribs are all covered. Then I let them cook for about another 5 minutes so that the sauce becomes more of a glaze. Once the glaze is set, we move to the next phase; eating!

With the ribs, we also serve twice baked potatoes along with a green vegetable and a yellow vegetable, a whole grain bread and of course, red wine. Todays selection are fresh green beans, carrots and multigrain rolls. Desert will be cheese cake.

I bought gas today for only $.33 a gallon.  I had a coupon for $2.00 off per gallon, up to 10 gallons.  I needed 10 gallons.  Yes!!  🙂

Today started off with breakfast at the Lowell Micky Ds. drive through.  Even at 9am, Micky Ds is a busy place in Lowell.

Today was rehersal day for the church Christmas program. I will be doing sound for the program.  They wanted me there at 9:30 AM.  I am usually not out of bed at 9:30 AM on a Saturday.  But I did my best and was only 5 minutes late.  As usual, I really didn’t need to be there for the first rehersal, but my being there did provide a comfort level for the staff.

After practice, it was off to the bank and then to Meijers (grocery store).  King crab was on sale for only $5.00 per pound so I bought about 6 lbs.  I know that we will be eating crab at sometime over the holidays.  Having the whole family home for the holidays presents a meal time challenge.

I was noting that there are no Roly Polys near by.  I greatly miss their #30, Basil Chicken Cashew, rollup.  So I attempted to reproduce it on my own.  I assembled the ingredients that I needed and proceeded to make my own #30.  My first attempt was quite good but not excellent.  I will attempt it again but next time I will make it with a Basil Chicken Cashew salad that I found on line.

After two more trips to Meijers, I think that I am done shopping for the day.  Tonight, we will have grilled steaks, salads, baked potato(e)s and sauteed mushrooms.  Time to get cooking.