|
navigation
current
archives
links page
profile
|
|
51
October 13, 2014, 5:13 P.M.
Hey, whyme...what did you get for your 51st birthday?
My period. (ba-dump-bump.)
For the first time in four months. (ba-dump-bump TISH!)
And a dozen yellow roses from Spouse--on the day BEFORE my birthday, naturally. No matter how much I would prefer carnations on the 7th to roses on the 6th, or the 8th, or whenever. But--this is so much the norm that I don't even know why I mention it.
So. I took some time off, and spent the first couple days mostly just relaxing and coddling my bad knee. Sat on my heinie with my feet up, took pain medicine and did squat. When I wasn't getting a mammogram, or a flu shot, or running errands, or making dinners, or tracking down a banana cream pie because Spouse preferred that to a birthday cake.
Then, come Thursday, I cleaned out under the kitchen sink, did some laundry, and puttered around the house a bit.
Friday was a little crazy, because of Nephew's wedding. That took up from early afternoon till late evening. It was lovely, Spouse did an excellent job of officiating, and the food was good. The kids seemed to be very pleased at how it all came off.
Saturday was busy, with breakfast out, errands to run, and replacing the kitchen faucet (I guess they just don't last more than a few years anymore--Spouse did it Labor Day weekend of 2008, and by Labor Day this year, it had acquired an incurable drip. We went a little different this time--a Pfister instead of a Moen, a two-handle instead of a single lever, and a rather elegant gooseneck style. So far, I love it. WAY much more room to maneuver, and I was worried about the two-handle bit but really? I'm usually either using the hot or the cold--I really don't blend it much! And it is just a very high-quality faucet all around. We decided againt the nickel finish, though, because we didn't think it was worth an extra $20 just for that. We ended up spending that $20 anyway, though--we had to get a new water filter. Turns out the new tap has an exterior thread, and we hadn't kept the adaptors from the last time we got a filter. The other one wasn't that old, and I wanted to just grab the adaptor and put the new one on the shelf, because we'd eventually need it. But Spouse figured to go all-new and do it up right.
And we also stopped at the jewelry store to pick up the two rings I had resized--and now I can wear my mom's beautiful ring made from Mom and Grandma's wedding sets! They were able to fix it without a re-shanking, and it looks phenomenal. I'm so glad! They also sized up the 5-diamond band, so I'll be wearing that one soon, too.
After we got everything done and back together, Spouse took a nap, and I relaxed a bit before hitting the kitchen and making a small pan of lasagne for dinner. Spouse had a craving, so I said what the heck, and made a dandy, with two meats (sausage & ground beef) and three cheeses (mozz, prov, parm). We have downsized our lasagne in the last few years; a 9x13 pan is just too much. So I do 8x8 now. Four generous servings, so it lasts two meals--and a half-pan just fits into a disposable loaf pan, so I can freeze it if I want, and it is a breeze to re-heat, with no pan to wash. I didn't freeze it this time, because we planned it out to have half on Saturday, make BBQ pork ribs on Sunday, and then have the rest of the lasagne for Monday dinner. Salad, garlic toast, and honeycrisp apples with caramel dip for dessert.
On Sunday, we got up about 7:00, and I started laundry while Spouse made a delicious breakfast of eggs over, bacon, hash browns, and toast. Then he went to the hardware store for something he'd forgotten while cleaned up the kitchen. Once he got home, we jumped right into the project of the day: closing the pool. It went pretty well--nobody killed anybody. I kid--we actually had a fairly easy time--it was a splendidly sparkly fall morning, and although it was a teensy bit breezy, we managed to get it all done without any complications.
And since it was such a nice day, I decided to keep going, and dismantled my contemplation garden. I got all the ornamental stuff--gazing ball, chimes, stepping stones, lights, fencing, planter and birdbath--cleaned up and stowed safely in the basement, and nothing remains out there but the edging, the mulch, and the three dish gardens which are still blooming attractively enough that I couldn't bring myself to chuck them. I am sooo relieved to have that all done for the season! I just about did me in to get it all taken care of in one shot, but I seized my chance and hammered through.
And then I came in, got cleaned up, finished my second load of wash, baked a pan of brownies, and all of that was just by lunchtime!! Understandably, I relaxed in the afternoon, reading and playing my word games.. A good division of labor for the dinner prep--I baked the brownies for dessert and made the salads, and Spouse did the ribs and the fries. And then we shared dish duty, and went back to relaxing and basking in the afterglow of a productive day.
Today, I went back to the office and was terribly unproductive for 8 hours. And since dinner tonight is leftover lasagne, I figured I'd hammer out a quick journal entry. And then I realized I'm like a month behind on actually posting what I wrote again, so I decided to do that, too.
Reading: �The Splendid Folly� (1921), by Margaret Pedler
Listening: Bruce Springsteen, Lorde, Shawn Colvin, Anna Nalick, R.E.M.
At Random:
click here
|
|