random thoughts – Day 1,740 – (Saturday) – driving, shopping, styling

Bunny tracks and bigfoot.

Last Saturday’s car service resulted in bumping my hair salon appointment to this afternoon. It was booked for late enough in the day that I didn’t have to bolt out of bed and immediately hit the road. I ventured out through the light coating of Friday’s snow dotted with bunny tracks that crisscrossed my own big prints from when I arrived home from work. The plan was to visit the magical plaza on Lincoln Street in Worcester with my shopping trifecta – Aldi, Kohl’s, and Savers. 

I didn’t get far before I realized that for whatever mysterious and still undetermined reason, Waze was not providing voice directions. At a red light the speaker volume was checked and it was on maximum volume, but no voice came out. I don’t always rely on the app for the navigation, but more for the traffic, accident, and police alerts.

On Rte 495, there was a lot of radio station hopping. With the exception of Christmas Wrapping by the Waitresses, any time a Christmas song came on, I changed the station. In addition to rejecting an entire genre of music that slipped into every station on the airwaves, I was tied up in my head. There was a lot of thinking (and talking aloud to myself) about work and Christmas and life and 10,000 other things.

Between the strangely mute navigation app and the freakishly loud monkey brain, I missed the exit to Rte. 290 and Worcester. For a nanosecond I noticed the road seemed wide and spacious and thought, “Dang, 290 has changed a lot since my last time through here.” When I saw a sign for Hopkinton, it registered that I wasn't on 290, I was still on 495 and in the wrong lane to take the next exit to backtrack. 

When I was finally able to correct, I was 15 miles off course.  What in the actual hell? Apparently I do need navigational guidance. The little extra excursion added a half-hour to the journey, which cut into the shopping plaza time planned for before the salon.

At Aldi, the store was reasonably full with far too many shoppers wandering in a stupor. 'Tis the season. One woman at the egg cooler was complaining out loud to nobody in particular about the cost. I waited for her to move so I could get near enough to see the price. She finally moved and caught my eye and said, “Oh well, what are we supposed to do?” as she put her eggs into her cart. I almost blurted, “Well, you could always not buy any,” but chose to not engage. She probably didn’t want an answer anyway. And there is nothing I can do about the avian flu outbreak that is wiping out the egg layers. Fewer layers means fewer eggs means higher cost. Basic supply and demand. And bitching about it at the Aldi egg cooler won’t change it.

Fresh hair.

I went to Aldi for butter, because earlier in the week I read somewhere it was $2.99. That information was not correct and butter was the usual price of $3.49. I bought some anyway, because dammit, that is why I was there. And a pineapple, because those were only $1.69 and since the trip to Mexico in October, I’ve been wanting fresh pineapple with Tajin seasoning like we had on an excursion, but never bothered to buy one. 

Somehow, despite not really needing anything, $49 worth of stuff found its way into my cart. While in the 20-minute checkout line, I had time to be eyeballing other people’s groceries and saw several things I should have gotten for Christmas Eve dinner. Oops. 

The salon was great. It always is. My stylist gives an amazing scalp massage with the shampoo and since high school, I’ve found having my hair blow dried to be relaxing. The ends are now trimmed and tided and the blowout looks too good to just sit home alone in front of the TV, but that is exactly where my pretty, professionally styled hair went. At least I didn’t get lost going home.

random thoughts – Day 1,739 – (Friday) – relaxing

The morning was normal. The alarm went off. Air was blowing from the vent in the bedroom and the house was the correct temperature. Fridays are casual days so it was quick dressing in jeans and a chunky turtleneck.

The traffic was an extra special gift. There was none. The ride to the garage was annoyance free and smooth sailing. It was a pre-Christmas miracle. In the lobby of the building, the idyllic morning started to face a wrinkle and weirdness kicked in when my access card didn’t work. I couldn’t access the elevator to go upstairs or access the stairwell. Panic flashed through me and I wondered for a second if maybe I didn't work there anymore and someone forgot to tell me. 

Luckily, my colleagues who sit in the suite off the lobby were in and helped me get upstairs to my own department. A service ticket was entered for the nonfunctional access card. Security informed me it was still showing as active and might just be worn out. It’s several years old, so that would track. I got a new card and can once again move freely about the workplace. Whew!

Snowy roof on Shattuck Street.

I hadn’t read the weather forecast this morning, and bounced out of the house with my hood removed from my coat, leather gloves that aren’t warm, and boots with a higher heel than I would wear for snow. At 2:00, when I remembered I wanted to go to the downtown jeweler for batteries for two watches and saw it was snowing, I was caught a little off guard. I didn’t go to the jeweler.

It was still snowing at 5:00. The roofs and cobblestones on Shattuck Street were coated, but heavily traveled Merrimack Street was wet and shiny. The walk to the garage featured benches, wreaths, and streetlamps dusted in snow. It was pretty. The first snow is always pretty.

