All Things Odd And Silly

I had just picked up a new pair of glasses, but then I wanted to see the display model of the frames that I had chosen because I thought that they were more colorful than the ones that I had received.  While I was looking, a lady next to me who was trying on glasses mentioned to me that she had misplaced her own glasses.  I looked at the ones she was wearing and I think I even said to her, “They’re not the ones you are wearing?”  She told me that she had put her own glasses down on the counter while she was trying on the display frames, and now she couldn’t find her own glasses.  I looked down at the counter, and the floor, and sure enough there were no glasses there.  I mentioned that she must have accidentally hung her own glasses up with the display frames.  She kind of rolled her eyes at herself.  (I had actually recently seen a video on Instagram that was taken by a daughter when her mother was at a vision center and made this mistake and then cou...

I was in the Christmas clearance area at Walmart yesterday and there was a display with children’s books, so I couldn’t help taking a peek at the “Twas The Night Before Christmas” books.  The first that I looked at had the traditional pipe smoking Santa. Then I picked up a different book. This version contained the entire story/poem, except for the line about Santa’s pipe and the smoke which was completely omitted.  I don’t think I like the idea of smoking Santa and his pipe being taken out of this story. 😲  Well, I guess these two books will be my last inspected until “Twas/The Night Before Christmas” returns again next Christmas season. There is a reason why I write these stories to myself.  😂😂

 I was just laughing to myself remembering something about my son as a toddler.  He wanted nothing to do with just a part or piece of anything.  Everything needed to be, in his words, “Big a big, big a big!”.  Cutting fruit into pieces was a highly objectionable parental action!  #toddlers

 I was out earlier today to finish up a couple things before Christmas.  I stopped at a McDonalds to grab a bite to eat.  We were having a bit of light rain and on my way back out the door, I slipped and came very close to falling but then somehow didn’t.  This would have entailed me crashing to the ground along with my bag of food, large iced coffee and two open paper cups of ketchup that I was carrying.  Thank you Lady Luck for keeping me from this mishap.  This was after I had already had to explain to the employees that I was at the wrong McDonalds to pick up a mobile order that had been charged to me from another location.  I had created my order ahead of time because my phone’s internet data will never work in the parking lot of the McDonald’s that I was going to.  What I didn’t know was that when I created my order, the McDonalds app had selected a different location from where I was headed and I evidently confirmed it as being the right lo...

 My crazy thought about artificial intelligence.  Don’t try to beat it in a chess tournament.  Our brains can’t have the computing power of computer intelligence.  We therefore can just play the game for the fun of it without being too stressed by the idea of attempting to win.  Our human brains may not have the computing power of computers but we are not stupid and our human thoughts, imagination, creativity and emotions are an amazing gift and treasure that we are born with.   I don’t play chess myself.  There is too much thinking required for my obsessive compulsive brain. 🫨 I would rather not have to think too hard. 😂

 I found these images of cigar smoking Santa’s.  I guess these are special edition Santas. 😄🎅 Don’t ask me to explain why I find myself fascinated by Santa Claus and his pipe.  I guess maybe it’s illustrative of debates over whether historical depictions and artifacts should be altered or removed to reflect evolved moral and health related standards.  Either that or my inner child just wants to have some Christmas fun. 😂

 It’s a really good thing I don’t work as a cook.  Actually I did once work as a cook at a daycare center, but I just had to follow an already created menu, step by step.  No egg cooking was involved. 😲😂 My breakfast did at least still taste good and I have fun laughing at myself. 😁 🥚 🍳  I might need an “Adventures In Cooking” blog.  😲

 Yikes, I might have to remove this, but I can’t help wanting to write about this story because it is classic.  My parents at the time owned and lived in a home that was added onto and attached to the back of an old mill building.  I was expecting and was at the end of my third trimester with my first child.  We were actually all living there at the time in different parts of the house and mill.  We were all having dinner together one night, and my brother disappeared into the mill.  Shortly after this, I went out into the mill to retrieve something (probably milk) from the spare refrigerator.  I don’t know how my brother timed it, but as I was stepping onto the stairs to enter the mill, he yelled and smashed something loudly against a large metal cabinet that was at the landing of the other stairs coming down from the second floor.  I ran down the stairs from the kitchen to see what had happened, and Steven was for all appearances lying unconscio...

 My son’s girlfriend graduated from college yesterday, and she was the very last graduate at the graduation to walk across the stage.  How impressive!  Not very many people have this experience and can make the claim of holding such a place of distinction in the graduation proceedings.  Wow! 😁 To hear my son tell the story really tickled my funny bone for some reason. 😂  Go Jen! 😄👍 #beexceptional

 What did one ocean say to the other? Nothing, it just waved. 😄

 Most of the year my favorite colors are green, blue, indigo and violet a.k.a. purple.  But then when Christmas season comes, I think red is oh so beautiful and pairs so nicely with green and white.  Before that, orange is so spooktactular in its delightful Halloween pairing with black.  And then of course there is yellow.  The color associated with newness and new beginnings.  Yellow is the color of dandelions and buttercups.  Our life giving sun is yellow.  Baby chicks and ducklings are yellow.  Yellow is an important color of Easter along with the pastels.  It has occurred to me that the colors that are not on my typical favorite area of the color spectrum each have a holiday that grants them special significance and beauty.  How perfect is that as way of appreciating all colors on the color spectrum. 😄👍 Thanksgiving also has its colors of fall foliage and other associated colors of fall and crop harvests.  I like that Chr...

