It was an eventful week, starting with a successful clean-up campaign. I have been needing to clean up the drawers in and the space under the vanity of the sinks. I tossed out 10-year-old peroxide, old everything else, concatenated other things, and made lots more room down there. I also cleaned off James' dresser, which was, frankly, looking like a bomb went off on it. There were old grocery receipts, pens, bits of models, pocketknives, loose coins, a remote control helicopter, a bottle of paint, and other things that didn't belong. It's now all clean and pretty, and I washed all three bureau scarves to boot. As an encore, I cleaned out all the appliance/electronic manuals and threw a bunch away (like the one for the stove we no longer have), and followed it up by rearranging the books in the spare room. "Viola" and all that.

We had another doctory weekend. Thursday we were up at six so James could be at the dentist at eight. (I drove him because it was raining and he couldn't take the power chair.) I finally bought some dental insurance (his work canceled the one we had when they reorganized), so he went to have his teeth checked. He needs several fillings and other work, and the dental insurance will not cover it for six months. At least we know how much it will cost. Eeek! Since the dentist is next to Kroger, we went there next, and then to Publix, and got the shopping done, and were home in time for me to take a nap. I am not a morning person.

And then...ta-da!...we went back to the infusion clinic and they removed the PICC line! His last intravenous treatment was yesterday. We are crossing fingers that everything is well internally. When I got home I got all the infusion stuff out of the way: the tray I did the prep on, the infusion pole, and all the supplies. Tossed out some, kept some useful stuff like the plastic gloves and saline, and recycled the heparin at Kaiser on Friday.

Friday we were up at seven for James' dermatologist appointment. He has them regularly to examine for skin cancer. She froze a troublesome wart on his right forefinger and also looked at his leg. She said the skin looked well and he could go back to wearing the compression socks!

You guessed it: we got home and I had another nap, at least until it was time to join Alice and Ken at The BBQ Place for lunch. We followed that up with a trip to Lidl.

We sorta got a chance to sleep later on Saturday, but had to get up at nine for Hair Day. This was fun. This month I remembered the Christmas gifts I forgot on the January Hair Day, and I gave out Valentine cards. It was so nice to see everyone. I don't miss going to a lot of stores, but I sure miss bigger Friday lunches and game nights. We came home so James could prep his breakfasts for the week and I could do some laundry and the vacuuming.

When we got ready for bed I noticed I had a message on my phone, and, holy cow, it was a great one! Our friend Jen, who lives in Oklahoma, was driving south from North Carolina (she had hand-delivered some paintings and then visited relatives) and wanted to stop by for lunch on Sunday! To say that we were thrilled was not the half of it. Valentine's Day or not, James was still working, but I was making chicken cacciatore as a special dinner for his lunch hour. So on Valentine's Day we had four hours of wonderful talk with Jen along with chicken cacciatore, elbow macaroni, a cucumber salad, and dark chocolate Oreos for dessert. It was so nice to see her. She was driving home via a couple of museums and is then going to have to prep to be deployed—she's in the Air Force—to the UAE from April to August. Oh, man, the Middle East in summer! I don't envy her that assignment!

The house was very lonesome when she left.

(Oh, yeah, and I managed to do all my Sunday chores, too! Yay me! (Tired me!)

Labels: cleaning, decluttering, food, friends, health, sickness

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 10:23:00 PM

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Well, what followed DragonCon was a series of interesting events (but at least not interesting in the Chinese sense).

On Tuesday, while I was dipping in and out of "Star Trek Day," I took down the master bedroom curtains, washed them, washed the windows, and did something about the window shade on my side of the bed (finally). The spring broke on it some time ago, and for many, many months now when I opened the window I just rolled up the bottom of the shade and secured it with a large paperclip on each side. It occurred to me just recently that we had a window shade we cut for James' "man cave" and had never put up; it's been propped up behind the door of my craft room since...well, you don't want to know. I tried it. It fit. So now I have a working shade again and the curtains are clean. (I have saved the broken shade; it's back behind the craft room door. It would be fine down in the "man cave" since James doesn't open the windows, but we can't get to the window now with a shelf full of modeling things in the way, and we never put the mounting hooks up anyway. Ah, well.)

Since it was cloudy out Wednesday morning, I put up the main autumn decorations outside: leaf mailbox cover, leaf wreath, fall banner, fall basket. Also did laundry and installed a "shelf" over one of the power outlets in the garage. These will be used to hold the rechargeable lights I found for his power chair if we have to take it out at night. I also put something away in his truck, and thereby hangs a tale:

Thursday James headed downstairs, got in the truck, and headed for physical therapy. Well, no he didn't. The truck wouldn't start. I should have simply told him to take the car, instead I just grabbed my pouch and took him there myself. On the way we discussed what to do with the truck: we figured we'd just call AAA and have them replace the battery. After all, it was five years old...

Well, no, I realized as I drove home, no it wasn't. The starter died last year, and they replaced the battery along with it. The receipt from November 2019 was in the glove compartment. So I called up the mechanic, who told me, sure they'd replace it free; it's under warranty. I told them I thought it was because the door didn't close properly when I'd put something in the cab. He told me that if it was just the light that had drained the battery, maybe they didn't even need to see it; if I could get it jumped off and then keep it running for awhile, the alternator would recharge the battery.

As I once again considered calling AAA, up the street comes our neighbor Gary, who walks his little daughter in the stroller every morning. I hadn't jumped off a vehicle in a dog's age, so I asked if he would help. We already had jumper cables, and the car...

Annnnnnd it worked. I locked the truck and left it running outside and just was about to take Tucker walking again (he got shorted on his first walk) but realized a whole hour had gone by and it was time to pick up James. Did I dare? Yes, I did, although I don't feel comfortable driving the truck; I dressed and went to get him. Just in case, instead of going directly to shopping, we drove home, turned it off, he changed clothes.

Yay. Restart. Still working, so far...

On Friday we had lunch at Top Spice [Thai restaurant] for the first time since the lockdown. Everyone likes Top Spice, so we had nine people, which was within safety guidelines. We also stopped in at Barnes & Noble (didn't buy any books; they don't have a thing I want) and at Hobby Lobby.

Did a bunch of other little things on Saturday including vacuuming the whole upper story and all the dust bunnies under the bed, and then it was Sunday and chore day (backed up my hard drive, too). So it was a varied week.

Big Thanks again to Gary for helping out!

Labels: books, cars, chores, cleaning, crafts, decorations, events, friends, shopping

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 9:30:00 PM

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I got a wild hare to make barbecue ribs for Memorial Day. James had to work, but we had a rack of ribs from an old Publix BOGO in the freezer and plenty of barbecue sauce. So I went online and hunted up a recipe.

In general I was pleased. The ribs themselves were very meaty and were juicy, but they were also very stale. I could taste that "plastic" taste that gets into stale food these days. Also, I have to remind myself that ribs cooked on low (275℉) are not pork chops; even thought they are at proper temperature (160℉), they are not "done" enough to be falling-off-the-bone tender.

On the other hand, cooking them in the bottom oven was brilliant. It did smashingly; the ribs just needed another hour to be tender off the bone. Finishing them off at 400℉ in the top oven also worked (but ten minutes was too long; five would have been enough). My basting sauce, a combination of Smack Yo Mama Big Kahuna and Sweet Georgia Brown, and my final sauce, maple barbecue with smoky bacon maple syrup, was great, too.

Next time, fresh ribs and longer oven time.

We also had fresh sweet corn to go with the ribs, and they were almost better!

And then today I went downstairs to do laundry and found one of my precious jars of Panorama Orchards (from Ellijay, GA) blackberry spread on the floor of the laundry room. It must have come unbalanced after I had to deal with a leaking cup of applesauce and fallen during the night. So I had to sweep up the glass, take up the broken jar (the mass of preserves which at least remained intact, it being so thick), sweep the floor, then vacuum the floor, then wipe up what little bit of sticky was there, all before I could start the clothes.

