Change is gonna do me good...

Current Mood : Sharp & Bitter

I gotta quit already with the cookbooks. They’re starting to tick me off. One got me to read the recipe by saying it was a unique snack, better than what was bagged at convenience stores. With a name like ‘Cheesy Corn Snack’, I thought it was something like Corn Nuts. Nope. Popcorn. Just plain, stovetop popcorn, with Parmesan cheese. No new technique, nothing new in the ‘recipe’. (sigh) Guess there should have been no surprise when the same author offered the stellar new advice of packing and freezing cooked meats in meal-size bags, just enough to heat and serve. Too bad I’ve been doing that since 1984, when I’d never read a cookbook, and was cooking for just me…

And actually, with all the leftovers for lunch, I haven’t had much time to experiment with any of the recipes I’ve snagged. I like to give new ones a lunch trial, to see if they and I can work together. Instead, I’ve been eating the leftovers before they go south. Don’t wanna leave festering food in the IL’s fridge when we go. Besides, our leftovers are darn *good* eating !

Finally got the bank information faxed to SocSec. Our bank tried yesterday, after we filled out the paperwork, but the line was constantly busy. Then the nice young lady who was trying to get it through went home, and didn’t leave a message about it either way. Turns out it got through yesterday. Left a message for my case worker, Mrs. S., that it should be there already, please let me know if she doesn’t get it. Glad that’s done with. I’m just gonna mail our change-of-address form.

Now, it’s all about Beloved’s birthday and the move ! There’s talk of us sleeping there on the 20^th – glad to see him getting excited about it. Since we have to be snug about what little cash we have, I made him the new pillowcases he needed, and Dearest Son and I executed a little raid last night. Beloved’s been putting off cleaning out Venus-Diesel’s truck bed, even though we’ll certainly need it next week. So, Dearest and I did it for him ! There was some trash from Dearest’s Garpartment move that we finally ditched, and some work garbage. Heck, last week we had an entire pick-up trash can empty – ya don’t buy much, ya don’t throw much away – so why not ? And it still all fit in one can, with room to spare. Since it won’t get picked up ‘til Tuesday, there’s recovery time if we tossed anything important. Let’s see how long it is ‘til we notices…I’ll tell him tonight, though, just in case.

Still having some sleep issues. Now I keep having little ‘flashback’ panic attacks right before I fall asleep. (sigh) That’s me, all right – send me to a sleep clinic, I leave with night paranoia on top of the complaints I already had before. Ah, well. Maybe our upcoming change of residency (and being much closer to FormerCity’s awesome shopping arenas and TRU again) will do me good. 

Stormy letters...

Current Mood : Silly

Current Image Notes : Stationery set ! Click to embiggen !

Major storm this morning gave us a brownout – and knocked MIL’s computer out. Beloved Hubby was home due to the rain, and so we ended up heading for Best Buy to get a new video card. At least we had a bit of cash to spare when it happened !

In one week, we move. Ordinarily, I’d be in a frenzy of boxing our stuff up, making endless lists, and planning. But Beloved has things scheduled differently – since we don’t have to be out on a specific day, we can take our time and fit the move around our days, instead of the other way around. If I know my guy like I think I do, we’ll still be spending our first night there within two or three days, probably by next weekend, at the latest. I’ll be glad to leave the crappy wiring and brownouts behind, that’s fer sure.

We have no idea what FIL or MIL’s plans are. It’s entirely up to them what they do. We can let them know what we can offer, which I can assure you is nothing financial, but after that, we’re out of it. I already know we’re gonna get blamed for everything that went wrong about FIL’s little excursion right down to bus tires going flat, so staying out of it unless we’re called is our best defense. Just sad that it has to be this way.