 I decided to try an experiment with making s’mores brownies using a graham cracker crust.  The brownies took a long time to cook in the graham cracker crust but the result was good. 😋 I added and melted the marshmallows after the brownies were fully cooked.  I don’t think I would cook brownies again in a graham cracker crust because they are too insulated from the heat on the bottom and take too long to be thoroughly cooked.

 Did I write about riced cauliflower before?  Well, here is my thought.  For those people who say it tastes just like rice, I’m sorry but I can’t agree on that.  If it works for you that’s all that matters, but for myself, I could never be satisfied with substituting riced cauliflower for rice.  I guess I am thinking about this because unlike when I was younger, I don’t believe in the existence of some magical completely healthy diet that could also be satisfying.  Not for me anyway.  I would think that eating food that is really good and satisfying would make a person less inclined to keep eating.  I know this is true for myself. 

 You would think that with the technology that now exists, Sasquatch would have been discovered by now, if it did exist.  I guess human beings are intrigued by the idea of their being some amazing creatures or apes that exist that have not yet been seen or proven to exist.  And what better idea than a huge, furry, humanoid like ape man.  I remember the movie, “Harry and the Hendersons”.  I have no memory of what the actual story was about but what a perfect story idea for a child oriented family movie.  In a movie you at least actually get to see big foot and not just a footprint and blurry photo.  I don’t know why the Sasquatch has struck my mental fancy today. 🤨 😂

 I just had like a dozen or more different thoughts that had a left and/or right theme. 1. Left and right are political positions we can hold. 2. We can be left or right handed. 3. We have left and right hemispheres to our brains. 4. We can be right where we should be or out in left field. 5. When something is missing we might say, “I don’t understand.  I left it right where I always do.” 6. If too much is happening, we might say, “Things keep coming at me left and right.” 7. If we leave before the celebratory part of an event we might say, “I left right after the program or ceremony.” 8. Left or right are choices that we must make when we come to a fork in the road.  9. If we get out of a place or situation before something unfortunate or unpleasant happens, we might say, “We left right in time.” 10. If we have left our senses we might be said to be not in our right minds.  11. If we are indecisive we might say, “I am left wondering what would be the right decision ...

 Parent: Why do you always have an excuse for everything?! Child: I don’t know.  It’s just a talent I suppose.

 I’m so stupid I thought that Robin went with Superman.  Then it hit me that he goes with Batman.  Hmm, Batman & Robin. 🧐 Maybe I should go have a chat with Batman.  😂🤣😂 I’ve been feeling like I have a bit of COVID brain.  Actually, maybe this should just be called an exacerbation of my normal. 😯 😁 #imverystrangeformyage HC

 One time when we were kids, I was really mad at my brother for some reason that I can’t remember now, and I made a puncture in his Stretch Armstrong figure with a pen.  After I did it though, I felt bad and was totally freaked out.  I tried some different things hoping that I could magically fix it.  I don’t remember everything I did.  I think I tried gluing it and squeezing the puncture closed hoping that it would stick back together again.  I do remember that I put a bandaid on it and then hid it somewhere in my brother’s bedroom so he would be unlikely to find it and hopefully not think about it.  I hoped that it would heal as if this was possible for a toy.  I just thought about this after seeing a Stretch Armstrong figure in a movie. My brother wasn’t harmless to my toys either.  I had this little white dog that I really liked.  It had a string that would make it bark when you pulled it.  One day my brother took a pair of scis...

 Ah, Christmas treats. 😋 What would Christmas be without its’ playground of sweet delights.

I was thinking of a tale I once heard from a family member.  She told me that she had a friend who had been a vegetarian for quite a long time.  Then one day her friend said to herself, “Fuck it.  Meatballs are too good.”   She ceased being a vegetarian. 🫢 😂 #creativelicense

I found myself recalling that the Santa Claus of years gone by smoked a pipe.  It was even described in the book,  Twas The Night Before Christmas.   “The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth.  And the smoke it encircled his head like wreath.”   It’s amazing how times can change.  Nowadays, a smoking Santa would never be part of a children’s book.  I don’t know if any other human beings in history have ever had the experience of seeing the world change so much, and in so many ways, over a few decades of their lives.  I doubt it.  What a pivotal time in human history have those of us living now found ourselves born into. So what is a poor Santa Claus to do without a pipe?  I don’t know.  Maybe replace it with a candy cane. #candyisdandy Okay, I was wrong.  I guess for the sake of tradition and a traditional story, Santa is still sometimes shown with a pipe, at least in this Dollar Tree version of  “Twas The Night...

 Lest I not forget. #alittleoverthetop  😂

Marsupial & Joey.  My cousins when they were young, had a pair of mother and baby stuffed toy kangaroos that they called Marsupial and Joey.  I’m sure their father helped them choose those names.  This thought just found its way into my mind.   There is just something cute about kangaroos named Marsupial and Joey.  

 I like when businesses sprinkle a little humor into their product packaging. 😄

  In my half awake and half asleep state, I remembered a wooden turtle bowl that my parents had when I was young.  They actually do still have it, but I was envisioning and remembering it from my childhood.  Their’s is a bit different (and not a sea turtle) but it is a similar type of wooden turtle bowl.