random thoughts – Day 1,871 – (Thursday) –kitties and tassels

Kitties in the window
with reflections 5-1-25.

We had a guest scheduled to be in the office today, so it became an onsite day for me. On the way into the office, I got to check out the Lazy Cat Lounge windows and saw the white kitty and the black and white kitty together in one window. So cute. Still so hard to photograph the black kitty with all the window glare and reflections.

We were hosting a high school student who is a co-op in another department and who wanted to learn about marketing. Four of us were onsite for the occasion, each with scheduled time with the student.

In preparation, I spent time gathering samples of types of projects I work on because I find it easier to show the finished product and talk about the strategy and work behind it. I had a gajillion PDF tabs on the screen with sponsorship ads, business banking ads, bi-lingual ads, billboards, and other stuff. Then I accidentally hit the X in the corner instead of the minimize screen button and blew it all away. Then I got to reconstruct it all. After 45 minutes at my desk, he met with the others, and then after that it was just a mostly regular day.

At lunchtime, there was a walk to the Dollar Central store where I browsed the aisles and chuckled. There is an entire wall of products that includes sewing scissors, elastic, needles, pins, and other various tools and notions for sewing recognizable and not, and every single package bore the same product name of “Sewing Kit.” And none of them was actually a sewing kit, which is usually a set of thread, needles, a needle threader, and maybe a couple buttons. I wanted to take a picture of the wall of not sewing kits, but the guy working there was following me around like he thought I was going to rob the place. 

Curtain ties now,
belt tassels later?

My mission was tassels and trim for a tribal style dance belt, and as hoped, they had some curtain tie backs with tassels and corded balls which I bought instead of playing the ridiculous game of “I’ll come back” and then not and getting all stressed out because I forget. Theoretically, the curtain tie backs will magically be transformed into a dance accessory. Or not. We’ll see. 

I still have hope I'll find the tassel belt I already own, in which case, the new tassels and parts will become another layer for it. This stuff was all so much easier when there were fabric stores, and I totally missed the boat with the JoAnn fabric store closing sale. Timing is not always my strong suit. 

random thoughts – Day 1,870 – (Wednesday) –pretty and fluffy

Backyard lilacs.

Spring is popping everywhere. The sun was out today, and the temperature was in the 60s (give or take, I didn’t go outside to verify). 

The lilac in the back yard has some flowers, but not very many, which may or may not be due to the big trim I gave it last year. Last year I cut big bunches of lilac to put in vases, but this year may not be as plentiful. Time will tell in a few weeks.  

The bleeding hearts that were transplanted last year are loaded with little heart flowers. Daffodils waved in the breeze Tuesday outside dance class.

The lily of the valley has spread and sent up an abundance of green shoots. They will eventually take over the back yard, which is okay with me and was an unofficial plan. For the past few years, I “expanded” the flower bed by moving the edging out further.

This morning, while parking downtown, I took a moment to look beyond the concrete wall at the world outside. I noticed that solar panels have sprung up on the roof of one of the converted mill buildings across the street, which isn’t exactly a sign of spring, just something I noticed this morning and didn’t remember seeing before.

Fluffy kitty in a window.

Over on Merrimack Street, I saw kitties lounging in the windows of Lazy Cat Lounge. Finally! A fluffy white beauty posed for me, then a couple windows away, a black one was curled up napping. 

The Lazy Cat Lounge opened months ago and I still haven’t been inside. It’s not open when I pass in the morning, I’m failing miserably at the afternoon take a walk thing, and at 5:00 it’s the last thing on my mind.

At home, my own kitty was seeking face rubs and pats. Her coat is smooth and silky and she let me touch it. Today had a pleasing amount of soft, pretty, fluffy things. Five stars. Highly recommend.

random thoughts – Day 1,869 – (Tuesday) – surprises

It’s another week where the workday routine is out the window. Monday had the visit to the surgeon’s office to shake things up. Today, there was a resume review session with MassHire in the HR suite, which led me to be downtown for the morning. The first challenge was getting out of the neighborhood after I discovered that the short street that lets me leave my neighborhood in an efficient route to work, was closed. A large, orange “Road Closed” sign informed me as I prepared to turn onto the street.

Instead, it was the longer route to work, which planted me in a lengthy line of traffic. There was another surprise at the parking garage, where only one entrance was open, with an orange traffic cone blocking access to the other one. Traffic was blocked up with people from two directions waiting to enter the garage through the one entrance lane blocking the two lanes of people trying to exit the garage.

The Idea Lounge.

The resume review that brought me downtown was in the HR suite. The schedule was running a few minutes late, and I had arrived a few minutes early, so I had a chance to sit quietly in the Idea Lounge in the HR suite overlooking Palmer Street. It’s decorated with 26 square paintings depicting the letters of the alphabet. 

