Food for Thought

 Harry S. Truman said this:

When even one American – who has done nothing wrong – is forced by fear to shut his mind and close his mouth – then all Americans are in peril.

Toast and Hydrangeas

Here's a story a friend told me a few weeks ago:

While at a large grocery store, my friend saw some beautiful hydrangeas. She bought the flowers, and at home placed them in a vase on a little table in her dining room.

So pretty!

The next morning, she saw the toaster on the little table and noticed one side of the flower arrangement seemed burned. When she asked her husband about it, he said, "Oh. I didn't even see those flowers there."

Hmmmm. Flowers? What flowers?

LOL!!

Depression, Lockdown, and a Broken Bone

There are many reasons I haven’t been writing here, but no excuses. Let's just say the last year (and then some) has been tough in some ways and I reacted, as I tend to do, by burrowing into myself. And, as I always do, I eventually gave myself a good shake and popped back into the real world. 

Hello, Real World!! Glad to see ya!!

I must say there was one excellent aide effect to the burrowing months: I got my cross stitching mojo back! I had not been in the mood to cross stitch for at least a couple of years, and had let all my fiber love go to knitting and crochet. Then one day, after organizing all the cross stitch magazines with free kits scattered all over my living room (because although I did not want to stitch, I did want to look at cross stitch stuff), I picked up a small freebie, started stitching, and wham! The mojo was back! It was crazy. Now I cannot get enough of cross stitching. Has that ever happened to you? 

I started with a bonus kit from an older CrossStitcher magazine and even though it was fussy in some parts, I whipped it out quickly and even made the stitching into a keyring as directed. Fun and cute! 

Then Coronavirus happened, and I had to work from home for a couple months. My workspace was grossly inadequate and uncomfortable because, for reasons known only to the company IT guys (but I’m guessing having to do with me answering the phone through my computer), I had to be physically connected to my router rather than using the WiFi. If I’d realized it was going to be eight l-o-n-g weeks at home, I would have asked for a 30-foot cable and assembled my workspace at the far end of my dining table. But I did not foresee the drama and set up with a card table and a six-foot cable in the crafting/TV room next to the router. Yikes! It was a cramped, uncomfortable, and awkward mess, and I’m not even going into detail about any of that. 

The good thing about working from home was the commute -- basically 20 to 35 seconds from anywhere in the house to my "office." I got to sleep an extra hour every morning and was home from work by 5:01. I went home for lunch every day. It was awesome!

The lack of commuting time (and errands on the way home) gave me plenty of extra time each day; I upped my hobby time accordingly. I mostly alternated cross stitch with crochet and, in addition to working on my Attic24 granny square Harmony blanket (see the original here), I crocheted an owl. He turned out to be really cute! I think the owl was supposed to be a keyring, but I turned him into a scissors fob. He's from a pattern by Rachel at Yarn Artists that I'd had in my stash for years. I love him!

He may actually be a bit big for a scissors fob, and he is definitely very lightweight for a fob since he’s stuffed with only the tails from the crocheting and a tiny bit of fiberfill. He’s quite useful as a fob for the blanket crocheting, though, as I can use him as a needle minder between bouts of sewing in the ends on the granny squares.

I started another bonus cross stitch kit, from a pretty new (at the time) CrossStitcher. It’s a folk art-y bird. I got all the stitching done pretty quickly,

but just as I was to the point of finish-finishing it into a hanging ornament with a felt wing and ribbon tail (as directed in the magazine) . . .

. . . I fell and broke my clavicle. All varieties of stitching were over for the duration, and the bird still isn’t completely finished, even though my collarbone problems are (mostly) over. Sigh. Nothing like losing the momentum to throw a project into the UFO (Un-Finished Object) pile!

Somewhere in there, I think maybe just before I started working from home, I started a Mill Hill kit by artist Amylee Weeks called Don’t Stress Meowt:

I rocketed through three of the flags on the banner at the bottom before the broken bone brought that project to a screeching halt as well. (I have subsequently finished stitching the banner, in case you think I can't count how many flags are stitched.) 

I thought I could cross stitch with one arm if I used my floor stand to hold the project . . . but I was oh so wrong! I spent a very painful hour moving the stand to the living room and setting everything up just so, then stitched for maybe an hour. Turns out, I can’t stitch with the floor frame without either holding the scroll frame with my left arm (impossible with a broken clavicle) or leaning forward a wee bit. Since I couldn’t use my left arm, I leaned forward. I paid for that when the Advil wore off! Oh, man!! My collarbone hurt so much that my whole body hurt. 

