Pinterest Fail

Or it would be if I'd gotten the idea off of Pinterest.

And no- There won't be a pic of this fail. It is delicious, though. Remember that!
You know those white chocolate covered pretzel things that have been on the scene a few years now? The ones that are first dipped in melted white chocolate and then rolled in/sprinkled with crushed peppermint candies? Here---> These Things. Well I do love them. And I've made them several times. And, you know, they've always turned out pretty decently. Someone brought me the makings not so long ago. Yesterday seemed like the time to make some. And for the first time ever- Wow. I mean those babies are UGLY. I mean the chocolate did not at all cooperate and they are.... just.... amazingly unpretty. (They taste good, however. Their deliciousness is directly proportional to their ugliness.) :)

And then there's the win.
Someone made eggnog last week and promised to save some for me...and didn't. At all. Boo-hoo. So, I went shopping for eggs and cream yesterday and made some MYSELF. So there. And guess what? It is Exceedingly Delicious! This is the recipe (pretty simple, actually). I made half a recipe, omitted the rum and used 2 small tubes of rum flavoring instead. Try it. I'm not kidding. If you like eggnog, you will LOVE this stuff!

This is exactly how I feel about math. Unfortunately, I was never very good at pushing numbers. And- speaking of math. I saw how my nephew is learning math now. It looked like a nightmare come true. If we thought math was hard in our day, I'm not sure what these poor kids have. At least our math problems never took a whole page PER problem until well into calculus. Goodness. I really don't understand how the new way is anything but more confusing.

It is that time of year. Again. Already. I'm sort of stunned. 2014 seemed to just vanish. Here's wishing you all the best possible 2015...keeping in mind that this might not come about exactly how we think but that it will be the best if we are careful on our part to choose wisely. And I'm off to have a 'cup of kindness'--- see above re that eggnog! ;)

The Fridge Got Married

What do you think about that??

No, Not THAT Fridge.

This Fridge.

This is the fridge that lives in our kitchen.
And, Why Yes, there IS a story.
Thank you for asking!

Just over a week ago, we went down south. All the way to the end of the world south...well, the end of Ukraine, anyway. Down to the mouth of the Danube River. And when we got back to our cozy little apt up here in the sort of north, we made a wee discovery.
First of all, we got into town really early. I mean really. (Because our city is in the middle and all trains are on their way to some end city a few hours, at least, down the road. And they want to be there at 6 am. Ugh.) And the night train had been HOT. As in SoHotICan'tSleep Hot. There was one 2hour stretch that I never noticed the time. (This is paybacks for never having had kids and losing sleep getting up with fussy babies. Nights on trains. So that I know what it's like. I feel your pain, I do. And do you know what? You cannot sit up in a rocking chair and cuddle the hot train and enjoy the smell of the top of its head while you're not sleeping.)
Anyway- so when we got back to the apt, we crawled straight into bed for a few more hours. Like 3 or 4.
And then I rolled out to the kitchen in search of cereal and coffee. And noticed the fridge light didn't come on.
And further more, the milk is...whoa- Very Sour. And Completely Warm. Oh dear.
And so's everything else. Everything. Everything is basically room temperature. Sure enough- it's off and has been for a while.
Long story somewhat shorter.
The fridge was plugged into a power strip with an auto shutoff in the event of a major power surge. There had apparently been just such a surge while we were away. That feature on the power strip likely saved the fridge. (Because of the ongoing crisis with Russia there is a bit of a problem with power supply just now- some days, the power is shut off for a few hours during peak usage time so that the commercial centers and hospitals near us have what they need. When it's turned on again, there are some pretty big surges.) However, you have to manually flip a switch to get juice back into the cord. Heh. And that takes a person. Present. Which there wasn't.
So, we talked to the landlord and he found and brought over a little surge protector that you set to a max output. If it tops that, it shuts off until the output drops below that level and stays there for 90 seconds or some such thing.

Here it is. See it? It and the fridge are Very Happy together.

See that number? 229? 
heh
We have 220 volt outlets here, theoretically. Our landlord tried it at his house (in a village on the outskirts of town) and said Set it to trip at 235 and you'll be fine. 
Thanks, We said.
We did.
And our fridge never stayed on for more than about 5 min at a time. This'll never work, We said.
Call the landlord back who consults his fellow electrical engineers at work.
Oh yes, in town it's quite high, They said. Set it at 250, They said.
We did.
The fridge runs and is happy. And that little gadget often registers outputs of around 245.
I'm telling you- Don't Put a Fork in Our Outlets. You Will Be SORRY!

And furthermore, I now understand why people unplug their washers every time they're finished with the laundry. I do, too.... now. And I also no longer leave my laptop plugged in when I'm not using it. 

The Picture I Didn't Take

It's a dark and starry night. We were on a bus and had been for a long time. I put Galadriel safely in her linen case and tucked her into my bag (Galadriel is my Kindle- we're good friends. She goes everywhere with me and has for 4 years or so.)
So, on the bus and thinking This trip has been so long already, it'll surely be time to get off soon. It's dark, I'd better get ready for disembarkation, in you go  Galadriel.
And up I come for some air just as this Man gets on the bus. He must have been wearing cowboy boots.... although I couldn't see his feet. But surely. Or leather biker boots. He was in jeans and a (PossiblyProbablyFake) leather jacket with shiny silver studs and buttons and rivets and things all over the shoulders and upper back and this really pretty cool black (PossiblyProbablyFake) leather cowboy hat.... and a big square brick red child's backpack on his back. The backpack had Wily E Coyote on it. I wanted so bad to get a pic but it was just too dark. K says it was surely his young son's (assuming such a child exists).
I'm here to tell you- A red Wily E Coyote backpack will undo your cool so fast.

Also there was a beggar. At a bus station. There are always beggars. Mostly they look like they need money for their next bottle of liquor or shot of something bad and illegal... or they're gypsies. This one got on and asked if anyone had any bread. I've never actually heard anyone ask for a piece of bread. I had a small bag of apples from a friend plus an apple I'd wrapped in a napkin and bagged before we left our apartment. People gave him some food and money as he moved towards the back of the bus and I dug around for the separate apple. Found a piece of chocolate candy along the way. He can have that,  too, I think. Everyone likes chocolate candy. And then Ahhh- the apple all wrapped in its napkin alone in its bag. I give it to him, he thanks everyone politely and leaves. And then I remember that there was also a small clear plastic baggie of dirty wet wipes and kleenex. And I suddenly wonder which bag I handed over. I dig. And come up with no bag at all. Neither the apple nor the garbage. Ughh.
Two hours later, I find the bag of trash and am completely overwhelmed with relief.

Also there was an overheard conversation. K was in the seat ahead of me. A man gets on and sits beside K. Thinking about our stop in the dark at an unfamiliar spot in the road, she asks him Where are we?
He names some unknown place.
Where are you going, he asks?
She says.
He says Oh that's a LONG ways yet and names off about 10 stops before ours. Then he peers at her.
Where are you from, he asks?
America, she says.
Where, he asks??
America.
WHERE??!?
She looks at him. I live in Ternopil (that's where our apartment is).
Oh, he says. Ok. Ternopil he can cope with.