Dining = Kitchen?

While speaking with my sister, the illustrious JSRBM, I had a thought. We were talking about making the first floor into it’s own apartment. I thought that one thing I could do would be to put a door into the archway from the hall into the living room. That would take care of that part at least. I also thought that I really didn’t want to share a kitchen with two other people (or more if they were couples living on the second floor). I didn’t know where I could put a kitchen. Then it dawned on me, I could turn the dining room into a kitchen! Again, it is over the basement, so access for pipes and wires would be easy. I could put in an electric stove. And fridge, etc. It’s definitely a thought.

As for the second floor, there are lots of things I can do up there. But I would need access to the attic – being the landlord, I could do that. And the basement. Though I could put a washer dryer set up in the dining room too. It is a pretty good sized room. At least 12×12. I will measure it one day.

As for the day – I have mostly spent it reading. I got an early call from AD but I didn’t answer it as I was still in sleep mode. I eventually got back to him only to find that LD had taken him to his car. I did get to take him back to Living South later in the afternoon. My only real outing today. I had been toying with the idea of actually riding my bicycle around, but didn’t get to it. And it is kinda hot out there.

The next book of the Dungeon Crawler Carl series won’t be released until the end of September. Sigh. I guess I will have to wait until then to see what happens next in the series. The one I am reading now, The Eye of the Bedlam Bride, happens on the 8th floor and it has been a page turner! Lots of twists and turns. And some drama and pathos. So much fun!

With all this reading, I haven’t been watching anything. Or playing my game. I still am enjoying Hogwarts Legacy and will get back to it once this set of books is on pause. I will also look through the books that SM has given me and see if there is anything that looks especially interesting.

The more I think about that meal last night, the worse it gets. I really ought to have spoken with a manager. The server was just either bad or overwhelmed. I am hoping it was the latter, but that really is still no excuse. She was young, though. Probably early 20s at the oldest. Grrr. I will have to get a new bun when I go to eat the hamburger. And I still don’t know what, if anything, I can do to salvage the way over cooked brussels sprouts. I will try deep frying them first and see how that works…

Yes, I am thinking about food. I had half of a grilled cheese sandwich for lunch – plus sundries. But I am already getting peckish. I am thinking it might be pasta with Chicken Tenders and a salad for dinner.

Yum! I think I like the pomegranate better – but this was good!

So happy with my decision to buy the child size cone on Friday. The perfect amount for me. And the candy eyes. Fun!

A Reading, Playing, Tree Chopping Day

I am not a huge investor. I don’t really have that sort of a gambler’s instinct. Ok, I suck at gambling. Which is weird. Because I usually think of myself as a lucky person. I mean, seriously, look at my life and tell me I haven’t been a lucky SOB. Anyway, as I said, I am not a huge investor. I own a couple of stocks. And a few pieces of some funds. I have the funds and one stock mostly because of dividends. I like free money. Even if it only comes in teeny dribs and drabs. Better than no dribs and drabs. But some of those funds aren’t really producing much in the way of dividends. Now, the question I have for the investment savvy – do I sell the underperforming funds when they are in the green in terms of share price, so I make a little money from them? Or do I sell the underperforming ones that are in the red, to dodge any sort of possible tax on capital gains? I am leaning towards the former. But it is of course moot, since it is Sunday as I write this.

Fler!

It’s funny, just when I think we are at a good place with the GLO mailing list, I get a note and call from GR saying that she sees dead people. She asked about the provenance of the list and I told her my understanding of it. She is going through it again and will eventually send me a list of people that ought to be taken off of the list. Since every name on there costs GLO money when it comes time to do a snail mail mailing. As we are preparing to do for this year’s production: Falstaff. I hope she gets it done earlier rather than later…(Looks like it will be Monday)

Ah, so, as usual, the day did not turn out as planned. Big surprise. I had thought another trip to Auburn was going to be in the cards (I had even picked out a new to me restaurant to try (At Long Last is the name – anyone know anything about it?)), but it did not happen. We still might go on Monday. Time will tell. Instead, I mostly read. I did at least empty the sink of dishes. Go me. I still have the glassware to wash, but I will get to that tonight.

