random thoughts – Day 2,165 (Thursday) – polished

Cleaning underway.

Since attending the tai chi class last Thursday, I had every intention of returning this week. I was dressed and mentally ready for class when I realized I would need to leave early for a detour to get some cash from an ATM. I spent all the money in my wallet on dance trinkets Tuesday night when I bought two pairs of zills, a silk veil, and a pair of black dance pants from another dancer at class. (No regrets.)

Instead of leaving early, the Barkeeper’s Friend powder was fetched from under the sink in the guest bathroom. One zill was tested to see if the cleaning was as easy and effective as the YouTube video I watched for drum kit cymbal cleaning indicated. It was, and that is when I chose to skip the ATM and tai chi. Instead, I got busy cleaning four of my sets of zills, which were the two newly acquired sets and the two sets that usually live in my dance bag. There are still three or four more sets elsewhere, generally neglected because they are cheaper quality and don’t sound as nice.

The wetting and scrubbing and wiping and scrubbing and wiping went well and the zills look all shiny and new again. It was surprising how tarnished they all were, and satisfying when they were all cleaned up.

Shiny and fresh.

After the cleaning, a trip was made to Dollar Tree for small hair elastics to replace the old elastics. The hair elastics are hard to push through the slots in the tops of the zills, but it’s still easier than using flat elastic and sewing, gluing, or pinning them on the underside of the zills and running the risk of malfunction when in use.

I would have preferred black elastics, but the only colors available today were spring pastels in a pack of 30. No amount of my wishing and looking produced any black ones and I was not interested in dealing with the massive square footage of Wal-Mart to look for small black hair elastics in there. New pastel elastics were bought and installed in most of the sets with one color for the thumbs and a different color for the middle fingers in each set. For the rarely used emergency spare set I left the old elastics in.

Now it’s time to play.

random thoughts – Day 2,164 (Wednesday) – empanada a go-go

There were boxed pie crusts in the refrigerator that were racing up to their “best by” date finish lines. I have a vague recollection that I was going to make brown sugar and cinnamon pinwheels for Christmas Eve, and like several other ambitious ideas, it just never happened. They have taunted me from the bottom shelf of the fridge ever since. 

Empanada supper!

An Internet search for “recipes with refrigerated pie crusts” yielded a winner in empanadas. Vegetarian beef and sausage crumbles were cooked with onion, taco seasoning, and a can of refried beans and cheese was mixed in. The filling was dropped into pie crust cut in four-inch circles, folded, and crimped with a fork.

The two crusts yielded 14 empanadas. Half were packaged for the freezer for baking later. The rest were brushed with beaten egg and baked for 15 minutes. And it was so delicious. Definitely a winner.

The scraps were re-rolled, filled with apricot preserves, brushed with egg and sprinkled with sugar and baked. Extra delicious. Super easy. It might be time to add refrigerated pie crust  to the regular purchase rotation.

random thoughts – Day 2,163 (Tuesday) – memories and chicken

Today was less exciting (term used loosely) than on this date one year ago. One year ago today, it was the Monday President’s Day holiday, and my sister and I spent the day at an appointment with a surgeon.

The Thursday before, while shoveling the  water collecting on my front walk, I stepped back onto water-covered ice and landed on my arse and slammed my hand/wrist. I got dizzy, felt nauseated, and elbow crawled/dragged myself into the house like I was competing in some sort of warrior competition. Once I had gathered my wits, I messaged my boss that I would be logged off for the day and parked myself on the couch.

The wrist was uncomfortable, but it didn’t really hurt. I wrapped it in an Ace Bandage found in the bathroom cabinet and debated trying to get in to see my doctor or just going to urgent care. Either destination would have required me driving, which seemed ill-advised. I did the ice and elevation thing and took it easy.

The next morning when the wrist wasn’t miraculously regenerated and repaired like I had imagined it would be, I called the doctor and scored a same-day office visit followed by x-rays. A friend served as my chauffer. We went out for lunch while awaiting a call-back with the next medical instructions.

Dave's Hot Chicken - Top Loaded Fries.

For the entire weekend, I thought my wrist was badly bruised and dislocated, mostly because it was discolored, at an odd angle, and a little swollen, but it didn’t really hurt. My sister took me to the Monday appointment in Chelmsford, but first, we had lunch at Dave’s Hot Chicken. Her daughters make the trip from Fitchburg for the stuff so we decided to see what they were willing to travel so far for. It turns out the Top Loaded Fries are mighty good. 

I seriously thought the surgeon was going to take my hand, yank it, and I’d be on my way with a straightened and bruised wrist. Instead, I was told it needed surgery (scheduled for two days later), and I was sent to the building next door for “a splint” which turned out to be a heavy-ish cast to above my elbow and left me with my arm hanging out of my shirt. At home, I cut the sleeve off a thermal shirt for sleeping in.

