My Busy Day

Yeah, somedays I do more than usual.  And I bet many of you do more than I do, so I'm not bragging about it, just mentioning it.  To me it was a busy day.

Partly, it is that I just stay in bed 10-12 hours.  I don't really know why, but I sleep poorly and it takes 10-12 hours to get 7-8 hours actual sleep.  So half the day is gone by the time I get up.  I am resenting that loss of useful time.  I mentioned that to my Dr once, but nothing came of it (as there were more serious issues on the table).

So I got up and made lunch.  I wanted something quick because I had "stuff to do".  But it is surprising how long it can take to peel 2 hard-boiled eggs and dress the halves with a smear of mayo, salt, paprika, and onion powder.  And cut up a tomato, 2 celery stalks, a carrot, and a cucumber.  And then eat it all while reading the newspaper.  😋

After that, I got at my errands.

First, visit vet to pick up new sub-Q fluid bag for Marley.  I bought one a week ago, but SOME cat bit it open and all the fluid drained out.  That used up a 1/2 hour.

Then to the grocery store.  I hit a busy time.  One cashier lane open, so 30 minutes shopping and 20 minutes waiting to pay for it.  I should remember not to grocery-shop between "end of school day" and "pre-dinner" times!  An hour used up there.

Then to Nick's (the liquor/deli/specialty store I like).  Picked up 6 cases of my special-ordered wine.  It is actually a repeating order, but they had a sale on it, so I ordered extra.  No point in passing up a good value.  It's not like this wine goes bad in 6 months.

By the time I got home, it was past 5 PM.  And I had lots to unload and put away.  Did the groceries first, since the was milk and deli meat involved.  And bulk stuff has to be separated out for the basement refrigerator.

Then the 6 cases of wine.  I have gotten to the point where a case of wine is a bit heavy for me to just carry to where I store it in the basement.  So I dragged out my hand truck/dolly to pull them from the garage to the basement.  It wouldn't move.  One flat tire!

It is a small tire, so I pulled out my old bicycle pump.  5 minutes of that and no improvement.  The bead on the tire is separated from the rim.  So I dragged my mechanical air pressure pump into the garage.  And that wasn't enough to reseal the tire to the wheel.

But I had 3 cases of wine on it.  I removed one and 2 cases was light enough to wheel around with just the natural rigidity of the tire.  Got the cases moved.  I'll deal with the failed tire bead another day.

By the time I had the wine put away in a corner of the basement and had all the groceries put away, it was 7 pm.  Dinnertime!  

The Mews were a bit short on meals (because I got up late and then was gone for hours), so I just kept feeding them once per hour until they didn't want anymore food.  Full kitties are happy kitties.

Then, and only then, I made my own dinner.  Had to be something easily, because I was pretty well worn out.  I am glad I make spaghetti sauce with meatloaf mix, saute'd onions, mushrooms, garlic, and oregano in large batches and then freeze dinner-portions.  Thawing the sauce out is easy in hot water.

Watched 2 hours of political analysis news on MSNBC, then came here.  And I have more errands to do tomorrow!

Grocery Store Pickup

My right hip is causing enough problems that I can't go through the grocery store to choose items, even with the roller/walker I bought.  Can't manage the roller and a shopping cart at the same time.   So I decided to surrender and get store pickup.  I can drive without any difficulty.

I have had a few CT and X-rays of the hip, but nothing is "for certain" yet.  I'll tell you all when it is.

I say "surrender" because I am fussy about fresh fruits and veggies.  I'm sure I will get hard peaches and limp lettuce.  I think my "fussy" days are done.  I can use the roller in small shops where I am buying small amounts.  But my grocery-shopping is bountiful.  

So I tried out shopping online at Safeway (and I'm sure other stores are about the same).  It was difficult.  OK, it was the first time...  I had to look up categories and scroll through pages of items by popularity to find what I wanted.  They seem to think that everyone wants only canned, frozen, and prepared foods.  And I suppose they are right, but I'm not in that group.  

So I went through veggies, fruits, condiments, and a few other categories.  Finally finished with 48 items.  And then couldn't check out!  Went around in circles with the cart and "continue" several times.  Finally saw a small chatbot button and tried it.  It's pretty stupid, but eventually I figured out the right question.

Apparently, even though I was signed in, I had to sign in again.  I guess that the 2nd sign-in actually registered I was placing a pickup order.  Even then, I had to go through my entire shopping order to undo "allow substitutions".  Seriously, if I am ordering yellow peaches I don't want a white nectarine.  They should have a button at the top to say "no substitutions" for everything.

I wish I was a young coding expert working for them who could do things like that.  But then, they probably just order delivery food every day.  And just mentioning that the store cashiers are baffled at things like bok choy or parsnips.  Well, OK, I understand.   If it isn't something you buy yourself, you don't recognize it very well.

