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Yesterday, when Marty brought in the mail, he said, “Wow! Look, a phone book!” We haven’t had a phone book in years. The cover says, “The real yellow pages. The original search engine.” 

When we moved to Vermont from New Jersey 32 years ago, I was in for a significant culture shock. When I say shock, I mean shock. I was dumbfounded the first couple of years we were here. 

Silly little things were different. You had to pump your own gas. You could smoke in the grocery store, which delighted me since I was a smoker at the time. Hell, I probably would have lit up even if I didn’t smoke because you could. To the 23-year-old me, this was the coolest thing ever. Now it’s the most disgusting thing in the world! 🤢

The whole food scene was different too. I missed little things like an authentic bakery, a good pizzeria, bars that stayed open late, Entenmann’s donuts, cakes and cookies, Tasty Cake anything, Taylor ham or pork roll. The list goes on and on. What Vermont did have was peace and quiet along with no traffic.

I will never forget the first time I saw a phone book. I was beyond amused that it was so skinny, like a half-inch skinny. The phone books in New Jersey were so thick they were used as children’s booster seats. The phone books in Manhattan could be step ladders; they were so thick. I remember thinking we aren’t in Kansas anymore, Toto, or in my case, NJ.

Last night, just for kicks, I opened to the restaurant section of the yellow pages; I always look at the restaurant sections; it’s always about food with me. Some places have been closed for years and years. The more I read, the more I laughed. The Village Country Inn, The Rattlesnake Cafe, and Carmodys just to name a few.  

Next, I checked the Hotels & Motels section. Most of the hotels are still in existence. The motels? More than half of them are welfare/halfway houses. I understand there is an extreme need for places like these for people down on their luck or bad situations. A few years ago, Marty and I got duped on a Priceline booking in Connecticut. Us and another family were the only guests of the “hotel,” which turned out to be a motel.

To say the least, it was entertaining watching all the action going on while sitting on our balcony that was 50 yards from the highway. When we were in the pool, we could have tossed a beachball over our shoulder, and it would have landed on a car.

At some point, I was apprehensive because people were whacked out on drugs and crazy. I mean, batshit crazy. Many were transients with vouchers from the state; our next-door neighbor was clearly homeless and wouldn’t leave us alone. We got the hell out of there the next day and said, “never again.” It was a learning lesson of a lifetime!

Back to the phone book, there were also goods and services listed that have been out of business for years. Doesn’t anyone who works for the Yellow Pages check these things? What’s even more puzzling is that they have added new businesses, so why not remove the older than dirt ones that exist anymore?

As far as the original search engine business goes, I looked up a couple of the closed businesses using an online search engine that listed the business as permanently closed. Another thing I started thinking about was who in the fuck even uses a paper phone book these days?

Back in the day when we moved to VT, the phone book was the only way to get local information, and it was trustworthy. This was how we found everything we needed before we had any friends to ask. Now we have the internet.

Also back in the day, whenever we stayed at a hotel somewhere, I would grab the phone book from the drawer with the Bible, jump on the bed, and start leafing through it. They even had menus so we could decide where to eat! 

A big part of me misses those days of laying on my stomach with my legs curled up flipping through those pages. Believe it or not, I still look in the Bible drawer to see if there are any phone books; the Book of Mormon has replaced the phone book. BTW The musical The Book of Mormon is hysterical, and I love, love, love the music! I know I got off track here.

Maybe people who still have landlines and no computer use a phone book? Fair enough, so then they should at least have up to this decade’s information listed for these folks. Right? 

My last question is, do businesses still pay to have their business ads in the phone book;? Selling yellow pages ads used to be a profitable business, our best man in our wedding Paulie used to sell those business ads. He was quite the salesman and guido!

All these questions and no real answers…it’s like the great phone book mystery that remains unsolved!

This week…ugh! It’s been ten days since my booster and I still am exhausted after minor activity. My arm still aches if I move it. It’s still badly bruised. I have a dull headache that comes and goes.

