Blast From My Past

This is Charlie Horse and Humphrey Hambone.  They were a HUGE part of my childhood television viewing.  This was my second favorite spot ... still trying to find the "honeybees" one.

Anyway, enjoy!

Yay Me!

I done good.

A few years back, for our first birthday(s) "together", I managed to *really* surprise The Awesome Fiance (then known as The Awesome Boyfriend) with a seemingly simple gift ... a lunch box.  It wasn't actually all that simple and involved some pretty good Internet search skills, quick fingers, and putting my trust in the seller of said lunchbox that the item was as pictured.  (It was.)  Anyway, the gift went over well and was greatly appreciated, judging from his reaction and from his writing about his memories with his original lunchbox on his blog.  (Anytime I think I write well, I visit his blog and know I'm not all that talented after all.  I DO WISH HE'D RETURN TO WRITING *ahem* ....... but that's not my decision to make.)

Since that birthday gift exchange, we've had a few occasions to exchange presents - anniversaries, Christmases, birthdays - and I've wished to be able to come to the same level as that original gift.  Which is not to say I've been phoning it in on the gifts I've given, but - for that particular gift anyway - I felt I'd peaked and wasn't measuring up.

I knew what I wanted to do for this birthday for a few months now - upgrade our flights on our Summer vacation.  It was gonna take creativity, a little deception, a LOT of luck, and some financial wrangling.  I mapped out the order of things I'd need to do so that I didn't miss any steps.  One wrong move and I'd wind up with a surplus of airline miles and no way to turn them in ... or, worse, seats but no miles to secure them with.

One random Saturday morning, the airline alerted me via email that the miles were in my account.  The email arrived at something like 4:30am and I read the message at 6am.  I reeeeeally wanted to sleep in but I knew I'd never forgive myself if I screwed this up (plus I didn't really have a backup plan if this fell through) so I dragged myself carefully from the bed and slowly walked from our bedroom to the living room.   Tabby looked at me from her bed as if to scold me for messing up her routine so I quietly sat down and, took a deep breath and crossed my fingers, logged into my airline account to see what, if anything, was available in the way of better seats on our flights.

As it turned out, being awake at that hour worked out quite well.  Seats were requested and granted and fingers were uncrossed.  Now, how to wrap them.  It's not as 'tho anything is done via actual paper anymore.  No one has actual airline tickets ... confirmations, yes but even those are likely electronic.

A quick search of words ("travel" and "folder") brought me to a vendor in Texas who had a collection of 1950s travel-focused items, including original airline-created travel folders.  If one was traveling in the 1950s, one worked with a travel agent, who would issue actual tickets, luggage tags, a fully-customized itinerary and a pen by the airline they'd be using, all bundled up in a folder specific to the region the flight was headed.  It was just dumb luck that the folder was created by the same airline we booked with going to the same area that we'd be venturing to.

From there, I found a few grocery items either associated with or containing the name of our destination, and appropriate wrapping to use to decorate the gifts with.  (I used a tablecloth that had decorations of our vacation spot.  Hey - sometimes ya' need to be creative.)  I swung by a clothing store for a "travel" themed shirt and contacted my local florist to recommend a vendor to provide me with the right flowers.

Well, it all came together.  Last night, The Awesome Fiance experienced his virtual vacation-themed birthday.  Everything worked out great and it was all appreciated.  It may not have been much to open/unwrap, but he mentioned a few times he saw the thoughtfulness I'd put into it and that ... well, that honestly was what I was REALLY hoping for.

We're now 364 days away from his next birthday.  I'll give myself a few months before I start thinking about what I'll do for it.

... And Many Morrrrrrrrrrre!

Happy Birthday to you.

Happy Birthday to you!

 




Happy Birthday Dear Human who caters to my every mewed whim ...

Happy Birthday to you!

Good Enough Isn't

Out of all the different ingredients that can be added to a batch of jam (and there are a TON of available options if you're willing to get creative), the one that makes the biggest difference to the end result is the fruit being used.

If you can talk to the individual who planted or watered or weeded or picked the fruit you're planning to use for jam, it's the closest thing to getting a guarantee that your end result will be pretty great stuff.