Sigh...

Labels: cleaning, cooking, food

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 10:20:00 PM

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We had Hair Day today; a very small crowd, only eight of us, and John Campbell, who popped in for a haircut and then headed out again. We had the sobering news that a friend has to have a cancer removed on Tuesday. It is outpatient surgery, but that doesn't make the diagnosis any better.

For lunch we had sandwich fixings and a little salad that James made, and goodies from the relish tray Mel and Phyllis brought. For dessert Ron and Lin bought a birthday cake that ended up being just for Lin and I, the other December "babies" having not made it this month. "A good time was had by all," I think! We finished up early because Sheri was having people over for the LSU vs. Georgia game.

Lunch perked me up, but I was feeling decidedly under the weather because like an idiot I forgot to take my pills last night, so I was not only stuffy, but my heart was hammering at the least movement because I'd missed my atenolol (and I can't take it in the morning because then I wouldn't be able to take it at night). I told James I'd take it easy for a couple of hours and see if we could go out to eat, but at suppertime my stomach was still dicey. Instead we had turkey soup for supper. We really screwed up with the turkey carcass Juanita gave us; we put too much water in. It basically tasted like poultry flavored water, with water predominating. We usually cook two packets of ramen noodles when we have them, but only use one packet of flavoring, so James tossed an oriental flavor packet in and made it just right, not too salty, not too bland. I had it with elbow noodles only and James added veg and canned chicken to his.

In the afternoon I did finish decorating the living room, with James' help, and then brought the empty box downstairs and put all the empties back in the closet. Just have one more box to empty, the decorations for the library and the lower hallway. I cleared out in the library to have a clear palette, so to speak.

Spent the evening watching The Bishop's Wife and then the Pearl Harbor episode of The Waltons.

Labels: Christmas decorations, cleaning, food, friends, movies, sickness, television

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 10:48:00 PM

(2) COMMENTS

Had a nice sleep-in this morning which must have relieved James, who probably hasn't gotten six hours of sleep a night for the last four nights. We had a leisurely breakfast and I walked the dog before we headed off for Publix. The sky was so blue it hurt, but the temperatures had risen quickly. We just had flannel shirts over short sleeves, but we needed brimmed hats!

Thanksgiving is still a week away—my goodness, that soon!—but Publix is bursting with Christmas, a whole island of baking goodies and red and green, and silver and gold trims. We did some stocking up for both holidays, BOGO flour for my baking, and veg for our Thanksgiving contributions at this year's "Friendsgiving." Bounced around the store from one end to the other to pick everything up.

We put up the perishables and then headed to Sam's Club. We were planning to wait till next week, but James was out of cheese and he's going to binge-make burritos on Saturday when it rains, so it was today instead. Probably for the best since next Saturday everyone will be in a shopping frenzy.

Even for a Thursday the place was crowded. We gaped over the newest televisions posed directly near the entrance. One Vizio was running a 3-D looking loop that showed off its picture to best advantage. It was quite lovely. Also checked out security systems and new Fitbit smartwatches before going on to what we needed (and could afford): coupon items (Reynolds Wrap, Mrs. Dash, Splenda packets) and not (bulk cheese slices, a bag of Halos). I was going to get milk, but it was more expensive than Lidl.

It was around two by then and we stopped at Krystal to get a cheap lunch: two little cheeseburgers for James, two plain "pups" for me, and a little bag of tater tots. Just right! But since it was so late, we didn't bother going anywhere else except to Lidl for the usual: bread, milk, chocolate, elbow macaroni for a steal, a big bag of small Granny Smith apples, almond windmill cookies for a treat.

The day had completely changed while we were out. From blue and sunny when we left this morning, white clouds then grey clouds crept in, until the sun was just a brighter grey sphere in the cloudy sky. I'd left my flannel shirt behind when we dropped the stuff from Sam's off, and it was almost a little too chilly by the time we got home. Found a surprise on the front porch: a new griddle that I'd ordered from Amazon Vine.  We had nothing thawed for dinner, so we trickled cold water on two of the lamb steaks I'd gotten the other day at Nam Dae Mun. In the meantime, we "killed a frog" and finally cleaned off the top shelf in the fridge, which has been a collecting ground for a mixture of jellies, jams, and sauces. We dumped a couple of things like the congealed mint jelly, and then James scrubbed off the shelf (it's too tall for me to reach the back of) and then we wiped off the good jars and put them back, sauces to the right, jellies and jams to the left, with the Romano cheese in front. I've been cleaning out the fridge one shelf at a time all week and now the inside looks quite smart.

James took a nearly empty jar of garlic jelly and another nearly empty jar of balsamic jelly with onion, and made a finishing sauce for the lamb, cooking it on the new griddle. So good! And the pieces were large enough to supply leftovers for a lunch. Mnnn. Lamb sandwich!

Spent the rest of the evening playing games and watching the Holiday Baking Championship on Food Network.

Labels: Christmas, cleaning, cooking, food, holidays, shopping, television, Thanksgiving, weather

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 11:47:00 PM

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We had a broken-up weekend this week. James' dermatologist isn't in the office on Thursdays or Fridays, so he had to go for his quarterly inspection (since the two basal-cell skin cancer procedures he had in the spring) on Wednesday. So he was off Wednesday and worked Thursday.

His appointment wasn't until afternoon, so I did half the laundry in the morning and also cleaned up some in the dining room; we had two food gifts from Christmas in baskets that were still sitting on top of Tucker's box, so I put the items in the pantry closet and will recycle the baskets. We saw the doctor (all clear, but she is glad James is going to the wound clinic next week), then came home by Publix to do the majority of the shopping. We were cheered by the chatty bagger who helped us out with our groceries and returned the electric cart for us, and recommended Patak's to her for meat. (We were having sausage for dinner, so will need to go back there at some point. Besides, I want more mortadella.)

So James went off to work on Thursday and I was fairly busy with going to Hobby Lobby for a sewing item I needed (also found a cute toy for Toys for Tots) and then picking up some groceries at Lidl. I had filled up one trash bag for Friday morning pickup and had collected the rest of the house trash; was spoiling to find something else to get rid of. I found it on top of the refrigerator after preparing some snack bags of nuts for James when he goes to work (we keep the food scale up there). I discovered a bunch of bottles we don't use anymore there, on their sides, and tossed them all out. All I kept was the one carton holder because they don't make those things anymore (we actually have four now, up in that useless cupboard that's over the fridge; I can only get them out using the "grabby thing"). We rarely buy anything liquid in a carton, but should we want orange juice or eggnog we have them up there. Now all that's up there is a filtered pitcher, the scale, a gravy separator, the big spool of string, and, on a lazy Susan, the unopened jars of finishing sauces. I put the wooden pumpkin that used to be on my desk at work in the fall up there as a decoration.

The trash bag still wasn't full, so I went into the garage and tossed out empty containers, old items we aren't going to use anymore, bags, etc. until it was stuffed to the gills. I was lucky and found some empty cassette cases. I have Christmas cassettes with broken cases, so this will help!

Friday we were back to the usual schedule; this weekend we had to go to Costco, as James needed mandarin orange cups for his morning drink and "plastic cheese" (the Kraft kind) for sandwiches; we also got toilet paper. Discovered Costco is just as crowded on Friday at eleven as it is on Saturday morning! We got back just in time to head out to West Cobb Diner for lunch with Alice and Ken. Following that, we visited the Barnes & Noble at Dallas Highway (a book I wanted was on sale, so James bought it for me for my birthday; I found two more nice things from the clearance table for Toys for Tots, too), and then stopped at Kroger for the BOGO pork chops and sale sugar-free cookies. On the way home we had a real treat: ice cream at Baskin-Robbins. Hadn't had one of those for months!

