The First Fifteen Minutes of Unemployment

Well, as of 4:30 I'm officially unemployed.

Here is what I know about it so far . . .

People feel bad for you and want to cheer you up and buy you lunch.  Not just people but friends. Friends are good. Thanks for the doughnuts Bonnie.  Friends give you good pep talks. Thanks Sue.

You might get an e-mail from a Fat Camp friend that makes you smile and feel better. Thanks Maureen!

Family sends you the sweetest card and makes you feel better. Thanks Cousin Peggy and Uncle Jim.  


Unemployment is scary.

I'm going to miss going to work and seeing said friends. I'm going to miss my paycheck and my insurance and my benefits. It's perfectly OK to grieve for those things.  But not forever. Suck it up cupcake and carry on!  Two weeks might be a little soon to suck it up, but I'm trying . . .

Unemployment is scary.

But my luck may be changing! This weekend I ran off to John's to lick my wounds and went to a fundraiser for Streator Unlimited, Food for Thought,  and had a great time! I felt it my civic duty to participate and vote in the Chili Cook Off, 6 different (and delicious!) chilis prepared by paramedics, firefighters and police officers. And I got my photo taken with 2 of John's clients!

Some people just got one bowl of chili at a time! Not the Mallaneys! Here I am with Anthony and Eric. And my chili.

And I won a door prize! Frankly I don't remember putting my little slip in this drawing for this basket, maybe it was adjacent to the candy bar flower pot I really wanted to win? Not sure. But I do like it and I certainly can use a hydrating facial masque (oh shut up, I know I can probably use more than one!) and some healthy energy drinks to balance and revitalize and do other good stuff to me!

And look, I was barely unemployed maybe 1 minute, when a parcel came to the door. Seems I won a prize in a Scotties Sweepstakes I entered on line! Wow. And good to replenish the old tissue stockpile, I went through quite a few last couple of weeks, I must admit.

Look at that! 8 boxes of Scotties! Woooo hoooo. I'm sure my good luck will continue.

Money will creep into your thoughts when you are unemployed. I shopped the clearance, and made some cheap, delicious food.

Clearance gnocchi. Who knew how good it could be!?

Love the clearance at John's Kroger! I'm told I'm Irish but I really wonder if there isn't some Italian in there too . . . ?

Scrapple, or scrapplin' as Dad called it. Boil up some pork neck bones, pick off the meat, and sift cornmeal into the broth and let it set. Dip it in flour and pan fry it. I hated it when I was a kid, what was I thinking! It's delicious. Dad said that Grandma Mallaney would make milkpans of the stuff after pig butchering on the farm during the depression. She probably did not fry it up in extra virgin olive oil and sprinkle on some clearance parmesan, and some Vulcan Fire Salt from The Spice House though.

Anyway, next on my unemployment list is to sign up for unemployment and check out Obama Care and update my resume.

In other news Mom turned 78! Happy Birthday Mom.

That's all for now.

Kathleen A.

Canned

Well I had a bad week. Tuesday especially. First I got laid off. Then in the next paragraph the new public defender told me that my position was no longer required and must be eliminated. I'm done at the close of business on November 10, 2015.  It only took 4 lines to wipe out my position, income, insurance, and pension. You are welcome for the years of service. I would have been there 23 years on December 1st. Now I get to work for the man who doesn't want me around for 2 weeks. Life is a pisser sometimes, is it not? When your desk gets moved away from the window and put in the corner with a view of the toilet, trust me people, nothing good is going to happen.

In other news I just made some chocolate chip cookies. I'm  good baker.

It has been a good Halloween so far, black and white scary movies, some twilight zone, and cookies.

Kathleen

Happy Fall!

Here's what has been happening on the ranch . . .

I had a good time at camping a couple of weeks ago.  Hadn't been down to Lake Shelbyville for a while. The weather was perfect. Great food too. Love the big breakfasts down at camping, delicious! Only one fall (not me!), and nobody had to go to the emergency room, so it was a successful trip. Drank way too much beer for someone my age . . . or any age really, and Donna, knowing my penchant for cinnamon, picked up some Fire Ball Cinnamon Whisky for shots. Go figure, I liked it!  I had those Fireball shots one night, got up, had camping coffee (Bailey's and whipped cream), then someone had a great idea to have Bloody Mary's. Sometimes I'm a joiner. Sometimes I'm not. Seems I was a joiner at camping! Then I had a beer with lunch, maybe 2, then I felt the need to rest and I hit the sack pretty early. It's OK to go to bed at 2:00 in the afternoon when you are 53 and camping. It really is. It was wonderful, lying on the sofa/bed thing in the camper, watching the wind blow the pretty fall leaves off the tree. Luckily after I rested for a while I was able to perk up and party on! Sort of . . .