No matter what experts say, I don't believe that there's a substitute that tastes as good as "field fresh" fruit.

It's true that you CAN make jam from frozen stuff where you don't have to remove stems or seeds or pits, it's also true that it's that frozen taste you're gonna be preserving - and since there will always be more bags of frozen berries available, why would you need to "preserve" that??

For me, it's the difference between a garden tomato and a supermarket tomato.  They're the same thing, but they taste like they're barely related to each other.  So for everyone who says "Well heck - I can BUY jam at the supermarket" - yes, yes you can.  But it's never gonna taste like this.

Nice Going, Moron!

When I came to a decision on what to name this ... this place, "Fall to Grace" seemed to fit.  I strive to be fairly graceful, both in movement and in tact, and a lot of times I fall short.

I try not to take pleasure or smile knowingly when I see someone "put their foot in it" because I've been that person oh so many times.  I've never asked a woman "when are you due?" and have them turned out to not be expecting a child, because simple common sense tells me not to ask that question unless I have confirmed knowledge that she is, in fact, pregnant.  I have, however, managed to put myself in plenty of awkward situations over the decades.  It's not fun.

That being said, I recently was part of an audience to an exchange that, honestly, both pissed me off and humbled me.  Someone - not me - made a "funny" remark as a response to an UN-funny situation because ... well honestly, I don't know why.  I can only guess that their common sense trigger didn't ignite.  To the credit of the recipient of the remark, rather than climb up one side and down the other and dope-slap the moron, the benefit of intent was given and everyone moved on.

Seeing someone do something dumb and taking pleasure in it may not be my way.  However, watching someone do something that good ol' common sense would typically jump up and say "HEY!!!  That's NOT a good idea!   Step away from the snarling, rabid mongoose!" ... well, that's another story.

But I'd rather focus on the actions of the anti-moron (in the above situation) for a moment.  This individual was given a bright green light, red carpet lined runway, all fees paid pass to rip said-moron to shreds, but did not.  Instead the person actively chose to respond with class and grace that I just am in awe over.

I've already had a few awkward moments and exchanges when it comes to my having Parkinson's - nothing major or terribly insulting but still a little "crunchy".  I've made it a point to have everyone feel at ease about asking me questions (which is NOT my nature because of my tendency to protect my privacy at all costs) because I want to be at ease about my Parkinson's.  It's a practice I hope I can continue down the line.  No matter how tempted I may be from the all-fees paid pass to do otherwise.

FMD 2012

Healthy pets (and humans).
Sunny mornings.
Sharing something I think is tasty ... and having others say so, too.

It's June (at last!) and the weather is encouraging the ripening of fruit as you read this.  "FMD" HQ, which is to say our home, has been stocking up on jam jars, tasty ideas, new methods of incorporating flavors, and contacting local farms to warn them we'll be placing fairly decently-sized orders of various fruits as they become available.  (What's a fairly decently-sized order?  How about "Hello Ryan?  Yeah - any chance we'll get those 20 pounds of cherries this week?  Great!  See ya' then.")

Having recently completed creating 7 different strawberry-based flavor combinations (resulting in 75 filled jars), we're planning on moving on to cherry-based jams this weekend.  I'll post pictures of the fruit we're using (because I think the first pic I took looked great - I just need to upload it so I can add it here) and, as the batches are done and stored, will share some of the 2012 new flavors.

I WILL say now that the two taster-jars I brought into work today were overwhelmingly approved.  I don't let anyone just say "nice job" or "mmmm" as I would much rather know what is working - or not - for each flavor (and each taster).  As much as "mmmm" is nifty to hear, it doesn't really inform me much and I'd almost rather hear "uh - yeah - that ... that's too bitter" than just get "mmmm" as a review.

It's nice to create good-tasting things.  It's pretty damn cool to hear others say things like "I know you won't officially SELL these but *oops* this $10 just fell onto your desk."

In short, making jam that folks enjoy makes me smile.  Lucky for them, I like to smile A LOT.

FMD 2012.  Coming soon, to a mailbox near you.