It was a bright and sunny day

I fixed breakfast and sat down to read my e-mail. I discovered that Yahoo was not working. So I ate breakfast while researching the unknown weed in my yard. After visiting the book store on Sunday, I came across the term 'whorls'. So I searched for 'whorls of 6 leaves'. The closest hit was gallium concinnum. Not sure that is exactly it, but very close. Then Yahoo mail came back up. I checked my new e-mail. Then I called the city for a recycle bin, but was told they were still filling requests from November. I entered the kaleidoscope class to the NEAModernquiltguild yahoo group calendar for Feb 18th. I am not sure it is my place to do so, but I keep forgetting when it will be. I sorted the pictures in the living room into piles which seemed to go together. I unboxed a large green painting with an Asian flair. I set it aside until I know what to do with it. Then, because it was such a nice day, I went outside to work. I swept the patio. I pulled dead stalks from the flower bed. I swept part of the carport. I tried to dig out the leaves under the grates. But the grates were heavy, and the leaves under the bottom had degenerated into dirt. I went into the garage to break down boxes. Cindy had been promising to pick up boxes for over a week. I brought out two more boxes of stuff to store out there. I fixed a salad for lunch. Then I did some raking in the front yard, but only enough to get one box of leaves. I decided that I should conserve some energy so I wouldn't be too tired to go to quilt meeting tonight. So I sat to read a book. It felt good to sit and read. Then Cindy called. She hinted that tomorrow might be a better day for her to come, but I told her the boxes needed to go or I would post them on Freecycle. So she drove over and loaded the flattened boxes in her car. She also took a bunch of the donation pile. She brought me two packages of yeast, a leaf blower that might work, and two tops that are too small for her. After she left, I grabbed a quilt for show-and-tell, and headed to the meeting. This time we were meeting at UAH, Morton Hall. There was a good showing for the meeting. Maybe 20 ladies? We had show-and-tell, discussion of up-coming events, exchange of pizza boxes, and a demonstration of how to make flying geese blocks. Linda sat next to me, which was good because I wanted to talk to her about getting my purple quilt quilted. She gave me her address and phone number. Then, as the group was breaking up, several of us walked up to Deb with scraps since she had posted that she needed some. One lady brought a box of them, and offered to let me pick whatever I wanted out of the box after Deb picked. So I did, and while I was doing it, she told me just to take the box home and bring back whatever I didn't want. God bless this woman. If you have seen my sewing room, you know that I need more scraps like I need a hole in the head. But I never turn leftovers away. Whoo-hoo! So, then it was time to go home. I had checked the map before I left to be sure I could find the place in the dark. But the road was one-way and I hadn't checked how to get home. I had an idea, but found myself in the wrong lane. That put me on Holmes ave going SE. I did not know where it went, but when it crossed Triana, I turned because I had seen Triana on the way over. That took me to Bob Wallace, so I turned again. I was looking for Whitesburg, but didn't find it before I felt I had gone too far. So I turned South, which took me to Drake (a good thing). From there I knew where I was and went home. (It is more fun getting lost in Seoul) Chris was finishing up an episode of Battlestar Galactica. So then we went down to watch 2 episodes of B5. He went to bed after checking to see that Michele's plane to Seoul had landed safely, and I stayed up to post to my blog.

Cleaning in the garage

I got up around the usual time. It was sunny, but as the day went on, the sun was in and out. Before breakfast, I started a loaf of bread in the bread machine. After breakfast and e-mail, I finished sorting the sheet music. I divided it into categories by instrument and genre. Then I weeded out some that seemed to be duplicated in other books. To do this, I had to play a few selections on the piano. But it was tough because of all the pictures lying on top, waiting to be hung. There was no room to place the music. I had to hold it in one hand, and play with the other. Anyway, I selected a pile for donation, and a pile for recycling. I took the packaged shelving unit that sat in the family room for almost a month, down to the den and assembled it. Now that Chris has unpacked some boxes of books :) there is room for the shelf unit. Then I turned my attention to the garage. What doesn't find a place upstairs goes to the basement, and what doesn't find a place in the basement goes to the garage. But in order to do that, I had to organize what was already there. And most of that area was covered in roach droppings. So I donned a facemask, and grabbed a dustpan and brush. I cleaned all the shelves and loaded them up. I wish I had a 'before' picture. Only that pic could make the 'after' picture look impressive. Near the end, my throat started burning so I took a break. The facemask was dirty inside and out. I made a salad and ate it outside. I also cooked up a pkg of grass-fed beef on the bulgogi pan. Not an easy thing. Then I raked up the leaves lying on the patio. I also cleaned up the leaves I had raked in the backyard weeks ago. Finally I did some raking in the front yard. I added some bricks to the flowerbed border. Then I finished cleaning the shelving in the garage. I was so dirty that I took a shower. I knew Chris would love to come home and find me wrapped in a towel, but it was only 4pm, and I couldn't wait for him to get off work. After dressing, unloaded the dishwasher, and I checked the hauling strength of the tow bar on my car, then swept the leaves out of the garage. That is when Chris came home. We had leftover meat for supper, and he made asparagus. I called up the latest episode of BBT on CBS and we watched that. Then we went downstairs to watch more Babylon 5. He went to bed early, and I just might follow him when I finish this post.