Lesson learned!

Really, The Clavicle Incident taught me (at least) a couple things.

Thing One: Use a non-skid mat in the bathtub. Even if you are in a hurry and are just taking a very quick shower, use the non-skid mat. If you are almost finished with your very quick shower and you see the mat hanging there on the towel rack instead of laying in the tub and a little voice says to you, "Whoops, you forgot the mat," do not say to the little voice, "I'm almost finished; it's cool," and continue the shower without the mat. It is far better to say to the little voice, "Thank you so much for the reminder," and put the mat in the tub.

Thing Two: If something else happens (not a fall in the shower, because you are smart and will heed me about the non-skid mat) and your collarbone is broken, while you are masquerading as a T-Rex -- which you will do, for upwards of eight weeks -- one of those weird-looking grabber thingies that people use to get the potato chips off the top shelf is useful for any number of purposes. Ditto a telescoping magnetic wand; I typically use my telescoping magnetic wand for locating/retrieving flying embroidery needles, but it will also grab pens, cans, and other assorted roll-y metal objects. You will want these two things because it will hurt when you stretch much or bend over at all. I suggest getting those tools now so you'll be prepared in future because, trust me, you will be in no shape to go shopping (or even order online) for a while after that bone snaps. If the pain doesn't deter you, the pain killers will. =)

I will say The Clavicle Incident wasn't all bad. One good thing is that I was able to catch up on my reading! I am a voracious reader, but between work and play, sometimes I don't have enough time for all the books I want to read. I usually have at least 20 to 25 need-to-read books stacked on the hearth and my Kindle is always packed. Since I couldn't do much of anything else, I read all the time while I was the one T-Rex-armed woman! Here are some good ones for which I remember both the title and the author:

The Girl on the Train and Into the Water, both by Paula Hawkins

Have You Seen Luis Velez? by Catherine Ryan Hyde

The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper by Phaedra Patrick 

The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton 

Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate

Agnes and the Hitman by Jennifer Cruise

Since You've Been Gone by Morgan Matson (YA)

Along for the Ride by Sarah Dressen (YA) 

The Lying Game by Ruth Ware

Oh, hey! Another fun consequence of The Clavicle Incident just occurred to me -- house work. I could not do house work. It took me ages to change the sheets on my bed and I was exhausted and in pain afterward. Forget about cleaning floors and all that harder stuff. I waited until the lockdown restrictions eased then hired a cleaning company. Which I'm keeping, by the way. Lockdown proved just how much money I fritter away on spontaneous drive-through lunches (when I have a perfectly good lunch, brought from home, already in the work fridge) and expensive coffee drinks and snacks while I'm out and about after work and on weekends. I've realized it is tons more fun to come home every other Tuesday to a clean house than it is to grab lunch or a snack in lieu of the food I have at work or at home. This doesn't mean I no longer eat and/or drink out. Quite the contrary! I have eaten out (or gotten take-out) quite a few times, but they were meals I chose to eat out, not meals I grabbed on the fly or stopped for because I was too lazy to prepare a meal at home. 

If you've read this far, THANK YOU! I'll give you a break and move along now. I'll be back later with more Old(er) Lady stuff to laugh about about which to laugh. 

LOL!

 

Still Funny After All These Years

Well, it happened again! 

Lorna and I went out for lunch last Saturday -- Thai, yummy! (There's a little place down the street from our neighborhood and I swan, they have the best pineapple curry in the world!) We were just chatting away as we ate, laughing at each other's stories, and generally having a fabulous time catching up since it had been a while since we'd been able to spend any time together what with Covid and us both still working and all.

A man who was seated at the only other occupied table in the place started to leave the restaurant and as he passed by our table (but a good seven socially-distanced feet away from us), he turned toward us and said, "You ladies are having too much fun!" Then his eyes crinkled up like he was smiling behind his mask and he went on out the door.

(No margaritas were involved, so he didn't have to worry that we were unable to safely drive home. Also, he seemed much more nice and much less weird than the other guy.)

It's good to know we've still got it!

LOL!!

Check this out, April 2019 edition: Shiner S'More

Look what I found at Aldi last week:

 

Yes, that is Shiner S’More, a Chocolate and Marshmallow Ale!!

