What I'm Doing

Working on another piece in my Anger/Red Series. As I get less angry, the pieces have more lime green in them. I was VERY angry when I began the series (library job) and now it's just a mild undercurrent. I have a feeling the last piece will be almost totally NOT red. The early pieces are so RED that they can't be successfully photographed.

Suduko. Ah, the frustration. The erasing.

Friday, at work, I was frustrated by the copy machine. It sits by an open window. Rain. Damp paper in the copier. Ugh! I was getting to be very "expert" at paper jams. And all I wanted to do was enlarge two sections of a book page, cut and paste and make a poster on houseplant light requirements. My boss was in the next room and he kept saying "I don't hear any swearing so things must be okay". I think that's his employee philosophy.

Friday evening I watched the entertainment section of the Olympic opening ceremonies. Wow. The last time I watched one of these was Calgary. Foot stomping "cowboys". Bleah! As a rule, I don't watch the Olympics. I detest the "so sad life stories" which take up time which could be spent watching actual Olympic stuff. And I don't like seeing only events or segments of events where Americans are winning or trying to win. I got used to just watching the whole thing on European television without too much commentary. We have a French/Canada station on our cable and I usually tune into that to see what actually happened. Not the edited for America version. And, boy, do they edit.

Back to the Chinese entertainment in the Bird's Nest. WOW! 2008 ti chi experts in a perfect circle. Moving constantly and never missing a step. And the pop up globe of earth with the rest of the solar system on the membrane. And the boat oars. And, of course, the boxes. The ripple of a drop of water moving from the center to the edges. Oh, my god. Perfection. I saw some clips on the 6 :30 news that evening and it looked too beautiful for words so I watched in the late evening. It was too beautiful for words. Bob Kostas made a good comment. He said the rest of the Olympic hosts should just stop doing the entertainment portion. They can never do better and will all look so much worse now. Amen.

Yesterday I made zucchini bread and butter pickles. After hunting all over the house, attic and garage for my jars. I also visited Goodwill and got a white sweatshirt jacket (summer walks with Riley), a navy blue fleece pullover (fall walks with Riley), a pair of beige linen slacks from LL Bean and a flannel shirt that I just might send to K. My daughter and I went to lunch also.

Today, I need to make a grocery list and go shopping. Vinegar, sugar (for pickles), lunch supplies, peaches, coffee, breakfast supplies. G finally finished off the Saturday Chicken (chicken pieces, one can mushroom soup mixed with 1 cup heavy cream, salt, pepper, garlic powder and paprika baked in the oven at 375 for 60 to 90 minutes till sauce is bubbly and the chicken is done). Saturday chicken is wonderful with rice and steamed broccoli. I added sliced baby Bella mushrooms to the last plate of leftover chicken (I picked it off the bones), heated it and served with some 90 second brown rice from Uncle Ben's. G said it was delicious.

I love making recipes that make so many leftovers that I only have to reheat the rest of the week. And make fresh salads to go with and steam fresh veg. We still have pulled pork in the fridge that I made Tuesday/Wednesday in the crock pot. I may get tortillas, avocados and cheese for some pulled pork burritos for dinner. And we have French Baguette and mozzarella cheese and tomatoes with basil (Caprese) for tonight's dinner with some steamed sweetcorn on the cob for dessert. I will have to purchase an eggplant as my plants aren't into producing yet and I want some eggplant marinara with pasta this week.

We got 105.4 gallons of heating oil for $434.90. And that's for the summer months of May, June and July when we only heat water. Of course this is 30 cents a gallon LESS than the guaranteed price everyone could "lock into" for winter delivery. Isn't it amazing, Congress discusses legislation forbidding speculation on oil/gasoline: doesn't pass any bills: but suddenly the prices go down????? and the dollar goes up cause NOW they are speculating on the currency.

I think I may get dressed. Read my book. Walk the dog (unless it's too hot for him to walk). Go grocery shopping. What I really want to do is take a nap. Since I've been awake for one hour and 23 minutes.