I have discovered a new vegetable that I like - Bok Choy. Who knew?

You need to understand that I have been cursed with horrible tastebuds. There are so many foods I dislike that I have been termed a "picky eater" all my life. I have in recent years come to the conclusion that it's not my fault -- it's the fault of my tastebuds.

I mean, would anyone seriously decide to dislike so many foods? I have a nephew-in-law who says you should just eat everything and decide to like it. Unfortunately, my tastebuds disagree. They cause a visceral reaction to foods they've determined unsuitable. As in employing the gag reflex. That is not a pleasant experience and especially so if you're in the presence of others. As a result, there are many vegetables that are on my DO NOT EAT list -- so I'm overjoyed when I can find something on which we (my tastebuds and I) can both agree.

On the plus side, since most legumes reside on my DO NOT EAT list, this has turned out to be a blessing. Most legumes are high in purine which is a contributing cause to bouts of gout (properly known as gouty arthritis). Since I am currently suffering through a flare-up of that condition, I can proudly state I will eat no legumes!!

PWM - Post Working Mode

Today I've been doing another spin-in-place dance trying to land on a task and complete it.  So many choices! So much I want to do!  I spin in place and end up accomplishing nothing.
It started with putting on my knee-hi's.  They keep my feet warm while I walk around the house barefoot.  The first one had a run so I toss it and go back to the bedroom to replace it. While there, I see a tin box I use to store loose beads.  I covered the top in patterned paper last night and used rub-on letters to label it.

Clever, right?  Well, the sides still show the advertising for the original container so I take it to Cal and ask if he can paint the rest of the tin white.  After some discussion we decide it might mess up the paper on top because he wants to spray paint.  I decide to paint it by hand and coat with Mod Podge, but I take two other tins to him for him to paint.  Take one back because it's all white except for the advertising on the top and I'll cover that with paper.  Which I proceed to do.
I go into Justin's room (my craft room) to look for my acrylic paint and foam paintbrushes.  While there I see my many, many books on display and think I should check the authors in the OneClick database to see if I can get the book on audio and thus eliminate a paperback from my stash.
I go back to my room to start that task and see my Palm (where I keep an extensive book list by author-trust me, it's awesome) and that reminds me it needs to be charged.  I pick it up to take it back to the desk but see the second tin that I've covered with paper.
 I take the second tin to my desk to mark a straight line for the word I'll rub on. While there, I see my sewing machine set up in the living room so I can take in the waist of Ellie's stretch pants.  Which reminds me I need to go to JoAnn's to buy some thread and other essentials. I go back to my knee-hi's, which I now need so I can finish getting dressed and go to JoAnn's.
Easily distracted??  Me????  Surely, you jest.

Weddings.  Generally happy events planned months, sometimes years, in advance and attended by numerous family members and friends.  Unless you're my son, Brendan.

Brendan announced in July that he and his fiance, Roly Contreras, are getting married in August.  There's a back story, so let  me fill you in.

Brendan was introduced to Roly by one of his co-workers at Safeway.  Roly works in the dot com division of Safeway.  Which is outsourced.  To the Phillipines.  This means Roly lives and works in the Phillipines.  They meet via Skype, find they have a lot to talk about and are merrily Skyping at least once a week.  Brendan decides he needs to meet Roly in person so he takes a vacation to the Phillipines and meets her and her family.  He's smitten.

He came home with a bad bug from the Phillipines and was sick for weeks and I'm pretty sure it wasn't a love bug.

My sister, Lynne, and I meet Roly on Skype and we think she's adorable. (Lynne happened to be visiting me in OR when Brendan proposed a conference call on Skype)

Months later, Brendan returns to the Phillipines and they tour all over Asia (some great photos for scrapbooking!) and Brendan proposes.  She accepts.  Happiness all around!

Roly comes to the US to visit and meet his family (poor girl, she'll never be the same).  Originally, she was going to be here 5 wks but B couldn't stand the thought of her leaving so soon and since her tourist visa is good for 6 months, they decide to extend her visit.  HAH   Considering she was going to go back to the Phillipines at the end of June and they told me in July they were getting married, you can see not much water passed under THAT bridge.