Anyway. There was surgery and no driving for a bunch of weeks which meant I missed practices with both dance groups because I had no way to get to them, which hurt more than the wrist ever did. There were some movement issues and it got aggravated during the move over the summer. There was a silver-ish lining, though – when I had the very painful neck/shoulder issue all this past fall, I completely forgot about my wrist.

Tonight, at dance group, the wrist was doing rolls and floreos and all was good. In terms of mechanics, it felt like the whole being broken thing never happened. The still-red-but-fading scar over the location of the titanium plate is the only publicly visible evidence that something went down. I am aware that the left wrist is a bit larger than the right one now, which offends my appreciation for symmetry and my watch no longer fits and needs a link added back into the band, but I’m pretty sure I will get over that someday. 

And now that I've been thinking about that day of a year ago, I really, really want some Dave's Hot Chicken Top Loaded Fries.

random thoughts – Day 2,162 (Monday) – busy lazy

It was a holiday, and I knew it in the back of my mind but then forgot. Holidays hit differently when unemployed. When I had a job, every holiday was committed to memory before the year began. Now, every day is pretty much a holiday, so it isn’t much different when a real one rolls around.

Today, there was a sliver of holiday recognition when half the houses on the street didn’t have the barrels out for trash and recycling pickup, but then the truck showed up on the other side of the street like a regular Monday. I got real busy real fast to get my half full trash bin rolled to the edge of the driveway, a place it hadn’t visited for several weeks.

I consulted the weekly to-do list (which is identical to last week’s list which was untouched) and called the bank about a CD that had a renewal date over the weekend. The answering recording reminded me of the holiday.

Maybe a couple of these?

Much of the day was spent mentally exploring possible activities. Everything remotely interesting involved leaving the house and going to places that would likely involve spending money. I looked at the website for a consignment shop I like, but they didn’t have anything I really need or want and ruled out an in-person visit. I remembered Wuthering Heights opened this weekend, but got too lazy to check to see where it is playing. 

Did I read a book? Clean the house? Nope and mostly nope, but I did clean the litter box and empty the dishwasher. Did I eat the suddenly ripe avocados bought the other day or cook amazing foods? Nope, and the only cooking was microwaving pastrami for a half sandwich on marble rye (twice).

It wasn’t a total loss of a day. I played so much Duolingo chess, Words with Friends, and Woodoku that the phone had to be recharged twice. I skimmed job ads. I watched Search Party on Netflix and ate the remaining half of the large bucket movie popcorn from Saturday. The popcorn bowl and bucket were washed by hand and put away. The spreadsheet for the month’s bills was updated. 

Maybe this?

It may be wintery cold outside, but thoughts turned to spring and summer when I looked online at raised planter boxes with a trellis to line the driveway along the carport. In my imagination, climbing or hanging plants and the trellises would add color, shade, and privacy and maybe even some herbs and vegetables, although my recent track record as a vegetable and herb grower is not very good.

All told, it was a physically lazy, mentally active, overall relaxing day. Five stars. Highly recommend.

random thoughts – Day 2,161 (Sunday) – dreams and such

This morning’s dream before waking up involved driving, which is not exactly one of my favorite activities. I drive because I want to be transported from my current location to a different location, and the futuristic transport devices of my youth that included personal jet packs, crossing one’s arms and blinking with a head bob and nose crinkle, or stepping into a magical tube all turned out to be total unsubstantiated bull crap and fantasy.

Anyway. In the dream, I was driving, third in a line of cars, on my way to some sort of job. There was a road detour marked, and I followed the two cars ahead of me down a narrow street lined with tall brick buildings. There was construction equipment in what turned out to be a dead-end street and huge dunes of sand that started to seep into my car under the doors and up through the floor and piled up under the gas pedal and over my feet.

Shadowy dudes in trench coats and fedoras stood in shadows lending the air of 1940s film noir while utility workers in hard hats and soldiers in fatigues scurried about. The overall scene was dark and foreboding, but I chose to not be worried because the Jeep has four-wheel-drive settings for “automatic, snow, sand, and mud” and I thought I could power through the rising sand.

Soon, there was no way to move forward due to all the heavy equipment and the excessive sand, no side street or alley through which to exit, and no way to back up the way I had come in. The car was surrounded by sand, equipment, and activity. I got out of the vehicle and started walking through shops that had doorways to side streets on the other side, looking for help in buildings with staircases and a labyrinth of hallways.

I gave up seeking help and headed back to the Jeep which I couldn’t find in the sand dunes covering the street. There were many vehicles abandoned in the sandy street, but mine was no longer among them. Panic took over as I trudged through the shifting sands, worried about how I was going to get to the mysterious, undefined job I seemed to have and also how I would explain my tardiness in a manner that wouldn’t make me seem insane.