I heard a ruckus outside the camper one night, but was too lazy to get up. In fact I felt like I was being watched, and later we found coon prints on the camper steps. Mar got up and tried to shoo the coons away, but they were bold and did not want to leave. Mar was standing at the camper door in her jammies and she turned to me with the weirdest look on her face and she said, "What is that sound like a metal basketball rolling down the hill?" and I thought to myself, "Oh my God! Mar has totally lost it! She better go to bed!" Well yadda yadda yadda, next morning, coons had made a big mess and then, after breakfast, one of the guys asked where the tin of cookies was. Well, guess what!? It was MIA! The coons stole it! LOL  One of the guys found it later, and the cookies were still intact, coons couldn't get that tin open.

We had zucchini out the wazoo this summer, and I was sad to see it end, but John was gracious enough to share his ENTIRE 2015 ZUCCHINI HARVEST with the fam . . .

The biggest one is as long as my first finger! LOL  John gave us those last weekend, we took a ride over there for lunch. Lovely day for a drive, but I bet we saw 50 dead coons on the way to Streator! It was freaky.  Hera has to worry about anorexia about as much as I do . . . she is fat (and sassy)!  Who cares, she is alive and still with us, that is what matters. Isis, though still shy, seems to be OK with a total of 3 people in the room. She will visit and be very charming. If the 4th person comes back, say from picking up a nutritious lunch of tenderloins and fried chicken and fried fish and a cheeseburger and a bunch of sides from this yummy place in Streator, she will hide again. Things are looking up though, we do get to see her now, albeit for a short time.

The Cubs lost! I gotta think, on some very high level, that Bernie was very very pleased! Uncle Jim called from rehab this week and he sounded great! We were very happy about that.

If you have vacation days to use up, I think you should take a ride. Maybe to Sheboygan! What the heck.  You can look at Lake Michigan on a blustery fall day and feel invigorated.

You might get the swimming pool at the Sleep Inn in Sheboygan all to yourself and you can do handstands and water ballet and have fun. What the heck. Live it up people! See that water pouring down there? It feels great on your shoulders and back and everywhere . . . until the next day when you wake up and you are 53 and you are all sore and feel like you got beat up! And maybe a clerk offered you a senior discount!? Sigh. Maybe you also used your AARP membership to save $10 at the Sleep Inn. Whoop-do-frickin-do.

You can go to the Water House Brewery in Grafton and eat the Ultimate Grilled Cheese . . . cheddar, jack, swiss and pepper jack cheeses are grilled with avocado, tomato and sliced red onion on fresh sourdough bread brushed with basil butter. Cheeeeese! It is Wisconsin after all! And make sure you get the bacon on that sandwich too! Yum. It's just a buck extra. One buck.

Mom's birthday is coming up November the 7th. She'll be 78! Wow.

That's all for now.

Kathleen

Corn Festival Weekend

When you leave town to avoid the annual Corn Festival, and you go to a rummage sale and see an ear of corn sun catcher (half off twenty five cents!)  . . . well, you just have to have it. When I checked out the lady at the table asked me "Ohhhhh . . . you must like cactus!" I assured her that I do! LOL  It was cute.

 You've heard of man hands? Well . . . Midge has man paws.

A photo of Joe and John from the reunion. I am cleaning pics off my camera. Can you tell?

Isis, the dainty little lady, relaxing.

Boss is retiring. Friday is his last day. I keep making jokes about how I should have worked for a younger lawyer. I really should have though.

Kay :)

September

Been pretty quiet around these parts. What has been happening . . . ?

John had the fam over for dinner today. Fried fish, zucchini, green tomatoes and home baked bread, with compound butter and a delicious tartar sauce. A Mallaney summer meal we all enjoy.  Zucchini Chocolate Sheet Cake for dessert. Yummers. Had a most pleasant time. John's kitties are looking lovely, and they are buddies again. I took Route 23 through Ottawa on the way home. Mom asked in the car, as we were passing between Streator and Grand Ridge, "Is that some sort of irrigation system out there in the field?" My response . .  "All I see out there is a train Mom." LOLOL   In her defense it was just sitting there, and you couldn't see the track. Still amused me though. I think Joe even chuckled. Mom is going to call to get her eye check-up on Monday, or so she claims! LOL  She wasn't too amused when I pointed out another irrigation system on the train tracks in Seneca! Haha.

