random thoughts – Day 2,182 (Sunday) – manual labor

On Saturday, I bought three previously used metal coin belts and several other dance costume elements from another dancer. When metal coin belts are worn for dance class or in performances, connecting jump rings can get loose and time tends to cause the metal components to tarnish.

On Sunday, after driving to dance group in dense fog that felt like the setting for a Stephen King story, then returning home in much clearer conditions, I set to work mending the belts. This is exactly the kind of project to grab my attention and hold it for hours. More than six hours today, to be a bit more exact.

I consulted a couple sources online for guidance on how to clean the metal belts. I checked the instructions on the Barkeepers Friend I used to clean my dance zills to a brilliant shine a couple weeks ago. Then, I set up shop in the living room with the jewelry pliers, some jump rings, a couple old towels and wash cloths, a bowl of water, and the Barkeepers. The latest season of Love is Blind played on the TV for company and chances to randomly yell at participants.

One down, two more to go.

The first belt features more than 130 beaded strands (yes, I counted) with a metal coin at end of each one. The top edge of the belt is constructed of a metal underlayment with small coins attached on the front. Each and every one of the coins on the belt was individually cleaned and taken from a brassy orangey tone to a softer golden tone. There is no faster way I know of to have it come out consistently cleaner. It took all afternoon, and another couple hours after a supper break for some soup.

The process of cleaning was a great way to see where jump rings were detached or missing and fix or replace them. The belt was also too long, so I removed a couple of the beaded strands to shorten it and used the beads to repair some strands that had beads missing.

A second belt was examined to determine what repairs (and supplies) are needed. Mostly, it needs about a dozen jump rings replaced to reconnect the under layer, some medallions reattached, and to be cleaned up. This will require buying jump rings in a size I don't have on hand. The third belt needs the coins cleaned and to be shortened. 

My fingers now need some time to heal from the manual labor and abuse of hours of rubbing hundreds of coins with a damp terry cloth towel and then drying them. Then I can move to the other belts and the construction of a coin bra before choosing a fresh, not yet discovered, temporary obsession to occupy my time and keep me from boring household chores like vacuuming rugs, alphabetizing the spice cabinet, and arranging for service on the dryer that has become an amusement park ride for the clothes that now come out well tumbled and still damp.

random thoughts – Day 2,181 (Saturday) – fancy late night

The day began with an unconventional breakfast of the rice and black bean concoction that was Friday’s lunch and supper. When I get on a food kick I tend to ride it to the end.

A friend picked me up a short time later so we could meet with a dancer to shop a treasure trove of costume components and accessories and specifically saris which we can use to make other costumes. We returned to our homes with armloads of dance coin belts, trims, veils, jewelry, and saris. 

Back at home, there was time to relax for a minute before dressing for the night's museum gala, which was made easier than usual by having planned the outfit on the dress form earlier in the week. In the past, there would be a mental list of potential outfit ideas and I would wait until the day of an event to check my mood, try on a slew of outfits, and have a full-blown case of panic before deciding what to wear. This new way felt a lot more civilized. A couple times in years past, I attended events on behalf of the bank as a fill-in for someone who couldn’t make it and didn’t know I was attending until the day of the event, so the outfit timing wasn't always my fault. It could get a little crazy, especially if it was a themed event, but it was always fun.

It was crowded in the gallery
during the remarks.

Tonight’s night out in society was Fitchburg Art Museum’s 100^th Anniversary celebration, and the galleries are stuffed floor to ceiling with works from their extensive collection. The old art mixed with the new and made for a colorful and eclectic exhibit that included paintings by Eleanor Norcross, the founder of the museum. The wall colors in the galleries are painted gorgeous deep greens and blues and the art really pops on the walls. 

"Whimsical."

People dressed up for the event and attire included tuxedo with cummerbund; many sequin-crusted dresses, tops, and jackets; long dresses; dress pants; neck ties and bow ties with suits. It is exactly the sort of attire I love. 

I opted to embrace the “colorful” and “kaleidoscope” terms in the event description and wore a chiffon ruffled skirt, light pink sparkling boots, a purple sequin top and hip scarf, and a multicolor kimono-type robe, and topped it all with a multicolor fascinator. Not to brag (ha!) but one guy liked my boots, five people said they liked my "headpiece," and one museum staffer said I had “the most whimsical outfit of the night.” Thank you indeed. I saw a couple dancer friends and a former bank colleague and it was fun to chat and catch up.

The catering was a colorful array of fruits, vegetables, cheeses, cold cuts, crackers, bread, hummus and dips, along with passed hors d’oeuvres including homemade waffle bites with blackberries and cream, guava empanadas, Thai chicken skewers, and crostini. The desserts featured brownies, thick cookies, and cannoli. It was all tasty and I’m pretty sure I tasted it all.

There was an interactive art wall which involved pulling a tile from a jar and drawing the image from the tile onto a card and hanging it on a grid marked on the wall to create a much larger artwork. My friends and I all got into the colored pencils and got busy.  It was a cool idea and really fun.

One of the interactive art walls.

The event ended at 9:00 which was perfect. My friends and I traded stories about what a typical (non-gala) evening would look like and in all cases, it involved being in comfortable clothes on our respective couches by 7:30 and mentally preparing for bed. We joked out being awake and out “so late.” But we were glad to be dressed up and mingling with other fancy folks, looking at art, and eating fancy food.

It’s funny how the concept of “late” changes with age. In our 20s, we would just be getting ready to go out at 9:00 and now at that hour we are ready to head home and are plotting exits. Sleeping “late” when I was younger meant noon or early afternoon, and now I feel like I’m getting up late if it’s after 7:00 a.m.

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.