Needless to say, working in the production kitchen was torture. Today was the worst day yet. But I did it. I had to, we have orders to fill and a business to run or we won’t have one.

I apologized once this week for slacking off on writing, but I am struggling. I still have two days until our belly dance Holiday Hafla on Sunday. I am planning on going no matter what, even if I can’t dance as much as I would like. I picked out my costume last night and have it all set to go.

Hopefully this reaction follows the other two and lasts exactly two weeks, that’s Monday. When I feel better I will be raring to go. 🤞🏼

I can’t believe it’s Friday already. I feel like I’ve lost another week by not feeling well. I usually post a cheery Happy Friday, even though I am not up to a happy Friday I still wish one for you all. Cheers!

Last Monday, on our way home from deliveries, I stopped at the vaccination site in our area and received my booster shot as a walk-in. Simple. Easy. Efficient.

I was keeping my fingers crossed for no side effects this time. After the first shot, I had a terrible headache that made my blood pressure go up; it lasted for two weeks. The second shot, I was beyond exhausted for two weeks.

After the booster, I had the usual Moderna arm that usually hurt for a day. The vaccination was injected high up on my arm and went right into my tendon. My arm hurt much more this time and still does even to the touch. I finally looked at it by contorting myself and saw an ugly dark purple bruise. Now it’s a green and purple bruise. Seriously WTF?

If the bruising was the only side effect that would be ok, but I am more tired after the booster than the other two vaccinations. Ugh! At least there is no headache.

I have to remind myself that I chose to get the booster in the beginning of December in case became I exhausted again for a couple of weeks. I don’t want to be tired the end of December when my sister Jennifer and the kids come to visit. That God it’s only December 6th and I still have plenty of time to pick my ass off the floor.

I was working on a blog post in the car this morning while Marty was driving; we were on another delivery run. I couldn’t keep my eyes open. It’s funny how many sleep problems I’ve had in the past since I’ve gone to bed early all week and fall asleep before my head even hits the pillow.

The rest of the day in Saratoga, Clifton Park, and Albany were miserable for me. I tried to hold my shit together and not let Marty see how exhausted I was. When I am exhausted I am cranky and want to cry. Thankfully, I didn’t cry but I was completely out of it.

The blog piece I am working on is still a work in progress since I couldn’t write anymore today. I just wanted you guys to know I am not slacking off, I have to get over that two week hump of being tired. It would also be nice if my arm didn’t ache anymore every time I lifted it.

Speaking of lifting my arm, I hope I have a little energy on Wednesday, belly dance day. I look forward to belly dance each week and this week Kathleen and I have to practice for a performance on Sunday.

We are having a “Holiday Halfa” which is a celebration with music, dancing, and food. Usually, we invite guests, other dancers, family, and friends, but with the whole covid thing, Kathleen, our students, and myself will be celebrating and performing just for each other this year. Last year we couldn’t even be together, so this really is a celebration.

I am looking forward to getting all gussied up in my costuming and do my hair and make-up tribal belly dance style. I want to perform and have fun dancing dammit, I need to get my energy back!

I am listening to my body by resting whenever I need to and going to bed early. I’ve been drinking lots of water and not overdoing it. I didn’t think I would be this tired again since the booster was only a half dose of Moderna. I was wrong big time.

I don’t want to scare anyone about the booster shot since everyone reacts differently. I am only sharing what in the fuckity hell is going on with me right now.

I am hitting the hay early again tonight and hope that I start to feel back to my old self when I wake up tomorrow. I would write normal, but we all know that I am not normal and never want to be. 😉

I know I wrote back in late October that we haven’t had a hard frost yet. Last Friday, we were hit with a snowstorm leaving us without power and about a foot of snow here in Arlington. 

Up until this morning, none of it has melted, and we keep getting another dusting every day.  It was still only November. I started getting that we live in a fucking snow globe feeling early this year. 

I heard the plow trucks go by our house four times this morning and woke to a slushy, icy mess. I could tell that a climate change and a storm were coming. My body is like a freakin weather stick…thanks arthritis. 

