Apparently Upstate New Yorkers Like BBQ Chicken in the Snow Too

 

So after I posted the previous entry, I heard from my dear, dear friend in Syracuse, NY.  In particular she confirmed the "You go out for a fish fry every Friday."  However, she also had her own, "You Might Live in Upstate New York If....." - here's hers:

"You know you live upstate if you decide to skip the Fish Fry one Friday and instead go to the Chicken Roast held at the local church every Saturday!  They actually sell out and you need to reserve your chicken ahead of time!  There are all these old dudes are outside in a blizzard roasting chicken on a giant charcoal grill in the snow!"

She also mentioned that:

"We GRILL in -10 degrees frequently!"

And on the topic of driving in a blizzard:

"I also have driven up my hill sideways fast, in a snowstorm- determined to GET HOME- thank goodness for Blizzak Tires!!!!"

I have something to add too, though it's a rant...  Another phenomenon about living in a snowy area is that when there is even a hint of a storm coming, everyone rushes out to the grocery stores to buy milk and bread and who knows what to "stock up".  Which is the silliest thing ever because it's 2010.  It's not like the olden times where a good snow storm could leave you holed up for days or weeks!  We have snowplows that are able clear the roads the vast majority of the time in a fairly quick manner.  At most, unless it's like the blizzard of the century, you might be stuck home for one day.  What, you can't live without a loaf of bread, or eggs or cereal or acne products or whatever for ONE DAY?  You don't have a crumb of food in your house or a square of toilet paper that you can't survive for one day while the roads are bad?  Whatever.

Any other Upstate New Yorkers have any other addendums to "You Might Live in Upstate New York If...."?

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You Might Live in Upstate New York If....

My dear Aunt Mary forwarded this to me and since I have a lot of readers who can appreciate this, I'd thought I'd share.  Now I live in the "Hudson Valley", which to NYC and Long Island folk is considered "upstate".  But I know that the true "upstaters" are still further north than I, however, I could still appreciate a lot of these!

Jeff Foxworthy on Upstate New York

If you consider it a sport to gather your food by drilling through 36 inches of ice and sitting there all day hoping that the food will swim by, you might live in Upstate New York.
I think another good one to add would be, "If snow shoveling is one of your hobbies, you might live in Upstate NY".  (The way my knees have started to crackle and crunch every time I move makes me think I'd better stock up on the glucosamine chondroitin msm and Advil before winter hits!)

If you're proud that your region makes the national news 96 nights a year because Saranac Lake is the coldest spot in the nation, and Syracuse gets more snow than any other major city in the US , you might live in Upstate, NY.

If your local ice cream stand is closed from October through May, you might live in Upstate New York.
This one gave me pause.  I was like, "Oh, I guess in warmer climates ice cream stands can be open all year!  Well what do you know!" It's so exciting in the spring when we notice ice cream parlors opening again, LOL.

If you get 131 inches of snow in a week and you comment that 'winter's finally here', you might live near Oswego in Upstate New York.

If you instinctively walk like a penguin for six months out of the year, you might live, bundled up, in Upstate New York.

If someone in a Home Depot store offers you assistance, and they don't work there, you might live in Upstate NY.

If your dad's suntan stops at a line curving around the middle of his forehead, you might live in Upstate New York.

If you have worn shorts and a parka on the same day, you might live in Upstate New York.
I lived in Binghamton, NY for a couple of years, and I can attest that people totally do this.  For pete's sake, it snows in June there - it's like you have to keep your winter and summer clothes out all year just in case.

If you have had a lengthy phone conversation with someone who dialed a wrong number, you might live in Upstate New York.


YOU KNOW YOU ARE A TRUE UPSTATE NEW YORKER WHEN:

"Vacation" means going South past Syracuse for the weekend.

You measure distance in hours.
Sometimes I use minutes too.

You know several people who have hit a deer more than once.
That would be my husband.  Three times he's hit deer.  Family members razz him and tell him that when they announce it's "Hunting Season" they expect you to use a gun, not your car.

You often switch from "heat" to "A/C" in the same day and back again.

