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ink-dependence days
July 05, 2016
I began and ended the holiday weekend by luxuriously indulging in my hobby for the first
time in a while. On Friday afternoon, I clleaned out some pens that I'd written dry so I could
put them away, cleaned out and inked the new pen that arrived on my doorstep Friday, and
took another shot at trying to get the Noodler's Konrad to write. Still no luck there. I'm afraid
it is hopeless. Even if it does have a mysterious, as-yet-undiscovered sweet spot where it will
miraculously function (which I seriously doubt) I have no patience for such a finicky pen.
Especially one that smells as unpleasant as that one.
The new Levenger Facets is anything BUT a disappointment, though. I adore it. It's big
enough, but not too big, has a fat enough grip for my hand, posts well and is well-balanced
with or without posting. A levenger Fine is as fat as most mediums, but it is butter smooth
and lovely to use.
I did order two of these, but I made the big sacrifice and gave the Olive one to my bestie T
for her 50th birthday gift. She was enamored of it immediately. I also slipped in one of
Spouse's 3-D printed pen holders, a pack of cartridges, and a 6mm sample bottle full of
Pelikan Brilliant Green so she could start playing with it right away.
And I ended the weekend by sending in a Jetpens order for a couple of shorties: The Ohto
Tasche in pink, and the Jetpens-branded Chibi 2 Mini Fountain Pen. The latter was only three
bucks, and it's a cute little demonstrator cartridge pen that I couldn't resist. It's only 5.4
inches, posted! And the Ohto Tasche is only 5.7. (I just had to have some mini pens in my
collection--I hope they aren't too small for me!) Plus I got some cartridges for them--Pelikan
pink for the Tasche and J. Herbin Orange Indien for the Chibi.
Hey. No guilt. I won a nice chunk of change in Reno--why shouldn't I indulge moderately?
Total up both orders and shipping, and I'm still under $75.00--for four pens and two packs of
ink cartridges!
So anyway. Friday afternoon was napping and pends and making a nice dinner of grilled BBQ
pork chops, baked potatoes and salad. Neither of us felt like eating out, and we were both
worn out from the week. And weather was gorgeous--sunny, seventies, and breezy with low
humidity. So a perfect time for a modest cookout.
Saturday, we got up and running--lots of running around to do. First, of course, we had go to
Palmen and pick up the car Spouse bought on Thursday evening.
Did I mention Spouse bought a car on Thursday evening? He picked me up after work and
we went to look at a 2005 Chevy Malibu they had for sale. We test drove it, and he ended up
buying it for cash. (It really kills that man to have any money in a savings account. Sigh.)
It's a decent car, we got a decent price, he traded in the Ford so we don't have to deal with
getting rid of that...plus, they gave us "a trunkful of pop" (FORTY 2-liter bottles of soda!), and
we got to "spin the wheel" for a prize--Spouse spun, and landed on the one he wanted--a $100
gas card. Not the biggest prize, but certainly the most useful for him--he doesn't need a grill or
a TV. Personally, I could have lived without all the pop, and been happy with the $40-$50
bucks it would cost retail. But there ya go.
What was that? What color is it, you ask? Oh, don't be stupid. SILVER, of course! Is there
any other?!
So we picked up the car, and went running around getting the shopping done and out of the
way. I had to pick up a fruit tray for T's birthday party, plus a card and some wrapping paper
for her gift. We also donated twelve of the soda bottles to the party as well, since that saved T
the expense and hassle of picking it up herself. Once we were home, I put away the groceries,
worked on the laundry, and we just played lazy for awhile. Spouse read, and I got the present
done up then did my nails. (Speaking of which--MY GOD they are crazy. I definitely believe
in the B-12/Biotin for hair and nails now.) We both dozed a bit, as well. Then Spouse went
out and enjoyed a cigar while getting his new vehicle up to his standard. He restored the
headlights, tightened screws, adjusted things, cleaned things, set up his stereo settings, etc.
Made it his own.
I took off for T's birthday party about 6:15; laden with 24 liters of RC, Squirt, Dr. Pepper,
Ginger Ale, and 7-Up, the wrapped gift/card, W&T's souvenirs from Lake Tahoe, and a 4-lb
fruit tray. Stayed about three hours, had a nice dinner, visited with W, T, and Voo, plus some
other folks I knew to one extent or another. It was a pretty good party, I thought--
considering that they had it with only a couple weeks' notice, on a holiday weekend, it was an
amazingly good turnout.
