random thoughts – Day 2,431 (Friday 11/13) – no snow and other things

The day's forecast was for snow from a coating to two inches. It was wet when I woke up, and soon a few flakes were fluttering in the air.  And that was it. Nothing stuck, it was as if it never happened and I was fine with it. The solder was due to deliver and I kept checking the tracking like an obsessive nutcase. Package tracking might be my favorite online ordering feature. 

Ellison Barber and guest
on the set of Allegedly.

To pass the time, I organized the work table and almost immediately cut my hand. Today’s investment tip: buy stock in adhesive bandages. The Netflix viewing choice was Allegedly, which I am way behind on episodes. And I still love the wall color on the set and am trying to figure out which wall(s) I can paint in this color. A quick search yielded a social media account for show host Ellison Barber and the color "juniper." 

Meanwhile, the house continued to smell like burned oil every time the furnace blower was going. Since it’s gotten colder the past few days and the furnace has been busy, it’s been a wee bit gross. It made me long for the days of not so long ago when I couldn’t smell anything.

I reached out to the furnace guy and he was here in a few hours to check out the situation. It seems that something may have happened to the exhaust pipe when the new roof was installed and the pipe wasn’t sitting correctly. The problem was fixed and the warm air blowing though the house no longer reeks. Thank you, furnace guy.

Coloring the pattern.

While the furnace received an examination, I colored in the large glass panel pattern with pencils. It’s easier to plan the glass colors with the colored version, especially where I will likely have to buy some glass for it. Now that the small panel is done, it feels like the time to start working on the big one.

After the furnace service, I decided to go to Aldi in search of food I might want to eat. The plan was for a small, quick shop, which was aided by not having a quarter for the carts because I forgot I had spent all my quarters in a tire air machine a couple weeks ago. The refrigerated take and bake pizzas were fully stocked and that was the winner of tonight’s supper wheel of fortune. There were some cat treats in what looked like the correct shape for Kiki’s refined palate and I rolled the dice and bought some.

The solder delivered as I was in the driveway preparing to leave for Aldi, providing a solid reason to shop fast and hustle back home. The rolls of solder were retrieved from the front step and the sweatshop resumed production. The two larger and one smaller crescent moon cut and foiled this week were soldered and received handing loops. Progress!

I was wishing there was an easier way to measure the amount of solder used in projects, but I haven’t found one yet. It comes on a spool and is sold by weight. I don’t have a scale, so weighing the spool after each project isn’t possible. The solder lines on each piece could be measured for a rough estimate of the length, but the spool doesn’t note the length of the stuff, just the weight. And I’m not a good enough mathematician to calculate it using the known variables, but I could set up a spreadsheet to track the projects done with a spool.

random thoughts – Day 2,430 (Thursday 11/12) – indecision thursday

Ready for solder.

The leaf raking of Wednesday seemed to kick my butt into Thursday. I went to bed with a twingy neck, slept late, and woke up nearly hobbled by my inner thighs, which screamed in agony from the grand plie/sumo squats while picking up the leaves. I seem to be turning into some sort of delicate flower and I do not like it one bit.

The gray weather did nothing to energize the day which soon filled with indecision. I dressed in gray pants and a sweater, welcoming the potential of leaving the house to go out to a gift shop or a grocery store, but then couldn’t determine a reason to go anywhere. Instead, I played chess on Duolingo, where I had my 950th win. Another crescent moon was cut and foiled, making three pieces ready for the solder delivery on Friday. That's about where the decisiveness exited the scene.

Three of the four birds
walking up the driveway.

Other than the normal baseline activities of dishes and heating food, not much else happened. Four male turkeys walked through the yard. By 3:30 it was so dark and gloomy that lights had to be turned on. 

