Woman in the Middle

Once again, the Academy Awards has come and gone and I didn’t see even one move that was up for a major award. Hubby and I try to see at least one movie that will be featured that year at the Oscars, and yet year after year we fail miserably. We set such a low bar that it would seem impossible to miss, and yet we do. Sigh.

I do like movies, I really do. We just went to see “Identity Thief” and enjoyed it. It was just up my ally – light comedic fluff. But those movies seem few and far between anymore.

Many years ago I went to see a movie that ended up being just a little too much like my real life right then. That was when I made a Scarlett O’Hara vow to make my movie watching fun and light-hearted and not serious and scary. I have managed to keep that vow for the most part, with a few exceptions, mainly to please my family.

I thought the Oscars show itself was amusing. Seth MacFarlane was certainly an interesting choice for host!

What did you think of the Oscars? What kind of movies do you like to see?

I had my cell phone with me last Wednesday about 1 p.m. and then I didn’t have it….Hummm…. I remembered it had last been seen sitting on the passenger seat of my car. Then I got home, got out, and then got back in with my daughter who threw everything that had been in the passenger seat into the back seat of the car. So, after work Thursday I went poking around. No phone could be seen until I picked up a little Starbucks pastry bag that had once held a toasted bagel. It felt suspiciously heavy for a little bag that should have had nothing in it but a plastic knife and a tiny, empty cream cheese container. Sure enough, there was my phone. How did it get in there????

Since both the bag and the phone were on the same seat, I am guessing the vibrations of the car caused the phone to slide into the little bag. When Eldest picked up the papers and such that were on the seat, she never would have noticed the phone doing its beast to get pitched into the trash. The little devil! I am happy to report that the phone has been behaving itself since then. I am certainly going to keep it away from little Starbucks bags!

As impossible as it may seem, to my family anyway, Blackie the cat just turned 14! Even my youngest couldn’t believe it, until we point out that she is 20, almost 21 and Blackie was born in our front planter on February 20th, 1999 when she was 6 years old. My mother had just passed away and I really feel like those kittens were sent to help us deal with that sad event. Four cute kittens can take your mind off quite a bit of heartache, let me tell you! I am sorry to say I don’t have the kitten photos scanned in, so I can only go back to 2005 to show you photos of Blackie the Wonder Cat. So here is to Blackie and may he have many more birthdays!

November 2005 Blackie and his specialty – the head bump!

2006 – A favorite perch at the old house was on the back of the love seat, looking out the front window. Note Honey on the left, hanging out in her favorite hidey hole. Oh, and that is Youngest Daughter, playing a video game.

A classic picture of our very big cat, also from 2006. Is that a seal in Eldest Daughter’s lap, or just Blackie?

This photo was taken on the 15th of this month. We were celebrating my mom-in-law’s birthday and I think Blackie just wanted to see what all the fuss was about.

The silly cat likes the sun that comes in and hits one particular chair at the kitchen table. But in order to maximize his sun exposure he had to hang his head out over the edge of the chair.

A little while later the sun moved and Blackie got into a more comfortable and conventional position.

Thanks for allowing me to indulge in a little kitty love for Blackie’s birthday!

I was standing in line at the super market this weekend and, as always, I ran my eyes over the magazines they had there by the check out stand. The cover of the tabloid Star caught my eye. It had photos of Princess Kate in a bikini with a teeny tiny baby bump showing. Then, today, I was taking a peak at the People magazine website and it mentioned she is five months pregnant. What?!?!?

That woman is skinny as a toothpick. How could she have such a tiny little pooch when she is five months pregnant? She is thin and gorgeous, found herself a prince, and her father-in-law picks up the tab for her fantastic wardrobe. If life were fair she would be getting huge by now.

I was quite thin back in the day when I had my children. I have joked ever since then that when I got pregnant I rolled out of bed the next morning and started wearing maternity clothes. When I was pregnant with both of my girls I was bombarded with questions such as “Are you sure it isn’t twins?” and “Are you sure you are only 4 (or 5 or 6) months pregnant?” When I was pregnant with my second daughter I was asked by my minister’s wife how far along I was. When I said “two months” she replied, “You are kidding! You’re huge!!”  It was a special moment in my religious life, needless to say!

I am happy to report that  by the end of my pregnancies I was no larger than any other woman and both of my girls came out at a perfectly normal weight. They were each under eight pounds. But I was no Princess Kate, keeping it all tucked inside. And I certainly wouldn’t have been wearing a bikini!!!

