I’m home feeling lousy with the cold ChaosGirl so kindly shared with me so maybe I should catch up here a bit.
We had a nice Thanksgiving at my folks. Dad is still hanging in there but it’s not looking good. I don’t know if he’ll see 2010. He’s nothing but skin and bones at this point and I don’t think it will be too much longer before his organs give out. The cancer is taking all the nutrients from what little he eats. Nothing tastes good because his digestive enzymes are all mucked up and the bile that is backed up because the tumor is blocking the exit to the liver is making him itch terribly. And there is, of course, nothing anyone can to do to help which makes it all the sadder.
To change the subject here, I’ve got almost all of ChaosGirl’s holiday shopping done including some of her birthday stuff. With her birthday coming so early in the year it only makes sense to take advantage of the sales now and stash things away. She’s still pretty easy to shop for – there are a few things she wants, she tells me what they are and they don’t change from day to day. This year is pretty eclectic. She wants the Crayola ColorWonder Light Brush so I got her that and a ColorWonder glitter princess kit. She wants a piano and a book of music so we found her a small keyboard – at Menards of all places - and I just need to find a book of simple songs. Yes, this means I get to teach her to read music which may be an adventure. It’s certainly easier to teach her to read music with a keyboard than any other instrument though.
She wants a globe and a jewelry box with a place to hang necklaces which I think my sister is getting for her. She wants a baby doll which we actually already have as we bought it for her last year and didn’t give it to her since she got some others,
She also wants this Little Tikes Color Copier too. Unfortunately it’s a piece of crap and I get to take it back sometime this week. You have to press really hard to make a mark on the paper as it uses carbon sheets that aren’t the best quality. You also have to hold the “print” button down until the paper is all the way out. I’m really glad we tested it out and found out it is so not worth it before giving it to her.
In food news, I thought I had blogged about the cushaw before but a search turned up nothing. I got this cushaw at the last farmer’s market of the season back in October. Here it is next to an apple for size comparison:
After spending some time taking up space on the top of my refrigerator I finally did something with it Friday. Cushaw is an heirloom squash that is milder in taste than acorn squash, more like the winter squash you buy frozed – almost sweet potato-y. The bowl of the squash is mostly hollow and I got a lot of seeds out of this one so we can grow our own next summer. It weighed around 15 pounds and I got enough “meat” out of it to cook up 5 meals worth. Dad always peeled it, cubed it, boiled it, mashed it, and froze it. I tried cutting it down into four large pieces and baking it. After scooping it out of the peel I mashed it and froze it. It’s easier that way but the texture is a bit different than what you get boiling. I’ll have to see what I think after I bake it up.
Speaking of sweet potatoes, I found an almost Four. Pound. Sweet. Potato. at the grocery over the weekend. It is as big as ChaosGirl’s head. The adventures of the hugenormous sweet potato will be coming soonish.
Also coming soonish is a yarny update but it’s cloudy and gloomy so I’ll wait until I get some decent pictures to catch up there. There was a falling down at the JoAnn’s Black Friday sale. A sweater’s worth of yarn may have just followed me home *cough*cough*ahem*