The decision making paralysis extended to dinner. The websites for a pizza place and a Chinese restaurant were visited. Delivery orders were started at both. Pizza? Pu Pu Plattter? Nothing on either menu grabbed me enough to complete an order and both were scrapped. Dinner became 90-second microwave red curry rice that was fast but wasn’t very good, with baked salmon that I accidentally over seasoned with lemon pepper and it tasted like a salt lick. Or what I imagine a salt lick would taste like, never having actually licked one.

Even finding a show to watch was harder than usual. I didn’t know what I wanted to watch, but it turned out there was a lot I didn’t want to watch. No action/suspense. No rom-com. No scary stuff. None of the 10,000 things I’ve already seen and rated that still show up in my feed as recommendations. I ended up in a stand-up comedy show, followed by Welcome to Sweden, a comedy series that isn’t too awful. Hopefully, tomorrow will be a day with better decision-making skills and follow-through.

random thoughts – Day 2,429 (Wednesday 11/11) – times of clouds and sun

Freshly raked front yard.

The front yard was blanketed in leaves and I was starting to feel a little embarrassed. Most of the yards in the immediate vicinity of mine have been liberated of leaves regularly and I was the slacker. The back yard leaf carpet was even worse.

Today, with the sun shining and the temperature in the low 50s, and the weather app declaring the day to be one of "times of clouds and sun," I tackled the task. Three 30 gallon leaf bags were filled, along with a gigantic round plastic planter. Because I tend to read things, there was plenty of time to wonder why the capacity noted on the paper leaf bags was stated in gallons and not area like square feet or cubic yards.

New hydrangea leaves?

The track of leaf bag capacity wondering ran concurrently with wondering about the hydrangea which  hasn't flowered the past two summers. Thinking that this year's barren status may be because I trimmed it incorrectly last summer, and unable to determine if it blooms on old wood or new to know when to prune it, I left it alone this year. The leaves finally all fell off and left bare sticks. And now, it's putting out new leaves. Maybe it's confused by the recent spell of decent weather. It has a cozy bed of leaves for the winter.

There was raking and squatting like a Sumo wrestler and setting leaves in the bags and pressing them down to compact them. Despite an hour or more of raking and stuffing leaf containers, no theory about the gallons versus square feet emerged, but I knew there were about 100 gallons of leaves in my car at the end of it. And that was just the front yard. I didn’t have it in me to do the back yard, but luckily, it’s not visible from the street and only I and the neighbors on either side of me can see the shameful state of my yard.

Off to the compost area!

During the raking, my sinuses did the super fun trick where they felt simultaneously stuffy and runny and I had to breathe through my mouth. As if that wasn’t enough fun, I managed to tweak my neck. It likely happened during one of the 1,000 times I tried to shake my hair out of my face and mouth because I forgot to grab a hair tie before I went outside and then didn’t want to lose momentum by going into the house to fetch one. And the curse of the tweaked neck spread to my shoulder, which was the wretched progression a year ago when I ended up in physical therapy. The yard progress felt good, the physical effects did not. Clouds and sun for sure.

After the leaf bags and the planter were emptied at the compost area and the yard tools returned to the shed, it was time to park myself on the couch and take it easy. Mistletoe Mysteries, a Hallmark “cozy holiday mystery television series” was chosen for some easy, thought-free entertainment. It's going to be a cozy night of sleeping with a hot/cold sticky pad. 

random thoughts – Day 2,428 (Tuesday 11/10) – vegging and progress

It was an odd, bordering on strange, day that began when I woke in the dark at 5:54 and voluntarily exited the bed. Most days, I grudgingly awaken to the alarm on my phone at 6:30 and then tap the snooze button until 7:00 or later. I have no idea what inspired me to arise so willingly so early, but I dove into the day with a mug of warm water followed by coffee and breakfast (fried egg with cheese on an English muffin), Wordle, many games of Duolingo chess, and Words with Friends. And then, suddenly, it was 9:00. And 10:00. And 2:00.

All pieces cut!

