Lunch Plans, Burger Battles and What Will I Make for Dinner?

I'm quite bummed - the Wild are no longer in the hunt for the playoffs, having lost last night to the Golden Knights of Las Vegas 3-2. I watched the highlights on my phone this morning. There were a lot of really good shots, some great goaltending from both sides, but at the end, we lost. DH will be depressed all day, and many others here in the "State of Hockey" will be. Maybe when they change the name of the arena in a few months, the new name will signal a new beginning for the Wild. I'm still a fan, but I'm one of thousands of disappointed fans and I'm afraid we might lose some key players over the off-season. 

I live in what's affectionately called the 
"State of Hockey". We take our ice hockey 
VERY seriously up here in the Frozen 
Northlands. The fact that we've NEVER won 
the Stanley Cup is a sore spot for all of 
us who love the sport. *sigh*

I'm meeting my oldest niece for lunch today. I had some ideas I wanted to bounce off her and I also just wanted to catch up a bit. We see each other at family events, of course, but family events in my family are like meetings of a small nation. Although my generation is represented by three people - my sister-in-law, my husband and myself, the next generation (her children) numbered eight, and they are almost all married with kids of their own now. Like I said, a small nation when we get together for family celebrations. It's impossible to actually carry on a conversation during those times, so since I had some things to bounce off her, I thought meeting my niece for lunch would be a wise course of action. 

The restaurant is one of two known for what's called 
the "Juicy Lucy" burger. A hamburger with melted 
cheese in the middle of the meat patty. When I was still 
eating dairy, I considered them quite tasty. I'm sure 
there will be other options for me today that will 
leave out the cheese. 

We're meeting closer to her end of the Cities, but since it's May, that's not a problem. I'm not sure I'd like to do the drive in the middle of Winter, but when there's no snow on the ground, it's not a issue. We're meeting at Lucy's Burgers - home of the Juicy Lucy burger. Of course there are other things on the menu as well, but it's their Juicy Lucy that has made their fame. They're in constant competition with Matt's Burgers, each arguing that they came up with the idea of a "Juice Lucy" first. It's rather like the hare and the tortoise - they probably both came up with the idea at about the same time, and they're both renowned for it in their respective areas. 

I've had a Jucy Lucy from Matt's Bar in Minneapolis, and 
the other place in contention is called the 5-8 Club, but in 
St Paul, the clear winner is Lucy's Burgers. It's a bit of a 
shame that I'm not eating dairy any more, I'd love to try it 
here and see what I think about their version of this classic. 

I need to think about what I want to make for my dinners for the next few days. I haven't really thought much about it, but my side of the refrigerator is looking a bit sparse. I won't have a lot of time to cook, so I have to be very aware of my time and my requirements. At worst, I can quickly bake some chicken, I have two pounds of bacon that needs to be fried up and crumbled, and I'll have to check my freezer to see what I might have there (under the crap that DH keeps putting on MY little section of the larger drawer). Well, I'm off and running. Have an excellent Friday and I'll be back tomorrow to wrap up the week. Be kind, have fun, and Slava Ukraini. 

Etsy, Retail Sales Pro and Hockey - Somewhere There Must Be a Balance

I got an Etsy order late last night, so I'll be starting my day out today getting it ready to ship. I don't get a lot of orders, but they're always a pleasant surprise to get. Because it is a weekend, shipping may be slightly delayed, but I usually try to have things sent out no later than 48 hours after the order was received. I'll go onto Etsy when I set up the laptop at the shop and let the customer know that the latest it will ship will be Monday morning. 

I don't get a lot of sales on Etsy, but I always love it 
when I sell a strand of Trade Beads. These antique 
beads are highly treasured and getting quite rare. The 
strand of White Cross beads I sold yesterday are 
heading to Oklahoma when I get the paperwork completed. 

I started yesterday out by doing several errands that had been stacking up. Primary of these was to start taking our burnt-out 8-foot fluorescent bulbs to Batteries Plus for recycling. I grabbed my first set of 10 and brought them over, along with the two kitchen light bulbs I had just changed earlier in the week. Success! It was an easy drop-off, the price I had been quoted was accurate, and I can start with the bulbs on the main floor next week. I don't like to get into time crunches on days that I work, so I'll be adding bulb recycling to my Wednesday and Friday schedules until they're completely gone. 