Front yard bunny!

At home, a bunny sat in the snow in the front yard, startled and on high alert as I parked the car. He froze and I tried to get some decent photos, but bunny was small and probably 15 feet away across the yard and it was nighttime dark, so the images weren’t that clear. When I moved to enter the house, bunny bolted out of the yard to the neighbors. 

It took less than five minutes for me to shed the coat and hat, greet Kiki, and march upstairs to change into the official staying in on the couch fleece pants. They are aqua with little penguins wearing scarves all over them and are super soft and cozy and the perfect relax at home and unwind after a stressful and expensive week. 

If I could just convince Kiki to join me on the couch, it would be the perfect picture of domestic bliss. Someday.

random thoughts – Day 1,738 – (Thursday) – heat is good

The furnace has been an adventure. The cost was large enough ($8,000+) that I chose the zero-percent, 25-month financing option. The “discount” for paying in full was a pittance at 5% and would mean decimating the emergency fund or taking on 17.99% credit card debt. While this is hardly the time to be taking on new debt, the idea of raiding the emergency fund with potential unemployment looming seemed worse. For once, I was glad The BungaLowell isn’t larger with a bigger system requirement.

The financing had some unexpected challenges. When the application was submitted on Wednesday, I forgot my credit reports are frozen. That led to the application being on hold and a multiple step process for me that included multiple harried phone calls to the finance group before I merrily skipped off to the office for the afternoon, thinking everything was all set.

At 7:20 this morning, instead of seeing a text saying that the crew would arrive at X-o’clock, there was a text from 7:00 with the news the financing application didn’t process yesterday. The finance company wasn’t open for the day yet (their recording told me so). The sales guy sent a website link to resubmit the application that led to a screen saying “Access Denied.” After a couple attempts and several texts, we eventually learned the finance company’s website was down. My stress level was shooting upwards with a trajectory that felt like it would result in my head exploding. My worry was that the installation wouldn’t happen today as planned.

Luckily, after about an hour of coffee and stress, things were sorted out and the crew was on the way.

The new furnace.

I showed then team the basement and the bulkhead access that was a straight line to the furnace location and went upstairs to get to my own work done. From 9:00 until about 3:15, the basement was abuzz with activity. There was periodic banging and clanging, but it wasn’t too terrible. For a while, an electrician joined the festivity. 

The crew was polite and seemed organized. They were meticulous with cleanup. The new heating appliance that rules the basement is fresh and shiny. It has clearly labeled black and white PVC pipes. Warmed air is flowing from the floor vents and the temperature is back to the programmed settings. 

As rough as the jabs to the head, heart, and wallet have been in the past 10 days, there have been some bright spots. Sure, the furnace died this week, but it had the decency to not do so on a weekend or holiday and before the temperatures drop to the 20s this weekend. It cost a mini-fortune to replace, but there was financing available. Yes, it was a sudden expiration with no apparent early symptoms, but the replacement was also very quick. Which is all to say, it could have been worse. And now there is heat, and it is good.

random thoughts – Day 1,737 – (Wednesday) – effity-eff

This week has delivered another exciting installment of “What in the Actual Effi-ty-Eff?” Apparently, major employment uncertainty isn’t enough. Note: several of my friends and colleagues are also going through some extra effity-eff stuff. Tis the season for f*ckery? C'mon Universe, could we catch a break, please?

Anyway.

Slipping out of bed this morning, the room felt chilly. This has happened before, but rarely and due to power outages. The house was quiet. The lights worked, so power loss was not a factor. Downstairs, the thermostat read 58 degrees, providing confirmation that the house was, indeed, chillier than the usual morning automated setting of 68.

After dressing, an amateur investigation began. The gas stove worked and there was hot water, so a gas service problem was ruled out. The basement dwelling metal box furnace has no indicator lights or signals or dials to provide any clues. 

Periodic postcard mailers arrive from various home service firms and are set in a folder called “Home Repairs.” One from the heating and cooling company that installed my hot water tank a few years ago was retrieved.

At 7:00, a call to the heating and cooling company involved a question and answer session with an automated voice that used my name waaaay too much. Like every sentence. I don’t like my name. I especially don’t like hearing it in every sentence in a single call. 

At 8:00, I called the company again hoping to reach a human to determine if I could expect a tech visit today or if I should head to the office as planned and worry about it from afar all day. The news was good. A tech would arrive within the hour. The day's dental appointment, made months ago, was rescheduled to the nearest available slot. In March.

The technician arrived, listened to the day’s symptoms and the normal process, and started exploring the innards of the metal box. I returned to my own work. Before long, there was an update. Some motor- part wasn’t doing its motoring thing. A condensation line has dripped water into the furnace. There is rust. There is collected water. There is “biological matter” in the unit.