They consulted an immigration attorney and she recommended they get married in order to extend her stay and start the process for immigration.  They planned to do a simple court ceremony just to make it legal, having me and Dorothy (the lady that introduced them) as witnesses and then plan a church wedding for next year for friends and family to attend.  They told me they were planning August 21 and would provide details later.  They (meaning B) wanted this to be quiet; no fuss, no bother.  I promised to not mention it to anyone.

Now, they come over almost every Sunday for dinner and a rousing game of crokinole (I know that makes some of you jealous!).  So one Sunday B says their lawyer told them they had to wait until September for the marriage.  Ok, I'm retired, I'm flexible.  I can do this.

The next Sunday they tell me that they don't have to wait after all, and the lawyer said the sooner the better, so they're back on for August.  It is here that our stories diverge.  Cal and I remember it as "we'll let you know what day it will be".  Brendan remembers it as "this is the day it will be".  He claims since Cal and I are old, his version is correct.  I beg to differ.  I didn't write anything on my calendar so I'm pretty darned sure I was waiting for a date.

Ok.  Fast forward to Monday, August 27.  Keep in mind that Brendan and Roly were at my house the night before for dinner and crokinole.  On Sunday night I got IM's from Stacey & Eric both (#1 son and DIL).  For both of them to ping me it had to be somewhat important.  It was after 11:00 when I responded so we didn't really connect until Monday.  Eric said he didn't know if B was being a smart aleck or what, but when he asked B to join a fantasy football game B responded "I can't on Tuesday.  I'm getting married".  I had hoped Brendan would have mentioned it to his brother before now (I'd promised not to say anything so I hadn't).  *sigh*  MEN

Anyway, I'm frantically trying to get ahold of Brendan or Roly because I had a hair appointment on Tuesday and had Eric not said something, I might not have been home!  Don't think I wouldn't have been p.o.'d to miss out on the marriage ceremony!

All's well that ends well.  I rescheduled my hair appointment, and as you can see by the photos, we successfully got them hitched and she's now permanently a part of our family.

Just to make sure it stays permanent, they'll be doing it again next year in the US and then again in the Phillipines for a traditional Filipino wedding.

We are blessed to have Roly as a part of our family and I can't wait to see the babies they make, because they are bound to be adorable, right?

Being retired is  ...   GREAT!  To have time to do what I want, within reason, with no time pressures and to get PAID for doing nothing.  What, I ask you, could be better?

     The getting paid part is problematical.

I applied for Medicare, since I'm of sound mind and certainly old enough.  I was going to delay my Social Security benefits until my full "retirement" age of 66.  Just another year, so doable.  The difference is about $100 a month, so I was going to wait.

Now picture this: on a Monday I apply for Medicare benefits online.  When completed, it says I will need to take some documents to my local office for verification - my birth certificate and my naturalization papers.  It basically says the sooner the better because a delay will hold up the processing of my application.

Being retired, with time to call my own, I decide to go to my local (Hayward) Social Security office the next day.  Which I do.  I patiently wait for my turn, which didn't take as long as I'd expected.  The nice young man tells me I should have waited until someone called me (say WHAT!) because he can't yet pull up my application.  It hasn't hit their system yet.  BUT, he will take photo copies of my documents and log that he's verified they were original documents and merrily send the copies on their way to the office that will process my application.  *sigh*  He then asks me why I'm applying only for Medicare and not my Social Security benefits.  I explain that my SS "retirement" age is 66, so I'm waiting.  Seriously, people .. when you read all their literature it sounds like the best thing to do is wait!  He "looks it up" and tells me that by NOT taking the $16,000 I'd get this year -- at the rate of $100 extra per month, it will take me 13 years to make it up.  Well, I don't need a degree to do the math.  I'll take my money now, please.

He recommends that when I get home I go online and apply for my Social Security benefits.  Which I do.  It won't let me.  Tells me the information I'm providing is different from what they have on file.  So now the phone calls begin.  Have you tried calling SS?  You can eventually get through, but you have to jump through some hoops to get a living human being.  I call.  They tell me to be patient; it's because the Medicare application is pending and once that's completed I can then apply for SS.  Fine.

On Sunday I check online for the status of my Medicare application.  It says it's pending but I'll probably have to take some documentation (yep, you guessed it -- my birth certificate and naturalization papers) to my local office in SAN JOSE!  Another call to SS but I called the local Hayward office.  These numbers are now in my speed dial.  They explain the San Jose office processes the Medicare applications and all is good.  They still have the copies of my documents and will fax them once more to the San Jose office to make sure they get them.

