Mom's Guide to the Galaxy

Funny cat stories

I was asked recently why all of my kitten photos are of Zuko napping. Typically, if he’s not napping, I’m too busy stopping him from misbehaving to take a photo! But I have four cats, and the kitten is certainly not the only source of amusement.

About a week ago, I had just settled into bed with three of the cats when the fourth one, June, started howling from the living room. This wasn’t the normal “feed me” cry (or even her intent to use the litter box meowl), it was more of a “something is terribly wrong” anguished howl. Zuko perked up and jumped off the bed; I followed with a flashlight. As we reached the edge of the living room, June stopped howling and calmly walked to the sofa… and stood there, looking at the pillow that I had left in her normal spot. Well, yes, the rest of the sofa was available, but her spot wasn’t. I moved the pillow and went back to bed.

We have a projector and white screen rather than a TV. Zuko is the only cat who is consistently interested in what’s appearing on a screen, whether it’s my phone, computer, or the white screen. This isn’t normally a problem, but occasionally he’ll launch himself at the white screen… either grabbing at the handle, or actually attacking something onscreen. This is particularly awkward during my workouts… he’ll launch himself at the Centr.com trainer (usually Luke… I don’t know why) while I’m planking or otherwise not in a position to stop him. Oddly, when we’re watching a show, he’s fairly good about attacking the antagonist.

At night, Arwen likes sleeping under the covers. This isn’t a problem if I’m already awake enough to lift the covers for her… and otherwise, she’ll make sure to wake me up for it. In typical cat fashion, this usually means walking across my face in the middle of the night.

Diane is the most likely of the older cats to play with Zuko, and even that (at least, willingly) is infrequent. I was somewhat amused on a recent occasion when she jumped up on my bed mid-afternoon and started to play with him. A couple minutes later, he was gone and she was settled in his sun spot, so perhaps it wasn’t as friendly as it looked.

The cats are definitely not allowed on the counter, especially when food is being prepared. Arwen’s so unclear on this concept that she gets locked in my room as soon as we start preparing food. Zuko’s a bit better behaved, though he usually ends up in the room with her before food is served, sometimes just because he’s underfoot and we’re worried about tripping over him while carrying hot thigns. Diane and June are almost always well-behaved… but when Diane isn’t, despite being the largest cat in the house, she manages to jump on the counter silently. And she’s the only one who cares that she gets in trouble for it… she’ll slink off, hiding under the table, then rushing past us to go sit on the sofa with a guilty look on her face, curling up as if she had been resting on the sofa the whole time.

And that’s why I don’t usually have action shots of the cats.

I’m going on a Quest… with a day-to-day calendar.

Many months ago – last April, in fact – I supported a Kickstarter campaign for a 2021 day-by-day “Quest” calendar. It was advertised as a single-player role-playing game that takes place over the course of a year. Having thoroughly the random facts in my 2020 calendar, I thought it would be entertaining to have another daily calendar with an entirely different style to it.

The first couple weeks introduced the mechanics, along with a sample character and adventure. The third week introduced several characters to choose from, along with some bonus characters available on the Sundial Games website.

I had pulled out a blank journal to keep track of equipment, health, and what not for the first couple weeks, finding it easier than writing on the calendar page for Godwin, the Great (Half-Elf Wizard), but decided to print the Level 1 character sheet from their website for Faris Leafwind (Half-Elf Druid), which has ample space for tracking damage, equipment and such. Well, shoot, what am I going to do with that journal now? Ah, that’s what….

My adventures began that day in the tavern, when the innkeeper asked for help dealing with the alley rats. Silly me, I thought he was referring to the street urchins, but these were actual rats, larger than me, and quite aggressive. I tried to calm the beast down, but it bit me before scurrying away. Once it was gone, I took a quick look around the alley. There seemed to be a small bit of blood* on the barrel the rat had perched on, but nothing else stood out as odd.

There was a grate though… the rat could have come from there. Who locks a grate anyways? I was a bit rusty, but managed to pick the lock. As I climbed down, I was hit by an overwhelming stench. Sad to say, I lost my lunch on that ladder, and lost my grip as well.**

*I rolled poorly… the text for better rolls said this was definitely not blood.

**Let’s not even talk about that die roll.

I’m not sure where this adventure will go… that’s a mix of the calendar pages, my choices, and my dice rolls. Also, Faris’s background mentions her twin sister; I’ve decided to name her Wiel. Just in case it ever comes up.

