Happy Friday - BattleBots and the US Masters, Fish and Flowers

Happy Friday to all of you. It's a "day off" for me and I've already been busy planning out my day and printing out the paperwork I'll need. I'll get my grocery shopping done, then settle down and get some work done on my next Etsy group. I also need to proofread my 8mm crystal cubes one last time and set those to "active" on my Etsy pages. 

I love Tuna - I love fish in general, but Salmon and Tuna 
are my favorites. My co-op had some lovely Tuna when 
I was shopping there on Wednesday, so I picked up a 
beautiful steak for my dinner tonight. I have the perfect 
marinade recipe for it, and it'll broil up quickly. 

I have a fabulous tuna steak to cook for my dinner tonight, and an excellent marinade for it, so I'll put that together and bag it to soak in that deliciousness for a few hours. Yummy! I generally do fish on Fridays during Lent because DH prefers it (and I have no problem with that - I adore fish). He's a Catholic who never goes to church, but he keeps Lenten food guidelines. I'm a Jew who never goes to synagogue, but I acknowledge the various holidays (Passover is Easter weekend this year - that doesn't always happen). I don't actually keep them, but I at least acknowledge them. When push comes to shove, I'm quite happily pagan. 

I don't really follow any particular spiritual pathway, but 
I'm most certainly not a follower in the more traditional 
religious ways. I'm pagan only because there really isn't 
a good term for what I believe. But I don't really celebrate
the pagan holidays any more than the Christian or 
Jewish ones. I just feel that sometimes there is a 
larger something. But I'm not going to place it in a 
category or assign it a name. It's enough to 
acknowledge it. 

Tomorrow is the deadline for the latest group of stories to be posted to LJ Idol. I turned mine in days ago, and many of you have had the opportunity to read my dragon fairy tale. I've gotten a lot of very positive comments, and thank all of you for the good feelings and strokes. I even acquired a couple of new LJ friends through it, so this story was a total win. The voting will take place after submissions are ended, and then we'll get our next prompt. I suspect it will be released around the 18th of the month, give or take a couple of days. I can hardly wait - I'm having a lot of fun writing to prompts again. It's always been the best part of writing - catching that theme or moving events within a tale so that they all fall into line with the requirement of a specific word or idea. 

I love watching "BattleBots". Yesterday. starting at 
11:00 am, they went through the entire field of 
32 semi-final matches leading up to the final eight 
last night. I had it on the TV at work for most of 
the day (the TV is in the back room, I don't watch 
it, I listen to it). After 2:00 pm I switched over to 
golf because ... The Masters! Couldn't miss that. 

The finals of this season's "BattleBots" was last night. DH was so furious at the decision in the semi-final match, freeing "Witch Doctor" from entrapment under a piece of stage equipment, that he left the room and refused to watch the final match between "Witch Doctor" and "Tantrum". I, however, watched it all. I wasn't 100% in favor of the semi-final decision that "Witch Doctor" won their match, but the final bout between the two robots was awesome. "Tantrum" absolutely dominated the bout and totally earned the "Giant Nut" (think hexagonal nut such as would go over a screw, not nut such as would fall from a tree). It was great to have an audience again, after last year's restricted competition during Covid, and the show is back to being the awesome and fun show it can be. Call me happy, in general. I'm already looking forward to next season. 

I love watching The Masters golf tournament every year. I 
associate it with Spring, and there are many years when 
looking at the greens of Augusta are a reminder that Spring 
is coming when I'm looking out of my own windows and 
only seeing the snow of winter. Fortunately, it seems like 
we're having an early Spring ourselves this year, and even 
though our grass isn't green, it's also not white - LOL. 
We're far away from having flowers, though, and Augusta 
has wonderful hollyhocks and other flowers to delight me. 

So, on that rather silly note, I'm out of here. I have a lot to do today, and I want to get my Shire Conqueror module loaded so that I am walking from the Shire to Bree ASAP. I'm still walking the Great Wall in China, but Conqueror allows you to work on more than one quest at a time (except the LOTR quests have to be done in order). I hope all of you have a wonderful Friday and I'll be back tomorrow. Peace! 

Snow and Cooking and Shoveling and Errands - Busy ... Yeah, Busy

Today is turning into a very busy day, and we'll have snow to add to it all, so I'll be shoveling the driveway at least once this afternoon, and maybe more than once (all depending on how much snow we're getting from this storm front). The bulk of the storm is southerly, heading across toward Tennessee, and on the northern part of the Cities, we're not expected to get as much as places south of us. Still, even though 1-2 inches is better than 3-4, it will require me to grab my shovel and clear things out. 

My Alkagizers never look quite this green, although 
fresh veggies are what it consists of. It's a mix of 
lots of green veggies (variety is important), some fresh 
lime juice, an avocado or two, peppers - mild and hot - 
and whatever looks good. I love my "Ogre Juice" and 
usually have it five days a week. 

