Author: Rene

Yesterday we moved a concrete slab to its new home. It shall be repurposed as a prayer garden with my sister bench and St. Francis presiding. The good news? It looks super cool there. The bad news? It’s rimose.

Today’s word of the day in my feed is “rimose,” meaning cracked or fissured. Yes, we cracked the slab. At first I was aghast and wondered if we should continue the salvage project. Then, when we agreed to continue and have a rimose slab, I remembered my bible. My prayer garden now has the Red Sea running through it.

Heading out to find some red stones to fill the fissure!

Truly, I lost a fifth of a pound this week. That would be the energy required to donate a pint of blood – a fact they have long neglected to divulge to donors. In the course of a year, I could actually lose a pound! It’s not the best diet plan, but it seems to be the only one that produces results.

Emma has been my phlebotomist for the past two times, and Crystal the chatty receptionist who queried me beyond my designated time slot. However, when I left, the four blood hounds were all free of patients…no one waiting, no one in the chairs…no phone calls.

My friend, “Pat,” informed me – the report they give you on your donation is like a doctor’s blood draw, another fact I have not pursued in the past. It tells you all sorts of useful information, even if you have the Co-vid antibodies. Lots of good reasons to give for yourself, but obviously more for those in need.

Donate if you can!

Yesterday I considered jigsaw puzzles, as I cited their purpose in my class in a very cool analogy. Then I thought about actually setting up a good one.

Last year during the pandemic’s early days, you may recall my implementation of the white plastic banquet table for a surface and working in front of the television. It was a fine plan as no one was visiting and it kept me entertained. The dining room, my normal set-up space, does keep the mess out of the way, but it’s “off the table” now, as it has become a nursery of sorts.

Either table, this gave me a chuckle and reminded me of the sneaky ways certain family members would hide a piece, just to claim the gold at the end!

The hint of Fall is calling me to a puzzle!

When I was in “home economics” class back in the day, I learned the water displacement method for measuring shortening, or as we commonly called it, “Crisco.” Yuck.

I always wondered about that measurement. We were taught that leveling off the dry ingredients was imperative to the recipe. You couldn’t have that extra flour or smidgen less in there, so you sliced through the measuring cup to make sure it was settled, you leveled it with the flat edge of a knife, and then gently tapped the measuring cup. At least we had pre-sifted flour! Remember the old sifters? That was kind of fun though. Anyway, here you are, carefully measuring dry ingredients, and then you are getting uncalled-for droplets of water on your shortening!

Well, I wasn’t a rebellious chef, so I followed the recipe to the letter-of-the-law, another funny thing, as most hand-written recipes handed down from generations skip a few things. It’s assumed you already know temperatures, time, and half of the ingredients – if you’re reading some of the gems I have.

Oh, all of this came to mind as I awoke at 5:30 and remembered I promised to bring my famous homemade cookies from the church cookbook to my class in a mere four hours. Thank you God and the JM Smucker company for pre-measured Crisco sticks.

The house sure smells nice this morning.

Sadly, “Flappy Bird” is not an arcade game to which I can claim victory.

Last night I was privy to the world of gaming at the bar. I was officially the oldest person there, and the bouncer was kind enough to ask for my identification anyway. We had a jolly time watching me fail miserably at every game. Skeeball, Pac-Man, pinball, basketball, Safari Hunt, you name it. They all required too much calculation and speed. Except for Flappy Bird. One button, one goal: keep the birdie in the air.

Sometimes comic relief is best achieved by inviting your mother to your birthday celebration. Thank you, Son.

One of my many aunts never used her dishwasher. She enjoyed doing the dishes by hand, as they passed her inspection before going into the cupboard.

Of course, when we were young, my sister and I were the dish-dryers at family events, whipping through them as fast as possible so that we could run up the alley to the next grandparents’ house. We did not savor those moments. However, I did have the chance to savor Saturday evening with friends.

After a delicious meal, we reenacted my aunts doing the family dishes. Washing, drying, organizing, putting away, and then sitting down to discuss movies. (You learn a lot about others from their movie preferences!)

Good times. Thanks, “Pancy.”

As I showered with my sliver of soap this morning, I thought about that little catalog which always excited me with its promises of making life more convenient. One of the things I always thought was a good idea was this doo-hickey which housed all of your slivers of soap, smashing them into one bar.

Oh, the thrill of imagining how you could use these quirky inventions in your life! The little plastic “diapers” for bowls. (That’s what they reminded me of, those plastic pants you used to pull over cloth diapers!) And then they had fun stuff, like decorations for your house or bunion cures or holiday tableware. I loved that little catalog which occasionally graced my parent’s mailbox.

I made it through the cleansing experience with my sliver slimmer and some happy thoughts to ignite the day.

New pens, new notebooks, new clothes. I had none of those as I packed my ripped backpack, sported my bicycle helmet with a tennis visor underneath, wore my winter gloves to keep my hands warm, and snaked my way through the back streets on my way to Biblical School. It was my first day though!

Lest you think this was some great feat, I made my husband do a trial run last night to time the venture and help me figure out locking my bike there. All went well this morning, and I even came away with a new project. I am going to get a better bike rack installed.

Meeting friends and taking notes again is all very satisfying. After two hours though, I’m thinking my first school purchase should be some Prevagen – just so I can retain an ounce of what I learn.

The Pickle Ball Championship Tournaments will safely continue without my participation. I stink.

Granted, I am just learning this game, which I considered was invented by a woman. One of the goals is to “stay out of the kitchen,” the area in front of the net on either side. I also find it difficult to serve without kicking up my back heel as if performing a little country dance. That part I can do quite well!

Oh, it’s good exercise and lots of laughs. Clearly I will need a new wardrobe to accommodate carrying spare pickle balls.

By the way, a man invented the game out of boredom, and it’s really based more on badminton than any other racquet sport. History is fascinating. Just living it!

The total weight of ants in the world is greater than the total weight of humans. This fascinating fact was revealed on “Wild Australia” last night as I watched the insects being devoured by the thorny devil, a lizard species. Since my husband was traveling, I took the time to indulge in the Nat Geo Wild channel. Earlier in the day I provided background noise for my granddaughter with the “Lost Treasures of Egypt.” Apparently I’m recording that series, even though I’ve already seen it. (They’re still searching for Cleopatra’s tomb, by the way, even in reruns.)

Around 8 pm I saved myself when I remembered NFL Football was actually on Monday night! It used to be my favorite activity when my husband was off selling in the world. Kids to bed, popcorn, and Michaels and Dierdorf narrating the game. After watching a snake devour a rodent I opted to stick with football, thinking it would be tamer. However, it took me longer than I thought to unwind from the drama of the game with its exciting overtime.

Maybe Mother Nature is a better pre-bedtime option after all.