Family Rules

 

I stopped at Michaels yesterday for some craft supplies and saw this framed list on the Clearance shelves.  The sign said that items were 70% off but I asked the cashier to check and it was 80% off because some of it is faded and the paint on the top of the frame is chipped.  I don't care, in fact I like that; I think it makes it look like it's been around a while.  I like what it says.  I'm going to work on living my life by these few words.





On day in about 1951 Dad bought a slicer from a guy in the parking lot of the factory where he worked.  It was a Feemster's Famous Slicer and it was a kitchen revolution.  It was the mandoline of its day and all of us managed to cut ourselves on its sharp, unprotected blade.  Durwood found some Feemster's in some store in his territory and brought three home.  Three because I kept having to borrow Dad's and because he was certain that DS and DD would want one when they flew the nest to become grownups.  I suspect that there are two of them downstairs on a shelf but they were new technology in the 1950s but have been superseded by mandolines and food processors.  It was a great help when I made that Health Slaw last night.  I love my Feemster's and there was no blood-letting in the making of the coleslaw.  (Not that there hasn't been in the past; I've sacrificed many a partial fingertip to the Feemster's gods.)




This morning I harvested a bunch of Sweet 100 cherry tomatoes and a patty pan squash. I put some tomatoes on my hummus on toast for lunch and more got cut in half and added to my squash, onion, meatball saute for supper.  So good.  There are lots more tomatoes ripening.  I won't be running out anytime soon and I'm very glad that I only planted one tomato plant--and I need to put out some beer for the slugs.  Ugh. (I sent the supper photo from my phone to my email twice last night and once this morning.  Evidently they're all lost in the ether.  Damn.)




 

I wanted some sandals to take to Yellowstone so I went out to The Heel outlet and found a pair of Keens that I brought home and wore around the house but they were too tight and hurt my little toes.  So I returned them but found another pair a size larger that fit.  I'm wearing them right now.  See?  They're men's shoes but who's going to care?



The only sewing I did today was that inch of the neckline of the new Dress no. 3 which turned out to be too warm to wear today, so I knitted.  I've been poking away at the Welcome Baby hat #2 but then thought I'd like to try the pattern that came with the request for hats from one of the hospitals so I cast that on too.  LB knitted one in variegated yarn that she showed off last week and since you knit the hat sideways the colors went from top to bottom instead of around and around.  I thought that'd make for an interesting hat using the variegated yarns that I like for baby and preemie hats.  It's looking pretty good, if I do say so myself.


Along about here the computer interrupted, saying it needed to update.  The screen changed colors and a series of dots circled for an eternity until I fell asleep twice so I went to bed without posting.  Sorry about that but I was so frustrated by it I had to abandon the effort, plus I was half-asleep and that's never good for accuracy in typing.

I have a call/message in to CG the landscaper.  I'm not thrilled with whatever crazy mix of grass seed he spread around.  The stuff that looks like grass is tiny and hair-like and the rest of it grows like weeds and looks like baby corn.  Plus there are large gaps, especially on the slopes.  In addition I've come to realize that it's just too much for me to weed and plant that long, 119' expanse of retaining wall so I'm asking for help or advice on who to hire to get it done.  Looking forward to a completed job.

12 August--Barbara Malcolm, Horizon. 

             After lunch and a short visit with Clara, her daughters, and the visiting grandkids, the computer boys and I left Sara and the napping baby there and walked home to have my first computer lesson.  At first Aaron let David demonstrate for me but he typed too fast and left out steps, so I kept getting frustrated.  Once David was sent outside to play with Faith’s daughter, the lessons went more smoothly.

True to his word, Aaron had sold me a computer that seemed much better behaved than the one I’d happily left on my desk at the school when I retired.  By the time Sara and Elizabeth came back to the house I had typed a letter to Lydie and printed it out.  I even managed to make it print an envelope addressed to her—on the third try.

            Our next adventure was getting online.  After a few false starts, I was able to access the gardening website Aaron had told me about and I did a little tentative surfing.  I found the website for my bank and Aaron taught me to access my account online to keep closer track of my checks and transfer money from savings to checking.  Once he showed me that the bank had good security and my identity wouldn’t get stolen from the site, I could see how much more convenient that would be than always having to drive into town or call someone to shift things around.

            Then we set up my email account.  We entered the family’s email addresses and I unearthed the list of students I’d been at The Clearing with.  I sent my first email to Aaron; then he went to his email box to show me that it really had worked.  Drunk with my infant mastery of technology, I emailed my Clearing roommate, Connie, to tell her I’d made it into the new millennium.  I also found a letter from Samara that had her email address at school on it and sent her a note.

            By then everyone was starved, so we threw caution to the winds and ordered a couple of pizzas delivered.  I apologized to my guests that I’d forgotten to make dinner but they said they didn’t mind.  When the food came, Aaron found a bottle of red wine for the adults, poured a soda for David, and we all went into the living room to watch a video and stuff ourselves.  Elizabeth sat on the floor with her brother and mooched crusts to gum.

            Never before had I served them fast food on the living room rug while we drank cheap wine.  Bert would have been scandalized.  I looked at my happy family, fed and laughing all around me, and thought how glad I was that things were different.

And there you have it, late night and early morning whining all in a tidy package,  I'm having cookies for breakfast, that's how frustrated I am.  Cleaning lady, coffee with a friend, and supper at DS's tonight.  I plan to pack while MB is cleaning.  Looking forward to today.
--Barbara