Production was difficult for me this morning with arm and shoulder pain on my right side and “Moderna arm” pain from my booster shot I got Monday on the left side. I was fine as long as I didn’t lift my arms. LOL! Over the years, I have found ways to work through and compensate for arthritis; today was no different.

I’ve had arthritis since my 20s, and I have never let it stop me from working, dancing, or living once. It’s called grin and bear it, also known as “suck it up, buttercup.” I have never called out sick because of it, and I certainly won’t let it stop me from working for our own business, that’s for sure. For years my dance students have smelled the wintergreen fresh scent of Ben-Gay that I slather on before I teach classes.

I made it through today’s production and clean-up with tremendous pain, some loud rock music, and a whole lot of determination to finish. Mission accomplished. 

This afternoon I needed to run a few errands and pick up milk for next week’s production. It was dark when I came out of a store at 4:15 pm. Sigh. I am just not cut out for the dark days of winter.

I made a quick, simple dinner tonight…tacos. Some people ask if we ever eat “normal shit.” The answer is yes and on paper plates tonight. I even put the cast iron skillet of taco meat on the kitchen island instead of setting the table and putting all the toppings into separate bowls.  

Poor Otto started running around the house panting and shaking as we were eating. He knew something was about to happen. Thundersnow! Marty and I were sitting in opposite directions, and both saw the biggest lightning bolt ever out the windows.

Marty said it hit close, and it did, just right down the road from us. I love a good thunderstorm, but this was scary; this one shook me to the core. Holy shit!

Within minutes the fire department was toned out to a house hit with a possible lightning strike and fire. Marty had his turn-out gear on before he even heard the tone for the rescue squad. After he left, I grabbed a flashlight just in case and filled up my wine glass. I needed to be prepared! 

The good news is I just heard on the scanner the fire is out, Otto has calmed down, and Klausie-boy, the bulldog, couldn’t give two shits about any of it. As for me? I need more wine. 😛

The day after Thanksgiving may be Black Friday to some, but to me, it’s Operation Christmas. Sam and I started this tradition many years ago, and I love it.

When our boys were small, our tree was filled with baby & children’s ornaments such as Baby’s First Christmas or a teddy bear or other cute animals holding age numbers. Almost all of the ornaments were given to the boys from both sets of our parents.

After my dad and Marty’s parents passed, it became hard and harder to get those ornaments out each year. The boys weren’t helping to hang up “their” ornaments anymore since they were grown up; I was decorating the tree alone.

My mother had her stroke eight years ago around Thanksgiving. I couldn’t bring myself to pull out all of those sentimental decorations due to emotional and physical exhaustion. I decided that I would keep those ornaments for the boys when they had homes and families of their own, and I would buy grown-up decorations.

Sam, Marty, and I went shopping and picked out our new purple, silver, and white ornaments. Our tree looked so glamorous, like the kind you see in magazines. Poor Noah was upset because he wasn’t around when all of this happened and was heartbroken about the new decorations. I explained to him why I needed to change things; he got it and was on board.

I still put up my mini Mema Christmas tree every year. Mema was my grandmother on my dad’s side for those who don’t know who she is. When I was small, I remember looking at Mema’s vintage ornaments from when my father was a little boy in the 1940s. I loved a Santa coming down the ceramic chimneypiece with old-fashioned glass bulbs sticking out of it.

When I was in my twenties, she had a box packed up for me when I visited Mema. It was all the decorations and ornaments that I loved. She said she didn’t decorate like she used to and wanted me to have them. It is still one of the most treasured gifts I’ve ever received.

I have one other Christmas decoration that is special to me as well. I received it when I was four years old. Nana and Grandpop, my grandparents on my mother’s, side bought it for me. It was Santa’s sleigh with reindeer, elves, and a big sack of toys in the back. The sled was studded with different color Christmas lights. I looked forward every year to plugging it in and seeing the sleigh light up.

I loved standing in front of my Santa’s sleigh and playing make-believe. I’ve always used different character voices when I played; I still do with our animals. I would use my Santa voice and call out to the reindeer and elves. When I got married and moved to Vermont, I took my Santa sleigh with me for my own home.

