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weekend runaround
February 21, 2017
I finally did it on Friday. I stopped at Menard's and bought myself the
microwave. Took it home, and made it a nice place to live, downstairs on the
top shelf of my storage unit. set it up, set the clock, and put it to work heating
up some lunch. And then, turned around and made an experiment; I baked a
chocolate cake in it! It came out quite well, too.
So my Friday afternoon was going very well...until.
As I was putting away some laundry prior to taking a nap with the B, who walks
in the door? Spouse. He had suddenly decided to take the afternoon off.
(Evidently he doesn't get dinged for that sort of thing, like I do nowadays.) Ugh.
There went my weekly "me" time.
We did all try for a nap, but for me, it clearly wasn't meant to be, because I had
no sooner dozed off than my phone rang--it was my doctor's office. They got a
refill request from Costco on my Rx, and were calling to let me know that they
wouldn't be refilling until I came in for my physical. Sooo...I made the
appointment. I have to go in Tuesday afternoon. I really didn't enjoy being
scolded by a nurse who sounded like an adolescent Munchkin, but I took my
lecture, made the appointment, and made sure they were going to call in an
interim Rx for my thyroid meds.
After that, it was clear I was wide awake, so I took up the laundry chores again.
We had plans for Saturday, so I needed to get the week's wash done around
that. Then I read for a bit, while Spouse & B got their nap in.
We had decided on Chinese food for dinner, and were looking for something
new to try, so I suggested the place that had opened over by the Walgreen's.
Your basic strip-mall Asian restaurant, but they have sushi and some other
Japanese items as well. Definitely worth trying out, because their fried rice was,
by far, the best I've ever had in this town. I had the teriyaki-style hibachi
chicken with stir-fry vegetables, and it was all head and shoulders above the
usual Asian fare you get in Ktown.
After dinner, we ran over to the tax lady and signed our returns so she could
get them filed. We are getting a nice refund, between state & fed. Just big
enough to make us feel like we got a windfall, without being so big that we feel
like we need to adjust the witholding.
And once we got home from taking care of that, we tried my experimental
cake. For a cake baked in a 32 oz Pyrex measuring cup, by microwave--it was a
teensy bit dry--but pretty good! It went particularly well with the low-fat organic
vanilla ice cream we bought at Fresh Thyme the previous week.
Saturday, as I said--we had plans. Spouse really wanted to go to the Western
'burbs (just for a change, lol--like he doesn't do that 5 days a week!) to the New
Balance store, to get a real fitting for shoes that actually FIT his ridiculously
difficult feet. (size 13/EEEE, and absolutely NO arch). I wasn't too enthused,
because even though I sometimes have trouble getting shoes that fit, I really
have no problem getting NB shoes that fit perfectly, as long as I stick to a 9D in
a running shoe.
Knowing I wasn't overly excited about the journey, he did a little research and
dangled a carrot: he found a pen store. I have been resolute in my refusal to
buy any new pens before the Chicago Pen Show in May, but as long as he was
dangling, I was jumping.
So we got up and going early, stopping at the KwikTrip to gas up and wash the
Impala, and to get some coffee. The we hit the road for Mt. Prospect & the
New Balance Store. After a short detour so Spouse could show me where he
works, we got there just as they opened.
It isn't a very big store, but we were the only cutomers the guy had, so we got
prompt--and exceptionally good--service. Spouse went first, and the guy took
his size and then had him get on this electronic sensor pad that threw an image
of his footprints up on a screen, showing what his foot issues are. Based on that,
and what previous NB models Spouse mentioned he liked, the guy pulled a
couple of styles and Spouse tried them. He found one he really liked, then the
guy pulled two styles of upgraded insoles out, and that was when Spouse really
lit up. He tried them both, but it was clear from his first step that he was in love
with the motion-control insoles. He was transformed--I've never seen him so
excited about a shoe. He had to order his, though, since he wanted them in
black for work, and all they had in his size was the white.
Then it was my turn, and--big shock--when the shoe guy measured my my foot,
I was a perfect, textbook 9 wide. When I got on the sensor, it also confirmed
what I already knew--I have issues with supination that cause my feet, knees, and
even my hips to hurt. So once I tried on the pair I'd picked out, he tried me
with a couple of the upgraded insole styles. I tried the ones Spouse loved, but
since I didn't need the same arch support, I didn't think those were right. So I
went with the pressure-relief ones because they seemed to help straighten my
foot and ankle. The pair I picked were the New Balance 940v3 running shoes.
that's a stability shoe, and although they are supposed to be for over-pronators,
I really found them to be supportive for a suppination as well--especially with
the special insoles. They are a relatively quiet-looking shoe, too--medium grey
with coral-pink trim.
Well, the bottom line was not cheap. We spent $368.00 for two pair of shoes &
two pair of specialty insoles. But for once, we really felt like we were getting
what we paid for. The service was amazing, the fitting was excellent, and we got
the real NB's--the quality level is obvious when compared to the big box or
Zappo's Newbies.
