Bestest Friend and I are doing a blog project. Each day we will write a blog post on a pre-determined theme chosen by a random noun generator. The theme for the seventh day of the month is "Contact."
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My sister and I aren't particularly close, but I always include her in my random mailings of postcards and letters. I do this mostly because my mom lives with her, so I don't want her to feel left out, but I also do it because she's my sister and I feel guilty that we aren't close. We've never been close. Even when we were children, we rarely played together or hung out. This isn't like some relationship turned sour or anything - it's just the status quo.
Tangent: When I send a bunch of postcards, I always mail them at the same time from the same location. My nieces and nephews from the same family like to tell me that the postcards frequently arrive on different days and I find this both hilarious and puzzling. If you have any insight into why this might be the case, please let me know. Also, my nephew used a card from me as proof of residency for him to get his provisional license. My mail neuroticism has paid off for someone!
ANYWAY.
I was so excited when I got this postcard from my sister. She was on an Alaskan cruise (got COVID, natch).
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When my husband returned the Scribe, he then bought me some new earrings and a popcorn maker as a replacement gift. I love popcorn and probably eat it at least twice a week, if not more. We have traditionally made popcorn in a heavy risotto pan, but this Whirley Pop makes it so much easier and the cleanup is much faster! The average number of unpopped kernels in each batch is about six.
We use a heaping tablespoon of coconut oil, one-third cup kernels, and a bit of popcorn salt and in four minutes, we have a giant bowl of popcorn. I'm obsessed with this thing. I registered it at the company's website and received a package of free goodies.
It's been a fun couple of days in the mailbox.
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What's new in your mailbox?
I strongly believe that although some relationships may not seem like a soul connection all the time, they can still be very powerful and central to our identity...
ReplyDeleteI definitely think having a sibling shaped my identity and we share very important core memories. That being said, we're friendly, not friends.
DeleteNice haul!
ReplyDeleteThe best thing that I received in the mail this summer was postcards from my stepsons from Boy Scout camp. They had to send postcards home as part of camp. But these weren't just any postcards. They were written on sea grape leaves! It's some weird post office rule that grape leaves specifically are allowable to send through the mail. One arrived intact but with the stamp missing, and the other was broken a little bit but the PO put it in a plastic bag so it all got to me. I can only imagine all the leaves from all of the Boy Scouts at that camp making their way through the mail system. And yes they arrived on different days.
Oh, I've gotten plenty of those plastic bag deals. My mom used to work for USPS and she'd try to send a lot of stuff through the mail - some more successfully than others. She used Gatorade bottles as boxes for a lot of my childhood. LOL. So much fun to get grape leaf mail!
DeleteThat happens when I send postcards to my nephews and niece all at the same address too! And when I send them all a card for the same holiday, to that matter. I am curious why it happens ;) I love that your nephew could use it as proof of residence LOL!
ReplyDeleteThat popcorn maker sounds amazing! Yum!!!!
I'm evangelical about the popcorn maker right now. I'll update if something happens to change my mind, but for right now, I'm Team Whirley Pop. If it has longevity, I will be buying it for every newlywed couple I ever know from here on out.
DeletePopcorn is my favourite snack, and that looks like such a good little appliance! With regards to mail, it happens here too: my mom often would send individual Christmas cards to everyone and never would they all arrive on the same day, despite being mailed on the same day to the same address from the same location.
ReplyDeleteI guess the process of sorting and delivering mail is complicated and I can see how they might go in different directions, but it's just so funny when they're going to the exact same place! Oh, well. We all should have a little mystery in our lives.
DeleteI love the way popcorn smells, and I like to eat it, but it definitely doesn't like me. I had to give it up a long time ago. Your popper is fun, and I love its name. And your free containers are hilarious with those faces!
ReplyDeleteI get postcards from my good friend Mikey who is a world traveler. He purposely chooses the weirdest ones to send me, and they take forever to arrive from places like Antartica, Croatia, Tongo, and South Africa. He writes outrageous and sometimes embarrassing things on them on purpose. I'm sure my mail carrier thinks he's insane. (Or that I am.)
