Hello Zip Ties

Somedays my brain wakes up and clicks way too fast in the morning and Jon just looked at me as if I am possessed by aliens.  This was one of those mornings. When I woke up this morning, I asked my husband if we had any zip ties.  There were several seconds of silence before he said no and asked me why I needed zip ties.  I quickly explained that I saw this brilliant idea on Pinterest that involved zip ties and DVDs.  Sometimes brilliant ideas are met with a groan and "it is too early in the morning for this" sigh.

I was then told that I was not allowed to zip tie any of the DVDs. That if I did that, I would be a jerk.  I am not allowed to be a jerk.  Part of me really wants to be a jerk to my brother and zip tie weave a lovely pattern on the DVD I bought him. I huge part of me wants to do that. (Last year he opened his DVD's early!!)   That sort of love and torture is what makes the holidays fun. I am sure that booby trapped presents is a sign of love and affection in some culture some where.  If not it could be, given enough time. My brother still laughs and grimaces over the wrench set I got him when we were teenagers. (It was individually wrapped and then laced into a beautiful snowflake shape that took him forty five minutes to open.  It was magical and wonderful and very annoying all in one moment.) (Dont think I am just picking on him, that same year he used a roll and half of packaging tape on my gift.)

My husband is doing his best to make sure I am not a a jerk and refuses to entertain this idea of zip ties.  Even if the idea behind it makes me gleefully happy.   Even though I am not permitted to utilize them at this point; I have been encouraging others at work to utilize that power and festivity of zip ties as alternatives to ribbon, for that extra special person. It seems like there is at least one person in every family, where that little bit effort goes a long way.

Turkey Bundles

It has been four days since Thanksgiving and I have consumed a Thanksgiving burrito every day. (I am not ashamed, just stating fact.)  It is time to do something with the leftover turkey that does not involve wrapping it in a tortilla.  It is time to make the old family favorite, Turkey Bundles. 

Old Family Favorite 

Turkey Bundles or sometimes Chicken Bundles is one of the staples of my childhood. It was probably one of the first recipes I ever learned and it is one of those recipes that I could probably make blind folded with a spork if my survival depended on it. It is one of those recipes that my mother would trot out for company, because it was easy to make yet unique.   I am not sure where the original recipe came from, and I know that I have seen several variations in Taste of Home, but this is my recipe that I use.  It has been slightly modified to the current household tastes and if you check back with me in ten years, I am sure that there will be even more changes. 

Turkey Bundles

2 Cups- Cooked chunked Turkey

1 ½ Cream Cheese of 8oz Package (total of 12 ounces) Room Temperature

Handful of rough chopped spinach (about 1/3 cup)

½ Cup Mushrooms (They are optional. My husband hates mushrooms, but I love them.)

¼ diced hot peppers or green chili peppers

¼ cup shredded carrots

Salt and pepper

¼ diced onions

1 tablespoon diced garlic

2 tubes of Instant crescent rolls

Bread crumbs

Melted butter or olive oil

Heat the oven to 350 degrees.  In a small sauté pan, cook the carrots, onions, peppers and garlic in a little bit of oil or butter until soft. Once soft, remove from heat and set aside. In a large bowl mix turkey, cream cheese, mushrooms, and spinach until well blended, then add the cooked carrot mix.  I do the cooked part second because it can make the cream cheese a little melty and hard to handle.  Add salt and pepper to taste. (If you are my husband, this is where you add a dollop of hot sauce.) 

Open the tube of crescent rolls and break them apart.  They should be little triangles. You will want to stretch the triangles a little bit and until it is almost double its size.  Take two heaping tablespoons of the turkey and cream cheese mix and put it in the center of the triangle. Use the corners of the triangle to wrap it. It should look like a bundle or a diaper.  Normally this recipe is going to make about a dozen bundles depending on how much your fill the bundle.  When all the bundles are assembled, brush the top with olive oil or butter and sprinkle with bread crumbs.   The bundles get baked on a cookie sheet for 25 minutes or until golden brown.

Notes to Self

Sometimes I leave notes to myself.  It is supposed to help me remember things. Mostly I think my  past self is confusing my future self or I should be a little more specific when I leave myself a note.

After all if I am going to leave myself a note that says, "Juggling flaming bags of dog shit. Even if you don't catch on fire, you are still covered in shit. " I should probably follow it up with something specific are at least accredit the quote to someone. Nope. My past self just thought that I would know what I was doing.

Another note just says, "P&P flipped". I have no idea if that was supposed to be writing prompt or perhaps a gift idea. My past self doesn't seem to be very wordy, except with grocery lists.  That note is going to just sit there until I can figure out what I was trying to tell myself.