Normally we would have been in bed early last night to get up at 6:30 so we could make it to Ellijay and the Georgia Apple Festival by nine when they opened. Instead some stinky tropical storm formed in the Gulf of Mexico a few days back, spreading a band of rain so far that even 324 miles from the Pensacola landfall we were still going to get rain and so was Ellijay. Never mind that James isn't supposed to take the power chair out in the rain, the close parking for the Apple Festival is in a big grassy field that turns into a big grassy swamp when it's wet. We have been there in previous years where it rained the day before and vehicles still got stuck in the mud. But rain and the chair made this insurmountable: even if James covered up the controller with a plastic bag we still remember the last time we went there the day after it rained; we had to keep getting help from strong people because his power chair got bogged down four or five times in soft grass and mud. (So even if we were able to go tomorrow getting around would be problematic.) We haven't missed an apple festival in years, only once because we were on vacation, and we were hoping Smack Yo Mama barbecue and Meadowcroft Farms would be there, because we missed them at Yellow Daisy. (Just looked at the vendor list; we apparently did miss the former, but the latter isn't on the list. Maybe Smack Yo Mama will be at the Jonquil Festival next weekend.) And I was so looking forward to the apples we would buy afterward—we always crunch on a nice big sour one on the way home! (Of course James says we can just go up there some day next week or the week after and stop at Panorama Orchards as always for fresh apples and jam and pot pie noodles.)

So it looked like it was going to be a gray, bleak, and boring day, except Dish (of all people) offered us a diversion. A few days ago we got an e-mail saying they were sending us one of their newfangled voice remotes free. We got it on Friday and I set it up and of course started to play with it, just naming series for the Google Assistant to find. One of the best things I found was that the last six episodes of this season of Elementary, the last few episodes of the very final season, the ones that I missed because of Dish's stupid dust-up with CBS, were just about to air on WGN, so I was able to set them up to record. I also found out that one of our favorite series, Flying Wild Alaska, was still available on Discovery on Demand (except for one episode; don't know why), so we've been watching it all afternoon.

This, of course, as always with us and electronics, was not without its hiccups. We successfully found and started episode 1. Ten minutes in, the video faltered, dropped out, and the Dish Hopper said it no longer had internet access. Well, it didn't—the router had gone off. When it came back up, it had so little signal that it wouldn't reconnect. So I rebooted the router, it came back up, dropped out, then came back up again. When I measured the speed on Speakeasy, it said we had a great signal, but SpeedOfMe said we didn't. Odd because they usually agree. Then I had to reconnect the Hopper with the router. The Hopper didn't even see any wifi signals! I had to reboot it, then set up the wifi again, and finally we could sit and watch. I'd forgotten how cute Ariel Tweto was. Always loved in the first episode how she admitted she didn't like the cold and was "the world's worst Eskimo." I also remember how I loved the Native American music they played in the background and that we heard on the radio station. Some of it is traditional music, and some of it is rock or pop sung in the local language.

James made pork chops for dinner, and we continued watching Flying Wild Alaska until it was time for the ten o'clock news.This batch of episodes included my favorite, where Jim goes off to deliver supplies to a hunting camp. He usually checks in with the base when he gets there and before he leaves, so they know he's okay and where to look if they don't hear from him. This time he starts chatting with the hunters and forgets. When he gets in, Ferno [his wife] strides out there and asks "Is your radio out?" He lamely tries to explain that he got busy and forgot, and then had to figure out how to take off again because of the way the water covered the landing strip, etc, but Ferno stares him down and says, "No call, no hugs, no dinner," and walks back inside. I love it! Guys don't understand. They're just bullshitting with the other guys, but we think they're dead in a ditch somewhere if they don't show up on time!

Labels: books, cleaning, crafts, decluttering, electronics, events, food, friends, health, shopping

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 10:50:00 PM

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When I began working at CDC, the office was located in Buckhead (formerly the bar scene, now home to high-priced stores and condos), and we were living in Smyrna; it was an easy drive each day over surface streets (including the very pretty West Paces Ferry Avenue, which blooms beautifully in the spring and turns lovely colors in the fall in front of all the fancy homes) to work. In 1999 CDC moved us part and parcel out to Koger Office Park (later University Office Park). You could get there via surface streets, but it took two hours, so the quickest way was via the freeway.

It wasn't ever easy, but those first trips were halcyon compared to the later ones. Every morning it would take a little longer, but every evening it would take a lot longer. The commute weighed on me, not just the time it wasted, but the thought of getting involved in a horrific accident like the ones that showed up every night on television.

2007 brought relief: after a smaller telework test program, a larger one opened up and I became part of it. Once this was in process, James and I went to Ikea and bought a nice wooden desk, red, with a slide-out keyboard tray and wheels so it could be used in the living room and stored in the bedroom. (I never did use it as it was meant to be used; I always worked on my own computer, because trying to see that teeny-tiny laptop screen was a headache [the san serif fonts were bad enough on my monitor at work!]—this is why James bought a separate monitor to telework. Instead I had the all-in-one-printer that I was issued on the desk, and my supplies.) We later bought a beige version of this same desk for the library, and when the wheels broke on the red desk, swapped them out.

Since I've retired, I've wanted that desk out of the room. The damaged red desk got disposed of last year, when I added more bookcases to the library, so the beige desk couldn't go there. What I really wanted to do with the beige desk was to put it into my craft room to have a bigger surface to work on; I have a folding table in there, but the desk was bigger. But this hinged on getting rid of the old loveseat sleeper that ended up in the craft room as well; this loveseat what I used as a seat when I painted or made jewelry, or repaired items. But the seat was never high enough and too soft—perfect for a sofa, but not for a desk chair.

I have tried for months to get rid of it. It's still pretty sturdy, it's not stained, and the mattress is clean; no leaky kids, adults, or pets have ever been on it. Heck, as a sofa bed, I think it's been used twice, once during an ice storm for James to keep warm in next to the fireplace in the old house, and once when Jen and Meggan came to visit and Meg slept on it. One of our friends said they would take it, then realized they had no room for it. But no one wants sofa beds, not even Habitat for Humanity and places that re-home domestic violence victims. After trying two more places on Thursday morning, I finally said "screw it."

Now I'd been cleaning off the desk slowly for a while. As a horizontal surface, it collected every bit of extraneous detritus we could manage, and there was a shelf underneath to boot! The shelf alone had old plastic file folders, magazines, and other items in Ikea wicker baskets. On top there was another basket filled with bluetooth keyboards and power banks and backup drives, a clear lucite pen holder, and a case filled with office supplies I've bought over the years (I ended up buying most of my office supplies, even for going into work, since they never had anything but gel pens which smeared when I highlighted them—instead I bought Bic pens when they were on sale before school started). The keyboard tray had more office supplies: post-it notes and tags, notepaper, more pens, pushpins, paperclips.

The power supplies and backup drives and the folders got put in the bottom cubicle in the chifforobe after I tossed some items we didn't need any longer. I kept the supplies on the keyboard tray "as is," and put the case with the office supplies on the bottom shelf. Finally I was ready to move it.

I've basically repurposed the loveseat as a shelf for supplies. Half of the seat is still a seat, with a pillow, perhaps if I want to chill listening to my records (alas, not my tapes, because both tape players have suddenly died after working properly in December) or CDs. It's getting to the point that the whole deck is a dead loss except for the phonograph. The other half of the seat holds those wicker Ikea baskets with supplies in them: Scotch tape, blank cards, the case with my jewelry-making supplies and pliers. Before I had to turn around to get the tape, or the glue, or a Kleenex off the shelves in back of the loveseat. Now they are grab-and-go.

