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Easter Weekend 2015
April 06, 2015
Spouse had Good Friday off--I never do, because it's a half-day anyway. So I took the Ford to work, and he dropped the Buick at the mechanic to get the transmission serviced. The mechanic drove him home, and he took the PT out to the DMV and got a copy of the cleared title, so it would be all ready to sell. He'd already had several low-ball offers, but felt certain that someone would meet his price.
When I got off of work, we ran some errands, had lunch at Culver's, then picked up the Buick and and came home. I worked on the laundry, then dyed a dozen eggs that I'd boiled the night before. While they dried, I had a lie-down with a book which segued into a nap.
Spouse had a plan for dinner--he made Italian Beef in the pressure cooker. He used a rump roast, and a recipe he found on line that purported to be a knock-off of Portillo's. He did tweak it slightly so it was less salty, and added a few cloves of fresh garlic--
Ho. Ly. SHIT.
It was fabulous. On fresh Italian bakery bread, with a slice of provolone from Steve's Cheese...it was absolutely, hands-down, no two ways about it--the BEST Italian beef sandwich I have had in abouut 35 years of eating beef bombers. I'm telling you--this thing was a religious experience. I could not have been more impressed at what came out of that pot.
We were still talking about it on Saturday morning. Smelling it, too--that is a downside of the pressure cooker. You get a very intense aroma of whatever you are cooking pervading your house.
On Saturday, we decided to take a ride down to the northern suburbs and pick up a few seasonal goodies. We had breakfast at a very nice Greek coffee shop in Niles (the Omega), then went to Meijer. Got a lot of lovely produce and a few other good buys, but alas--they are not carrying the Kosher for Passover Coke this year. Fortunately, the Coke rep was there stocking, and was able to tell us where we could get some (The Mariano's on Golf & Waukegan). After Meijer, we stopped at the Niles Polish Deli on Milwaukee Avenue for smoked kielbasa Polish rye bread, and some chrusciki, then looped around to Waukegan Road and headed to Mariano's for the Coke. Spouse had promised a couple of bottles to a co-worker, and got 12 liters for us. Then Golf to the tollway and got back home by noon.
After we put away all the shopping and I got the laundry finished, I got a little crafty, and made a spring silk flower arrangement as a centerpiece for the dining room table. Yellow tulips and white lilacs in a cheery green tin flower can, with a yellow pompom bow and a little green and yellow bird peeping out of the foliage. I felt a need fore something cheery, and I already had the supplies for it. Only took a few minutes, but it did lift my spirits.
Once that was done, I made the dessert for Sunday. Desserts, plural, actually. I wanted a coconut cake. He doesn't like coconut cake. So I mixed up a yellow cake batter, made a dozen cupcakes, and use the other half to make a small coconut cake. I frosted his with homemade chocolate buttercream, and made a coconut buttercream with coconut flakes for mine--decorated with jellybeans, of course! And we were both pretty happy with the results!
While I tended to the baking, Spouse was busy, too. First, he called Auntie & Dad in Phoenix to wish them a Happy Easter, then--he sold the PT! Bye, Bye, Retro-Rocket...he got his price for the old girl, and off she went. Back down to only two silver cars!
Once I got all the frosting made and applied, and the mess cleared up, I was kind of beat, so I relaxed and read for the rest of the afternoon. Got up at five and asked Spouse what he wanted for dinner, but I was pretty sure before I asked he was going to want his mom's traditional Holy Saturday supper--kielbasa, hard-boiled eggs, and buttered rye bread (hear that? It was my arteries closing up). He couldn't wait, so he got into the cupcakes straight away. I had a Milky Way Simply Caramel bunny rabbit for dessert.
I got up about 6:00 on Sunday, and had coffee and toast for breakfast, before spending about two hours doing some serious house-cleaning. I know, not a very holiday-like thing to do. But heck--I have a full-time job, a long commute, and no kids, grandkids, or god. Easter is pretty meaningless--but Sunday is a good day to catch up!
Besides, pitching into it made me feel better. I needed perking up. With spring, I find myself missing my mother terribly. Easter was harder than Christmas for me; Christmas was usually a nightmare at our house, but Easter was always a joy.
She was always happier in the springtime. Easter was enough of a holiday to be special and have fun with, without being the huge time-and-money-suck Christmas was. When I picture my best mental image of my mom, it's always in the spring. Gardening, decorating, putting together Easter baskets, making me a new dress--she was even cool about egg-dying messes. It was just her time. Well, she was born in the spring.
