A Most Excellent Day

And another one ahead of me. Nails are done, a little shorter than I like, but impeccably shaped and polished, and they will grow out. I had planned on doing the Costco run with Firstborn today, but we met there on her way home from work, instead. I gave her a check for $25.00 and came home with a rotisserie chicken, two pounds of sharp cheddar, six cans of chili [without beans, for those of you outside of Texas], six cans of Ro-Tel Original, and four dozen flour tortillas.

I sliced a serving of chicken breast, cut most of the meat off the bones, and tossed half the carcass into my mini crockpot, to simmer overnight. It might be fun to track how many meals I get from one $4.99 chicken. I am planning on a small pot of chicken soup, some chicken pot pie, a chicken salad sandwich or two, and who knows what else? [I am also craving pork tenderloin; haven’t fixed one in maybe two or three years. Just not a serious carnivore, but every so often I get that urge.]

After I had eaten my dinner, I went shopping for the rest of the ingredients I needed to make another Rocky Road crockpot cake. We are having our monthly singles fireside and break-the-fast tomorrow night, and I am determined to take that cake with me instead of tending an unplugged crockpot for three and a half hours [again].

I also brought home what I need to make the butterscotch pudding on page 4 of the February Gourmet. And more recyclable storage wear to store the portions in.

I was a little disappointed not to find the pint-size bottles of juice that I buy at the deli, at Costco. I wonder if I have to go to Sam’s? And it was not in the budget to buy the large bottles of juice, as I have done in the past. Next time, almost certainly. Along with that 42-pack of the 100-calorie bags of my favorite popcorn.

If I go once a month or so with Firstborn, I can get affordable treats to fill the gaps in my pantry. When I bought popcorn last month, I thought I was getting the small portions, but I got normal-people bags instead. Great to have on hand for when company comes over and the VHS/DVD players are fully connected, if that day ever comes, but too much food for me. Wasting food just makes me shriek. Stale popcorn makes me grumble. But sunshine on my shoulders, makes me happy.



Heard that on the oldies station the other day, and couldn’t resist. Far out!!! I used to love listening to him, but after reading his autobiography it just wasn’t the same. His assertion that it was really his first wife’s fault that he cheated on her, because she stopped going on road trips with him, didn’t set well with me. People cheat for all sorts of reasons; I can’t think of one that isn’t selfish.

What’s on the agenda today, you ask. Not sure. I canceled my 7:30 appointment for maintenance on the car. [Yes, I will reschedule.] I bagged the haircut; not sure if I will do that today, or wait another couple of weeks. I no longer need to go to Costco. BestFriend’s daughter’s graduation celebration is tonight, and I’ve been invited to that. It’s also time for the monthly drive-by fooding of the missionaries, and I am miraculously in the mood to cook.

I am also in the mood to spend, and I have no wish to wreck all my hard work of the past five months, so I may very well hole up at home all weekend, except for feeding the elders and church tomorrow and the potluck tomorrow night.

So I will not be tiptoeing over to the Blue Moon website, nor ordering Franklin’s book online, nor checking out the knitting magazines at the bookstore, nor scooping up deals at the LYS which is closing. After five-plus decades, I’ve learned the difference between buying things I need, and retail therapy.

I may trot over to the scratch-and-dent grocery and see what bargains I find there, with a budget of $10 or $15. But I think most of the weekend is going to be spent in the kitchen, cooking and washing up. With little breaks on the couch, knitting and listening to the audiobooks I checked out from the library last weekend.

I may nip out at lunchtime and pick up an aguacate torta from the taqueria by the laundromat. But this time to see what-all she puts into hers, so I can make them at home.

I spent about five minutes on my morning break yesterday, tinking down those two columns of stitches and manually twisting the ones on the purl rows to match the ones on the knit rows. I am ready to add my next sets of to-be-dropped stitches and will have to figure out how to twist my stitches in the same direction, from the purl side.

All of which ought to keep me productively busy, happily creative, and out of the pool halls.

[I just checked her blog; Alison’s surgery was successful. Bless her hubby for keeping us posted.]

Between getting my nails done and meeting Firstborn, I stopped at the antique store which has my paid-for bookcase to see if maybe we could shoehorn it into the back of Lorelai. We lack about three inches of being able to do so. I called Brother Sushi to see if he had a minute, and I told him that NO was a perfectly good answer, and it turned out to be the best answer. So I brought the glass shelves home with me and will carefully bring them in, sometime today, and put them in a safe place until the rest arrives.

I had forgotten how pretty that bookcase is. And it will get here when it gets here. I am not even the tiniest bit antsy about it; yesterday was just one of those moments when I thought, hey, I’m here, it might work. Probably just as well; I couldn’t have gotten it out of the back seat without help.

And I might have messed up my manicure...

Well, this post is certainly all over the place. Must be time to rustle up some grub.