The service tech returned to the basement and got busy on his phone. He called at least five parts suppliers looking for the parts needed to repair the 20-year old unit. No parts could be found. By the time he asked me to come downstairs again, I had a pretty good feel for the direction things were headed. The parts to repair the furnace seem to be extinct. The next step was a visit from a “comfort specialist” for an estimate on a new furnace.

The service tech left. The comfort specialist arrived shortly thereafter. He checked out the system and took video with his phone. I headed upstairs to a Zoom meeting while he did his thing. After a while, he came upstairs with two estimates – one for just a furnace (8,000 effing dollars), and one for replacing both the heating and cooling components for more than twice that. Gulp. The immediate heating problem is being addressed and I'm hoping the A/C holds out for a while longer. Or I remember to buy a ticket and win the lottery.

Tomorrow morning, a new furnace is scheduled to arrive “first thing.” In the meantime, the comfort specialist left two portable heaters to provide temporary relief.

High noon from the garage roof.

By 11:45, I was leaving for the office-office for the rest of the day. The original plan had been to work in the morning in the office and go to the dentist for a cracked filling replacement in the afternoon, but the plan was modified due to the furnace situation. Arriving at the garage at midday, I ended up parking on the roof. One elevator is out of service and the other is as slow as cold molasses, but at least the views from up there are interesting.

The funny part, if there is one, is that the office, which is often chilly and inexplicably stuck on the cool setting, was running on the heat setting today and it was warm. High 70s warm. I was mostly okay with it after being cold all morning, but the rest of the team seemed to be wilting from it.

Supper and a heater.

After work, the house was still holding steady at 58 degrees. Supper of a leftover assemblage of boxed stuffing and leftover scrambled meat was nuked and eaten in the living room. The evening's unusual dining companion was a portable heater. There was no conversation, just some crazy clicking and ticking noises that eventually subsided. 

Random fact -- a year ago today, The BungaLowell had a power failure that lasted all afternoon and into the night. The stockpile of candles and flashlights was called into service. Holiday chocolate melting was done with a double boiler on the gas stove flame and surrounded by the glow of pillar candles and an LED lantern. It felt like an adventure, mostly because I was sure it would be temporary.

Tonight, I sit in the living room near a portable heater, a blanket and laptop in my lap as I type words. Netflix is playing Married at First Sight, mostly for the background noise and because it doesn't require my attention or any additional money. Fun times.

random thoughts – Day 1,736 – (Tuesday) – holiday high gear

All the way up until late this afternoon, I was thinking I didn’t have it in me to bake this year. Usually, I make a couple trays of saltine bark and several different cookie recipes and maybe some chocolate dipped pretzels, but this year, I’ve been feeling all sorts of shades of blah. Just think of a muddy mess of the crappiest colors in a 1970s polyester plaid and that's the general feeling. The massive work shakeup thing of last week eviscerated any nuggets of holiday ambition that may have been trying to fight their way up from beneath the baseline of blech.

At 4:00, while running through schedules between today and Christmas I realized with a sense of dread that Christmas is in one short week. Then I realized that this Wednesday, also known as tomorrow, is the last day that everyone will be in the office until after Christmas. And I was hit with suddenly wanting to dive in and make some holiday sweets like I have done every other year. 

Normally, the holiday baking process spans a couple weeks with recipe review and selection, ingredient procurement, and then several nights of loading things into the oven, pulling them out a few minutes later, rotating cookie sheets, and dipping other things in melted chocolate. Not this year. The timeline had contracted dramatically, and as a result, there would be no time for multiple oven bake cycles and cooling things on racks on the limited counter space.

Haystacks chilling on
a bed of ice packs.

There was a quick inventory of the baking supplies cabinet and the list of treats was drafted based on what was on hand. At 5:00, there was a jaunt to Market Basket for a few items needed. By 5:45, I was in the kitchen melting and stirring and mixing and scraping and production was in high gear. Three and a half hours later, production was done for the night. Semi-sweet chocolate coins with sprinkles. Butterscotch chow mein noodle haystacks. Saltine bark with almond slivers (aka Christmas Crack). A chocolate version of the haystacks with potato sticks. White chocolate coins with crushed peppermint.

Thanks to a gift that arrived earlier in the day, there was an accidental discovery of a good idea. A box from Omaha Steaks required the total reorganization of the freezer and eviction of four ice packs which sat on the counter for lack of a better pace. They became an excellent cooling device for the trays of sweets that needed to chill and set. 

Caramel and crackers in the oven.

Later, when the saltine bark base came out of the oven and was topped with chocolate and almonds, there was another idea. After a decade of making the stuff, it finally dawned on me to use the pizza cutter to cut the stuff. It’s smaller than the knives and worked better in the cookie sheet. Between the ice bed and the pizza cutter, I was feeling like a genius.