After lunch, I managed to get out and cut down more junk trees. Goodness there are a lot of them about. I let them stay were they fell. I will take them to the pile of trees in the back after they have died a bit. Less drag I would think from dead trees than live ones. I also trimmed the yew in the front yard a bit – in anticipation of the eventual gravelification (I made this up) of part of the front yard. And that’s about it. Read and cut down a few trees. Woo hoo! Aren’t I the one to accomplish a lot!

I completely forgot that I played for an hour or two! I finished two sub-quests and did some work in the the Room of Requirement. Go me! Maybe I will play for another hour tonight. In between episodes of Ginny and Georgia. What a weird show! I watched the first two seasons so why not watch the third and see what happens. The last episode ended on a bit of a cliff hanger. Which is how most of the episodes end actually.

Tonight I am going to have more of the lasagna for my meal. Last night it made for an easy dinner and was tasty enough. The lasagna was a bit too liquid though. Not sure there were actual layers of lasagna noodles. Maybe when I take the pan out of the freezer to cut up into smaller portions, I will see how it was put together. It was that or make myself breakfast for dinner. But that would take a lot more effort. So, lasagna it will be!

My Tart is a Quiche

Looks like a quiche to me…

What is the difference between a tart and a quiche? In this instance, I have no idea. But, I fell for the same thing that I always fall for in making quiche like dishes – not putting in enough spices. Oh well. I will survive. This one was mostly a way to use up the ricotta cheese that SM left me. I used half of it. I think I will get more pie crusts and try this recipe, mostly, again. With some more salt and some more pepper and maybe even some more stuff tossed in.

Today was a gloomy day outside. I wanted to stay in all day. Then I realized that SM’s trash can was still out. So I had to go and move that. Well, I didn’t have to. It was just better that I did. And that was going to be the extent of my outdoors activity. But fate wouldn’t let that happen.

This morning I got a call from EC asking if I would accompany her to a concert this evening. One that JC didn’t feel up to attending. She had mentioned this jazz singer before. And it is happening right down the road from me. And she asked early enough in the day that I could adjust my mental plans for the evening. Which is why I am writing up this blog post now, rather than later.

Speaking of blog posts, someone caught up on a lot of my posts! Thank you whoever it was!

Besides running that quick errand, all that was on my agenda was to do some playing of Hogwart’s Legacy – which I did. And to read more of Verity. Which I also did. I would like to finish that book this weekend. The game will take a good bit longer. I am only 5% complete at this point and I have been playing for around 7 hours! I doubt I will get to 100% complete. But however much I do complete, I am enjoying the game.

I also did a little neatening in the kitchen. Woo hoo!

It is the 31st! A new month begins tomorrow. June already! How crazy is that? It would be nifty if we had consistently warm days going forward for a while. Instead we got a day under 50°F today and another similar one tomorrow. Poo. I just don’t feel like hanging out on my porch when it is this cold. And if I am not hanging out there, I am not too motivated to put up the five curtain rods I have purchased. True, I only have curtains for 3 of them so far, but we shall see if I can come up with some more from somewhere.

And that’s all that I am writing tonight. I have to go pick EC up and go to the concert. I hope I can stay awake. At least it isn’t dance. I almost always sleep for the first half hour of a dance performance. I don’t know why but dance performances put me right to sleep!

More Lumberjacking

I was really hoping that Fountain of Youth would be a good movie. It had a lot of the elements. Great cast, Guy Ritchie, a potentially interesting story. But it was terrible. Really terrible. Way over written. And stiff. And just icky. But I watched the whole thing – because Natalie Portman!

One of my tasks today was going to be cleaning out the trees from inside the large lilac bush that is in the front of the house. But I didn’t get there. I started cutting trees down that were in front of my porch windows instead. I think I took down 6-10 trees of varying sizes. Go me! Next time the weather and my free time intersect, I will cut some more trees down. And maybe even cut down some of the older Lilac bush pieces. I will try anything to get my lilac bush happy.

Speaking of happy, I realized that I am a big person and can plant anything I want, anywhere I want in my yard. What made me think of this was seeing a patch of Iris in EC’s yard this morning. I love irises. So, I guess I will have to find some bulbs (lots of places online) and plant them. If only I had a helper who actually helped, I would ask them to do it. Hope springs eternal. Maybe someone will turn up. I wonder if JM’s kids are old enough to help…

This morning, I got out of the house at just a little after 9 am. I went to my bank and got 3 2’s. Woo hoo! Then I headed to LNB and paid the second half of my taxes. I don’t even know which taxes these were. School taxes maybe? Who knows. They are paid and I don’t have to worry about them until next year. I still have the big tax bill to pay in November. Still angry that Geneva chose to only have one payment. Hell, they ought to allow people to pay monthly. That would make too much sense, though…

After finishing up at the bank, I dropped off a book at the library and then headed to SM’s to see if the trash had been picked up. It hadn’t been. And it hadn’t been when I went again in the afternoon. I will check tomorrow and see.