You can drive 65 mph through 2 feet of snow during a raging blizzard, without flinching.
My husband does this.  It's horrifying, amazing and impressive all at once.

You carry jumper cables in your car and your girlfriend/wife knows how to use them.

You design your kid's Halloween costume to fit over a snowsuit.
This year our daughter was Hermione from Harry Potter and her costume consisted of the Hogwart's school robe.  I was like, "Awesome!  Your coat will fit under that no problem!"

Driving is better in the winter because the potholes are filled with snow.

You know all 4 seasons: almost winter, winter, still winter, and road construction.

You can identify a southern or eastern accent.

Down South to you means Corning.

You go out for a fish fry every Friday.

Your 4th of July picnic was moved indoors due to frost.
We were up visiting our property in the Adirondacks last year for Fourth of July and I kid you not - we actually sat on a tiny beach, looking at the lake, shivering, in our coats.

You have more miles on your snow blower than your car.
We wore ours out and ended up buying a plow for my pickup truck, ha ha!

You find 10 degrees "a little chilly." and 55 is shorts weather.
By March, yeah, 55 seems hot.

You actually understand these jokes, and you forward them to all your Upstate New York friends and to those who used to live here and left. -- (chickens).

I think it does take a certain type of person of character to live in upstate NY - kudos to all my Upstate New York friends!  And a special shout out to my friend from Small Pines - he lives in an RV way north of me and survives winter just fine, thank you very much!  :-)

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It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas...

First of all, I want to send out my wishes for everyone a very happy and blessed Thanksgiving Day! I hope you can think of many things to be thankful for in your life.  I certainly have many!!!

We are hosting Thanksgiving here at our house this year, which we have been doing for many years.  In fact, I pre-wrote this post on Sunday, because I know by the time you're reading this I'll have 342 things on my "To Do" list that would be ahead of "write blog post", LOL.  But I didn't want to miss wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving.  :-)  Also, I'll share a couple of pictures of my Christmas Village that I have already set up.  I don't usually set it up this early, but we acquired an extra 6ft table this year, which I usually need for Thanksgiving dinner - so with the extra table, I could set up my village early.

 

It's hard to get a good picture of it, but it's pieces from the "New England Village" from Dept 56.  Each year for quite a few years now, my husband adds to my village as part of my Christmas present.  Last year he got me the "water", cobblestone "roads" and the streetlights, which are all pretty cool!  (If you want to see a picture of a previous year's village set up, you can see it here: Christmas Village Past.)

Here's a close up shot of one of my favorite pieces.  (There are so many little details, you'd be better off looking at the village with binoculars, or maybe I mean a magnifying glass?  LOL.)

I love the little kitties catching a lift! 

So, as far as Thanksgiving goes, I am having about 17 people here for dinner.  I am serving mostly all traditional stuff: lots of appetizers including deviled eggs, and for the meal of course turkey and gravy, homemade butter-laden stuffing, sweet potatoes with the marshmallows on top, mashed potatoes, corn, carrots, cranberry sauce, and rolls.  In addition, my sister-in-law's mother is bringing a lasagna!  That's probably what *I'll* eat, more than anything (except maybe the stuffing) 'cause I never get very excited about my own cooking.  Oh and the desserts - which are all being brought by family too (yay!).  Something someone else made always tastes a thousand times better than anything I've made, to me. :-)

What are your Thanksgiving plans?  What are your favorite dishes to make or eat?  What is the one thing everyone always asks you to bring to Thanksgiving (or serve)?

Happy Thanksgiving!

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Jerky Makin'

Yesterday morning my husband says to me, "Gonna make some turkey today."  I'm like, "Say what??"  Turns out I misheard him - he said he was going to make some "jerky" today.

The dehydrator is one of my husband's cool "toys".  He doesn't have things like a big flat screen tv, a snowmobile or a psp game system, but with his "toys" he can make delicious beef jerky, and he can find "tupperware in the woods" with is GPS (I am jokingly referring to geocaching).

