Marilee J. Layman

06:34 pm: Erranding and BFAC Project
I was very tempted by the bananas on the counter after I got up, so I put them in the cupboard where I wouldn't eat them. I took the recycling to our bins, dropped Humans off at the library, put the giant birdseed box, collapsed, in the cardboard recycling dumpster at Public Works, and dropped a DVD in the drive-by box at the post office. Then I went on to Kaiser to get stuck for the lipid panel. As I left, one of my neighbors drove by and waved, so when she came home after I did, I went out and asked. She's been with Kaiser for one year now and likes it so far; I've been with them and the HMO they bought when they came here for 31 years.

I had planned on eating at Olive Garden because they have that lovely sorbet and fruit dessert, but something distracted me to Red Lobster, next door. I had the lobster pizza, which wasn't bad, but didn't taste much of lobster, and a mediocre key lime pie. Next time I go that way, I'll keep going to Olive Garden.

I finished my BFAC project last night and put the pictures up today. I don't hurt as much today, a lot of the muscles have loosened, but I'll still take narcotics tonight. I have to stay home tomorrow anyway, it's Code Orange. I'll mail this to my friend AJ, who is the board member who's photographing them for the auction next year, on Friday.

Tags: bfac, errands, food, health

07:44 pm: Chocoholics Rejoice!
Mars is developing a tougher stronger cacao tree so you won't be without chocolate!

It's Code Orange today so I wasn't supposed to go out, but my check came, so I went directly to the bank and came directly home and was only coughing the last few minutes. Then I paid bills. The new 50-pound batch of birdseed came today, just in time, and I maneuvered it to the sliding glass door and after 8pm, when the warning goes away, I'll go put it in the metal container.

I read ICHC every day, but don't normally put them in my LJ. However, this one seems designed for me:



So everybody gets to keep a gun at home. Statistics show that most guns kept at home hurt or kill someone other than an intruder. This is because people don't learn how to keep guns or how to use them properly and they don't practice on the range. I wonder if DC can put that kind of requirement on keeping guns at home.

Tags: cats, food, politics, weather

06:36 pm: More Thunderstorms
Today and tomorrow, but no pond out front. I got groceries today and when I stopped to get the mail, my economic stimulus check was there. It was just about to rain, so I got food in first and then went to deposit the check. Now to measure again to be sure before I order new underclothes.

The increased price of gas is not just affecting us, Montgomery County, MD, has had their school bus gas prices go up so far that they're going to make the range for walkers go out further.

For my UKan friends, the importance of biscuits at meetings.

Tags: errands, food

06:52 pm: Cooking!
Sorta. The Zojirushi Fuzzy Logic Rice Cooker is cooking pearl barley in fat-free chicken broth. In a bit, I'll put oil and a dab of butter in a small pyrex casserole and add onions, zap, add mushrooms, zap, and then keep warm in the toaster oven. To be mixed when the barley is done.

The rheumatologist released the labs she ordered and they're all normal except for increased leukocytes and increased C-Reactive Protein. The first is because of the autoimmune diseases and the second means I have inflammation somewhere. I've had that for about six months and we haven't figured it out yet.

The birdfeeder went through the dishwasher last night and was dry by 2am, but I didn't feel like taking it out then, so I took it out this morning. The birds are happy. No squirrels yet.

Shiva scared Spirit so much last night with grabbing her, that she stood on the printer and yelled. I carried her down to the bed, where she stayed with me. Shiva came in and yelled because she was on the bed and left. When I woke up later, Spirit was gone and Shiva was sleeping with me. Then when I woke up for good, nobody was there. I think Shiva is jealous that Spirit is spending time with me in the bed. Back when Giorgio was alive, he and Spirit would come say goodnight and then sleep in the recliner. Shiva would come and sit with me while I read and then either cuddle up or sleep at the bottom of the bed when I slept. Most mornings, all three of them were cuddled up at the bottom.

Well, Giorgio isn't here anymore and Spirit is spending my reading time with me and I think Shiva is jealous. Spirit has just very gingerly climbed onto the couch to sit next to Shiva. He isn't paying attention to her, but he hasn't grabbed her, either.

Tags: birds, cats, food, health

06:44 pm: Busy Day and Long Onhold with Verizon
I took the trash and recycling out today -- extra recycling since I had Luke's and my physical spam phone books, then I dropped the Social Security stuff at the post office drive-by, and went on to Kaiser where I remembered I hadn't had extra water before I left. They have a water machine and cups, so I had three cups and was able to pee. I had to lie to the phlebotomists -- if the lab software gets anything other than midnight for fasting, it will mark the fasting labs as "not fasting." I last ate at 1am and was there just after 3pm, so it was plenty of time, but if I told them 1am, they would mark 1 in the software and it would assume 1pm. So I told them midnight.

I've been having some trouble remembering to eat recently. I've had a few days with 18-20 hours without eating and at 1am Wednesday, I realized I hadn't eaten in 25 hours, so I zapped a frozen meal. I need to do better at that.

After labs, I went to Zabb, the Thai restaurant in the same shopping center as Kaiser, and had one of their June specials: Crispy Duck with the Chef's Special Mango Sauce. I asked if the sauce was sweet and was told no, so I ordered it. It was very good. It had two chilis on the menu, but just gave me a minor buzz at the top of my throat, and then only when I was actually eating peppers. They were playing jazz (real jazz, not Kenny G crap) and soon after I came in, a jazz piano piece started -- an arrangement of a familiar and unlikely song -- and I watched carefully as nobody else noticed it was the theme music from The Andy Griffith Show. I also noticed that all the customers were white, all the staff were Thai, and the music had been created by blacks. It would be nice if we could mix better.

I got gas ($3.999/gallon) and picked up mail on the way home. When I checked my email, I had two pieces of mail that weren't addressed to me, and shouldn't have gotten through Dreamhost's filters. One was clearly spam, the other was not so clear. It was from Verizon and besides not being addressed to me, it had a not-very-clear mail path that implied it didn't necessarily come from Verizon. It said my contract would be up in August and my DSL would go up $9.00. I tried to sign on to verizon.com, but it wouldn't take my ID or password (and I was c&ping them from the file I originally typed them in), so I gave up and called. After 38 minutes on hold, I got a guy who first told me it had to be spam. Then I told him I was pretty sure the phone number listed was one of theirs and yes, it was. I let him look at my account and he said I could save $2 of that $9 by taking another year contract. I told him that was the thing -- if they increase the amount, I'll cancel and use the free dial-up, so they would lose all my internet (still have the phone line for dial-up). He said I should just wait and see. Maybe it wouldn't increase and I could continue, and if it did increase, I could decide then. That makes me think he didn't see a notice. We'll see.

Tags: dsl, errands, food, health, music

06:44 pm: Vegetables Cold, Vegetables Hot, No Vegetables in the Pot
It's very hot out so I didn't try going to the Farmer's Market. I dropped a letter at the Post Office (the Smithsonian has offered me 12 issues for $10 again -- I expect like before that they'll put it back up to normal at the end of the year and I'll decline, but in the meantime, I can afford the Smithsonian Magazine) and then had lunch at Tony's -- Greek salad and a slice of Primavera pizza.

I came home and saw the mail van at the stop before ours and started up the street, but then I realized we hadn't gotten mail yesterday because the mail was so late and I backed up and got yesterday's mail. As I pulled into my parking spot, the van headed down toward our clusterbox, so I put the mail inside and knocked on Luke's door. His son-in-law was coming any second to take him to dinner at their house, so he didn't want to give me his mail key. I don't want him to walk down tomorrow to get it, but I really can't go out in the sun tomorrow. So I went ahead and drove back down to get my mail. The private disability people want a copy of my fed taxes and such from last year, which is not technically a big deal, but it means they're trying to disallow my disability again.

