Silly Site o' the Day

Too much stuff on my body hurts, so here's a silly site disguised as an ad disguised as a well-deserved dig at the orange sh*tgibbon:

 Get me some o' those m*therf*cking chips...

 

Stock, Car

I did have more neuropathy pain in the hands last night and this morning, particularly in the thumbs and unfortunately in my right hallux (big toe) as I was driving back from the grocery store (yay, new car battery working fine!) so that made using the brake and accelerator tons of fun, but I haven't had to take any ibuprofen so it's manageable with heat (doing the dishes warmed them up nicely, as did wearing wrist braces for an hour or so). We didn't have a huge shopping list but there was a "10 for $10" sale on two staples that we use all the time so we are stocked up now. Before we left I finally tackled my car insurance files, getting rid of all the outdated supplemental info (we have a fairly nice shredder now so all those pages got shredded) and putting all the renewals in date order. Which is a lot for 22 years times twice yearly! Now all that remains is the maintenance log, basically all the times I've taken it in for an oil change or other work. And I received my replacement title in the mail today, confirming that I don't think I've ever seen my car's title in my life. My guess is that Dad must have kept it and after he passed it never made it to me. Now I'm ready to go car shopping, possibly as early as next weekend if my body behaves itself!

Of the AM Commute from Hell, and Espresso Martinis

Brand-new bus this morning! I hopped on at 6:30 after a 10-minute wait in the somewhat-cold-and-dank, and all was fine until one of the last pickups when a wheelchair passenger wanted to board. All well and good, I think her timing might have been better if she'd waited until after rush hour, but I know nothing of her life and plans so who am I to say. Unfortunately, the wheelchair lift mechanism on the (I say again) brand-new bus didn't work, and got stuck in the exterior position. Which meant I had to wait almost half an hour before the next bus on that route came by (the bus in between takes a faster route... had I only known). All the other passengers got off and took an east side bus that promised to make the first Manhattan dropoff, but that's no good for me as I needed to get to 9th Avenue. And the later you get the more traffic builds up, so by the time I hit the transfer point for the local it was well after 8 AM. Alas, it was another 20-minute wait for the local, so I finally got into work around 9:15. Nothing like a 3+ hour commute! Then at lunch I tried to "piggyback" through the turnstiles and they closed in on my hands, which stung like hell and will probably result in a lot of nerve pain in the next couple of days. Fortunately there was a cross-promotion going between Grey Goose vodka and the new Devil Wears Prada movie, where they gave away tiny espresso martinis (martini-tinies!) and popcorn, which I later discovered (when eating the popcorn back at my workstation) was made with edible glitter. Glitter now festoons my keyboard and pants. The kids who came into the office for Take Your Kids to Work Day seemed to get a kick out of that; so great to meet the childers of two of my partners! Homeward commute much easier, and I'm just hoping the pain isn't too bad tomorrow...

Car-Go Plans

Thank goodness the issue with the car seemed to be centered on just the battery. The new AAA brand (guaranteed for three years, probably longer than we'll still have this 22-year-old baby) is working beautifully, but I wanted to test it out anyway by driving to our favorite sushi place, as the sushi we got at our regular grocery store yesterday was somewhat lacking. The weather was icky and rainy (the Yankee game was postponed at least a few horus) and presaged a drop in temperature to come (looks like the space heaters will be employed for a few days) so the miso soup was especially tasty, and I even got some nice warming lunches/dinners at the nearby ShopRite as I'll be working from home the next couple of days. I think I found the car's title but I didn't want to take any chances so I've ordered a replacement (only $20 and five minutes on the DMV's website!) and made a bit more headway in organizing my maintenance log and auto insurance files in preparation for such time as we try to trade this in for a newer model. I'm hoping that time comes before my biannual registration comes due!

The Neverending Salad

I woke up way too early with a calf cramp, and by the time I got going for good I'd decided to try and stand in the kitchen for awhile to ease the calf and make myself an omelet for breakfast. I'd initially intended on using the lox, but I opted to do that tomorrow instead and then I realized I needed to pan fry onions and mushrooms, as I wanted to put cold shrooms into a salad later on. So that got done, then throughout the day I prepped other ingredients for the salad, and made myself enough for at least three meals. There's always something I forget to add, and today it was the tomatoes, so they'll go into the storage containers along with the leftover salad. I must have done at least three rounds of washing up as well, as I generally like to clean up after myself soon after food prep. Oh, and I finally finished compiling a list of all my bank accounts, credit cards, and stuff I'm in the process of inheriting from my parents' estate, a project that had been in the works for some time. Now I can sleep!

Silly Site o' the Day

Why am I so hungry? And yet, I'm not on Reddit or any of the other umpteen forms of social media because I'm An Old, so you'll have to discover We Want Plates for yourself.

Silly Site o' the Day

Busy week so far (and it's only Monday!), so running links to sites of interest instead. Today we examine the food storage guide Does It Last? (via BoingBoing). The title's in Spanish but it still works with the English language.

