Field Report and some Fun . . .
Sourdough Starter
The update on the sourdough starter is: FAIL
It started out so well, and then after I fed it the second time, that was all she wrote. I tried a couple more days of feeding it, but it remained watery and the smell was getting to be sort of strong, so I tossed it yesterday morning. Chalk it up to experience. I'm sure I'll try again, just not at the moment. King Arthur bread flour is hard to find right now.
Why I drive a Subaru
Yes, I know I said I was a customer for life twice in the previous post :-D I forget that a lot of people drive Japanese cars. I grew up looking for the union label. That means that I've been buying American for a pretty long time. For cars I've always bought American, and failing that, German. But once you've been in a bad accident, you buy cars in a very different way. It became all about safety, and my Subaru Forester with Eyesight Technology is the safest car on the road - or it was when I bought it (December 2014). Nothing could compete with it on price or safety, so, for the first time in my life, I bought a Japanese car. It's been the best car I've ever had, and Subaru's customer service is amazing. And in case you're interested, the union from that commercial was the ILGWU. It had a pretty storied history.
The Puzzles
I finished The Kiss. If you click to biggify, you'll see all the wild piece shapes.
And yesterday I started - and today finished - another Optimago one that I think was my mom's. It's not a Gold Box, but I just don't look at the pictures anymore anyway :-D It's less than 500 pieces so it's smaller. I like these smaller ones because I can work on them on the little square marble-topped table in the sunroom. I think this one was one my mom's, because it's missing one edge piece. Bummer. And it seems like someone must have thought about framing it - there are some pin holes in a few of the edge pieces. That's not something I would have ever done. I like the picture, though, even with the missing piece.
This and That
I got a stimulus payment. It's small, but I'm happy to have it, and I got a partial refund on my deposit for the trip to Iona that I cancelled. Good thing - I'm getting hit with a hefty tax bill this year. Ugh.
I remain healthy. I'm grateful. However, I've definitely struggled with my salt intake since I've been home. My body is telling me that I need to get a handle on it, now. And on eating more fruit and veg (and less meat), and on getting my water back up where it needs to be on a daily basis. And getting more exercise in. Why are these things such a struggle when I know they will help me? I'm grateful that I hear what my body is telling me. Now I just need to listen . . . I was very inspired by the most recent post on My Next 20 Years of Living this morning. I think it's time to start pushing myself . . .
I've finished up all the commercial jam that was in the house and I'm not buying any more of it. That was pretty much the last of sugary stuff in the house. I'm also not buying any more snack food because if it's here, I eat it. I have jars of apple butter with no added sugar that I'm looking forward to switching over to. I signed up for Tai Chi again for the month of May. It's been a long time and I've forgotten a lot of the form. I'm pretty excited to be starting again - on Zoom!
I haven't sat down at the piano in more than a month . . . I think that the major changes in the world and in my life have affected me more than I might have realized. I've definitely found it harder to concentrate on stuff, and I'm still not getting enough exercise, so I'm looking at getting my act together a bit better in the coming days and weeks. Summer looks like it's going to be mostly under a stay at home order (that's what I'm thinking), so I need to figure this out for myself. I've really been wishing I had purchased an elliptical for myself a few years ago when I was seriously considering one. I sure could use it now.
And yet - I keep moving forward because that's what I do, even when the steps are slow and ground is not quickly gained.
Onward :-)
Some Fun
This was on my friend, Michelle's, blog - I decided to play along :-)
Post-isolation fantasies:
The update on the sourdough starter is: FAIL
It started out so well, and then after I fed it the second time, that was all she wrote. I tried a couple more days of feeding it, but it remained watery and the smell was getting to be sort of strong, so I tossed it yesterday morning. Chalk it up to experience. I'm sure I'll try again, just not at the moment. King Arthur bread flour is hard to find right now.
Why I drive a Subaru
Yes, I know I said I was a customer for life twice in the previous post :-D I forget that a lot of people drive Japanese cars. I grew up looking for the union label. That means that I've been buying American for a pretty long time. For cars I've always bought American, and failing that, German. But once you've been in a bad accident, you buy cars in a very different way. It became all about safety, and my Subaru Forester with Eyesight Technology is the safest car on the road - or it was when I bought it (December 2014). Nothing could compete with it on price or safety, so, for the first time in my life, I bought a Japanese car. It's been the best car I've ever had, and Subaru's customer service is amazing. And in case you're interested, the union from that commercial was the ILGWU. It had a pretty storied history.