The dehydrator does a great job of making beef jerky.  We keep talking about drying fruit with it, but he and my daughter like the beef jerky so much, that's all he's ever made with it.  It's pretty easy - just marinate the meat, slice thin, lay it on the "racks", stack the racks, then turn on the dehydrator and wait.  It's very inexpensive to make at home, and you can use a good quality meat.

If you have a dehydrator, what do you make in yours?  Have you done fruit?  Do you have any good tips or tricks?

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This Fell Off My Truck on Thursday

 

My daughter had just gotten on the bus Thursday morning, and as I drove back to my house as I went over the small "lip" at the bottom of our driveway, I heard a sort of "metal clunking" noise.  So I looked in the rearview mirror, and I saw something on the driveway.  I put the truck in park and picked it up, and the photo above is what I found.

I was very blessed because my husband happened to be working from home that day, so I went inside, presented him with the mysterious bolt-like-thingy and said, "This just fell off my truck".  I was even more blessed because my husband had the brilliant idea to take a picture of it and show one of my brother-in-laws, who is an accountant, but extremely knowledgeable about vehicles (give that man some tools and welding equipment and he can make or fix anything).  At first my husband was just going to bring the micro sd card from the camera over to his brother's, but then realized he could just email him the picture and see if he knew what it was/where on my truck it came from.

Then I was even more blessed because my brother-in-law knew exactly what the part was AND was home that day, AND generously offered to my husband to come over and he'd help him replace the part!  (THANK YOU THANK YOU, MY DEAR BROTHER-IN-LAW!!!!)

So by the end of the day, I had my truck back and fixed for only the cost of parts, thanks to my wonderful husband and brother-in-law!

So do any of you know what this mystery part is?

 

It is a bolt that goes on the sway bar of my 2004 Toyota Tundra.  My BIL says it's really common for sway bar bolts to come off - usually without you even knowing it, until you started hearing a metal clanking noise. 

God did me a big ol' favor and had mine make a noise when it broke off, and had it drop right in the driveway for me to find.  :-)

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My Daughter's "Home Ec" Class is Making Me Fat

My daughter has been enjoying the cooking portion of her "Home and Careers" class at school so much, she wanted to make another recipe at home that she had made in school - Cheesy Pretzels:

 

They were REALLY good!  And it wasn't even a yeast recipe, which surprised me, because I think all the recipes I've ever seen for homemade pretzels were made with yeast.  There is still one more recipe she wants to make - Cinnamon Rolls.  Again, they do not use yeast either.  That recipe calls for "Jiffy Baking Mix" which I had never heard of.  They had it at the store though, so I don't know where I've been that I've never seen it in all these years.

Well, thankfully for me, the next segment of "Home and Careers" is sewing because otherwise between the treats she's whipping up and the holidays, I think I'd need to find some diet energy pills!  I'm looking forward to the sewing segment because I'm hoping she can teach ME!  :-P  I actually have a sewing machine, and I can hand sew a bit, but I'd never want anyone looking to closely at anything I've sewn.  Back when I was in "Home Ec" I made a horrible denim, ruffled, elastic waist skirt as my sewing project.

Do you remember your sewing or woodshop/metalshop projects?  Were yours any better?

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Having a "Bad Idea Jeans" Situation

Do you remember the Saturday Night Live skit called "Bad Idea Jeans"?  For some reason, the catchphrase "Bad Idea Jeans" has stuck around in our house.  Here's the skit to refresh your memory (it's pretty short):



Anyway, I'm having a "Bad Idea Jeans" moment right now, which I'm not going to share with you.  (Maybe if it turns out okay in the end I'll tell the whole tragic story!)  But I've had some others in my life - like thinking toothpaste would make a good acne skin care treatment (I read it somewhere, I swear!), dumping a bag of frozen buffalo wings directly into a cooking pot of super hot oil (that sure made a mess of hot oil splatter - it's lucky I didn't come out of that one with third degree burns!), and demonstrating to a friend how Corelle dishes don't break by purposely dropping a plate onto the floor, where it promptly shattered.