Jim McKay has died. I've seen his face on sports newsbits so long that I feel like I know him.

I found a place where you can print out a lot of Obama stickers, signs, and iron-ons for t-shirts, all free.

Tags: disability, errands, food, mail, obama

08:41 pm: Daylight, or Not
Well, I slept from 8pm to midnight yesterday, finished up online, read two old papers, went to bed to read another 90 minutes, and turned the light off and went to sleep at 9am. Oh, and I brought the paper in, leaving Luke's at his door, after it was light and I used the reacher. So I set the alarm for 3pm and actually slept until 4pm.

I had checked to see if the birdfeeder was dry at 7:30am before I went to bed to read, and it was moldy, even in dry spots, so I brought it in and put it in the (fortunately empty) dishwasher and ran it. I got up to open the door before I turned the light out so it could dry, and then put it out and filled it up after I got up this afternoon. I'm washing bed linens today and Lucila came by to say they had an appointment for Jesus on Tuesday and would Monday or Wednesday be better for me? Wednesday is, and that's what I changed on my week list. I ordered from Peapod -- it was eight weeks this time, so I ordered eight weeks worth of the heavy and bulky things.

It seems to have been twilight for a long time, and cool enough that we could have the windows open again. Shiva has been begging for more soft food but I would like him to eat more dry food. Then again, if I don't have to buy dry food, maybe all soft food is not so bad. Hmmm. I set the VCR to watch the new USA show, In Plain Sight, which is about a US Marshall running a witness protection program in the desert. Apparently she does what she thinks is right, no matter the law. It'll give me some beading time later tonight, even if I don't watch more than the pilot. Laurel thinks you need to watch more than the pilot to really get the feel, so maybe I will (remember, her times are CT).

Tags: birdseed, cats, food, health, laundry, weather

06:14 pm: KaBOOM!
I knew it was going to storm today, but not like it did. The rain came down so you could hardly see through and the thunder made the condo shake. It was still raining and kabooming when I was ready to leave, so I read part of an old paper and then, all of a sudden, it stopped. I went and got money for next week and had greek salad and a slice of tomato & mushroom focacia at Tony's. It had started drizzling a bit by then, but now the sun is out.

When I came home, I took all the wet seed out of the feeder and dropped it on the porch. The feeder didn't have mold yet, so this will let it dry clean and I can put more seed in tomorrow. I called my brother to check in -- my nephew has started running track and is 15th in the state for 100-yard dash. Now the volleyball and football coaches want him. My niece is not so interested in photography anymore, but is following her friends' interest in little electronic gadgets. She has a nano, which is okay with the group. My brother has to use or lose 10 days of vacation by the end of June (they can't carry over), but his co-worker has cancer and is not able to manage everything by himself, so they're likely to take a few days here and there through the month instead of two whole weeks at once. My step-sister, who was diagnosed with bipolar recently (which wasn't too surprising), has not been able to care for her daughter so her daughter has gone to live with her deceased father's parents and my stepmother is helping my step-sister move down to the same city so she'll be near. This is probably a good thing.

The news is starting, but I think I'll take a nap after that. I have a headache and I'm still really sore from lifting Shiva and his carrier.

Tags: birdseed, family, food, weather

07:31 pm: Nice Quiet Day...
...other than giving Shiva meds and warm compresses. He's definitely feeling better and the abscess appears to have stopped abscessing and is partially scabbed.

I woke up from my nap yesterday at 11:30pm and was online until 3:30am and then read an old newspaper to keep up. I went to bed late enough that I got up at 2pm today. My eye was stuck together both times again, but it was easier to get open today and it didn't scream "swollen" anymore.

I got money for next week and had lunch at Tony's. I had one of their specials, I forget what they called it, but pieces of tender veal with mushrooms and asparagus on penne in a light brown sauce. Plus salad and garlic bread, and my usual iced tea. More laundry, and I just went down to sit on the bed and put the clips in to keep my hair out of my eyes. Spirit followed and I spent 10 minutes petting her tummy and telling her how pretty she was.

The ER vet staff called to see how Shiva was, and agreed that he didn't need to be seen until the dental vet sees him on Friday. So my duty tonight is more compresses, another batch of meds, and a couple more old newspapers after online.

Tags: cats, food, health

05:24 pm: Red Red Robin
I took the recycling out and then went to the Red Robin near me. They opened on Monday and seemed a little regimented today. I enjoyed my mushroom burger and fries with iced tea, but the staff were carefully aligning cube advertisements with sides in certain directions and the edge of the table, counting exactly how many sugar-like things of each type were in the holders, etc. The SuperTarget has been open for a while, but now TJ Maxx and Famous Footwear are open (not places I'd go) and a guy in a lift was putting up the PetSmart letters -- that will be a lot closer than the other.

Then I headed off to the Giant I used before the current one was built. It's still a dark, somewhat smelly, store, and I ascertained that they also do not have places for some of the things advertised in the flyer. Now I'll have to go out to the third store to find out if they're all advertising things they don't carry!

I'm very sleepy and plan to take a nap and set my phone alarm for two hours. We'll see if I actually get up then. We'll see if I can get to sleep with the crows and blackbirds fighting over birdseed!

ETA: I slept through the crows and blackbirds, woke up with the alarm, but went back to sleep for 2.5 more hours.

Tags: errands, food

02:18 pm: Early Up
Which means I'll probably end up with a nap, since I was up late last night because I took a nap yesterday. I got five hours of sleep, which is usually too little. I had to get up early because today is Household Hazardous Waste day until noon at the transfer station and I needed to take the dead VCR. I could have waited another month, but it was taking up room in my workroom. Then as I left the transfer station, I decided I was going to drive to the east end of the county for Free Comic Book Day. I'd read Slate's reviews of the free comics and picked up Hulk/Iron Man, Hellboy, and Superman.

Then back to the credit union for money for next week and lunch at Tony's. One of the specials was gnocchi, which I really like, so I had that (comes with salad & garlic bread) and iced tea. I came home and after I took my shoes off, I tried to pet the cats, who were sitting in the recliner, but they both hid behind it. It'll take a while for them to trust me not to give Shiva medicine.

Tags: cats, errands, food

04:55 pm: Two More Doses!
Thank Ghu. I had to catch Shiva twice last night to give him the whole dose and came away with a claw hole and bruise at the base of my throat. This morning was not so exciting, but we'll both be glad when we're done with the amoxicillin. I called the clinic today and left a message for the vet -- telling her that he's gained all the weight back and is eating and elminating like crazy, and that his mouth looks fine to me. We'll see if she wants another week of meds.

I headed up to Kaiser Fair Oaks to get the screw back in my reading glasses -- I was there less than three minutes and round trip took more than 10 times that. I stopped at that Red Robin on the way back, though, and they no longer have pot roast burgers. :::sob::: The bacon guacamole burger was pretty good and I hear their other stuff is good, too. And it turns out the manager up there is right -- we are getting a RR near Davis Ford Crossing plus the one I stopped by. There's only about six miles between them, so I guess they think Manassas is a good demographic for them.

I stopped by the library to pick up Little Brother to start tonight. Shiva let me touch his head when I came back, but scooted back in the chair so I couldn't touch more of him.

