Halloween

Okay, so I wasn't blogging this past Halloween and I confess, I was having difficulty coming up with an "H" letter for the A to Z challenge.  I did have something written for H but I moved it to R so that left me figuring out H and nothing came to mind until I started looking through pictures and saw Halloween pictures.  And since I wasn't blogging then, I thought I'd post about Halloween 2021 in April 2022.  

These are the pumpkins carved by son and his family.  My husband and me take the kids to the pumpkin patch to have them choose their pumpkins and one each for Mom and Dad then we all get together to carve pumpkins.  Since Halloween fell on a Sunday this past year, it was perfect to carve the pumpkins on Halloween.  We carved them in the afternoon so that they would be ready for the evening to light.

Starting left to right on the top row is the pumpkin my step granddaughter carved.  Next to it is my grandson's one.  Two years ago, the last time we carved them all together, he didn't want anything to do with carving but this year he got into the fun of getting out the pumpkin "guts" and using the knife that comes with the pumpkin carving kit to cut out his design.  He had to be helped a little bit but not bad for his first pumpkin!

The bottom row starting from the left is Bendy, the pumpkin my son carved.  Bendy is a character from Bendy and the Ink Machine.  I don't know much about it except grandson was really into it for a little bit, but not so much any more.  There were some video games of it and I think some cartoons??? Then next to Bendy is my DIL's one she did that obviously says Trick or Treat.

It was a fun time.  Actually they carve and hubby and me just hang out and help as needed. We had brought over brunch before we carved (stopped at a local restaurant and got food to go).  

My grandson was dressed as Spider Man.  His sister was dressed as a character from Among Us, another thing I don't know much about.  Grandson originally wanted to be Among Us for the costume but after the costume came (ordered from Amazon) and he saw how it was, he became claustrophobic in it.  His sister said she would give it a try.  I guess it inflates.  It was a warm evening and it was hot inside there so she only lasted about 30 minutes of trick or treating and she and my DIL came home.  Son and grandson stayed out for probably another hour or a half or so, having a blast trick or treating together.

There are only 205 days until Halloween 2022, but who is counting?  Are you? 

Google

My favorite search engine is Google.  I think I must google a million times a day something or another.  That's an exaggeration but it is my go to for whatever I might be looking up.  

On one of the Facebook groups I'm a member of, Living in North Phoenix, one of the administrators posted a meme question " What was the last thing you googled."  At that time, about a week or so ago, my last inquiry was "can dogs eat sour cream?" We had a container of sour cream we were using for a recipe and I wanted to see if Winslow could lick the container when it was empty.  Our other corgi, Koda, always loved licking the empty cream cheese container.  We don't eat cream cheese that much any more so Winslow hasn't been privileged to get that experience.  Anyway, yes, dogs can have sour cream and yes, Winslow enjoyed every single lick of that sour cream container.  He licked it dry and then some and even got some on his nose.  

The last thing I googled today right before I posted this blog was "can you freeze hard boiled eggs?"  The answer is yes you can freeze them, but they will probably not taste good and be rubbery.  

So what was the last thing you googled or if you don't google, what do you use as your search engine? 

Fish

We like to eat a lot of fish in our household.  My husband is the cook in the family and he does a great job with any kind of food that is cooked, but really does a nice job with fish.  We have eaten cod, tilapia, haddock, salmon, ahi tuna and swordfish.  A while back we saw frozen Barrumundi at the store for a reasonable price.  We bought it and put it in the freezer to cook down the road. 

This past Saturday we finally took it out to cook.  This is how it looked raw.  It was a 12 ounce package with two 6-ounce servings.   My husband put on butter olive oil, Italian seasoning, garlic, Mrs. Dash (we try to avoid regular salt in our household), and black pepper on the fish (might have been something else but can't remember it now lol) and then put the fish on the grill.  The directions said to cook it on the grill for 3-5 minutes on each side which he did and that was enough time to cook it through and through.  

This is how it looked when it came off the grill.

It was soooo delicious! When I had researched it, it said it had a light buttery taste and it surely did! It was a bit fishier than cod or tilapia but not overly so.  We served it with a pouch of potatoes and carrots that also went on the grill.  Those were mighty taste too!

Now that we tried it once, we definitely will get it again.  It is low in calories too! 

Are you a fish eater? Have you tried Barrumundi?  

Empty

 I am temporarily working for a major grocery outlet (not Wal-Mart) processing their employee termination files.  It is obviously a job I have to do on site.  But so many of the workers who could be were sent home at the start of the pandemic back in March of 2020.