Before I put the desk in the room, I cleaned out all the junk that was piled up against the record cabinet with the stereo on top of it, and the speakers, and the bookcase all against the far wall. One container was magazine clippings from "BBC Food" that James had worked on and which got shoved into the craft room when we put the Christmas tree up. I put it back next to his chair. Then I put a bunch more cross-stitch magazines into the cabinets, so they didn't take up that space. I also tossed out a bunch of fabric paint. The tubes are dried up and anyway you can't buy iron-on patterns to embellish anymore in the craft stores, not like you could a dozen years ago. That trend has passed. The new office chair I'd ordered for James from Amazon Vine had arrived, so I could get rid of the tottery old kitchen chair that James' dad gave us, and put the new drafting chair James had been sitting on in there instead. Plus I got rid of a bunch of CD cases and rearranged a storage box of scrapbook paper. Once that space was clear and vacuumed, I moved the desk in; I put it perpendicular to the loveseat rather than parallel. The old table was folded up and put behind the door; I will still use it for painting as I'm not about to ruin the finish on the desk! (Either that or I will use a coupon to buy a big poster board at Michael's and cover the desk top with it.)


I tossed a big bunch of papers and a couple of old posters as well.

This was all accomplished on Thursday. Friday morning I got up and had to hustle, since my Three Hours of Meditation starts at noon on Good Friday.

In October 2017, knowing I was retiring in January, I got a child's toy chest from Amazon Vine. It has sat, on the short end of its box in the downstairs hallway, waiting for me to get the desk out of the bedroom. Now I got the vacuum cleaner and gave the space where the desk had been one last pass and then assembled the toy chest. It didn't take me long, even though I started by putting the back on backward and had to re-do it, and had a painful time putting on the lid supports because I had to balance on painful knees. It's a pretty chestnut color called "espresso," and now sits very demurely between the chifforobe and one of my Grandma's old kitchen chairs, which I use for putting shoes on. I left some pens and notepaper with it, so we can write notes without having to run to the craft room for supplies, but eventually I will have two square trays on the top instead (I bought them at JoAnn on Saturday night) holding the supplies for easy removal to get into the chest. Inside I plan to put extra bedding that won't fit into the blanket chest at the foot of the bed, which is chock full with the afghans my mother made for me. (I need to put them out, but don't know where.) I also need to get some cedar squares to put into it to keep the items smelling fresh.


This sounds like No Big Deal, but it has been a thorn in my side for eighteen months and I am so glad it is finally done! It was such a relief to mark this down as done in my journal tonight.




*Supposedly Mark Twain said “Eat a live frog first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day.” It was actually said in jest by a French writer and not by Twain, but since then motivational speakers have referred to distasteful tasks as "frogs."

Labels: cleaning, crafts, decluttering, retirement

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 10:26:00 PM

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To my relief, I have managed to get many things done this week. I reported earlier than I was cleaning out the china cabinet and the top shelf of the hall closet and getting rid of some things that we do not use, or that I do not like. I did get to go to the Lidl grand opening on Wednesday, but there were already more than one hundred people in line, and the parking lot was standing room only, so I didn't stop and went to Walmart instead. (Apparently Yoplait has come up with some "Dunkin" yogurt flavors. I cringed at the thought of cinnamon roll and bought the French vanilla latte in the forlorn hope that it might have some coffee flavor. Well, it does, but so minute that it might as well be a molecule. Mostly what it tastes of is sugar. Ugh. I miss their café au lait flavor so much.) When I came by Lidl after finishing at Wally World, when there were parking spaces, it was still crowded and some radio station was blasting unpleasant and obnoxious rock music out front. I wasn't much impressed at what I saw, but my opinion was surely colored by the jostling, impossible crowd.

So many people have been talking about Marie Kondo [the organizing consultant] that on Thursday I watched three of her shows on Netflix. I hadn't read her book, and by the way people were talking I thought she was one of those dreadful minimalist people who favored icky modern metal and plastic furniture, white walls and sofas, and no memorabilia in the house. Well, except for the no-more-than-30-books philosophy she supposedly has, she seems very sensible. It's like watching Hoarders except these people aren't drowning in possessions, they just have too many. She helps them sort them out and see what they need, and what they don't, and organize what they keep in a better fashion. (One lady had her entire downstairs den filled with Christmas decorations she hadn't put away!) This is what I've been trying to do for the last year. In fact, spurred by Marie, I went and did what I originally intended to do on Thursday: reorganize the top shelf of the spare room closet. The party supplies are kept up there, and I tidied those up, put the wedgies that we used to have on our bed in the corner in case company wants to use them, and stored the slim-line CD cases on the CD carousel stored up there, instead of having a box of cases and the carousel. Then there was enough room for the hot- and cold-vaporizers, and even some space to spare.

Friday I started gravy [spaghetti sauce] and pork in the slow cooker, then indexed the gifts in the Christmas boxes in the spare room closet. Now I know everything I have and can apportion the items to the appropriate person, and then know who I need to buy for.

Finally I washed Tucker. I usually take him to the dog wash at Petco, but the price went up to $12 last time I went, and the weather was cold and damp. But he had to have a bath; he smelled like a boys' locker room that the janitor hadn't visited in three forevers. So I got out the knee pads I got from Amazon, cleared away things from the tub, got the shower head down, dumped a bewildered Tucker in the tub, and gave him the bath. He behaved very well; in fact he was a little more coöperative than usual, even though he acted as if he were suffering terrible torture to be under water. Our water was warmer than they usually have at the dog wash, so that may be part of it.

I discovered a couple of problems, however. The main one was that the drain needs to be cleared. To keep hair out of the drain, I have a screened dome, and the hair collects and blocks the drain, and since it already needs flushing, so Tucker was standing in at least an inch of water. Plus, when I used to wash Willow in the tub, I would always then hand her over to James to dry. I had to dry Tucker myself, with no raised platform to do it on as at the dog wash. I ended up sitting on the toilet lid and holding the little wiggle worm on my lap. I needed as many arms as an octopus.

But it worked out. I got him dry enough, I washed and dried all his bedding, and James came home to a clean dog. And an exhausted Linda, but, stuff got done. And the knee pads worked fine. Much better than the towel I used to kneel on.

Today the weather reports were dire: it was going to rain. We had Hair Day, and James' club meeting had been postponed to today because of a model show in Chattanooga last week. So we went to Ron and Lin's for about ninety minutes and James got his hair cut and beard trimmed, and we chatted with everyone, and then got back on the road. I discovered I'd only had six and a half hours of sleep and I was a bit drowsy, but when I'd downloaded e-mail this morning, I'd found a 60 percent off coupon from Michael's.

So James gathered up the model he was taking to the meeting, and I got in the car, heading...well, I headed north. I was down to a quarter tank of gas, so I decided to go to Costco for it, as it was cheapest there. And there is also a Michael's at Town Center down the hill from a Costco.

I stopped at Michael's first, checking out all the departments, including the spring decorations. Ugh. Only January, don't want to think of spring, temps in the 70s, flowers blooming and making me sneeze, aching joints from my allergies, and pine pollen. (Not to mention having to turn on the air conditioner again!) But I found something great to use my coupon on. I have only seen sets of Speedball calligraphy markers in the same everlasting strict colors: black, brown, red, green, and brown. Today I found a dozen in other colors: purple! teal! even yellow and orange! The coupon was just the trick to be able to afford the set. I also found some planning stickers on clearance for my journal.

When I finished at Michael's, I went to fill up the car, and had then thought to go on to And That! to see if they still had inexpensive pistachios, and then go to Hobby Lobby. As usual, my mind strayed to books, which is how I ended up at 2nd and Charles and disappeared into the rabbit hole of used books. I don't usually find much there, but today I did pick up a book about a couple who open a bookstore in a small West Virginia town and the third and final book in a young adult trilogy about a girl living in an alternate universe Boston. I considered and then skipped The Willows in Winter because it seems to be too much about Toad. Toad is my least favorite character in Wind in the Willows; I prefer the sweet stories about Ratty and Mole palling about. The chapter "Dulce Domum" is one of my favorite Christmas tales.