It seemed like I spent most of the day vegged out on the couch, but things were accomplished in spite of my general state of inertia. A storage box of curtains was gone through and extra panels added to the back bedroom window for extra window insulation over the winter.

With no solder on hand, I was hesitant to do much glass work, but I finished the glass cutting on the crescent moon started Monday. I also had the sense to photograph the completed pieces. There are five panels ranging from 4” by 6” to 8” x 10”, three crescent moons, four hearts, and five poinsettias. Time was spent comparing prices and ordering solder, tinning wire, and a handheld edge smoother. Supplies will be in-house by Friday.

The refrigerator, which was delivered on October 27, was finally registered on the manufacturer’s website. While putting the product info with the paperwork for household appliances, I found the estimate of needed car repairs from the Jeep dealership that I was looking for two weeks ago. 

The local, independent garage that fixed my brakes and problematic lug nuts saved me $500 compared to the dealership estimate. In a month or two I’ll go back to the garage for the other repairs that were recommended. The reason I even found the garage was two weeks ago I needed gas and used the Waze feature for “gas near me” ranked by low to high price. I had driven past the station a million times in the past year (rough estimate) and never noticed the place. Now that they are on my radar, I expect to be visiting there regulalry.

random thoughts – Day 2,427 (Monday 11/9) – glass and faucets

Student show at
Worcester Center for Crafts.

Monday funday was a little bit less fun today. I had a vague plan of goals for today's glass class which was the last of the session. First, I couldn’t find the image I thought I had saved for a twisted wire edging I wanted to try. When I found another similar image, I learned it would require a drill to evenly twist the length of wire and keep it straight. I have a drill, but it was at home because I didn't know I would need it. 

We had a chance to see the student exhibit that is in the gallery. It was an impressive array of works in photography, pottery, jewelry, and glass. Gorgeous and inspiring stuff. Two of my classmates had work in the show, but I didn't enter anything. 

When I got back into our glass studio room, I didn’t have anything to work on due to the drill thing, so I flipped through class patterns (time consuming), changed my mind three times (a sun, a star, a moon) and ended up starting yet another crescent moon from scrap glass. 

Fighting with the moon.

That got complicated really quick as there were no scraps large enough for most of the pattern pieces as drawn. I was altering the pattern on the fly, cutting (and breaking) glass, grinding for hours, and leaving with a pile of pieces that didn’t really fit each other. Kind of frustrating, and fully my fault for not having a Plan B.

After class it was a dash home to meet the plumber who was coming to change out the faucets in both bathrooms, clear the drain in the main bathroom, and install a garbage disposal. The clogged drain was liberated of about 20 years of muck. The new faucets and drain plugs are shiny and fancy compared to the 40-year old leaky units with plastic knobs. The disposal needs a part and will be dealt with another time.

Fancy new faucet.

While the plumber worked, I tortured myself trying to finish the cutting on the crescent moon. It was not successful. The pattern alterations mandate totally new shapes and there is one crazy shape left to be cut. I didn’t have it in me to keep drawing and cutting. Maybe tomorrow. I can’t go too far with any pieces right now as I am out of solder. I have used everything I had on hand and need to restock. I will use the supply interruption to shift gears and focus on practicing the dances for the performance on November 22.

random thoughts – Day 2,426 (Sunday 11/8) – unplugged and under observation

Leaves on a skylight.

It was a gray morning and the leaves are still falling. The new skylights that were installed with the roof are not a bubble shape like the old ones, and the leaves and pine needles are sticking to the windows instead of sliding off. I guess that means the snow won't slide off like it used to, either. 

In keeping with a longstanding habit, dance bestie and I met this morning to dance. We ran through our duet and two group dances we are performing in a private event in a couple weeks. We looked at a cool construction detail on a recent addition to her costume collection and talked about how it could be incorporated into costume elements we make in the future.

