fire and rain
April 14, 2014

Feeling kinda weirdly unwell today; minor tummy troubles, sleepy, a kind of mild shakiness. Bleah.

So. Life.

Well--my next-door neighbor Mary's house caught fire on Wednesday (04-10-14). She was rescued by another neighbor, whose son noticed the smoke. She was airlifted to Milwaukee and was in critical condition with severe smoke inhalation, the last I heard. I wish I could get more info.

I don't know how it started. The fire itself was minor and the KFD put it out with an extinguisher. Spouse sent me pics at work of all the fire equipment, hoses going across our lawn, etc. Spouse said he was in the back of the house when it sounded like all hell had broken loose out front, and when he looked out the picture window, three squad cars, three fire trucks and an ambulance were out there. She was the only one home, I guess. Her two German Shepherds were in the backyard at the time, so they are okay.

Niece turned 21 on Saturday. She had a big blowout at the restaurant & bar where she has worked since she was 12. Auntie was not best pleased to watch her get incredibly drunk. I can't believe her mom sat right there and let her get that bad. We stayed long enough to see Nephew, who came late because he was rnning the pizza joint. And to hear my ex SIL, whom I have known for 25 years, break out the most amazing singing voice. Never knew that about her. But when she thepped up to the karaoke machine & did a duet with Niece, it blew me away.

I drove home, because Spouse had three drinks and decided to err on the side of caution. I had my limit--about 1.5 drinks (Angry Orchard Crisp Apple), but stopped drinking early, as I usually do. It works out well in situations where we are surrounded by dedicated drinkers--I have a good excuse to stop, and Spouse has the option to keep going if he would like.

It was nice lovely out when I got home on Friday; a nearly perfect spring day. The B decided that we would be taking a walk as soon as I got home--he didn't even want to let me sit down! Straight to the closet where his leash is kept. After taking him on a nice jaunt around the neighborhood, I came home and had a sandwich, then Spouse and I ran up to Sam's to fill the car up and do some shopping. They had fantastic strawberries, blackberries, and red raspberries on sale, so I bought a container of each. After we finished at Sam's, I still had quite a bit of time before my 3:00 hair appointment, so we made a quick run to Festival and then headed home to put things away. I still got to the salon early! So I was out of there by 20 after 3, brows waxed and hair cut. When I got home, I decided I wanted to take a lie-down, read and rest for a while. While I was napping, Spouse got going on dinner--he grilled a couple of small strip steaks, baked potatoes, and garlic bread on the gas grill, and made tossed salad to go with. Dessert was angel cake and lots of those fantastic berries!

Then the weather proceeded to turn nasty for the weekend; cool and dreary, intermittently stormy, and generally bleagh. We did a little running around Saturday and Sunday, but not too much. The Zion Wal-mart, the GFS, checked out the new Family Dollar that just opened, back to Festival on Sunday to pick up our Easter ham. (The new ads come out on Sunday, and his favorite ham went on sale.)

I didn't have a ton of housework to do; Spouse had been on the receiving end of a lecture about pulling his weight on Thursday, so he got his ass in gear Friday morning after I left for work. He washed, dried, & put away the towels and all of his dirty laundry--plus vacuuming, dusting, dishes, and cleaning the bathroom. So all I had was some stuff in the kitchen (cleaned the sink, the drainer & drainboard, the fridge, the control panel on the oven, and the floor), and washing up my own clothes. I had a delicious rainy Saturday afternoon, reading, sipping coffee, and collecting vintage reading material via Google Books. Then we went to the party on Saturday night.

Yesterday, Spouse roasted a chicken for dinner, with oven-roasted glazed carrots, and homemade stuffing. It was great, but when I was picking the chicken off the bones to put it away, I got to thinking that the carcass had some mileage in it yet, and would make some very good soup. So before we started the dishes, I got a stockpot going.

Now, both of us are very concientious dish-doers. But between the breakfast dishes, the fridge-cleaning dishes, the dinner prep dishes, the dinner dishes, and the stock-making dishes, we both felt like we had spent the entire day as scullery maids. It was 8:00 before I finally got the stock put away and the last of the mess cleared up. Whew! Dang, I wish I could have a dishwasher.

BUT. Tonight's dinner was delicious homemade chicken soup. I was going to do egg noodles, but Spouse expressed a preference for orzo. No biggie. Lots of carrots, onion, celery, rice, and chicken bits in rich broth, perfect for the cold, dark, and rainy weather.

Now some biggish news: Spouse got offered a job. He has to go and pick up paperwork and schedule his drug test, but they are formally tendering a written offer. Good pay and good hours, in his field, and near home. Ohpleaseohpleaseohpleaseohpleaseohplease let this one work out!