It is basically a ghost town with a fraction of onsite employees.  It is rumored that in May more employees will be brought back onsite to work in a hybrid type situation (few days in the office, few days at home).

This is the cafeteria.  The picture was taken at 12:30 p.m. (ish) which should have been the "peak" of lunch with all the tables full.  As you can see, these tables were empty (and only one chair at most of the tables with a sign on each table to make sure you stayed socially distanced).  When I took lunch on this particular day at this particular time, there were only about five of us in this entire big room. 

This billboard is from March 2020.  It was close to St. Patrick's Day when things started locking down and people were sent home.  Apparently, it was asked for volunteers to go to 8th grade classes to help them learn money management.  I doubt that happened as schools closed shortly afterward.  Two years later and the billboard remains untouched.

Another view of the cafeteria.  This is a comfy chair I sit on at times.  It would be ideal to take a nap there, provided one doesn't snore while they nap.  Again, so empty.

This is walking down the hall to my work area.  These are cubicles once vibrantly filled with employees.  Can't see much, but it is empty now.  There are pictures on the cubicle walls of family of employees.  The employees thought they probably would be back in "2 weeks to flatten the curve" but 2 years later are still at home working.  There are jackets still left at some work spaces, notebooks opened like someone preparing to work, coffee cups and water bottles still on the desks still waiting for their owners to return, 2 years later.

There was a full service cafeteria with food onsite.  All locked down but if you look in you could see the trays loaded to be picked up, where the salad bar was, now empty waiting to be filled.  Where the grill was.  And the sandwich making station and so much more.  Breakfast and lunch were served there daily.  Now just empty and probably won't be started up again as there will be less people onsite compared to previous.  From what I understand the chef was a good one and the foods prepared so delicious. 

This is the menu still hanging on the wall from the week of March 16, 2020.  Looking at it, you could definitely see there was a good variety of food offered in the cafe.

There are two 4-story buildings where I work.  Both pretty empty as so many still working from home.  Two big parking structures several stories high.  I can get a very close parking space.  I'm sure that would not have been the case before.

This is just one of so many buildings and companies that are empty, ghost towns, affected by the pandemic.  My husband read an article recently that said 76% of companies want their employees to come back to the office while about the same (70%) of people still wanted to work from home.  It will be interesting how many return to this company in May and how many choose to continue to work at home if given the option.

After working from home for 2 years, would you be interested in going back into the office?  For me, I worked at home for 30 years, but I kind of like working outside the house now.  

Desert

As many of you know, I live in Phoenix, which definitely qualifies as a desert.  It does get HOT here in the summer months and it can be brutal as I've written about in the past.

But one thing we have discovered is a local coffee shop, Desert Eagle Coffee.  I wrote briefly about it before, but it is basically a drive through with tables outside for socializing if one wants to do that.  

Desert Eagle is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, including all holidays.  We went there this year on Thanksgiving and tried to go there on Christmas but the line was wrapped around the building and after waiting in line for about 10 minutes without really moving, we got out of the line and went back the next day.  

Our favorite drink to get there is called a Mr. Penguin, as pictured below.  You can get it hot, iced or blended.  We get it blended.  We also get it with whipped cream and drizzle.  These only have chocolate drizzle. Sometimes it will be both with caramel and chocolate.   This is a medium size.  They have a great incentive program.  You buy 10 drinks (they keep track of it through your cell phone number) and then you get a free drink! 

They are delicious! We splurge on them about once a month during the hot summer months and maybe every 2-3 months during winter.  They are worth every calorie in them! 

Are you a coffee drinker? Do you like blended drinks like these?  

Corgi

 This is Winslow, our (spoiled) corgi.  

Doesn't he look content? Or perhaps smug?  He is resting against my husband, his favorite.

As so many of you know, Winslow was not our first corgi.  Koda was.  They are so different, night and day.  But both loved and we will always miss Koda.  He is always in our hearts.

But I will leave you all with a cute story from one time I was walking Koda when we lived in Laguna Niguel (close to Laguna Beach).  

I was walking Koda in a neighborhood.  A girl of about 8-10 years old came out of her house on her way to school with her mom.  She shouted "oh my gosh, it's a beagle!" 

She thought Koda was a beagle.  

Pretty much every tri-colored corgi looks alike.  Some may be redheaded tri-colors like Koda or some with black hair in the forehead like Winslow, but I think corgis do look alike.  

So tell me, do you think Koda or Winslow look like a beagle? 

