R5 November 9 – Christmas, birthdays, crazy or preoccupied? Mexican food

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lily-tomlin,ernestineIt’s getting to be a common occurrence – I make my phone calls at my desk. There is a phone and a TV remote there. Lately I find myself trying to make phone calls on the TV remote. It doesn’t work. Is this an early sign of dotty or preoccupation? I’ll go with preoccupation!

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas – Much as I whine about the earliness of retail Christmas I have learned a few lessons the hard way. Stores are not stocking inventory as in the past. If there is something you want you need to grab it early. The beloved husband and I found ourselves at Home Depot shopping for something else and there was the Christmas display. We had a spirited conversation on whether we needed new trees for the front porch. We bought new ones.

The high holy days – The beloved husband refers to November as the high holy days of the year. It has something to do with his birthday. We don’t do the gifts and parties anymore but we do special dinners and day trips. Even though his birthday is Thanksgiving week we have already had a very special dinner and a day trip is planned for….Hobby Lobby (for more Christmas decorations)! I know the excitement is excruciating! Maybe we’ll fit in Longwood Gardens too.

Speaking of birthdays – We have quite a few in November. The granddaughters are going to be nine. How did that happen? I went looking for birthday bags for gifts and all I found were Christmas/holiday wrappings. Are people with a November-December birthday expected to get their birthday gifts from Santa?

Courtesy of Patron Mex Grill in Pittsburgh

Courtesy of Patron Mex Grill in Pittsburgh

A yen – Do you ever get a “yen” for something? (Yen meaning a strong desire not the financial currency) I have had one for really good Mexican food for a while. We had one good Mexican restaurant (run by real Mexicans instead of Greeks who seem to own all food restaurants locally). It closed a few years ago. All the rest are chains. They are ok but not special. I keep on looking.

 

 

 

32 thoughts on “R5 November 9 – Christmas, birthdays, crazy or preoccupied? Mexican food”

  1. Kate I am guilty of wrapping my nephews christmas day birthday gift in xmas paper. And yes I love Mexican food and still remember how good it was when I travelled the states. Sadly out in rural Australia zilch on the enchilada front for me, unless I make them myself….never the same. Still there is hope I hear the nearest town you can now get sushi….maybe Mexican is next? Cheers Kath.

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  2. You’re Ok with using the remote as a phone, but don’t try to change channels with your Uniden. Who knows who you might call by accident?

    I’m sure if you went online and typed “Birthday wrapping paper” you’d find plenty of eager retailers willing to sell you some.

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  3. Oh, you just must visit Southern California for the Mexican food, Kate. We do it right. We have the “real deal” and unfortunately when we travel, we can’t find it to our liking. I don’t have a particular yen right now, I do really wish I had another month or two before heading into the holidays. I’m just not feeling at all ready to face them. So I guess my yen is to time travel backwards?

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    • I had my first taste of Mexican food in California over 30 years ago. I was hooked. I had my first wonderful Chinese food in Hawaii and San Francisco and I was also hooked. Here we get a fair rendition of each although there is one really good Chinese restaurant. Not so lucky with Mexican.

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  4. I think you’re just preoccupied 🙂 Yes I see Home Depot and Costco are selling Christmas early here in Canada too but (thankfully) it hasn’t spread to all the other stores or (even more happily) to our village shops. I agree with you Kate that if you don’t get certain things now you won’t find them in Dec so I like buying gifts early. Your hubby is funny ‘high holy days’ indeed 😀 Happy Birthday to him and your granddaughters!

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    • You are kidding? Every store here has their Christmas display up. Some have been up since before Halloween. I often wished it was in January because starting it early, makes us sick of it early and then for the first quarter of the new year it’s so sad and cold.

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      • Exactly Kate – I find January a terrible ‘let down’ when in fact it should be a festive month (New Year and all that). I know some people keep their lights on until end Jan and maybe we should consider doing that…

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  5. * Phone calls on the remote aren’t so bad. I found my phone in the refrigerator one day. Takes the idea of “cold calling” someone to a whole new level.