I didn't stay too late; we had a lot of stuff we wanted to get done on Sunday, and I wanted to
get home and unwind so I could sleep.
Sunday morning, Spouse made a delicious breakfast of pancakes and sausage, and he even did
up all the dishes, bless his heart. Then he headed out to work in the yard, and I tackled the
bathroom--in-depth, scrubbing and disinfecting it top-to-bottom, shiny-bright like a new
penny. when that was done, I got washed up and put on my suit, so I could get in the pool
and vacuum out the sand mess & pump out the excess water at the same time. Spouse was
finishing up his chores; he had mown the lawns, trimmed, blown off the walkways, treated the
roses, and flushed out the downspouts. We had decided to chuck the old solar blanket & pick
up a new one, so we got that off, hooked up the hoses & vacuum, and prepared to get to
work.
And then the old backwash hose promptly went and exploded, putting a halt to the project.
So change of plans: Spouse went in to shower and dress while I watered the flowers, then
threw on shorts and a teeshirt over my suit, slipped on my Toms, and we went to the pool
store to get the new cover and a new backwash hose. And like an idiot, I completely spaced
grabbing a water sample to have tested, but oh, well. I was flustered. We stopped at Meijer to
pick up a few other items Spouse wanted for projects and for dinner, then we went back
home and started over.
I was able to get pretty much all of the sand up, and gave the pool a good vacuuming and
skimming, which it was desperately needing. Then I swam a little, but had to come in because
I was starting to burn a bit.
We relaxed in the afternoon, I geeked out on my vintage advertising project, and Spouse took
another shot at making it through his library book before the download expired. We both
dozed a little, though. I'd planned on working on the pool more after the sun was low, but
frankly, I was too tired, and just left everything the way it was till Monday.
Spouse made a great dinner; Hawaiian BBQ spare ribs with Basmati rice and fresh sweet corn.
Ad after we cleaned up, we both got lazy again. We closed up the house &turned the air on to
try and reduce the noise and smell of fireworks, because the B just cannot cope. The
fireworks situation in this town is ridiculous--I swear there is someone in our neighborhood
who is firing a freaking CANNON. Poor dog can't eat, can't sleep, and can barely bring
himself to crawl out of the closet. I HATE fireworks.
Monday was supposed to be a lazy day. Spouse ran out early and picked up danish for
breakfast, and I took a refreshingly brisk morning swim. But as I started to get dressed--THE
MOOD came upon me. The mood that allows you to clean out closets and pitch or donate
bag after bag of crap you don't want in your life. So I slipped back into my nightie, and went
nuts. I ended up with 3 huge black garbage bags of stuff to go to goodwill--pursed, shoes, and
clothes. Plus two more huge bags full of trash.
I also ended up with a LOT more room in the closet, and was able to roll my luggage into the
bottom very neatly. HAPPINESS! And a little closer to being ready for my houseguest.
After all that, I needed another shower, so I got cleaned up again, dressed, and we ran out to
drop the donation bags at the Goodwill, grab some lunch at White Castle, and fill up and wash
the Buick. Then we came home and I finished up some remnants of the laundry, tidied the
pool area up, put the new solar cover on, and we all had a light snooze before getting up and
having a cold sandwich for dinner.
That was pretty much the whole holiday weekend, right there. As you can tell, I still need
naps, but the thing is--they are NAPS, now. Short, light snoozes--not near-comas. And I have
the energy to get more stuff done, which is always a blessing.
Reading: I'm dipping in and out of a number of things at the moment. I am in the middle of "The Brownie Scouts and Their Tree House" (1951), by Mildred A. Wirt, Busman's Honeymoon (for the gazillion and first time), and “The Dangerous Tavern”, by Wadsworth Camp, which I found in the July 24th, 1920 issue of Collier's Magazine, when I was harvesting vintage ads.
Listening: Dire Straits, Joe Jackson, The Knack. When cleaning out my one of the purses I sent to donation, I found my little cheapie RCA mp3 player with the built in USB plug, so I think I'll pop a new battery into it and load up some new stuff for the car.
Inked Up: The Sheaffer Javelin with blue/black, and the Conklin Duragraph with brilliant brown are pretty much my EDC pens, I guess. Plus I'm packing the new Levenger Facets with R&K Blu Mare, of course. And there is Monteverde Burgundy in the Konrad, for all the good that does.
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