Church and shopping on Superbowl Sunday

We got up for breakfast. I read my e-mail until it was time to shower and dress for church. I did not realize it was Superbowl sunday. After the service, the kids were taking a special collection. On the way home, we stopped by Publix for milk and celery. We took it home. I changed clothes, sorted laundry, and then started sorting books of music in the guest room. Chris wanted to go to Home Depot, so we did. We had to buy two circular lightbulbs for the kitchen fixture. We also got a trowel, a pruner, and glue for Chris' shoe. On the way home he remembered that he had a Home Depot gift card. We went home. I swept the porch and steps. Then we went to GNC for fiber, and to BarnesnNoble. I got two books on wild edible plants, and Chris got two DVD's. When we got home, I took one book outside and used it to identify greens in the back yard. I picked a bunch for lunch. I added kale, tomatoes, mushrooms, and sprouts. I poured Chris' salad dressing over it and ate it. Chris watched episodes of Battlestar Galactic on his laptop and kept tabs on the laundry in progress. I cleared so much old e-mail that I got the unread ones down to 20! Chris had put pork in the oven. When it was ready, he made pasta and asparagus to go with it. We ate it for supper. I researched places to go for yoga. Then we went down to watch more Babylon 5. He quit early to go back to his laptop. I scoured the yoga sites - it gets expensive! And I checked out the price of renting a U-haul trailer to pick up some of our remaining items in Pinehurst. Now Chris has gone to bed and I have to figure out what pic to go with this post.

Organizing can be so liberating

Because it was Saturday we lingered in bed before getting up for breakfast. Then breakfast meandered into e-mail, and I lingered over that, too. MaryAnn skyped me for a bit. She said they'd had bad weather. Then she had to go, and I did too. I went through a box of records to keep only my favorites, yet thinking when will I ever play them again? The record player is not even hooked up because it is too far from the receiver. Even though I can't imagine there are any songs on those records that are not on Youtube, still I kept most of them. Then it rained. Thanks, MaryAnn.
I 'liberated' a piece of pegboard from the garage to hang in my sewing area. Chris helped with the installation. Don't you just love the word 'liberated'? Sounds so much better than 'ripped off the wall'. Then I shredded all the papers from the buying, selling and refinancing of two homes. I felt sorry for all the trees that were involved. Hopefully some day such transactions will be paperless. I took out three bags of paper shreds. Then I picked salad greens from the lawn. There were two kinds that were similar and I kept mixing them up. So I rechecked on the internet. One set I could not identify so I threw them away. The others went into a salad with tomatoes. Then we went grocery shopping. When we got back, Chris went downstairs to go through some boxes of books. It made me very happy. Then we had leftovers for supper. I lost track of time looking through my e-mail trying to pare down the 75 unread e-mails to 50. I didn't quite make it. Around 9 we went down to watch episodes of Babylon 5. And that is pretty much it for today.