On Monday I get a call from a very nice lady at the San Jose office.  She explains that my Medicare application is being processed but they will need to verify some documents (guess which ones).  I told her my sad story of jumping the gun and taking the documents to Hayward the day after I filled out the online application.  She checks a few "systems" and doesn't find the documents but says there's one more she can check but she doesn't have access to it at the moment.  I love computer systems.  Especially mega systems like the government uses.  Systems that go back so many years who knows if everything is up-to-date?  I'm guessing not.

She promises to get back with me on Friday - she's waiting a few days to make sure the documents hit one of her "systems".  In the meantime, she says, I may want to take my documents BACK to Hayward because her "system" shows me as a permanent resident, not a naturalized citizen.  Are you kidding me??  I've been naturalized since November of 1959!!  She explains the Immigration and Naturalization computer system isn't integrated with Social Security so they wouldn't have that information.  But, I explain, when I applied for my social security card way back when, surely I must have had to prove my citizenship or legal residency at that time, and since I was a CITIZEN, that should have gone on my record.  Nope, it's showing me as a permanent resident.  Might want to get that updated.

So I'll be making another call to my local SS office to see WHY the nice young gentleman who helped me didn't notice this one little glitch while I was sitting there in the office with my documents in hand.

And they want to nationalize health care.  OMG

It has been a long time since I've posted anything, but as I'm now down to my last 7 working months in Oregon it seems fitting that I start blogging again.  Winding up the adventure, so to speak.

The past 3 years have been eventful -- my cancer scare and hysterectomy 2 years ago (has it really been that long?), my emergency appendectomy this September (do I see a surgical pattern here?  surgery every 2 years?) and sadly the death of my friend and co-worker, Peggy Lyle from lung and bone cancer.

Yesterday was Peggy's funeral service.   I'm sure a great number of people from the Austin ServicePoint attended.  It's still so hard to comprehend that Peggy's gone!  She was diagnosed in August with lung cancer when she thought she had a really bad case of bronchitis that she just couldn't shake.  From August to November 5.  Such a short period of time.  No time really to get used to the idea that she might leave us.  Only 52.  We would talk practically on a daily basis.  Mostly about work, but not always.  She could always make me laugh.  If I had questions about anything she's the one I'd call.  No matter how busy she was she would always make time for anyone who needed her expertise.  Always a smile in her voice.  A hard worker.  Dedicated employee.  Great mom and grandma.  Some days it just overwhelms me how much I miss her.

Rest in peace, Peggy.

Butter Tarts

Synchronicity is the experience of two or more events that are apparently causally unrelated occurring together in a meaningful manner.

I was speaking with my hairdresser during my last appointment, bemoaning the fact that when my boys were young I hated when they had "ethnic" days at school and they were to bring a food item to share with the class that was related to their heritage. "There's nothing Canadian", I complained. We used to eat a lot of Shepherd's Pie, but that's really more English. "Well," said Colleen - who is from Canada - "there's always Butter Tarts."

I laughed. We grew up with butter tarts. Mom always made them for holidays and sometimes for special occasions. I have fond memories of watching her pull a pan from the oven and begging for one before she could even set it on the counter. I remember them filling my mouth with flavor and tasting the butter ... they were SO good!

"They're not Canadian!" I said with authority. "Of course they are", she replied. She challenged me to check with my friends at work and see how many of them had even heard of butter tarts. She assured me there would be few, if any. I went her one better. I did a Google search on the 'net. Sure enough! Butter tarts are from Canada .. actually from Ontario, which is where I was born. Imagine! I did check with my friends at work and Colleen was right - none of them had ever heard of butter tarts.

Well, the obvious next step was to get a recipe. Right? I wrote to my aunt, Elaine, who still resides in the frozen north and asked if she happens to have a family recipe for butter tarts. It was several days later that she replied. She'd looked through her recipes but couldn't find one for butter tarts. She recommended I search for them on the 'net because there are a lot of them out there (who knew?) I did a search but didn't find what I wanted. Most of them used Karo syrup and I *know* mom didn't use Karo syrup in hers. The ones that didn't use Karo syrup used those premade tart shells that are the size of a moon pie. Nope. I was disappointed, needless to say.