I just returned home after that and messed about on the computer until James got home. We had supper at Uncle Maddio's, not having had pizza in a good long time. I'd had only a small sandwich for lunch and ate every bit of my personal pizza with bacon and black olive upon it (and no awful mozzarella cheese—hate the stuff, tastes like mucus to me). Maddio's makes the best crust, all lovely and crisp.

Watched a couple of This Old House segments when we got home, then James disappeared downstairs to the depths of his man-cave to fiddle with plastic and glue and paint, and I've been here listening to the podcast "Happier With Gretchen Rubin."

Labels: books, cleaning, crafts, dogs, food, organizing, pets, podcasts, shopping, television, weather

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 11:53:00 PM

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Never did get that extra hour's sleep. Knees were still hurting, and James got up early due to (yet another) call of nature, so we were up and going before nine o'clock, even though we leisurely ate breakfast and I took Tucker out, but all he wanted to do was to hunt down raccoons.

(We had a strange postscript to the raccoon story. When I pulled up Facebook this morning, another neighbor down the street was responding to the Facebook post I'd put on the neighborhood association page. While we were rousing ourselves out of bed this morning, the raccoon had wandered into her yard. Well, her family has big dogs, Italian mastiffs, and one went after the raccoon and killed it. Sadly, it wandered into the wrong yard. I hope the dog was okay.)

We had forgotten to get onions (again; I have no idea how this keeps happening the way both of us love onions!), so we combined a short grocery trip along with our fun trip this morning. We went to the Kroger on Dallas Highway because it was across the street from our destination and picked up the onions and a few more things that added themselves to the list. Once again, it was chilly enough for us to be wearing flannel shirts, so we had no qualms about stuffing some meats and two frozen pot pies into an insulated bag and heading across the street. We were headed to Hallmark first to return a duplicate ornament, but they weren't open yet, so we went to Barnes & Noble instead to kill the 45 minutes until they did. (As if we couldn't fritter that much time away in a bookstore!) James used a coupon on a book he's been waiting on, and I bought the newest Christmas edition of the "Chicken Soup for the Soul" books along with "Just Cross Stitch."

Finally it was after noon, so James got his refund and I bought a Christmas gift, then we stopped at Yankee Candle so I could get air freshener for my car. I have no idea what's gotten into Yankee Candle. This is just a little store; maybe the larger one at Town Center Mall is still okay, but this one seems to stock only YC's new line of "trendy" looking candles (I can't explain them; they have fancy jars and stuff) and a smaller selection of scents, and the newer scents are really terrible, too fruity or too sweet, sometimes both. Where are the good scents like gingerbread and cafe au lait instead of the blue spruce one (ugh) or another with some winter name that smelled terrible?

I treated James to a soup at Panera before we came home. The place was packed since it was just a little after noon, but it was warm enough that we could sit out on the terrace and I was quite content eating my chicken noodle soup with a surfeit of carrots and reading "Just Cross Stitch." Got some photos of beautiful autumn trees, too. The trees that started to turn when we finally got a cold spell are coloring up beautifully!

It would have been a big temptation to sit down again when we got home, but instead I finished up the job I started on Friday: there were still books stacked horizontally on James' bookshelf in the bedroom and everything there was quite dusty. So that was all removed and dusted and sorted, the shelves wiped down, some junk on James' dresser tossed out, and the carpet vacuumed again. I also vacuumed the stuffed animals on the shoe rack on top of the chifforobe; our bedroom really gets dusty despite the fact we spend very little time in it. No idea why.

I also sorted James' and my pills for the week and washed the towels.

We had sausage and cheese tortellini for supper in the last of the Prego no-sugar-added sauce and half a Ritter "Pfefferminz" bar each for dessert. Watched a couple of episodes of M*A*S*H that hadn't come up in the rotation lately, then The Durrells in Corfu (Gerry's nearly disastrous birthday party—noticed last week that Milo Parker, who plays Gerry, is getting a shadow on his upper lip and looked up his age; he's sixteen, but Gerry has just turned thirteen), and Alaska: the Last Frontier.

Labels: animals, books, chores, cleaning, dogs, food, pets, shopping

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 11:16:00 PM

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This morning I was up at eight, and after starting a load of clothes, ate breakfast and gave Tucker a long walk. It was cloudy and slightly foggy, which made sense since there was a warm front [yeeech] on the way. By the time I'd finished unloading the dishwasher of yesterday's baking items , one washer load was done and I popped it in the dryer, and put a second load in the washer, but delayed the wash. I had some things to pick up (thankfully with coupons) and didn't want the clothes sitting in this sultry weather.

About 10:15 I headed up to Town Center and Bed, Bath & Beyond. I picked up a few little things: food-safe mineral oil for the table and cutting boards, a refrigerator container for James' insulin, a couple more little lights for the library, and a new blanket for Tucker, who tends to bite holes in his. At JoAnn I had five half-price coupons and a 40 percent off. I got mostly Command hooks, but bought a piece of foam for James' truck seat. Hoping that works better than a wadded-up towel.

I also found some Christmas items on deep discount: two little resin foxes and a large bottle-brush tree and a pack of smaller ones. I went next door to Michaels and found some small wooden rectangles. I'm seeing craft project here...

In the meantime I cut through the back way to Barnes & Noble; I didn't have a coupon, but I wanted to look at the clearance table. I found a book on Mickey Rooney and one on Neil Armstrong, both for $4 each, and joined the queue. In front of me was an older man in a US Army veterans cap, behind me was an older couple buying a stack of discount games. The woman tapped the veteran on the shoulder and handed him a card, saying "Thank you for your service." The veteran stammered a little and she said, "It's a homemade card. I make them and hand them out only to veterans." The veteran said thank you and then was called to check out. I was called next and did so with a big grin on my face (and donated a kids' book to their book drive).

I realized I hadn't taken anything out for dinner, so I stopped at Nam Dae Mun for some chicken legs and also got some little steaks to put in the freezer. Total: $5.35. I put the meat up when I got home, but the craft project called me and I even forgot about the clothes sitting in the washer (well, for a little while; they did get dried). I painted two of the wooden rectangles white with Delta Gloss paint and then sprinkled them with coarse white matte glitter and a little blue microglitter after leaving spots for foxes and trees to go. When the paint was dry and the glitter firmly stuck on, I glued the items on. Now: two winter decorations.


Before I painted the rectangles, I noted they needed a little sanding. There was a small paper bag hanging on the back of the craft room door with sandpaper sticking out of it. I looked at it, but the grit was still too coarse. I knew I had finer-grain sandpaper, so I dug in the bag--and found six "S" hooks I bought at the hardware store near Corley's hobby shop years ago, and...what was this thick, hard black thing in there?

Rewind: for Christmas 2010 James gave me a little gadget called a Flip video camera, which...gasp!...took HD video. I used it at Christmas and a couple of times right after, and then it disappeared. Actually, it was hiding in plain sight; it was in a black case, and it was wedged between my computer CPU and the upright of the computer desk where it was dark and I couldn't see it. So I pulled it out again, put new batteries in it, and used it for Phyllis' birthday party, Christmas 2011, New Year's Eve, and the party at the Lawson's house in early 2012. The last thing I did was make a video for my cousin Debbie of our house decorations. And then it vanished, never to be seen again.

Until today. In the little paper sack was the Flip in its black case.

Put new batteries in it, it still works, the software loaded up right away.

I've been saying over and over I need to get this house clean. And this is one of the reasons why. Maybe someday I'll find my pocket-sized birth certificate and my original social security card.

Despite the traffic, James made it home from cardiac rehab in good time. We had chicken legs and pickled tomato slices (boy, are they pickled, and taste strongly of cinnamon, too) for supper, with peppermint "Jo-Jos" (Trader Joe's version of an Oreo, with candy cane chips in the center) for dessert. For Christmas programming: both Prep & Landing specials (they're so tinsel!) and Geraldine Page in A Christmas Memory.

