Ups, Downs and Moments of Brilliance!

See that number 1 on the balloons? That was from the winning trivia table. And who was sitting at that table?? YES!!!! It would be our friends, Honey and me!

Who knew??? Well, obviously, US!!

No, not really. Our church was having a fundraiser for Creative Christmas with a trivia night. Hmmm? I used to be pretty good at trivia........... before the estrogen started seeping out of the brain. (If this hasn't happened to you yet .... it will!! Be warned and learn to write everything down!!)

So I talk to my friends Debbie and Jim --- Debbie was salutatorian in our high school class so my ignorance would be saved by her brilliance!! Then they drafted a friend, Diane who is in the medical field. Always a plus in trivia!! And we got our wine club friends David and Carole to join us. David is an IT guy and Carole was a 3rd grade teacher.

So we may not have been smarter than a 5th grader but we knew would survive the 3rd grade stuff!!!

We started out slow ..... then tied for 3rd place. Then we had 3rd place by ourselves and slowly crept up. I think we had the 1st place balloons on the last 2 rounds.

Ya know .... we really remembered the important stuff. And we were fueled by chocolate. It works every time!

We knew the jingle for Slinky. We knew how many correct answers there would be in a Jeopardy game. I remembered (after an agonizing few moments) who shot J.R. Carole remember the opening paragraph to Bambi. And Debbie remembered the author of Winds of War. And we all could hum the theme from Mission Impossible. And we obnoxiously would "do-do-do" the theme from Final Jeopardy. Yea .... those people up front that were singing it ..... that would be us.

But they didn't ask who was the first baseball commissioner. I soooo know that answer. Kennasaw Mountain Landis. I have wanted to use that answer for years!!! No such luck. But I did know that Don Larson pitched a perfect game in the 1956 World Series against ............. the Brooklyn Dodgers. I was ........... wasn't even born yet!!!!! Yea.... if I say it with authority, will you believe that??????

It really was a fun Friday evening.

Then on to Saturday!! The flu has hit one of our local college campuses. My friend Greenhouse Gwen needed a fill-in for daughter Alexa, to sell breads and cinnamon rolls and pumpkin bars at the Farmers' Market on Saturday morning.

I had to be at the market in Davenport (roughly 16 miles away) at 7 am ............. and be perky and nice. And it was dark. I hate dark!!! I can be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at 5 am ..... if it is light. But dark .... not so much!!!

That is the reason I own a U-pick!!!

I was trying to sell breads to people that looked at me and said ..... "You aren't the cute young blonde that's usually here?????" What was the first clue ..... the wrinkles or the gray hair or the ever-expanding butt????

A friendly face stopped by and said, "I didn't know you were going to be here! I was in Northern Minnesota and got something for you." I thought how sweet and she left.

A few minutes later, my loyal blog reader came back with this...........
Three pounds of the most beautiful wild rice I have seen in decades!!!!! With Merry Christmas wishes and the challenge of coming up with some great recipes, ME left --- and I am still trying to find the right words to say Thank You!!!!

This is some awesome wild rice (which is not rice at all but the seed from a grass). My grandparents would go to Northern Minnesota to fish every year and would return with wild rice and some great cheese. And this was the type of rice they would bring back. Such beautiful long grain. I am thrilled!!! And searching for some inspiration! When it comes -- the recipe will be posted!!!!

In down news .....
Ewwwww! This is the light fixture over my sink. I hate these things. They have attacked us later than usual this year. Asian Beetles.......... no, they are not cute little lady bugs. Many of you have blogged about them so I won't say much but ........... iccckkkk!!!!!!

And in other down news........ we lost our kitten, Down. We had Up, Down and Charmed -- all tabby males born on May 12th (I got chicks, ducklings and kittens ... all on the same day) Nothing seemed to be wrong with Down -- none of the usual symptoms. He just seemed to be a little smaller than his brothers.

After Honey buried him, he said ......... "That's what I hate about having pets." Yea .... I know. Me, too. Me, too.