Tags: books, cats, food, glasses

04:41 pm: Mmmm Duck Red Curry
I took the trash and recycling out and then stopped at the Salvation Army to see if they had any small dining-height tables. I really do need to get something to put right at the entrance to the bedroom hallway, and a table could be used for other things, too. They didn't, but they had a triangle lift-coffee-table that they had in backwards so the lift was away from the sectional they had it in front of. They were too busy so I didn't tell them. I was the only "white" person there -- everybody else was black or obviously Hispanic. I haven't been there in five or six years, but it used to be mostly white customers.

Then I went to the Thai place where I had a coupon, to see if Rick & family would like it. I had Duck Red Curry which was wonderful! They've really decorated the place beautifully, too. Unfortunately, they have no American food, so my niece may refuse to go there. She's half-Chinese and likes only the blandest of American food.

Then I bought gas. Gracious. I'll be driving longer than usual tomorrow, too -- a screw came out of my reading glasses and I need to go up to the Kaiser clinic that has Vision Services for them to put it back in (I tried briefly last night, but it'll take a magnetic eyeglass screwdriver and I have one of each, but not both) and on the way back, pick up my copy of Little Brother which came into the library today. Excellent timing, since I should finish the Asimov's tonight.

Tags: errands, food

06:21 pm: Making Changes
Not with the cat food -- it doesn't matter the order of feeding or giving meds, Shiva won't eat morning food. He's doing well with the dry food, though. I saw the feeder was empty this morning and planned to fill it after I got back from groceries and rested a bit, but then there was a line of birds and squirrels looking in the window. Just the mourning doves, I guess the other birds didn't think it was safe. So I went out and filled it, and noted that the squirrels had eaten the edges of the porch floor wood. Silly critters.

I went to get groceries today and bought some pre-made pasta salads (vinaigrettes instead of mayo) instead of new frozen food. They're a bit cheaper, although I don't know if they're any better for me. I had the cranky cashier again and asked her to balance my stuff between the two bags, but she put all the heavy stuff (half-gallon milk, bananas, the three pounds of pasta salads, onions, and more) all in one and the loaf of bread and cake slice in the other. I had to change them around before I carried them to the car.

I've been letting my hair grow a bit longer since I'm able to stand up in the shower long enough to wash it and the rest of me. It's long enough now that I have to clip the bangs back. I'll keep letting it grow until I hit having to get out and rest, and if slightly shorter than that looks good, I'll keep it there. Otherwise, it goes back to short.

Hmmm, a change I didn't expect. One of my neighbors just pulled up in a different car -- a black PT Cruiser. This probably explains why the two young men who live with her were carrying stuff out of the trunk of the old car yesterday.

Tags: cars, cats, food, hair

03:20 pm: Various Things
Shiva ate dry food last night and then, some time after I gave him the antibiotics this morning, he ate more dry food and snackies. Tomorrow, I feed them first and then give meds! I hope this works.

I took the book I'd started back to the library -- a partial review and explanation of why I didn't finish will come next. Then I had lunch at Tony's and I had one of the specials -- smoked salmon in a light cream sauce on farfalle with a salad and garlic bread. This is the kind of thing I used to cook for myself (without the garlic bread) and I really enjoyed it.

I forgot to say yesterday that all the summer pants I've been wearing have been big, but okay, until the second outfit I wore yesterday. That didn't come from MIB and they were fine in the house but as soon as I took a few steps with wallet in one pocket and phone and keys in the other, they kept sliding down. The problem is that the waist of the pants is about four inches below my waist, so there's not a lot to hold them up. I'm going to see if I can tuck the waist a bit and have the elastic still come over my hips. If not, maybe a drawstring.

Also yesterday, the vet was in a different direction than I usually go and I knew there was a SuperTarget just built, but I stopped in after picking up the food and paying the vet and drove down the line of other stores. None are open, but one is a TJ Maxx. But out in the parking lot? A Red Robin! The manager of the Fair Lakes store was wrong about where it would be. I parked and went in (nice fresh wood smell) and asked if anybody knew when it was opening, and they didn't, but one pointed out a giant RV in the parking lot with a giant sign about hiring for the restaurant. So I drove up, opened the door -- a sign said come right in, but I couldn't do that -- and I yelled hello and then asked for someone to come to the door. I told the woman I didn't want to work, I wanted to eat and when would they open? May 19th. So I may eat there that day. The advantage of having one closer is that I'll probably try something other than the pot roast "burger." The disadvantage is that I'll probably eat there more often.

And finally, a really good Tom Toles editorial cartoon about the housing situation.

Tags: cats, clothes, food, satire

05:50 pm: Restaurant Trial and Baseball Question
I decided to try one of the restaurants with coupons today. I'd always thought of it as a boozy noisy place, although I don't know why, but I was right. The bar was full and the few people in the restaurant were mostly drinking liquor. The coupons' "Great for kids" was not true for kids I know. It was a bit dilapidated and there was a floor for a band & dancing with lights and disco ball. The steak & cheese with onion rings was good, though, and when I asked the young waiter what kind of bands they had, he ended up sitting with me and talking about music (leaving to seat more people). He didn't know what folk was and had only heard soft jazz, that abomination. So I sang bits of songs for him and while I didn't get the idea that he was really interested in the different styles of music (he didn't know who B.B. King was, but recognized "The City of New Orleans" and "Blowing in the Wind"), he was interested in knowing about them.

So we talked some more and he wants to go to college to be a psychiatrist but doesn't have any money and I told him he could work his way through or a lot of the Ivy League colleges are now giving grants instead of loans. He said he got a 3.5, which is pretty good. So I may go back -- the food was okay and he was interesting to talk to.

I turned out to be out of ice cream so I gave Shiva the "cream" part of a creamy chicken soup last night and he liked that. He didn't want skim milk today (I'd like him to have some protein), so I may have to open another creamy soup and join the veggies and chicken from the two for my dinner. The vet didn't return my call and when I called earlier, I got that her phone couldn't connect. I just tried again and left another message.

In the old WashPosts I was reading last night, there was a review of the eating places at the new stadium. I wasn't too interested because I don't expect to go, but then they had a rating system where I knew the ends -- Home Run and Error -- but not the relative positions of Run and Hit. I even read the reviews to see if I could tell the difference that way, and I couldn't. Anybody know?

And also in the papers, there was an ad to get a coupon from Allergan's Refresh Tears at http://www.refreshmyeyes.com and I've learned those are sometimes more general (I use the Refresh Celluvisc at night), so I looked it up. It is indeed more general -- $3 off any Refresh product -- so I printed one out and the prompt stayed up. I ended up printing 10 of them (expire 12/31/08) and although they do print the rest of the page black and you have to wait for it to dry before printing another on the back (other end in first), that's a good bit of savings. It made my black ink level go down about a quarter, which is about .70 and that's still a good deal. Maybe some of you are interested.

Tags: baseball, cats, food, health

11:01 pm: I Should Have Posted This...
...before my nap. I woke up in a lot of pain today -- the base of my right big toe and base of my right index finger are probably gout flares, and the right wrist pain and right knee clicking are osteo, but I think my right shoulder is catching Shiva.

He stopped grazing last night about 10pm -- I think the steroid shot wore off -- but was very loving at night again. It was 81 today so I planned to wear one of the new tops I bought and I decided I should stop before I put outer clothes on, put my robe on, and catch him for meds rather than chance the top being damaged. I did that, and it turns out he still doesn't want me to open his mouth, but if I show him the syringe, he'll open the front of his mouth enough that I can put it in. He has to get two doses at a time. Then I got dressed and came out to feed them and he was very enthusiastic about that, too, until I put the dish down and he ate a bite and dashed off. He ate snackies and finished the dish later on.