It's not difficult to get the bulbs from the shop to the Batteries 
Plus store, it's just a bit slow because I can only carry a 
maximum of four of the long 8-foot bulbs at a time. I try 
to take 10 at a time for recycling - it's a comfortable number to 
keep under control in Minnion. 

Tomorrow is the "Big Talk" between DH and me regarding Travis and what he and his company can do for our closing sale. I'm still working through the e-copy of his book, and I hope I can answer DH's questions as they arise, but at least I can (possibly) look up the answers on my laptop if necessary. I did store it in my Dropbox account, so it's possible that he could also download it for reference, but according to Travis' website, I also have a hard copy in the mail. DH finds hard copy to be more convenient, so I'm hoping it arrives soon. I refuse to spend paper and ink printing out several hundred pages, although in a pinch, I could do that (or print selected pages, if necessary). 

I still want to schedule a phone call 
with Travis where both DH and I can 
be on the phone with him at the same 
time. That's a bit easier said than done, 
but I'm hoping for next week. 

I did make a start on cleaning off one of my collection surfaces in the shop. I think we all have them. Chickie uses the floor level where she stands (which drives me crazy), I use the top of our print drawers which is behind where I stand when I'm processing product, and DH has the rest of the store and all of the back room, which he has cleaned, but it's still cluttered - no real way to avoid the clutter right now. 

I'm actually not fond of real, live pack rats, but this 
pack rat puppet is rather adorable - LOL. 

So, I'm curious. Are you a "pack rat", or do you regularly go through your things and cull, tossing out or donating things you no longer use or want. I must admit to pack rat tendencies, although I can cull and toss when pushed to it. I have varied interests and skills, but most of them revolve around working with glass in a variety of formats, and with metals - mainly copper and silver. Of course, my glass ranges from the multitude of beads in all sizes and shapes that I use, on through the decorative plates of glass that I use in my kiln for fusing. I'm looking forward to getting back to some of that work again in the future. Metal, of course, is used in conjunction with the beads and rarely on its' own. 

Perhaps I should have stuck with writing - it seems to require a much smaller amount of materials - LOL. Have an excellent Saturday and Go Wild - there's a game tonight, so I'm wearing my Kaprizov jersey that a friend was so kind as to give to me. *hugs* Have a great weekend and Slava Ukraini. 

Hockey and Royalties - It's a Strange Combination

Hubby is drained and is sleeping in until 8:00 am instead of his usual 7:30 am. The Wild (our state's professional Ice Hockey team) has been playing on the road this week, on the West Coast. That makes for some really late nights, with start times for games after 9:00 pm so ending between 11:00 pm and midnight on average. I don't stay up for these. Since I get up at 3:15 am, I usually go to sleep at 9:00 pm. But at least the team won last night. DH was dragging - the second televised West Coast game in as many days does not make for a bright and cheery person. 

I love the Minnesota Wild logo. It's an indeterminate 
beast with the trees of our Northlands, the rivers that 
cross throughout our state (the mighty Mississippi River 
starts in Northern Minnesota), the sun/moon and 
our North Star. It's an elegant logo and one of the 
nicest in the league. 

I have a nice tuna steak ready for my dinner tonight. I need to figure out how I want to prepare it and what I want alongside - I do have some fresh green beans that I bought on Wednesday, and some lovely mushrooms. Maybe I'll work with those for a fresh side dish along with my usual salad. If I do that, though, I'll need to pick up some more mushrooms - I'm rather like a Hobbit when it comes to mushrooms - ready to stave off Farmer Maggot's guard dogs in favor of "harvesting" some of the cherished fungi. 

Who can forget the scene from the first movie in "The 
Lord of the Rings" where Frodo and Sam quite literally 
run into Merry and Pippin as the latter are stealing 
mushrooms from Farmer Maggot's crop. A few frames 
later, the four are hiding from the Black Riders, then 
running for the Ferry to bring them across the river to 
Buckland. It's the very beginning of their adventures, and 
it revolved around mushrooms. 

