Some Smiles

Gainesville

This week is all tangled up. After spending most of the day at the Library and having a big lunch, decided to made Wednesday that non-cooking day, cook tonight, and go out Friday while Doug is here. Hard to keep a grip on what day it is, with the usual clues missing.

After work we drove Blue out to the Ford place to pick up Moonbeam, and decided to leave Blue over night to get his rear view mirror glued on again, get oil changed, and check on an intermittent very soft rattle. (This latter turned out to be nothing serious-- the heat shield on the exhaust-- but we got it fixed anyway.) They gave Blue a much needed bath as well-- he was covered with pollen, as is everything else, since it hasn't rained in so long. Nice to have a fully functional and nice looking ride again.

Worked at getting the weekly stuff done to day, and a couple of laundry loads. Will have to run errands tomorrow, since I didn't have a car today. Things are in pretty good shape for Doug's visit.

Glad you latest cutting went well, Mom. And I'll just bet that glass of gin tastes just great tonight. That's one of the things I have to do tomorrow: Bill has been on a G&T kick the past week and we're down to the back-ups. (I've been drinking Tanq Ten.) Part of it is his absolute love of those Bodum thermal glasses I spotted at Sur le Table in SF. He wants me to get a bunch more and just replace our existing glasses. They're pretty pricey (and fragile) for everyday glassware, but what the heck. I'm just surprised he took to them so readily, after his initial skepticism.

Yesterday's paper had a feature on "What to Keep, What to Pitch in Your Pantry." Well, how timely! Saves me having to do the research. Of course they are overly conservative: keep canned goods a max of 2 years? Come on! And no way I'm going to replace all my herbs and spices every six months! Still, it's good to have some guidelines, especially ones that encourage me to get rid of what I call the archival food collection.

I forgot to add the latest episode of our Cuisinart saga. As you may recall, the replacement basket we ordered would not work with the top we already had, so we ordered another top. It came, and IT didn't fit the new basket either! @#$$ This is crazy-- how could the same place sell us two parts that won't work together? We're now resigned to having to buy a complete new unit. Bill thinks we should order another one the same (small) size so we will have a spare basket when the next one inevitably cracks and dies. I'm wondering if we need a bigger one-- I bought the old one when I was living alone, and didn't cook all that much. Occasionally it is overwhelmed by things I try to do in it. Not often, but occasionally.

My books started arriving today-- one book by mail (my own copy of Randy Scott's The Comics Librarian, whoopee!), the main Amazon shipment by UPS. In addition to my own copies of R. J. Harvey's basic surveys of comic books and newspaper strips, it included a color compilation of some classic Little Lulu's. The complete Lulu is being reprinted in a series, but they are black and white, so I've resisted (so far). They are so wonderful!

Let the record show that I actually hung my retirement gift (the Barks cover reprint) on the wall today. 'Bout time. I kept thinking I needed to drag a stool in here to do it, and that Bill should be here in case I fell off said stool, yadda yadda. Classic procrastination. Today I just did it, and didn't need a stool. I can see it as I sit at the computer, and it looks fine. Makes me smile.