42 Years Ago

Yesterday we celebrated 42 years of wedded bliss.
I would be lying if I said it was all bliss, but the good outweighs the bad. As much as I complain make light of his shortcomings, I am well aware of my own. He is not afraid to point them out. He used to be careful when doing so, but I have mellowed with age. Like a fine wine (whine?).

We were homebound all day. Our road was not a priority for salting and plowing and they did not get to us until late afternoon. The interstate was passable, but getting to it was like skating in your vehicle. HeWho was called out a couple of times, but declined. One was a cab ride some 50 miles away. We both felt sorry for the people who needed to get a rental car, but they were in a warm and safe place. No one should have been driving in the mess, as tiny little white beads of ice was falling from the sky and adding to layer of ice on the road. It was so bad that HeWho has a McDonald's biscuit EVERY day did not get his morning fix!!

He did go out to help one of our kampers get to the interstate and he flagged down a plow to request some salt for our road. Then he went with another tow truck driver to help a neighbor out of the ditch. The car had been in the ditch for over 24 hours and the owner is older than we are, my kind hearted husband did not want him to drive the car up the hill to his house, so he did. (The occupants of the car were not in the car for that time, they were safe at home).

So, we were home most of the day, feeding wood to the wood stove. HeWho loves me gave me an Echo for our anniversary. I was unaware that I wanted one. Our daughter has one and she yells commands at it all the time. He must have been impressed with it. I will have something to talk to that will hear me. All this depends on someone programming the thing. Not me. HeWho has the box and instructions sitting on the table net to his recliner ..........

Wonder how long it will sit there? He says the print is too small to read and the light next to his chair does not work. One would have thought that being confined would have provide a perfect opportunity to do indoor things. I even suggested that he might want to help me go through all the plumbing supplies and sort them by size. He just looked at me. I am the organizer in this family ....

So we spent a quite day watching a movie and some Judge Judy. I did notice that every time I looked at him, he was eating. I must have tucked this little tidbit of information in the back of my mind. Late in the evening, I realized that he had hit the cookies I had planned to send to the kids!! He was not selective and had eaten a good many of every kind, with the exception of the coffee cookies. 

Today was spent in the kitchen. I sent him to get supplies for baking and started making cookie dough to chill. Then I made 2 huge batches of candy. Crockpot candy. It was easy enough to make. You just throw the baking chocolate, the almond bark and the chocolate chips in the crockpot on low for an hour and a half. Then stir it and add peanuts and pretzel pieces.

The only problem was finding enough flat surfaces to line with parchment paper. I made one chocolate batch and one white chocolate batch, Each batch yielded over 100 candies. While I was waiting for the chocolates to cook, I made two big batches of cookies. Ginger snaps and more coffee cookies. So my cookie sheets were tied up. I finally remembered a cabinet door that was in my "can't toss" pile. It was perfect to line with parchment paper and drop gobs of candy batter on.

For several hours I popped one pan in the oven while I rolled out the next pan. I rotated 3 big cookie sheets and made candy in between. When I got caught up I chopped an onion and some celery and a carrot, threw it all in the dutch oven  with a little olive oil and let it sweat down while I peeled some potatoes. Pulled out another batch of cookies and dumped some chicken broth on my veggies and let them simmer while I kept on with the cookie dough.

I am exhausted! But I have filled 3 boxes with goodies for my kids, just have one more box to fill and HeWho runs errands can go spend a fortune at the post office. I wanted to deliver these in person, but the icy roads and subzero temperatures in Minnesota had me rethink a road trip.

So, while I did all that cooking and two loads of laundry, one would think that someone else would have programmed the Echo. This did not happen. Guess I will have to do it myself. Tomorrow. On the phone with my son. He reads my blog sometimes. Do not think you can avoid my call just because you have been forewarned, Jeffrey!