Bonus points if you had a beagle for a pet.  Let me know in the comments :)

Books (March)

March was a great reading month! I "made" myself finish some library books that were due back to the library (mainly e-books) and one hardcover book that I had out since January. I mentioned it before, but our library basically renews the hardcover books for you automatically every 3 weeks unless there is a hold for them and the books I get haven't had any holds on them.  I try to get the books back in a timely manner but that is not always the case.

So, on to book reviews for the month of March.

The first book was My Sister's Child by Karen Clarke.  Basically, the main character is raising a young boy who we find out is her sister's.  Her sister had a dubious past.  Her sister also dies in the very beginning of the book.  The main character is not sure who the baby's father is as her sister never revealed that info.  It is a bit of a mystery with the book and some interesting turns in it.  By three fourths into the book I figured out the father.  A good read; I'll give it 4 stars.

My second book for the month was A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles.  Bijoux had mentioned this book in a list of favorites she had done several months ago.  I put it on my list to read.  Oh my gosh, this book is a GEM of a book.  Down the line I'm going to do another post about a quote from it (actually a very long quote) that just struck me so much and was so true.  Anyway, the book starts in the early 1920s after the Russian revolution.  For "crimes" he has committed Count Alexander Rostov is ordered to spend the rest of his life in the hotel he has been living in for the past 4  years.  It is such a well written book that follows his life there for about 30 or so years.  Beautifully written! Along with his story there is also the side story of things regarding Russia and its history.  Timely to read with what is going on currently in Ukraine and Russia.  I read this on my tablet as an e-book from our library and I had to get up a few mornings about an half an hour earlier to finish reading it before it was due back, but it was worth it.  Down the line I want to read it again, slowly this time with a hard copy of it to underline so much "wisdom" that was written in it.  Highly recommend this book! Of interest, another book written by the same author, The Lincoln Highway, I have heard was not as good and harder to get into.  I don't plan at this stage to read it, but who knows?

The third book was The Children's Secret by Nina Monroe.  Here is what the book is about that I copied from the Amazon website promoting it.  "Nothing ever happens in a sleepy town like Middlebrook. Until the residents are shaken to their core, when one hot Saturday afternoon, at a back-to-school party, nine children sneak into a barn...and only eight come out unharmed."  This was a hardcover book from our local library.  It was a riveting story and held my interest.  Again, I'd give it 4 stars if you enjoy a bit of a mystery.  

The fourth book was Wish You Were Here by Jodi Picoult.  I have read a lot of her books and enjoy the majority of them.  This book was a fictional book that began as the pandemic started in March 2020.  The first half of the book for me was really hard to get into and I almost gave up but I stuck with it.  It was the book I had checked out from our library in January and I was determined to get it read to return it by April 2nd which is when another batch of books we got were due back.  I woke up one Saturday morning early and went out to read it, being on a schedule where I was going to try to read 50 pages Saturday, then 50 pages Sunday and then the next 70 or so pages left throughout the week to finish the book.  The story did an interesting twist that I did not expect and I ended up reading the last 170 pages of the book that Saturday.  It was a good story.  It brought back a lot of the anxiety felt at the start of the pandemic.  I'd give it 3.5 stars and patience with the first half of the book.  

The fifth book I read was The Nazi's Knew My Name by Magda Hellinger and Maya Lee.  It is a true story of a Jewish woman during the Holocaust in Auschwitz and other concentration camps.  She was put in charge of "barracks" where other Jewish woman were held but did her best to try to save as many women's lives as she could.  As Amazon said on its website "The Nazis Knew My Name is one woman’s story about the bravery and kindness shown by her mother in the Holocaust concentration camps."  World War 2 and the Holocaust are "interesting" to me so occasionally I will read either a nonfiction book about it or a fictional account.  This is definitely a true story.  It is a sad story but that was a terribly sad awful time.  I would only recommend it if one was "interested" in books from this time period.  

And lastly, I read Invisible by Danielle Steele.  I don't know why I keep reading her, lol, but I had this on hold from our local e-library so when it came my time to read it, I just downloaded it.  It was the classic formula Danielle Steele.  Tough childhood, finds love, loses love, finds love again, everyone lives happily after.  The only good thing about reading her books is I can basically skim through them while I'm exercising on the treadmill and they are fast reads.  I gave it 3 stars on Goodreads.  It held my interest, but very predictable.  I think I have one more of her books on hold and then I'm done with her (I think I said this last month too).  

So now I am at 14 books done for my goal of 50 for the year.  A fourth of the year gone (can you imagine?) so I think I'm pretty on target!

Let me know what you are reading or have read lately.  Always on a lookout for my next read.