Noel

Last week was the first time Jon, E and I hosted, and celebrated, Christmas together as a mini family of 3. We had guests over, and that was a whole thing unto itself that I don't feel like going into, but it ended up being an enjoyable two days of celebration and food. For the main entree, we had beef tenderlion that I had ordered from Baumann's the week before. It came pre-seasoned and all there was left to do was cook it. This became tricky of course, when I also had to juggle the other dishes.

For Christmas Eve, the appetizer was Cream of Mushroom soup, while the main was the Tenderloin with Red Wine Gravy, Roasted Veg, Mashed Potatoes, and Shrimp Scampi. Dessert was a Molten Chocolate Lava cake and some Mixed Berries, that came from a box mix we had bought from Sam's Club some time ago. Christmas itself was pretty much the same, except instead of Shrimp Scampi, we had King Crab legs, and Balsamic Vinaigrette Roasted Brussel Sprouts, and I think dessert was Ben and Jerry's ice cream. 

I am now trying to figure out what to make for New Year's Eve. We still have 1 lb of King Crab legs, and I'm hoping that tomorrow I can find a reasonably small sized ham at Aldi. We have some random Charcuterie that I suppose could act as an appetizer, but would that then be too much cured meats? I don't know. Somewhere this week I am also planning to make Sausage Stuffing, since I missed that during Thanksgiving, and perhaps also a Japanese Cheesecake (because I got a weird craving for it a few days ago, and didn't wait to pay $34 for it from a local bakery, although that's still a reasonably good price for a whole cake). 

Anyway, in early December I started work on a Christmas themed cross stitch pattern than spelled out Noel, and right until Christmas night itself I got as far as NOF. As of today I have finally finished the E, so looks like I won't be done with this until the new year. Hopefully it will be a calmer year ahead for all.

Late Fall Planting

Call me crazy, but I have just come back in from finally planting some daffodils, tulips, and crocus bulbs, and its early December. I remember reading somewhere that someone still got away with planting spring bulbs right around Thanksgiving, which was a week and a half ago, so maybe I'll get lucky. I was motivated partially by the fact that the weather today was nice, and that the weather the next two days will be a high of 17 degrees celcius. That and if I didn't plant at least some of the bulbs I had bought earlier before, I would regret missing out. Hopefully its still not too late, and that the squirrels will not eat the bulbs that I just planted. 

Months ago I embarked on a gardening and plant rampage. Almost every week I went and acquired new plants. I spent so much time out in the sun that I got noticeably darker, a shade I probably haven't been since I was a school kid back in Singapore. Since then I've injured and strained various body parts, covered our spare room with plants, and introduced fungus gnats to the interior our home. I came down from my obsession early last month, after my right arm was just in so much discomfort that I was having trouble sleeping at night, and I started struggling to take care of the many indoor plants I had purchased. This also coincided with leaf blowing and raking season, which not only tired me out but also really did a number on my right arm.

Today, my right arm finally feels 99% back to normal (hence doing some gardening today, even though I felt really lazy). Some of my indoor plants have been moved out of the spare room to the main living area, where I can keep a better eye on them. I have decided that I actually love pothos plants one of the most, and that they are thankfully very hardy. The calathea white fusion that I was obsessed with, has now since died and terrible shriveled death, the first of my indoor plants to perish, though it was quite a high maintenance plant to begin with. Oh well, I don't think I will get another one.

Anyway, I think I have finally hit a normal, more manageable equilibrium about plants. 

Coyote

Yesterday while driving home after a trip to Aldi with E, I came across a coyote after turning into our subdivision. At first I thought it was a lost dog, because it had no collar and I had never seen a dog at that house before, but then I realised it looked a little rough and wild. It very obviously wasn't a fox or a wolf, so that left it being a coyote? Anyway it stared at me for a while when I stopped the car to look at it, but then ran away before I could dig out my phone to take a picture and another car came by from the opposite direction. 

Right after we got home, I quickly unloaded our groceries and transferred E into the pram. I wanted to bring her for a walk and hopefully catch one of our neighbours outside during the the lunch break of her oldest kid. After dallying a bit outside of their house (like an awkward loser), I thought maybe they weren't coming out, so I decided to continue walking, and then spotted the coyote again running through the backyard of one of the houses on the corner. 

Just as I was staring at it turn to run away, one of the neighbourhood kids, R, came tearing down on his bike telling me about how there was a fox loose in the neighbourhood and how everyone was texting about it. I felt a little put out that I wasn't part of this text thing, but told him it wasn't a fox because I had just seen it over there. Then R started to freak out in an excited way ("I'm gonna get eaten!"), and then W came tearing out of his house on his bike and started freaking out too and complaining that he wanted to see it too, but was also scared. I told them that they probably had nothing to fear unless they were a chicken or a duck, but they didn't seem convinced.

Soon, W's Mom and sisters came out (the same neighbour I had hoped to catch) and I got more of the bigger picture from her. The text was that it was a coyote, and someone saw it earlier. Plus, she had also seen alerts from NextDoor in early Fall that there were coyotes spotted in areas not too far from us. I remembered later that Jon and I saw reports about coyotes off the I-170 and Ladue Road during Summer, and thought it was hilarious. Maybe it's the same one very lost coyote. Anyway after we walked R home, we talked outside her house. I said goodbye and was about to leave when we ran into another set of neighbours, and we started talking about the coyote again.

Anyway later when I did get home, I saw that I was actually texted about the coyote around 11;30am, right about the time when E and I left to go to Aldi. So that made me feel a little better. 

If you cannot tell this is the most exciting thing that has happened to me in a long time. Plus, coyotes always make me think of Wile E. Coyote. I don't think kids had that association anymore. Additionally, I also forgot that kids get weirdly scared of random things, and work themselves up into fits over it.