Driven to Distraction

Just how distracted was I yesterday?

Distracted enough that I missed Ariana's dental appointment. I did not discover that we missed the appointment until 45 minutes after the appointment was scheduled.

It's not very often that I become that enmeshed in an activity that I lose total concept of time.

This time the activity involved downloading music onto Ariana's hand-me-down 8-gig iTouch.

Downloading music was a whole new world to me. In search to find music to download, I journeyed back to the days of my youth. Also, I ventured into unknown territory ~ downloading songs I never heard from bands (like Ra) that most people did not even know existed.

For the most part, I will admit that my exploration of new musical frontiers yielded some pretty good finds. In fact most of the music that I deleted from my play list were duplicates of songs that I previously downloaded.

It was a nice to experience musical memories that I had long forgotten about. And it was nice to download just the few songs from a specific band that I liked without having to commit to purchasing a whole album.

I think that I will be spending more time w/my new toy. I just have to make sure that I remain more mindful of the time.

Happy Birthday, Ariana!

Where have all the years gone?

Today Ariana turned 20 years old. It's hard to believe that she's already that old. It sort of reminds me of the song from Fiddler On the Roof ~ Sunrise, Sunset:

Is this the little girl I carried,
Is this the little boy at play?
I don't remember growing older,
When did they?
When did she get to be a beauty,
When did he grow to be so tall?
Wasn't it yesterday when they were small?

It was Ariana's wish to celebrate her b-day at the Tokyo Restaurant in Mattapoisett, at the Hibachi table. Joining the festivities were her Nana Carol, Barbara, Jeremiah, Ryan, and yours truly.

The weather was rather wild today ~ first starting off with snow in the morning and then changing over to rain later on in the day.

The roads were treacherous in the mid-afternoon, and there was some fear that the party may have to be postponed.

But within a couple of hours, the rain had washed away the snow and ice that were on the road. And the party was saved.

Yay!

Even though the reservation was for 6:30 PM, we had a slight delay in getting started.

It took Barbara longer than usual to get to the restaurant from her in job in Providence because the thick fog made driving a bit difficult. (It was a real pea soup out there.)

But once Barbara arrived, we were ushered to the Hibachi table.

Shortly after we were seated at the table, Ariana opened her present from Barbara ~ a lovely pair of pajamas.

Our Hibachi chef tossed and twirled his cooking utensils.

This is the part that I was waiting for ~ pyrotechnics!

To the right of the chef is Barbara, Jeremiah, Ariana, Ryan, and Carol (whose back is facing the camera).

Here is a better view of Carol.

We have Carol to thank for this festive occasion. The wonderful time that we all had at Tokyo Restaurant was Carol's birthday present to Ariana.

Here are more pyrotechnics as the chef prepares the noodles and veggies.

(You may have guessed by now that I like fire.)

The onion ring volcano is spewing a good head of steam as the chef is preparing the noodles, which were very tasty.

In addition to the pyrotechnics, this is the other occasion that I was waiting for ~ the restaurant staff beating on drums in celebration of Ariana's birthday. She even got a little dish of red bean ice cream with a candle on top.

Back at the house, we had birthday cake ~ strawberry shortcake which Ariana picked out.

After cake, Barbara brought in Daisy, her teacup Chihuahua.

Daisy weighs only 4 1/2 pounds, but she's a real cutie who has an exceptionally sweet temperament, especially for a Chihuahua.

It's too bad that Neil wasn't here to share in the celebration of Ariana's birthday. But he did call her this morning.

Ariana was still sleeping when Neil called. But she very quickly woke up after she opened the birthday present that Neil had sent to the house ~ a 16-gig iTouch. (Great! The means I get Ariana's old 8-gig iTouch!)

Also after we all got back from dinner, Ariana called Neil and put him on speaker phone so that we all could get a chance to talk to him.

All in all, this was a pleasant day.

And celebrating Ariana’s birthday the way we did ~ with just a small group at the Hibachi table at Tokyo Restaurant ~ was a much better celebration than what Ariana originally had in mind a few months ago, which was a big house party with one of her friends serving as DJ.

(Words could not describe how grateful I was for that change of plans!)

The Way of Crochet

I didn't want to do any cleaning today. I wanted to crochet. And that I did.

I made giant headway in my afghan, pinning all the pieces to an afghan-sized sheet and stitching together the motifs that sat edge-to-edge to other motifs.

Now remains the challenge of filling in all the empty spaces. That's going to be a bit difficult because all the pieces are pinned to a sheet, and that requires a lot of maneuvering as I need to turn the piece whenever I come to the end of a row.

