July 18 through 21

[chochiyo_sama]

Monday, July 18

It was a bright, sunny day.  Hot outside, but cool and comfortable in my house.  I love my air conditioning.  I made myself a pot of Parmesan Pasta Roni and had that and some fresh watermelon for supper.  I watched the garbage collected today.  It was so full!  The recycling will go tomorrow and it is just as full if not more so. 

My house is looking so nice right now.  Hope is just a gem.  Unless something comes up, she will be coming to clean for me again on Wednesday.  She will be going  to Lily’s first as Lily is having Rhonda and a bunch of her grandchildren over the weekend.  Lily has all of the crap she dragged home from Texas and all of the stuff left over from the garage sale in Souix Falls scattered all over the basement, and Rhonda’s daughter Rachelle, her husband, and her two toddlers will be sleeping in the basement.  So Lily wanted all that mess cleared up.  Hope is a good organizer, so I am sure she will be able to deal with it.

I am a bit worried about Sawyer.  He showed no interest in his food this morning and hasn’t eaten much all day.  He’s been dumpy and has just been laying around.  At one point I heard him meowing plaintively and gagging, but I never found any vomit.  It seemed like he had eaten something bad, but I have no poisonous stuff in my house that they would have access to.  The only  things that might make them sick are cleaning products, but they are all in sealed containers and are not accessible to cats.

Toward evening, he started eating a few bites of food, and that seemed to perk him up a bit.  Before bed, he started wrestling with William.  So I figured I’d see how he was in the morning.  If he still isn’t “right,” I will see about taking him to the vet.

Not much else to report today.

 

Tuesday, July 19

Well, Sawyer seems back to his normal self today—wanting attention and tearing around like a lunatic.  I am thankful.  He is a massive pain in the ass, but I love him.  He’s my baby.

Hope is coming tomorrow, so I needed to get a few things done.  I cleaned the litter boxes in the breezeway, bagged up a bunch of garbage and dragged it to the breezeway, turned my hamburger into a very delicious meatloaf, and made a batch of my famous chicken pasta salad.  I haven’t made that since before my appendectomy which was in 2019.  I haven’t lost my touch.  It was delicious.  My meatloaf was excellent too.  I only like my own meatloaf. Most people make it with crackers or dry bread crumbs, but I use old fashioned oatmeal in mine.  It gives it a wonderful texture and flavor, and the oatmeal gives it an extra nutritional boost.

While I was cooking I cleaned all the old crap out of the fridge and put it in the garbage.  When the food I made today was ready to go in the fridge, I sorted out a large container of salad for my brother Jack.  He LOVES that salad.  I made a smaller container for his wife, but I had to take her portion out before I added the black olives.  She hates olives of any kind.  I also filled a container of salad for my mother along with a nice chunk of meatloaf for her too.  I couldn’t offer any of that to Jack as he hates onions, and I had a whole Vidalia onion in my meatloaf.  Vidalia onions are the very best onions in existence.  They have a sweetness to them.  Not cloying—just really tasty. 

I called Jack and asked him if he would come over and get the salad I had made for them.  When he was here, I asked him if he’d mind dropping off mom’s on his way home.  He was willing to, and I was glad as I didn’t want to go out.  It’s hot outside, and I was beat.

I ate a big bowl of my chicken pasta salad and a chunk of meatloaf for supper.  It was the most satisfying thing I’ve eaten in a long time.

 

Wednesday, July 20

I bagged up my living room and kitchen recycling and dragged that out to the breezeway.  Hope will not be coming here until she is done at Lily’s house, so I assume that will be after noon.  I have been in the cooking mood, so I chopped up my broccoli and turned it into cream of broccoli cheese soup.  It didn’t get too thick, but it was very tasty.  While that was cooking, I cleaned my box of strawberries and mashed them up.  I intend to add them to Jello and possibly add some cubed angel food cake to it as well.  That makes a tasty dessert.  I happen to have a “loaf” cake of angel food in the freezer.

I noticed that my potatoes were getting really withery and had a few bad spots on them, so I peeled them and set them aside till the broccoli soup was done.  Eventually I washed my big stew pot and put the potatoes on the stove.  Prior to that, I boiled some eggs and set them aside to cool.  I was able to get all my organic waste from the vegetables into the garbage along with the bathroom garbage into the big kitchen garbage can. 

Hope came shortly after I took the broccoli soup off the burner and set it aside to cool.  She had her older daughter (around 9) and her toddler (close to 2) with her, so it was hard for her to work.  The older one was bored and a bit whiny, and the toddler was over tired and clingy.  She tried to get the older daughter to take the toddler to the park, but she wasn’t into it and whined that her “legs hurt.”  And the toddler didn’t want to go with sister!  She wanted to go to the park with MOMMY.  I do understand that they had been at Lily’s all day and were tired and bored and a little crabby.  Kids are not thrilled with hanging around in places that are not familiar to them and have nothing to entertain them.  I tried to find some kind of kids’ shows on TV but all I found was Peppa Pig and Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood.  The toddler was too cranky to get into them, and the older girl was too mature for them. 