I went out to have lunch. Sometimes I just really need cheese fries, and a half-portion at Glory Days fills the kind of oval platter that most places use for a dinner. I discriminately ate it down to toaster-oven size and will have the rest soon. When I came in, there were four moms and four kids (two boys, two girls) and they were all having a lot of fun without being difficult. They were very creative playing with plastic sharks, which seemed to come with their ice cream sundaes. I was facing a screen with ESPN Headlines and every so often across the bottom would run "So-and-so to announce future in conf. Monday" and I kept thinking, now that would be a great conference!

I came home and started online but hurt so much by 5pm that I took pain meds and napped. A very close thunderboomer woke me up at 10pm. Shiva insisted on fresh dry food, so I threw out the Meow Mix and special Science Diet from yesterday, washed and dryed the dish, and put down some normal Science Diet dry food and he started eating. Maybe antibiotics work faster in cats.

I've been catching up online and moving laundry around and such and will now be up late reading LJ and ML. I never heard from the vet, so I'll call her tomorrow. If she has any sense, she'll have her phone off in class.

Tags: cats, food, health

07:49 pm: 21 Years of Defeating DEATH
Yes, I'm 53 today and it was 21 years ago that a nephrologist first told me I would die in a few days. Clearly DEATH is being kept busy by Pterry.

I tried the two dishes of food and moving one with Spirit into a bathroom today. I am anointed with scratches and she refused to eat anything. When we came out, Shiva was in the castle, having refused to eat anything. I guess I'll just have to let them work it out.

I took an envelope to the post office, bought a Priority Mail stamp to put in it, and mailed it. In return, I get a leftover bead or two from a friend. Good deal! Then, since the nephrologist told me last week that I can have 60gr of protein a day, I had lunch at Ruby Tuesday's, and I had a small sirloin steak with mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli. A very nice lunch.

I headed off to the grocery store where I bought more stuff to make Greek Salad and more pouch food for cats and then home. The cats were still mad at me. Even after I gave them today's dry food, they were mad at me. I'm doing laundry and then will start the cat blankie washing.

My neighbor who has been dealing with management as to how they're supposed to pay for things, says I should really raise the stoop to the door entrance and put a ramp out from there. That would make a ramp long enough for rails. I don't know if I can afford that. He's going to have his investigator find out if I have to pay for it, since the condos were built after the law was passed that requires buildings to be accessible by front door and a bathroom accessible. Not that anybody builds them that way. They must assume that it's cheaper to deal with the few complaints than to make all the buildings accessible.

I hurt a lot today, I may take a nap.

Tags: cats, condo, food

08:51 pm: Chick'n Lick'n Not
Last night I made the Greek Salad and it tastes just right. I calculated that it cost me about half to make an equivalent amount here than to get it at Tony's, although they serve a croissant and a piece of cheesebread with it. I had Triscuits with it, which was fine.

Today, I've been off a little. I went out to get gas (3.16!) and realized as I got home that the little door for the gas tank was a bit open. I was hoping I hadn't forgotten to put the cap on and then shut the door, but the cap was there. I guess I just didn't shut the door well enough. Then I toasted some bread in the toaster oven and got a teeny little burn on my finger because I wasn't careful getting the toast out. I did two loads of laundry and the first load, towels and hankies, was meant to go on hot. I looked at the dial, thought "Hot, good" and put stuff in. When I went back to move it to the dryer and put the second load in on cold, I realized it'd been on cold all along.

I did the auction pages for next week's BFAC and I kept screwing up the template. I finally flipped it to read-only. I haven't had to do that before.

So I'm not cooking and prepping chicken thighs for the cats tonight. That takes a knife. At least I've gotten good enough to notice that I can't use a knife before I actually use one. I probably won't be up to it after the long drive to the nephrologist tomorrow, so I moved it to Thursday on my list. The package says to use it before 3/8, and that will count. If I'm still off tomorrow, I'll have to call the neurologist, but probably it's just something temporary. I'm a little sleepy, too.

Tags: food, health

05:31 pm: Squeak! Squeak!
Last night, I was in the workroom, packing some stuff to mail, and I decided to give the cats another toy from my friend Doris (she sent me a big box of toys, cat treats, and beads after Giorgio died). I picked one that looked like a big bumblebee and squeaks when it's moved. I took it out of the package, pulled the strip that kept the contacts apart, and shook it. No noise. Well, I figured it was still a cute catnip toy, so when I left the workroom, I took it down to the cats who snuffled at it and went back to sleep on the bed.

As I was taking my night meds, a couple hours later, I heard Squeak! Squeak! from the bed. Spirit was moving the bumblebee, stopping when it made a noise, then moving it, etc. So something happened that put the contacts together. She and Shiva both played with it while I was reading in bed and after I turned the light off and rolled over, I set it off! So it's now a floor toy, and the cats still like it.

Today I mailed the stuff I packed and got groceries. Bird's Eye has a cheaper version of the Bertolli pasta/sauce/protein and it was on sale, so I got two to try. The interesting part is that the Bertolli bags have more stuff in them and claim 2 portions while the smaller Bird's Eye bags claim 2.5 portions. Still within a day's protein, though. Boneless skinless chicken thighs were on sale, too, and I plan to cook those for the cats tomorrow. I'd planned to stay home tomorrow but I'm going to have to pop out for gas. The gauge is between half-full and quarter-full and I usually fill at half. I'd just do it later this week, but I have a long drive to and from Burke on Wednesday to see the nephrologist. It's not that far as the crow flies, but the car has to cross the Occoquan, and there's only a few bridges. The good part is that there's an Anita's in Burke -- ours closed and they're a good New Mexican restaurant.

Now for washing cat blankies!

Tags: cats, errands, food

08:23 pm: Winds, Errands, and a Dream
It was so windy today that you had to watch car doors to keep them from amputating your leg. The birdfeeder was swinging wildly on its line and the evergreen at the corner of the building was rubbing the building so hard, you'd think it was working through the siding.

After mentioning ABC in yesterday's post, and linking to the Amazon page, I scrolled down and read the Amazon reviews. They all agreed with me. The newspaper reviews were big on discovering alphabets and what they meant, but the book is big on telling every single thought that went through the protagonist's head. I gave it another chapter last night, and that was it.

I took recycling out, took the book back to the library and picked up the new one they had on hold for me -- Uncommon Reader, fiction about what might happen if Queen Elizabeth took to the library -- and then mailed stuff. Now that I have new glasses, the recent glasses are the backup and the old backups went off to the Lions Club for their recycling program. I don't know how likely it is they'll find someone as blind as I am, but maybe there'll be someone close.

I don't want the fresh Greek Salad stuff to get weird, so I may try chunking cucumbers and bisecting grape tomatoes in the recliner tonight.

I had a very odd dream last night. I was with my father in a place sort of like a seaside carnival -- lots of music, neon, excitement -- but instead of rides, people were watching other people being hurt and tortured. It made me sick. I kept trying to find a way out but it was sort of endless and there were steward-like people who would insist you turn back in. Then I remembered I had the plane tickets and maybe I could change the ticket to go back home sooner. It was when I was on a payphone -- nothing obvious about it -- that I realized that I was in my father's view of heaven and he was trying to convince me how wonderful it was. That's when I made myself wake up.

Tags: books, dreams, errands, food, weather

08:48 pm: Nice Glasses!
After Lucila cleaned, I headed up to the Vision Center at Kaiser Fair Oaks. I didn't even have time to sit down in the waiting area before I was at an optician's desk. She adjusted them and they don't hurt anymore. The traffic home wasn't as bad as I thought and after I got home, Luke came down to give me his proxy for the homeowners' meeting next month. Then he asked me about Giorgio's bill and he insisted on giving me some money. He's such a nice man.

