We’re getting brighter, and drunker, and sugar-rusher…and gimel-er!  Is that even a word?  

I’m already envisioning a landscape plan for a property that only exists in my mind.  It’s my Mind Planting.  Never mind the house; as long as it has a roof and functional plumbing/infrastructure, I’m good.  Just turn me loose outside, like a wildebeest, after all these years of incarceration.

This imaginary tiny yard will miraculously feature almost every conceivable type of wildlife-friendly natives: conifers, broadleaf evergreens, deciduous trees, flowering berry bushes, arbors, prairie meadow plants, perennials, marginal aquatics for our future water feature, veggies, edible flowers and herbs, cutting flowers, and ornamental trees.  No critter left behind.  Not too ambitious.  It’s all in my mind, so it takes up very little room.

Meanwhile, back at the real world, here are some domestic waiting room scenes.

Fourth night of Chanukah plus Shabbat=lots of lights!  All good things, like my winning gimel streak, must come to an end.  But not the drinking.

Here are last night’s lights, and more to come for erev Shabbat and Chanukah combined.  Our loaded dreidels were coming up all gimels last night, ensuring lots of M&Ms and shots.  Weee.  Hence the Skullies’ slightly bloodshot look.

Well, back to the kitchen with me.

It’s also my oldest granddaughter’s birthday.  I wish her much happiness and success.

All latked and blintzed (©™) out, so E took over the kitchen to make one of her yummy Italian pasta meals involving Cheese.

Really, I could start a whole new language, Tolkien-like, with all my coined expressions.  If I had a coin for each of them, I’d be, uh…gelted!   Ahaha  I so punny.  Jewish “humor”.  :/

Here are the Skullies, anticipating erev #3 with all its fixes, while we anxiously await our long-overdue move.  It doesn’t take much to keep us old bats amused.

As promised…

I was on a losing streak, coming up all “shins”, so I quit while I’m not ahead, and just moved on to the drinking.

The Skullies are looking especially *festive* today—could it be all the sugar and beer?

This is a Founders dark porter with chocolate/caramel undertones.  E made these decadent chocolate chip/M&Ms cookies, because you can never have too many sweets on Chanukah.  Satan Claus, eat your heart out.

I nailed these homemade-from-scratch cheese and cherry-cheese blintzes.  There are like 1,000 steps, but it’s all worth it.

Later…more lights.  And sugar, probably.

As threatened, here are menorah photos.  I swear these particular dreidels are loaded (i.e., the ones I pretested for performance).  I mean, seriously, what are the chances they’d keep landing on gimel?!  Both of our dreidels at the same time!!  I promise I didn’t stage these photos.  Needless to say, M&Ms and shots were in order.  If only M&Ms were money–we’d both break even.  (It doesn’t take much to amuse us po’ folks.)  I think this may be the Skullies’ favorite holiday.  Haha, and you thought it was Halloween.   Chanukah cheers and l’chaim!

I call my Indian-spiced latkes “chaatkes” ©™ for reasons obvious to any street food lover!  As always, probably not original but I take credit anyway.  I made them totally from scratch, and trust me, they’re good.  I made a Middle Eastern-style vegetable chick pea dish to go with them.  Later, there will be candle lights, and dreidel gambling (for M&Ms of course).  Or possibly shots.

Happy Chanukah to all my Jewish peeps.  Maccabees, Wannabes, you know who you are.

Transitioning from sadness to Chanukah festivities, here are some erev scenes.  Outside it’s snowing and windy, but we’re ready.  We have donuts!  Most of our holiday decorations were packed away long ago in anticipation of moving, so I have to be extra clever and resourceful with what’s available, my specialty.  I can predict there will be latkes and fixin’s.  Also no doubt more photos later.