Cherished cinnamon popcorn recipe Prologue: In response to no requests, I am providing my highly cherished recipe for cinnamon popcorn. I made three batches this holiday season, which basically means it's foolproof. A few tips contributing to foolproofness: I use the Jolly Time brand popcorn in an air popcorn popper, with practically every kernel popping every time. The only places that seem to sell Red Hot candies are the Dollar Tree stores, and you will need to buy two bags for one batch. I use salted butter. I also use a wooden spoon to stir and separate the sticky popcorn. The recipe: 1. Begin by putting parchment paper on two cookie sheets (for baking a sticking-free batch.)  2. Next, pop 8 quarts of popcorn (about 24 cups) and divide it into two large bowls. This makes coating the popcorn easier. 3. Then, melt together 1 cup of butter, 1/2 cup of light corn syrup and 9 ounces of the candies until everything is thoroughly melted. (Yes, this is a lot of butter and corn syrup, but at least the candies are fat free.) 4. Alternating between the two bowls, gradually stir the syrup into the popcorn until it's well coated. You will want to do this quickly so that the syrup doesn't get too thick. 5. Place the contents of each bowl on a cookie sheet, spreading the mixture so that it will bake evenly. 6. Place the cookie sheets in a 250-degree oven and bake for one hour, turning/stirring the mixture every 15 minutes, ie. 4 times. Using an oven timer is suggested. 7. Once baking is complete, transfer the popcorn into two 9"x12" pans and break apart any large clumps using a wooden spoon. 8. The resulting cinnamon popcorn will cool quickly and can then be extensively taste tested before being placed into bags, tins, bowls, etc. 9. Enjoy!

'Tis the season:
some favorite Christmas memories so far 
Who doesn’t love a holiday. The decorations, the food, the extra time to connect with family and friends, it all comes together during this time of year. Following are some of my memories-in-the-making for Christmas 2015:
- Every year, I haul decorations out of my garage and it’s almost like a prelude to presents as I unwrap the lights, evergreens and wreaths. I always try to add a few enhancements annually. This year, I hung more than 80 ornaments on my front yard evergreens and added a spotlight for more illumination. It hasn’t hurt that temperatures have been unseasonably warm, with none of that pesky snow to obscure the fa-la-la-la-la.
- I also like to add a touch of whimsy inside and this year it’s a French hen stuffed toy that also doubles as a doorstop. Who can resist a chicken wearing a beret priced at 50 percent off.
- I love to collect the Spode Christmas tree patterned china, as a salute to my love of all things British (even though it’s made in China now).
- I’ve been a little too enthusiastic about holiday treats this year, with hard-to-resist gingerbread lattes and scones adding a few extra pounds. Ditto on chocolate crackle cookies and all things minty. Plus I’ve been accumulating goodies for my upcoming tea for the girls and plan to make cinnamon popcorn for my annual food gift. Oh well, there’s always lean January.

- Speaking of sweets, it was so heartwarming to buy some beautifully decorated boxes of Russian candy for my daughter -- boxes she had received as her only holiday gift during an early childhood in an otherwise bleak Russian orphanage.  The candy came from the Russian government back then but we found it online this year, from a store in New York. Her smile when it arrived was the only holiday gift I needed.
- Another early holiday gift came with the surprise arrival of my second daughter from Italy. A college student there, she hadn’t been home in nearly three years. And that meant we could organize the first-ever comprehensive four-generation family Christmas photo, with nine people ranging in age from 89 to two. The first shot was the keeper, but at least we got one that pretty much caught us all smiling. And it also became our first-ever family Christmas card photo.
- Now that I have the aforementioned two-year-old granddaughter, I have been buying her too many toys. I am unapologetic. I want to see her have the same joy I did when unwrapping lots of fun stuff on Christmas morning.
- I’m reading Christmas themed books right now, such as A Catered Christmas Cookie Exchange, and watching the wacky movie families of the Kranks and the Griswolds fumble their way through home for the holidays.
- That’s about it for now, as the anticipation builds for the arrival of Santa. I hope he can find a chimney for access to my electric fireplace. There also may be a lack of snow.

Ho, Ho, Ho.

Read and Reading

The Scent of Something Sneaky, by my cousin and very talented writer Gail Hedrick. Great read for mid-level grades and above. This is Gail's second published book featuring young intrepid sleuth Emily Sanders and I hope there are many more. 

- Better, Michigan native Amy Robach's compelling memoir about her breast cancer battle, life in television journalism and much more.
- Making Piece: Love, Loss, and the Healing Power of Pie (with recipes!) by Beth Howard.
- B is for Burglar and O Is For Outlaw. Gail introduced me to mystery writer Sue Grafton and I look forward to reading the rest of her alphabet books.
- You're Not the Boss of Me: Adventures of a Modern Mom, by Erika Schickel. The title is self explanatory.
- I'm a Stranger Here Myself: Notes on Returning to America After 20 Years Away, Bill Bryson's hilarious account of moving back to the United States after living and raising a family in England.
- Modern Woman: Eileen Ford and the Business of Beauty, by Robert Lacey.
- Love and War: Twenty Presidents, Two Daughters and Home, by James Carville and Mary Matalin.
- Always Pack a Party Dress by socialite Amanda Brooks. How the other half lives.
- A Fine Romance, Candy Bergen's memoir about the second chapter of her life.




