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July 4th weekendish
July 06, 2015
Wednesday, I placed another order to Goulet Pen Co. Somebody posted to the forum I belong to that they were having a BOGO sale, and if I ordered any one Jin-Hao pen, I could get an X750 in "shimmering sands" for free. Seemed like a pretty good deal, so I ordered the orange 159, the free X750, and--since they were on sale too--a few more ink samples. (Pelikan 4001 turquoise, purple, and green, Rohrer & Klingner Blue Mare and Verdura). I got all that, with USPS Priority shipping, for $25.40.
After we got home Thursday, we cleaned up the yard, watered flowers, and set up the lawn furniture. I got a message from Costco that my sunglasses were in, but decided to wait until both pairs were there before picking them up. We just ran to Meijer to get the grocery shopping done for the weekend. Came home and had frozen pizza for dinner.
We both had Friday off--the weather was lovely, so we started the day with coffee and cinnamon rolls in the back yard, and then I started some laundry, got cleaned up, and we went to Lowe's, because Spouse had decided we needed a new gas grill. We got a nice, small-space Char Broil in stainless steel, plus a cover for it and a new brush. The discount Spouse got for being a vet covered the cost of the $30.00 cover. (We put the old one on the curb, and it didn't last 5 minutes before the scrappers had picked it up.)
We came home and I made some paletas from Trader Joe's organic ginger-pear white tea mixed with fresh cherries and raspberries (which turned out quite nicely), while he assembled the new grill. In the afternoon, we took a nice siesta--which was interrupted by another call from Costco Optical, to let me know my other pair of glasses had artrived. So we got up and went over to get them fitted--and of course, Spouse had to do some more shopping! I was advised not to start wearing them till next morning, though--because of the big Rx change.
When we got home, I tossed a salad and threw some basmati in the rice cooker, while Spouse grilled chicken kebabs to innaugurate his new grill, for a lovely summer meal.
Spouse and I had made a vow that we wouldn't set foot off the property on the 4th, so we just pottered around the place, relaxing, working on small projects, and pottering through chores.
Because I had been advised not to start wearing the new specs till Saturday, I failed to notice that the lenses in the regular pair were very loose, and the lenses in the sunglasses had not been rolled and polished. When I figured that out Saturday morning, I was kind of pissed. But I just put my old ones back on, and resolved to take them back. Costco is closed on the 4th, so I decided to wait till Monday to deal with them.
Since the morning weather was so nice, I again enjoyed breakfast al fresco--coffee and raspberry danish, then puttered around dead-heading and watering the flowers. We pulled together to mow the back yard, and Spouse stayed out to work on a project while I went in to work on the laundry some more. Spouse had decided to give Niece the little propane travel grill we have (we've used it ONCE in 3 years, so it was fine with me!), so he took it apart, gave it a thorough cleaning, and left it to dry on the porch before putting it all back together.
Since one of my to-dos for the weekend was to give the bathroom a thorough scrubbing, I started with the shower and tub before we got cleaned up for the day. Gave it a thorough scrubbing and rinse, which was enough bathroom cleaning for one day.
More reading and naps on Saturday afternoon, before getting up and having a leisurely drink, then enjoying steak, baked potatoes, and sweet corn--all done to perfection on the new grill.
I stayed up till almost midnight, vainly hoping that we could get to a point where B would come out of the bedroom closet and go out to potty. But the huge explosions and heavy drifts of smoke from the idiocracy's celebrations had him terrified. It was seriously like a war zone out there--it had me feeling a little spooked myself. I finally gave up and went to bed.
On Sunday, we all got up feeling groggy from the shitty sleep we'd had, but resolved to plow forward into the day. I had my coffee out of-doors once again (what a miracle to be able to enjoy that three days running!), and spouse took the leftover steak from the night before and whipped up a tasty skillet breakfast of steak, eggs, & potatoes, with toast. Spouse set to working on getting the pool opened, while I cleaned the kitchen, finished scrubbing the rest of the bathroom, straightened up my bedroom, and got the last of the laundry finished. (I had more cleaning to do, but frankly, I was too lazy to do it. If there's one thing I've learned over 45 years of doing the cleaning, it's that dust will wait for you!)
Niece came into town about lunchtime to pick up her grill. I threw in a basic set of grill tools I never use, and a Bic grill lighter. Spouse had 2 1/2 tanks of gas for it, so she was all ready to go!) and have a visit. She noshed out of our fridge a little, then headed out--she was between the first & second halves of a double shift at the restaurant, so she couldn't stay long.
At the risk of sounding like a broken record--I spent the afternoon napping again. Yes, I'm starting to wonder again about my need to sleep all the time! (In fairness, though--I didn't get much rest to speak of the night before.)
Spouse left me alone till dinner, and I slept pretty much all afternoon. Dinner was grilled Italian sausage, with mostacioli marinara, a tossed salad, and garlic bread. Spouse finished it off with ice cream, and I had my homemade paletas for afters. Then I once again did the dishes, and ran through my usual routine of getting ready for work, before watching a couple of old episodes of "Mock the Week", and playing word games until bedtime.
Today:
Back to work, took glasses back (and was less-than-thrilled with their customer service again), new pens and inks came. Love the X750, the159 is HUGE, and I'm totally head over heels with the R & K Blu Mare.
Listening: NPR coverage of the last Supreme Court session and of the Greek monetary crisis. (Not feeling much like listening to music.)
Reading: Still going back through some JCL--"Fair Harbor" (1922), by Joseph Crosby Lincoln"
Inked Up: Pilot Metropolitan (Violet Leopard), medium nib, with Pilot Namiki Purple (cartridge)
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