Then off to JC’s. He was still a bit confused about the mortgage thing. I think I helped calm him about that a bit. I took time to set up his computer so that I can get in remotely if necessary. And I also started collecting his passwords and logins. It makes life easier if I know what they are and don’t have to ask him. Though he did have one password saved in a reasonable place. Woo hoo! They also asked me to help them find an endless pool fixing guy. I have written to the company to see who they recommend, and I will follow up with a phone call on Monday. I also asked JM but have no faith that I will ever hear from him again. Sigh.

Back home, I reheated the leftover pasta from the other night. And instead of putting a sauce on it, I put some of my garlic hummus on it. That was tasty. I think I could have been more generous with the hummus, but that is good information to have for the future.

While I was puttering around, I got a message from AD asking me to pick up a prescription for him. Which I did. And I also purchased three more curtain rods for the porch. I don’t know when the curtain rods will make it onto the walls, but they will eventually. BSUC. Unfortunately, AD didn’t let me know that he wanted something else, which I ended up having to head back out to get. Sigh. Hopefully he is all done being needy for the week. I like him, and am ok helping him. Just not all the time!

In there somewhere, I went to see my insurance agent. She told me that the reason my premium went up so sharply is because I had two incidents in two years. They weren’t really incidents, just stupidity on my part. But they and their computers and algorithms don’t care. She did, though, help me to reduce the bill a little. I have to take a stupid defensive driving online course to get a chunk of change off my insurance for three years. Which is good. Except the course costs money. And it is boring and slow! You can’t just click through the text. You have to wait for a timer to elapse. And I read a lot faster than the timer. It also asks me to type a phrase now and again to make sure it is me taking the test.

Back at home again, jiggety jig, I got the chainsaw out. It still seems sharp enough as it went through all the trees easily. I am happy that all it takes, though, is a new, $15 blade to make it happy again if it comes to that. Yay electric chainsaws!

Look at the felled trees. Ok, a few saplings, but still…

Next stop, playing. I could sit and play Hogwarts Legacy for hours and hours. There is so much to do. And the world is pretty large. I have barely started and it is really enjoyable.

And now I am ready for the evening to commence. I have gotten the next Mistborn book – a really long tome! And I am trying to read Verity, though it really isn’t a sort of book I would typically read. Too much graphic talk about sex for my taste. But I will persevere. I have no idea who recommended it. Anyway…I was going to make the artichoke and ricotta tart this evening. But I just can’t be bothered. So, I am going to have the other half of my sub, some fries and a salad. That will do, pig.

Does anyone else find my non-dashing day blogs more interesting than my dashing day blogs?

Menu Planning

Since SM left me a container of ricotta cheese, amongst other things, I decided to find a recipe that could use the stuff. I know that lasagna is an option. But that seems like a lot of work. I found another recipe that calls for spinach, artichoke pieces and chicken – though as I mentioned before, I think I don’t the chicken is required. I was going to make it tonight. Then I thought no, I will use up the leftover pizza and wings from the other night. And I think that is the way I am going to go. With a salad, of course. Gotta use up that romaine lettuce!

Oh, the adulterated macaroni and cheese that I made from the Straight Plate macaroni and cheese turned out well. I like my mac and cheese to be really cheesy and also to have a bit of sauce. (Which always makes me think of Alice). So I added some of the large tub of sour cream that SM left for me as well. I don’t think I will be able to use all of that before it goes bad. But I am going to try.

Well, it looks like I have dinner plans tomorrow. The Crenners are here – well some of them – and I guess they all are willing to have me join them for dinner. I have no problem with that. We are heading to Kindred Fair which I have enjoyed in the past.