Even the grocery lists tend to be a little off.  They start of with normal stuff and then slowly turn into something almost sinister:

Milk
Spinach
Eggs
Cheese
Lunch meat
Sliced cheese
Tortillas
Cat food
Duck tape
Lighter
Black bags
Gloves

The beginning of the list looks like I am going to make breaks fast or lunch burritos and then it looks like I am going to dispose of a body.  My past self sure knew how to multi task and make things awkward for the future self.  I guess if I want to change it, I should probably leave myself a detailed note, so I don't keep leaving book titles, abbreviations and weird lists to myself, because that s what a normal person would do.

Please Dinosaur Land, Please!

Old Faithful

I love to travel. One of the things that I like to do when I travel is pick up post cards.  They are often times a light weight memento of somewhere cool I have been to and are normally much prettier than any picture I can take.  I have friends and family that I write to on an occasional basis and I enjoy sending out the post cards to share with them in the adventure.

Extinct Exhibit

I know I wrote not too long ago about Dinosaur Land, but it is on my mind again.  The reason for this is mostly due to me finding my postcards from there.  I hadn’t realized at the time that Dinosaur Land has not changed their post cards since 1969. While the postcards have a certain amount of rustic charm, they don’t give an accurate portrayal of Dinosaur Land. The trees have grown and I pretty sure that the Plateosaurus is no longer there.  Times have changed, and I think you should change your post cards. 

  I am not great photographer, but I beg you, Dinosaur Land, let me update your post cards.  I think there is a lot of unexplored potential and I am willing to do my photographic best to make you a memorable postcard with a lot less spelling errors.  I loved Dinosaur Land so much that I bought a tee-shirt and defiled currency to make a memento.  (I smashed a penny, for those that are wondering.) 

I know it is a hard to make the change and that you are probably really comfortable and possibly sentimental with the old post cards, but here are a couple of ideas that I have for new post cards.  I think they are pretty awesome. 

I am willing to scale the shark for a better shot

Just think how awesome it would be if I was trying.

Everybody loves tacos. 

If you need any advertising help, I have zero experience, but lots of enthusiasm and could probably give you some avenues to explore.  Here’s a hint of what goes on in my brain:  I think that Dinosaur Land would be an awesome wedding location and would give a bride and groom some unique memories. 

9 Board Games to Check Out

The day after Thanksgiving means lots of things to lots of people. For some people they are trying to recover from the turkey coma or trying to catch up on their NaNoWriMo word count, others get jazzed up about Black Friday Sales Shopping.  Black Friday for me means Game Day.  I am not a shopper. That is why they make the internet.  I am a board gamer. 

About a dozen years back or so it was established that the day after Thanksgiving was Game Day or BFGD.  Friends pop in throughout the day to roll some dice, count some cards or have mini war games with lovingly painted miniatures.  It is probably one of my favorite days of the year.   There are so many games to play and hardly ever enough time to do more than a dozen. 

I am fond of lists, and hinted in a previous post on a Games List. I am a person on my word.  Below are 9 games worth checking out. I like a wide variety of games, and tried to touch upon several game types.   

1.       Dungeon Run

• This is a tile based exploration game that ends in betrayal. You are exploring a dungeon with your trusty friends, and whoever finds the treasure first is corrupted. Your trusty team needs to kill the traitor before they can exit the dungeon and destroy the world.  
• Every time I say Dungeon Run, all I can think of is Finn and Jake.  This isn’t related to that but just a weird tangent and lots of fun to sing Finn’s dungeon crawl song. 

2.       Exploding Kittens

• This is a card game of chance and strategy. There are two versions of the game. A family friendly one and a definitely not family friendly one.  They are played the same way.  It is kind of like a game of war and go fish all rolled into one, but with kittens.  Nice quick game for those that don’t have a lot of time.  
• If you like the Oatmeal’s humor, I would highly recommend using the non-family friendly deck.  
  

3.       Dixit

• If you like strategy games, then this game might not be for you.  This game is a guessing game, where you have to deduct a person’s card based of their description in among everyone else’s cards that were put down based off that same description.  It is all about speculation.  The art in this game is beautiful and it is a lot of fun to play. 

4.       Smash Up

• This is a strategy card game that is a lot of fun and has several expansion packs to it. You are all trying to conquer different locations that are worth different points. You reach the set point value first through conquering, you win.  Simple, easy, and can quickly ruin friendships.  
• I don’t pay this game that often, because my husband says I have cheat moves.  I don’t. I am just friends with robots and aliens and they do my bidding. 