The cats can't seem to get settled down today -- they keep ending up at opposite ends of the condo and yelling for the other.

I had the rest of the stew/soup and maybe I'll try to make the Greek Salad tomorrow. My joint is better today and I hope it will be even better tomorrow.

I read the first chapters of ABC last night and so far, he spends an awful lot of time telling and not showing. I'm going to give him another chance tonight but if it doesn't get better, I'm taking it to the library tomorrow and picking up the second one I put on hold, which is available now.

Tags: books, cats, food, glasses

10:03 pm: I C/o/o/k/e/d/ Assembled!
I wondered if I could do this, but I sauteed barley, added a can of chicken broth (plus a can of water), once the barley was about half-done, I added a frozen package of sugar snap peas (plus crushed red pepper to balance the sweet) and a three-ounce tupperware of thawed turkey breast. That's two days-worth of protein and I managed to make two meals-worth of soup/stew. It was very good. I'll probably have the other half on Tuesday because I'm going to buy the ingredients to make Tony's Greek Salad tomorrow and see if I can do that. It's not that it's so expensive, it's that they put giant chunks of feta in it and I end up leaving almost all of it which is a waste. I'm going to buy crumbled feta instead.

I have the bed linens/pillows laundry going and also put in the order for Peapod. (Pam, they have a new flavor of Fleet's phospho-soda -- just what we need.)

The new glasses went on with no strangeness this morning, but I need to have the ends bent down. The right side is making a new dent in my head and my head doesn't like it. I'll call Kaiser tomorrow and see if the opticians adjust glasses we don't buy from them. If they don't, I'll check with local opticians. I like these so much (and the cost -- $63.85 compared to $435 for my last glasses and that was with Kaiser paying for one lens) that I emailed asking how to manipulate the prescription to get reading glasses.

I had a dream last night that I'm sure is partly inspired by Charlie's Hidden Family and partly by last week's Jericho. It was a deep depression or post-apocalyptic, hard to tell, and I was teaching the town's students. The parents and town officials were upset when I started teaching the truth -- that our situation was our fault, as a nation and as individuals. We argued and the parents pulled their students out. But I still had 20 orphans who boarded at the school and we made ready for siege -- the town had made the critical mistake of storing food and supplies in the school basement when I offered it -- and we had made defensive and offensive weapons for the school in our spare time. I wanted to teach these kids the truth so they could spread it when they were older and they needed to be able to defend themselves physically as well as intellectually. When the townspeople arrived, I stood on the steps and said "The truth is important! It will keep us from doing this again, and we will defend the truth!" And then I woke up. I don't know what happened.

Tags: dream, food, glasses, laundry

05:15 pm: Weird Food
ETA: The folks I used to have to do true mail order with to get Spirit's alligators from are online now!

Last night I microwaved the chicken thighs, let them rest a bit, then diced, and containerized them. The cats were still down in the bedroom until Shiva heard me in the kitchen dicing and came out. I called Spirit, too, and once she was there, I put a couple bits of nice hot chicken thigh on the floor. Shiva sniffed and left. Spirit gobbled them up and then insisted on more, which she didn't get.

Today the toys from Petsmart came and they each played with a catnip mouse, although Shiva carried his in his mouth long enough that it's rather wet. The play-disembowel toy didn't work -- it isn't really long enough, they were counting the feathers at the end, and it doesn't have enough heft. I'll have to look for something else when I go to the store next time.

Since I had too much protein yesterday, I had elbow mac with thai peanut sauce today. Not the traditional pairing, but good.

I called Sunset and they'll swap the big ashes boxes for little ones if I bring them down. It's a bit of a drive, so I'll have to plan for that.

Tags: cats, food

04:32 pm: I Voted!
For Obama. My idealistic side won out.

I was really sleepy when I got up early for Lucila, more than usual, and indeed, I didn't wake up when she opened and shut the sliding glass doors as usual. She had to call my name to wake me up when she was ready to leave.

Then Luke and I went to vote. The odd thing was that there were no people with signs outside. I'm pretty sure I've seen them at primaries before, but it's been 29F, so maybe it was too cold. There were more people staffing the poll, but not more people voting than usual. We were supposed to get flurries today but instead we got sleet, which made ice on the roads. Fortunately, we were home just as the sleet started, but the news says the streets are iced all over the area.

Even with the heat up in the van, I was cold enough to want something hot when we got home and I had the orecchiette pasta from Bertolli. Almost all my protein for the day, but I like it and it made me warm.

Tags: food, politics

06:49 pm: Errands and Food
I took some trash out today and then went on to the Post Office to mail the envelope to the Virginia Tax people to prove they cashed that check. Then on to the ATM for next week's money and then to Tony's. Parking was tight in front and I ended up facing a car that had had the front seats covered with those stretchy covers. Usually when someone recovers the seats, they put in matching covers. Now these were both black and white, but the driver's seat was a maltese cross with flames behind it and the passenger seat was floral. Clearly there was a divide on appropriate seat covers.

I had a broccoli calzone and iced tea which was very good. I ended up talking to a brother and sister sitting next to me -- they'd been talking about raising money for pet rescue and at one point she said if he wanted more to drink, he could just finish hers. He said "You kiss your dogs! I'm not drinking that!" She got up and went up to get him more drink and I told him "My cats kiss me." We talked a bit and he offered to swap me his sister and I told him I didn't really have anybody to swap and when she came back, we talked about rescuing cats for a while before they left and I finished.

When I got home, I took the propaganda buttons off my coat and emptied the pockets and put it in the wash. Even if I'd known the "sueded finish" would pick up lots of little white fuzz, I probably still would have bought it because it was the best choice I could find in my size. I already lost three pounds for this January, so if this keeps up, maybe I'll have a better choice of coats when I need to buy another next winter. I haven't had to have new coats every year since I was a kid.

Tags: cats, errands, food

08:51 pm: The Rheumatologist Appt
I took trash and recycling out first and got there with extra time. There was a handicapped spot available, so I had time to almost finish 12/28's WashPost before my appointment. I showed her the new bump and she said it could be gout, but as long as it doesn't hurt, we're not going to worry about it. My uric acid is down, but not as much as she'd like, so if it doesn't go down with the February labs, she'll increase the allopurinal again.

I'm down three more pounds, to 319. That's 39 pounds since the beginning of 2007.

Since my appt was so late, I drove partway home and stopped at Carabbas and had dinner -- a house salad, bread with olive oil & herbs, and a margherita pizza. I brought half the pizza and most of the bread home. I left there at 5:30pm and the rush hour had definitely declined and it was a quick trip home.

Tags: food, health

05:50 pm: Coooold Days
No snow melted today, even though it was sunny all day. Tomorrow is supposed to be the coldest day in the winter and I'm debating staying in and getting groceries on Tuesday, but I have three doctors appts on Wednesday and Thursday and it would be nice to have a day of rest between groceries and doctors.

We had two new people at bookgroup last night as well as two irregular attendees for 14 people, which is our record. (We're always at the top, though, most of the other library bookgroups run at five or six people each time.) One of the new folks will probably come back -- she joined in, laughed at some of the jokes, rolled her eyes at others, and checked out the next book. The other new person will probably not come back. He was there providing support to the woman I helped with Medicare -- she had a friend murdered this week. The guy who is the big jokester embarrassed our librarian/fan leader and she was still mad at him at the end of dinner last night.

