5 posts tagged “birthday”
Birthday consumption.
Papa Murphy's take-n-bake stuffed pizza (creamy garlic chicken and bacon.)
Booker's small-batch bourbon.
126.4 proof, 6.7 years
Straight from the barrel, uncut, unfiltered.
Recipe from Booker Noe, grandson of Jim Beam.
Nose of raisins and cinnamon (and fire).
Ahhhhhhh.
Wife got a Wii for her B-day.
The Nintendo gaming console which requires that you actually move yourself while playing a video game.
Lots of fun.
I couldn't wipe my ass the next day.
Am just now able to type.
Fantastically fun gamercise.
First the recipe, then the back-story.
Begin with boxed mac and cheese.
Prepare according to the directions on the box.
Don't worry that's just the shortcut, the magic in the recipe happens next, although it is equally sneaky/lazy.
Once the mix is hot and saucy in the pan,
add one handful of pre-shredded sharp cheddar cheese.
Add a handful of pre-shredded Colby Jack cheese.
Add a handful of pre-shredded Mozzarella cheese.
Stir the additional cheese into the mix until it is melted and incorporated.
Spoon the mac and cheese out onto serving plates, and dust with a handful of seasoned breadcrumbs to give the illusion of a crust (mine come in a carton from the store.)
It's still so easy that a fifth-grader could do it, but it's oh so more gourmet than the box mix by itself.
Now, for the inspirational back-story.
My wife's parents bought a birthday present for our recently one-year-old daughter on Amazon.
They also bought themselves a book travel guide covering the sights to see in Hawaii for their upcoming trip.
Their order was enough for free shipping, IF they sent both items to one address, OURS.
This was followed by a request to then mail their book back to them after we received the present.
Nice.
They get free shipping on their book.
And we get to pay to mail it back to them.
So, I admit, I dawdled a bit in making the trip to stand in line at the post office, this being tax-return mailing line from hell season there.
However, since their trip is in a week, we began getting pressure to get their travel guide back to them post-haste.
So, I trek down and stand in an absolutely awful line and send the thing back to them.
Priority was only a few cents more than the book rate, so I went for it, to make sure it got to them before their trip.
Which leads to today, when the In-Laws received the book and noticed how much the postage cost.
We get an email telling us that really, that was unnecessary and that we should have used book-rate instead of priority and to keep that in mind for next time.
NEXT TIME?
Sneaky and cheesy.
They get free shipping, that we have to stand in line and pay for, and then they scold us for how much we spent of our own money to send them their free book in time for their vacation.
Which is where the breadcrumbs come in.
I'm feeling fairly crusty at the moment myself.
It seems that there is this game we play every time my in-laws come into town.
It's a take on "Where's Waldo?", with my wife playing the role of slippery quarry.
My wife's parents have been here two days now, and I've been alone with them, it feels like, for a majority of the time.
Tonight, for instance, is my father in-law's birthday.
I'm cooking him dinner and entertaining them while keeping up with the two kids.
Meanwhile, my wife is at a party with friends for a mother's group meet-up.
I don't even think she notices she does it, but when her mom enters a room, *poof*, my wife is gone and alone to keep the conversation going... mostly listening about topics I don't give a hoot about.
Before she left for this event, she informed me that she had a lunch set for the day she was supposed to take the parents back to the airport, so I will, once again be their chauffeur.
The original deal was that I pick them up, because she was still working, and then she would be their ride back down.
It's not a big deal, it's just what's happening again, and I have examples this time that I'm recording for posterity for the next time she refutes that it never happens outside of my head.
It won't make a difference.
I can't keep it from happening.
I know this.
But I can't make myself do it, not yet.
And that is completely ridiculous and nonsensical.
See, I got a letter from my aunt.
She wrote that my grandmother didn't want presents or cards this year for her birthday.
All she wanted was for all the grandkids and greatgrandkids to write her a letter.
In the letter we should detail some of our fondest memories of spending time with her.
And I'm completely blocked.
This was a week and a half ago, and I've still got nothing.
I know why.
Everything about this smells like one of those last-things-before-I-die requests.
Somewhere in my twisted psyche is a bit of non-conforming logic that goes something like this.
If I don't write my letter, then she won't be able to let go yet, because she'll be waiting for it.
She can only die if I write my letter and she reads it, and thus feeling satisfied and complete, she passes on.
It's immature, childish, and irrational.
But I can't write a damn thing.
I've tried on paper, I've tried on the PC, I've even tried mental drafts to conjure which memories I'd detail.
Part of that problem is that I was the only grandkid who lived local to her while I was growing up, so I have a massive library of memories with her.
This doesn't make it easier to select a few, but rather it is nearly impossible.
Aside from the fact that I don't want to.
I'm now considering a tweak to the request that might get me over my block.
What if I write not about memories of her back in the day, but instead about my life now with my wife, my daughters, my friends, and people I've worked with.
I could connect how my interactions with all of them are inspired in part by my time spent with her and what she taught me compassion, humour, and gracious acceptance.
Perhaps.
And it is possible that she won't wait for my letter, and if I don't write it soon, that she will know none of this.
That little thought, though it should inspire me to quick action, only increases the height of the wall in front of me.