I’m not sure what year it was when the sleigh didn’t light up anymore; it gave me a shock and blew a fuse. After a series of curse words flying through the air, I ran to the fuse box and tripped the power. That was the end of the “light-up” sled, but I still put it on display every year. The funny thing is my boys never paid any attention to it like I did when I was small, but they didn’t have the same connection to it as I did.

After production, Marty and I went across the street to the Arlington Community House, which had their fundraising Christmas trees and wreaths sale. The proceeds help the town fund the community house, which is important to us, and not having to travel anywhere to get the tree is priceless.

Marty cut the bottom of the tree, drilled a hole in it, placed it in the tree stand, and let me have at it. He headed out with Sam to work on a project, so I had the house to myself. I put on Christmas music and slowly started putting up our decorations. It began to snow while I was decorating, which was even more festive.

While organizing everything on the dining room table, I came across a Christmas ornament mailed to us last Christmas. Our tree was down, so I never used it; I put it in one of the Christmas boxes. The ornament was from the care facility where my mother lived, a glass ornament with her photo in it.

You never know when grief is going to sneak up on you or punch you in the face. In yesterday’s case, it hit me right between the eyes. I started to weep, taken by surprise with all kinds of emotions. I let myself cry and let all the feelings go one by one. I was sad, mad, angry, and heartbroken. Marty stopped in for a moment, hugging me, telling me it was ok to cry.

I became over-sentimental and didn’t have the same happiness I started with. In the end, I finished decorating the tree and the house, happy with how everything looked. It was dark out already, and the guys were out on a rescue squad call, so I quickly jumped in the shower.

As soon as I got out of the shower, the power went out from all the heavy snow snapping tree branches and power lines. I let out a big, “What the fuck! You gotta be kidding me,” while standing in the bathroom dripping wet in the dark. I felt around for my towel and went downstairs to light some candles.

The house quickly got chilly since I didn’t have the heat up high while decorating the tree. My thick hair down to my waist takes forever to dry; it was soaking wet, making me uncomfortable and cold. The pleasant and nostalgic feeling that I had when I finished Operation Christmas went right out the window.

When the guys finally got home, we manually lit the gas stove, heating leftovers. I sat with a hat, fleece pants, and a hoodie under a mountain of blankets. The power didn’t come back on until almost midnight, and the road crews still hadn’t been out. We had over eight inches of heavy snow. The guys went outside to start digging out, but the driveway was covered with snow as soon as they made a pass with the snowplow or shovel.

After the power came on, we sat together, catching up with each other’s day. They liked how the tree and decorations came out this year. It was still dumping heavy snow outside, and everything was tranquil. Last night, we decided that we wouldn’t be attending our farmer’s market today, not knowing how much snow we would still be getting and how the roads would be at 5 am.

Today is a gift of a “free” day to use as I wish; we never have a Saturday off, so it is like a luxury to me. Have a great weekend, guys! 🎄❄️⛄️🕯

Seven years ago I worked on Thanksgiving Day at Stewarts Shops; known for their ice cream and milk. Stewarts also sells gas, food, beer & wine, and groceries. I worked the early shift with my manager Bob. Bob is the best boss I have ever had. I’ve worked for a lot of people, but Bob is one of those salt of the earth kind of guys.

Bob was the hardest worker in the shop even though he was the manager, which most times isn’t the case. When I am a manager I try to be the hardest worker as well. I have a lot of respect for him and enjoyed working my shifts with him.

As I worked making coffee, making food, ringing the register, and a million other tasks that are expected of you, I listened to Bob say, “Happy Thanksgiving” to our customers. What struck me every time he said it, was how he said it.

Bob put the emphasis on the “thanks” not giving. I always heard people including myself say it all in one word. Thanksgiving. What’s the difference? I will try to explain.