I'll be starting my day by dropping a couple of Priority Mail packages at the Post Office, and then getting to the grocery store. I forgot to get a white onion for today's "cook along", and I also have decided to make another batch of "Ogre Juice" today to eliminate the problem of being one day short before my next batch on Wednesday. "Ogre Juice" takes 1-1/2 hours to make. I've got it down to a science, but there's always some prep work that has to happen. Prep work takes time. 

I've been watching "Next Level Chef" and 
it's got possibilities. Fifteen contestants all 
vying to be the winner, three professional chefs 
to mentor them (five amateurs for each chef's 
team), and a bizarre 3-level kitchen that will 
test their ability to cook under any conditions. 

When I watch cooking shows and they give the cooks 1/2 hour or less to create something amazing from scratch, I'm always amazed that it's possible at all. Prep work is so time consuming, I simply don't understand how they could possible get everything cut up and cooked and plated within the appropriate time frame. I guess that's why they aspire to be professional cooks, and why I absolutely and positively DO NOT. LOL

I adore "Project Runway" as my long-time readers know 
well. I could care less that we don't have Karlie Kloss 
this year. We have the important people - Christian, Elaine, 
Nina and Brandon. We're getting down now, and everyone 
not eliminated is talented and putting out good work. Now 
it's a good and fun competition - LOL. 

I also want to make sure I catch up on Project Runway today. Now that "Battlebots" is back on Thursday nights (so happy about that!), my Thursday night is booked. I prefer to catch "Project Runway" via Peacock on Fridays anyway, I avoid most of the advertisements that way, and can pause the replay if I need to make an interruption. 

DH and I have been "Battlebots" fans for years. Having it 
back on TV again is so much fun! 

So today will be shopping and chopping, blending and watching, and generally doing some catch-up work. It's going to be a very busy, but rather fun day (except for the snow). I hope your day is wonderful and filled with joy. I'll be back tomorrow. 

Cold Barely Describes It - So I'm Looking At Sunrise, Flames and Laughter

Oy! It's COLD out today. When I checked my phone a couple of minutes ago, we were reading at sub-16 F (-26.6 C). That's cold in anyone's thinking. Just the thought of standing outside the gym doors waiting for Ed to unlock them makes me shiver. But the swimming pool water will seem warm, no matter what the temperature of the water actually is. That's a small benefit, but I'll focus on that instead of how cold I'll be before I get into the water. 

We often will get stunning sunrises on exceptionally 
cold days, with blazing skies in gold, copper, pink and 
extreme robin's egg turquoise. I love going to work on 
those days when I catch the sunrise on my left side. 
It makes me all happy as I'm freezing while the car 
warms up. 

I'm not exactly sure what errands I need to run today, but I finally found Sharon's second holiday gift last night (I had carefully put it away ... you know how that can be). I'll get that wrapped and probably drop it off at the Post Office later today. Better late than never. 

My local Post Office is one of the larger ones, and their 
lobby area is open 24/7, which is extremely convenient. 
I'll be going during the day today, but I can drop my box 
off in the Priority Mail bin and never have to interact with 
another person. Since mask mandates are now back in 
place (because of Omicron), we're all back to careful 
distancing and wearing masks everywhere. 

Speaking of Sharon, her holiday gift to me was fabulous and totally made me laugh. It's called 100 Days Until Retirement Countdown Calendar and I know I'll be laughing every day. My only problem, as I told her, will be counting backwards to find out exactly when to start using the delightful gift. It's sure to make me smile in the middle of the pressure. 

This is a total hoot! I'm really looking forward to using it 
when my final 100 days at the shop finally comes later 
this year. 

For those of you in the USA, "BattleBots" returned to TV last night, and that was so much fun. After DH was finished watching the hockey game (Boston v Minnesota - we won), he also switched over to watch BattleBots, so I joined him for the final match. Even now, first week in, there were some serious upsets. It's going to be a fun few weeks as we work down to see who is awarded the Giant Nut. (For those not familiar with the trophy, that's nut as in hardware, not as in food product.) 

At least three separate battles in last night's first night of 
competition resulted in lots of flames. Including Tombstone, 
who caught on fire and actually lost their match. I think 
this one was the most visual, though, with Minotaur 
losing this flaming fight. I do love watching BattleBots. 

So, it looks like we'll be sub-zero for temps throughout the day, warming up to a scintillating zero degrees at 4:00 pm. I'll be bustling in and out of the grocery store and any other places I need to go, but I won't be lingering in the parking lot to chat with a friend if I happen to see one. Maybe I'll drop by Dick's Sporting Goods and see about a warmer set of gloves. I certainly need some. Meanwhile, have an excellent day today, be kind to others, and remain positive and upbeat. It's generally just as easy as being down and angry, and much healthier for your body and mind. I'll be back tomorrow. Namaste.