Growing pumpkins in winter

Anybody who grows pumpkins knows that you can’t plant them outside until after the last chance of frost. Around here, that’s mid-May. You’re probably wondering why, in that case, I have pumpkins growing inside in January.

This story begins some time after Halloween, when I cleared our decorative (and uncarved) pumpkins from the front yard. Intent on harvesting the seeds – some to roast, and some to dry for planting – I carried the somewhat softened pumpkins to the backyard and shattered them. That is to say I picked them up and dropped them, sometimes forcefully, repeatedly until they were open enough to get to the seeds, then composted the shells.

Normally, I would have just washed the seeds and left them on a tray to dry. But when I tried that, Zuko started eating the seeds. So they ended up in a smaller container, smushed together… and some of them sprouted. When I showed Cassandra, she insisted “we” grow them.

I had small coir pots and seed starting pods left from previous years, so I set up about a dozen of the sprouted seeds in a couple trays. (Some unsprouted ones were saved for outside planting in the spring.) As they outgrew their original containers, I repurposed some of the packaging from NakedWines.com for the next phase and bought a bag of potting soil.

Several young pumpkin plants growing in a container

As they outgrew that packaging, I knew it was time to invest in a larger container that could sit in my bay window. I wanted something raised, so I wouldn’t have to bend down past the sewing desk. I bought this container (and some more dirt) with holiday money; it’s about waist high, and includes a shelf underneath for storing bits and pieces.

There are nine pumpkins plants growing in my bay window now, and all of them are clearly leaning towards the window, grabbing as much sun as they can. I’m hoping they continue growing slowly for the next few months – the window gets good sun, but is a little cooler than the rest of the room – until the entire container can be relocated outside. Pumpkin vines have a tendency to sprawl, and I want to make sure they have space to do that… outside.

Pear and Gorgonzola Waffles

Years ago, when gifted with multiple boxes of Harry & David pears, I went looking for pear recipes to avoid losing the wonderful pears to our slow rate of eating them. I found this recipe on a website called DailyBuzz, and the printout I have linked to Epicurious.

Having received a gift of pears recently, it came up in a Zoom call, and having saved the URL on the printed copy, I went looking… well, the DailyBuzz website is gone, and I can’t find the recipe on Epicurious… good thing I printed it!

Pear and Gorgonzola Waffles

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
¾ teaspoon salt
2 cups buttermilk
6 tablespoons butter, melted & cooled
2 large eggs
1 ½-2 ripe pears, diced
¾ cup crumbled gorgonzola
Oil for waffle iron

If not being served immediately, preheat your oven to 250 degrees. I prefer to mix all the ingredients and then preheat the waffle iron; that will vary depending on your speed and the waffle iron.

Top half shows the batter, a brush with oil, a measuring cup on a sauced, and the waffle pan. Bottom half shows a pear & gorgonzola waffle with a fork.

Combine dry ingredients – flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt – in a large bowl.
Whisk wet ingredients – buttermilk, butter, and eggs – in a small bowl.
Stir wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.
Fold in diced pears and gorgonzola.

After preheating the waffle iron, brush it lightly with oil and dump an appropriate amount of batter in. For a standard waffle iron, this will probably be ½ cup; a Belgian waffle iron may need a full cup. The Pampered Chef Waffle Puff Pan instructions call for ¾ cup, but does best with a cup of this recipe, probably because of the pear chunks.

Cook waffles according to manufacturer’s instructions until they’re browned and cooked through. For this particular recipe, that may be a couple minutes extra, as the pear chunks make them fall apart.

As you cook them, transfer to a rack in the preheated oven to keep warm and crisp. Continue until batter is gone – makes 6 waffles on the Pampered Chef Waffle Puff Pan, probably about 10 on a standard style waffle iron.

Also, for easy printing, here’s a PDF version of the recipe:

Pear and Gorgonzola Waffles Download

How to lose my business without really trying

The owner of a local dairy business, Jim Oberweis, who was the state senator for our area, ran for Congress against a first term incumbent, Representative Lauren Underwood. He declared victory the night of the election, knowing that a significant number of mail-in votes had not been counted yet. Ultimately, he lost by 5,374 votes.

That’s less than a two percent difference, so it wasn’t surprising when he opted to pay for a recount. Just a “discovery recount,” rather than a full one, but I suppose if he has the money to throw around and wants to waste it instead of using it to help people during a pandemic, it’s his choice. It was certainly within his legal rights as the losing candidate.