Bob said thanksgiving in a way of “giving thanks.” Thanks…giving as opposed to Thanksgiving. I thought about it after my shift and realized what Bob, a church-going man, was actually saying to people. I felt dumb that I never thought about the word or the meaning before.

I looked up the word thanksgiving. It really comes down to simple grammar. The holiday Thanksgiving is spelled with a capital T which is different than spelling it with a lower case t meaning, “the act of giving thanks.” Ah, now it made sense.

I think everyone, myself included thinks about Thanksgiving as a holiday. It is a holiday because Abraham Lincoln declared it a holiday of giving thanks back in 1863.

Growing up I was taught that the first Thanksgiving was celebrated by the pilgrims from the Mayflower and the indigenous people that used to be known as Native Americans or Indians way back then. It was a celebration of their first harvest together. From what I have read recently, that is all a bunch of bullshit.

Some say the first Thanksgiving took place in Virginia back in the 1600s. Some say the first Thanksgiving wasn’t the pretty picture that was painted for us, which I believe is most likely true.

America isn’t the only country that celebrates Thanksgiving, many countries and islands have their own Thanksgiving holidays in different months of the year.

To me, the act of giving thanks can be and should be something to do every day. Performing the act of giving thanks doesn’t require roasting a turkey or chowing down on pumpkin pie, it requires the simple act of thanking God, the universe, or whatever higher power you believe in.

Thanksgiving means more to most people in the last two years due to the pandemic than ever. Last year, families weren’t allowed to get together to celebrate the holiday. Many people lost loved ones and friends that they didn’t get to say goodbye to making everyone cherish our relationships more. We hug more now that we can and say, “I love you.”

Our country is a mess and covid is still running rampant throughout communities, but we still have so much to be thankful for. The first thing I do when I wake up every day is to give thanks…grateful I even woke up, something everyone doesn’t get to do.

After seeing the grocery store shelves empty last year I always give thanks in the store that the shelves are full. I am grateful we can pay for groceries, heat, and other basic necessities.

I am grateful for my family and friends. I am very grateful for our business and our customers. I am grateful for belly dance and that I still have the ability to dance for hours at a time and the wonderful women I have the pleasure to teach and dance with.

Finally, I am grateful that I had the balls to start a blog this year. I am beyond grateful for my readers and that you have chosen to come along on my journey with me. Thank you!

Happy Thanksgiving guys! Enjoy your holiday and know that thanksgiving can be something to celebrate every day and not just the fourth Thursday in November. Bon Appetite…

There are a lot of things to like and dislike about social media. One thing that I like is memories that pop up each day going back years. Today, a bunch of Thanksgiving posts came up reminding me of things that I’ve tried or done in past years.

Sometimes I worry that I have absolutely no recollection when I see these memories and today was exactly like that. These types of forgotten memories are cooking ones; ones that I do automatically and never write down or remember how I did them.

A jackpot of memories appeared this morning reminding me what I used in the compound butter that I shove under the skin of the turkey for maximum flavor and moisture. I also was reminded about when and what I used in my turkey brine.

The best memory was from 2018 when I used a James Beard turkey cooking technique that worked fabulously. James Beard was an American chef, cookbook author, teacher, and television personality. He pioneered tv cooking shows and taught at the James Beard Cooking School in NYC.

James Beard’s cooking style was preparing dishes with fresh, wholesome, and American Ingredients. Beard taught and mentored generations of professional chefs and published more than 20 books. His memory is honored by his foundation’s annual James Beard Awards.

I watched a video on how James Beard roasted his turkey and I wanted to try it. Here is how it went:

The James Beard-style turkey was so moist and delicious, I can’t believe I forgot about it! I am planning on roasting my turkey again like this on Thursday.