The Puzzles
I finished The Kiss. If you click to biggify, you'll see all the wild piece shapes.
And yesterday I started - and today finished - another Optimago one that I think was my mom's. It's not a Gold Box, but I just don't look at the pictures anymore anyway :-D It's less than 500 pieces so it's smaller. I like these smaller ones because I can work on them on the little square marble-topped table in the sunroom. I think this one was one my mom's, because it's missing one edge piece. Bummer. And it seems like someone must have thought about framing it - there are some pin holes in a few of the edge pieces. That's not something I would have ever done. I like the picture, though, even with the missing piece.
This and That
I got a stimulus payment. It's small, but I'm happy to have it, and I got a partial refund on my deposit for the trip to Iona that I cancelled. Good thing - I'm getting hit with a hefty tax bill this year. Ugh.
I remain healthy. I'm grateful. However, I've definitely struggled with my salt intake since I've been home. My body is telling me that I need to get a handle on it, now. And on eating more fruit and veg (and less meat), and on getting my water back up where it needs to be on a daily basis. And getting more exercise in. Why are these things such a struggle when I know they will help me? I'm grateful that I hear what my body is telling me. Now I just need to listen . . . I was very inspired by the most recent post on My Next 20 Years of Living this morning. I think it's time to start pushing myself . . .
I've finished up all the commercial jam that was in the house and I'm not buying any more of it. That was pretty much the last of sugary stuff in the house. I'm also not buying any more snack food because if it's here, I eat it. I have jars of apple butter with no added sugar that I'm looking forward to switching over to. I signed up for Tai Chi again for the month of May. It's been a long time and I've forgotten a lot of the form. I'm pretty excited to be starting again - on Zoom!
I haven't sat down at the piano in more than a month . . . I think that the major changes in the world and in my life have affected me more than I might have realized. I've definitely found it harder to concentrate on stuff, and I'm still not getting enough exercise, so I'm looking at getting my act together a bit better in the coming days and weeks. Summer looks like it's going to be mostly under a stay at home order (that's what I'm thinking), so I need to figure this out for myself. I've really been wishing I had purchased an elliptical for myself a few years ago when I was seriously considering one. I sure could use it now.
And yet - I keep moving forward because that's what I do, even when the steps are slow and ground is not quickly gained.
Onward :-)
Some Fun
This was on my friend, Michelle's, blog - I decided to play along :-)
Post-isolation fantasies:
- Restaurant you would go out to. I don't go out to eat all that much. But there is a great seafood place not too far away from me, Tin Fish. I wouldn't mind going there at all :-)
-
Friend you would meet up with first. Probably my cousins :-)
-
Place you would go. When it's safe, probably down to see my sweetheart. It's hard knowing we likely will not actually see each other live and in person any time soon.
-
Shop you would go to. Like Michelle, I wouldn't say no to a haircut. I've been doing my best to embrace the grey. At my most recent cut, which I think was around the end of February, I made the decision to try this, so my stylist did not color my roots and used my normal color to highlight the rest of my hair. So I had about 7-8 weeks of roots then, but they were relatively hidden by my cut. Well, my roots now have about 15-16 weeks of growth . . . and I think it all looks horrid, but J - bless him - thinks it looks great (he only ever "sees" it on Skype :-D). I chose to attempt this to save some money. It's expensive to have color and highlights on a regular basis and I've been working hard to be spending less these days.
-
Food item you would buy/eat. I'm not missing anything in particular, but I would like to get a few bunches of fresh basil when it comes in at the Farmers' Markets this summer (if they open up this year). I am missing my own pesto.
-
Cake you would eat. I do love cake, but I've learned that it doesn't love me, so, probably no cake.
-
Show/concert you would go to. I had tickets to the Cirque du Soleil's Alegria, which is my favorite of their shows. It's the 25-year anniversary and they brought the show back for an encore. I was really looking forward to seeing it at the end of June, but that portion of the tour has been suspended. So maybe it will come back here next year.
-
Relative you would hug first. My cousins.
-
Holiday you would go on. I had planned a lot of travel for this summer that, obviously, isn't going to happen. I'd still like to take a road trip to a few places when it's safe, but probably first down to spend some time with J.
-
Other activity. Back to the health club. I really miss it.
-
Thing you would do at work. No more work for me! At least not any time soon.
- Item you would buy. I've been doing pretty well with getting whatever I need, and I scored some TP a few weeks ago on Amazon. I still pick up a pack if I see it at the store, though - one of my cousins always needs some.
Comments