What’s beyond his rights as a losing candidate is his demand “seeking to void all 39,647 Kane County mail ballots, claiming they were not properly initialed by election judges.” (From this article: A day after Democrat Rep. Lauren Underwood sworn into second term, her GOP rival, Jim Oberweis seeks to overturn the election he lost – Chicago Sun-Times) The Chicago Tribune article on the subject explains “But Kane County uses electronic poll books to record election judges signatures, so they do not appear on the ballot.”

He wants to disenfranchise almost ten percent of the total votes (401,052 – from this website) in the race, based on a process that isn’t used in this county. You may recall I voted by mail for the first time this year. He wants to disenfranchise my vote, which was sent in and verified almost a month before Election day.

I have no sympathy for poor losers. And I can make my own milkshakes instead of supporting his business.

Thoughts on Queen of None

I am incredibly fortunate to be exposed to so many good books. Rounding out my commentary on books for 2020 is this fresh take on Arthurian legends: Queen of None by Natania Barron. Forget what you think you know about Camelot, she recreates it from an entirely different perspective with new twists on the familiar characters. This review was originally published in the November 1, 2020 issue of Booklist.

In Queen of None, Natania Barron delves into Arthurian legend from the perspective of Anna Pendragon, Arthur’s younger sister. Prophesied by Merlin to be forgotten, Anna was barely a woman when she was married off to an older man to forge an alliance for her brother. Years later, she returns as a widow to Arthur’s court, where her eldest son, Gawain, is already training as a knight. She finds herself a pawn once again, caught between her brother, half-sisters, and Merlin’s plans while searching for her own happiness. Her lingering affection for Bedevere, illicit father to her twin boys, may be ignored again in favor of another alliance that will further her brother’s needs. Surprises come from within as well, as Anna discovers that she too has magical abilities, inherited from her mother’s side of the family, shared to some extent with her half-sisters Morgen, Morgase, and Elaine. Barron’s take on Arthurian legend gets readers exactly where they expect to be in the end, with entirely new insight on how to reach that point.

Musical Advent calendar

This year, I decided to make a musical Advent calendar for Cassandra. More specifically, in the wee hours of December 1st, as I was waking up, I realized that I have a ton of colored cards and could do a quick drawing related to a link for each day. I posted the songs to Facebook every day, so if we’re friends there, only the images are new. While these are mostly holiday songs, there are a couple exceptions. I found some interesting versions of favorite songs, and learned history of others along the way. If I decide to do this again, the challenge will be to not repeat the same songs… that will be harder for Chanukah and Solstice, there are plenty of Christmas songs still to explore.

There isn’t an easy way to link each image in the gallery to its song, so the list of links appears below.

Day	Image	Song	Link
1	Partridge in a pear tree	Pentatonix – 12 Days of Christmas	https://youtu.be/1UHmQANFtNs
2	Bell	Straight No Chaser – Carol of the Bells	https://youtu.be/JLtfInNXfv8
3	Tombstone	Godfrey Temple – Harley Got Devoured by the Undead	https://youtu.be/pQwqYpRP5j8
4	Santa hat	Peter Hollens – Evolution of Christmas Songs	https://youtu.be/b4v_c_hCRIU
5	Musical fourth	Jeff Buckley – Hallelujah	https://youtu.be/y8AWFf7EAc4
6	Angel	Sarah McLachlan – In the arms of an angel	https://youtu.be/1SiylvmFI_8
7	Devil	William Kapell plays Liszt- legendary Mephisto Waltz 1945	https://youtu.be/ofdRsvBHa14
8	Wind	Bing Crosby – Do you hear what I hear?	https://youtu.be/FhTnDaEmA5k
9	Drum	Alex Boye’ ft. Genesis Choir – Little Drummer Boy	https://youtu.be/a0mT-zNxRMw
10	Candle	Barenaked Ladies – Hanukkah Blessings	https://youtu.be/xAggcnAnY_Y
11	Holly	Loreena McKennitt- The Holly & The Ivy	https://youtu.be/_FvE-z8xV1g
12	Puppy	Daveed Diggs – Puppy for Hanukkah	https://youtu.be/gbxyZAduGvY
13	Gift	Peter Hollens – December Song	https://youtu.be/U7C4Ym-XQUI
14	Peace symbol	Peter, Paul and Mary – Light One Candle	https://youtu.be/h1cRXgDFiSs
15	Puffin	Malinda – a song about puffins	https://youtu.be/TAemYMUFE68
16	Heart	Rod Stewart – Have I Told You Lately	https://youtu.be/RYrN8eFzCEo
17	Ship	I Saw Three Ships / Song of the Ship	https://youtu.be/7puhHPgZvUw
18	Soccer ball	Sabaton – The Price of a Mile	https://youtu.be/FTG6a774O84
19	Pumpkin	The Nightmare Before Christmas – What’s this?	https://youtu.be/QLvvkTbHjHI
20	Chimney	Angela Lansbury (Mame) – Need a little Christmas	https://youtu.be/St7mQWwmo70
21	Pomegranate	Cheshire Moon – Persephone	https://youtu.be/eoZWWryCsTA
22	Christmas tree	The Golden Orchestra – You Take the High Branch and I’ll Take the Low Branch	https://youtu.be/cuI54GBCjMg
23	Kermit the Frog	Muppet Christmas Carol – It Feels Like Christmas	https://youtu.be/WlRpGj7LWS4
24	Candy cane	Dar Williams – The Christian and the Pagans	https://youtu.be/7vggo_9EDZU
25	Eyes	Gloria Estefan – Christmas Through Your Eyes	https://youtu.be/wf-IwAmhVds

