random thoughts – Day 2,244 (Saturday) – food and work

The gray, rainy morning made it hard to get out of bed. It also washed away any desire to fulfill any of the potential activities for the day. Plant swap the next town over? No, thanks, it’s raining. Steampunk Festival in Waltham? Nope. Requires a drive, and it’s raining. International Gem and Jewelry in Marlborough? No. See above. And so on. There were flashbacks to the year when it rained nearly every weekend in the summer.

Fortifying breakfast.

There may have been no motivation for fun out of the house activities, but in the house there were bright spots. Breakfast was a winner. A fried egg with cheese on an English muffin with a schmear of butter and some apricot preserves really hit the spot, set a cozy tone for the day, and powered me through until suppertime.

Once fortified, the finishing work on the dance top was started. Music played from the laptop (Dark Cello again). The top was tried on for final fit adjustments and a couple seams were adjusted. Narrow elastic was added to the back bottom edge, learned from the stretchy top done a month or so ago. Topstitching was done on all edges to keep the lining from showing, learned from having made the same pattern many moons ago for my first belly dance show in Tennessee. Three sets of small hooks and eyes were added to the inside front edges, and the two decorative filigree clasps on the outer front. And it’s done. It took two shifts – the morning shift got a lot done, but when mistakes and frustration began creeping in it was time to set it aside and do something else.

 

Done!

A break was taken with a trip to the wet world outside. The quest was fruit for a salad for Sunday, and the initial plan was to go to Aldi, and if I didn’t find everything I wanted there, I would go to WalMart. I took a premature turn and ended up at WalMart first. It was crowded, but I found a parking spot and went in, dodging the raindrops.

I breezed through the produce and then checked the craft aisle for a scissor sharpener I saw Friday at another store, didn’t buy, and regretted during the morning sewing session when my scissors were not behaving. No scissor sharpener. I returned to the produce department and got pineapple, mango, and cantaloupe.  I interacted with people in the checkout line, so it wasn’t a totally antisocial day. When I headed back to the car it was raining more assertively than when I went in and the decision to not take an umbrella or even a hat was regretted. A dude in a tiny red car nearly ran me over as he backed out of a parking spot. That was fun. My hand were full so I couldn't even flip off the driver.

At Aldi, I got green grapes and some veggies that I knew would cost less than the prices I saw at WalMart, and then splurged on a gigantic refrigerated five cheese pizza. It was so big, it hung off the edges of my pizza pan. It was a good $5 expenditure and a great supper. For a rainy, crappy day it had some bright spots with good food and the completion of a task. Now it’s time to assess the remaining costume needs and wrap it up. There are other non-dance related projects in the queue that need attention.