I actually received a small royalty check from my Dad's books. I was quite shocked - the books are old and not heavily used any more. But, even though it was a small amount, it was a welcome reminder that authors are outlived by their works. It also gave me a nice opportunity to remember my parents, a memory that is never unwelcome. 

Dad wrote several books, most of which 
are still published today. I'm not sure 
which book(s) I got the check for. It 
was issued by McGraw Hill books, and 
most of his books are published by 
Barrons. I suppose I should get in 
touch with Barrons since they are still 
available for sale and I haven't received 
any royalties from them for more than 
a decade. 

As I dive into a very busy Friday, I hope you are well, that you are warming up (if you're coming out of Winter's cold just now) and that your flowers are starting to bloom. We still have a few weeks to go before we'll have blooms, but I think we're through the worst of Winter now. We actually had an early Spring, and I'm certainly not complaining. Have a good Good Friday, if you celebrate the Christian holidays, be well, stay safe and please wear a mask. I'll be back tomorrow. 

A Quiet Sunday Was Not A Bad Sunday

I had a lovely Sunday, although a very quiet one since DH is still not really talking to me. Still, that's not necessarily a negative. It meant I had time to pop over to the grocery store for something I had forgotten on Friday, and time to make my veggie smoothies for the next three days. I made myself a nice stir-fry for dinner and generally had a relaxed day. The lack of conversation wasn't really a problem, simply an observation. We watched the hockey game, which was excellent, so that was also a plus.  

Zack Parise of the Minnesota Wild was having a scoring 
slump, but finally managed to get one in net on Sunday. 
I'm sure he's feeling much better today because of his 
performance in yesterday's game. 

I think I turned the Grammy Awards on for all of five minutes. They barely touch on my preferences for music, so almost all of the nominees and performers are unknowns for me. I'll look at the highlights in the on-line recap this morning. I doubt I missed much. 

So the lone guitar and a quick flash on the screen 
were the totality of the tribute to Eddie Van Halen, 
acknowledged to be one of the greatest rock 
(and other genres) guitar player of all time. Even 
though they had 1000 obituaries, and put his 
name at the end, it was rather paltry for such 
a giant. 

Today begins Week 4 of my nutritional program and it's going to be a lot harder for a lot of the participants. The Facebook page has been very active with people complaining about the changes expected for Week 4 as well as people starting to lose that initial "high" that comes when you start a new food program. Now that we're into Week 4, it's going to start feeling like more of a slog through a swamp than a fast drive down an interstate. It won't be as easy any more. I'm looking more at the fact that it's a 13-week program and we're not even 1/3 of the way through. I know there's a much longer road ahead, but I'll make it because it's important to me. It's a matter of health and wellness - no choice here. 

I want to try these Paleo Tortillas (Gluten-Free) for 
a softshell taco. Maybe later this week. It uses 
Almond Flour, and Arrowroot Flour. I have the 
Arrowroot Flour, and Cassava Flour, but no 
Almond Flour. I'll add it to my shopping list for 
Wednesday. 

I'm accumulating recipes to try out. It should be interesting. I'm not a very good cook, and the science of spices sometimes hits, but more often misses when I'm spicing free-hand. But I'll persevere. This is going to give me lots of opportunity to practice - LOL. 

I have a lot of spices, and of course stores feature large 
racks of herbs and spices. My mom taught me how to 
cook, but she never really went in to the science of 
seasoning. I'm finding my skills at seasoning sorely 
lacking. 

So, I'm out of here. It's a Monday and I have a ton of things to do before I go to sleep tonight. Please be kind, stay safe and wear your mask. I'll be back tomorrow. 

A Busy Night - Sports and Project Runway

Thursday nights usually find me parked in front of my computer working while listening (and often turning around to view) "Project Runway". I keep the TV on a single channel. DH, on the other hand, channel flips because Thursdays are often very busy nights. Last night was no exception. He was flipping between the Minnesota Wild (ice hockey - we won 3-2 against the Maple Leafs).

I love the Minnesota Wild logo, even have it on the back
of my car. It's one of the prettiest in hockey. I also happen
to love ice hockey, and treasure my Minnesota Wild
jersey that I got on sale earlier this summer. Yahoo! 

