Simple Things

There are a few small things in life that bring so much joy. Like warm towels. Or the smell of crayons. Or a cold beer on a hot Texas day. A hot bubble bath with a glass of wine. Seeing someone that cut you off get a ticket. Dark chocolate. Clean sheets. Three day weekends. Hmm… okay apparently there are more than “a few” things. There are a lot.

 

One of my absolute favorite things is mail. Not junk mail. Not letters from the Travis County Court. But real mail. Hand addressed, in non-legal sized envelopes. When I was in high school and my friend Rachel went to college, she used to send some of the best mail. Of course it helped that her handwriting was identical to Tahoma. But I even love getting mail from people who have handwriting identical to my dog. There is something so exciting about seeing that envelope or package… all mysterious… just calling your name. Am I right?

 

I was blog browsing the other day. I was reading through a blog I like but hadn’t visited in a couple weeks. You can check out her blog on your own but I wanted to tell you a bit about what I found. She’s hosting this thing called a Spring Swap. (At this point, all males can close their browser. I assure you that you’ll have no interest in this. Actually, if you don’t have a blog you may not care either. Actually, if you aren’t me you may not care. Whatever. I like it. Moving on…) You send her an email with your info and she’ll give you a partner on May 14. Then you’ll mail your partner 4 of your favorite spring time items.  So they get mail. And you get mail. How fun! I’m going to be brainstorming to come up with something fun!

 

Click here for details!

 

While we are on the topic of “the most wonderful things in life”…

 

At the risk of sounding like a porker, let me say this. One of my favorite things in the whole wide world is turkey skin. Oh my gracious! I love the smell of turkey. I love a big beautiful bird sitting there on the counter, covered in crispy skin, just dying to be eaten (no pun intended). Seriously. Oh dear. Excuse me a minute, I’ve drooled all over the keyboard. The problem is this. Uncle Joe doesn’t allow people to eat turkey skin. He says that removing the skin dries out the turkey. It’s possible. But if you are cutting the turkey in 5 seconds anyways, what difference does it make? But there is no reasoning with Uncle Joe. He’s from New York. If you reach for the turkey, he’ll wave his electric knife at you. So then I’m left weighing the pros and cons… Do I just go for it? Sure, I may lose a finger… but won’t it be worth it?

 

I, Captain Random, made a turkey on Saturday. Yes, a big 12.6 pound turkey. No, you aren’t mistaken. You are right. It’s May. I cooked a turkey in May. Why? Oh well that’s easy. Kroger gave us a free turkey in November but (try to follow this) my sister-in-law’s boyfriend’s mom already bought our Thanksgiving turkey. So it’s been sitting in our giant freezer. I knew I’d be home all day on Saturday so I thought it would be a good time to cook it. So I did. And then I cut it up. I bagged it (some slices for sandwiches, some pieces for soups and casseroles) and put it back in the freezer. Fantastic huh? You know what the best part of it is? I got to eat all the turkey skin I wanted. And boy did I. I ate and I ate. And just as I was feeling sick, I ate some more. Because I know not to look a gift turkey in the mouth. I so badly wanted to eat too much and then have the “I’ll just die if I ever eat a morsel of turkey skin ever again” feeling. But I didn’t. I think I did the opposite.

 

I tasted the freedom. The freedom of peeling back that turkey skin without the fear or a knife chopping off my hand. And I’ve developed a new plan. The Hursts will now cook turkeys year-round. We will buy them on sale and freeze the cooked meat. We’ll eat turkey sandwiches for lunch and used chopped turkey instead of chopped chicken in casseroles. And I will eat turkey skin as I please. And that, my friends, is pure brilliance!