    * Christmas? I’m still arguing with myself about whether or not I’m even going to put up the tree this year. Last year, I used the excuse that I wasn’t expecting visitors, so why bother. But I’ll have to admit that I missed that holiday twinkling of lights.

    *high holy days – we have a similar theme in my family, with three of my four siblings having birthdays in November (and the other one is in early December). I’m the only one with a summer birthday, which makes me the oddball. Well, that’s not the only thing that makes me the oddball, but as far as birthdays go, November is the jackpot.

    *the whole enchilada – now I’m craving something spicy and cheesy and oh, so yummy, too. Of course, I live in the land of twelve Mexican restaurants on every corner, so my choices are endless. I would suggest you opt for a frozen variety, but we all know those are like eating chalk without the benefit of water to wash it down. Hope you find a good option soon, so you can quench that yen for the salsa side of life.

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  7. This year has so flown by…how can it be almost Thanksgiving? Much less, Christmas! But I do love this time of year…warms my heart. But then, each day is precious and I am so content…totally happy! We don’t do anything special for our b’days…each day is special.
    One of our daughter-in-laws is a Christmas birthday. We try to keep Christmas and her birthday apart…she likes it that way.
    We don’t decorate much inside these days…we’re always w/the family in their big homes…ours is too tiny for gatherings! Nice for us…love it.
    Ernestine has always been one of my most favorites…she’s too funny! Love her ‘snort laugh’.
    Happy Birthdays to your home! Enjoy!

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    • Talk about yens or cravings…Friday night M and I were on the same page and we carried home two foot long hotdogs w/chili, onions & mustard. Decadent but we absolutely loved them. Good to do those things…occasionally! Not too often! Ha!

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      • M and I have downsized several times; this is the smallest we’ve been. In 990 sq ft we have 2 bedrooms, living room, dining room, kitchen, hall, bath and a multi-purpose room which is serves three uses… utility, office and last but not least, our bistro. Everyone loves it but I doubt if they’d really want to live here! We are ecstatic in it. Woohoo!

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  8. As much as I can’t stand the early start of Christmas by retailers, etc., I do like to decorate early in our house. I put fall decorations up from September 1st to early November and yesterday, we hauled all of the Christmas decorations out of the attic. Last night, I did it all. I just love glow of the lights at night, it makes the early sunset a little bit better. That Mexican platter looks yummy!

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  9. It’s funny you should mention Xmas since I just bumped into it at Duane Reade at 7 this morning. Santa hats, candy canes, fake trees…the ugly kind. Was a rude awakening.

    Love the Lily Tomlin picture Ernestine being a favorite of mine…that face like she smelled gym socks dipped in garlic.

    I also appreciate how you and your husband celebrate each other and not just for a night. I remember when it was your birthday. There’s something really great about that.

    Happy Birthday early to those 2 old ladies…9…wow…how did that happen 🙂

    The Random 5 Rock

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  10. It’s no wonder I’m so sick of Christmas by the time it arrives. It’s ubiquitous. Trees, carols, wrapping paper, parking lot decorations, magazine covers, etc. 😕

    We have a number of good Mexican restaurants around here, Kate. Most are not chains and it real Mexican food. I think. Hope you find a good place soon.

    And Happy Birthday to the hubby and granddaughters. You’ll have plenty of cause for celebration this month.

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    • I will be sick of Christmas by the first weekend in December (which is about the time we put up our outside decorations). I’ve said it before, if it wasn’t for the beloved husband you would find a poinsettia in the house and a big bow on the door. The only good part is the get-togethers with friends.

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  11. Hi Kate. Re the phone/remote. Don’t worry about it. My Mom who was sharp until the end, one day was trying to use her electric mixer to dry her hair!!! Of course her eyesight was poor by that time! Lol. Great post!

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