On a different channel he watched the Chicago Cubs vs the LA Dodgers (they won 8-4). The winner of this series goes on to play the Cleveland Indians in the World Series and I REALLY want a Cubs/Indians matchup.

The Chicago Cubs vs the Cleveland Indians would be a dream
World Series for me. I'm not that fond of baseball, but in that
match either team could win and I'd be happy for them. It's been
a very long span of years for either team to play for the pennant. 

Also, the Minnesota Lynx, in a hard-fought battle, lost their season to the LA Sparks 77-76, a nail-biter for sure. It was a great season, but it finally ended *sigh*. I think there was a fourth sports battle that he was switching back and forth from, but I really can't remember. At least he got to see some good ones, though, while exercising his thumb on the remote and running down the battery.

The season came to an end for the Minnesota Lynx women's
basketball team last night with a hard-fought battle
against LA. 

Project Runway Spoilers below - you've been warned!!!!

Meanwhile, I was happily watching Project Runway. The challenge this time started with a cocktail party for the designers and their judges and mentor at the very exclusive Absolut Elyx house, a lush cocktail lounge with speakeasy decor and roots. Copper pineapples and decor abounded, along with sparkling chandeliers, flamingo paintings in the bathrooms, and tufted Chesterfield-style leather sofas. Everyone had an opportunity to drink and chat before the challenge was announced - make a cocktail dress in a one-day challenge with a budget of $300 (a very high amount which should have resulted in a lot of very luxurious designs).

What a mess. The brocade was actually really nice, but
the ostrich fathers? Really? Erin lost her way this week
and was in the bottom. But there were worse, so she's
safe for another week. 

Even the great can fall, and there were some really bad designs walking the runway this week. Erin fell flat with a really lovely brocade framed by a flock of ostrich feathers. Now, I may be prejudiced against feathers because I sell them and I absolutely hate packing them, but this just looked like a mess. The judges were NOT impressed.

Jenni embellished a copper-colored dress with
lots of gold embellishments. It actually looked wonderful
on the runway, and she chose well in both her
fabric and her trim. Nobody has a lock on technique,
so her using Erin's technique for her own piece really
shouldn't be a problem. 

They were, however, impressed by copycat Jenni who used Erin's embellishment technique/style to make a simple dress very lux. She "borrowed" Erin's technique and complained about all of the hand stitching she was doing with long fingernails. Really? If the nails are getting in your way, get rid of them. Idiot. She won with this, but I don't think she deserved it.

I adored Laurence's dress. The folded leather yoke and
the incredible sculptured and tufted sleeves were the
focal of a perfectly fitted black dress. The judges
called it the "Bentley of black dresses" and they weren't
far off the mark. 

Laurence was my personal choice for the winner because of her beautiful leatherwork on the yoke and sleeves of a basic black dress that was impeccably styled and shaped. Really wonderful work that she based on the Chesterfield couches of Elyx. I think if she had chosen a different color of leather she might have pulled off the win but the judges were looking for glam.

Tasha was sent home with this contribution and it was
easy to see why. There really wasn't any design to it,
it was just thrown together and it looked like it. Tasha
added a sparkling tie at the waist, a band of gold at
the hem, and dressed it up with earrings and tassled
shoes. Poor choices. She's a very nice person, but not
a great designer. But she does street wear so she'll
probably do just fine in her comfort zone. 

Finally, Tasha was sent home after putting a black dress with a sparkling waist tie onto the runway. Her original choices in fabric had been total day wear, not cocktail, and on the advise of Tim Gunn (who gave the same advise to more than half of the designers in his critique), she scrapped her original design and pulled this out in four hours. Unfortunately, there was nothing either street or chic in this and Tasha packed up her things and left.

Have a great Friday, all. I'll be swimming in less than an hour and a day in the pool is always a great day. LOL.

Joining With Lots of People - The Fair and The Fest

The weekend was a bit crazy, but in a good way. This coming weekend will be even crazier, but we'll deal with that as we get closer to it. Starting off,, DH worked extremely hard on the castle on Saturday so that he could get the beginnings of the steps laid properly. He knows his time this week will consist of only a single day and he had ripped the steps and walls out four times the previous day because things weren't precisely level. Finally, late Saturday afternoon, he sent the photo below. Success! We now have three of the six steps laid and, although they still need their capstones, he was willing to go to the State Fair for date night - dinner and a beer with his wife.