Rain meant Beloved was home, so we went out a bit. Still no CAM sets, but I snagged instead this neat little $5. stationery set at Mal-Wart. Tomorrow, I’ll show you what the stickers look like. I got a sheet of stickers, two erasers, a pencil and sharpener, a hardback journal and softback notepad. What’s odd about it is that there’s an inexpensive zipper case, a little thicker than a sandwich baggie, that’s plain and clear. And not listed on the contents card. But hanging from one corner is a short bead chain with a tiny plastic puffy ‘Skullie’ logo threaded on it, which is so cute. It’ll probably become a purse for one of my ghouls. The paper inside the hardback diary is simple school-rule black lined stuff, and the smaller notepad is just plain white paper. But I like them ! Next time, maybe I’ll score the other set, which had small pens, a fridge frame, and ‘hall pass’ cards. I want to see those !

For fun, even though I’m not fond of the ‘drip’ motif, I took the cardboard ‘drippy heart’ card that described what was in the stationery set (mostly) and cut out the text and all the inside pink, except for the drops. I’ll probably glue fabric to a magnet sheet – I’ve been reserving an old giveaway Pizza Hut school sports schedule for something like this – then glue the drippy heart to the fabric-ed magnet, leaving it open at the top. Fridge frame ! Or a fun way to show off some funky fabric, either way. Lotsa craft fun for free !

Today I learned that there is a vast difference between Kosher dill pickles and ‘sour pickles’. Sour pickles are much cheaper because they’re awful. Even regular dill pickles taste gourmet next to whatever constitutes a sour pickle. See if we ever buy those again. Yuck.

While Beloved had a nap – neither of us have slept well this week – I decided to finish a long-delayed project. Couple weeks (maybe months) back, I bought a Spectra outfit, shoes and all, really cheap. Since I’d just bought Skull Shores Lagoona a few days (maybe weeks) prior, she got to try it on. I liked how it looked on her, but that belt was missing something…Kept meaning to dig in the jewelry finding box to upgrade it, but never did. Today, it’s done, and I was lucky to have enough for what I envisioned on hand. Without spending 50c at a vending machine for a tacky pendant, which was gonna be my next move, if I didn’t have enough already. You get to see that Friday, when she’s ready for Ghouls Night Out !

(sigh) I feel much better when I get to post photos…Blog is too blah without ‘em !

Won’t You Be Glad When I Get Back To Meaningless Doll Chatter !

Current Mood : Weary. And I still gotta do dishes. 

Man, what a day ! Got our tax return, but it was a lot less than we expected. Ah, well. Our own mistake, although I’m still not sure how we did that. I’m just grateful we didn’t have to pay in…but the big thing is, rent for the move and next month is paid for ! To be honest, I was getting a little nervous by the time we paid the cutoff notice water bill…

I also have the my-name-only Checking account SocSec insists on, and it has the ‘open an account’ deposit in it. For now. I’m not gonna spend a dime of it. ‘Cause if I spend a dime, I’ll blow it all ! Can’t afford that, even now. Not sure why now it has to be in my name only, since MIL and FIL didn’t get theirs at the same time either, yet they were able to use a joint account. Of course, MIL would be in a much better place financially if they *had* insisted…

But at least it’s done, and in a few days, I’ll withdraw most of the ‘open account’ deposit and put it in our joint account, leave just a few bucks in there. In a week, I’ll have an ATM card – and I am sooo glad it’ll take that long to get it ! Oh, the temptation !

I pretty much failed my sleep test. Between all the wires – seriously, I looked like a stereo from Hades – the unfamiliar room and bedding, the ‘lights out’ at 10:30pm, and not being able to really read m’self down, I didn’t sleep for squat. And I had breathing issues. Unfortunately, after the very nice tech put the CPAP mask on me, I had a complete and total freak out / meltdown within minutes. I felt like I was drowning, and even knowing I was surrounded by cool, delicious air didn’t change that. Had a full scale panic attack, and it fed on itself and got huge. I’m only glad it was a quiet freak fest and I didn’t wake the other patient. My tech got the mask off and I was soon face to face with my old frienemy, the cannula. It took me far longer than I would have thought to calm down, so I maybe got two hours of sleep before she woke me at 5:30am. But to my knowledge, my breathing was much better with the air tube.

