Bits & pieces for 5/30/10

The last couple days have been pretty nice. Yesterday we went to the archery range. There were no classes because of the holiday weekend; we did get there early though so no trouble finding an available butt. Afterward we were going to attend the craft fair at the nature center. Well, we should watch the news more often I guess; apparently a murderer stashed some body parts there and the whole area was closed for the police investigation. No lie. On the drive home we had a call from our friends PH2 & MH2, and we ended up meeting with them to go see Shrek 3 (a bit of a splurge for us since we don't really need to be spending money right now) and afterward we had a nice BBQ at the house. PH2 cooked up a gorgeous London broil, I had a fresh nectarine cobbler prepped for dessert, and for the side dish I heated up some of Trader Joe's amazing fire roasted vegetables with balsamic vinegar. A good time was had by all.

Shrek 3 was better than I expected it to be; sequels, IMHO, rarely live up to the first movie & this one just didn't catch my eye. Plus, the basic storyline has been done many times before. I am pleased to report that this movie is worth going to see. I was also pleased by the behavior of the children in the theater. While I object highly to little kids at PG-13 or higher rated movies, I expect them to be present at a family film such as this, and I expect some of them to be boisterous. They *are* kids after all. However, only one child made any noise (other than appropriate laughter, etc. as the film warranted) and even that wasn't bad. He was obviously frightened by one scene & cried, and the mother was able to soothe him pretty quickly. If I had been able to pinpoint where they were sitting, I'd have both thanked & congratulated her after the show.

We're supposed to be going to a potluck today. I made a double-size nectarine cobbler to take (that's today's photo); hope people like it. Well, I'm not too worried about that actually. The one I made for just Ralph & me is nearly gone, and the fresh one I made yesterday for dinner with our friends was pretty much devoured as well. And if they don't like it, I'll freeze the leftovers for us to enjoy when summer is over and the tree is no longer producing fruit. Right now the ground is covered with dropped nectarines, I've picked enough to have 10 cups of sliced fruit [all but 2 cups have been made into cobbler; the balance is in the freezer], and there is so much fruit still on the tree that I don't see how we can use it all. I'll have to just freeze them as they ripen so they don't go to waste.

I also made a batch of fresh lemonade today. I love having a lemon tree in the yard :-)

Some good, some not so much

What a day. Yesterday I called to make an appointment with the plumber; the scheduler said the repairman would be at the house between 8:30 and 10:30. I said that wouldn't work as I had an appointment at 9:30, so she changed it to noon. Sure enough, the plumber showed up at 8:20. Luckily it didn't take long to make the repair and I made it to my 9:30 appointment at the temp agency with no trouble.

Well, I wouldn't say no trouble. The business center where they are located has about a dozen identical buildings. I found the right one, went inside, and according to the directory the temp agency entrance was located on the outside of the building facing the airport. I went all the way through the building and out the back, only to discover the building is at an angle; this means that there are two sides to the building that could be said to face the airport. Hmmm. Decided to go left. This was, of course, the wrong way. Went back around the building and finally found the entrance. Afterward when I left, I discovered that the entrance was just around the corner from where I had gone in originally. Sigh.

The interview at the agency went well. I got some very good tips on spiffing up my resume & presenting myself to potential employers, and my account manager already has a job in mind for me to interview for. I worked on my resume quite a bit when I got home. The account manager, whom I shall call D, sent me some online assessment tests. Ugh. The program appears to be entirely incompatible with our computer, so I have to go back on Tuesday & take the assessments there.

I also submitted a resume via Monster. Later I felt I hadn't really done enough job-search-wise today, so tried to log back on. Couldn't do it. It wouldn't accept my password, wouldn't reset my password when I submitted the request, just not working right at all. Grrr.