Care to share any of your "Bad Idea Jeans" moments to cheer me up?

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Kitty Discovers The Magic Heat

 

Our poor kitty Angel has had a bit of a shock as the weather has turned colder.  If you are a long time reader of my blog you know we keep the heat turned waaaaay down.  (Although we always turn it on for guests!)  In fact, as I type this sitting in my kitchen, I am wearing a scarf and a down vest.  Just seems wasteful to have the heat on in the house for just me, ya know?

Anyway, this is Angel's first winter with us and as the weather has turned colder, we could tell our slim and trim kitty has started seeking out warmth any place she can find it.  Recently I found her napping ON my computer.  At night, if we let her, she will actually go under our bedcovers with us (we refer to it as her "Cat Cave").  And she has discovered these magic rectangles around the floors in our house that randomly blow warm and toasty air.

But don't worry about Angel too much - I did buy her a nice, cozy "sherpa" lined cat bed.  Also, we have noticed her fur coat thickening up considerably, so that should help.  And there is usually a warm lap available.  She'll adapt.

Now if you're wondering about Mr. Q-ee Cat, well he's got plenty of blubber to keep him warm.  (In fact I think he's got so much blubber that "fitness equipment" is going on his Christmas list to Santa.)  Plus he seems to have a thicker, furrier coat to begin with.  

And don't worry about me either - I have plenty of coats, and sadly plenty of "blubber" to keep me warm too, LOL!

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Olan Mills: You Crazy!

If you think health insurance or medicare supplement plans are expensive, have ya ever been to Olan Mills?

We went recently to have our family picture taken for our church directory.  Of course they take a few different poses and try to sell you the pictures they took.  Well thank God we got a free 8X10 just for coming in because GOOD GOLLY, I would say their prices are "astronomical", but "astronomical" is not even superlative enough for how out of this galaxy their prices are.  Are they using diamond encrusted cameras, or printing on paper threaded with 24K gold, or what??  Olan Mills is SO EXPENSIVE!!

Over the years I have been to nearly every photography place around and had pictures taken - Sears, JCPenny, The Picture Place, Walmart - you name it.  Their prices compared to Olan Mills' are not even in the same universe.  I don't know how they stay in business.  Even if we weren't in "conserve money mode" I could not have brought myself to buy the pictures for the prices they wanted.

I even asked about the photo CD - I believe there were 8 poses taken, and I thought maybe I could get the CD and print some of the pictures.  The CD, with 8 poses, was $171.00!!!!!!!!!!!!!  The other photo places offer CDs with all your poses too - even LifeTouch which takes our daughter's pictures at school offer CDs of the poses, BUT NOT FOR ANYWHERE NEAR THAT PRICE!

So, we got our "free" picture and had to leave the rest behind, which makes me feel sad - there was a really nice shot of my husband and I and a couple of adorable pictures of our daughter, but Olan Mills - YOU CRAZY!

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Now Is It Starting to Look More Like a "Cabin"?

I know all along I've been calling it a "cabin" but it's really looked more like a house.  Well, now that the fake log siding is up, now what do you think?  :-)

If we had endless amounts of money, ideally we would have seriously considered a log home.  But that was way out of our budget.  However, I found this really cool vinyl siding that gives a log cabin look and we were so pleased to see how it turned out when we last visited.  I'll have to take a picture of it up close because it's actually variegated - in this pic it just looks solid tan.  I think it's pretty cool!

The porch looked awesome with the most of the knotty pine up.  Again, we would have loved to have done the entire interior in knotty pine, but here is where we made another decision to be economical by just doing the knotty pine on the porch and paint on the walls inside.

Here's a shot of the outside of the porch.  As you can see, the railing is now up on the upper deck area.  The builder picked the screen door - which I love!  It's hard to see, but it has pine tree cut outs.  I think he got it at Lowe's!

Speaking of painting the inside, the interior walls are all sheetrocked and taped.  Now our builder is waiting for LP and electricity to be hooked up so that there will be heat, and the walls can be painted.

And lastly, here are just some shots of "Adirondack Loveliness"...

