random thoughts – Day 2,315 (Friday) – pizza and nerdiness

Pizza!

It was a pizza party at Mom’s today when Sis blew in with the pizza to which we measure all others against. That would be Espresso Pizza in Fitchburg. When I was in high school, Espresso was a regular after school stop for a slice and a soda. The crust was thin, floppy, and foldable, and famous for having bubbles at the edges. The sauce was sweet, and the legend was that orange soda was an ingredient. 

When I lived in Lowell, I was thrilled to learn the Espresso Pizza location there produced the same tasty pizza I grew up with. Today’s pizza tasted just like it should. Sweet. Cheesy. Bubbles in the crust. Delicious.

After lunch, we played Yahtzee. The dice kept delivering nearly complete small and large straights on a high number of first rolls for all of us. So weird. The last time we played, my niece was with us and she kept rolling a full house. Also weird.

My nerd brain now wants to record all the Yahtzee rolls and track any patterns in our games going forward. I could fashion it after the charting I did of M&M vending machine bags during my corporate finance days. I tracked the number of candies in a bag and counts for each color. Then I would eat the M&Ms from the lowest count by color to the highest count. Good times. I doubt my family would tolerate the game delays required for my scientific recordkeeping.

random thoughts – Day 2,314 (Thursday) – breakfast and greenery

Most delicious breakfast.

It’s another week chugging along at breakneck speed. Thursday already? It's halfway through July and there is still not a summer fun plan on the calendar? How?!? I may stink at planning getaways. but at least I have conquered breakfasts. Today's was a fried egg and slice of onion with provolone cheese on an English muffin with a generous schmear of homemade strawberry jam gifted by a friend. So delicious. It carried me through the day until an unforgettable supper. 

It was another day with the smell of smoke in the air, but fainter than the past couple days. There was less smoke and haze in the air and the blue sky was visible.

My six-month dental cleaning, scheduled six months ago, was this afternoon. The travel in and back was smooth, and it was a mostly uneventful hour in the chair. I am now free for the next six months or until I break another tooth, whichever comes first. Fingers crossed for no more broken teeth. Like, ever.

Tight quarters.

As I was contemplating my evening walk, the wind picked up and I thought for sure there would be rain. As a result of my opinion, I stayed on the couch playing Words with Friends. I was wrong and it didn’t rain. 

To make up for the missed walk, I headed to the yard for “arm day” with the loppers and hedge trimmers. The greenery out front still encroaches on the walk on the frontside and is too close to the house on the backside, just a bit less than before. The goal is to create enough space behind the greenery for the contractor to be able to install the siding on the front of the house without needing a machete to smash through the hedge. It’s been baby steps, but I’ll get there.

random thoughts – Day 2,313 (Wednesday) – wildlife

Mama and fluff balls.

This week the wildlife has been promenading in the ‘hood. On Monday, I saw a mother turkey and counted seven tiny little fluff balls scattered around her. They were traveling at a brisk pace through my front yard and on to the next yard, the fluffy little ones doing a great job keeping up. A half-hour later, while on a walk, there were four toms congregated in a yard one street over from mine. 

Throughout the week, several times I’ve seen a lone bunny grazing in various yards. Most times the bunny would freeze, but once it ran away.

Bunny in a yard.

Twice now, I've spotted the neighborhood cat with the white legs and belly and two-tone black back and tail after months of absence. This was the cat that lounged with several turkeys under a bush in my back yard last fall. The black cat has been racing through yards, but there are a couple of other cats not seen since last fall.

Each day in the late afternoon, several crows gather in my yard and on roof of my house and carport. Between three and seven engage of them in takeoff and landing, squawking, and walking around. Two of them get right up close and squawk in each others faces and remind me of a bickering human couple.

Today’s evening walk also featured the red sun in the hazy sky. Weather services say it is due to smoke blowing in from wildfires in Canada and Minnesota. There have been some spectacular photos of the oddly colored light and sky, just none done by me. My usually reliable camera kept autocorrecting the color of the sun from reddish-orange to white hot, and I couldn’t capture in pixels what I saw with my own eyes. It was most frustrating.

random thoughts – Day 2,312 (Tuesday) – cookbook, weather, and cherries

Cookbook arrived!