Labels: chores, Christmas, cleaning, crafts, electronics, food, shopping, television

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 11:20:00 PM

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We couldn't sleep too late this morning, but I was dismayed to find out James didn't get to sleep until the wee hours. He was the one who was ready for bed early!

We forewent breakfast, except for a BelVita bar, and got to Costco ten minutes after they opened, and the parking lot was already crowded. Luckily a space opened two spaces from the door, so I pulled in there while James got one of the little carts. We found the first thing he was looking for right off, a chair cushion to use at restaurants. His back pain is so bad that he has problems on hard chairs. We also found a new heated throw for him to use in winter (his old one burned out). Plus we got popcorn, milk, Swiffer wipes, a "Milk Street" magazine, and an autumn magazine.

After tucking the milk in the insulated bag, we nipped across the street so I could run into Bed, Bath & Beyond with two expiring coupons. I picked up some LED switchlights for the library bays and, of course, since the rule at BB&B is if you don't need anything else, buy "doggie bags," I did. Tucker will fill them up! 😁 By this time it was getting on to lunch, so I stopped by Tin Drum and got some teriyaki and James got chicken at Pollo Tropical, and we took it home for lunch.

Eeek! I did not notice when I dropped the Swiffer wipes off that the floor in front of the washer was wet, so the box got sodden. I was flummoxed and a lot more upset than I should have been. After all, the washer is 11 1/2 years old. Things happen. Judging by where the water was, I also thought it might be a problem with the dispenser. I watched a YouTube video about this, but it went a little beyond my comfort zone. But I could check out the dispenser, and that's what I did. I've cleaned it out before, and I did again, because the spot where the Downy goes in was sticky and a bit grotty. But I've never checked out the dispenser drawer slot. There was a thick crusty sludge on the bottom of it as if powdered detergent had gotten wet and formed a coating (I've never used powdered detergent in this washer in its life!). Cleaned that out and washed a load of towels, and...no water on the floor. Whew. I guess it backwashed and the sludge got in the way.

Anyway, spent the afternoon half relaxing and watching an entire house-remodeling story on Rehab Addict and reading The World of Laura Ingalls Wilder, which arrived today. Also helped James sort pills, put all the stuff we brought home from the hospital in one place, cleaned the floor in the hall bath, put junk on the table away, and got stuff ready for work tomorrow. Plus the "trick" with the TV worked and it automatically changed channels to Ion Life at seven, so we didn't miss Colour Confidential again. Wish they weren't repeating stuff we'd seen a few months ago. There is a Saturday showing, too, and I wish they'd alternate them.

Ate leftovers for supper, then waited (practically forever) for Star Trek: Discovery. I like the characters, but the stupid show had something like four thousand commercials in it. This is why I DVR everything anymore; too hard to keep track of the plots anymore with all the commercial interruptions! Do you get commercials on CBS All Access, on which the remainder of the series will be shown? If so, it's a big ripoff. Is that all the series is going to be, about the war with the Klingons?

Labels: cleaning, shopping, television

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 9:59:00 PM

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It was a quiet, albeit busy Sunday. We were up until two, so we slept until 9:30, at least, and James walked Tucker, and we had breakfast. Then we got to work: James had to replenish his supply of breakfast burritos. He used to make them with tortilla wraps, but they were actually too fragile. He now uses the Toufeyan wraps (low sodium, low carb) you get at Publix and fills them with egg, diced tomato in various flavors or Rotel, and low fat ground beef and/or turkey. Sometimes he'll make it with low salt turkey and low salt ham that Boar's Head makes. A couple of weeks ago he made some like egg rolls in a burrito, with bean sprouts and cabbage.

I scrubbed out both bathrooms thoroughly except for just sweeping the floor and not washing it, and then I went downstairs to put together the little bookcase I bought at Big Lots (ironically, it's on sale this week). I noticed it has the little lock screws like the bookcases at Ikea! Once I finished with it, I replaced the old microwave cart in the hallway that's holding various surplus canned goods and cereals with it and stocked it up. It holds more and doesn't stick out as much.

I'm hoping to give the cart to someone who needs it, as well as the two surplus office chairs we have. They're pretty battered, but someone could  use them until they got something better, or put them out in the garage or a "she shed" or carport without worrying if they got messed up. None of them are really good enough for Goodwill; I'm thinking of them as merely "interim furniture" until someone can afford something better.

Got upstairs to find James finishing the last burrito; he still had to put them in bags! I made the bed and started gathering the trash and finally soothed my aching back by lying down.

Sooner than I knew it, it was time for Colour Confidential. Ion Life wasn't coming in too well, but I got to see most of the two episodes. I love Jane Lockhart's color wheel. That's her "gimmick, the color wheel with the boxes, but I love how it works. She fills each of the boxes with something that relates to the person/people she's designing for. Both guys in the second show loved cars, so her color wheel was full of car-related colors and things for cars (a yellow scrub-brush, a blue dolphin air freshener to hang from the rear view mirror, an orange model car, etc.). The previous lady was a teacher, so she had yellow pencils, red crayons, etc. Jane will ask which colors attract their attention and then she tells them how that color will make the room feel (small, large, warm, cool, etc.). Other palettes have featured food (for people who liked to cook), photography equipment (for a pro photographer), sports-related items, etc. Always loved watching her do this.

After a couple of hours cooking burritoes, James didn't want to cook. We had Chinese takeout and finally settled on Science channel and Mythbusters.

And now time to turn the alarms back on. Indeed, the saddest moment of Sunday.

Labels: cleaning, cooking, food, television

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 10:42:00 PM

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The year has made its half turn and it was time again this weekend for the Smyrna Jonquil Festival. This year, providentially, it was not also Hair Day, so we could go when they opened today. The Sunday hours start at noon and, with the temps being so high this week (in the range of 80°F), we wanted to be walking in as cool temperatures as possible.

This was fine in theory, but it didn't really work out. We got up at eight, James walked the dog, we ate breakfast, and we got there by 9:55. Sadly, 9:55 a.m. was already a sweaty, nasty hot day, and we walked around and enjoyed the vendors, but our bodies didn't very much enjoy the experience. We said hi to "the Button Girl," who is now a very tall young lady, and looked over scented soaps, homemade jewelry, dip mixes, dog treats, cute grandchild clothes, hand-carved wooden pens, etc. Unfortunately, the people we wanted to be there, the Smack-Yo-Mama barbecue sauce folks, weren't. We're completely out of their Georgia Gold and Big Kahuna (with pineapple) sauce. Ah, well. We went past the greyhound rescue and the Kiwanis Vidalia onion sale, and bought a couple of books off the library (H is for Hawk for me and Slow Food for him), plus some carpenter bee traps (they're after our deck), and pickled vegetables.

I wanted to go by Sam's and then Office Max, the latter which had a label maker on sale. I really, really need to whip the craft room into better shape; I've done a little tidying around my art desk, but that's it. I have baker's twine in three different places, and don't remember where other things are. But when we got to Sam's, they had the same label maker on sale, with two cartridges. The cartridges are the expensive part, so the Sam's deal was great. Plus I found a set of 20 different colors Flair pens for only $10. Cool! Also bought a "Where Women Create" magazine, since it was almost affordable here, plus milk, sugarless gum, cheese for James, and Asian salad mix for Sunday supper.

The sun was beating down on that Sam's parking lot relentlessly, and by the time James got home he was light-headed and sick to his stomach. He drank something cold and sat down and gradually got better. I was pretty hot myself, with sweat trickling down my spine in a regular flow, but I wasn't as whacked out by the heat as I usually am. I spent the time while he was getting his equilibrium back in testing out the label maker, and watching "The Dancing Men" episode of the Granada Sherlock Holmes series (yes, I must confess—I have not watched much of classic Jeremy Brett Holmes; this is only my second episode, although I've seen part of one, but that was some years ago).