Our recent rain caused a little visitor to come into my bedroom. He (she?) is lucky I didn’t step on him. Brown worm on brown carpet doesn’t provide a lot of contrast! The funny part was when Eldest Daughter found this photo on my camera. “Mom, why did you take a picture of a worm?!?” “Because it was in my bedroom.”  “Oh my gosh, that is our carpet!”

Apparently most earthworm species are both male and female at the same time. That makes it even harder to decide which pronoun to use…I saved Mr. or Ms. Worm and deposited him/her outside where I hope he/she went on to move a little earth once again. Wonder what the next rain will drag in?

Back in early December I was out one Friday morning doing some errands. I was waiting at a light when I noticed this on the light pole across the street.

Hum, I thought, crows. Nothing unusual there. We have a lot of crows around here. Not as many since West Nile came to town, but still a lot of crows. Then I looked again. Weird looking crows…Oh my! It was three vultures! Now that is a little unusual! So I had to pull over and take a few pictures. The vultures were unfazed by my curiosity. The pictures did not turn out that great due to the angle of the sun and my lack of ability. I tried to get a better angle but when I walked that direction I encountered an even bigger vulture standing on the ground. He appeared to be the one with the prime position regarding what ever was dead and attracting so much attention.  Vultures are pretty big birds and I did not want to have it out with him or get any closer to what he was eating. Yuck!!

Lately I have been feeling like I am living in a nature movie here in my little city. If it isn’t an owl hooting it is the coyotes howling and yipping. If is isn’t the killdeer making lots of noise at night it is the bats swooping in over the pool to catch bugs. Or maybe it is three or four vultures hanging out at Limonite and Baldwin.  I feel like singing “Born Free,” but that is probably dating me!

I have had to eliminate MSG from my diet. There are lots of people who are sensitive to this additive and you can now add me to that list. This has forced me to cook more from scratch because MSG is everywhere in prepared foods. It is in most packaged gravy mixes (and I love gravy). It is in most canned soups  (and I love a little soup for lunch). It is in so many things I can’t list them all here. So, at the advanced age of 51 I am having to cook. Sigh.

Last week I made split pea soup from scratch. Hubby declared it was “excellent” which made me very proud! I have to admit it was pretty darn good, if I do say so myself. I think it was even worth the half hour I spent chopping veggies for it. The recipe I started off with was courtesy of Martha Stewart. However, I made a few changes that I think mad e it better such as adding more chicken broth and less water and adding a little garlic powder. I made some corn bread to go with it. Yum!

Here is Martha’s split pea soup, with a little help from Kim.

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 chopped medium onion

4 carrots, thinly sliced

3 celery stalks, thinly sliced

1 tablespoon dried thyme leaves

Sprinkle of garlic powder (maybe 1/2 a teaspoon)

4 cups chicken broth

3 cups of water

1 bag (16 ounces) split peas, picked over (Really, this is very important. It is very common for there to be little stones mixed in with the dried peas, beans, etc…)

Ham bone, slice of ham, or I used 1 package uncured English style bacon from Fresh and Easy Market.

Salt and pepper to taste (Don’t add salt before tasting. The broth and ham add lots of salt)

In a Dutch oven or other large pot, heat olive oil and add chopped onion, celery, carrots, thyme and garlic. Cook until veggies begin to soften, about 5 to 8 minutes.

Add broth, water, split peas, and ham or bacon. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to medium-low and partly cover pot with lid. Simmer until peas are soft, about 30 – 45 minutes. When the soup first begins to boil you may want to skim the foam off that rises to the top.

Many recipes, including Martha’s, have you puree half of the soup to give it that creamy consistency. Yeah, I don’t think so. I just let the soup cook a little longer and the peas break down and fall apart and that is good enough for me. But feel free to puree away if you would like, Martha says to work in batches and only fill the blender half full each time and to make sure the lid is on the blender. You don’t want hot soup going everywhere!

There are a lot of little gems located throughout Inland So Cal, great places to spend a few hours enjoying yourself. I am doing my best to ferret them out, visit them,  and then share them with you. On a recent Saturday Hubby and I visited the Motte Historical Museum. It is located at 28380 Highway 74 in the Romoland area, now part of the city of Menifee. The Mottes are a long time farming family in the Perris/Menifee area. Husband and wife, Leon and Darlene Motte, gave Hubby and I a tour of the museum. Before you get jealous, I just want you to know I have known Darlene and Leon since I was a kid. That got me special privileges!