The threat of heat rolling in again and another heat advisory meant I took my walk to the mailbox in the morning instead of waiting until after dance class. Plus, I had a notice from the Post Office that my high calcium cookbook delivered and I was excited to have it. 

I now have 250 pages of high calcium recipes for dips and appetizers, entrees, desserts, and sauces and dressings. I flipped through it immediately and noticed that the key ingredients in many recipes are cottage cheese and nonfat dry milk. It turns out my instinct to add those two ingredients while cooking was correct. Now, I have lots of official recipes to help with the calcium consumption challenge.

There was a breeze this morning and most of the afternoon, and it was comfortable. At dance, the air conditioning was refreshing when we arrived, but we were all bathed in sweat after an hour with the second hour still to go. I used my just-bought knee pads today and they helped greatly. A lot of our dances include kneeling and one is done totally on the floor, which was not an issue when my knees were 17 years old, but it’s a different and painful situation now. Thank goodness for cushiony knee pads.

When I stopped for gas after dance, I noticed the sun was especially orange in the gray, overcast sky. Later, I learned the smoke from wildfires in Canada has reached us and tomorrow is supposed to be pretty bad again with the newest round of heat and humidity plus the smoke. It sounds like it might be a good day to stay inside, not that I usually need any encouragement.

Chilled cherries!

I bought two pounds of cherries on Monday. After I washed them, I set them in the fridge and they are perfectly chilled. I have been grabbing them by the handful and devouring them and will likely need more by Wednesday. 

Then, after a full week of cherry consumption, I should be all set with cherries for a bit. That is what seems to have happened with the green grapes I couldn't get enough of for a couple weeks and am suddenly no longer interested in. Most of last week’s grape acquisition was chucked into this week’s trash. It’s how my erratic and fickle tastebuds roll.  

random thoughts – Day 2,311 (Monday) –k-drama

The lead characters looking sharp.

I recently succumbed to the Netflix suggestions, and after a long stretch of not watching Korean dramas, I started watching Vincenzo. The premise: Korean guy sent as a young child to be raised in Italy rises to rank of Mafia consigliere. Now he’s back in Korea with a mission.

As usual, the cast includes the supremely attractive male and female leads, the ever-so-slightly less attractive male and female second leads, and the usual slew of character actors providing comic relief with their quirky personalities.

Crazy suit with a cutaway back.

The wardrobe in this show features impeccably tailored suits for the leads, along with some interesting designer pieces. The female lead is a lawyer and is usually dressed in beautifully fitted suits with five buttons on the sleeves. Five! Even in my corporate finance days of splurging on suits worn almost daily, the most I ever had was three buttons on the sleeves. 

One very weird suit jacket on the female lead had a full front with lapels and pockets, and a cutout back. So weird. Another dress on a female character looked like a sculpture in gray wool with an exaggerated shoulder line and rounded sleeves. Mostly, the clothes were normal. 

The businessmen are sporting crisp shirts, silky ties, and beautiful jackets. Vests and collar bars seem to have made a comeback. The watches look fancy and pricey. I have always had and continue to have a weakness for a man in nicely tailored suit, and this show is filled with my favorite fantasy attire. Sigh. Side note: X1, for all his shortcomings, liked to dress up and looked like a million bucks in a suit, and often better than my finance colleagues. My schlubby manager often commented (more like whined) that my home-builder husband had better suits than he did. 

Anticipating "the flick."

In this K-drama, there are running gags involving the consumption of roasted sweet potatoes. And there is “the flick” square to the forehead. Lose a bet? You have to close your eyes and get the forehead flick from the winner of the bet. The male and female leads shared moments of exaggerated romantic tension involving anticipation of the flick.

I forgot how much I liked K-dramas – in the original Korean with English subtitles. This show has pulled me back into the genre. The wardrobes, the furniture and decorating features like screens and room separators, and the food. Seeing the food makes me want to visit a Korean restaurant, but I usually end up just making ramen at home.

As a bonus, reading subtitles gets me to set the phone aside for a while, which is a good thing.

random thoughts – Day 2,310 (Sunday) – shelving it

After: More tidy under,
less empty above.