There's one thing to say about the rhythmic nature of crocheting ~ the mind starts to wander. And sometimes it wanders into places that one would not typically reach in the normal pattern of thought.

Today my mind wandered into such a territory. It was both exhilarating, and a little bit scary.

Flashes of thoughts and insights came to me that excited me.

However, I am not yet prepared to share these thoughts and insights until I process them further. After all, the direction where these thoughts and insights may lead could have either positively powerful effects or devastatingly embarrassing repercussions.

Like I said, I really need to think this one through before I am ready to make a public proclamation.

Sorry to be such a tease.

Washing Machine Woes

Ever since we had that Arctic deep freeze, the washing machine has been rather cantankerous.

Today it's been the most cantankerous ever.

Right now, I have a small pile of wet clothes in the washer sitting in a small puddle of water. I cannot get them out because the door is locked shut. No amount of finagling has been able to open up the seized door.

I was able to get the door open earlier. And when I did, I transferred a partial load into the dryer.

The reason why I transferred only a partial load was that the clothes were soaking, sopping wet.

The dryer has been running for over 3 hours now, trying to get those clothes dry. I'm afraid that it may take another 2 - 3 hours.

The reason for the washing machine's extreme misbehavior has been that the drain pipe is either frozen or clogged. Given that the problem started when we had that awful cold snap and that the weather has turned cold again, my guess is that the drain pipe is frozen.

(Though with all the animal hair that is found in nearly every load of wash, I would not be surprised if enough of it accumulated to create a clog in the drain pipe.)

I tried pouring a boiling solution of water and vinegar down the drain pipe in hopes of thawing out the ice and possibly loosening up whatever clog there may be.

No such luck.

All day long I tried running the just the rinse, spin, and drain cycle. But after so many minutes the machine would flash the same error code that it's been flashing all day" "F 02," meaning that a "Drain Problem" is present.

So what do I do now?

Do I call Roger the plumber again?

I cannot get my clothes out. And that means if they are trapped in the machine in a puddle of water, they will start smelling in about a couple of days.

At least I did manage to "rescue" part of the load, even though it means that it will take several hours for it to dry. But at least we'll have some clean clothes to wear in the meantime. Having packed away most of our clothes, we don't have all that many clothes available to wear.

There's always going to the laundromat. And that would certainly be cheaper than calling a plumber.

I cannot help but think that the Imp of the Perverse has had its hand in this washing machine calamity. After all, now that we're selling the house, now is the time for more problems to pop up.

I am going to have to think this one through and figure out what would be the most appropriate course of action. If I could do it without having to incur additional costs, so much the better.

But something tells me that my resourcefulness is somewhat limited in this situation.

And for the time being, that dastardly machine will remain unplugged.

Before and After

Today I was a bit more productive than the past few days.

First order of business was to bring Emi to the vet for her shots. Once that was done, I went to the town hall to get new dog licenses for her, Gypsy, and Gomez.

Afterwards, once the dogs had their new tags on their collars, it was down to business.

Today's order of business was to clean the cupboard under the long counter.

This is what it looked like on Friday.

And this is what it looked like today, after I got done cleaning and organizing it.

In addition to cleaning the cupboard, I cleaned and organized 5 drawers in the kitchen.

(I have yet to "attack" the "junk drawer." God knows what forgotten treasures I will find among the strata.)

And I cleaned up the tiny cupboard to the left of the sink ~ the one that had all those mysterious bottles from long forgotten eons.

I had also packed several boxes of kitchen stuff ~ stuff that I am not likely to be using between now and when we move to Texas. Or at least I'll make sure that we won't be having to use the stuff that I packed away.

We're going to be living very simply for the time being.

Nothing wrong with that. In fact, living simply is a lot easier to do.

Already Ariana and I have gotten used to living in a clean and clutter-free house. In fact, we discovered that we prefer it that way.

Everything is so much easier on the eyes. And it feels healthier, too. I feel as though we can breathe much easier, not having the weight of clutter pressing down upon us.

We've developed better habits when it comes to maintaining a cleaner and more organized environment. And let's hope those habits remain with us once we move and establish a new home in Texas.

Return of the Sloth

Some of the prehistoric giant sloths have been as large as an elephant.

I'm nowhere near that size, though sometimes I may feel that big after over-indulging at the all-you-can eat Chinese buffet.

While I did accomplish some work on Friday ~ cleaning out the dish cupboard and packing 7 boxes ~ yesterday and today were slothful days.

Yesterday started off with some promise of industry when Ariana and I went to the Plymouth County Correctional Facility to visit Nick.