On the plus side, the gas guy came this afternoon and we have hot water & a functioning stove again! I made a nectarine cobbler in celebration & have a potato/sausage casserole baking for dinner.

sigh

Well, as if all the stuff with the furnace & the flooding weren't craptastic enough, as of 3:30 this afternoon I have joined the ranks of the unemployed. Yup, they have eliminated my position at the company and I, along with quite a few others, have been laid off. Good thing we haven't signed any contracts to get the furnace work done. Tomorrow I sign up for unemployment, update my resume, and start the job search. In the meantime, we're just going to have the gas pipe leading to the furnace capped off so we can have the gas turned back on. Hopefully that won't cost a whole lot.

Sadly, this all kinda overshadows the fact that I got flirted with at Carl's Jr. yesterday. Ah, well.

Waste of a perfectly good day

As the Teeming Millions know, we had a gas leak. We called the gas company to come out on Saturday, and they confirmed we not only had a leak, but it was a big one & coming from the floor furnace. Saturday afternoon (evening really, it was nearly 5:00) I called a plumber. The guy answering the phone took all the info & said someone would be out Monday morning between 9:00 & 11:00.

I e-mailed my boss to let him know I'd be late & why. At 11:30 this morning, no one had shown up so I called the plumber. No record of my call, no record of the appointment. Grrrr! The guy said he'd call me back, which he did in a few minutes saying there was a plumber in the area who was just finishing up a job & would be here "shortly." Two hours later I call again to find out when this guy is going to show up. I'm told "Not more than 15 minutes." 25 minutes later he finally arrived.

So, he takes a look at the furnace, has his assistant go under the house to take pictures, and long story short the furnace is toast AND the waterline to the icemaker is spraying like a fountain. I shut the water off to that of course, and now we need to decide if we're going to get a new floor furnace, or spring for central heating. I didn't get pricing on the latter so we'll have to look into that. Ralph is willing to wait another week if necessary so we can research. It's awkward not being able to cook, or wash dishes, or run the clothes dryer (luckily we can still do cold-water washes & hang the laundry on the clothesline), not to mention showering in the trailer, but it'll be worth it knowing that we did our research & made an informed decision.

I did get some knitting done at least. I decided to go ahead & make the octopus juggling balls; started them last week & as of this evening now have one completely done & one partially done. I need to knit 10 more tentacles & knit them together into body pieces, one more head/mantle piece, then graft everything together. So, not quite halfway there I would say.

Pizza for dinner tonight. Man, I'll be glad when I can cook again. OK, technically I *could* cook on the trailer stove, but it's really not set up for anything fancy. The oven doesn't heat evenly (the top is burned before the bottom is cooked) & the stove area is small; hard to prep the food beforehand.

Had some excitement this morning, though. I was sitting in my green chair when suddenly the cat came tearing full-speed across the room. It took me a second to realize he was chasing a bird! I hustled to get all the pets locked up (not an easy task as they all were far more interested in pouncing on the bird than in going into the hallway) & then tried to catch the poor sparrow. I probably could have caught it a lot faster if I had remembered to close the bedroom door; then it couldn't have kept hiding under the bed. Eventually it flew back into the dining room & landed on the window shade. I was able to catch it in the large fish net we use on the aquarium and took it outside. When I opened the net the bird lay so limp and still I thought it had died from all the adrenaline, but then whoosh! It flew away so fast it made me jump. Whew!

And it's Friday again

Wednesday night Ralph, Mom'L & I went to George's for dinner. We even remembered to tell the hostess the special "What Would George Say?" phrase, which gives you a free dip appetizer (Wednesdays only). We'd already decided on the kalamata olive spread & pita bread when the waitress asked us how we'd like our lamb cooked. Turns out we were one of the first four parties to give the special phrase, which for that night only upgraded our free appetizer to the lamb chops. Yum!

After dinner, Mom'L said she thought we might have a gas leak as she could smell gas near the front door. Ralph & I thought we could maybe smell it, too, so to be on the safe side Ralph shut off the gas. This morning I got the shocking reminder that our hot water heater runs on gas. Fastest shower I've ever taken. I'm glad my hair is so short since that means I can wash it lickety-split & not have to spend a lot of time rinsing out the shampoo.