Diminisushi Returns

As expected, the trip to Jersey did a number on me, but we had to do our grocery shopping, so I figured let's make a treat out of it and go to the ShopRite in the same strip mall as "our" conveyor belt sushi place. Oddly, neither of us was in the mood to overeat, which was probably good for supermarket stuff but not so good for our preferred treat. Still, we were back and watching TV (currently catching up on Deadloch on Amazon Prime) and just resting by 2 PM, so that will help when trying to recover enough to schlep into the Manhattan office on Tuesday. In the meantime, hoping a nice shower tomorrow evening will loosen some of these arm muscles and tendons not used to driving so much.

All the Stuff

Not sure if you've twigged onto this yet, but I'm a task-based person. Even the online games I play are almost all task-based. For some reason it's my happy place. And now that the worry over my eye floater is allayed I could concentrate on other needed tasks, like a haircut and the car's oil change. First we shopped and ate at our favorite sushi place, then I got my spring shearing, we rested at home for about an hour before going out again to have the car serviced. They said two hours, so we walked around our local business district, visited the local gourmet grocery store and marijuana dispensary (um, two separate stores), and waited a lot less time than estimated before getting our peace of mind back. Now I can take various trips outside my own vicinity with fewer worries! All the usual and occasional (earring sorting, wool wash) tasks are done too, leaving tomorrow as a much-needed rest day. Hoorah!

Piling Off

False spring continues, and I probably overdressed this morning even with a light sweater, but it does tend to be cooler in the mornings and I had to get a 6:30 AM express bus. No more snow piles that I could see! Fortunately I was able to stuff the sweater into an insulated bag for the trip home, as I went to Russ & Daughters on the way back from depositing my checks from Mom's pension, life insurance, etc. into my brand-new savings account. I then got my lunch at Whole Foods (my usual go-to) and picked up tartar sauce to go with my dinner (tasty poached salmon a la Robin), so the contents of the bag wound up being: my laptop, the tartar sauce, my haul from Russ & Daughters, the bank stuff, and my sweater. I'm not used to toting a tote on my shoulder, and this one was surprisingly heavy. Glad I'll have the backpack for Thursday afternoon's homebound commute!

Spring Thing

It's coming, I can feel it. Tonight the clocks move forward an hour, and I can't stop thinking about errands. I just wasn't up to taking the car in to be serviced or doing taxes this weekend, but I think both are in my near future. Today we just did food shopping and relaxing, and that was enough. Oh, and baseball, lots of baseball. Loving the World Baseball Classic so much I haven't even missed watching Premier League footie, not that it was on this weekend anyway (FA Cup break). It's the reawakening of hope, and we need that desperately in today's world.

The Relative Calm Before

As we suspected, the supermarket was madness this morning, as everyone stocked up in preparation for however many inches of snow we're due to get tomorrow. Six? Twelve? Umpteen? Who knows? Anyway, the car behaved enough to get us home before noon, and we settled in for Olympics-watching and (for me) power napping. At this point our biggest fear is whether our electricity will go out in the coming storm, which will feature high winds. Crossing all appropriate digits we'll get through safely.

You Just Keep Me Hanging On

This was probably my best Valentine's Day ever. Robin and I unboxed our sugar-free chocolate hearts, took some silly photos, then went out shopping (the driveway is almost clear of ice, although I did a slip-and-slide over some of it when exiting the car of my coworker who drove me home Thursday evening)  at the strip mall in Scarsdale that also contains the bank where I want to deposit checks from my mom's estate, as well as our favorite sushi place. Alas, the bank was closed but the sushi was terrific, as always. We got in some Olympics-watching and a bit of a kip before venturing out again locally for a fancy-schmancy dinner. Not sure when I'll be back to the fancy place, the ribeye I ordered was fattier than me, but we had a lovely romantic time nonetheless. So wonderful to be able to spend an entire day with my valentine. I can see doing this, oh, for the rest of my life.

Seasons Change and So Do I

We had planned on a sushi lunch in the Scarsdale strip mall that also houses a Super ShopRite, so we could stock up on some different Stuporbowl snackies than we usually get, but the temps dropped precipitously this morning after about a half inch of powder and we decided to play it safer and stick to the pharmacy and the nearby Stop & Shop in Yonkers. I'd been worried much of the night: will the 22-year-old car start in this cold? will I be able to leave the driveway with everything turning icy? can I even drive with my hand battered? how bad will the wind be? can we deal with the cold going to and from the car? All my fears were allayed in short order, we got all our shopping done, we were back home around noon and we spent the afternoon Olympic- and thermometer-watching. I think it's down to around 4 degrees Fahrenheit now and dropping, with the wind making everything feel much worse, but I have no further plans to go out until at least Wednesday. Let's hope this helps my hand and knee heal more quickly!