How "our lake" looked the day we were there.

Now I am certainly no "Adirondack Naturalist" (who is soon to be "An Adirondack Naturalist in Michigan", LOL), but I think those green plants with red berries might be wintergreen, which is one of my favorite plants to find while hiking.  If you pick a leaf and snap it in half, not surprisingly you get the most wonderful wintergreen smell.  Just like the Lifesaver flavor!  :-P  I should have "tested" them out while we were there to see for sure if it is wintergreen, but I didn't even see this pretty little patch - hubby must have snapped this photo.

So that's the latest and greatest update for y'all - what do you think?  Does it look more like a "cabin" now?

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Does the Coffee Fairy Come to Your House?

In my previous post, I mentioned that my husband has a ritual of "securing the house" before he goes to bed.  In addition to that, he has another nightly "chore" and that is that he prepares the coffee pot and sets it so it turns on automatically and brews coffee for when he gets up in the morning before work.  Well, every now and then when I know he is very busy or tired, I surprise him by getting the coffee pot ready.  When that happens it's attributed to the "Coffee Fairy".  I even made a little "indicator" for him that I tape on the coffee pot handle so that he knows the Coffee Fairy has visited:

My husband told me that not only does he love it when the Coffee Fairy visits, but that the Coffee Fairy is "hot".  He is such a man, LOL...  At first I thought I should draw her with safety clothing on, being she is hovering so close to a hot appliance, but then I thought, nah - a fairy has to look like a fairy, no matter how dangerous the task.  :-P

Anyway, I think for my husband, the Coffee Fairy is second only to Santa Claus.  :-P

Is there some small thoughtful task you do for your spouse or significant other that they appreciate?

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Our Halloween Display

 

Do you like his argyle socks?  Swanky, eh?

For the last few years we have done a little "Pumpkin Man" display on Halloween.  This year was a bit challenging because it was a very windy day, and I literally had to tie parts of Mr. Pumpkin Man to the lounger with yarn.  But he survived not only the wind, but the trick or treaters.  Even our pumpkin didn't get smashed.  We are blessed to live in a nice neighborhood.   Although I wouldn't ever do this, it's probably the kind of place you could go to bed without checking your door lock each night, it seems so safe.  Despite that, my husband has a ritual each night of checking literally every entry point of our house to make sure it's secure.  I think it's a "guy thing" - his sense of feeling like he has to protect us.  Well, between him and Mr. Big Bad Tex Dog, they do a fine job.  :-) 

The End.

My Weird Dream from Last Night

I am not the type of person that usually remembers their dreams, or if I do, I forget it right away.  However, last night I had a very vivid and memorable dream.  I had a dream that our next door neighbor (yes, our "friendly" "note and string" neighbor - click here to refresh your memory) decided to build a wall between our properties using concrete.  He must have used too much water when he mixed it, because a big slidey slab had run down the little hill between our properties, and we had a layer a few inches thick of concrete laying in a sheet on our grass.  He also had cleared out 5 feet of brush and trees on either side of the tree that has the pink surveyor's tape on it, marking our property line.  I looked down and noticed our dog had marred the smooth concrete (that was covering our grass) with a few of his paw prints, which I bent down to smooth out - I don't know why I would have bothered to "fix" concrete that had spilled over OUR grass - but whatever!  It was at this point I woke up surprised and confused.

Another time, years back when my husband was unemployed, I had a dream that the roof blew off the top of our house, and we were all ok, but also my coupons in their accordion file had been sucked up and away too - which I was really upset over!  I thought it was pretty silly, but I have a friend that is a social worker, and I happened to mention the dream to her, and she said my dream probably reflected my feelings of fear and insecurity about our financial situation.  Like, as in - a worry that we might not even have a roof over our heads!  Interesting.

Well, we haven't had any issues with our neighbor for many months, so I wonder where the heck did my brain come up with the whole concrete wall thing??  And what crazy dreams am I missing out on that I dream up and then don't remember in the morning?

Do you often remember my dreams?  What's the weirdest dream you can remember dreaming?

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