I am still going to the Y. Not as often as I should. Why I do not know . . .

Last weekend John and I took our annual trip to the Dane County Farmer's Market in Madison. My favorite day trip. Insert blog posts from previous years here. Had a great time. Always do. Even the clouds were super cool, it was a lovely drive.

I had a good giggle on the way to John's last weekend. First of all I was in perfect tune. My voice sounded great. It was kind of like that Friends episode where Phoebe has the cold, my voice didn't even sound like mine! Of course I only sound that good when I'm in the car, alone. I could sing any song that afternoon, I was rocking them all! The weather was glorious, perfect even. I had the windows down, music was loud. I was going through all the CDs in my case in my car. At random. I happened to see myself in the mirror while I was at a stop sign out near BFE Kinsman. I was jamming to "Seduce Me Tonight" (the best song) from that famous Flashdance soundtrack. Windows had been down, my hair was crazy, it was standing straight up at the temples where it is graying the most.  It was pretty sunny, and I don't have any contacts in the correct prescription since I had the oooold cataract done, so I popped on those huge old people sun goggles they gave me for after the procedure right over my specs. It is good to laugh out loud when you are by yourself!  I may never have such a cool moment again. I can only hope. I took out Flashdance and popped in Footloose and jammed my ass off all the way over to Streator. It was a perfect start to a great weekend. The end.

Good news! The stand that sells my favorite Rhubarb Oatmeal Breakfast bars was back! I actually bought some rhubarb and we tried a new recipe for Rhubarb Oatmeal Bars  . . . which I highly recommend. These bars were spectacular. Alas they did not last long . . .

http://www.cooks.com/recipe/yy40l9q7/rhubarb-oatmeal-bars.html

I've had zucchini out the wazoo this summer! It has been great to have plenty to share and to cook. And I love how they sneak up on you. No zucchini one night, then the next night a 15 incher! Mother Nature. Gotta love her. Zucchini Black Walnut muffins, Zucchini Chocolate Sheet Cake, zucchini in fried rice, zucchini in scrambled eggs, sauteed with tomatoes and garlic, zucchini in stew, zucchini zucchini zucchini! It's always tasty. And now a new savory recipe. I give this one 5 stars, it had so much flavor. Definitely a keeper. And it could almost be like fast food, if you use a can of black beans and a lovely microwave pouch of quinoa with garlic that you find on clearance at Aldi. I used fresh corn, but I think some nice canned or frozen corn would be fine too. That cilantro lime dressing and a sprinkle of feta . . . genius! It was so fun to try it at John's house too, so I could use his razzle dazzle vita-mix for the dressing. I pretended that I was on Chopped. Hera and Isis kept a close eye on me. Hera and Isis get me. They really do.

 http://dishingupthedirt.com/uncategorized/spicy-corn-and-black-bean-stuffed-zucchini/

A beautiful super old puzzle we found thrifting last weekend. Love it. I wonder how many times it has been worked over the years? And by whom . . . ?  A real bargain at .49, a treasure even.

Hera looking sassy, and Isis using Hera's tail for  a disguise.

This next week looks like highs in the 70s and lows in the 40s-50s. Feels like camping weather to me. Tearing up the garden stuff and pulling down morning glories, fall is coming. I will miss all the goldfinch and hummingbirds and butterflies and morning glories and zucchini and tomatoes and sitting in rocking chair on the patio with my kitties. It was a great summer and it went too fast. I guess the older you get the faster they go.

Kay :)

Is August Really Over?

I can't believe it is almost September!

Pretty quiet around here. Spent the weekend at John's house. Went to a fundraiser at Streator Unlimited last night, a quarter auction, and had a great time. Lots of fun. John won a 75 minute massage! Wow was he excited! And thank goodness he won something, because he was getting a little pissy and whiny, much to the amusement of the other people at our table.  LOL I won a really cute necklace made by one of John's clients, Mandy. Since I have not worn any jewelry since the last time I was in a wedding (sometime in the 80s) I gave my necklace to another of John's clients and it looked great on her. We also had BBQ sammies and Texas sheetcake and giggles! Yummers and fun.