5.       Roll For It

• This is a dice and strategy game that I am actually good at.  Mostly because you are not expecting me to roll a D6 to try and heal you.  It isn’t going to happen. The dice hate me, which is clearly evident when I played Shadows of Brimstone.  Anyway, this game is about matching dice to cards that have values and when you get to a certain number you will.  Easy, quick fun that is good family fun. 

6.       Shadows of Brimstone

• If you are looking for an epic adventure game that can go on in several hour long sessions with a posse of friends, this game is for you.  There are lots of toggles and jimmies that go with the game and it is a miniature painters dream.   It is a lot of fun, and has strategy, dice, cards and group coordination involved.  
• Don’t leave me in charge of the dice. I won’t heal you, and will probably give you a cursed item or lose a weapon or change your son into a pig. 

7.       Ticket to Ride

• This game is a strategy game where you are a railroad baron trying to get your track down before else gets their track down.  It is an easy to pick up family friendly game that will have you gnashing your teeth as you try to complete your routes. 

8.       Pandemic

• This is a group survival game that I have yet to survive. I have been told it can be done, but have yet to see it. The came combines strategy with chance and is a lot of fun to play. 
• Ken- It’s your fault we get yellow fever every time and die.  I am not holding a grudge, just stating fact. Yellow Fever!!!

9.       Battle of the Electric Vikings

• If you like word games, you will love this game. The purpose of this game is to make heavy metal song titles based off of randomly drawn tiles. It is a little like scrabble, that you have to connect to tiles together, but no spelling is necessary, just your best growly throaty metal voice. 

Grave Robbers from Outer Space is not on the list, because my husband informed me that it is out of print, but they have a Version 3 that is available. I haven’t checked it out, so I don’t know if they changed anything.  Happy Black Friday Game Day!  

Thank You 2nd Grade!

Dib helping me write back!

Letter writing is a lost art.  My friend, Faye was teaching her second grade class about how the postal system works and wanted to give them hands on experience.  She needed someone for them to write to and that someone  would write back to them.  I do a lot of letter writing and agreed to  write back to her class. I really had no idea what to say to a bunch of second graders I have never met, but I figured I could come up with something.

My favorite colors are green and blue

It was an unexpected joy to read their letters.  Curiosity of a child is unique and wonderful.   I received questions on the well being of my cats, and queries on color preferences.  Inquiries on how many friends I have and if I have any other friends than Faye, made me chuckle. I was told about their favorite foods and the ones that they don't like.  (I had no idea there was a kid out there that didn't like mashed potatoes.)  They were very direct in their questions and wanted to know about things that were important to them. (Which seemed to be: pets, food, and favorite color.) My fears of wondering what to write back to them about were unfounded. In fact I could have filled several pages with trying to answer all of their questions. There is always something to say.

I like video games too!

I can only hope that they enjoy receiving letters back as much as I enjoyed receiving them.  I think there is something special about receiving a letter in the mail. It is a future gift sent from the past self. You never know what the future will hold. If anything, this letter writing exercise certainly helped me gain perspective that there is aways something to say and to never stop asking questions.

Thank you 2nd Graders for making me smile!

Reds and Blues

They says at Thanksgiving Eve is the biggest drinking night of the year. Mostly because old friends and relatives are in from out of town, and you can get in some socializing before the turkey coma hits. I don't think you could pay me to enter into a bar tonight. I am not sure which version of me would leave the bar.

It is a weird day. Maybe part of it is the anticipation of a major eating holiday and hanging out with family I love, and the other part is because it is my brothers birthday. He would have been 33 if he wasn't such an idiot. I can already hear Gat chastising me inside my head, saying I shouldn't speak ill of the dead.  History is written by the survivors and is hardly ever pretty.

The dueling emotions along with the other flotsam and jetsam in my head, leaves me feeling like a Breakfast at Tiffany's.

Holly Golightly: You know those days when you get the mean reds?
Paul Varjak: The mean reds, you mean like the blues?
Holly Golightly: No. The blues are because you're getting fat and maybe it's been raining too long, you're just sad that's all. The mean reds are horrible. Suddenly you're afraid and you don't know what you're afraid of. Do you ever get that feeling?

For the longest time I thought they had said "the greens and reds" not "the mean reds". I think it still works, it just makes me wonder what the green would be in terms of feelings.  It might be today.  It might be a little bit of yellow and a little bit of blue with a red undertone.  I don't know. I just think I understand why it is a drinking holiday tonight, and I am sure that people have their own reason for raising a glass.  Sometimes conjuring up ghosts is about remember the good times.  Me,  I am going to enjoy my cup of tea and watch more Adventure Time.  Reds and greens be dammed.