The Attic

Terry took me to see Les Mis on Broadway for my birthday a very long time ago and don't tell my youngest, but I loved this show. I found myself this morning, both laughing and crying at the same time...the word, I was told, is "craughing". Pay attention to the lyrics...very clever.

I hope this works....it pretty much sums up my life at the moment. Enjoy!

Today’s Project: figure out photos again

By George, I did it!  

This was last night, after a GLOOMY, rainy, chilly day.  Only the second fire since the fireplace was declared safe by the chimney sweep and I have to pat myself on the back:  it took only ONE MATCH to get that puppy going!  I also figured the trick to keeping it bearable in the room and that is to add only one log at time.

Sourdough Pumpernickel is on the counter rising, so that will be the big task for the day.  I have an over-abundance of freshly fed starter at the moment, so I might start an overnight batch of something just to use some and avoid throwing it out.  Put up some local Facebook posts but it doesn’t look like anyone is interested.

Their loss.  It is great stuff.  I’ve been drying it, too, for “insurance”, but there is a limit to how much I can dry, so I guess some will just have to get tossed by the end of the day. 😞

Nothing much else to report on Day what?  I figure at least 15 now for me of pretty near total isolation.  I’m learning that having a lot of hobbies doesn’t help much if the effect of quarantine is a muddled brain that can’t focus on a bloody thing (except bread baking) for more than five minutes at a time!  I’m learning that this shared nightmare is making some people nicer, and others really awful.  I’ve learned that some people are taking this madness seriously and others refuse to consider the greater good.  Open Houses?  Really?  (And yesterday I witnessed a group of people who are related but do not live together, gather to clear out a deceased parent’s home.  I saw one mask, could have been some gloves. Yikes!)

Back to that pumpernickel and then a good cleaning of the kitchen!

 

Please be considerate of others and stay safe, peeps!

Am I the only one starting to LOATHE the smell of Clorox? (Joking, sort of...really glad I have some! Found a gallon of Clean-up in the cellar.)

In other news, flour availability lasted all of two days. Just like that King Arthur is out of stock again. I guess that’s a good thing that folks are learning to bake, but flour has become the new toilet paper! I’m good at the moment,especially if I want to make pizza: got 12 pounds of pizza flour for my birthday! (Son sent me “flours”, ha ha!)

Ordered a Fitbit yesterday. Since I’m so enamored of Alexa, I got the fancy one that works with Alexa. It was that, or something called Soundbrenner that has a metronome and a tuner in it, not sure about watch.

Off to feed my sourdough...anyone need some? I have way more than I need.

Stay safe, chums!

Finally! This should scare you all right back into bed. Unless you already do these things.

Okay, I was trying to embed a Youtube video, but haven't quite gotten there yet. It's by a doctor (Jeffrey van Wingen) from Minnesota explaining how to sanitize your groceries after you bring them in the house. I mean, like wiping down boxes and cans with sanitizer (he saturated a cloth with Lysol spray or something), and washing your fruit the way you wash your hands.

Gee, I really wish I had seen this before I put away about six bags of groceries that my son delivered to me on Tuesday. Eye roll. That ship has sailed, I guess, and now my whole fridge and pantry are contaminated.

Pray for me.....

Things to do A(after) V(irus)

First, the good news.  Just got a call from a dear friend (also a baker) who wanted to let me know that King Arthur had flour on its website again!  Whoohoo!  I was getting to the point where I was considering killing off two jars of sourdough starter because it takes so much flour to fed the greedy little bastards.  Safe for the moment, guys.  It also means that I can get back to baking.  Okay, I don't need another baked good in this house (at least one third of my freezer is bread right now), but some fresh bread might give me an excuse to go for a drive to my son's house in the next town.  Two hungry teen-aged boys might appreciate it, don't you think?

So, baking is back on the schedule, but I have to comment on another "keep busy" schedule that someone posted on Facebook this morning.  The first one was pretty reasonable, although I scratched a few things off (don't have kids or their toys to pick up, don't have a medicine cabinet to clean, my car IS clean, etc) but this one is a lulu. I read through it and didn't know whether to laugh or cry.  I finally posted a comment:  I'm 75.  This schedule will kill me faster than the damn virus!  If I can figure out how to get things to upload without being flipped on the side, I'll get it up here.  Who lives like that?  Anyway, that got me thinking about AV.  Definitely getting a cleaning lady.

And on that topic, I'm also going to post the following on my FB status, just to get my kids nervous (yep, after this, I'm gonna spend it all, guys; you are on your own!): When this is all over, I'm going to get a cleaning lady, trash pick up, a Corgi and a BMW.  And not necessarily in that order.