The genius feeling faded quickly. While cleaning the pans, I noticed my favorite cookie sheet bore the imprint of the cut lines from the pizza cutter. Then, I found the dried apricots I had just bought with the intention of dipping them in chocolate. Everything was already put away, but it wouldn’t take long to re-engage and crank them out. The kicker was that all the stuff for the office was already packaged in containers and locked in the car to solve the joint problems of it not fitting in the refrigerator and fear of forgetting them at home in the morning. 

The whole time I was busting butt in the kitchen, Kiki was meowing at me from the dining room. Approximately every 20 minutes, she would make a cameo appearance in the kitchen to meow at me face to face and louder. Perhaps she was troubled I was not in my usual spot in the living room and felt the need to point it out. Once I was seated on the couch, she was signaling she wanted head pats. She's adorable.

random thoughts – Day 1,735 – (Monday) – meow

As Mondays go, today wasn’t too bad, but that is a relative concept. Last Monday’s shocking, terrible, painful news about the bank being sold and the accompanying likely probability of not having a job for too much longer marked a new low, so most Mondays will probably now be better in comparison. At least until the next round of news.

Meow.

Kiki is being extra special cute lately. I usually eat supper in the living room in front of the TV, and she will stare at me from her chair, slink down from her perch, and walk away as if I disgust her. It’s a dramatic change from the dogs, who would sit at my feet blatantly begging. 

She is more meowy recently, walking around and randomly exhibiting her vocal range and variety of sounds. She will sashay in from the dining room, loop around the footstool, meowing all the way, and sit nearby to look at me and meow some more.

Keeks will run up the stairs with a thundering racket that is disproportionate for her dainty weight of eight pounds, pause halfway, and meow. She will meow again when she reaches the top of the stairs. There is meowing from the dining room when I’m in the living room. I meow back to her, and then wonder what oral contracts I just engaged in.

At 10:00, if I haven’t begun brushing my teeth in preparation for bed, I really catch hell. Kiki will stand in the living room, eyes fixed on me, and meow loudly. It seems she is letting me know that her evening snack is unacceptably tardy and that I’m clearly in violation of the terms of some agreement I previously meowed myself into.  

random thoughts – Day 1,734 – (Sunday) – pupu for two

With my eldest niece in town for the holidays, I hoped to spend some dedicated time with her, and today was the day. We made a plan for lunch, and over the course of a couple days tossed around some potential locations that are open on Sunday. Marcello, a new Italian-Greek restaurant in Fitchburg was a strong contender. Arisu, the Korean place I love is only open certain Sundays of the month and therefore out. Burgers and chain restaurants are available everywhere and were ruled out.

There was one question that helped us really zero in on a spot. I asked Niece what she can have here that she can’t get in Vegas. In addition to the fresh seafood we had at a family lunch last weekend, and decent takeout steak and cheese subs, one of the illuminating answers was Chinese food that isn’t from Panda Express. When I mentioned that Singapore Restaurant in Fitchburg has reopened, we knew where we wanted to go.

Pupu platter, lo mein, crab rangoon.

We arrived around noon, and once inside, started taking inventory of what felt the same with the new ownership and what seemed different. The vestibule felt familiar but different. The lounge looked similar with the heavy decorative columns at the bar, but with a fresh, new yellow vinyl tufted high back banquette running along a wall. The main dining room still has the carved wood ornamentation and felt familiar but slightly fresher. 

We ordered a pupu platter for two, pork lo mein, and crab rangoons, because crab rangoons weren’t mentioned on the list of items in the pupu platter description. When the platter arrived, instead of the old Singapore sectioned serving dish with a sterno flame in the middle, it was delivered on a boring, institutional metal tray. There were several crab rangoons included along with the shrimp, chicken fingers, chicken wings, boneless spare ribs, and teriyaki skewers. We sat there with a table full of memories and it tasted just like home. Between the platter and the side order, we had plenty of crab rangoons. Boxes of leftovers came away with us.

Low budget repair.

Before leaving Singapore, I visited the rest room, which felt very different. The walls were covered in gleaming tile. The first stall I tried to enter had a door that slammed into the wall. I headed for the larger accessible stall. That one had a latch that was attached with duct tape. It was definitely a low-budget, DIY solution. 

After lunch, we went to Ocean State Job Lot because I thought I had seen pajamas with microfleece bottoms and tee shirt knit tops advertised recently. If there had been any once, there were none left today, but the amazing abundance of socks offered up cashmere blend and merino blend which I love. I ended up with socks, nail polish, and the only box of Celestial Seasonings Raspberry Zinger tea we found in the aisle of teas. Neice found some Steve Madden sunglasses. For an unplanned side quest, we did pretty well. 

It was a great afternoon all around. We had conversation and dining in a room full of memories and flavors, followed by shopping with no stress and no particular objective. It was perfect.