Hope took the garbage and recycling out to the bins, vacuumed all the upholstered furniture, swept/vacuumed and scrubbed all the floors, cleaned the stove top which I had boiled over something on, and scrubbed out the microwave.  She also got my mail.  While she was working, I went through my mail and paid my MN Energy bill. 

Hope was only able to work for me a couple hours, but she got the basic work that needed to be taken care of.  The potatoes were almost cooked when Hope wanted to sweep and scrub the kitchen floor.  I asked her to keep an eye on the potatoes and got out of her way.  When she was done, she told me the potatoes were done, and I asked if she’d pour them into the colander to drain, and she did.  Then she gathered up her kids and her stuff and they left.  She took my bill with her to mail on her way out of town.

I figured I’d just wait until the potatoes cooled enough to put into the refrigerator, so I watched TV for about an hour while they cooled.  Maybe it was an hour and a half, I don’t really know.  The potatoes were well drained and cool enough to go into the fridge, so I dumped them into a large ziplock bag and put them into the fridge with everything else. 

I was hungry, so I mashed up a couple of the potatoes and put a chunk of meatloaf on a plate and went to put it in  the microwave.  My microwave is high above my stove, and I am unsteady on my feet due to the bad knees.  Any how….not sure how I managed it, but I put my hand on the stove top which should have been completely cool.  But.  It.  Wasn’t.  I shrieked as a surge of pain bolted through my hand.  I jerked my hand back and discovered that the burner, a gas stove, was still ON.  Yes.  I set my hand on a red hot burner grate with an open flame under it. 

I was really tired after a busy day of working hard, and I imagine Hope was so exhausted and overwhelmed by her kids being … well… kids all day that she was distracted and eager to get home.  No doubt she just spaced out turning off the burner—or maybe she thought she had turned it off but didn’t get it all the way off.  The flame was very low.

I immediately turned the faucet on and stuck my hand under the cold water.  I let it pour over my hand for several minutes.  I did go ahead and microwave my supper and carried it into the living room along with a cold can of pop which I held in the burned hand to cool it further.  As long as I had the cold can in my hand, there was no pain—but seconds after I set the can down, it hurt a lot.  Now, the burn didn’t blister or have an open sore at all.  It just hurt. 

For a few hours I kept switching off one can for another cold can until I thought to go to the freezer and pull out a bag of frozen pineapple.  I held that off and on for the rest of the evening until I decided to go to bed.  I smeared a little Neosporin over the burned area.  The pain had gone down enough to allow me to sleep.  I was scared to death that it would be all blistered up and raw in the morning.  It’s not every day I have the misfortune of sticking my hand onto an open flame.

 

Thursday, July 21

I was pleasantly surprised when I woke up to discover that there was only a small white mark on my hand, right under the “naughty” finger, I wouldn’t even call it a blister, really.  You could kind of see the outline of the end of the burner grate on my hand and finger—as if I had branded myself.  It didn’t even really hurt unless I flexed my hand or pressed on the white mark. 

My whole body felt greasy and gross, so I took a shower.  My burned hand took the shower well.  No serious pain.  I felt much better after getting clean and washing my hair.  After I got dressed, did my morning routine, and fed the cats, I sorted and started my laundry.  Then I went into the kitchen and cut up my potatoes, boiled eggs, celery, onion, and pickles and turned them into a very nice potato salad.  I had a bite and decided it needed more onions, so I added another one.  I put most of the potato salad into a container then put the rest into a cool whip bowl for Lily.  She is always giving me food.  I like to return the favor, but I don’t cook too much these days.  I ate a small bowl of it for my lunch then did up a sink full of dishes. 

Now THAT is when my hand hurt.  I use really hot water when I do dishes, and that set my hand to throbbing.  But, once I was done with the dishes and ran some more cold water on it.  It was fine after a little bit.  I was tired then, so I went into the living room, fired up the laptop and called my grocery order to Lerbergs in.  There were a lot of excellent produce selections on the sale bill.  I ordered peaches, plums, mushrooms, celery, Vidalia onions, pears, Roma tomatoes, cucumbers, and nectarines.  I do love my fresh produce.

Lily called and told me she was going to get groceries in Owatonna tomorrow and asked if I wanted her to pick anything up for me since she owes me about $80 for the Schwans’ stuff I bought for her last week.  So, I asked her to pick up a couple of 6-packs of Diet Coke, a bunch of bananas, and a carton of the mini raspberry bismarks they sell there.  I didn’t really need anything else.