Once we were done there, we did some other shopping, of course. The
Executive Essentials store was kind of folded into Irv's Luggage, but they still
have a decent pen counter. I looked at several pens, but I was trying to stay on
budget, so I picked a Retro 51 Tornado, white nickel finish with rose-gold
colored furniture. Medium nib, and it writes like buttah. (I inked it up with
Kon-Peki after I gave it a cleaning, and it is gorgeous to write with.) I kept it
under $60, so I consider it a win.
We also stopped at Valli Produce for some fruit (strawberries and juice oranges),
veggies (lettuce, cukes, potatoes, tomatoes), and some imported pasta (linguine
and orzo). And at Wally's Polish Market, so I could run in and get a fresh supply
of my favorite teas. Then we drove over to Elmwood Park for a BBQ lunch at
Russell's before taking a cruise through Spouse's old neighborhood on the way
back to Kenosha.
Once we got back to town, we stopped and got some quick shopping in at
Meijer--mostly because we needed milk and dog food. Then home, about 2:30
or so. We rested a while, and since we'd done ribs for lunch, we just had tuna
salad for dinner and went to bed fairly early.
That was a really long, busy day; I don't know what got into us! Must have been
the bizarre weather; we have been enjoying several days of gorgeousness. Temps
into the 60s (and flirting with the 70s!), blue skies, and bright sunshine.
Considering that this is the first time I've had to spend the third week of
February in Wisconsin since 2014, I really cannot complain. We are having more
clement weather than Arizona and California! AZ is having cool temps, rain,
and even fog, and Cali is getting rain. (I won't say we have better weather,
because they need that pretty badly.)
On Sunday, we got up and puttered for a while. I made fresh-squeezed OJ while
Spouse and B took his car for gas and a wash, then I went to town scrubbing
down the bathroom, which was due for a thorough, top-to-bottom scouring.
Once I got done there, Spouse made a quick breakfast for us, and after we ate, I
washed dishes & cleaned the kitchen while he took out the trash and ran the
vacuum around. I set up a load of laundry on delay, and then we got cleaned up
and went to Costco for a few things, filled my car back up, and stopped at Fresh
Thyme to check out the sales. Didn't buy much--didn't NEED much. But I am
planning on making myself a white bean cassoulet in the pressure cooker (I
stowed a lovely chunk of the last ham we made in the freezer, especially for that
purpose) and I wanted to get the beans.
Of course, Spouse won't touch such a dish. And I can't eat a whole cassoulet up
by myself...unless, of course, I freeze and vac-seal individual servings for
consumtion at a later date. So that is my plan; now that I can re-heat these kinds
of things in my MICROWAVE, I can make this kind of thing again! Been
craving this all winter.
But that was for next Friday...sorry! Got sidetraked there. So after FT, we went
home and spent a quiet day. I played with my pens, Spouse fiddled with the
cars, and I think we both read for a while. He took a nap, but I stayed awake
and wrapped up the wash. We had an early dinner, because we wanted to grill
while it was light out. Grilled Tbone steak, baked potato, and salad, and we
finished the cake (it was a little one, just four servings).
So that was my very busy, rather more spendy than I had anticipated weekend.
Monday was a misery, though. I woke up at two and couldn't get back to sleep,
when the alarm went off, so did my guts--and I paid for that weekend of
culinary debauchery with a nasty case of the trots. Still had to go to work,
though! The good new on that front is, we seem to have broken through a particular log jam with a certain vendor, so things are actually proceeding again. I was exhausted by then end of the day, though. I made a cheater meal of Chunky soup over rice for dinner, but Spouse loves it so no complaints from him. Crashed early, and hard.
Tuesday was a bit better, I got a reasonable night's sleep and though it was a
long day, it was fairly productive, only slightly frustrating, and I made chicken
tacos for dinner which were, frankly, da bomb. Crashed early again, and slept
like death. Too good, really, since I nearly slept through my alarm, and had the
kind of bizarre dreams I get when I am fathoms deep. (Strange, politically
infused dreams about a Trumpian dystopia. I distinctly recall that in one of
them, my brother very matter of factly tried to murder me because I didn't vote
for Trump.) So I woke up stupid-drowsy and dragging ass.
Had a food day for a work birthday today. I took a warm queso dip in my little
dip pot. Nobody like it. Waste of $8.74 and my time. Eff it. I hate trying to be
nice. It's always a kick in the teeth.
Tonight was linguine with meat sauce and garlic bread. Zero imagination, too
many carbs, but to be honest, I really hate having to be the one who does all the
weeknight cooking and dishwashing, and as long as I make an effort to throw
hot food on the table, he's happy. So I cook things he likes, that I don't have to
think much about, and that don't require days worth of clean-up.
Well, this was a very long post, and I am ready for bed. 'bye.
Reading: "A Presumption of Death" (2002), By Jill Paton Walsh &
Dorothy L. Sayers, and "Shot With Crimson" (1918), by George Barr
McCutcheon (heavy-handed plotting, turgid prose and WWI German
espionage)
Listening: Since the Impala has an aux jack, I'm finally getting some
use out of the Walkman I got for my 20th anniversary at work. I have been
working on loading it up, and am currently enjoying my umpteenth re-listen of
the "Rent" OCR.
Inked Up: Conklin Duragraph/R&K Solferino, Sheaffer
Javelin/Monteverde Burgundy, and my newest, the Retro 51 Tornado with
Iroshizuku Kon-Peki.
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