But I finally managed to get to a payment page!  After that I got an email confirmation on the order.  I sure hope the stuff is decent quality...

I'll tell you how this all went tomorrow.

Two Busy Days - Monday

Errands and shopping. Monday.  And I have to consider items that are temperature-sensitive.  Milk, ice cream...

So I went to PetsMart first.  Marley needs his kidney care diet food.  And PetsMart has been a bit low on the varieties lately.  So I visit whenever I am near.  I was able to get 2 more flavors.  If Marley has to eat this less flavorful stuff, at least I want him to have some different flavors.  

Since the cat food is stable in the car, I went to Walmart next.  Some things Walmart sells brand name things very cheap.  I buy those there.  Got a bag of walnuts, bag of pistachios, milk, eggs, green olives, dark chocolate-covered cherries, Cokes, some other stuff.

But since I had milk, I drove home to refrigerate everything and went to Safeway for fresh produce afterwards.

Got my RSV vaccine shot there.  They are wonderful about shots with superthin needles,  I didn't even know they gave me the shot until they put the bandage on afterwards.  But it is no charge and I get a 10% discount at the checkout!  And got lots of fresh produce at discounted prices with my "Safeway For U" app.  

Brought out all my compostible containers to add to the pile.  The temperature dropped since last week, so I need to turn the pile back to the first bin.  Mixing things up causes heat again.

Washed out a dozen 6"x6" plastic mushroom bins.  I'll use that to sort out cat toys.  Right  now, they are all sort of spilled out of a big box.   

Saturday Surprise

I have been getting my wine, meat and deli stuff from a small specialty store for 20 years.  They are great on meat (both cheaper and better quality than chain stores), cheaper and better deli products too.  Their wine selection is great.  So is their specialty liquors (I found apple liquor there for a 'Golden Dawn' cocktail.

They are even the only place I can dependably find egg roll wrappers.  And they are also the only store around who seem to understand that Golden Delicious apples should be gold and not green!

Well, at checkout, confetti fell from the ceiling and a horn blared...

I was their 1 millionth customer!  Boy was I surprised!  I got my stuff free.  They took some pictures too.  Manager and me.  Cashier and me.  Apparently, it will show up in the local newspaper (I'll have to buy a few copies for posterity)!  I'll post pictures when I get them.

Things like that never happen to me.  So this is a real surprise...

An Interesting Day

Some days are routine, others are not.  I went grocery-shopping.  I have a lot of meat stored away in the freezer, but fruits and veggies don't do well with that so I had to get more.  It's that time of year when many fruits are either not available or poorer quality through long shipping. 

And it has been a hard year for growers.  Haven't seen a peach since September and the plums are gone.  Strawberries have doubled in price.  But blueberries were cheap.  I have no idea why.  Bananas stay cheap.  Apples stay cheap.  So I eat those after dinner.

The grocery store cashier was unusually conversational.  Wanted to know how my day had been.  "average".  Was I happy?  Huh?  Well, I worked in department stores for a few years and every new manager thought we should be "friendlier" on demand so I know how that works.  So I was friendly in return (while watching the checkout display screen like a hawk; they make errors).

But I'm conversational about things that aren't secrets, so we talked.  Then I realized he was just standing there.  He had bagged the last items and handed them to me.  He was waiting for my card in the reader...  He could have mentioned that.

But the weird part of the day came after I got home and put the groceries away.  I knew I had bags of cooked and uncooked meat in both the upstairs and downstairs freezers (or refrigerators).  So I decided to sort them out and put them in meat-specific plastic containers.

Took HOURS!  OMG, I had more pork than I realized.  I think I like cooking more that I like eating.  Its almost a hobby.  And chicken.  And NY Strip steaks.  And Filet Mignon (when on sale).

So I sorted it all out.  I AM organized.  I have individual large plastic containers for each meat that fit perfectly into my basement refrig freezer.  So I put the newest stuff on the bottom of each and the older stuff on top.

But I had WAY too much pork to fit.  Well, I keep containers around, and found one that fit perfectly in the upstairs refrig freezer.  I'll be eating a lot of pork for a while, LOL!  I don't mind that.  Pork is easy to use in many ways.  Stir fries, cubed with gravy, smothered in carmelized onions or bell peppers, added to baked beans, etc.  But I sure won't be buying any for a while!

But I DID get all of it organized, and that was good.  

So what did I have for dinner tonight?  Spaghetti.  I found a frozen hamburger patty in the freezer, so used it up...  Can of crushed tomatoes, saute'd onion and mushroom, crushed garlic, lots of Italian Seasoning.  Touch of sugar and red wine.  Best I've made in a year.

But I really DO have a lot of pork to use up.  Any favorite recipes?