We ate at Kobe, a teppenyaki restaurant, with eight members of the bookgroup and four additional children (some adult) and squeezed around a table that is usually squeezed with 10 people. Since we had to yell to talk over the table, we probably should have broken up into two groups of six. Nice performance by the chef, although the waitress got both parts of one woman's order wrong and she had been very specific. I had steak and scallops (didn't have any protein Friday to balance, because I figured we'd go out somewhere) and was stuffed when I got home.

Tags: food, weather

06:16 pm: Spirit Hates Me (and everybody else loves me)
The only way to let the dryer vent guy get to the back of the dryer was to move the litterbox into the guest bathroom and everything else in the utility room other than the washer/dryer, water heater, and furnace into the hallway. I did this gradually last night (because if I did it this morning, I'd be bent over all day) while Spirit was sleeping in the bed and when she came out and bonked her head into a box of litter, she had a fit. And another. And another. I left the guest bathroom light on last night so she managed to find the litterbox and she eventually came and slept with me.

I tried them with just the warmed turkey this morning and the boys were fine, but Spirit wasn't having that. So I guess I'll be adding food rather than replacing it for them.

This morning, the dryer vent guy got hung up on a job that was more than described so since I'd gotten up early, I read all of 11/13's paper and started on the 14th and then took a nap with only Giorgio sleeping with me in the recliner. Spirit was down in the bed. This is where I really screwed up. I should have shut the bedroom door then, so Spirit would stay down there, but I didn't and when I answered the door (or sometime around there) she dashed behind the water heater. Which put her right next to the really loud vacuum and blower (which was a very cool machine, not that I need one). :::sigh::: When the dryer vent guy left, she wouldn't come near me and when I stepped toward her, she ran back behind the water heater.

The aluminuminuminuminum hose had fallen because it was full of water, which reinforced my belief that the vent was really clogged. He blew out the vent and the dryer parts, plus cleaned the screen over the outside port. He poured the water out of the hose, but it had dried lint on the inside and a tear, so I just bought a new one and had him put it in. He was also very nice and put the battery back in the smoke detector. While he was doing the paperwork, we ended up talking about half an hour about cultures and languages and intolerance. He happened to mention gout and I told him I had gout and he told me more about his diagnosis. He was having flares every couple of months which almost always means it's something he's eating or drinking. I told him to search for the gout exclusion diet online, but when I looked later, they seem to be called "gout diet" now. He offered to come back for the next year and clean out the outside screen, which was very nice.

Then I went to Kaiser to pick up the simvastatin and the clerk was telling me that it was to replace the Lipitor and I told her it was my idea and why and she congratulated me on looking things up and taking care of myself.

Then I went to Olive Garden because I haven't had their pumpkin cheesecake this year and I knew I might have missed it. They had three pieces left, so I ordered the lasagna and had the pumpkin cheesecake. It was amazingly busy, even for Friday, and lots of crying babies were louder than the tacky Xmas music. When it quieted before I finished, my waiter sat down and talked to me about this job and his other job and so forth. I noticed he hadn't put the cheesecake on the tab and pointed it out, and he said "it's close to Christmas, don't worry about it." I thanked him and left a big tip.

I think the Celexa is working and I'm back to looking like the kind of person people want to talk to.

Tags: cats, food, health, repairs

09:09 pm: Key Lime Pie!
I had bookgroup today and on the way to the library, I passed by Mark's old furniture store. According to the banners, it's now a Halloween Costume Superstore. I don't know if that means it's a temporary client or will be a Costume Superstore permanently. The owner told Mark that if he didn't want to pay double his current rent, the owner'd be able to get a new tenant immediately. I wonder if a costume shop would make enough to pay the new rent. Or maybe they aren't.

A subset of us went to Red Rock Canyon restaurant and my eyes lit on the key lime pie immediately. Since I was going to have that, I didn't look at the entrees, just the appetizers. I had the Millennium Shrimp -- six large shrimp in a creamy lime and mustard seed sauce. The sauce was so good that I scooped the rest into the lettuce the shrimp had been on and ate that. Now I'm really full.

Tags: food

06:23 pm: Lunch and Links
I took both the DVDs back to the post office today and then tried one of the restaurants on my list. Ashton Avenue Family Restaurant (used to be AA Diner) is really a diner in a strip mall, but the food is very good. The service is good, the place is clean, etc. So it goes on the list as possible for when my brother and his family come again. I had souvlaki with a Greek salad and then baklava.

Today's xkcd kind of mirrors something that happened here with the first owner upstairs. She was not only noisy at sex, but her bed was against the wall and it would bang the wall so hard that things on my wall vibrated and threatened to fall down. I eventually got up my courage and told her I could hear all this and she was very embarrassed and toned down her yells and moved the bed.

Jeff VanderMeer is having a massive book sale. He doesn't pull out specfic, so you have to scan the Fiction for it.

Tags: food, sf

05:50 pm: Light! Er....
I need new lampshades in the living room and asked my friend Mark about it before the furniture store closed and he didn't know since the local lighting place had closed a few years ago. One of his salespeople overheard and dug out an extra card from her pocket -- it was a place up in Fair Lakes and I put the card on my desk to remember to schedule going. Then there was a TV commercial for a fast casual restaurant called Red Robin (music) with "gourmet burgers." I looked them up online and found our closest one was in the same shopping center as the lighting place, so when I made this week's schedule, I put it on today.

Now, last night, I accidently hit the hanging lamp in the dining room (I'm just shorter than it is, so it doesn't matter that I walk under it to/from the desk) with the dust mop while I was putting the freshly washed & dried mop back on the stick, and all the lights went out on this side of the condo. I got my wind-up flashlight out of the drawer and went and reset the circuit and came back to see what happened. I had to take the heavy glass bottom off and as I was taking it, I could hear the bulb rolling around inside, and I managed to catch it before it hit the floor, while holding the glass bottom. The weird things: 1) I was told this was a halogen bulb, but it's slightly bigger than standard edison bulbs, b) most halogen bulbs are bayonet, but this screwed in, and iii) it was the glass part of the bulb rolling around -- the screw part was still in the socket. I know how to take that out with a needlenose plier, but the only way to keep the socket from turning was to hold a nut above the shade tight clockwise while turning the needlenose pliers counter-clockwise, all above my head. I tried several brief times and then emailed a friend from bookgroup. He's going to come help tonight. He's never taken broken bulbs out before, but he's stronger than I am, and taller than the lamp.

So I stopped by the credit union and put my pay-off papers for my home equity loan in my safe deposit box and got a roll of dollar coins, then headed north to Fair Lakes. The lighting place was actually half of a store, the other half being a Hallmark. Odd. The lighting guy measured my shade and checked -- they only had one with the pleats, they had two (which I need) plain. I like the pleats, they give a bit of softness without being frilly, so they put that one on hold and will get the other one in on Wednesday. While I was there, I got a new halogen screw-in bulb for the hanging lamp, so it was kind of convenient that I was going today anyway.

Then I headed to Red Robin and as I approached, I had a double-take: there's a brick and concrete sort of wide entry way, and the handicapped spots are on the brick part. It's great -- nobody without tag/plate will think to park there because it doesn't look like parking spots! There's concrete where you get out, just brick under the cars. Then when I went in, there were stairs and I asked the woman if there was another way to the dining floor and she said yes and led me to a very nice railed ramp. Not obvious, Here Come The Gimps!, and very useful (I saw the staff using it a lot, too). I mentioned to the server that I hadn't been there before and he pointed out the parts of the menu to me and went off to get iced tea. I decided to try the pot roast burger (chunks of pot roast, grilled onions, cheddar cheese, and horseradish) and everything comes with bottomless steak fries. The lady next to me said she had just finished a pot roast burger and really liked it and we talked briefly about where we lived and why we were there and then she paid and left. The pot roast burger was really good, as were the steak fries, but I just ate the ones in the basket.