IPhoto not being cooperative today, so no pictures of my delicious waffle and bacon breakfast.  Or that stupid chart of things to clean.

Stay safe, kids.  (Or as one of my old philosophy profs used to say:  "Cheer up, we'll soon be dead". Now I get it.)  

 

I guess what # day it is, pandemically speaking, is when the shit hit the fan for you.  For me, it was the weekend of March 14-15.  Oh, I was starting to get nervous earlier that week (last time to a grocery store, BIG shopping was the 10th) but I was supposed to go to dinner with nearby family to celebrate two birthdays.  Chickened out several days before, but offered a suggestion for a home pizza party as an alternative.  Two of us have new gas-fired pizza ovens that haven't been tried yet, sounded like fun.  I bailed the morning of...delivered the pizza dough and sauce I had made, stayed a good distance from son and his wife, never saw the kids.  I started this "social separation" stuff even before that, though: the week before I cancelled both piano lesson and (gasp) hair appointment.  So, let's say I've been under house arrest for two full weeks now, and it sucks more every day.

I'm now at the point where I've decided no more bra.  Who's gonna care?  I finally washed my hair yesterday (don't judge), and while I was tempted to stay in pajamas today, I got dressed, but only because my son is hopefully going to pick up and deliver a few groceries for me.  Strangely, I've barely touched anything I bought on the tenth, but no, this is the stuff I FORGOT to buy at that point.  Yikes.  In other news, I am trying, unsuccessfully, to create and stick to a schedule.  BWAHAHAHA!  Not doing too well there, either.  Okay, I copied down a "Thirty Days to Clean Your House" calendar from the internet yesterday, but have a lot of blank spaces:  my car is clean, so scratch that off.  So is my wallet and purse/backpack.  I don't have a "medicine cabinet" per se, but those drawers in the bathroom vanity could use a purge, I suppose.  Most of the rest could almost be done in a day, so I'm thinking of throwing the whole thing out!

My best bet is to do what I did after the Old Man died and I was overwhelmed and terrified and more than a little depressed.  Do ONE BIG THING a day.  It worked.  As long as I accomplished OBT, I felt better.  So, yesterday I decided to dust.  (That's when I discovered that I forgot to buy Swiffer dusting cloths, sigh.)  But, I found one and went on a dusting mission.  Man, was this house filthy.  Dusting, however, led to a few side trips.  Change the candles in the dining room.  Check.  Empty the big drawer in the sideboard to store sheet music.  Check.  (I have no idea where to put the stuff that came OUT of that drawer, but moving on.)

I have tons of things I should be doing (practicing, weaving, even spinning) but can't seem to focus very well.  So I bake.  Bread, mostly.  Damn freezer is full of bread.  I've tried giving it away, but some people are uncomfortable because they don't want to feel they "owe" me something.  Two people who got bread have not even commented.  Maybe they were afraid and don't want to let me know they threw it away?  Well, in any event, the baking has slowed down because I can't find flour!  King Arthur freaking FLOUR Company is out of flour.  The supermarkets are out of flour.  Amazon Prime is out of flour.  Shit.  Yesterday I made sourdough waffles (OMG were they incredible!) but they all went in the freezer.  Starting to ration flour.

Oh, well.  At least I don't have kids home needing homeschooling....

Stay safe, people!

 

 

Had to pop on here to update my credit card, so I thought...why not post something?
I'm going NUTS. I'm basically a hermit on the best of days, but this virus thing brings it to a new level. Sort of like being stuck in the house in a blizzard, but with heat and light. On the plus side, I kind of anticipated things and did a BIG shopping about five days before everyone else panicked. That was two weeks ago. Haven't been near a grocery store since, but still holding up from a supply standpoint. (Thank God for Amazon, and till recently, King Arthur Flour!) The local son is going to try to do some shopping tomorrow for me, but then it's anybody's guess!
I have stuff to do: baking, mostly. Weaving is tough because the studio is so cold but I'm reconsidering moving the small loom inside, or just set up an inkle loom or band loom. I have piano to practice, although who knows when lessons will resume. Grandsons have gone to Skype for theirs. I've got a bag of knitting next to the sofa, but not sure what all is in the bag! Today, after making a big batch of sourdough waffles for the freezer (YUM), an urge to clean stuff overtook me. You know it's bad when that happens. I'd post a pic of the waffles, but can't remember how to do it!
Will try to pop in here again soon. Need to get on a SCHEDULE, so whatever happens going forward, at least I'll have some accomplishments, and maybe a cleaner, neater house to show for it!

Stay safe, peeps!