Saturday, December 6, 2008

Dance Little Sister...

... don't give up today...



Terence Trent D'Arby - Dance Little Sister



Indeed. And I didn't, as you will note. I'm still here.

I have discovered a thing about myself. I have a disease. It's called depression and there is no cure. The best I can hope for is remission. But that's neither here nor there, as my mother liked to say.

I have also discovered that I don't like selling my jewelry. I'm not a salesperson. And then, even when you say on your page that the item is sold "as is" people ask you to alter it somehow and then it doesn't work and it breaks and it's not my fault but I try to fix it and then they want to say they never received it back and yada yada yada... so, I closed my etsy store. I'm just not able to deal with that crap. I can't believe I used to work in customer service. If I had to do that now I think I would hurt somebody.

I also discovered that when I go grocery shopping I should pay more attention. Here's my funny Thanksgiving Turkey story: I bought a frozen turkey for our Thanksgiving feast. I didn't want a huge one but I wanted a whole one, not just a breast like we usually get. I wanted a drumstick, ya know? :) So, I'm digging thru the bin of turkeys and I find a small-ish one, around 12 pounds. I put it in the cart and take it home. Now... Thomas has a way that he saw on Alton Brown's show Good Eats on the food network of soaking a turkey in brine and seasonings over night and roasting it the next day. It's a really good way to cook a turkey. This is the way I almost always do mine anymore. So... I have my turkey thawing in the fridge for 3 days, on the day before Thanksgiving I make the brine. I had to do two batches because the turkey would be soaking in the cooler which is bigger than what I usually soak a breast in. Anyway... I cooks up two batches of brine and then I cut open the plastic wrap from the turkey and the most horrible smell assaults my nose! I swear to God I thought the bird was rotten! So I start looking on the package for a sell by date or something and wondering if I can find a fresh or already thawed turkey at 8pm on Thanksgiving eve! As I'm looking at the packaging (with my glasses on) I see that it says this is an already marinated turkey! Marinated and shot up with Cajun spices! I swear I never saw it when I bought the damned thing! I hate that nasty Cajun stuff they inject turkeys with. It's yucky, icky poo, nasty. Needless to say I was mortified. So Pete says, "maybe if you rinse it off really good and soak it a few times in fresh water it will wash it all off and then the brine will season it like we like it. So that's what I did. And I ended up with a totally inedible bird for all my hard work. It was gross. And further more, the damned thing was way hot. I can't imagine how hot it would have been had I not rinsed it off before cooking. I can't see how anyone could have served something that spicy to their kids, but... what do I know? So, we had prosciutto wrapped asparagus, delicious cornbread stuffing, baked sweet potatoes and cranberry sauce. And no bird. It was a good meal anyway. Thomas did eat some of the turkey breast wrapped in a tortilla with some jack cheese and lettuce on it. He said it was good that way. I, however, purchased a new whole turkey and I plan to have a do-over real soon. Yes, I read the whole package very carefully to make sure this one is just a nice, plain, old-fashioned, season it yourself, turkey. And that's my Thanksgiving story. Nice, huh? Good thing the pecan pie was good. In fact it was outrageously, unbelievably tasty. I did good on that part of the feast.

Now then... I have made the candied peel and I'm going to do the coconut candy today then I will get the fudge shop opened. I love this time of year. Sugar is so fun to work with. It gets me all giggly and excited. Hope everyone else is all giggly and excited about this time of year, too.

8 comments:

Jeannie said...

"I have discovered a thing about myself. I have a disease. It's called depression and there is no cure."

I know you're aware of my experience with this disease. Of all the things I've been through in my life, depression was the most crippling and debilitating of them all. And though I've seen more doctors and therapists and been on more medications than a lifetime should allot, I credit one little pill (and a near death experience) for saving my life. That was so many years ago, yet I remember it as clearly as if it were yesterday. But for me, it is definitely in the past. I've not experienced depression in 10 years.

Curing depression takes a lot of hard work, but the results are indescribable. Once the cloud lifts, you see the whole world in a completely new light. It's as if you're "born again"- like a child eager and excited to experience the world. It's so much more than that though and it's something you can have.

I do hope that you make the first step to this liberation by discussing your concerns with your doctor. And if you ever want a listening ear, I'm here for you day and night. Please call me.

I love you friend, and I want you to be happy and to enjoy all of the wonderful things life has to offer. You deserve them all.

P.S. And I'm sorry about your turkey. :(

Some Kinda Wonderful said...

Thank you my friend. I'm going to call you after the holidays, okay? After everything settles down and we both will, hopefully, have some time. I would like to know how you got over this... this... thing. It's kinda awful, really.

pamwax said...

Not being able to get your brain to think the way you want it too can be so maddening. Mine is anxiety. It seems that sometimes no matter how hard you try to push the negative out of your brain the worse it gets. Thankfully my little pill helps a lot.

You know we are here for you anytime.

The turkey story is funny, sort of. Sounds like something I would do. I am always buying something, getting it home only to discover it was the wrong thing. The rest of the meal sounds great though. I would have been OK at your table without the turkey.

Jeannie said...

Anytime, day or night, I'm here for you. Give me a call whenever you'd like. Or I can call you too. Whatever you prefer. :D

Arsenette said...

Glad to see you posting again :) I'll keep you in my thoughts and prayers. Mine hits from time to time but not as severe are you guys. Hope some day you can live life without having that hang over you.

So sorry about your turkey. It was an honest mistake. Glad to see Thomas is bright and is looking on the positive side :D He's quite the treasure you have there :D

Panther said...

Jeannie,

Feel free to send me an email at my blogger account.

I know that you are probually tired of hearing "I'm sorry" from people so I won't say it.

However, I will state that if you need someone to talk with no matter what, even just to vent about the day, I am here. I have a good ear for things like that.

I hope that you will be able to have the access for help, if you want to get it. It will take time but your strong and will get through it.

I'll keep you in my thoughts and prayers. Dont' forget to email.

Mr. Mike said...

Sorry to hear about the turkey on Thanksgiving, I'm sure your do over will be fantastic! Having worked in customer service for most of my adult life, I can really relate to your stories.

Chaki said...

Hey Holly, Must have been heartbreaking to close down your shop... but you did the right thing. The stress was taking all the joy from your craft. Now you can do it for yourself, for your nieces and friends who would appreciate your talent.

Little things I do to get myself out of a slump.
1) Give myself a time limit. Okay, I am going to spend two days doing absolutely nothing and spend curled up under my comforter. But on the third day, I will begin to do one productive thing, and so on. (like a blog entry...)

2) Do a no-failure challenge. When I am down, I can't even buy a pair of earrings right... everything I want is too expensive, one side is missing, or just something!!! What I do is practice singing a song on Youtube until I perfect it. Not to listen, but SING ALOUD!

3) Distract myself by laughing with friends. Or complaining. You've got plenty of options to choice from here.

4) When these things become routine in your life, somehow life seem brighter, more hopeful.

So glad you're back with us!