The lounge is the same space where, nine years and a few weeks ago, I had my interview for my current job. This morning, I was receiving help with merger-induced outplacement. It’s funny how things work. As Mummu used to say, “not funny ha ha, funny peculiar.”

The result of the resume review was another surprise. The recommendation is that I should completely revise mine from a chronological format to skills based (aka “functional”). Like, right away, because the onsite job fair with reps from 25 companies in attendance is next week. Oy.

Wednesday will be a regular state of things with being downtown, but Thursday will be topsy turvy all over again with another day in office for a visit from a co-op student from another department. The co-op is studying marketing and will be shadowing our team for part of the day. These visits are better on person.

It’s only Tuesday, I’m already tired, and I’m looking forward to sleeping late on Saturday. It’s nice to have something to look forward to.

random thoughts – Day 1,868 – (Monday) – plate and bump and x-ray vision

There was a doctor’s appointment this afternoon, scheduled last Friday after I finally remembered to call. For a couple weeks, the surgery scar had been doing crazy stuff. It looks like it's glowing red and weird, and sometimes is sensitive and needs to be covered with a bandaid when wearing long sleeves to keep the fabric from rubbing on it. The real kick was when there was pain in three fingers and down the top of my hand and forearm when grasping and pulling leaves from the flower beds. Every time. While leaves won’t need to be pulled forever, the action of grasping and pulling may be required on an ongoing basis.

X-ray visions.

There were more x-rays, which seem to be the warm up act at every appointment. The assistant, followed by the doctor, were not especially concerned about the scar and the pain, but I did learn new nuggets of info concerning my wrist. The first was that the plate may need to be removed eventually because my wrists are all small-boned and dainty and the plate “sits proud” as the assistant said. Basically, it’s not flush with the bone and makes a bump in my wrist, and a tendon rubs and clicks over it, but only when I move my hand, so no real worries, right? 

I figured the plate is what caused the bump, but this was the first mention of removing said plate after the bone is fully healed, and if my scar hadn’t started randomly glowing and feeling all Harry Potter weird and my fingers hadn't screamed at me when I pulled some dead leaves, I might not have known this any time soon.

The second nugget was that there is a small bone chip near my outer wrist bone. What, what? The assistant pointed it out on the x-ray, then said it’s too small to be dealt with, but it can rub on the soft bits in the wrist, which explains the ongoing tenderness and swelling in that area.

The instructions before I left the doctor’s office were “take Motrin” and “come back in three weeks.” Um, okay. See you then, I guess. And until then, I’ll be hyper-fixated on the wrist, the plate that sits proud, the bump, the bone chip, and the tendon. Things I was blissfully unaware of until this afternoon.

random thoughts – Day 1,867 – (Sunday) – show day

Moody clouds, 4-27-25.

Whatever bodily system provokes sleep seemed to be on strike on the Saturday overnight shift. I went upstairs around 10:30, hoping for a good night’s sleep in preparation for performance day. At midnight, still awake, I mentally ran through our dances for the show but it stressed me out. There was tossing and turning and a whole lot of “what the effity-eff?”

At 1:30, there was still no sleep. Same for 2:30, then 3:00, before I finally fell asleep until 6:45. The alarm would be going off at 7:00, so I dragged myself out of bed to a cloudy sky morning.

Show day preparations began while the coffee brewed. The forecast was for breezy, chilly weather which meant dressing in layers, starting with black capri-length leggings and a nude mesh long sleeve shirt. A black version of the mesh top went over the nude, then an elbow length cotton and spandex dance top. These were topped with a black, long-sleeve wraparound dance top. The fifth layer, the chiffon and paillette costume top would be added at the festival venue. Sweat pants went atop the leggings for the drive and would be replaced with the purple and black 25-yard costume skirt.

Bundled up before show time.

Hair was put in a half-updo messy bun to minimize the amount of hair available to blow in my face. Fabric flower hair clips were added. Makeup was applied. 

At departure time, large rain drops splatted onto the windshield. It rained during the entire ride from Lowell to Townsend. It wasn’t heavy, just annoying, and slightly depressing. The sky was brighter closer to Townsend.

Hamming it up after the show.
Photo by Kevin Harkins.

We gathered and did final primping in the parking lot before crossing the street to the festival, bundled in capes, shawls, puffy jackets, and winter coats. Shortly before our scheduled time, the sun came out. We danced, and it was good, even the part where the music for the first song began several seconds into the song and we were a few beats behind for the entire dance. After that, the rest of the songs played correctly. 

A photographer friend attended the event and took photos of us while we were dancing and posed photos afterward. 