Probably the best memory that popped up was this one:

Isn’t it genius to eat pie for Thanksgiving breakfast? It’s always just us for Thanksgiving so it’s no biggie if a slice is missing at dessert, my family couldn’t give two shits if the pie is whole or not. However, I started making mini pies last year and they worked out even better! No one knows how many you made or ate on Thanksgiving morning! Ha! 😉

We cranked out tons of spätzle today for this week’s deliveries which are shortened due to the holiday and our distributor’s delivery schedule. The work we got done in the production kitchen today frees me up tomorrow to do my Thanksgiving prep and baking. I normally would tackle most of it on Wednesday, but that’s belly dance day and nothing is coming between me and dancing. 💃🏻

I know not everyone gets so excited about holiday cooking. I look forward to it weeks ahead and love doing the prep, baking, roasting, cooking, table setting etc. If holiday cooking isn’t your thing I urge you to start prepping ahead of time, getting organized, don’t bite off more than you can chew, and relax. It’s only food after all and if your guests don’t like what you prepared then they can do one of two things…blow it out their ass or cook the meal themselves next year. 😜🖕🏼👍🏼👌🏻

Yesterday surprised us with the replacement oven hinges showing up the day after Marty ordered them. We paid extra for fast shipping…turns out it was worth it!

Marty is a jack of all trades kind of guy and can really fix almost anything especially with the addition of YouTube DIY videos now available.

Long story short, he fixed not only the hinges on my oven but also replaced the burned out light bulb and the convection fan that stopped turning ages ago.

I know I got myself excited about the possibility of purchasing a new stove, but now that mine is fixed, I am happy and satisfied.

With the uncertainty of todays world I feel better not having to cough up a bunch of money for a new stove right now. The stove that I have is kickass and I am back in love with it! Thanks Marty! 🥰

This is the year of our appliances breaking. Our bar fridge broke back in late winter. It would be too expensive to fix, so we converted it to a bar pantry. In the springtime, our dishwasher hose was eaten by a mouse, and it took over a month to have the hose replaced. Yesterday, while I was making cauliflower pizza for lunch, the hinge on my oven door snapped.

The bar fridge I didn’t care about breaking. The dishwasher was a royal pain in the ass, but I could still do dishes by hand. But the oven…dammit! The week before Thanksgiving too! 😖

When it happened, I started to cry. I thought about how much I love and use my stove and oven. How many thousands of meals have I made using it for the last 17 years. When we bought our home, we had to purchase a new stove; the old one was too unsafe to use; the propane company wouldn’t even consider hooking it up.

The stove is 36-inches, not your standard size. That’s what size was in the kitchen in which the cabinetry was built around. We picked a beautiful stove, a Thermador. We got it for a discount since it had a scratch in the stainless steel on the side. Marty is a master wheeler-dealer and got a good deal. The stove was still expensive but worth it since I use the stove and oven at least 300 days a year. That’s a lot of use in 17-years.

Marty tried to find replacement hinges and found that parts are hard to find since the stove and parts are discontinued. Through my tears, I started looking at 36-inch stoves online, and I saw gorgeous ones! I picked out about four of them…I was in love.

In the meantime, Marty found the hinges from a third-party seller on Amazon. This, of course, was good news and was only going to cost about $160; if the hinges will work, that is. A part of me was relieved that he found them and would hopefully arrive before Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving is one of the granddaddies of all the holidays from a cook’s standpoint. After crying about what I was going to do to bake my turkey and pies, I realized I could use the grill for baking the turkey and making my pies in the toaster/convection oven. Problem solved.

Here’s the thing…a part of me doesn’t want the hinges to work now that I saw those spiffy new stoves. I already redesigned that section of the kitchen, including getting rid of the upper cabinets for a new exhaust hood and open shelving. I also know exactly what kind of tiles I would use as a new backsplash, those gorgeous European tiles in black, white, and charcoal gray. They fit together to form a pattern.

I fessed up to Marty about wanting a new stove, and this is what he said. “Even if the hinges work, it will buy us time to pick out and find a new stove in the near future.” The stove is on its last legs, but we could take our time redesigning and remodeling without picking out something in haste. Ha, so he was on board!

With the uncertainty of the hinges working, I am sure he is already looking for deals on floor models somewhere since ordering anything right now, the way our world is is out of the question.

So, I am not sure what will happen, but in any case, I will still pull off Thanksgiving dinner without a problem.