I hope I'm ashamed of myself if I don't enjoy this day. Temps are predicted to reach the 80s before it cools down tonight and goes into the usual bipolar spring rain and coolness.
I don't have any plans, but I went to bed so early last night that I was up about 4:00 and greeting the day with a few games of Mah Jong. Online. I won two of the ones on the new card I have been wondering about - both using a sextet of flowers. That put my percentage up to 67% of the 2026 card, but I still feel like I've just learned to play, according to my last week's in-person performance.
I set up the pink set and my new mat so I could practice a few solo games. I feel like I learn better by touching the tiles and getting in practice saying the names of the tiles. We can't just throw one out on the board without announcing what it is, and sometimes I'll just be blank: 2 BAM - ugh Dot - or whatever that one is called. Sometimes we'll mix up a flower and the Bird Bam or the 5 Crak and the South wind. I enjoy looking at the table, but it's a lot of pastels. I plan to get clear acrylic pushers soon and retire those colorful ones. I might get some wooden ones for my traditional tiles and dark mat. I'm not sure I care since I can't attract anyone to play on my sets. When we play at the Y, we just use the tiles they furnish.
I got these artificial blooms some time ago from Amazon. I think they're cherry blossoms and feel like they are pretty enough to display to get in the mood for warmer weather.
My goal for today is to seriously work on the porch since I ignored it yesterday. I'll wait for the first sunshine and get out there and wash the windows and sills and water the few plants that made it through the winter.
I made 12 egg muffins yesterday and made a huge mess doing so. I want to have something for breakfast that I can prepare ahead, and I'm tired of the berry muffins I sometimes make.
The video included on this page makes it look like a piece of cake to make, but not me!
The only thing I did remotely resembling the video was turning on the oven. Then I looked for my rotating cheese grater that makes it so much easier to grate cheese. I found it in the hall closet/storage pantry along with a few pieces that didn't fit but made me wonder what they were part of. Even though it's easier, the cheese done that way is messy. What way of grating cheese is NOT messy.
I decided to use some salami I already had and just cook a couple of pieces of bacon. While the bacon was cooking in the microwave, I broke 12 eggs into a big measuring cup and seasoned them.
The video shows putting butter into the muffin tins instead of spraying them or using paper liners. I should have known that was too easy. The liquid of the egg mixed with the butter and ran over the tops of the tins. Luckily, I had an oven liner on the bottom of the oven, but that didn't keep it from smoking and smelling like a fire. I can't imagine why the smoke alarm didn't go off, but it didn't.
After getting it all done and cooked pretty much in line with the directions, it took forever to coax each muffin out, and a nice coating of eggy mixture was glued to the bottoms of the muffin tins. Elise ended up washing them, although I told her I would do it, and now we both vote for throwing them away and getting some new ones.
Luckily, they're just for me and luckily they're delicious, because there's nothing about the way they look that resembles the pictures in the recipe. The only problem is that with all the gunk stuck to the muffin tin, two was not enough for breakfast. I'm going to have some cottage cheese and strawberries this morning to add something there. A little slice of avocado helps the looks and the taste.
My Mother's Day gifts are drifting in. I got the roses from Elise yesterday, and Emily says I have some gifts arriving today. Yesterday Elise answered the door to hear Ida (with Linda peeking around the corner) saying Happy Mother's Day and delivering a delicious candy that I've never heard of before.
I almost didn't want to share half with Elise, but I did and then was glad I did. Four squares was just about enough - but of course I ate my whole portion before the night was over. I'm glad to know this brand.
Last week, Ida was an early morning visitor while her parents took her sister Carly to a doctor's appointment.
She prefered playing hide and seek, but after several rounds of that, we (I) ran out of places to hide, so she played with my Mah Jongg tiles and had a nice kiss from Wuffie.
It brought back a lot of memories to be back at Rooster Valley where we had so many pickups and drop-offs over 4 years. I wish I had had time to hang around and watch the sheep shearing. For some reason, I never got to watch ones when the girls were there.
It's taking a while to warm up, so I'll get another cup of coffee and waste some more time.