Have a wonderful Christmas!

Do you know what I know?

Just last week, I read an article on CNN’s website about TranSanta, an initiative started by actress Indya Moore to give presents to transsexual kids and young adults in need. The gifts are anonymous, selected from each person’s Target registry and sent directly to them.

Visitors can read letters on the TranSanta Instagram page, and when ready to select one, click on a link at the top of the page, then click on the letter again to access their Target registry.

The letters are a combination of heart-wrenching and heart-warming. Some showcase art by the writer, some are written by supportive parents; all are in a bad financial positive, many due to job losses from the pandemic. But stacking on top of the pandemic, so many write of unsupportive families and transphobia, homelessness, and their desperate needs in these turbulent times.

If you’re looking for a way to help this holiday season, consider sending a gift to someone on this list.

An odd morning

I woke up well before my alarm this morning, gradually waking to a cinematically vivid dream. I don’t usually recall my dreams to this extent, or experience lucid dreaming often, so it was memorable in that regard. But it was also a good story.

I lay in bed for a while, picking out details I could remember. The first scene was foggier, presumably right as I was becoming aware of the dream. It segued into the second scene, at which point it had become crystal clear as I had some control over the character decisions. I lay in bed, piecing together the parts that were clear, certain that I needed to write this down. I noted some places I would need to change because I couldn’t remember the details, and others where changes would make for a better story.

Forty-five minutes later, still half an hour before my alarm, the cat (Arwen) relinquished my arm as her pillow and I got up, intent on writing down the details. I grabbed my water and phone (which doubles as my alarm clock) and rushed to the living room, turning the lights on low as I booted up the computer. I realized I needed hand lotion, partially because of a cat scratch (Zuko) on my knuckle, and headed towards the bathroom. And promptly stepped in some cat grass vomit. (Probably Diane.)

A few minutes later, I had cleaned up the floor – and my foot – and was back at the computer, writing away. I skipped my morning workout, needing to get the details on paper (figuratively) before they faded.

And I pondered why this idea didn’t arrive two months ago, when I could have prepared it for NaNoWriMo.

Thoughts on The Kingdom of Liars

This is a travesty. I read this amazing book back in February, and somehow I haven’t told you about it yet. I suppose that’s good in a way, you don’t have to wait as long for the sequel as I’ve had to; it’s due out in March. This review was originally published in the April 15, 2020 issue of Booklist.

In this fantasy debut novel, Kingdom of Liars, by Nick Martell, Michael Kingman and his siblings were branded as traitors when their father was tried for the murder of the king’s oldest son. Ten years later, a series of missteps sets him on a path that he hopes will clear their family name. That’s the concept, despite Michael being found guilty of the king’s murder in the prologue. Michael and his siblings fell from high nobles who played with the king’s children to living on a poor side of town with their foster father, struggling to pay the fees to keep their addlebrained mother in an asylum. Their mother can’t be a Forgotten, as that memory loss condition only affects magic users, so Michael searches for solutions to her medical problems in addition to his other adventures. Michael progressively finds himself in worse situations, certain the next one will provide the answers he so desperately seeks. Teenagers will appreciate how Michael and his siblings come into their own, and fantasy readers of all ages will be delighted with Martell’s robust setting.