I asked the server to ask the manager to stop by (nothing about him) and I complimented the manager on the accessibility and he said they took pride in that, that they could serve everybody gracefully. He said I should come back and I told him I'd be up next week, but it was a bit of a distance from Manassas, and he said they're putting one in here in about six months -- about three miles from the condo. I might have to read the salad part of the menu next time.

Then 3:30pm rush hour traffic home, check the DSL (no), and on with online.

Tags: dsl, food

04:57 pm: Hot, Hot, Hot
No call from Verizon, and no IP address yet.

I decided to go to Pizza Hut today even though it was very hot outside. Things were odd at the Pizza Hut. It was 3:15pm and they hadn't made tea yet. The napkins were fast food napkins. The breadsticks didn't have seasoning on them. The personal pan pizzas were served on oval dishes -- not plates -- dishes, with depth, and hadn't been cut through because of the awkward position. I asked the server and she said they'd run out of napkins and the rest of it was lack of staff. A very well-turned-out lady came in while I was there and sat down and read until her food came and I stopped and asked what she was reading on the way out. Something by Joan Hess, a light mystery. I told her I mostly read SF and she said she mostly reads mysteries and fantasies, so we talked about fantasy for a minute or so and then I was on my way home.

At home, I saw more moving across the parking lot. Two days of hot steamy weather, and friends of this couple are moving their stuff. I was never sure why this couple bought that condo because it's down a flight of eight steps, then up two steps to the sidewalk to their building, then a step to their stoop, and a step in. They both use walkers and have had a lot of trouble with those steps. I'm glad they're moving somewhere easier to access (I hope), but this is a bad couple of days for their friends.

I've been reading Comicmix mostly to support Andy Wheeler, and there are articles that I don't care about, but today there's an interesting piece by Martha Thomases about rebellion and change -- not just in comics, but from the 60s to today and how it seems to have been sidelined. I liked this line: "Maybe Jane Fonda wasn’t the deepest political thinker, but she looks like Noam Chomsky compared to Lindsay Lohan."

Tags: food, politics, weather

08:16 pm: Books and Food, What Else?
I had bookgroup today and took the books from the to-be-read that I had duplicates of or didn't want, as well as the Harry Potter series. We also had a batch of ARCs, none that I wanted. Some of both batches were taken by other members and the rest of my books went to the Friends of the Library drop.

We had a new person -- a guy roughly my age, works with cars (didn't say so, but grease around his nails), newly divorced and moved back up here to live with his dad -- and he had an excellent knowledge of SF in all its forms and he handled the digressions quite well. The new guy from last time emailed us to say he couldn't come today, and even that is a good thing because if people don't plan to come back at all, we never hear from them. It's always good to have new people.

Afterwards we went to a new restaurant in the area, California Tortilla, which was quite good for the fast food look. Four of us tried the same three hot sauces (they have a Wall of Flame with 75 varieties that you can try (and then buy a new one, if you want)) and the three guys turned colors with the #10 Endorphin Rush while I was saying "Nice burn in the throat...." I know I can handle hotter things than most people, but I didn't mean to make the guys feel bad.

I looked at my eyelids in the mirror when I got up at 1pm today and they were fine. About 4:30pm, I used the library restroom and looked in the mirror while I washed my hands, and my right upper eyelid overlapping edge is starting red and swollen. At least I have a suggestion for what to try with it.

Tags: books, food, health

06:09 pm: Honors for Jimmy Stewart
The 27-year military veteran has been honored with having a technology center named after him at Bolling Air Force Base. He's also getting a stamp in his honor on Friday.

When I got up yesterday, my back hurt a lot and I thought it was from hauling the books back and forth from the bedroom floor to the desk to the bookcases, but then I realized it was lifting the top concrete element of the fountain four times on Monday. When I got home from my errands, I saw the water was low enough it wasn't falling, but rolling down the side of the pieces, so I brought a bucket out. I know I should pull over the pretend-wicker chair and sit down so I can put the water in controllably, so I don't push debris against the impeller intake, but the last couple times I'd poured as carefully as I could from standing up, I was okay, so I did that. Well, the fountain stopped. I pulled the chair over and leaned the top element to the side and wiped debris off the impeller, which made it go again, and settled the tube back in, and then leaned the top element back. Nothing. So I leaned it aside again and felt for the nipple on the bottom of the top element, which has gradually eroded over the 11-12 years I've had it, and it was gone. I lifted the top element off and managed to only drop it the last few inches to the porch. I cleaned out the hole, thought there might be enough ridge left to work, and put it back up -- to my lap first and then the fountain. I leaned it to the side and positioned the tube where the ridge was and leaned it back. Still nothing.

I fiddled some more and finally realized if it was going to work again, I had to put a tube up the inside metal tube of the top element. So I lifted it off again, dropping it a few more inches to the porch, but still no damage. I remembered that I had a damaged nebulizer hose and if I cut off a section from one of the larger ends, it would probably fit into the tube from the impeller and the narrow flexible tube at the other end might fit into the top element internal tube. I brought the hose and scissors out and tested it -- the large end fit securely into the impeller tube top and the flexible part fit into the internal top element tube. So I left the tubes in place and picked the top element back up (lap, then fountain) and positioned the bottom of the tube on the impeller and sat back. Water! I'd been figuring this might be the last year I'd get out of the top element and I'd have to buy another one, but this should give me several more years.

I was up early for Lucilla to clean yesterday, so I took a nap as soon as she left (middle of LJ) and slept for six hours. Since I had two days worth of online to catch up on, I was up until 7am and decided to set the alarm for 3pm. If I woke up earlier because of the nap, fine, but if not, the alarm would wake me up. Spirit tried a couple of times, but it was the alarm that got me up.

I took the recycling out and then had lunch at Ruby Tuesday's (white bean chicken chili and baked potato). The waiter had been joking with me and he told me I had to eat my crackers and I told him I couldn't and explained that I could only have 40gr protein and I'd had a lot of it with the chicken in the chili and the cheese and bacon on the potato, and since I'd had beans in the chili, if I had grains... and he interrupted and said "they make a protein together." I've never had a waitperson know that before when I've had to explain. So he jokingly grabbed the crackers and the piece of bread (I don't know why they serve toast with a baked potato) back.

After I got up from my nap yesterday at 8:30pm, I realized I hadn't eaten yet and should eat something. So I got one of the Healthy Choice Cafe Steamers from the freezer (4 for $10 at the Giant this week). It was salmon with a creamy dill sauce, plus penne and broccoli. It was really good. Unfortunately, neither of the bowls are recyclable here (or anywhere else I know) so I'll finish these and not buy more. I wrote Healthy Choice a letter, but the steamer bowl said "patent pending" so I don't know that they'll change.

Have you ever seen a moose in a kiddy pool?

Tags: errands, food, fountain

06:35 pm: The Eight Deadly Words
A while back, someone posting to the LJ of one of my friends recommended KSR's The Memory of Whiteness. I looked it up and thought "music and math -- perfect!" Unfortunately, he uses the "Dear Reader" bit and a lot more infodump happens than anything else. I'd stopped reading it to reread Basilisk and when it came time to pick it up again, I thought "I don't *care* what happens to these people!" Fortunately, it was a used paperback.