 

Skimmed, and we’re not talking coffee

Skimmed – if you had asked me just a month or so ago, I would have said this was one of those made-up shorthand words for ordering a light coffee. As in skim milk, no whip. But I learned the true meaning of the nefarious word recently when a $1,300 air ticket to China got charged on my credit card. And I had no intention of going to China.

I only found out about the air ticket when I tried to charge some gasoline and my credit card was rejected. Ditto during a trip to a retail establishment. Since it was a Sunday, my only recourse was to call the credit card company’s hotline and invalidate my credit card through some telephone prompts.

The next day, I learned that not one but two tickets to China had been the destination of my credit card when it got skimmed. Fortunately, the second air ticket was rejected for payment. The credit card representative couldn’t have been nicer or more sympathetic. All I had to do was complete and return a form verifying that the air ticket wasn’t my charge and the funds would be promptly returned to my account. And they were.

 

Figuring out how my credit card actually got skimmed has proved to be much more challenging make that impossible. I learned from reporting the incident to my local sheriff’s department that skimming has mainly occurred at gasoline station pumps, through a device easily installed within the actual pumps. None of the gasoline stations I had visited had been skimming destinations, at least not that the sheriff’s deputy knew about. And he said that gas pumps are the only places skimmers have been found, raising doubts that criminals are walking around with portable skimmers in their pockets.

Just to try to better ensure the safety of my replaced credit card, I put it in a supposedly anti-skimming card protector and buried it deep within my wallet. I’m checking gasoline pumps to make sure the paper seal on the pump opening hasn’t been compromised.  I’m also checking my credit card statements much more regularly online.

I thought I was skim-free until this past weekend, when I tried to use my debit card at a grocery store and it was rejected. I thought maybe it was just the store’s equipment and, in fact, decided to try the debit card at my bank’s ATM machine, where it worked just fine. But it didn’t work just fine the next day, rejected again at a store. So when I called my bank I discovered that, sure enough, the card had been skimmed and used as a credit card on the east side of the state. Fortunately, the purchases weren’t large. One, for $106, was rejected and a second, for $20, went through before the card was deactivated.

I have some comfort in realizing that the debit card was used as a credit card and that the crooks don’t have my security code. But where the card was skimmed is a real cause for concern, because I don’t pay for gas with my debit card. I raised this issue in an email to the same deputy who had taken my original skimming report, but this may be out of his jurisdiction since the purchases did not occur in the area. I also raised the issue with my bank, which appears to be skimming central. While I was there, a woman was going over her account with a teller because her debit card had been skimmed for $250.



My debit card is being officially retired

I hear that credit and debit cards will one day have chips embedded in them to help prevent this crime. But at least for the foreseeable future, my debit card is being officially retired. Which means I will have to order more checks. And maybe think twice before I swipe my credit card at the pumps or for that skimmed coffee.

Postscript: My new credit card got skimmed shortly before Thanksgiving. This time, the main charge was for hundreds of dollars of tickets to a Detroit Pistons game. The thief also enjoyed a pizza in the Detroit area. I'm canceling that card and getting a new card with a security chip installed. Sigh.

Welcome to my garage sale

I held my first-ever garage sale this weekend. It was rather ironic, considering I have lived in homes with much larger garages, yet was able to cram four generations of household items, knick-knacks, clothes, toys and stuffed animals and furniture into a one-car space.

Despite living near a construction zone and in a secluded neighborhood, I still attracted a fairly steady stream of customers, especially after deciding to add “1/2 off” to my sale signs on the last day. This ploy pretty much eliminated people asking me to discount my merchandise, which I was already selling on the cheap.

Is it really that outlandish to sell cute children’s chairs, barely used and retailing for $40, for $10? They didn’t sell until they went down to $5. “Bargain” takes on a new meaning when it’s in a garage.

Among my most memorable visitors were:

- A very elderly man wearing a rope around his neck with an old 78 record attached. Maybe it was a reminder to look for a record player?
- A young man with platinum hair and glittery polished nails who bought serious books. He said he had more time to buy books than to read them.
- A man who told me that my house should be in Connecticut, followed by a woman who had actually moved from Connecticut.
- A Romanian native who had recently moved to the U.S. after living in France and China. She was trying to understand the use for some of my merchandise, including a dress and wig labeled “goose clothes.” That one was pretty much unexplainable.
- The little boy who assured me that he needed a hot pot to boil water. His mother wasn’t convinced.
- My toddler neighbor who was fascinated by a plastic car that she would climb into and happily sit in on my driveway. Her mother finally bought it for her after admitting that it was not exactly the kind of developmental toy they were looking for these days.
- A man who took all of my free cement block remnants and then asked for a free DVD to offset the heavy lifting. I gave him “Wedding Crashers” even though he said he and his wife found “Mad Men” was too risqué.
- A little boy who rammed into and broke my gazing ball, which wasn’t even for sale. My breakables inventory remained intact.
- The two children who pretty much unsized all the baby clothes I had neatly folded and sized in plastic totes. Aaugh, I didn’t want to speak to their mother about their behavior because she was buying some high-ticket goods.