James was feeling much better after cooling off, plus the breeze had picked up and it wasn't at hot as five as it had been at ten, and we went back to the Fried Tomato Buffet—because, barbecue pork ribs. And the chicken and dumplings are pretty good, too. We made a flying stop at Bed, Bath & Beyond with an expiring coupon (I bought James a new beach towel for his power chair, after not being about to find an airplane-themed one anywhere online), and then went to JoAnn with a 60 percent off coupon. Surprise! There were the six "tropical color" Flairs that don't come with the 20-pen set. The coupon made them affordable (really, the price they charge for simple felt-tip pens is absurd).

After being so hot this morning, it was breezy enough to drive home with the windows down. Still didn't see anyone sitting on their beautifully decorated front porches! We also saw them setting up for Taste of Marietta tomorrow as we cut through downtown. Wish this was held when it was cooler!

Before we got home, we stopped at Publix and finished grocery shopping. Tomorrow is free!

I must be having one of those weird nesting impulses, because, even after walking the dog I couldn't be still. James went downstairs to work on a model, and there I was, from eleven to one, trying to dig out the mess in the craft room. Boy, was I tired when I went to bed. I sorted a big pile of cross-stitch magazines and put them in the bins I bought at JoAnn (storage was half off), dug out the laminator I got from Amazon Vine and never used (turned out it was a lot smaller than the big box it was in; out went the box!), and rearranged the stuff next to the loveseat so I could reach my fanzines again, and get to my sewing items easy. I tossed out old calendars (ripping out a few pretty pages that got stuck to the closet door), put Christmas cards back on top of the cabinet where they belonged, put up the rest of the Command containers, cleaned off the paper cutter, put the Flairs up in one of the little organizer boxes I got from Ikea on discount (and played with them, of course), and finally got to the point where I could vacuum.

Yes, it was finally bedtime!

Labels: cleaning, crafts, food, shopping, weather

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 11:59:00 PM

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I ought to call this one "weekend without James," because he was not home for about half of it. This was no fault of our own, and we did the shopping at Publix after dinner Friday night, so the bulk of the shopping was done and what time we did have together was maximized.

On Saturday we woke up after getting a full eight hours sleep, and after breakfast and some dog romping, James went off to his monthly club meeting. (He brought last year's Hallmark jet ornament, which was 72nd scale—"his" scale—and which he'd decorated in appropriate decals. Apparently it was a hit with the guys and he wants to do the same with this year's F-16.)

I am hoping to get back into both my art and my calligraphy, and have been assembling new supplies piecemeal with coupons. I already had the Sharpies I'd bagged at a Really Good Sale at Office Max and a few coloring books to whet some creative movement, and then had bought a set of fifty Crayola colored pencils with a coupon last weekend. Today I went to Hobby Lobby intending to get some sepia pens, but the only package they had had been opened, so I settled instead for watercolor pencils and a clever brush with a water reservoir. I have never had patience with watercolors and end up making my paintbox cakes all muddy, but I love Susan Branch's work and hope the watercolor pencils will give some inspiration. They have a nice paintbox if I want it, but not as good as the British one Mother bought me so long ago with all the fascinating paint names—wonderful names like "chrome yellow," "red ochre," "vermilion," "crimson lake," "burnt sienna," etc.! Got a good eraser, and two tiny cross stitch kits as well.

Had a $10 off $30 coupon for Petsmart, perfect for a 33 percent off bargain, so I made my way across the street to the next shopping center. Got two bags of Tucker's food and some puree to reach the $30 limit, said hi to the budgies, including the wide-eyed babies with stripes lined down their forehead, and met the cutest Boston terrier puppy (brown and white rather than the usual black!) named Champ.

I thought there was a 40 percent off coupon to Michael's, and since I was almost closer to Hiram than to any other Michael's location, I just went there. Turned out it was a 20 off all including sale items, so I just got a pencil sharpener, but finally found buy-one-get-one free frames for the two Sherlock prints I bought last year at 221B Con. They are an odd size, 11x17. Came home by Barnes & Noble, but no clearance goodies left except small games, and stopped at Dragon 168 to pick up lunch.

Lunch was great, but I had to roll my eyes at myself. I'd forgotten 11x17 frames are actually 10 1/2 x 16 1/2. The prints are exactly 11x17, so the frames were too small. Luckily, James was wanting frames, too, for some prints he received at Christmas, so, after he arrived home from the meeting, we went back out to Hiram, exchanged my frames for the right size, and James got some of his own. I also picked up some cheap brush pens. Figure they won't last long but I can practice with them. Then we had supper at the IHOP and saw an absolutely spectacular sunset on the way home.

I started one of the little kits tonight while watching Britcoms. I'd bought it because it reminded me of someone, so I wanted to work on it to send to that person. Much later, when my stitching hand got sore, I wandered into my craft room, intending to finally put the prints in the frames.Arrgh! One of the frames was broken! It was not broken at Michael's, so all I can figure is that on the way home (my frames were sitting between us in the truck) one of us messed it up while buckling seatbelts. The frame had split at one corner and the plastic was cracked in two places. I fixed the frame up with superglue to use anyway; they're worth $16 each and I can't afford to replace it. I'll have to live with the cracks. (The second print I left to frame until Sunday. That frame was fine. Disappointing.)

James was working at home on Sunday, so he set up the computer before bed and it worked fine. But this morning, as I was getting up after a rather sleepless night with one of those nagging dreams, he came in the room disgusted—now he couldn't get it to connect to his work network, so he had to go in. The stupid dreams had made me very foggy. (I can't explain these stupid dreams because I never remember them well when I wake up, but this one involved two items with very similar serial numbers that did two different things. I kept getting them confused and doing them the wrong way.) Anyway, I wanted to get to Kroger early and was delayed by a trip to the bathroom, so I skipped breakfast altogether. Yeah, I know, that didn't make the foggy any better. Picked up the milk and some pork for dinner tomorrow night and the usual burritos and a newspaper and two Flonases for James since they were on sale plus I had a coupon, too. It was a beautiful, cool morning—I even had to put on a flannel shirt to walk Tucker—so I just stuffed everything in an insulated bag and went on.

By this time it was 10 a.m. and Office Depot was open, so I stopped there for a flash drive to back up photographs, checked out the Goodwill next door (mostly clothes and junk), then went across the street to Michael's. Today was 30 percent off everything, no sale items. I picked up the bright metallic pens I saw yesterday, a children's drawing pad (for scribbling) because they were half off, and some fluorescent pencils (also half price). I think I have my art kit topped off now! And, I confess, I stopped at Best Buy to check out the phones (the Droid Turbo 2 is very pretty) and the Surface Pro 4. The paint feature is fabulous. You pick a tool, a texture, and use the pen, and it is pressure sensitive. I was oil-painting a picture of a red panda.

Came home and re-watched the season finale of Big Bang Theory (like Penny, I am tickled with the idea of Leonard's father and Sheldon's mother hooking up) and finally watched the season finale of Sleepy Hollow. Bit of an anticlimax; Abbie got axed less than halfway through (the takedown of the Hidden One was pretty blah), then we got a "great beyond" sequence right out of the series finale of Quantum Leap, the Headless Horseman was resurrected just to kill off Pandora, and now Ichabod is being pursued by government types because George Washington set up a super-secret paranormal defense organization way back when. Hmmm. Well, I'll keep watching because Tom Mison is very, very cute. But I wonder which way they are going now. The show was really about the chemistry between Ichabod and Abbie.

Finished the cross stitch kit this afternoon, as well as a project for a gift and tidied up my craft room yet again—there are so many things in there I just have room for nowhere else, like a shape cutter for scrapbooking, and a gift someone sent me that I want to use, but we don't eat that kind of food anymore, and I wish I could put them anywhere else!—and got the new pens all corralled.

When James got home we had the leftover chicken stirfry for supper and watched the last three Hawaii Five-0 episodes of the season. The Steve and Danny bromance reached its peak when Steve got shot and Danny donated him part of his liver. I'm wondering of they ended up with this episode because they didn't know if the series would be renewed or not. At least Gabriel Waincroft is dead! Now I just have to catch up on Elementary.