It was a difficult thing and required lots of put down and
tear out, but we now have three steps placed exactly where
they need to be and ready for their capstones. There will
be six steps total from the lower to the upper back yard. 

This was an act of extreme love, because he was totally exhausted. But we caught the Park and Ride bus and went to the Fair, had our traditional foot long for our first food, checked out the exhibits and winners in Creative Activities and wandered west toward the Midway.

Danielson's and Daughters have the absolute BEST
onion rings I've ever eaten. I only get them at the
State Fair, and I just had to indulge. YUMMY!

Passing the Food Building, he had a Jamaican Bar-B-Qued Taco (always fabulously good) and I bought my favorite onion rings from Danielson's and Daughters Onion Rings - the absolute BEST I have ever had and only available at the Fair. He bought one bag of mini donuts from Tom Thumb mini donuts. Walking down the street another half-block, we were stopped by the sports broadcaster from Channel 5 who offered DH a piece of Mancini's garlic toast in trade for a mini donut. Both men were happy with the trade.

Our bar used to be boring - not a lot of choices. They've
learned now. Craft beer and more unusual brews are now
the rule instead of the exception. I was thrilled to see
that they had a tap for Deschutes, even though it was
for the lighter IPA instead of one of their dark beers. 

We walked the Midway and settled down at the Frontier Bar for a beer and french fries. We people watched for a while, snacking, but DH looked totally zoned by that time - just beat from his hard day of working on the castle. It was time to get him back home.

At any given time there are 100+ buses at the State Fair Transit Center.
It's huge and holds buses from more than 50 locations both
near and far in the spread-out Metro area. Metro Transit offers
free or low cost Park and Ride services to the State Fair. Our
local stop is very close to the house and operates 7 days a week,
with a bus every 15 minutes or so. It's a great way to get to
and from the State Fair. 

After three hours we called it quits and returned home, catching our bus at the Transit Center. We were sure glad we didn't need the Water's Edge bus - that stop had two buses worth of people waiting for it. When their bus pulled up, the whole crowd clapped and cheered. We slept like the dead - so tired - but were up and back on the road Sunday morning on our way to the Renaissance Festival.

Minion is parked at the end of the quarry which is located below
the Festival grounds. You can barely see DH between the cars, and
of course I have a Minnesota Wild logo on the back of my car. The end
of the quarry is ahead of us, a long walk to the gates are behind
us. The clouds burned away within an hour leaving a blue sky behind. 

The day turned into a gloriously sunny and very hot day and they had us parked way down in the far end of the quarry. It was a long hike to get to the front gates, but it wasn't too bad because it was relatively flat ground (until the steep hill to get out of the quarry and onto the high grounds where the Festival buildings are located).

Even though it was only a pre-season game, he said
it was important because all the main players would
be in for a minimum of one quarter for evaluation.
I guess next week's final preseason game will be
far less important to see. 

DH was happy because he was able to watch the MN Vikings pre-season game on his phone while we relaxed in the shade. Gotta love 4G downloads. It also was Highland Fling weekend, so we were able to watch the hammer throw and the caber toss events. I remembered my parasol this time, and it was sure needed. The sun was brutal. We started the weekend with upper 50's (14.5C) when I went into the pool Saturday morning. Today it will be in the low 70's (21.5C) when I get to the pool at 5:00 am. Minnesota summer weather - gotta love it! Happy Monday to all!

I Need A Weekend - MisFit and Beads

Yesterday afternoon, my new MisFit Shine was delivered with the mail. Although I was mega-rushed last night, getting a construction update e-mail off to my customers, I took an extra half hour to get my new toy synched and recognized by the Android software. I'm not used to glancing at my wrist and seeing the Sea Glass color, but it's nice and minimal. I'll wear it from now on and we'll see how long it will last this time. Today is a cycling day, so new activity for it to track.

I had really missed having my MisFit Shine. It's
so light-weight, and I liked the way it looked
as I wore it. The fact that it tracked my fitness and
my sleep was a bonus. I finally have my replacement
unit and I'm delighted to break it in at the gym in an hour. 

