Category Archives: around the house

I last cleaned the dining room table sometime in early fall, judging from the dates of the magazines and catalogs I just tossed into the recycle. But this morning, as I ate breakfast and read the online papers, I realized that the piles had reached the point where I felt surrounded, and as usually happens when I feel buried in junk, I snapped and spent 45 minutes I didn’t have sorting and trashing. NATURE and NEW YORKER, I kept. Unread issues of HGTV and This Old House, for the refurb/rehab ideas. A couple of seed catalogs, because I haven’t yet given up the idea of a veggie garden this year. Everything else was hasta la vista, baby.

(Note to magazine publishers–packing the issue in a tough plastic bag in order to protect the oversize subscription card is utter bs, and simply means I need to use the good scissors on you before I consign you to the recycle bin)

But I digress.

I excavated assorted coins. Two dollar bills. One of my nice pens. The spare house keys. I now have a surfeit of table surface, and I feel better. We’ll see how long it lasts.

I keep telling myself that I should trash the stuff before it even gets in the house–I enter via the back door, and keep the recycle bin Right There just for that purpose. But I slip sometimes, and the slips add up to piles, stacks, and in the end, Sunday morning mayhem.

We wound up with about 9 inches of heart attack snow in my area. Hope my Northeast friends are safe and warm and still electrically powered.

Mid-30s now. Snow is melting, a slow drip from the roof. It was a sticking snow, so branches are still covered. The drive to the store offered pretty scenery, trees looking as though Brioche, God of Pastry went nuts with the confectionery sugar.

Mid 40s and rain tomorrow, which will wash away all the pretty and likely leave mud behind. Wish this winter would make up its mind.

Took the pups to the vet–Gaby’s bordetella nose squirt and King’s Adequan. Gaby made us all late by dashing about in the snow and refusing to come when called. Luckily it was a tech appointment, so I didn’t knock their schedule offline too much. But this was a first–up to this point, Gaby has been very eager to get leashed and get into the car. I think the snow has her addled and all full of herself.

Groceries acquired. Red peppers roasted. Grapefruit sectioned and blueberries washed. First load of laundry in the dryer.

Almost to the halfway point of February. It goes so quickly.

A bit scattered today. First full week at the day job this year. Felt like a month.

So windy outside. The recycle bins have blown over twice–I picked up everything as quickly as I could, but not before King ran off with an empty foil box. He was quite pleased with himself.

No plans for the weekend beyond the usual errands. Hockey will be back. It will be good to see the ‘Hawks again.

I have been inundated with gardening/seed catalogs over the last few weeks. In past years, I would be figuring out which varieties of tomato to plant, and which herbs and other veggies to try. This year, I am not so excited, and am seriously considering scrapping the raised bed. Over the next year or so, I want to get the house in shape to sell, and part of that plan involves reseeding the backyard and improving the lawn. The raised bed is a 4×8 rectangle in the middle of an open spot of yard, ringed by patchy ground courtesy of the pups, who race around it. It’s not particularly attractive.

Add to that the fact that I have been disappointed in the flavor of the tomatoes I have grown. Make no mistake–they taste waaay better than supermarket. But they’re nothing like the tomatoes I used to buy from farmers markets as a teenager, and I’ve reached the point where I’m wondering whether they’re worth the trouble. When it comes to marinara, good canned tomatoes taste just as good, if not better. As for salads, well, I don’t need 3-4 large plants to supply those.

I haven’t made up my mind yet. I could always go with one cherry tomato plant, maybe some lettuces. I’m not sure.

My time off, that is. Almost 2 weeks. It’s been nice. Time to get stuff done *and* sleep. The two haven’t always gone together these past few years.

Today’s first attempt at chicken curry since undergrad came out well. The sauce needed a bit more of a boost–maybe a shot of coconut milk, or some herbs. But it was still tasty and yet another reminder that I should make more use of my crockpot.

Pups are good. King’s tummy med started helping after the first dose, which was nice. Very nice, actually.

Rain on the way, possibly more than an inch. Temp could top 60F tomorrow. What is this thing called winter?

Hadn’t planned it, but am taking the week off. No problems, just have things that need doing which require chunks of time in which to do them.

I do plan to use vacation time for actual vacation at some point. Just not yet.

Spent the morning putting away Christmas. Hadn’t planned to take the tree down, but managed to get it out to the curb before the garbage guy came through. Wreaths are gone, too, even though I loves them and really wanted to leave them in place.

The good thing about the ground freezing is that the stakes one uses to hold the outdoor decorations in place do not budge.

The bad thing about the ground freezing is that the stakes one uses to hold the outdoor decorations in place do not budge.

Prying with a metal pole helped, but I wound up have to leave a few in the ground for later retrieval. Supposed to warm to the 40s later this week, with added rain! Muddy paws, YES!