Nick was doing as best as can be expected in such a place. He hoped to be released on the 17th of next month.

After our visit, we drove home. Feeling a bit sleepy, I went upstairs to take a nap almost as soon as we walked in through the door.

Having napped for a couple of hours, I had no drive or motivation to do any work, even though I knew that more cleaning and packing probably would have been a good idea.

It seems now that my house has achieved some level of neatness and freedom from clutter, I don't feel as driven to go on the big cleaning blitzes that I had just weeks ago.

Now I am enjoying more leisurely moments in between my major bouts of accomplishment.

After my nap I played some Mah Jong on the computer and then talked with Neil in Texas. While we were on the phone, I made a 3-way call to Roma and Tony so that Neil could talk with them, too.

Then I watched The Exorcism of Emily Rose while working on my crochet. (Being one who very rarely watches TV or movies, I am one of those people who cannot sit idly with my hands doing nothing.)

When the movie was done, it was time to go on-line and catch up with my emails, as well as email the recent pix I took of the house to my real estate agent so that she could include them in the on-line listing of my house. (My pix were much nicer.)

Then it was time for bed.

That was yesterday.

This morning Ariana and I went to church. Ariana came with me because today was Good Shepherd's Annual Meeting, and we needed extra warm bodies so that we could have a quorum in order to conduct church business.

Ariana's meeting participation consisted of falling asleep in the comfy chair in the church basement. I, on the other hand, played Mah Jong on my cell phone. But that did not stop me from adding my 2 shekels worth during the meeting and from voting on church issues.

Once church business was done, we stopped at the pharmacy and then drove home.

At home I followed my usual Sunday procedure ~ dole out the meds for the week and then read my newspapers.

This time, in addition to getting the Sunday Providence Journal-Bulletin and the Boston Globe, I decided to also pick up a copy of the Boston Herald.

I'm afraid that the Boston Herald failed to impress me. However, it had a good comic section ~ very important ~ that featured Brenda Starr and The Phantom. I hadn't read those comics in well over 15 years.

After reading all those papers, I really did not feel like doing anything else, not even crocheting.

It wasn't particularly warm downstairs. And even though I was not very tired, I elected to go upstairs ~ where it was much warmer ~ and take a brief nap to pass the time and assuage my boredom.

Now that's being very slothful ~ taking a nap when you're not tired.

Because I had gone upstairs late in the afternoon, my nap was brief. Gypsy made sure that I did not sleep longer than I had to by barking loudly downstairs and ringing the doggie sleigh bells on the door, letting me know that she wanted to be let out.

What followed was more of the usual ~ feeding the animals, taking out the garbage and recycling (this time without nearly breaking my legs), calling Neil, making Ariana something to eat, and going on the computer.

I figured on writing this blog because I was remiss in blogging yesterday. Plus, Neil looks forward to reading my blogs. After all, he's my number one fan!

Tomorrow I will have to bring Emi to the vet for her over-due shots. After which, I will head to town hall to get new dog licenses for her, Gypsy, and Gomez.

After that, who knows what I'll do.

Hopefully the day will be warmer so that I will not have to sequester myself upstairs.

In the meantime, those puffy appetizer thingies that I made for Ariana smell very good. I think I'll make myself a batch.

With one of the 7 Deadly Sins out of the way, I think I'll work on another one ~ gluttony.

Decadent Pleasure

I have one really decadent pleasure, and that pleasure only takes place during the cold months, and at no other time.

Had I lived in Arizona, I would have never experienced this decadent pleasure. But then, I would have not had any reason to.

So what am I talking about?

I'm talking about the clothes dryer. I use it to heat up my clothes in the morning and my PJs at night. Sometimes I will even throw in my slippers.

Nothing can describe the absolute melting ecstatic feeling of slipping into the delicious warmth of heated up clothing while standing in a cold room.

Even my feet sing for joy upon being clad by a pair of hot slippers fresh out of the dryer.

Once I slip into warm clothing, my body sighs a giant "aaaah!" of pleasure and goes into pure relaxation mode.

If feeling cold is something that can put me in a foul mood, cocooning myself with warmth is a sure-fire way to elevate my mood by several notches.

I have been heating clothing in the dead of winter ever since I was a young girl, living in my parents' house in Providence.

There we did not have clothes dryers. But we did have radiators.

Every morning I would drape my school clothes over a hot radiator, and then repeat the same process at night with my pyjamas.

Slipping into very warm clothing on a frigid day is a treat far better than chocolate.

I love the warmth, and nothing beats a warm cocoon.