Finding old pictures

I really put the shredder through it's paces today. I had quite a bit of former bills to dispose of. In the past, come January, I would pull out everything over 2 years old, and burn it. Since we did not bring our files to Korea, it hasn't been done in awhile. And here, there is no place to burn. So I shredded. It just isn't as satisfying.
I also moved things from downstairs up, and from the upstairs down. Still trying to get everything in its proper place. I matched lamps with their shades and changed out the ones in the livingroom. I went through 2 more boxes of papers. I found old pictures of family (see Kurt with hair!), friends, and 'friends'. Also former students who wrote nice things on the back of their senior pics. Even my old algebra lesson plans. Such a different life than the one I have now.
Today was not sunny, but windy. I went out after lunch to rake the lawn. The lady next door came over to introduce herself. She also told me a bit about the neighborhood. I have been wanting to meet her and her husband. While she and I were talking, Chris came home. He had two boxes of supplements for me. I thought I had ordered them to come to our home address, but I guess they still have our P.O. box. Since we finished the Castle DVD's, Chris went by the library and got a season of Babylon5 and Max Headroom. After supper I read the dictionary, trying to write a winning poem for the Bali Batik's contest. Then we went downstairs to watch TV. We started with Max Headroom, but after 2 or 3 episodes, we switched. I had never seen it before and Chris said it was hokier than he remembered. So then we saw Babylon 5. That was ok. It was the first episode, which I do not remember seeing. Chris was falling asleep, so we turned it off after that. He went to bed, and I am trying to blog while fielding texts on Skype.

Before and After

I did not shake the coconut milk this morning, but it did its shaken soda imitation anyway. After breakfast I installed the new shower filter head. I have been putting it off for some time because I thought something might go wrong. But after a bit of tapping, I did it. The hardest part was getting the old one off, but it worked out ok. Then I took a shower. I finished unpacking a box of papers. I moved all the Sudoku and puzzle books from the bookcase downstairs to a bookcase upstairs. I found my Nutrisystem book nearby. Here are my before and after photos. Why didn't I think to wear the same outfit for both photos? Having set up my desk and office area yesterday, I tested it out today. I wrote a check and a Thinking of You note. It was nice to have everything I needed in one place. Except for my date planner. I haven't seen it since we left the apartment on post. Anyway, I ran them out to the mailbox around 11:40. Then when I noticed the SE corner of the lawn was in sun, I started raking it, or rather teasing it. The grass (a term which is too kind for most of the lawn) is a bit long and has grown up through the leaves so I have to tease the leaves and twigs out. I saw three of my neighbors come home and get their mail. I have seen the mail come at noon, but I guess it was early today, or late that day. Anyway, it was such a beautiful day that I did not want to go inside when I finished raking. So I did a little weeding in one of the flower beds. I selected one weed to research on the net to see if it is edible. I had a heck of a time identifying it. I think it is a dove's foot geranium. If so, decoctions of it can be used for medicinal purposes. I think I'll skip it. For lunch I had the chicken soup and a salad of chickweed, clover, and deadnettle. After lunch I went through a box of Michele's stuff in my bedroom, then carried it downstairs. I have been setting aside stuff for her, and I boxed it all up and put it in the tornado room. I cleared off the diningroom table, brought up a lamp to match one already in the livingroom and another smaller one for the desk. Finally I sat down to watch our latest Netflix arrival - Silk Stockings with Fred Astaire. Chris came home while it was running. He fixed himself a burrito, and I had a turkey burger. When my movie was over, we went downstairs to finish season 3 of Castle. After that, I called up the last week's episode of BBT on CBS and we watched that. Chris went to bed, and I went to blog.

Don't shake the coconut milk...

...when the jar is full and it has been fermenting overnight. Just little tip I learned today while cleaning up puddles all over the kitchen.
Last night I prayed for an answer to all the glassware on the dining room table, and this morning I moved most of it to the shelf above the cupboards. It looks nice, but I wouldn't want to be standing in the kitchen if we have an earthquake. I also unpacked boxes of files into the filing cabinet. I selected a number of outdated ones to be shredded. I also discovered that I probably have every letter and card I ever got. Bags and bags of them. I loved re-reading what was written. But where and how shall I store them? Alphabetically? Chronologically? Randomly? In one of the boxes was more desk supplies. I know what to do with those.
Mary Ann skyped me around lunch time. We had a good chat. I did not do any raking because it was raining. However, no water came in the basement or in the garage. I wanted to scrub the leaf stains off of the porch, but I need a nylon scrubbie for that and I can't find one. Chris stopped at Kroger's on the way home for a few groceries. He cooked some organic turkey burgers for me and burritoes for himself. We went downstairs to watch episodes of Castle. We must be almost finished with season 3 by now.