Fun and Games Dept

My husband and I made a wonderful discovery during our road trip today.

Speedy Choice Fire Roasted Sweet Corn.

OH MY GOD.

OK, now before we get all crazy, the bag you see pictured above is a total of 600 calories. There are four servings of this phenomenal delight in that bag, and like the gentlemen we strive to be, we evenly split the heavenly experience between us at 300 calories a piece.

Now, popcorn is my favorite food of all time. I love popcorn and have loved popcorn since I was a small kid and my mom would pop it in this silver kettle that was streaked with oil but would produce wonderful popcorn. Once in a while popcorn has basically served as a butter and salt delivery system, but as an adult I have experimented with different types of corn, different types of oil, and an assortment of spices. Basic popcorn is still wonderful, but this Fire Roasted Sweet Corn is absolutely amazing.

It’s buttery. It has a hint of sweetness that is not overpowering like Kettle Corn, and it has a bit of that Fire Roasted goodness to keep things interesting. Earl spent a good share of ride searching various online outlets to see if we could buy this in bulk. When I got home I mapped out the closest Speedway convenience stores so I could stock up on this stuff.

It is absolutely amazing. I look forward to enjoying many bags of this on our future road trips together.

Highly recommended.

If we have to endure advertising to keep the world spinning, at least make the ad calm enough so I don’t feel like I have to take a tranquilizer after the experience.

Today’s television advertisements yell and flash and scream and tell me about all the bad things that happen when we take the medication they’re screaming about. Why are drug companies allowed to advertise medication? “Here’s a caffeine pill for pep. It’ll give you gas, hair on your palms, and you might get a rash.”

Do like the rest of the world and have a drink.

It’s hard to believe that many TV ads back when I was a kid were 60 seconds long. These days there’s 30 seconds of ad copy jammed into 15 seconds with strobe lights and screaming and things that you won’t believe.

And don’t even get me started on Internet advertising. That’s a whole separate blog post altogether.

I have requested for our Christmas Eve celebration (it’ll be the four of us) some Jeno’s Pizza Rolls or whatever the equivalent is these days. I totally based this request on an ad from 1967.

Sometimes the best ads just linger on.

We’re not headed back East this year for the holidays (pandemic and all). I was looking through photos from last year’s visit and I still get a kick out of this photo of one of my niece cats. Her name is Skippy June Jones. She’s quite a character.

Another niece we won’t be seeing this year is our niece dog, Bella. Bella has had a rough year; she’s displaced knee caps, and while she was in surgery for that, the vet left her on the heating pad for too long and burned her side badly. She’s been a couple of months in recovery, having to wear a padded collar to keep from digging at her burns. However, reports indicate she’s coming along in her recovery, so I’m happy to hear that. Here’s a picture of Bella from last December.

Bella gets along with Skippy and their sister, Peach Dot, who hides all the time and stays away from the paparazzi. I’ve only seen Peach Dot once or twice; she tends to keep to herself.

As the family made Christmas cookies in the kitchen and dining room at Jamie and Chris’ house, I took a few moments to myself with a glass of wine by the fireplace.

We are over at Jamie and Chris’ for annual Christmas cookie formulation. Normally this would be a large gathering but that doesn’t happen in 2020. The four of us are still having a lovely time.

Jamie and Chris have the apartment decked out for the season. It’s festive and perpetuating my search for the spirit.

2020 will definitely be one for the history books. I’m happy that we are still able to have joyful moments.

I know, I’m one of those basic Americans that gets excited when McDonald’s blesses us with the McRib. They’re not quite the same as I remember years ago; there’s a much stronger “ketchup” taste with the barbecue sauce than I remember in the past, though to be fair, I’ve never had a McRib in Chicagoland before.

My husband and I drove to the burbs in search of a McDonald’s in the rain and hints of snow. It was a good way to kick off the weekend. As per the times, we blessed a drive thru with our presence and then found a parking spot to enjoy our meal. We are pros when it comes to eating in the car. With the weather as it was, I found a place to park so we could see flights into O’Hare descend out of the clouds just a few moments before touchdown.

McRibs and airplane watching, yep that’s a snappy Friday night date in my book.

It’s nearly 60ºF on the 10th of December in Chicago, Illinois. I’m out on the balcony in a light jacket. Truman is investigating the Christmas decorations we have strung along the railing. The mood is pleasant, the air is calm, the snow is coming this weekend.

While the usual White Christmas vibe is not happening as of yet, I’m starting to feel the spirit of the holiday season a little bit. I needed to do a few things to kick myself in the mood. Unlike many folks, Christmas and related holidays are not my favorite time of the year but I still find them to be quite pleasant. The trick is to still fit in my clothes when it all calms down come the first of the year. So many goodies.

Despite the absence of winter weather usually found in these parts at this time of the year, and the concerning reasons for this sort of thing, I’m liking the warmish vibe we have going on. I’m also really enjoying the Christmas lights. No LEDs out here; these are good old incandescent lights a la 1978. Finding C9 replacement bulbs in a bit of a trick here in the 21st century, but we’re thankful to find anything on Amazon.

One of the reasons I like television shows from the 50s and 60s was to see how folks were portrayed back then. There was a certain amount of class and charm in the characters that we don’t see today. I’d love the opportunity to have a reason to wear a tux again. I haven’t worn one, outside of a wedding, in a few decades. I’ve owned only one tux in my life, and that was a requirement when I was in music school just out of high school.

When the pandemic is over and we’re all going out again, I’m going to take my husband out for an impressive dinner where formal wear is required. I’m saving up for the event. I might even fix up my flat Central New York (Inland North) accent for the occasion.

Uncle Arthur probably won’t be there though. And I can assure you I will not be wearing ruffles.

By the way, in the screen cap from the third season episode of “Bewitched” seen above, standing behind Dick York as Darrin is Melody McCord as a party guest. You’ve seen her plenty of times, but almost only from the back. She was Elizabeth Montgomery’s double, and was often in a black wig playing the backside of cousin Serena, or in her natural hair playing the backside of Samantha when Lizzie was playing Serena.

The filming of “Christmas, Again” in our neighborhood has continued over the past couple of weeks. They’re slated to wrap up production here at this end of this coming week. I hope they leave the decorations up on the houses surrounding the home they’re using as a set.

In the shadows you can see some rented lifts. They have cameras and the like covered in garbage bags for the off hours. Security personnel have been patrolling the area since the cast and crew moved into the neighborhood nearly a month ago. I’m anxious to see the finished product next year!