Goodbye To Filthy January

I hate January. It's my least favorite month. Both of Rob's parents succumbed during that month, and my mom didn't miss it by much. But mostly I don't want to go out in this foot-deep snow and frigid cold, especially with no storage at the office which means I need to schlep my backpack (always a joy on the subways) and deal with excessive wind at Manhattan West. But I'm steeling myself, and today was a good start. The car exited the driveway with only a slight hesitation, and the battery is working well. The only issue seems to be one of the belts which may have gotten damp enough to create a whining noise, but I'll take it as I do plan on taking the car in for an oil change once it gets a bit less cold. In the meantime, we have replenished our food stores, and the supermarket wasn't nearly as crowded as it was last Saturday, although folks were definitely scrambling for parking spots since the far end of the lot was still covered in snow piles. I hear the NYC DOT has suspended alternate side parking through Tuesday to continue their plowing activities, which are definitely needed considering what I saw on the streets today. All in all, I'm pleased we're no longer confined by the snow (only the temperature!), and I got all my usual Saturday stuff done today. Not a bad way to end a horrid month.

Of Stoppers, Shopping, Sushi, and Soup

So last night I was doing my Woolite wash and, when I went to drain the clothing, the sink stopper got stuck in the plugged position. Apparently something had broken. I called the landlord this morning, who gave me the handyman's number (which I'd had but misplaced), and the handyman fixed everything by like 10 AM so we could use the bathroom sink again. (A piece had rusted clean through; the landlord tends not to buy the highest-quality material.) So it was off to the ShopRite in the same strip mall as our favorite sushi place; that supermarket is quickly becoming our alternative go-to as the selection of many things we use often is better than our local Stop & Shop, and the grocery bill comes out much cheaper. After sushi (which Robin described as "an afterthought" but come on) we headed home so I could finally take all the stuff I'd bought last weekend and make chicken soup out of it. Okay, the way I put it together it wound up being more of a stew than a soup, but I'll be very happy to have it when the weather turns cold again in a few days, and just like with the soup Mom used to make I've frozen half of it for future emergencies. Tomorrow we stay in and I try to catch up on all things finance-related.

The Parable of the Pears

I got very little sleep last night, unfortunately, as I had to work from home today. I was awakened twice by rather severe leg cramps due to yesterday evening's commute, but I managed to get through the day and even dozed a bit (without meaning to) in the recliner. We had gotten a lovely condolence basket from one of my partners which featured pears, something neither of us cares for much, so I looked up recipes for air frying them and tried one. The pears were fine, the air fryer basket and tray much less so. Note to self, whenever cooking with maple syrup (sugar-free or no), line the basket with parchment paper! We've now purchased a new basket/tray combo in case the baked-on syrup doesn't come off after at least a half-dozen scrubbings from Robin. Lesson learned!

Necessaries Done

Today we ventured up to downtown Yonkers via the local bus, as the roads were slushy and we weren't sure how navigable the area was by car, to renew Robin's non-driver ID as he wanted to get a Real ID version which can only be done in person. I can't say enough about the Yonkers DMV, we were in and out in under an hour, but I regret not driving, as the roads were clear, there were plenty of parking spots after all, and we had to wait almost half an hour in the damp for our homeward bus. After a brief rest we cleared the car, gassed up (had a momentary panic when the power steering seemed to fail, but all was OK and we chalked it up to the cold) and headed out again in the pea-soup fog for brunch at our favorite sushi place and the ShopRite in the same strip mall to stock up on food prior to Whatever Happens This Week as and when Mom passes. The fog had cleared completely as we drove home, and we're now both exhausted and determined not to do anything tomorrow as we both need to rest up. Oh, and the wind has picked up, so more cold to come.

Feeling the Effects

We swung by the farmers market for what turned out to be Yet Another Pair of Earrings (and another menorah ornament) before doing our grocery shopping, and as it happened I had to use the supermarket's bathroom as soon as we arrived. Second day in a row of intestinal whoseewhatsis. Don't know if I picked up something in Manhattan or New Jersey, but it's less than fun and I'm glad I'm working from home tomorrow. I'll probably opt to work from home on Tuesday as well, as I want to be on call in case something happens with Mom. But for now we're all just maintaining, which is about as much as one can hope for at this point.

Productive Pre-Birthdays

As my 68th birthday is on Tuesday, and Robin's is next Saturday, we have already pre-ordered our gifts for each other. My new AirPods are waiting to be charged then paired with my phone and work computer (with any luck the noise cancellation feature will work well enough for me to leave the headphones at home), and his new Huion Kanvas art tablet arrived today, which he integrated pretty quickly into his home office setup in place of his old Wacom which doesn't play well with any of the newer software. We shopped at H Mart (the Asian grocery) and our regular supermarket, and I plan on making a stir fry tomorrow to take us through the worst of the cold weather to come. Meanwhile, Mom's situation has gotten worse, so I'm more grateful than ever that I visited her on Wednesday.