The barn in which the museum is located was designed by architect Robert Morris. He is obviously a master of old western design. The barn looks like something out of a movie, what every old barn should look like if only it was designed by an architect like Mr. Morris! Much of the material used to build the barn was salvaged from other old buildings, from a nearby turkey ranch to warehouses in Los Angeles. It really adds something to the place to have the old fixtures, wall coverings, etc throughout the space.

Inside the museum old photos of the Motte family have been enlarged to adorn the walls, with captions telling visitors who is in the photos. Some show them with the cars that are now restored and on display. But the stars of the collection are the cars. Even if cars are not a big thing with you, I think you will appreciate these cars. They have all been expertly restored. My Hubby, who does love cars, said they were museum quality restorations. That makes every single car is a true beauty.

Leon Motte with one of the old family photos in the Motte Historical Museum.

One of my favorites on display was the first Perris School bus. It was really a truck with two benches put in the bed for students. The sides were open with roll down shades for rainy days. Leon Motte said an older student would be selected by the school to be the driver. People really liked to live life on the edge in the good old days! For some strange reason I didn’t get a photo of the bus so you will have to visit to the museum to check it out.

 Isn’t this car a beauty?

Upstairs in the loft area are display boards which have information on the history of the Perris Valley area. They are will done, full of photos, and really interesting.

The best part is that Motte Historical Museum is free! They do have a donation jar and would really appreciate it if you would drop something in, but that is up to you. It is a great place to visit on a day you feel like going on a drive, but don’t want to spend all day at your destination. I hope you enjoy the Motte Historical Museum!

Learn more at www.mottemuseum.com

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Well, Monday starts a new chapter in my life. After a year and a half I begin a new job! When I began this blog I was in the middle of having been laid off from my last job so it is nice to be able to tell you that I am once again joining the working world. Well, maybe I should say I am once again joining the conventional working world. I have been working since I was laid off. I wrote a book, I began doing a biweekly history column for the local daily paper, I volunteered one day a week to hold down the fort at the local chamber of commerce office….and those are just some of the new things I started. I still continued to do all of the other things I was already doing.

I am going back to my working roots with my new job. I started my career in a planning department and now I am going back to that. I will be working the front counter in a nearby city, answering people’s planning questions, taking in applications, and the like. I like being a public counter person. I enjoy interacting with people and I like trying to leave people with a positive impression of their local government. I also enjoy working the front counter because it makes time go by really fast! I will just be working part-time so I will still be able to do the other things I am doing, including this blog. Yay!

I think I have mentioned before that Blackie the cat sleeps in the garage. He has his whole life. We provide a comfy bed, water, a liter box, and a fascinating machine that gives him food at a pre set time every morning. In the summer we carefully air the place out every evening so it will be comfortable for him and in the winter we place something warm in his bed so he won’t be cold.

This winter we had quite a cold stretch there a few weeks ago and Eldest Daughter decided that Blackie couldn’t sleep in the garage because it was too cold. We told her he could sleep inside only if he slept with her. So, over the last month or so, Eldest invites Blackie to share her bed if it is particularly cold. We figured Blackie would become one spoiled kitty very quickly and would never want to sleep in the garage (or “Blackie’s boudoir, as we like to call it) ever again. We forgot to take into account an old cat’s preferences and routines.

For the first few very cold nights Blackie happily slept on Eldest’s bed, usually on Eldest, actually. The first night it returned to being warm Eldest brought Blackie into her room again but soon he wanted back into his boudoir. Since them we have seen a direct correlation between the outside temperature and where Blackie would like to sleep. It is really pretty fascinating.

Below 40 or so and Blackie will stay in Eldest’s room until at least 6 a.m. and has been known to stay in bed with her as late as 8 a.m.

At 40 to about 45 degrees Blackie usually wakes up about 2 or 3 a.m. and wants to go the garage.

Above 45 degrees or so and Blackie only makes it for an hour and then wants back out to his normal sleeping place.

So now, in addition to feeding him, cleaning his litter box, brushing him, cleaning up fur balls and other things he hacks up, giving him his laxative (he has a constipation problem) we now have to gauge the temperature to determine his maximum sleeping comfort. But it is all good. We wouldn’t want out kitty to be unhappy!

Blackie in his favorite cold weather sleeping spot, in Eldest Daughter’s bed and on Eldest Daughter!