Although the Wild put up a fight, they couldn't quite make the win over Chicago last night in the first game of Round 2 in our quest for Lord Stanley's Cup. We ended up losing 3-4. Next game is Sunday, so DH has been making rumblings about taking me out for Thai food tonight. We have a new Thai restaurant that opened a couple of weeks ago and is quite close to the house, and I've been missing Thai food since our last local outlet moved across to a completely different location.

I really love the Minnesota Wild logo. It was designed to look
fierce, bring out aspects of the landscape of Minnesota, but
not have the identity of any specific animal. I really love
the North Star as the animal's eye. 

April turned out to be a really crappy sales month at the shop, but the first day of May was excellent. Thank goodness for Native American customers from Canada picking up beads for their pow wow outfits. That one sale, along with a very steady stream of customers, brought the dollars to a point that I was happy with. Now if the rest of the month can just follow along with this trend.

Regalia worn by the dancers at pow wows are often intricately
beaded. Although I looked for something more elaborate (in the
realm of women's traditional garments, this one is well done,
but not intricately designed). The more elaborate pics I found were
all in-motion pics, so much harder to see the beauty of the garment.
Traditional women's dancing regalia can weigh as much as sixty
pounds. Beads are used on almost all regalia for both sexes and all ages. 

So, I'm off to the gym and ten miles on the bike before work. Have a great weekend, everyone, and if you have a mother you want to treat, remember that next Sunday is Mother's Day here in the US. It's probably time to start shopping so that you're not looking through the dregs left behind by those who are more punctual. Happy Saturday!

A New Month Means New Opportunities - Thoughts of May

Today is the beginning of a new month and what better time to look at your own agenda and to-do lists and do some prioritizing? May is a month of changes for us up here in the northern Midwestern states. Spring finally moves in, winter finally leaves, and summer begins knocking at the door. We are starting the month with temps that will be in the 40's and 50's but by the end of the month we can have 80's and sometimes even a stray 90! So May is all over the place.

I got a good laugh out of this card and thought
I'd share it with all of you. 

The astrological signs of May are firmly Taurus for most of the month, moving to Gemini on the 22nd. The most common gemstone associated with the month is the emerald and the flower is the beautiful and almost shy Lily-of-the-Valley. May is my month and I'm crazy happy about it - it's a special month of creativity and celebration.

I love these small little bell-shaped flowers and have them planted around
my house to welcome spring and May each year. 

May is a month for mothers - in the United States we celebrate Mother's Day on the second Sunday of May - the 11th this year. May will be a time of celebration for me - a landmark birthday, and at the end of the month, the Bead & Button Show will begin. I'll see the first flowers, the flowering trees of our short but stunning spring, and my egrets will return to my small area ponds.

These flowering crabapple trees are typical of the
flowering trees we get every spring.

I'll have the opportunity to see wonderful art at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, as well as wander and play with dinosaurs at the Science Museum with an internet friend. I'll listen to fine music (because that's a daily must for me), I'll read lots of books (because that's a mandatory thing in my life) and I'll hopefully get a chance to play with more than just mentally envisioning my next jewelry and art projects.

Go Wild! What a game it was! Every time we were behind, we
scored to tie it, and finally we won in overtime. Exciting! 

DH and I will close on his father's house this month, and we'll wrap up a family tragedy later this month as well - one of those strange things that crop up to allow closure. The Minnesota Wild will CONTINUE in their quest for Lord Stanley's Cup, progressing in an overtime game last night. We'll meet the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday for the first game of the next stage.

For the first time in eleven years, we're moving on to the
second stage in our quest for Lord Stanley's Cup. I love
the Blackhawks team too, so this should be a good
series of games to actually watch. 

And I'll continue to write, of course, as well as continue my weekly conversations with Aearwen. So, May is looking like it will be a great month. I hope it will be wonderful for each of you as well. As we move into this month, look around you to see what might be possible to improve. Can you help someone out? Can you plant a new plant, groom a pet, or bring a meal to someone to brighten their day? Gifts that lighten the heart don't have to be major, they just need to be heartfelt and given without strings attached.

Celebrate May Day in your own manner. These old-fashioned Scottish
dancers with their braided May Pole in the background might be
inspiration for your own celebration. 

Happy May, Happy Thursday.