Wednesday and Thursday are still open for meals. I think maybe I will check out Subway for their Sub of the day and pick whichever day’s sub I like better. I hope it is Wednesday’s so I can eat the second half on Thursday. Then on Friday or Saturday I will make the spinach and artichoke and ricotta cheese dish. Or something similar to that. I will be stuffing manicotti shells with whatever I come up with. And then, I don’t know, maybe a red sauce on top? Or maybe a pesto sauce – but way watered down. Pesto is so strong. Hmm. We shall see. Probably no pizza and wings this week. Though I might have a second pasta meal over the weekend. I have a little of the Alfredo sauce left – if it hasn’t gone bad.

Do we sense a theme here? I often fear that ingredients will go bad if I don’t use them in a timely manner. (And I am often right.) And as long time followers of this boringest blog on the planet know, I am not a fan of wasting food. Even third tier ingredients. Like sauces.

Sometimes I photograph well – was this one of those times?

Today, I managed to do a few little things around the house. I was invited to take AD out for a bit, but I passed. The day was so nice, that I actually got out and mowed a bit. I figure I’ll mow once or twice more before the summer heat starts and the lawn slows down it’s growing. Tomorrow, during my lunch break from dashing, I think I will attack the lilac bush in the front of the house. If I am not mistaken, there might even be a tree or two in there that will need to be taken down. I wonder where my chainsaw is…I think the blade is probably still sharp enough to bring down a couple of little trees.

New plans for curtains on the porch. I think I will add the new grey curtains to one of the three windows on the East side of the porch. And I will move the two curtains that PvK gave me before from the living room, where I haven’t really used them, to the doors on the West side of the porch. And I think I will need to get a security camera out on that porch, so I can see if someone comes on there looking for me. I think that will obviate the need for the reflective film I was thinking of using on those porch doors.

I also read a bit today. And played a bit. I am taking the game slowly so far. Trying not to get ahead of myself too much. And at the same time, trying to beef up my character. As I have said, I prefer to be overpowered to underpowered.

And there we have it. I don’t know about you, but I was thrilled to not be dashing today! Woo hoo! It would be nice to never have to dash again. But I still don’t know what else I would do to bring in the pizza dough…

Outside my Comfort Zone

I tried something new. And no, it wasn’t actually outside of my comfort zone. But it was a new thought to me.

For the past few weeks, I have been making little pizzas for dinner Friday nights. With chicken wings. But it was the pizzas that were causing me problems. I would get them all stretched out, add sauce and toppings and then the poor things would get all scrunched up when I tried to get them off of the center console and onto the pizza stone that was busy heating up in the oven. My new idea was to build the pizza, once it was all stretched out, on the cool pizza stone. And it worked! The pizza-lets didn’t stick enough to worry about. And the crust was pretty crisp. So, I have solved a major problem with me and mini pizzas. So excited!!

It is a Sunday. And I have been doing typical Sunday things. Which include: changing my bed sheets, doing laundry and taking a shower. Not that taking a shower is a weekly event. (More like annual…). And reading. And looking at stuff online.

Speaking of watching stuff online, I finally finished watching all of Castle. Not enough of Molly Quinn for my taste. But it was fun overall. What’s next, though, that is the question. Then again, with the book I am reading, I could actually forego watching a lot of TV for the next few days and nights.

And, I got a new video game: Hogwarts Legacy. I am liking it already. It is in the wizarding world of Harry Potter, but it happens during the time of the Goblin Wars. I think. About 100 years before the events in the books. I just started the game. The graphics are good. And so far it isn’t too complicated. It is sad that there is no Quidditch. I am not sure why they made that choice. Maybe because some people would just want to play Quidditch all the time and forget the rest of the game. And it turns out that there is a stand alone video game of just Quidditch. Anyway, I have played about an hour and am looking forward to playing more. It took me a while to find the game in the xBox menus and get it to load. Just because I don’t add new games all that often. I don’t think I will play Battlefield 1 again. I just wasn’t liking it…I tried twice. Though, third time is the charm, I’ve heard.

The laundry is done and folded and I am leaning towards it being dinner time. I still have lots of leftovers. I don’t know when I am going to get around to making a new recipe. Which calls for chicken, but I think it would probably be just as good without. I need to/want to use the ricotta cheese that SM left for me when she headed off to her travels. Maybe I will make that on Monday. If I don’t end up dashing.

That’s the plan currently. To not dash on Memorial Day. I know a few places will be closed. And since many people have the day off, I figure a lot of people will be dashing. If they offer an incentive, I might change my mind.

And that’s all for now. I really am peckish.

Woof