Day 14 of Death by Carolling
Well, it was too late for this year’s festivities, but maybe they’ll repeat next year.
Seattle beverage company introduces Thanksgiving in a bottle
– by Joshua Lipsky on 11/28/03 for Meatingplace.com
Seattle-based Jones Soda Co. introduced a limited supply — about 6,000 bottles — of its Turkey & Gravy Soda for Thanksgiving this year. The company said it sold out its supply in less than two hours online.
The company said that a limited number of Turkey & Gravy Sodas would be available in stores for the suggested retail price of 99 cents each, but only around Seattle and Olympia, Wash.
“It just kind of exploded,” said Michelle Whitehead, a marketing assistant for the company. “To be honest, we really didn’t think so many people would want it.”
Jones Soda Co., founded in 1996, produces odd soda flavors ranging from old-fashioned cream and cherry to neon-bright blue bubble gum and green apple.
Jones Soda Co. CEO Peter van Stolk said that the company plans to donate all the proceeds from sales of Turkey & Gravy Soda to the Toys for Tots charity. He added that he would personally match the company’s donation.
Current musical accompaniment: O Little Town of Bethlehem, complete with tubular bells
That’s an interesting stream of word association that I’ve just experienced.
I suppose I could have just cut out the middlemen, and gone straight from first to last.
Current musical accompaniment: Walking in a Winter Wonderland. I like the Roche’s version better.
Quite honestly, yesterday was the best Thanksgiving I’ve had in years. My sisters, The Socialist and I got together at the Younger Sister’s place. We agreed in advance that dinner would be lighter than the traditional Thanksgiving dinner. That’s not to say that we didn’t have all the old favorites: Turkey, gravy, stuffing, cranberry sauce, mixed veggies, creamed onions (especially for the older sister), a salad, rolls. I brought the sweet potato casserole, topped with marshmallows for the Socialist. The sisters universally reviled the marshmallows, and there was a fair amount of good-natured complaining when one of the sisters (who like the sweet potato part) accidentally got marshmallow on her tongue. Serves her right for licking the serving spoon, IMHO.
Towards the end the Younger Sister got particularly giddy, and attempted to use her spoon as a trebuchet to launch black olives. The attempt was somewhat of a failure. The target was diagonally across the table from her: The Socialist’s water glass. She never even got close. She did manage to hit here own empty salad bowl, the large candle in the middle of the table (green wax was poured into a three footed glass bowl with three wicks in it), and then miss the table completely. She did score a glancing blow to The Socialist on the last salvo, which she then attempted to retrieve from the floor from our side of the table. Alas, the black olive had disappeared. (No, she has no dog that could account for the disappearance.)
The Socialist suggested (facetiously, I thought) that the olive could have gone into my pocket. A couple of minutes later I discovered the black olive in the pocket of my extra-long fisherman’s knit sweater that I was wearing. It must have ricocheted off the Socialist and into the pocket. It struck me as absolutely hilarious, and it took me a minute or so to stop laughing for long enough to tell the others where the olive had ended up.
I think they’d already figured it out before I gather myself back together, though.
Current musical accompaniment: “Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer”. Rudolf the Red – does that strike anyone else as being vaguely Russian Communist?
We have agreed to set a spending limit of $50 on presents for Christmas. That might sound like a lot, but believe me, this is a major concession by my sisters, who are used to spending six or more times that amount. Granted, last year I spent a good deal of money on Christmas, but I had it in my head at the time that it might be my last one, and I wanted people close to me to have something nice from me. This year I’m broke, plus I figure people are going to be stuck with me for a while longer. Frankly, I’d proposed a $20 limit on gifts, but I’ll settle for the $50 limit as a compromise that will still allow me sanity and solvency.
I’ve already purchased *small* gifts for both of them, but I’m left with about $35 to spend on each. I found the perfect gift for my older sister. It’s a book by the guys who did the Life series “A Day in the Life of {fill in the blank with a country or city}”. I’d purchased most of that series for the Elder Sister, and I know she was disappointed when they discontinued those books. A new series is starting up this year though, and the first of them has been released.
The book is called America 24/7. I’ve seen several reviews, and heard the editors interviewed, and it’s at least of the quality of the old “Day in the Life” books. This comes with a bonus though. You can submit a photograph and they’ll make a custom cover for the book for you. It only adds a few dollars to the price, and I know she’ll get a kick out of it. I love it when I find the perfect gift AND can afford it!
current musical accompaniment: That Charlie Brown Christmas song where all the kids are singing slightly sharp
We gave the cats a third of a can each of moist cat food. It’s a treat we seldom give them because it’s bad for their teeth. Warrior Princess scarfed hers right down, but the Grey Menace was less enthusiastic, and Clueless out-right refused his food. To understand how amazing this is, we’re talking about a cat who finishes his dinner before the other two are even a third of the way through their bowls, a cat who will brave even the Warrior Princess’s wrath if he thinks he can push her away from her food dish to steal a few morsels, a cat who begs for peas, a cat who eats his antibiotic pill rather than allow me to take it away from him. In other words, this is one weird cat.
I felt guilty that he didn’t like his treat, so I gave him a few scraps of leftover turkey in his bowl after letting the Kitten finish off his real dinner. As usual with CW, I’m not sure who out-witted whom; he scarfed the turkey down as though he’d never seen food before, and begged for more.