It’s pretty much dead certain I have sleep apnea. It’s also a fact that I’m unable to wear that mask. Remembering it enough to write this is creeping me out. I’m starting to wonder if I have claustrophobia, which I’ve never considered before. I won’t get any results for a week – someone’s gotta go over all those readings – but I won’t be surprised to find m’self on oxygen again, at least at night.

Beloved Hubby was already in the parking lot when I messaged him, so I was home before the sun rose. Despite getting next to no sleep last night or the night before, I’m wide awake, and despite the best efforts of White Rain shampoo, I  still have patches of gunk in my hair where leads and wires were attached. Ick. On the plus side, I think I’ve discovered what Mattel puts in doll hair to maintain the style…

The rest of the day went well. More errands are out of the way, I got the packet of info SocSec was sending me, FIL’s bank sent another ‘you’re in arrears’ letter, and I got to read for a while. Beloved was home early enough to take us to the library, yaaay !

The next ‘big thing’ is Beloved’s birthday, then it’s all about the move. I’m hoping that, by the time my birthday rolls around, things are a bit more staggered – it’s been everything all the time this month so far ! 

Big Fun Day !

Current Mood : Dazedly happy.

After being urged to consider what toys were coming with us on the move, and which ones he could donate or trash, Dearest Son told us that he wasn’t going to play much with the remote control cars he had. Those were expensive – not TRU/Mal-Wart stuff – so we offered them on Craigslist yesterday…for about 1/3 of what we paid. Surprisingly, they sold for about 2/3rds of that, but it was acceptable to Dearest, so he got the lot ready and a pair of hobbyists picked it up a few hours later. Beloved and I agreed that those were his toys, so it was his money. All he bought yesterday were some Funyuns snacks, but he has many, many plans !

Seeing him with money is both charming and worrying. It wasn’t just twenny bucks, after all. But he’s putting most of it away, which makes us proud. One of the first things on today’s agenda was Salvation Army, which had a chair he liked a few days ago. He’d agreed to leave the red recliner here if he could get that one, or another he liked. Much like me with my dolls, he’s fascinated by seating. If he had his way, you’d not be able to walk in his space, instead, you’d move from chair to chair. He actually has just enough for a low-end brand-new one, but he said, ‘I’ll get more for my money if I go to the thrift store.’. No baby-swap errors in the hospital twelve years ago, that’s for sure ! He’s my boy !

They not only still had that exact chair he liked, it was on markdown for $10. less than last week. Whoo-hoo ! He and Beloved Hubby will pick it up tonight.

I’m keeping a ledger for him, so he can see where his money’s going. I remember still the first time I had ‘real’ money, and how quickly it vanished. Some things never change. But he’ll be able to see where it went, and it’s a good learning tool.

I had some fun, too. While at SArmy, I found a bendy-neck clamp-lamp I liked, a silver bullet in great shape. The compact fluorescent bulb already in it showed it worked, just $2. But wait ! It was half-off blue tags day, and that one had a blue tag ! So did a slightly differently shaped stained white one ($2.) and a similar red desk lamp ($3.). ! Tested ‘em all, and they work. Oddly, there was an identical silver bullet desk lamp, but it was priced at $10., so I left it there. Three small lamps for $3.50 ! We can always use those, what a great deal. I’d been wanting one for the doll photo studio in the bookcase, but never had the money when I was at the store – and you can’t beat a dollar. Especially when it comes with a $5. bulb in it !

I swear, my favorite words in the English language are ‘comes with’ !

Beloved also scored, and he wasn’t even there. I found a box of Netter’s Anatomy Flash Cards, 311 of ‘em, for $2. No blue tag, though. Still, these are nice. Somebody somewhere paid about $50. for these. He’ll probably also claim the silver lamp – it’ll look great on his desk ! – but that’s fine. The white one mostly cleaned up, and works just perfect on the photo shelf. When I bend the neck right, it balances flat, like a desk lamp. Don’t even need the clamp to use it. Exactly what I wanted.

