Brrrrrrrrandom

Some snow came and some single digit weather came...meh. Maybe it was too little, too late. Instead of it making me feel all jolly and festive, I am just cold! There is some joy in fuzzy socks though, I must admit.

It seems as though my husband may have made a resolution to go on the elliptical every day. Go. Him. I too am planning to get back to what was working, what seemed best for me. Yes, I am saying that it is time to stop eating so very many cookies...

 ...and to start reconnecting with pure chocolate. This is a mere sampling of the current snack shack offerings. I may have even cropped this to make it seem less overwhelming. 

"Overwhelming" now there's a word for ya. The holidays may have passed, but in their wake left all of those shards of things that didn't get done because - holidays. The fragments of stuff that weren't terribly appealing when there were actual numerous hours of productive daylight.

Perhaps I do need something beyond the usual. What does this say?

"Iron Goddess"? Well she sounds pretty kickass. Wait, does that say "of mercy"? There is no room for mercy in tackling this to-do list!

A celebratory trend?

(The New Year's Edition)

Another Friday, another reason to celebrate...me! Perfect, I mean, I like toast, but don't understand the glass clinking at all.  Should auld aquaintance be forgot? That depends. There are a few minor discretions from this past year that I might rather not have brought to mind. Mostly I just plan to increase my nap frequency in 2016, or at least until I make up for the hours lost yesterday.

Happy New Year!

(Me. Last night. Post ball drop, obviously.)

Foz la la la la

Well isn't this a marvelous coincidence that this Friday just happens to be even more special than usual? 

Be dapper...

Be helpful...

Be choosy with your snacks...

Be merry, and have a joyous Christmas!

Jingle Random*

* This title makes no sense and is irrelevant to this post. I am just trying to keep things festive.

Remember my caramel apple stocked refrigerator from last week? Well, I forgot to show you the handy gift tags that were in the box...

...in case I want to give them away? Baffling. Maybe I am just supposed to write my name on all of the ones that are for me to eat, and label the ones I am willing to share?

Does it feel like you just aren't as productive as you'd like to be when you try to work this holiday season? The answer?

Hire some cats. This is the Monkey in the Field's home office, and I can only assume the workflow is manageable because of her feline assistants.

Please note that there is one missing, you know, that nuisance coworker who is always on break.

I am still trying to get past the serious lack of creepy monkeys from my birthday, and now I have to be concerned that I will also go without any Yorkie Love to wrap around my finger. 

I see a lot of letters sprinkled about that ad, but there really are no words.

Time to get that list wrapped up, or at least start crossing off the things that don't stand a chance,even if we forego sleep! Don't forget to breathe...

Waiting...

I am always waiting for something…food, to go outside, fresh water. Today I thought we were waiting for the right moment to take a picture for me to use on my holiday greetings, so I casually plopped myself down in this vignette...

…they said I'd better not pout, but won't tell me why!

Randomly speaking of...

I am absolutely not keeping this short because I am in stressy panic mode. No, it is because I know that you are busy and I don't want to hold you up. It's like an early holiday gift from me to you! Speaking of early holiday tidings, the refrigerator is full and I do not need to go to the grocery store...

 …well, maybe a carrot or two and some milk to balance things out. Speaking of balance, the latke trio was fabulous this year. 

I cannot believe my mom will only make these once a year! Speaking of once a year, our annual bell ringing shift was this past weekend. Have I told you about how they take the clangers out of the bells?

The rationale is that they would be too loud. Seriously? I brought my own contraband complete bell and it was not to be heard over the sound of my husband clanging two bells together (the preferred method). Next year? Sleigh bells, sleigh bells I say! Speaking of bells, I must jingle on out of here to reserve my seat for The Voice finale!

If you can't laugh at your own Random...

I could blame the weather, or lack thereof, for sapping my holiday spirit. My sprint out of the gate back in October to start preparing may have been a pace hard to keep without burning out. Or maybe, just maybe, I don't have the right decor. Perhaps I need something new to add some pizzazz to my usual. Dear, what could it be? Deer?

Life-sized, green-glittered, five hundred dollar fawn? Probably the answer, yet I fear I may have to deprive myself. I will find solace somewhere, like maybe the snack shack? I bought a box of these treats last week, for both nostalgic and dollar off coupon savings reasons.

As much as I wanted to devour several Funny Bones, laughing maniacally the whole time of course, I kept waiting and wondering. Had these cakes stood the test of time? I did not want to be disappointed. Would I be transported back to the Liverpool High School cafeteria in the late eighties, where sometimes a lunch time experience highlight involved finding enough spare change to purchase a package of Drake's, or better still, a friend who was willing to share? I couldn't take the suspense any longer and stared that Funny Bone down before taking my first bite. It wasn't bad by any means. I looked at it some more, as if I was studying tea leaves. My daughter gave me that teenage girl look and asked why I was studying the food. I had no logical answer for her. It tasted the same, but just didn't feel the same. Maybe I needed leg warmers.

In other snacktastic news, I have been revisiting my s'mores passion. Exciting, I know. I had myself neatly tucked into the corner of the couch, flying without a net so to speak, as I tried to delicately eat my melted confection with no plate or napkin. I am a pro, of course I can manage such a feat! Well things got a little out of hand, or all over hand to be more accurate. I had marshmallow and chocolate on my hands that had to be dealt with in a most civilized and lady-like manner. I was a bit overzealous in my efforts and briefly mistook my healing food processor blade cut as stray chocolate and scraped it with my top teeth. Ouch. Really?

Oh yes, really. And why were my teeth even a factor in this cleanup you might ask? You didn't ask because this whole story is ridiculous enough already to you? Understood. Just in case though, the teeth were necessary for the stickier marshmallow bits, because I am classy like that.