I'm pretty sure your mail carrier doesn't look at your mail! They're much too busy. I don't know if that brings you comfort or not.
DeleteCan anyone go anywhere these days without getting Covid??? That's an awesome postcard and I WANT THAT POPCORN POPPER! I love popcorn but haven't been eating it lately. I pop it in a big pot on the stovetop, but this looks easier, with way less unpopped kernels (or, "old maids" as my mom used to call them, ha!) I'm putting this on my Christmas list.
ReplyDeleteThe Whirley Pop is great. I fully recommend putting it on your holiday list. I had it on my Amazon wishlist for years and I wish I'd just bought it for myself long ago. It's so easy to use and clean. I adore it! (My in-laws call unpopped kernels "widows." It's interesting that there are so many words for this!)
DeleteOkay for a minute I imagined your husband taking the Scribe back to Best Buy and trading it for earrings and the Whirley Pop there!
ReplyDeleteIt's a very versatile Best Buy!
DeleteI had no idea there was something called 'popcorn salt'. How is it different than regular salt? You don't use butter? SO many questions. I have zero room in my kitchen for one more appliance, so I will keep making my popcorn on the stove, but am now interested in exploring coconut oil and popcorn salt. Yum.
ReplyDeleteThere is popcorn salt! It's finer than regular table salt, so it sticks to the kernels better! I don't use butter at all. When we made it on the stovetop in a dutch oven, we would heat 1-2 tablespoons of coconut oil at medium/medium-high heat (8/10 on our oven, but it will vary, of course), put in 3-6 kernels and cover it. When the 3-6 kernels popped, we'd put in 1/3 cup of kernels and 1/4 tsp of popcorn salt, cover but leave tiny openings for steam to go out, and shake, shake, shake until all the popcorn popped. Flavor as desired - my husband takes it plain, I add some jalapeno cheese flavoring, and you could definitely add some melted butter here. Quick and easy!
DeleteSo sad that you aren't close with your sister (are your further apart in age? Or just very different personalities?) but sometimes it is what it is. I love that she sent you a postcard from her trip though.
ReplyDeleteWe're just really different people who have never really been tight. We're about three years apart in age, so it's not a huge gap, but that's our lot in life. I do love that she sent me a postcard, though. It makes me feel like my endless numbers of postcards to her are appreciated!
DeleteI reallllly want that Whirley Pop, but I am on a strict no-popcorn diet for the time being, which is the woooorst. Popcorn is my favorite snack!
ReplyDeleteI love that your sister sent you a postcard in the mail!
How are you existing without popcorn? It's my favorite! The Whirley Pop is amazing, so if you can ever go back to popcorn, I highly recommend it.
DeleteThat popcorn popper is awesome! We got something called a "stir crazy" as one of our wedding gifts. It is hard to describe, but it's a plug in appliance. I grew up eating popcorn made on a stir crazy. But you need a lot of people to make it worthwhile to make a batch. So we have used it twice maybe? I think that whirly pop would probably be a better gadget for us. But my boys do like popcorn so eventually we will use the stir crazy more.
ReplyDeleteI am not close to my older sister either. She is the middle child and doesn't really have an alliance with anyone. My younger sister and I are very similar and very close; my oldest brothers are also similar and close. I do feel bad for my sister because I know she feels like the odd one out. We get along much much much better these days. We fought like cats and dogs when we were younger and I did not get along with her for much of my 20s but things have improved.
Oh, those Stir Crazy machines look amazing! My Whirley Pop is also six quarts and it looks like most of the Stir Crazy machines I was looking at were around the same size. Is yours bigger than that? (Six quarts is just perfect for me and my husband to have popcorn!)
DeleteMy sister and I never really fought much. We just existed next to each other. It's fine, but I am a tiny bit envious of people with close sibling relationships.
My parents have a Stir Crazy! And yes, 6 quarts of popcorn is NOT too much. I think Lisa needs to shift her perspective on what an appropriate serving of popcorn is. The right answer is, half the bowl. Of course. :) (Also, popcorn can be a meal. I will die on that hill.) (And are you going to share the earrings?)
ReplyDelete