I had a coupon for "Bumblebee Sensations" which is a small can of seasoned tuna, some crackers, and a plastic "spreader." I bought the Spicy Thai version, which was actually pretty good -- a little buzz in the mouth -- but you really needed more of a digger than a spreader and there weren't enough crackers. The cats were thrilled at the sound of a pop-top, but the chili pepper smell kept them from actually trying any of the tuna. It's a lot more expensive than just tuna and crackers, but I might buy another one anyway to keep in case I need to eat while in the car. Only 16gr protein for the whole lot.

Tags: books, food

08:44 pm: Faturday
I had bookgroup today and since I kept setting the alarm ahead, I didn't have my regular Pizza Hut lunch. The group wanted to go out to Carabbas, an Italian restaurant, and since I hadn't eaten, I went, too. I had veal piccata (yes, I know it's dead calf) which I really like and hadn't had in a long time with a side of spaghetti pomodoro and salad. I'm stuffed. I may be stuffed until tomorrow night. I sat with the teenagers of one couple from the group. I know the teens well and we have interesting conversations. Our newest member brought her boyfriend and her son to group and they came with us to dinner, and I was pleased to see the boyfriend joining in the conversation at his end of the table. They each checked out next month's book, The Night Train to Rigel, so I hope to see him talking more in group next time.

Tags: food

03:48 pm: Single-Size Frozen Pizza Taste Test
Someone on rasff said that frozen pizzas are just as good as those at pizza places. Now, she lives in Ireland, so maybe she's right there, but when I bought one of each single-size frozen pizza at the Giant and tried them over the last week, I definitely didn't find anything close to comparable to the pizza places.

I bought cheese pizzas because I figured they'd be closer than other variations and I cooked them all in my toaster oven.

Red Baron Classic Crust Pepperoni - $4.49 - the pepperoni was loose so I took it off and ate it later. The crust was limp in the middle, although I had to cut part off and put it at the end to make it fit in my toaster oven and that might have affected it. Not enough cheese.

DiGiorno Rising Crust Four Cheeses - $4.39 - too much crust, not enough cheese, cornmeal annoying

McCann's Elio's Pizza Cheese - $1.99 - nice crust, but very bland. Maybe good for kids

Tony's NY Pizza Cheese - $2.39 - nice crust, not enough cheese, but lots of lovely garlic

Mr. P's Cheese - $1.99 - nice crust, rather bland

Freschetta 5 Italian Cheeses - $3.80 - limp crust, good cheese.

Celeste Cheese - $1.99 - good crust, not enough cheese

Of these, the Freschetta had the best taste, but I liked the Tony's crust best. Still, I don't consider any of these good enough to keep in the freezer.

Tags: food

05:11 pm: I Know Better
I've been taking garbage out from the cleaning every other day or so, but I know better than to take garbage out and do the grocery shopping on the same day. I did it anyway and had to rest in the recliner with the heat and massage when I got back. I did buy some unusual things today -- I had some coupons and there were some sales, so I bought six kinds of potted chicken for a taste test. I'm thinking I might be able to use the rice cooker to make grains & a bit of protein that doesn't have all the sodium that the soups and frozen meals have. I've never liked potted chicken, but I only spent $5 to buy all six kinds and that should give me a good idea. I had a coupon for a brand that came only in a foil packet and I went ahead and bought it, although it would have to be really good for me to continue to buy it because I can't recycle the packets.

Tags: food

05:04 pm: Fruit 2 Zero
I saw Fruit2O advertised on TV as having a new sub-brand with electrolytes and went to look it up. Since they advertise no calories, I figured it had some other kind of sweetener, but it took me almost 10 minutes clicking buttons on what turned out to be the Kelloggs' site to find out it was Splenda. I wonder why they hide that? Lots of people would rather have artificial sweetener; in my situation, I'd rather go with the glucose.

Tags: food

05:01 pm: Restaurant Tasting and Other Happenings
I went to pick up a half-pound of fancy chocolates at Chocolaterie Wanders to give to my upstairs neighbor for his birthday. The chocolate shop usually sells online or at gourmet shops, but they're just a mile or so from the condo so I go pick up. Then I headed to Mama Mia's, one of the restaurants on my list for potential brother & family visits. I'd driven by there before (they're in a remodeled old Roy Rogers building) and there were always cars there, so I was surprised when there weren't any today. As I pulled in, I saw a plastic banner over the door -- it's now La Flor Latino Bakery. I could have bought there, but it wasn't quite the plan for the day.

I went on to another restaurant on the list: Virginia Barbecue Company. It's a small storefront in a shopping center at a main crossroads. Their menu is too limited and the prices are too high. The food was okay. I did like the slaw, but everything else is better at Red Hot & Blue. Plus, they were blasting country music and weren't equipped for people to hang out and talk, so they're off the list, too.

My check was in the box when I got home and I had anticipated that possibility and taken a deposit slip with me, so I went to the bank to deposit it, stopping to say Hi to Mark. He says the going-out-of-business sale is going well (and they were loading a rented truck because both of their trucks were out delivering) and that's good to hear.

In less good news, someone I know from Minicon died yesterday. Doug was the compleat fan and slowed down a bit when he got ALS. Last year, he was Fan Guest of Honor, and I was dismayed to see how much worse he was this year. I'm glad he got out to Minicon this year, though, because I was happy to see and talk to him before he died.

Tags: food

03:11 pm: O'Meara's
When my brother Rick called last week to set up lunch for Saturday, he said he didn't want to go to the same restaurant again (I've never had us go to the same restaurant) and I didn't ask why. So Friday I used Google Maps to make a list of restaurants in the area. When they got here, I asked and Rick didn't like the sports bar atmosphere.

So I have this list and I haven't been to a few of the restaurants and I decided to try O'Meara's today. It's owned by former Redskin Mike O'Meara -- former Redskins tend to get car dealerships or restaurants -- and I had been there when it was O'Brien's, another former Redskin. Back then, it was a nice lunch place.

The new restaurant is separated into a "pub" with high tables and chairs, and a tablecloth restaurant. Except the tableclothes were covered by paper -- the kind you buy on rolls and tear off. That annoyed me. If you don't want your lunch customers to actually use the tableclothes, put a lunch tablecloth on top.

I had potstickers and potato soup plus the waitress brought a complementary dessert -- a brownie that was more like cake with a puff of whipped cream and raspberry sauce. It was all fine, but nothing spectacular.

I think it's more expensive than Rick would like and I'm pretty sure there was nothing on the menu my niece would eat (her favorite restaurant is Taco Bell), so it comes off the list.

Tags: food

05:06 pm: Virginia Politics, Canadian Food, Accessibility
Leave it to a Virginian delegate to say we don't need to apologize for slavery and then say he wonders if Jews should apologize for killing Christ.

Today's WashPost Food section is about pork bellies, haggis, and Canadian food. A lot of the Canadian food isn't that odd, but I wonder about tuna-potato gelatin mold. There's even a recipe for poutine.

I had to go to Kaiser to pick up an antibiotic and ahead of me in the line was a guy using a sip-n-puff wheelchair. When it was his turn, one of the women at one of the windows started yelling about how it was the next person's turn and they should really hurry up or she might not serve them. I raised my voice and said back "There's not enough room to turn a wheelchair at the end of the line" and she just said "okay." I moved one of the stanchions and he got turned around and I put the stanchion back. He probably could have turned with a half-dozen back-and-forths, turning a bit every time, but she should have leaned out over the counter before she yelled.

Tags: food, politics