During a brief walk through the vendor area, the wind got blustery. Tents were taking flight and displays were blown to the ground. Mother Nature was running through the repertoire today with rain, sun, chilly air, and wind.

The drive home was accompanied by the seat warmer and heater on high. At home, the stage makeup came off, the hair came down, and things were put away in their designated storage bins and hung on the recently organized costume rack.

The rest of the day is a blurry mystery. I was tired, chilled, and the random and always inconvenient sciatic issue had decided to pop in for a visit. At 4:00, the power went out on my side of the river, likely wind related. The power returned at 6:00, beating both the initial estimate and the update. Thank you for your speedy repair work, utility folks. Much appreciated. Now I’m going to bed.

random thoughts – Day 1,866 – (Saturday) – treasure hunting

The rain came as forecast, but the Earth Day event scheduled for today had already been moved to the Sunday rain date, so there was no need to awaken early and check for a text update. With the schedule cleared, there was the chance to visit another thrift store to search for an Indian top for a costume for a dance in a June show, and materials to make a tasseled belt for another dance in the same show. There was better luck with the top at Savers in Nashua today. Yesterday, my beloved St. Vincent de Paul, which had lots of Indian tops when I didn’t need any, had none. It seems to be a shopping rule.

Top for a dance and shawl for whatever.

Today, there were seven or eight potential tops in my cart at Savers. They were ranked in order of prettiness and cost, and in some sort of shopping miracle, the one I liked best was also the lowest cost of the bunch. And the icing on the cake was that it fit when I tried it on over my shirt and jeans in the aisle, the only way to do it since the pandemic removal of fitting rooms. Now, it’s like a smaller, more civilized version of the days of the old Filene’s Basement in Boston with people trying things on in the aisles whatever way they can.

A piece of fabric that seems like a rectangular shawl but was labeled as “seasonal bedding” was bought because I couldn’t resist it. A brown curtain valance was bought because the fabric seems suitable for the dance belt that needs to be made. My mysterious fixation with plaid was nurtured with the addition of a pair of purple plaid shorts which will hopefully fit. Those are less easy to try on over jeans. I served as a neutral consultant concerning dresses. A guy stopped me in housewares to ask if my hair was natural and said, and I quote, “it is totally rock star.” Thank you very much, dear stranger. 

After Savers, there was a quick and less eventful trip to Michael’s down the street for tassels. It’s been ages since I was last in a Michael’s and it seems that sewing fabric and notions have been replaced by knitting materials and Cricut supplies, which really stinks with the recent demise of JoAnn Fabrics. The only tassels in Michael’s, which required professional help to find, were in the seasonal area, and were much too large for a belt. They were more suitable for a Downton Abbey bell pull in a fancy sitting room. Nobody asked me if a dress was too grandmotherly. Nobody called me a rock star. There were no tassels. Michael's was a bit boring, but overall the day was a success.

random thoughts – Day 1,865 – (Friday) –hidden dangers

Tonight marked the fourth consecutive night out of the house. On Tuesday there was dance group, Wednesday had the Finance and Accounting social hour, Thursday was the planning session for the Tuesday dance group’s June show, Friday was dress rehearsal for the Sunday dance troupe’s show this weekend. It wasn’t especially hectic, but I’m still glad it’s not like this every week.

Once upon a time, I was used to a high level of activity, but that was a long time ago. Back then, I was fueled by coffee, Diet Coke, adrenaline, anger, and stress. Life is much calmer now, and there is no live-in partner I’m trying to avoid. Being home is peaceful and lovely and usually the goal each day.

Violets!

There was a small amount of yard clean up done today, which allowed time to notice the violets are coming up near the rosebush. Pulling dead leaves hurts three fingers on my hand attached to the recently broken wrist which never actually hurt. Any exertion causes the scar to turn red and be even more sensitive than usual. I finally remembered to call the doctor’s office and there is an appointment on Monday.

The cleanup resulted in a sliver in a finger. It was removed and life moved on. While driving to dress rehearsal, my left hand hurt and I discovered another sliver in my hand in a spot that made contact with the steering wheel. I couldn’t wait to get to the studio so I could use a pin to dig it out. Either gardening is dangerous or I am becoming a little too delicate.

During rehearsal, I caught my foot on a floor splinter and there was bloodshed. Once cleaned up, a gouge and cut were visible. Bright red drops of my blood dotted the floor. It would have been the perfect time for collecting a blood sample. A Band-Aid was applied and rehearsal continued. By the end of rehearsal, the bandage was saturated and a new one applied. Luckily, it doesn’t hurt, and the performance on Sunday is outside and will include shoes. Hopefully I am spared additional slivers in fingers and splinter gouged feet until at least Monday.