I like Shiner Bock and I am from Texas, so, really, it was pretty much a moral imperative that I give Shiner S’More a try. I got a six pack, which is typically an annual supply of beer for me. I don’t think this will last that long. I’m going to have to share. 

Surprise! The S’More ale is pretty good. The main hitch with S’More is that I’m not particularly into beer in general, so unless it’s blazing hot and I’m out on the lake, I need something appropriate to eat while drinking a beer/ale, and seriously, I have no idea what is appropriate to eat with an ale called S’More! I tried a few snacky items with it, and decided the best of the lot was chocolate cookies. Makes sense, I guess. Maybe I should have gone out and gotten some graham crackers? 

I think the beer would have been fine (better?) by itself if only I liked beer well enough to drink it without food alongside. 

Long after I had finished the beer, I came across some German sandwich cookies (chocolate crème between plain cookies); they probably would have been really good with the S’Mores brew. I’ll try that combo next. Yum!

Oh, yeah, and I love the labeling – did you see the dots on the bottles that say “brewed for happy campers”?! 

Ahhhh, April! Bite Me.

Oh, April! Look at all those people just a-dancin’ with joy over March’s departure. Notice I said, “those people” – I am not a fan of April. April is more annoyance than joyous in my book. To wit:

Taxes. My 2018 total wasn’t as big a deal as 2017, thanks to the recent updates, but I still had to cough up $800 and that's a lot to me. Besides, anything more than they already take away on payday just ticks me off. (Last year, the Feds pried $2,500 from my severely pissed off self; I admit the reduction to “only” $800 was an improvement, but WTH anyway?! I have extra taxes taken out every month and it’s still not enough?!?!! How did my effective tax rate get so high when my salary is so low?!!??!)

Allergies. Oh, yes, Spring is busting out all over . . . .  ugh. I’m allergic to it. Flowers, trees, grass, and all the other green-and-growing things are throwing pollen around like Mardi Gras revelers with bright beads and I’m allergic to the pollen. I’m taking one prescription and one OTC allergy medication plus decongestants along with shots of nasal spray and inhaler hits every day just to breathe in enough oxygen to give me enough energy to sneeze, blow my nose, and wipe my swollen runny/itchy eyes all day long. (Oh, and don’t forget the ibuprofen ruining my liver in aid of dimming the raging sinus headaches.) Just breathing wears me out, never mind trying to do anything else. I’m dead on my feet by late afternoon, and on that rare Saturday when I have nothing urgent to accomplish, I can sleep for 20 hours and still be exhausted because I’m not getting enough oxygen. Oh yeah, there’s a lot of mold flourishing in April, too, and surprise! I’m  allergic to mold, too. Yeehaw.

The daily dressing dilemma. Oh, yes, everyone is thrilled that March is gone, Spring is here, and Winter is over. HA! Two days ago when I was out doing errands it was 88 degrees, yet the current forecast shows a possibility of snow tomorrow. The temp dropped to 59 yesterday with overnight low in the 30s, and is forecast to be colder tonight. Funny, really funny. Ha. Ha. Give me winter anytime. It’s much easier to know how to dress for the day when the temperatures aren’t changing by 20 or more degrees from one day to the next. I much prefer to keep a hat, scarf, and mittens in the car in case of a bitter wind than to deal with a snow boots vs. sandals situation every morning. 

Tornadoes. April can be all about tornadoes around here. We’ve already had at least one tornado watch or warning or something this month. I’m calm about tornadoes in general, and have a (strangely) strong “if I perish, I perish” attitude when there’s one coming right at me, but that doesn’t mean I want them flying around everywhere. I’ve seen the swaths of nothing-but-rubble left after four different tornadoes in four different cities, and that’s four more than I wanted to see. I definitely don’t want to experience a tornado or see another place destroyed. 

Rain. It is not as bad here as it was in Chicagoland (where, I kid you not, it rained the entire month, day and night, and the water in the parking lot at my office building consistently ran more than ankle high), but we get enough to add it to my “April Sucks” list. Oh, yes, I know we need rain and I’m all for a reasonable amount of rain, even occasional drenching rain – at night when I’m at home. All night, every night is okay with me, but I hate when it rains on my daylight parade. Seriously, waterlogged shoes, water inside my purse and/or tote, slick roads, hydroplaning vehicles! Who needs that stuff?! There’s nothing wrong with a good thunderstorm, but let’s do that in the late evening so I can sit by the picture window with a glass of wine or a cup of tea (depending on whether it’s 65 or 35 degrees out there) and watch the storm rock and roll. That's so much more fun than the risk of being struck by lightning while splashing to my car with three soggy bags of groceries on the weekend or after work. 