Reunion was a couple of weeks go. We had a great turnout, what a crowd! Good to see everyone and NOT at a wake or funeral. I probably shouldn't say things like this, but gosh, the Mallaney's have really cute babies. You should have seen all the cute little kids running around. We are just good looking people.  John came for the first time since . . . well, I believe it was in the 80s! LOL And the meal, as usual, was spectacular. Good times.

I don't think I have any other 80s flashbacks . . .

I cat/dog/house sat for my friends while they took their son to college. It was nice being out in the country with a swimming pool. All the night sounds remind me of the farm when I was little. Miss that. White Tip even brought me a mouse! Oh boy. And I had just gotten out of the pool and saw a huge fly on the dog, so I flicked it off, and pretty soon I felt a sting on my leg and the bastard was on me biting me! A country fly! He is no longer with us.

Hera continues to look spectacular. So happy to see my buddy looking so well. She is peppy again, begging to play, and she growled at me and tried to bite me several times this weekend, hooray! She is getting back to her normal (sturdy) self.

My sweet Finn has been limping for over a week now, but he is improving. Given that I spent over $500 at the vet last month, I'm giving him a little time to heal up. So far so good.  I guess when a 20 pound cat who is getting on in years continually climbs over and jumps from the top of a six foot chain link fence, accidents will happen.

Midge is weird. She insists on sitting on top of her Amazon pantry box turned upright and placed right in the front doorway. I think she did scare away a politician though, which was nice.  If I have to get one more screen replaced because she gets all excited and claws at the tom cats who come calling and to get a nosh on the front steps . . . well . . . sigh . . . I'll get them replaced.

I joined the Y. That would be the Y M C Aaaaaaaaaa. I can get myself clean, I can do whatever I feel . . . but you might want to keep your distance, because my body sometimes feels like doing things beyond my control! I also get to see cousin Barb Ragan at the Y too, which is really nice. 

I got my right lense replaced in my glasses and it is like my cataract never happened now. 

That's all I can remember of the last month. Sorry to see that 50 degree nights are leaving, and 90 degree days are coming back. Yucko!

Kay :)

Hot

Miserably hot today! Storms tonight will cool things off. I hope they aren't too bad. Right now the weather looks great for this week. We have the reunion next Saturday. Will sure be strange without Dad, Aunt Shirley, Aunt Joan and Aunt Jean!  We must be cheerful and celebrate being together  . . . and NOT at a wake or funeral. Plus I'm going to take extra beer.   The kind with alcohol in it!    

Dad would have loved the concert on the courthouse lawn Thursday night. And he would have loved all the tomatoes the garden is producing this year. And he would have been glad the river is finally open! He sure loved the river. I feel for the boaters this year, I think the river was closed for 5-6 weeks.

The goldfinch have found my zinnias! Midge was sleeping in front of the garden bed and seemed baffled by all the little petals falling around her! Those birds can clean the petals off a zinnia in record time! They are lovely to look at, I don't mind . . . much! For a time yesterday I had two goldfinch on the zinnias and a cardinal on the fence. Beautiful! Thank goodness those zinnias are tall . . . and the kitties are getting older and lazier and fatter.   I think Finn's waist reduction plan is working! Mine is working pretty well, except for the weekends are hard! We'll buckle down tomorrow.   

John was on vacation this week, but couldn't stray too far from home because of Hera. She continues to do well, but she needs to be watched. She has to eat for her liver to have a chance at healing.  John came home yesterday and we went putzing around. Found some goodies at the thrifts, including a house for the kitties . . .

I laughed when I got home, the house was so ridiculously small for my big cats, it is really kitten sized.  . . but Finn never lets me down. I knew that $2 would not be wasted!

Finn got big eyed when the butterfly he was playing with flew off.

I won a Chili's gift card in a drawing at work, so we enjoyed Chili's for supper, burgers and tex mex.  Mom loves visits from John . . . and fajitas! And we had a chocolate zucchini sheetcake for dessert, a new recipe, and definitely a keeper. Good eats. I'm enjoying cooking with all the garden bounty, it has been a great garden year. Swiss steak tomorrow with garden tomatoes and peppers.

I've had a sensitive tooth, and the dentist's office called and had a cancellation tomorrow at 10:00. Sigh. I guess I'm glad. Will be good to have it taken care of. I've been making very strange faces while eating cold dishes.

Finn is still enjoying Chili's . . .

Have a good week!

Kay