I learned the glorious news that my dear friend godiva passed her driving test!  HUZZAH!!  It is the best news I have had in weeks.  If you know her, you know that she has been through hell with this whole driver’s license thing—such unfairness and inconvenience!  But now, she will be free to go where she wants and do what she wants again. 

The January 6 Hearings were on tonight, and I watched with awe and horror.  I already knew a lot of bad shit went down that day as I watched it on live TV, but now that the Republicans close to tRump are telling what happened behind the scenes, I am even more aghast and appalled.  I really believe that tRump was just slobbering with desire to see his cult of lunatics slaughter those he perceived as his “enemies.”  I don’t think there has ever been a more warped and evil man in this country.  The thought that this slimy bag of guts was the president of this nation makes me sick.  He belongs in a cell….or in a grave. 

I really cannot understand how so many people have fallen under his spell—I actually KNOW people who proclaim their undying loyalty to him—pledging that they would kill or die for him.  Proudly.  Eagerly.  WTF is wrong with them?  Are they crazy?  Evil?  Stupid?  All three?  Worse?  I don’t get it.  I really.  Just.  Don’t.  Get.  It.

Just thinking about it exhausts me.

Comments

[cmcmck]

I suspect a lot of people went with him and just can't bring themselves to admit they were wrong.

It's the same with Bojo here although he's on his way out thankfully!

[the_godiva]

Glad to hear that the hand wasn't that bad.

I wonder if Hope didn't turn the stove off because you didn't ask her to. Like, maybe she thought it was already off since the flame was so low? Or it could be she thought it was off but she didn't turn it off enough. Whatever it was, as hard as it is for her with her home situation I don't think the kids should come when she cleans house. It is an accident waiting to happen and you don't want either of her kids hurt on your property. Your house isn't set up for small children. Not only dangerous for them but a liability for you.

Yes, I did finally pass. I should have taken the driving lessons before the first test but there is no guarantee if I had that DMV Bitch wouldn't have flunked me anyway. The letter officially removing my suspension arrived today. I've already made appointments to bring my car in to get the Miller CatShield installed on Monday and to take the dogs to the dog park and "beauty salon" on Tuesday. I will call my Mom on Sunday to tell her so she can tell ShitForBrains not to come on Tuesday. I might cook them dinner and even make a pie. Who knows. I know my Dad probably hasn't had pie in ages because my sister doesn't stay that long, wouldn't think to make one and bring it and ShitForBrains isn't a desert guy. He'll eat pie but I doubt he could make one. He brags about what a great cook he is but can't make the family recipes, likely because his mother doesn't make them. I think she's a lousy cook and all he can make is soup. I'll ask my Mom when I call her what she'd like to do. I can take her to the grocery store as she hasn't been shopping in ages or I can pick up some take-out. I will be setting up all of the delivery apps for her and suggesting she sign up for Meals on Wheels too.

Every hearing has exposed more and more corruption from the previous administration. I think this last was the worst. Three hours of doing nothing but watch TV and throw food? Wanting to go to the Capitol to egg on the seditionists? Would he really have encouraged them to bring out Pence and Pelosi and watched in glee while they strung up Pence? I know there is nothing he would have liked better than for Pelosi and Pence to be down on their knees in front of him, begging for their lives. And I'll bet the Republicans in Congress certifying the votes would all have backed him and voted against the certification. Not just the Big Lie election deniers like Hawley but all of the Republicans except for Cheney and Kinzinger and a few others. Then he'd have them down on their knees too. And what did the Secret Service do? They destroyed all records of those days AFTER they were requested to provide them. I sure hope they exist somewhere and someone is able to bring them up. I want those Secret Service orangeass-kissers prosecuted too. Kicked out of the Secret Service with NO pension. If what we have seen so far is any indication the September hearings will be exposing far worse. Deplorable doesn't come close to describing these criminals. There are no words bad enough. And some of those fucks say if Trump is the nominee they'll vote for him again. That guy in Arizona that testified said if Trump were the nominee he'd vote for him. I wonder if he still feels the same after hearing the latest testimony. Seriously? After all of this they'd still vote for him? WTF? What the hell will happen to this country if the Republicans take back the Senate in 2022? We cannot survive another two years of Mitch McConnell in charge given his past performance in that position. He gave us Trump and the SCROTUS.

Covid or no Covid, I'm sheltering in place. I don't want to go anywhere that I don't have to. Maybe I'll feel different with Bannon and a few others in jail. I know I won't feel normal again until that orange ass is in an orange jumpsuit walking circles in the prison yard. Merrick Garland better get his ass in gear and start doing his job before it's too late. He needs to get it done before 2024 or McConnell will stop him.

Why can't McConnell just drop dead? He's old enough and has heart problems. Clarence Thomas too for that matter.