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a rather shoppy weekend
February 13, 2017, 7:29 P.M.
Friday, what a day. Work nightmares (tons of my own stuff, which has to go
begging because the only day my co-worker showed up all week was the day I was
out, and her stuff has to be dealt with immediately), traffic nightmares--seriously.
I'm noticing that suddenly the bad days are shifting from Tuesday & Thursday to
M/W/F. Every foot we drove from 5:10 am to 8:00 pm, from Mount Prospect
to NW Racine, was bumper-to-bumper. Loads of accidents, too. And the piece-
of-shit cube van in the lane next to me with the exploding tire? He nearly gave
me a stroke on the way home from the office.
Lunch was a salad from Fresh Thyme, which was a traffic jam inside AND out.
Salad was great, though. I am sooo happy that they finally opened. Got home to
a dog who was gassy and tummy-sick, so I went napless, in order to mind the
door for his frequent trips outside. I was rather relieved when his medicine
kicked in finally, but by then it was too late to catch any zzzzs.
Spouse made reservations for dinner at Roma Lodge in Racine, which was
enjoyable as always--if fattening. Killer cheese raviolis, and intensely good Italian
bread with butter? Yeah, I'm not stopping at half of what's in front of me. On
the way home, we fought more traffic, stopped for a little shopping at Fresh
Thyme, and came home.
Saturday, got up about 6 and started laundry and chores. We went out to
breakfast at Tommy's before running a few errands--Meijer for dog food and a
few odd groceries, gas at the Kwik-Trip, and Spouse had to go downtown for a
fitting at the menswear store. Then we ran out to Menard's on a whim--I wanted
to see if I could find a small, cheap microwave because I am really just super-tired
of not having one. (Plus, Spouse and I both have a weird passion for Brach's
Jube-Jel cherry hearts. Only available at Valentine's, and very hard to find. But
Menard's--a home improvement store--usually has them. SCORE.)
I did find the microwave--they have a .7 cubic foot, 700 watt one for $49.00--but
I hadn't expected to find one so quickly, so I wasn't prepared to buy it till next
week. So I'll stop in there on payday and get one. I'll probably set it up on the
shelf at the bottom of the stairs; I don't really have a place to put it in the kitchen
or the dining room (yet). As long as I have one, I don't really mind if I have to
run downstairs to heat something up.
After we got done with the running around, we came home and I hit the laundry
hard again, getting it nearly all done (got the last load into the dryer). Spouse and
I relaxed and read in the afternoon, as is our wont on winter Saturdays.
I'd gotten a Google Books credit good for $5 off any book over $5, so I finally
bought myself the latest Lord Peter Wimsey book ("The Late Scholar")by Jill
Paton Walsh. And then Google said thank you with a $3 credit, so I bought
"Thrones, Dominations"! I have, of course read that one before, but my
hardcover copy is coming apart, so I popped for the e-book. Basically, got two
books for $10.52, so it was definitely worth it. Then I decided to start with
"Thrones", because I really needed to spend some time with my favorite fictional
newlyweds. I already have the ebook of "The Attenbury Emeralds", so all I need
to complete the set of Sayers-Walsh novels is "Presumption of Death".
Spouse and I made dinner; pasta again, because we both felt like chicken
parmesan. It came out beautifully; Spouse made the breading by toasting panko,
then mixing it with oregano, basil, garlic, and finely grated parmesan cheese. He
pounded out chicken tenders, then salted and peppered the chicken, breaded it
with flour, egg wash, and the breadcrumb mixture, and baked them at 400 on a
cookie sheet coated with olive oil, turning them halfway. Added some freshly
grated mozzarella at the end, and served with mini-penne and a nice marinara
sauce. In case you were wondering--my contribution was grating cheeses, making
a salad, and doing dishes. I don't mind--he did such a perfect job on the chicken,
I was glad I left it all to him!
We had a quiet evening--watching an old movie we both enjoy, (Gung-Ho!) and
doing a little online shopping for this and that. Spouse has decided to start
looking for some comfortable swim trunks.
And I have been looking for some kind of snoring remedy, and was trying to find
out if the mouth appliances would work for me. Apparently not; there are two
types, and one doesn't work if you have missiong teeth, the other doesn't work if
you have TMJ. Then I looked at a product called "Theravent", which you stick
on over your nostrils and it works as an epap device. Pricey, and they are a one-
time use thing, since they stick on rather like a bandaid. But they have a sample 6
-pack so you can try them out before committing to a larger purchase, so I
ordered one.
We'll see how it goes; I'll try them over a weekend, and sleep in Spouse's room to
see if they work. He's going to have to be the one who decides that; I will be
asleep! I'm mainly looking to find something that will allow us to sleep in the
same cabin on the cruise, anyway.
More than the minimum, Sunday morning edition:
Got up about 6 again on Sunday. In the interests of trying to be a functional
human being, despite my stupid effing depression... I completely cleaned out the
fridge & freezer, emptied wastebaskets, and put the trash out. By then Spouse
was up, and I helped him turn scraps of ham, baked potato, and cheddar cheese
into a respectable breakfast bake, then washed, dried, & put away all resultant
dishes from those endeavors.
After that, I did the usual weekly kitchen cleaning (sink scoured, counters
scrubbed, floor cleaned), and folded the last load (of five) from Saturday's
laundry. Then, while he got showered and dressed, I called my Dad for a chat.
After I got showered and dressed, we were kind of bored and restless, so went to
Burlington (Coat Factory, as was) and we actually had a rather good time poking
around looking at stuff. Spouse didn't find anything he wanted, but I managed to
find 2 tops, a very cute black cardigan, a leather wallet, and a new suitcase (to
replace the perfect-sized check bag that Southwest busted up a year ago when I
went to Phoenix). All that for $110, so not too bad. It broke down thusly:
wallet-$9.99, red Rafaella knit tunic top-$9.99, Chaps blue print tunic top-$14.99,
Rafaella knit cardigan-$17.99, and silver-grey soft-side Samsonite suitcase-$49.99.
the suitcase is REALLY nice--and quite a bargain, considering that the exact same
bag is running between $150 and $180 at online luggage stores, and even at
Burlington, it was $20 cheaper than other bags just like it. (Sure, it's missing the
"suiter" insert, but frankly, that's something I'm more than happy to forego if I
can get a 25-inch Samsonite spinner bag for fifty bucks!)
Since I got unexpectedly spendy, I was glad I decided to wait on the microwave!
After that, we drove over to the gas station so Spouse could check the air in the
tires on the Impala, then headed home. He and the B took a nap, but I just
fiddled around on my computer and such. Spouse got up about 3:30 and threw
together dinner; he made a pressure cooker pot roast. We ate about 5, and had all
the mess cleared up by 6. He went to bed early to read, and I went to bed early
to do some guided meditation and get some sleep. Not that it did me any good--I
fell asleep early, but my bladder got me up twicem and my brain decided to get
up and go to the office at 2:30 am.
And today...well, today wasn't going to be a good day, from the get-go. 10th anniversary of my little brother's suicide, so even without the multiple, interlaced clusterfucks at work, it would have sucked. The clusterfucks just made it suck extra-hard.
Reading:"Thrones, Dominations" (1998), and "The Late Scholar",
(2013) by Dorothy L. Sayers and Jill Paton Walsh
Listening:Jesus Jones, X Ambassadors, Cake, Pearl Jam
Inked Up: same again; click back for info
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