Ran a few more errands, came back for lunch, then headed out for the Library again. Had to fax a form to SocSec – I forgot it yesterday – and look up a few things, remove the Craigslist ad. Then back for dishes and a shower (I’d already done a load of laundry) before my Sleep Clinic forms – my appointment is tonight, which is why this is early. I still have to pack ! And you can imagine how well I slept last night, knowing this was coming up !

Happy daze !

Current Mood : Happily exhausted.

What a nice day we had ! Very hot, but breezy in the morning. I was still shuffling and redoing my space today when I realized that I needed another milk crate for an idea I had. Reclaimed one from the garage where we’d abandoned them, and noticed how awful dusty-dirty it was. Started to wipe it down, but that’d take forever. So I took it outside and turned the garden hose on it.

That cooled things off quickly ! And it was fun, too. In the breezy heat, it was nearly dry by the time I finished taking water-jet pot shots at Dearest Son. Turned the hose over to him, who got me good twice before he concentrated on making mud pits for his Hot Wheels, and went back to shuffling. Transferred the fabric from the dollhouse to the ‘new’ clean milk crate from an older, dirty one, then took that one outside for a hose-down, too. Much better. Once it dried, that one was just the right size for all the backdrops and props I like to keep on the photo studio shelf.

Moved the Barbie Friend Ship and Country Living Home to the empty big shelf, which left the top of the bookshelf free. I may leave it like that. More light this way. Or reserve it as the future home of the Monster High school playset, whenever I get one. For now, though, once I finished some scanning that was sitting around, I boosted the all-in-one printer up there. It’s out of the way, and I can still get to it when I need it. Then, with that done, it was off to the Library !

I’ll be honest here. I’ve been studying cookbooks. It all started because I wanted some biscuits and either 1) didn’t wanna deal with McTraffic first thing in the morning,  2) didn’t want those bland canned ones either, or 3) didn’t wanna shell out for Bisquik, although I love the stuff. It’s kinda expensive for blended flour, baking powder, and shortening. But the truth is, I’ve missed cooking. I miss making chicken pastry from scratch, with flour everywhere and a huge mess in the kitchen. I’ve missed experimenting with leftovers. I’ve missed having ‘trial’ nights where there’s frozen pizza if the planned menu didn’t quite work out. I’ve missed having actual ingredients besides leftover vintage spices and stuff I know I had a few weeks ago that’s AWOL now. I’ve missed feeling that it’s OK if something doesn’t work out, I haven’t wasted anything we’ll need desperately next week. I’ve missed the smell of my own fresh-baked cookies, so much…

You’d think I could do all that here, but the IL’s kitchen…(sigh) Well, to put not too fine a point on it, it ranks. The counters are cluttered with appliances and FIL’s tools and AirSoft guns, and even if I braved his wrath and moved all the appliances and stuff elsewhere, there’s not much counter space to clear in the first place. The biggest counter area is a corner I can’t reach, just from the way it was built. The oven only occasionally works, the stove burners have to be hand-lit, and go from ‘melt butter in 15 minutes’ to ‘Dante’s Inferno’ with less than an eighth of an inch turn of the dial. And knowing ‘here’ pops the corn and ‘there’ boils the water doesn’t help, when ‘here’ and ‘there’ changes nearly every time I go to use the thing. I’ve mostly been doing ‘heat and serve’ dinners, which are OK, but not very nourishing to anyone.

So I tried to find a cookbook to suit me, but it isn’t easy. One uses mostly pre-made stuff, so that by the time I’ve made it, we could have gone out to eat, another expects me to eat beans and rice twice a day, and Heavens help me if I don’t like lima beans and dandelion greens. (I don’t.) I’ve gotten so I take one that’s ‘beginner boiling water’ level and one that’s just shy of ‘experienced restaurant chef’ level and dig around in both books to see if I can find anything. First one I got didn’t even have a biscuit recipe. The third one did.

