random thoughts – Day 2,180 (Friday) – searching and yearning

I was looking for accessories to finish off an outfit for an event on Saturday, which is described with terms including “colorful” and “kaleidoscope.” Specifically, I was looking for a couple narrow sequin belt/scarf things or a fringed tuxedo scarf. In doing so, I found my two heavy coin dance belts, bought when I first began belly dancing. They look great but tangle easily and I almost never use them. In Tennessee, they hung as valances in my two bedroom windows. In Massachusetts, they have lived in a storage bag and I often thought about again using them to adorn windows.

The discovery of the belts led to a search for a couple jump rings (quite literally – two jump rings) to mend a spot in the belt chosen to hang in a window. That required fetching the jewelry and chain maille tools and sorting through a limited quantity of rings in a supplies box which doesn’t have the full inventory of rings because I can’t remember where those are. The belt was mended and then I needed hooks to hang it from the nearby curtain rods.

Christmas ornament hooks were easily found but too flimsy, the supply of s-hooks is missing somewhere in the stained glass making elements, but large paper clips seemed like a possibility. The search for paper clips involved a search of two desk drawers, a file cabinet pencil drawer, and three cabinets. I felt like an investigator looking for clues and evidence. The step stool and a hammer were required. The several additional side quests to the new main quest which was actually a side quest to the original main mission consumed a large portion of the morning.

The paper clips worked with a small modification, once again illustrating my MacGyver-like prowess, instilled during a youth and adolescence of needing to make do with what was available. I learned that a lack of funds breeds creativity. Fun fact – Mom’s cousin, who I met through a genealogy site, informed me that we are cousins to Richard Dean Anderson, who played the original MacGyver (1985). So there.

Coin belt as a window valance.

The coin belt was hung in the bay window and the living room vibe moved a couple degrees towards bohemian. Maybe that will inspire me to finally hang some art. It’s been more than seven months here and the walls are not talking to me about art, but maybe the windows will guide me. All the stuff pulled out to hang the coin belt was returned to the proper locations.

The search for accessories for the event outfit led to finding even more potential outfits that I wish I had thought of a few days ago. “Out of sight, out of mind” is a harsh reality for me and I need to remember to take a breath and shop my own closets before I race out to a store. In this case, I spent $23 at The Salvation Army Store for a skirt and blouse that might work for the event plus a summer dress that I might actually wear, then changed my mind on the event outfit a couple days later when I found the exact type of skirt I originally had in mind for $11 in a consignment store. 

After buying the new old things, I remembered at least four other garments that were packed away for winter or in the dance costume stuff that would have been great for this event. Someone please invite me to a bunch of fancy events, because I have many fun wardrobe options waiting for a chance to come out and play. Anyway. The outfit for the museum soiree is finalized and I am eagerly anticipating this event.

It started with rice.

In the early afternoon, tired from hours of running around, climbing the step stool, fetching things, and returning things, the train of thought had reached its caboose and I wanted rice. 

That is how some meals are built. I wanted rice, then I had to figure out what to do with some rice, because a bowl of plain rice has limited appeal. The desire for rice turned into a pan full of black beans, plant-based “meat” crumbles, chopped onion, mushrooms, spicy tomatoes, and queso to go with the rice, plus corn chips and guacamole. Usually, I make this dish because I want an excuse to eat corn chips or guac, but today it was because I wanted rice. It was delicious. It was repeated for supper.

Things really slowed down after lunch. There was minimal guilt because the morning was plenty busy with the train of thought running off the track all over the place. The dress form where the outfit had been built was stripped and the outfit was laid out for Saturday. The mail was fetched. I dove back into the costume dramas I love, which today happened to be the rest of The Forsyte Saga, which has entertained me since I finished the latest episodes of Bridgerton a couple days ago. Damn, fashion used to be so glamourous and exciting. Now it's all althleisure and jeans. I was definitely born in the wrong fashion timeline. 

random thoughts – Day 2,179 (Thursday) – freezing rain and soup

Wednesday was warm enough for things to be melty, and today was in the 40s, but by 8:00 tonight it was back to freezing temperatures and frozen crispy rain pinging on the windows and a change to snow  forecast for later. The weekend promises 40s and 50s, so based on the past few days and the forecast, it seems we are in the seesaw weather season. It’s freezing – no, it’s warm – never mind, it’s cold again – and so on. We can count on multiple seasons in a week, and even in one day. Growing up, it was always talked about like this is a condition unique to New England, but Middle Tennessee had remarkably similar wild weather mood swings.