A week or so later, I was looking through a cookbook I had given my mom years ago. It was a cookbook that my church had put together a published and I had given one to each of my sisters and my mom. Mom had even inscribed my name and date in the front cover "Sharon - 1979". I have the same cookbook at home in Dublin and I know it has the BEST carrot cake recipe EVER and I was looking for it. As I'm thumbing through the dessert section I came upon a page that had been added to the cookbook .. it was typed, but not in the format of the other recipes. Lo and behold, it was a recipe for BUTTER TARTS! and no Karo syrup!! OH MY GOSH

You cannot imagine how excited I was. I told several friends about it and how I wanted to start making them .. to practice as it were, so I could do them every year for Christmas and make it part of our family tradition. I said the only thing I'd do different would be to use prepared pie pastry. I have it on good authority from Jill Manley (my daughter-in-law's sister) that Pillsbury Pie Crust is the closest to homemade she's ever found .. and that girl can make a mean pie!!

Marletta liked the idea so much she went to the store, bought two boxes of pie crust and left them in my refrigerator. I laughed when I got home and opened the 'frig! Since "the girls" were coming over that weekend for scrapbooking I went shopping for the rest of the ingredients and got to baking.

They were a hit! One batch makes about 4 dozen tarts and they taste so buttery .. even though there are only 4 T of butter in the whole batch. I'm still working on perfecting them -- getting the timing and oven temperature just right. They still boil over a bit more than I like but I'm getting no complaints from my taste testers. Ryan comes by my desk every day just in case I might have brought some in to work.

So now the recipe. You wouldn't believe how easy the filling is to make. The hardest part is the pie crust but if you use pre-made it's easier. Just fitting them into the little tart pans (now called mini-muffin pans!) is a bit of a pain .. but well worth it. I hope you'll give them a try and I really hope you enjoy them as much as I do .. well, WE do -- because there are several people here who would tell you they are very good.

I bought two tart pans from Target .. Wilton brand for $12.95 (really! cuz there's no tax here) .. and each makes 24 tarts. One pie crust will make a dozen tarts if you use a water glass that's 2 1/2 to 3" across. You do need to roll it out just a bit with a rolling pin so it's more circular and will do 12 circles (9 along the outside edge and 3 in the center). The recipe doesn't tell you to cut out the pie crust into 3" circles and pat them into the tart tins .. that's assumed.

Mom's Butter Tarts

1 1/2 cups currants or raisins
4 T butter (or more)
2 eggs
2 cups brown sugar
Few tsp rum or rum flavoring
Chopped nuts
Pie pastry

Soak currants or raisins in boiling water for 5 min or until they are plump - drain. Beat butter until creamy. Add eggs and brown sugar and beat until foamy. Add rum, chopped nuts and currants. Pour filling into uncooked tart shells.
Bake in 375 oven for 15-20 min or until brown. Cool slightly before removing gently from pans to wire rack.

So, from Cecilia Robichaud Dunlop, and me -- ENJOY!

Later days ...

This is my on-call week .. getting up at 3am to run environment checks then working a full day. Fun. Last night I stayed up late to start working on a last-minute project that had to be completed this morning. This morning I decided to go in to the office early because it's difficult doing the last checks remotely and I needed to finish up that project. SO..one would think I'd be able to leave early but NOOOOOOO.
I had to go straight from work to the car dealer in Oregon City, about an hour's drive. Fortunately only 1/2 hour from my house. Traffic wasn't TOO bad and I got there about 5:15 for my 5:00 "appointment". Picked up the loaner car and scooted back home. So tired I couldn't wait to get home, grab a quick bite to eat and then crash.
As I was eating, I decided to set up my laptop for the early morning session, and Y I K E S! I'd left it in my car!! OH NO! In a panic, I'm dialing the dealership, calling the service dept .. but they close at 6:00 and it was 6:04. Drat. I called again, got a wrong number. Called again and tried the office ... closed. Called again and got the sales department. One of the guys who sold me my car. He said he'd run out to the service dept and see if someone were still there. Oh, joy! He was able to get my computer bag and he would be there until 8:00. Hallelujah!!
Of course, the downside is that I had to drive all the way back there to pick it up. Then back home. Now I'm feeling sorry for myself and nursing the bruises from kicking myself in the rear for being such a dunderhead. Hey .. I'm sleep deprived. So off to finish eating and then to bed for my LAST early morning. Is it Friday yet???