I’m also wondering what happened to ‘be quiet in the Library’. Today was bad. Some guy two stacks over would. not. shut. up. He was going on and on about books for his teenage daughter to his wife.  At a voice quality I’d reserve for the hard of hearing.  Said daughter was over at the other end of the Library, looking for ‘mann-gah’. Probably blushing furiously. I heard more about this loud guy’s family than he might have wanted, but then even their baby, who had been so silent, I didn’t know he/she was there, started screaming. Probably wanted Daddy to shut up, too. Did they take the little scream factory out ? Nope. Kept joshing about what books daughter ‘should’ like, but doesn’t. Over the best howls from Baby Ticked Off.

We also saw where someone left crackers all over a computer desk including the keyboard, with wrappers and papers underneath it, met roving gangs of kids whose parents apparently dropped them off and fled, and got to hear all about one teen’s dating woes as he related them loudly to a friend via cell phone – and he was working there ! (sigh) It was almost as bad as the kid’s birthday party in one of the meeting rooms. Some sort of comedian was creating balloon animals while encouraging the guests (over a microphone) to scream as loudly as they could. Yes, we could hear this in the Library proper. Loud and clear in the bathrooms, too. I know they gotta make up for budget shortfalls, but, wow. I envied Dearest, who’d appropriated my headphones.

I will be sooo glad when we move ! There’s things I’ll miss, surely, but so much I won’t !

Only the birds are angry, I'm in a pretty good mood, m'self...

Current Mood : Rich

Was really eager to get out for a bit, so with Beloved Hubby headed off to work, I planned out the day. First, a call from Social Security – they needed to verify some information – was nowhere near the inquisition I thought it’d be. Truthfully, we claimed Disability on our doctors’ advice when I was so sick, but darn it, I got better, and I thought we got a ‘denied’ letter. That was fine with me, I’d rather be healthier than have the money.

Then we got a letter, informing us of the phonecall and the information they needed. I have no idea what’s going on – evidently there’s disability and there’s SocSec, or something, and they’re separate – but I’m not gonna deny a government agency what they need when I started it. So when Mrs. S was so nice and kind to me, it was actually fun to speak with her. Here’s hoping !

With that done, Dearest Son and I got ready. I had a $5. check from an eBay survey, a buncha quarters gleaned from the change jar, and a $10. gift certificate from Kohl’s. Not sure why, but Kohl’s sends those out every spring, and I find a way to get there and spend around $15. bucks on something. I love shopping with free money ! And at the end of the day, I’m all gleeful because I only spent $5. Who knows, they might even have Monster High dolls !

No such luck, but Dearest found two ‘Angry Birds’ stuffed animals, the trademark red one and a droopy-eyed blue one that came with rabbit ears. They were $13. each, but my boy is truly mine, he got ‘em on markdown for less than $4. each ! That left just a couple bucks on the $10. certificate, so I looked around a bit and found some dishtowels on markdown for $3.45. We’ve been needing those since our last apartment, so I snagged ‘em and headed for the register. $33. worth of stuff for $1.36 ? We were both really gleeful today ! One of his Angry Birds ‘talked’, and they’re so soft. He played with them all day.

I also got to see – and wait a short eternity for – a rare sight. Two trains chugged on the tracks at once, one heading east, the other west. If one sped up, the other slowed down, and amazingly, they must’ve been nearly the same length, since they both cleared the junction where we waited within seconds of each other. With all the windows down and a nice breeze blowing, Starlight was a comfy place to wait and relax a bit.

Since I’d paid the Kohl’s balance in pocket change, I still had my $5. from eBay. Best way to spend it ? Frozen pizzas for everybody ! I got the good kind that’s only sold in one place around here, and well worth the extra 36c for each. Also some cornmeal, since I’m gonna learn to fry fish. I figure, by the time I get it right, I’ll have used our frozen stores of tilapia and flounder. I’m embarrassed to admit how many different freezers those have been in…

By the time I got Dearest and MIL’s pizzas cooked and served, I was ravenous. That may explain why I ate the whole ‘party pizza’ when I usually only consume 3/4ths of it. It’d been a while since we had that brand, and the others we’d tried just weren’t as good, so I had that going on, too. It was delicious ! Poor Beloved had to choke down a cardboard cheeseburger from 7-11 for lunch, but his pizza awaits him in the freezer, whenever he wants it. MIL liked hers, too. Didn’t see so much as a flake of crust on Dearest’s plate.