Soup starter and a full freezer.

The vegetable broth on the stove today was started the other day. The days this week have all smooshed together, so it's hard to know exactly which day it was. After straining out the onion skins and broccoli stems, carrots, chopped onions, potato, and mixed frozen vegetables and some leftover spaghetti sauce were added and it simmered for a couple hours. It needs mushrooms next, and some garlic, but I was already bored with  working on the vegetable soup. 

The kettle was divided into three containers for the freezer and another one for the fridge. And once again, the freezer, which briefly had space for some ice cream that was never bought, is again stuffed full. It's a good situation to be in.

In all likelihood, tomorrow’s lunch will feature vegetable soup, but I could change my mind before then and concoct some baked dish or make a plate of cheese and crackers instead. Food on a whim and making things up as I go is one of my favorite things about being a so-called adult.

random thoughts – Day 2,178 (Wednesday) – appointment and errands

Back in the chair.

It’s been several weeks since I last visited the dentist, so today I went in for another visit. The December visits were for a crown needed due to a broken tooth. January’s visit was for routine cleaning. February was blissfully dentist-free.

The March appointments are strategic. There is a tooth with a crack along a filling that would most likely break eventually and we are controlling the timing of the event. Today, we began the prep work for a crown. I thought the appointment would take about an hour, but the dentist was running behind and I enjoyed 2.5 hours in the chair. If it had been a massage chair, it would have been swell. The piped in office music was blues, which I prefer to the country that is sometimes playing. In two weeks, I return for the formal coronation and final emptying of the wallet. 

From the dental chair, when I wasn’t reclined with a bunch of stuff in my mouth, I had a view of the traffic in and out of the dispensary in the plaza across the way. It was a steady flow of vehicles in and out and it seemed that no parking spot was empty for more than a minute. A patient in another chair, who wasn’t very familiar with the concept of “indoor voice,” in the midst of his incessant ramblings yelled, “wow, the pot shop is hopping!” He wasn’t wrong. Just louder than needed.

The day of adventure also included a successful trip to a consignment shop for something to wear to a fancy museum event on Saturday, the closure of the matured and problematic IRA CD, a visit to my favorite gas station, and a stop at Market Basket for things Aldi lacks including cheese ends, brick ramen, and frozen mixed vegetables. What a day.

random thoughts – Day 2,177 (Tuesday) – window watching

The forecast for today called for snow and just before noon the stuff began to appear. By 12:45 it was sticking to the road and the driveways. 

The cable bucket truck appeared on the street around the same time as the snow. A couple weeks ago, a similar (or the same) truck was in the neighborhood. Previously, the bucket was lowered during travel, but today, as the snow fell steady and heavy, the bucket remained in the full upright position as the truck rolled slowly down the street with a worker standing in the bucket.

Hanging wiring on a snowy day.

The guy in the bucket would give a quick yell and the truck would pause for a second as bucket guy attached clasps to an existing wire and pulled a new one below it and then it would roll forward some more. Pause, clip, roll forward. The driver had the window open (presumably to facilitate being yelled at). He had a cigarette in one hand and drove with the other. It’s the only service truck in the neighborhood that doesn’t violate the 15-mph speed limit, so kudos for that. 

Five hours later, the snow was still falling, the light was fading, and the truck was still making rounds in the neighborhood. 

While the wire hanging activity took place outside, I was inside playing the role of nosy neighbor Gladys Kravitz (Bewitched). I recently read something that claimed “the older one gets, the more one looks out the window.” This seems to be true, at least for me. It’s hard not to look outside with the living room in the front of the house and a bay window facing the street, and especially when a truck is outside with multiple sets of lights flashing and a guy in a hardhat is floating down the street in mid-air. And I need to be ready in case a call for emergency services is needed. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

random thoughts – Day 2,176 (Monday) – pantry pleasure

After a stretch of time where I forgot about a treat I used to like, I suddenly remembered about peanut butter and Fluff on Ritz crackers. Of course, it became a fixation for at least five whole minutes and then I did what any self-sufficient adult would do. I visited the pantry, where I found a partial sleeve of crackers. pulled out the peanut butter and Fluff, and got busy.