Wonder if Alaska: the Last Frontier is coming back. Usually it has started up again by the time the network series are having their finales.

And finally the penultimate Call the Midwife of this season. I know the spoiler, so I am doubly sad the season is coming to an end.

Labels: art, cleaning, cross stitch, pets, shopping, television

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 10:30:00 PM

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Well, 221B Con weekend has finally arrived. I celebrated it first by sleeping late, although I hadn't intended to. I slept badly after going to bed hungry, woke up with a headache, and then the alarm on my phone went off so softly that I managed to not hear it.

James was working at home due to the rain, so I wandered about tidying up. Spent about a half hour shredding old bills, and actually found something I was looking for, but alas, not what I really wanted to find. I gave Tucker one long last walk, then left about 1:15. Had lunch at Tin Drum instead of Panera because when I was hungry last night all I was fantasizing about was a teriyaki bowl. I actually had the Peking Short Rib Noodles for lunch because I had some bread with me. If I thought the Akers Mill restaurant serving of this was spicy, it wasn't a patch on Perimeter's! I managed to get through it between the cold water and the bread. I got the teriyaki bowl to go and ate it for supper.

Next I stopped at the Container Store to pick up a few little things, and then went into Barnes & Noble mainly to use the bathroom, but to also to check out any new magazines. They had clearance items, but nothing all that appealing.

I was back at the hotel at 3:30 for registration. This went fairly quickly, so I checked out the charity auction items, scoped out the meeting rooms, said hi to John Campbell, Naaman Taylor, and Anthony Taylor (no relation), then rode up to the con suite to nosh on a few Goldfish. They had a table full of freebies. Took a rubber brain eraser, some Sherlock Holmes "paper dolls," and a book of commentary on A Study in Scarlet.

Went to five panels this evening: "Alternate Universe and Crossover" (in fanfiction of course). There are so many variations these days, like Fusion. And there's such a thing as Tunalock. A whole set of fanfiction where Sherlock is a fish. I looked at it and it's actually well-written. Just quirky.

The next panel was devoted to little Wishbone, due to the two Sherlock stories that had been done on the show. We chatted about different episodes and would we like to see the series back, and what stories could they do.

The next panel was supposed to talk about turning traditional Sherlock fans on to the newer aspects of fandom. I think we decided they didn't need it. More Sherlock Holmes fans are...more Sherlock Holmes fans. It turned out the newer fans wanted to know about the older rituals of the traditional fans!

The penultimate panel was a discussion of the Sherlock Christmas special "The Abominable Bride," which I really enjoyed, but now I'm going to have to watch it again because they pointed out more parallels and inside jokes I completely missed.

The last panel was "Fandom Generations" wherein the older fans on the panel (and those creaky old buggers like me in the audience) talked about the good ol' days...before the internet, before VCRs ("Remember recording shows on cassette tape?" I chirped, and they certainly did), back in the days of mimeo. There were some very funny recollections about MediaWest Con. Wish I'd gotten to go to more than one! :-)

Labels: cleaning, conventions, shopping

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 11:33:00 PM

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Spending most of the day at the doctor and getting labs and medicine yesterday, and not being able to get out of a test I don't want to take, was not conducive to getting a good night's rest. (At least I finally got my shingles shot, which now itches more than it did yesterday. Bleah.)  It didn't help that the Chinese food we ended up getting for dinner (because everything else was overcrowded by the time we got through massive traffic jams) didn't sit well, and both James and I kept waking up all night.

So we took our time eating breakfast, next I walked Tucker, and then we got some things out of the way. James had a stack of books he'd already read piled up under his bedroom window, blocking it, and I wanted to open it, too. So we boxed them up to take downstairs and also pulled out the new airplane bookends Mom and Candy had given him for Christmas. We put these on the top of the bookcase to hold some of his emergency survival books. Then I vacuumed it all out and put his fan in the window.

Most of the books went downstairs to be shelved, but about four of them ended up in the box we will take up to McKay's when it's full. Last time McKay's didn't give us anything for computer books, so we boxed those up along with the books McKay's didn't take last time to take to the library for donation to the book sale. We also put some of the holiday decoration boxes back into the closet, but I'm still hoping to strengthen the shelves before we put the remainder of the boxes up.

Finally, way after three, we headed out, under a canopy of mackerel clouds striping the blue sky, went past Publix to drop plastic bags off for recycling, then hit the library to drop two boxes of books off, and finally headed out to get something to eat. I wasn't hungry while I was cleaning and loading, but by the time we finished I sure was! We'd received a gift card that was good at a number of restaurants, so we went to Longhorn and had a late lunch/early supper, small Renegade steaks and an appetizer. After that we just headed home, since we'd finished the shopping on Friday night and there were no coupons we needed to deal with.

Been watching The Man from U.N.C.L.E. on the Decades channel all night. Presently they're showing the black-and-white first season episodes. One episode featured Barbara Feldon the year before she did Get Smart.

Labels: books, cleaning, food, nostalgia, television

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 11:40:00 PM

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How provoking! Today I can sleep until 8:30 and I can't with dreams nudging me awake. But James needed to go to Hair Day, his hair having finally grown out after that awful butchering haircut he got a few months back (I'm surprised the barber made it out of barber school). Off he went with the pastry tray we got last night. I didn't even eat breakfast; I grabbed a towel and leashed the dog and put his soap and his coat (because it was cloudy, damp, and blustery, although not really cold) in a plastic bag and went to Unleashed to use the dog wash.

As always he just sat there and looked pitiful while I washed him. The new soap, which has peppermint and tea tree oil in it, lathers nicely and smells good, and he did actually not smell as "wet doggy" as usual when I was through. I got two currycombs full of wet fur off him. Just as I was drying him off, a man and his daughter came in with a big brown dog who really, really did not want to get into the washtub. She sat there and just resisted until the little girl coaxed her in the tub. On the way out I got Tucker a dog cookie which he first tried to bury in the front seat; he did eat it a few minutes later.

Got home, had some breakfast, and commenced to cleaning. I really didn't have much left to do. I cleaned and disinfected all the toilets, the sinks and floors being already cleaned, and then pretty much vacuumed, moved the table back and the chairs where people could sit in them, put big pillows and other stuff that usually sits on the sofa or the coffee table in another room, cleaned off end tables, etc. James came back about noon, cleaned out the kitchen, helped me shift some other things around, and put up some books; I cleared the coats off the coat hooks so people could put their coats there, and then finally had enough time to take a quick shower and change. James started the wings and the egg rolls about four, and I took Tucker out just as the Spiveys and the Gibsons arrived at five.

We had a nice crowd and much fun. David and Ken and Alice had the playoff game on in the living room, and another group of us gathered in the dining room. The Boulers showed up and the Boroses, Maggi and Clay, and Bill and Caran. Later when Bill and Caran headed out to go to Anya's house, Ron and Lin showed up, so we had a full house until about nine o'clock. The usual discussions: politics, websites, books, film, The Force Awakens, recipes, old friends, old conventions. I was actually chatting online with an old school friend sporadically during the party and he's a bit nonplussed that we have parties without liquor and loud music. We just aren't that type of people. I don't particularly like liquor and can't drink it anyway because of my heart medication. Loud music is just that. It gives me headaches and you can't hear what others are saying over it. That's why I hate going to places like O'Charley's. It's not fun for me.

Anyway, it was a very nice evening, and after everyone left we got the trash all in the bin and the food put away; we could have used more egg rolls, but we have enough wings left over for a dinner. I'll do the vacuuming tomorrow and put the table and chairs back in their places, and we'll get the dirty dishes in the dishwasher. Even after having so much fun, it's good thing to sit down and just stare mindlessly at the television.

We should have a game night soon...

Labels: cleaning, dogs, food, friends

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 11:45:00 PM

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