Write about your most epic baking or cooking fail.
Picture this –
I’m standing at the kitchen counter in my pretty pink Izod polo shirt with the alligator and a popped collar (hey, it was the ‘80s!) and I am blending broccoli, something, and something else, hoping it will turn into a tasty broccoli soup.
Unfortunately, I failed to make sure the lid was on tight enough! The top flies off and green liquid is flying everywhere – and it’s HOT!
After I freak out and regain my senses, I turn off the blender and begin cleaning up in my pretty pink Izod polo shirt that is now covered in broccoli soup.
I had a cat for 14 years. We adopted a dog 2 months after the cat passed away; he has been part of our family for 12 years. I didn’t grow up with either so both were new to me!
Chuckie Finster Benson, our cat, came into our home from his barn birth when he was a few months old in 1998. He had the most beautiful coloring and since he was orange, and our son was a fan of RugRats, it made sense to name him after the orange-haired boy Chuckie.
Maybe because he had barn cat in his blood, he preferred to spend his summers outside. He spent his nights in the winter in the basement, otherwise, I would find him on my head trying to wake me up at 3 am.
We would find him in the strangest locations over the years, always someplace warm like behind the couch on the radiator cover, inside the dryer on some freshly dried clothes, and always in the basket of blankets in the living room.
He wasn’t a cuddly cat but became one as he got older. He loved to sit right right next to me in my chair. I guess it was just another place to be warm!
When he died in 2012, we were all very sad.
So I started looking at rescue dog advertisements and found Wally.
I mean really, how could you resist that face? He put on a good show at the Humane Society, letting us all crowd around and pet him. As soon as we got home, he latched onto my husband and that was it. Wally will fight you to the death to protect his man!
Wally was left at the shelter so he was likely 2 or 3 years old when we took him home. It’s been 12 years and he has slowed down. He still loves his lunchtime walks down to the corner and back and walking out to the edge of our yard to sniff all his favorite spots. He comes bounding back from his trip like he’s two years old again because he knows there is a treat at the end of his run!
Chuckie was easier because he could be left to roam. We could go away for the weekend and our neighbor would keep her eye on him and check that he had food in the house. Very easy.
Wally is a prickly pear so you want him to love you. So many people have been fooled by his wagging tail that they don’t notice the lip quiver that signals a snarl and snap coming!
I’m glad I’ve had one of each to experience having a pet but my answer would be Cats.
When I get involved with ancestry research work, time flies! I get so engrossed in names and making sure the information is correct, that an hour will go by before I know it! I’ll sit down to take a quick look and WHOOSH there goes the time!
Those are two ways I usually express my gratitude for something someone has done for me or said to me.
I think sometimes, for me, I don’t slow down or stop to think about thanking the people who are around me all the time. Family, co-workers. I am go, go, go in the office and expect people to do the same!
I need to stop and reflect what someone does that makes me feel good or happy or satisfied the way something was done. Not just for something they say to me or do for me.
The words will be the same, but for different reasons.
I was thinking of the hobbies I have been really “passionate” about – knitting, piano, making cards, ancestry – and how that passion will be so strong and then wane. None of those have completely disappeared but they move in and out of my life like waves.
That’s when I realized I am passionate about learning. New skills, new ideas, history, people.
Fall in New England is the most glorious season of the year.
A Weekend in Vermont
I catch a hint of its arrival in mid-August. I can see it in the angle of the sunrise through the leaves in the morning. If I stop and let the air wash over me, I can feel the slight chill under the heat. It’s brief, but it’s a taste of what’s to come.
My neighborhood parkThe maple tree in my yard
Skip to mid September and I feel the cold within the heat and the heat within the cold. If I close my eyes I can imagine both a fall day and winter is coming or a spring day and summer is around the corner!
Vermont steel bridge
October. Now October is the Gem of the season! That’s when we have glorious colors and bright blue skies. Every tree I see, I want to take a picture of it! I’ve been on many motorcycle trips during “leaf peeping” season and my head is on a swivel looking at the beautiful scenery and enjoying the wonderful weather.
I like to nibble all the chocolate off the sides and top first. Then I start on the peanut butter layers inside. I work all around the bar until it’s gone. It gets messy!
I haven’t had a butterfinger bar in a very long time.
Best Job: Programming Assistant at WTNH-8 in New Haven Connecticut. I was involved with every department at the station. I was there for almost two years until I moved to California.
Worst Fast Food Job: McDonalds. It was also my first job. I hated it. I couldn’t add up the orders in my head. I lasted 6 months.
Best Fast Food Job: Wendy’s. We had registers that we punched the orders in and it would tell you how much change to give back! I worked with a lot of great people and the food was so much better than McDonalds!
First Career Job: I started as a receptionist for the American Cancer Society and over five years moved to different positions with more responsibility and money.
Least Understood Job: Executive assistant in the Municipal Bonds Department at Goldman Sachs in San Francisco. Beautiful view of the city from the windows but a very boring job. I lasted there 8 months and thankfully moved north.
Fun Job: Working in the strawberry fields for two summers. In the spring we worked to get the field ready and during picking season we directed people where to pick and weighed and rang up the pickings.
Like a Family/Second Chance Job: I applied for a job as an office assistant for an insurance company when we moved north. I didn’t get the job but they called a few days later offering another one because someone gave their 2 week notice! There were 4 or 5 of us all close in age and we all had our children at the same time! We were all transplants to California and the office manager was like a mother to us all. I was there for about five years until we moved back to Connecticut.
Most Educational Job: I worked part time in an elementary school library for five years. I loved getting to know the kids and reading the books! I left when the remodeling business picked up and I needed to put a full day in the office. Runner up: I went back to the same school a few years later and worked in the cafeteria for a year and a half. That was tough and I finally gave up working part time for good.
Longest Job: 25 years with my husband in our remodeling business. I’ve gone from doing all the office work myself to having a fabulous office person who takes care of all the clients leaving me with the bookkeeping and social media.
