Well, That Was Different

 First: a groaner.

Did you hear about the farmer who drowned in a vat of chickpeas?

They think it was hummuscide.

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Last week, I spent Monday afternoon through Saturday afternoon at Emily's in Worcester. J was suspected to have a cold -- he had a drippy nose and the home daycare sent him home. 

I only had to provide childcare for one full day while Emily worked from home. It turns out, he was having an allergy attack. (My car was covered in yellow pollen when I left.)

Trying to be a good Nana, I busied myself washing dishes, folding clothes, and cooking. I had just gone grocery shopping when Emily called, so I brought quite a bit of food with me. Oddly enough, neither Emily nor J wanted to try the kimchi. 

J has learned the word "no" with appropriate head shaking, so suppertime has become an interesting exercise in "try this." Noodles with butter went over like a lead balloon. No pieces of roast chicken, no zucchini, no zoodles. Spinach was kind of funny: I put some chopped spinach in his mouth and he just let it fall out with a look of total disgust on his face. I hate to confess that we finally resorted to putting a tiny bit of ketchup on burger bites. I'm now calling ketchup "miracle juice." Otherwise, the kid would only eat string cheese and bananas and blueberries. 

He's a lovely, smiling toddler. My favorite was to watch him dancing with a children's video. He really can cut a rug! He has decided to steer his little car with his belly. Actually, he has learned that if he pushes with his belly, it activates the voice. He has all kinds of talking toys and books. It can be downright cacophony with four different voices and sounds going at once.

Add in three cats, one of whom is a senior citizen who needs extra love, and it was a busy week for me! But I was glad to do it and I was glad the kid didn't have anything I would catch!

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Zoodles for today's breakfast ramen (no ramen noodles).

Breakfast ramen

I never thought I would want one, but Emily gave me an egg cooker and I love it! It's a plastic dome that will hold six eggs and it will cook them either soft, medium, or hard boiled. The one above is medium. You put the eggs and some water in, plug it in and presto! perfectly cooked eggs. I'm in love.

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Monday

I'm baaaaaack! Actually, I just went for groceries and as I drove into the garage, the drizzle became a downpour. Boy, do I love my attached garage! It was just a cloud burst so I don't know if it will turn the drought aside.

The prices are outrageous. The cheapest steak was London broil for $6.49/lb. A recipe I have calls for rib eye -- not for this cheap Yankee! (I don't remember the exact price but it was something in the area of $14.00/lb.) I did splurge, however, on crab in a jar. It was hand picked. (How else do the do it? Machines?) I'm not going to tell you the price because I'm ashamed, but I really needed a treat.

On my way home from Worcester, I got gas for $1.98/gallon and today around the corner from me it's $1.99/gal. (When I left last Monday, it was $2.07/gallon around the corner.)

Oh! It looks like a rainbow is coming. I can't see it unless I stand in the middle of my street and it's still raining a tad, so I'll let you imagine it.

Here; you can look at a sunset from another day.

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I finally did it -- woo hoo! I won a game at Words with Friends!

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Yay! I got my mail in ballot for the statewide elections. Yay!

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Got great news from a friend who had a good check up at the Doc. Yay!

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Tuesday

Blink! At 3 a.m. I woke with a start and thought, "Did I turn on the chicken in the crock pot?!" Nope, I hadn't added the chicken broth either. After washing the pot, I started over with frozen chicken and went back to bed. That was after I googled it to be sure I couldn't cook chicken that had been at room temp for 9 hours. That was a big nope. Two hours max.

So this morning, I decided to make hollandaise sauce for my egg. Last time it was too lemony. Reading the directions, it said I could heat the oil on the stove (which I did last time) or in the microwave. DON'T HEAT OIL IN THE MICROWAVE. Unless you want a half cup of olive oil spewed all over. Sigh. (Thank God, I was making half the recipe.)

I'm beginning to get the memo. Today is going to be a difficult day. Let's see if I can turn this around.

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I don't know how I missed this in Feb. 2014:

Facebook introduced dozens of options for users to identify their gender today - and although the social media giant said it would not be releasing a comprehensive list, ABC News has found at least 58 so far.

Previously, users had to identify themselves as male or female. They were also given the option of not answering or keeping their gender private.

User's can now select a "custom" gender option.

"There's going to be a lot of people for whom this is going to mean nothing, but for the few it does impact, it means the world," Facebook software engineer Brielle Harrison told the Associated Press. Harrison, who worked on the project, is in the process of gender transition, from male to female.

Facebook will also allow users to select between three pronouns: "him," "her" or "their."