Anyway--I swept, scrubbed, and mopped the kitchen floor, picked up and put away about 50 dog toys, de-cluttered all the flat surfaces that were piled up with stuff, did a furniture-moving vacuuming and dusting of the living room, cleaned the cold-air returns, changed the B's couch-blanket out for a clean one, and ran the dirty one through the wash. I was sweaty and tired by the time I'd finished, but pitching into it made me feel better. Nothing like a good bout of cleaning to perk one up and give one a feeling of accomplishment.
After I'd cooled down a bit, I showered and through on sweats and a tee shirt, then we ran up to Wal-Mart to buy a new shredder and a few things we needed around the house. I picked up a really great box for storing my pens, too--it's a Vaultz locking pencil box, in electric blue. Room enough for all my pens, and made so they don't roll around. It was $9.97, and Spouse actually recommended I get it. He's surprisingly cool about my pen fetish.
We stopped and filled up the Buick, stopped at the ATM for a little cash, and went home--I had some lunch and a rest, he shredded the box full of old records he'd cleaned out of the files. And then he made Easter dinner. Not one of his culinary adventrures, thought. Holiday menus are very traditional for him. Baked ham all decorated with cloves, pineapple and maraschino cherries, mashed potatoes, Green Giant baby peas in butter sauce, and crescent rolls. With the exception of not using a Krakus Polish canned ham, it was straight out of his childhood. And that's fine. Can't really point fingers on that score--I'm the one who had to have a coconut cake decorated with Brach's Jelly Bird Eggs jellybeans! (Which came out marvelous, by the way.)
Since Spouse made dinner, I shooed him out of the kitchen and did the dishes and cleaning up myself. Then we watched part of that Scientology documentary on HBO, "Going Clear". Fascinating stuff. Scary what methods humans come up with to prey on other humans.
He was feeling a bit punk, so he went to bed and we will finish watching it together when he feels better. I got my stuff ready for Monday morning, and headed to bed about 9:30.
I recorded Mad Men; I'd hit my TV limit for the eveining on the HBO thing. If it wasn't for the sense of completion, I wouldn't even be bothering with this last 1/2 season. I don't have much empathy with any of the characters anymore (except Sally, I guess), and it feels more like a chore than a pleasure. But. I've seen every episode except for one (episode 4/13: Tomorrowland), which I intentionally skipped. So I guess I'll keep going to the end.
I had fully intended to do my sewing project this weekend, but I was busy, and--confession time--I am totally petrified by that sewing machine. Truly. I kind of wish I hadn't bought my mom such a complicated machine! I find myself so intimidated by it that I just can't get started. I'm getting timid in my old age, I guess. I never thought that the mere idea of winding a bobbin or sewing a seam would give me a paralyzing lack of confidence. I need somebody to give me a good, hard push, I guess.
ETA: After I wrote this, I finally got the courage up and pulled out mom's machine, cleaned it up, got ready to plug it in...and realized I don't have the power cord! Talk about an anti- climax.
I have to start exercising every day--the spring health & fitness activity at work started today. As usual, compliance is voluntary, but counts towards health insurance premium reduction. This one is pretty liberal--30 to 90 minutes of activity a day, and the list of allowed activity includes lawn and garden work, housework, and home maintenance. So I actually don't mind too much. I did 20 minutes on the treadmill this morning, and did more housework (cleaning the bathroom) when I got home from work, so I have a solid 40 minutes my first day. I think it's do-able, it helps pay premiums, and maybe it will even improve my quality of life.
I just wish I could get over my stupid shitty brain going all "I'm exhausted!" at the mere thought of exercise. It's a bad habit and a knee-jerk reaction, it's a remnant of depressed thinking, and I will be fine if I just get in there and start. Plus, the fact that I can count my spring-cleaning as exercise minutes means I can kill two birds with one stone, which makes it more manageable. I can do it. I know I can do it. My intellect knows it will be good for me and make me feel better. My body wants it, my brain wants it--it's just my mental illness that's against it. And damn it, I'm getting sick of that thing running my life.
Reading :
"A Damaged Reputation" (1908), by Harold Bindloss
Listening :
I thought about listening to something today—but thought better of it. Just enjoying whatever quiet I can get.
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