I’d intended to hit the Library, but I was so sleepy after all that food, it just didn’t happen. Beloved’s taking us tomorrow. I love having things to look forward to !

And there’s just a few more things I need to tweak in the Arena, and I wanna scan a few pages so I can return the books…love being busy, too. 

All else fails, rearrange your space !

Current Mood : Plotting. And plodding. 

Today, I was in a dangerous state. I couldn't concentrate enough to sew, was tired of reading, all our DVDs bored me, and part of me was waiting for yet another bit of doom to come rolling down the hill straight at us. So when that didn’t happen, I was as restless as a caged squirrel.

My thoughts, sparse and rare as they are, focused on the move. Can’t really pack yet, but I envisioned and imagined. And realized that now would be a great time to try some new arrangements to my immediate area – the Arena and adjoining bookcase. It may seem silly to move my stuff around two weeks before we gotta pack it all up and move it anyway, but I saw it as a good chance to try some new views and see what would work before I was more-or-less locked in to one setup or another.

One thing I knew – our new space would take a lot of living in not much surface area. And we aren’t even sure which of the three apartment layouts we have ! Won’t know til the first day of the move. But I also knew that, while he doesn’t complain, Beloved Hubby would like one doll-free room, preferably the bedroom. Hard to study or create with all those eyes lookin’ at ya when they’re not your dolls. So, what if I moved everything off the top shelves of the Arena ? The fabric storage dollhouse, the printer we only save because of the scanner, and the thread boxes could easily be relocated…would all my dolls fit there ? Elphie and Fiyero are already nearby…

And a couple hours later, I was far more tired than restless. One idea led to another, and they all kept me hopping. I decided to eliminate the dollhouse when I found tons of fabric in it that I’d forgotten about and couldn’t see – and then I had to go through it all and let some go. But don’t worry – I kept most of it, and Dearest Son claimed the house. He’s always loved it. With that shelf emptied, I moved all the ‘big dolls’ on it – Timey Tell, Hi Dottie, Chatty Cathy (the 70s one, not the 50s classic), Rainbow Brite, Princess Dorrie and Prince Beloved now hold court and make me smile.

The printer will probably go into the hall closet until it’s needed, so it’s out of the way for now. So many possibilities open up when you’re on a laptop. The three vintage thread boxes are on top of the embroidery Madeira thread treasure chest, which is the best place for them – all my thread’s together now.

Moving the big dolls opened up a big shelf in my bookcase – MIL gave us each one, and they’re definitely going with us, so I decided then to make the photography studio a bit taller and give the Barbie-size dolls more space, too. Only one problem – the photo studio shelf isn’t adjustable. I guess it’s load-bearing or something. Only way to make it taller is to raise the shelf above it. So I moved books around and did that. Then I moved dolls and lowered the Barbie shelf three pegs. Now they can stand instead of sit in each other’s laps, and I can see them much better. Give me a day or two, and I’ll have it looking like a cocktail party over there. And I still have a shelf to fill up !

But first…I moved all the MH dolls to the two blank Arena shelves. Ahhh, much better. I felt so wealthy, seeing them all in one place. Boosted the lockers up a bit with a piece of a 2x4 from one of Beloved’s projects – I hope to paint it black, or cover it with black fabric soon – and got everyone arranged. If I did something with the boxes some of the ghouls are sitting on, and put a fake ‘grass’ carpet under them, one of the shelves would look like a park. Even my lamp looks like an oversized one in a courtyard.

Still, those shelves are a bit crowded. It’s a good thing I want so few new dolls !