As the morning light crept into the room around the edges of the honeycomb blinds, I woke up, thinking “what in the heck was that about?” Potentially so much to unpack.

Nerd alert – of course, I conducted a quick search of the elements in the dream. The Internet and AI summaries spit out the following:

“Dreams about driving generally symbolize the direction of your life, personal control, and your journey toward goals. Being in the driver's seat suggests independence and self-direction, while an uncontrollable vehicle or failed brakes often reflect anxieties, feeling overwhelmed, or losing control in waking life.”

“Sand dunes in dreams generally symbolize major life changes, emotional transitions, and the passage of time, often reflecting a need for adaptability and patience. They represent a shifting landscape where the past is continuously reformed, suggesting that the dreamer is in a period of flux.”  

“Men in trench coats and fedoras, often called the "Hat Man," are common, menacing figures in nightmares and sleep paralysis, are often interpreted as symbols of fear, deep-rooted anxiety, or, in some cases, paranormal omens of death.”

“Dreaming of soldiers generally symbolizes confrontation, discipline, inner conflict, and the need for protection or structure in your life. These dreams often arise when you are experiencing stress, facing major life changes, or dealing with repressed anger.”

“Construction equipment in dreams often symbolizes major life transitions, the building of new foundations, or personal development. These dreams typically represent a, "work in progress" scenario regarding your mindset, career, or personal journey. Seeing construction workers suggests active, ongoing repairs in your life.”

Well, well, well, and holy hell's bells. That all actually makes a lot of sense. The analysis seems less foreboding in the light of day than it all felt while dreaming it. Also, I love the Internet.

random thoughts – Day 2,160 (Saturday) – galentine and a movie

It was quiet on the Valentine front, but the Galentine front more than made up for it. A month or so ago, my cousin had sent forth an invitation for a Galentine gathering. Today, four of us met up to see a special 40^th anniversary screening of Pretty in Pink.

O’Neil Cinemas (Littleton, MA) was the closest theater showing it. I wasn’t familiar with the theater or the really nice retail and dining plaza it’s in, but now I’m glad I do know about it. The concessions include a food menu, bar drinks, and of course, the usual movie snacks, soda, and bags and buckets of popcorn. The theaters have wide reclining seats with trays to accommodate the foods and beverages.

Restocked movie popcorn and Galentine treats.

My cousin had solicited advance candy orders for contraband boxes of candy. At the theater, she presented each of us with a Valentine bag with treats including our individual candy choice, pink heart glasses, and a personalized pink leather book mark. She really thinks of everything. 

The theater was reasonably full with a couple groups of four to six people and many couples. The movie about love and belonging has stood the test of time, and even though I’ve seen it several times including at home on streaming, it was fun to see it again on the really big screen. And the soundtrack is still great. According to the movie factoids before the show, it's ranked as the 14th best movie soundtrack (Rolling Stone The 101 Greatest Soundtracks of All Time, September 24, 2024).

On the way out, we had our large popcorn buckets topped off under the free refill provision of the $9.90 purchase. Now, my largest Tupperware container is full of movie popcorn. Galentine’s Day with my cousin and her friends was definitely a win. 

random thoughts – Day 2,159 (Friday) – snow tracks and ice cream

Blah Blah, quiet day. Blue sky and sunshine. Temperature above 30 degrees. 

Several times during the morning, the neighborhood black cat passed the house as it patrolled the 'hood. Once, it was in the front yard, pacing the cleared path to the door and emitting a combination meow-yowl. It paused in the driveway and I opened the back door. For what reason, I wasn't sure, but the cat saw me and ran back to the street. Meanwhile, Kiki was lounging on the bed, seemingly unaware of the cat outside. 

I stayed in most of the pretty day, but two things lured me outside.

Tracks out back.

First, I looked out back and saw animal tracks out behind the oil tank. The poor critters came around the corner, were faced with a two foot snowbank, and turned back. This intrigued me enough to go outside, down the driveway, along the street, and up the snow blower cleared path to the oil tank, adding to the tracks with my big human feet.

Second, I wanted ice cream. Market Basket has the best combination of selection and price, but the closest stores are 20 to 25 minutes away. The current grocery store flyers had been tossed into the recycle bin this morning, so an online search was done to check ice cream prices. Aldi won for lowest price and advertising maple walnut.

The Aldi excursion led to the acquisition of the really good light rye marble bread I couldn’t find the last time there, a package of five frozen lobster cakes, and the intended maple walnut ice cream. I was tempted by the cheesecake assortment but successfully resisted. The cover charge for the visit was under $12, a personal best and improvement over the other day when I spent $37 when I went in for one thing.

I almost drove over to Hannaford for pastrami after getting the marble rye so I could recreate the amazing hot pastrami sandwiches of a couple weeks ago, but the car magically autopiloted out of the Aldi lot and took me home. I put away the frozen items and then I didn’t want to go out again.