The nesting continues. Or maybe it's still technically moving in and setting up. However it is categorized, today featured the assembly of two small (24-inch tall) floating corner shelf units. One went under the TV corner shelf, the other went above it as the first step in solving the issue of an odd empty space.

I had seen the shelves online through a couple retailers, but a recent email from Ocean State Job Lot had the exact shelves that were hanging around in my Amazon cart for a lower price. It's not the first time and I am guessing the Amazon markup funds the allegedly free shipping. I will drive one mile to pick up at your store Ocean State. Yes, please and thank you.

They were easy to assemble, especially compared to the larger stuff in the house came in a flat box and required my ever-improving skills with a screwdriver. Today also involved the drill to mount the shelves to the wall. Good times! I am living large and in charge with a power drill and a mini-chain saw.

Between the router and cable box, power strip, multiple power cords, and a mile of cable, there is still an eyesore cluster of electrical cords and cable in the corner below the TV. I mounted an acrylic shelf to hold the power strip, but the rest is still messy. Baby steps.

Before: Messy under,
empty above.

I really wanted a small cabinet for the corner under the TV shelf, so that the nesting end tables currently in service in the corner could fulfil their potential as side tables but the heating vent on the floor in the corner was an obstacle. Finding a cabinet both short enough to clear the shelf and high enough off the floor to clear the vent and deflector was a losing battle. 

The floating shelf solution is good enough for now and the armchair now has a side table available for setting a cup of coffee and a plate. I’m taking the win.

random thoughts – Day 2,309 (Saturday) – squash blossoms and belly dance

Squash blossoms in the morning.

The squash plant, recently set into the ground in the backyard, had two gorgeous open orange blossoms that greeted me this morning. Until today, I had only seen the blossoms mostly or fully closed when it was in the pot. By 12:30, they were both closed again. Now I will be stalking the plant to learn the blossom opening and closing times. 

There was a morning visit with Mom, then it was back to my house. The second step of the blue embroidered and sequin dress remake was executed. With red thread (for visibility and easier removal), the mesh overlay was basted to the lining, about a half inch below the waist seam. This will allow me to cut the skirt off below the waist seam while keeping the two layers held together for the future step of forming the waistband casing.

Th weather was gorgeous with breezes blowing the curtains. This helped during the one-hour long stressful search for something to wear to a dance show tonight. I am no longer used to dressing for events, but I knew I wanted to wear my bronze-tone bejewelled sandals.

None of the three pairs of summery wide-legged pants looked good today. The first-choice skirt, a silk crepe de chine number in browns and rust with gold accents, fit great, but I couldn’t find a season-appropriate top to wear with it that didn’t look stupid (it has been worn only in the fall with a sweater). The next choice was a long black silk stripe on stripe flowy skirt. Again, the problem was tops. And memory. I couldn’t remember what I used to wear with said skirt, and nothing in the closet felt right. I ended up choosing a black mesh top with tiny gold beaded embellishments. I am so out of practice with dressing for a social life. 

Once upon a time, multiple times a day, I could dash into the house for a complete costume change executed in under ten minutes and be out the door to another activity. I could shift from gardening clothes to an outfit for a formal event in no time flat. While blindfolded, a bag could be packed for a weekend away and events from the beach to shopping to a night club were covered. Lately, I specialize in stay at home with no plans outfits, stage performance costumes, and pajamas.

Anyway, once dressed, I sat around quietly basting the skirt part of the dress and then playing games on my phone while episodes of the show Animal Control streamed on Netflix until it was time to leave for the belly dance show. In addition to professional level skills in staying at home, I am excellent at sitting quietly, a skill I have perfected in the past several months. It is time, however, to work on my social skills and pull myself back from the brink of being totally feral. Study tips are welcomed.

Aurelia Pearl dances to Swan Lake.

The dance show, called "Molten," was co-hosted by Greenfield area dancers Aurelia Pearl and Eshta Amar. It was a fun production in the intimate space of the LAVA Center in Greenfield and featured seven solo performers and a duet. 

The costumes and veils were colorful and sparkly and various musical and dance styles were presented. One dance was to music from the ballet Swan Lake arranged with a Middle Eastern beat. Very cool. It was all very cool. 

There is a lot of beauty and talent out in the world.