The following are the 58 gender options identified by ABC News:

• Agender
• Androgyne
• Androgynous
• Bigender
• Cis
• Cisgender
• Cis Female
• Cis Male
• Cis Man
• Cis Woman
• Cisgender Female
• Cisgender Male
• Cisgender Man
• Cisgender Woman
• Female to Male
• FTM
• Gender Fluid
• Gender Nonconforming
• Gender Questioning
• Gender Variant
• Genderqueer
• Intersex
• Male to Female
• MTF
• Neither
• Neutrois
• Non-binary
• Other
• Pangender
• Trans
• Trans*
• Trans Female
• Trans* Female
• Trans Male
• Trans* Male
• Trans Man
• Trans* Man
• Trans Person
• Trans* Person
• Trans Woman
• Trans* Woman
• Transfeminine
• Transgender
• Transgender Female
• Transgender Male
• Transgender Man
• Transgender Person
• Transgender Woman
• Transmasculine
• Transsexual
• Transsexual Female
• Transsexual Male
• Transsexual Man
• Transsexual Person
• Transsexual Woman
• Two-Spirit

So I have figured out I'm a cisgender female. Big deal. It kind of makes me wish for the old Compuserve chat rooms. For you youngins, those were online "rooms" where you could chat in real time. Most rooms had a theme and some were actively trying to "date." This was well before match.com or any of those dating apps. I went into one room, identifying myself as male. Frankly, I was tired of guys with the fetching opening line of, 'Hey, baby, ya wanna?' But also, I wondered if I were a good enough writer to pull it off. Prior to that I wasn't looking for anything in the general rooms (no theme except maybe over 40 years old) except conversation with reasonably intelligent people -- and all I got were propositions. And, no, nobody had their pictures posted. 

So, yes, everyone thought I was a man. It was sort of interesting, but I was disappointed in how everyone was fooled. All I had to do was compliment some women and they spilled their guts while I played the 'strong silent type' lacing my chat with a few jokes. Granted, this was years and years ago, but I believe it's still happening. I'm reminded of how one of the Sister Wives on TV was catfished. She thought she was having intimate conversations with a man and it turned out to be a woman who probably was after money, but I didn't watch more to find out the motive.

I love Google, but it's too easy to look things up and, er, digress.

Catfish is a term for someone pretending to be someone of a different gender to dupe another. Why is it called catfishing? Here's an explanation below:

"At the turn of the century cod fish were in much demand on the east coast. News of the tasty fish quickly spread across the country all the way to the west coast. There was however a problem. How could they get the cod fish across the country and still keep it fresh?

They tried to freeze the fish and send it by rail, the fastest means at the time. But when it was prepared it turned out to be very mushy and lacked flavor.

Then someone decided to ship the fish live turning railroad cars into huge saltwater aquariums. When the cod fish arrived they were alive but when they were prepared they were still mushy and tasteless.

After studying the cod fish someone discovered that their natural enemy was the catfish. This time when the cod fish were put in the tanks, they placed a few catfish in with them. Those catfish chased the cod fish all the way across the country to the west coast.

This time when the cod fish were prepared, they were flaky and had the same flavor as they did when they were caught fresh and prepared on the east coast. You see, the catfish kept the cod from becoming stale."

I still have some questions as to how that term applies to humans, given this tale, because catfishing in humans has a nefarious purpose. But it's a good story, even if it's a fish story. I wonder if those cod were really skinny after running from their enemy for a week.

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More on my annoying day list: the new trash company has switched my trash pickup day from Monday to Thursday. I barely remember to put it out on Sunday night, now I have to remember a whole different day! The recycling will be picked up only every two weeks, which is o.k. if I can remember what week it is ... luckily, they have given us such a huge recycling container that I didn't even bother to put it out last week. In fact, it would do well used as a casita ...

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Wonder of wonders, Comcast is sending a technician out on the 20th. I sure hope they don't try to charge a trip charge.

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I just had a lovely time at Jon, Farah, and Sofia's patio next door. I brought my own chile relleno and Jon cooked the peppers on the grill for me. The stuffing was the previously mentioned shredded chicken from the crock pot. It all was topped with some store bought salsa. Yummy. We played some bocce which Sofia calls lawn bowling. It was fun and Jon talked about making a bocce court in his front yard. I suggested rather than adding pulverized rock, he might consider just shaving his lawn to a bocce-sized court. We might have to get a cappucino machine and get some cigars to bring on an authentic atmosphere. I didn't say in front of Farah and Sofia that in my youth I only saw old men, no women, playing bocce. It's a lovely night and just 74 F. so I've got the windows open.

Part of my good day yesterday was in receiving Dan Pedersen's "Final Passage, Mystery on the Alaska Ferry." I have started reading it and it's pretty good. I'm pretty sure I ordered his first book at the same time, so I'm a little annoyed to get book number two first. I think he has about seven books. Somehow, I don't know how, I started following his blog and he seems to be a very nice man who lives with his wife on Whidbey Island. I also gleaned from his bog that he has leukemia.

Well, I'm going back to Pedersen's book. Now that the TV is off, I don't really mind keeping company with a fan and the frogs chirping away outside. I'm just hoping the skunks are somewhere else. (But I did put the kitchen fan facing out just in case I have a smelly visitor.)

Have a great week. Cheers, Tina