Now it's time to reclaim the garage and get rid of the remaining inventory through donations to the library and Goodwill. Unfortunately my first Goodwill drop-off resulted in the purchase of some shoes, a sweater and a small set of Christmas dishes. Which means I may need to have another garage sale in the future.

Summer reading cont. (how did it get to be September already):
Summer at Tiffany by Marjorie Hart
Glitter and glue: a memoir by Kelly Corrigan
And the good news is...lessons from the bright side by Dana Perino
Recipes for a beautiful life: a memoir by Rebecca Berry
You're not the boss of me: adventures of a modern mom by Erika Schickel
Tout sweet: hanging up my heels for a new life in France by Karen Wheeler
Getting real by Gretchen Carlson (former Miss America)

Eleven homes = a lot of painting,

but blue gray has prevailed

Nothing can change the look and enhance a room like a fresh coat of paint. Having now lived in 11 homes, I’ve painted more than my share of walls, cupboards, trim and ceilings. I particularly remember the unfortunate green sponged-on paint that I had to cover in one bedroom and the eggplant-colored bathroom cabinets in another. Then there were the layers of unsized wallpaper that I had to peel off before painting a condo dining area.

With each paint job, my technique and patience improved to the point where I’m now pretty confident in even the most challenging rooms, no matter how many windows, doors and other things there are to paint around.

Fortunately, I’ve really made only one major faux pas when it came to paint color and that was during what I can only call my “Swedish” phase – when I thought my kitchen cupboards in a previous home would somehow look more Scandinavian if I painted them barn red. Try to sell that to a prospective buyer. My real estate agent and I ended up repainting everything white in one weekend and it’s a miracle that she’s still speaking to me.   

So, I’ve been spending the past several weeks painting over a color I call boy-brown in my two bedrooms. It was the kind of color that I could live with as I worked on other home improvements but I knew that, one day, it would need to go. It just wasn’t me. The color that is me is a blue gray that I chose for my previous home’s kitchen. I also chose it for my current, previously knotty pine, kitchen. My daughter used it in her half bath and kitchen (with mom doing the painting) and my brother used it for his home as well. So this “comfort color” was the natural choice for my bedroom.

The guest bedroom was also an easy choice because I had nearly a gallon of a nice soft green paint left over from a paint job completed by the home’s previous owners.

I recommend sticking with just a few basic colors if you’ve got a small home, because otherwise the rooms won’t seem to flow and will look choppy. In my case, the living room and sunroom are painted a sort of café mocha color, while the study’s knotty pine walls were transformed with a more neutral ivory. The blue and green are the accent colors and blend with the rest of the house to give it sort of an earthy vibe. It sets a cottagey mood, especially since there are a lot of trees outside and a river across the street.

In both cases, the painting turned out as I had hoped. I am a very slow painter, taking my time in prepping walls one at a time. It’s a necessity in smaller rooms, where furniture can’t be moved very far.

Following are just a few more tips for taking the pain out painting:

- Take advantage of the people who mix your paint. I always tell them what I’m painting and ask for any recommendations on paint finish, brand and tools.

- Invest in good quality paint rollers and brushes. It can make a huge difference in the ease of a paint job and the end result. I now use six-inch rollers for greater control, supplemented with spongy brushes for small areas.

Boy-brown becomes blue gray


- Spend plenty of time with painter’s tape (left). It’s a nuisance to have to run tape along ceilings, windows, doors and floors, but it can really lead to a professional looking paint job instead of amateur smudgy lines and unintended dots of paint where you didn't want them.

- Don’t try to pull tape off before the paint has thoroughly dried or your new paint may be pulled off as well.

- Patch any nail holes or other blemishes.
- Remove electrical plates and any other wall attachments, like cupboard door hinges, instead of trying to paint around them.
- Paint (and tape) in good light. I never paint in low light and prefer natural over artificial light to make sure I’ve covered everything evenly. I also go over the walls with a bright lamp before I finish a room.
- Keep a damp rag or paper towel handy for any drips. I have not yet had any major spills (knock on wood).
- Take your time. I like to do one wall at a time and After I paint one wall, I take a break while it’s drying or start taping another wall.


"Comfort colors" work well in bedrooms. 

- When you’ve finished painting, take time to enjoy the transformation and your “new” room. Give yourself a pat on the back after you’ve washed  the paint off your hands, of course.
(P.S.: If you’ve got room, store any extra paint somewhere in your newly painted space. That way, you’ll know right where it is when it’s time for touchups.)