This is just a strange thing to write about, but I'm ending the day on such a high and only because I had success in a few things.
I've never thought I was particularly good in one thing - maybe above average in a few things through the years but not now. Now that I'm just a few months from my 80s, I see more and more things fall by the wayside. Not always because of loss of knowledge or forgetfulness but for lack of interest or practice. One thing I don't think I'll ever get tired of is learning though. Sometimes I look at my computer aimlessly, but usually I'm following one link to another and trying to find out more and more about a particular subject. One thing leads to another, and I sometimes waste a good part of my day just reading.
I never liked cooking, although I did plenty of it and turned out a few good dishes in my lifetime, but in the last 5 or so years, I just cannot have any success. First, I don't feel like standing for long times and often just get tired and have to take a break and forget what I'm doing. Or I miss something. Or think I remember how an old recipe tasted and thinking it will be the same. My last thing that made me shake my head was rice. I know how to make rice. I know to rinse it. I know the proportions. I know exactly how long to cook it and then let it rest. The one thing I failed at was ignoring the timer. I knew when I heard it that I had a few minutes to finish up what I was doing, but something got in the way, and after 30+ minutes, I found my rice with a thick crust on the bottom and the smells of something 3 seconds from burning. Disgusting! I was already tired, and that didn't make me happy.
I guess I'll just cook less and more simply.
I did make chicken parmesan yesterday that Elise admired so much she wanted to know exactly how I made it so she could copy it. Except for the Ruffles potato chips. It's a simple dish that I've made for years, and it involves marinating chicken breasts briefly in Italian salad dressing and then dredging them in dry bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese, seasoning and cooking. Few things could be that simple. I checked the pantry and refrigerator (I thought) and had everything I needed, but when I started to put it together, I realized that box of bread crumbs that's ALWAYS in the same place in the cabinet was no longer there. I had about 4 boxes of salt up there and 2 cans of Pam, but no bread crumbs. And no bread. I was walking around and muttering and just about to go next door and beg for something to use. Then I found a handful of croutons - almost enough - and remembered the girls had a bag of Ruffles in their snack cabinet. I very happily crushed those and used them without any problem except not leaving off enough salt. Anyway, Elise loved them but asked for the recipe without Ruffles. So I did have that success yesterday.
And today was our vacuum cleaner satisfaction. Elise does the majority of vacuuming, and the last time she vacuumed, the cleaner was "spitting stuff back out." Ugh. I do hate finding the place it's stopped up, but today I had to face it. Neither of us wanted to do it, so we were both ready to be grumpy about it, but I went first and got the well-worn 12+-year-old instruction manual, and she took off the front and was staring at it. She admitted she did want to learn about it, and that was a good sign that I didn't have to do it all by myself. We got the roller part cleaned of cat hair, and then I showed her how to push a long brush through one part and see if there was a clog at the bottom. We were so thrilled to find it and find out it was easy to get out. She's been bugging me to get a new filter, and I was thinking I could just wash the old one and it would outlive the vacuum cleaner. So I did all that, she cleaned the plastic parts, and I washed the roller. Then I checked Amazon and found that it would cost me all of $17 to buy 3 complete sets of filters plus two HEPA filters, I have high hopes for the longevity of the old Shark. We are so proud of ourselves. We're thinking we might make a little business of cleaning vacuum cleaners for lazy people like us.
I was on a roll and decided to work on my bathroom sink drain that's been slow for weeks. I had done some home remedies, but I couldn't see that it made all that much difference. I didn't want to use anything harsh because of hurting pipes, so I decided to do a Google search. My old friend. I found the nicest man who had a YouTube video entitled Things Even I Can Do. He can even make pork chops, it seems!
What a nice guy to spell out how simple it would be to clean it with a little narrow brush - but I didn't have one thin enough to get in there. Then he very clearly explained how to take that stopper thing out. I knew you could do it, but it's always looked scary to me. And under the counter, which is dark and low. But I felt under there and found the screw and actually got that thing off without a wrench. I won't even talk about the gunk that was causing the slowness, but it was definitely time to come out. I may have bragged to Elise a little too much since she wouldn't look to see what I found. Then I put that stopper thing back in. It was much harder than taking it out. I had to jiggle and push and almost stand on my head, but when I got it back in, it worked! It even fit snugly and held water, which it had had a lot of trouble with lately.
And that wasn't enough. These are the other things I did today.
I tried cleaning Elise's drain, which wasn't even stopped up, but it was a more modern faucet, and I couldn't reach it easily.
I had washed the windows of the car with my E-cloths, so I used one to clean our mirrors and and shine up our sinks.
I couldn't figure out how to do a screenshot on my computer, so I figured out how to use the Snip feature and grab a picture (in the post above on the E-cloths).
I listened to and understood 3 ways to pivot in a game of Mah Jongg that made sense.
I checked my bank balance and saw that I've made it through July okay. Having the power bill $50 cheaper helped.
I got up a spot on the carpet in the hall in 5 minutes that we've been staring at and complaining about for 2 months.
Filled out my ballot for the August 4th Primary.
Two things I didn't do were make an appointment to get my hair cut and get to sleep before midnight - but I did have a good nap during the afternoon.