When I was home, I decided to start working on the window insulation film I bought weeks ago. I chose the bathroom window to start with because it’s smaller than all the other windows and if I screwed it up, it wouldn't be as visible as a dining room or living room window. The double-sided tape was applied. The window film was cut closer to the window size and applied. The third step was to heat it with a blow dryer to tighten the film and remove wrinkles. Easy. Except the blow dryer wouldn’t turn on. I don't always blow dry my hair and tried to remember when I last used it. The best I could get to was early last week, because later in the week I had definitely let my hair air dry. 

The reset button on the dryer was tried. It was plugged and unplugged and turned on and off a bunch of times. I was about two minutes away from heading out to buy a new dryer when I decided to try it in another outlet. It works in a kitchen outlet so it seems the bathroom outlet has a problem. And it’s the only one in the bathroom.

There is a plumber scheduled to be here Monday to deal with the leaky faucet and the slow drain. I hope he doesn’t need an outlet, or that I can find a decent length extension cord to get to the next closest outlet. 

Under her eye.

To get my mind off the outlet, I started cutting glass for new pieces. The first was a heart, and like most of the previous hearts, it turned into a pain in the arse and I abandoned it. Then I took the bin of clear scraps and designed a small rectangle piece. It took a lot longer than I thought it should, mostly because I was truing to do it without cutting any glass. That became unwieldy and I ended up cutting several of the scrap pieces to fit. 

Somewhere in the outlet situation which was followed by making ramen for supper and then working on glass, I had set the phone down and forgot about it for several hours. When I remembered the phone, I got to play another exciting round of "where is the phone?" which is the only game I play more than "where are the keys." This time the phone was on the white cutting board in the kitchen, and once I hit the correct room it was easy. Usually, the dark phone is left on a dark piece of furniture and is hard to see.

Miss Kiki sat near the couch, supervising me as I applied the copper foil. She let me pet her when I had a free hand. She has been positioning herself for pets a lot more frequently and I am happy to oblige. I am often under her watchful eye. She watches me from across the room and then does her ninja move and suddenly appears at my side. 

Kiki also likes to sit across the room and meow, and when I meow back she trots over for a head rub. If I call her name, she comes to me. So cute. I’m sure she will eventually become a lap cat someday, which isn’t exactly a day of the week or specific point in time, but I’ll take it whenever it arrives.

random thoughts – Day 2,425 (Saturday 11/7) – labor and leisure

Pumpkins and gourds.

It’s been raining for several days. The day’s plan included apple picking, decided mid-week when the temperature was in the high 60s and 70s. The rain, which was just a light drizzle by then, did not get in the way of the orchard labor. 

A driver hauling a wagon took us past fields with pallets of pumpkins and gourds and beyond the now empty pumpkin patch, to the picking trees. From the wagon stop, it was a short walk to the Pink Lady apples that my friend wanted.

There were plenty of low hanging apples, but there were also ladders nearby so of course, I climbed once or twice. There were a couple lessons learned. For one, there are a lot more varieties of apples than I ever imagined. Snapdragon? Mutsu? Empire? Until now, my apple familiarity has been largely limited to the grocery store offerings of Granny Smith and McIntosh.  

Apple trees and a tempting ladder.

Another lesson involved my jacket, which was warm enough for the weather, but not exactly waterproof. The sleeve of my left picking arm got all wet, then my pant legs were wet from wiping my hands on them in an attempt to dry them. My hair became bushy with waves and frizz from the wet air and I felt like a tumbleweed by the time we were done. It was fun. All of it.

On the way home, we passed a store emblazoned with a sign that read “EC Thrift.” This was not a store with which we were familiar, which felt like all the more reason to go in. Wow, what a store. It is large, clean, and well organized. Prices on a lot of the housewares seemed insanely inflated ($79.99 for kitchen knives in a thrift store?) but the clothing prices were reasonable. Even though I didn’t find an Irish knit sweater (my current thrift holy grail), the store was still the cherry on top of an already great day.