Peanut butter and Fluff crackers.

Did I prepare the snack at the kitchen counter, and set it on a plate like a civilized adult? Nope. I took that sleeve of crackers, the jars, and a knife to the living room. The wax paper cracker sleeve was opened on the new-ish couch and the assembled cracker sandwiches were set upon it. 

It was like I was boldly tempting fate and yet, by some miracle, the furniture remained peanut butter and Fluff free. Another of life’s little miracles, right up there with the electric bill coming in lower than expected. What a day of triumphs.

random thoughts – Day 2,175 (Sunday) – red meat

It was a mostly regular Sunday with coffee, phone games, news, emails, and dance group. It snowed this morning, which has been all too common this winter. Dance practice involved trying to override muscle memory on a choreography learned a few years ago which is now being heavily revised. It’s turning out to be a difficult rewiring process and feels like a test of my dwindling reserves of patience.

After dance, it was a quiet day at home. There were snuggles with Kiki, too much time on social media, and the roasting of sweet potatoes, red-skin potatoes, and broccoli.

Steak and veggies.

The only unusual aspect of the day was at supper. I rarely eat steak (or even much meat), but today a box of steaks that has been in the freezer since it arrived as a Christmas gift was opened. After studying the instructions, a 1.5-inch beef tenderloin steak was covered with seasoning, seared in the cast iron pan, then the pan was set in the oven to finish cooking. The seasoning blackened during the searing. It was delicious.

After supper, I could feel my iron poor blood reviving in my veins. Or maybe that was my imagination. Hours later, the steak was sitting heavy in my stomach like a stone. Pretty sure that was not my imagination. Clearly, my system, accustomed to heavy consumption of vegetables, sugar, and meat substitutes, is confused by the sudden presence of a steak gift from Omaha. It will be interesting to observe the after effects of the steak consumption.

random thoughts – Day 2,174 (Saturday) –bedtime story

And just like that, February is over. It was warm today (in the 40s) so things got melty. The snowbanks are receding inch by inch and snow and ice melted off the roofs.

The original plan for the day was to attend the Finnish breakfast at Saima Park (Fitchburg) and then do some snowshoeing on the trails there. The snowshoes have been in the car ready for action for a few weeks. I, on the other hand, have been less ready for action. I either had the wrong boots on to work with the snowshoes, it was actively snowing, or I had something else that needed doing.  Today, I could not drag myself out of bed in time to make to the breakfast on the early side of things. Sometimes it’s crowded and sells out, so it’s best to arrive closer to 8:00 than 10:00.

A mistake was made on Friday when I threw caution to the wind and drank coffee after the noon hour. Someone said it was really good, so how could I not? The risk was known, the cutoff time was disregarded, and 10 or 11 hours later when I went to bed I couldn’t get to sleep. Time ticked by, I lay there awake, and tried to not be too p*ssed at my self-sabotage.

At 7:00 this morning, the alarm went off to start the day, and it felt like I’d barely had a nap and had also possibly been run over by a truck. I couldn’t drag myself from the bed to get ready and leave to arrive at the breakfast by 8:30. I managed to get up around 8:00, and by 10:00 I was awake, caffeinated, and functional but that’s when the breakfast event ends. Maybe next month. For the breakfast anyway. Today was the last day for public use of the trails for snowshoeing and cross-country skiing.

New duvet cover set!

I hung around inside the house almost all day. At 4:00 I rallied and went to Aldi for vegetables and a few grocery items. I overachieved and also bought a duvet cover from the seasonal aisle. It’s got black flowers on an off-white background and looks like a knock-off of a popular Finnish textile design. It now covers the pale blue print comforter that hasn’t coordinated with any bedroom in my life in the past ten years. Kiki is now avoiding jumping onto the bed. I think she is afraid of the new pattern.