All right, all right. I admit that April in Oklahoma isn’t all bad. The sun does shine somewhat regularly. April is the last hurrah of anything approaching cool-ish weather before we are catapulted toward the oven that is summer. Sometimes the sky is clear and it’s warm enough to take a walk around the lake or ride a bike after work or on the weekend. I even give two plants a pass – the grape hyacinths and chocolate mint that grow in the bed down the side of my garage. The hyacinths are dainty and pretty and are the first color to show up in my yard; the mint seems to shoot up from zero to a full bed overnight and (right before my eyes start burning) I love the fresh chocolaty/minty scent. And, best April thing of all, I can put my favorite Spring wreath on my front door.

I made this wreath. Crocheted flowers on eyelash yarn = the way to go for me! LOL!!

So, happy almost mid-April, y’all! After the snowstorm tomorrow, put on your flip flops and meet me on the porch. Don’t forget your allergy mask; I’ll bring the wine and antihistamines.

 

Look at that chocolate mint! I swear two days ago, there was no mint, just a half dozen or so hyacinths. Now the hyacinths are fading fast and the mint is taking over the world. It smells sooooo good. 

Yes, We Are That Much Fun!

Georgia and I went out for Mexican food a while back. The restaurant we chose is a local favorite and for good reason. The food was delectable, the service was excellent, and the rocks margarita we split was perfect. Our waiter was a hoot. When he asked us if we wanted separate checks, Georgia and I agreed separate tabs were fine, but we had a moment of bickering over who would pay for the margarita. Our waiter listened to each of us telling him to put the drink on our ticket, then laughed and said, “I am afraid.” Georgia asked, “Did you say you’re afraid? Afraid of us?” He nodded. She gave a delighted grin and said, “I like that! No one’s ever been afraid of me before.” 

We enjoyed the dinner conversation as much as the dinner, and as we always do, we laughed a lot. We weren’t screaming with laughter, but neither were we giggling silently into our napkins. We did not disturb other diners, but Georgia told me some hilarious stories and there were a few times when we quite literally laughed until we cried. I don’t know when I have laughed so hard.

Just after Georgia told a particularly entertaining anecdote, we noticed the couple at the next table looking at us. Intently. Like, staring. The man saw us noticing their stares, caught my eye and asked, quite seriously, “Are you okay to drive home?” 

I looked at Georgia, who looked at me. Then we both looked at the man, with “Huh?” all over our faces. He said, “I have noticed you are laughing a LOT, and you drank that big margarita. Are you okay to drive?”

After a moment of shock, Georgia and I both started stammering that we had split the margarita so I had not drunk much alcohol at all; plus, we went on, we had eaten tortillas and chips and salsa in addition to our meals, and in fact I was stone sober. He appeared unconvinced. We tag-teamed additional information – we always laugh like that when we’re together, and Georgia was telling hilarious stories, and –and – and of course I can drive home safely! I was completely flustered and we were both flummoxed. Who was this guy, and why in the world would he think I had drunk too much to drive? 

At the end of our rambling about my absolute sobriety, the man said to Georgia, “Well, I guess I’ll take your word for it since you are a doctor.” 

His companion looked questioningly at him. He said, “She’s wearing scrubs.” 

Georgia explained she worked in a dentist’s office, and the conversation went haywire from there. The man asked if anyone had ever come to the dental office with teeth so dirty that the hygienist couldn’t clean them in one appointment, and what was the most disgusting thing Georgia had ever seen in the office, and a variety of other repellant questions. Georgia answered politely and in very general terms, while I silently contemplated how much I wanted to brush my teeth immediately. 

Finally, the odious side of dentistry was left behind and we all discussed Mexican food and New Mexican food and Tex-Mex food until the man and his companion at long last departed – after warning me quite loudly that cops often drive by the restaurant looking to catch drunk drivers.

When they were out the door, Georgia turned to me and said, “I thought they were going to move over and sit at our table.”

We still giggle over the man who told me I was drunk. We have decided that surely he never seriously thought I’d had too much to drink, and that, in fact, he and his companion were simply jealous of how much we were enjoying our evening out. We prefer to believe the man started the whole thing about the margarita as a way to join our conversation because he wanted to have as much fun as we were having. Who knew we were so enviable? LOL!


(The photo of Cashmire is just because she's so stinkin' cute.)