I finally finished Ralph's birthday socks. I probably should have done one more pattern repeat but frankly I am sick of looking at the things. Now I need to find a project to bring to work. I'm still only halfway through Fred & George (today's pic), however I want something that requires less focus since I'm still working with MH on her knitting. (She's picked out the pattern for her scarf & is ready to swatch for it.) Perhaps I'll use leftover sock yarns to make a trio of octopi for Ralph to use as juggling balls.

First project :-)

Look! MH finished her first project. Isn't it adorable? I think it turned out really well. Hard to believe she's only been knitting for a fortnight. Just darling.

Had a cool moment on the way home from work today. I was driving down the freeway through some foothills near Diamond Bar, and just happened to glance out the side window. There on the hillside were a doe & two fawns leaping through the dry grasses. I've seen deer in California before, but never down this far. Totally a SQUEEE! moment.

I think Ralph had a good birthday yesterday. He liked his presents (two books from his Amazon wishlist, & a DVD of "Avatar"), and couldn't wait until dinner for his birthday cake (banana cake [from scratch] with chocolate icing & pecans) so we cut into it after breakfast. He decided he didn't want to go to the arboretum after all. We ended up getting some new fish & plants as he really wanted to update the aquarium, and I worked on his birthday socks. With any luck I'll have those done by the end of the week. I've reached the point where no matter how much I knit, they don't seem to get any longer.


I also asked him several times what he wanted for dinner, and he kept saying, "I thought I already had my birthday dinner" (referring to Sunday's meal of pork chop & potato casserole--another new recipe for me and it came out fabulous IMHO). Finally he decided on steak, mushrooms & asparagus, and as he is the better chef when it comes to steak he ended up cooking his own birthday dinner. I did at least prep the asparagus & chopped up some garlic to go with the mushrooms.

Been trying to find a day when assorted family members can get together for dinner. Not working out so well. Weeknights are out since I get home from work so late (and go to bed so early). The Boy and The Girl are busy Memorial Weekend, and the weekend after that. I'm busy on the 12th & Lizard is busy on the 13th. No feedback at all from Dad. Dad's Girl will only be out from the middle of next week until approximately Father's Day (that's June 20 for those among the Teeming Millions who may live somewhere other than the US) so I'm hoping we can all get together before she leaves.

Thoughts on May 15

OK, so I still don't have a picture of my new Faire outfit. I'll get one eventually, and one of Ralph's new outfit too. Yes, he bought himself a set of peasants, too. It's nice to have a choice of outfits & extremely nice to have something that doesn't weigh a ton.

MH's knitting is coming along really well. I've got her working on her first "real" project, one of those bunnies made by folding & sewing a knitted square. She promised it would be done when I get back to work on Tuesday. Although, I did remember last night that I didn't show her how to whipstitch. Oh, well, she's a smart lady & I'm sure she can figure out simple sewing like that. Which reminds me, normally we knit at one of the round tables in the break room, and MR made a comment about our "knitting circle." Later I told him he had it wrong--we were the "Knits of the Round Table."

Monday is Ralph's birthday. I've got to find time to wrap his prezzinks, and figure out a nice birthday dinner for him. I'm taking the day off from work (as is he) so it doesn't have to be something that cooks in 45 minutes or less as I normally aim for on a work night. I also need to find time to finish knitting his birthday socks. I've turned the heel on one & am working on the other. I *might* get them done on time, if I can tear myself away from computer & books.

Speaking of books, I'm reading a pretty good one right now. It's called "Street Gang." It's the history of Sesame Street, and includes a lot of background on the people behind it. It's amazing how long it took for the show to go from first thoughts to actually being on the air, and how many people & shows influenced it (both on what to do and what not to do). I mean, it's Sesame Street, what could be more obvious? But there was resistance and struggles--for example, when they finally went on the air, Mississippi banned the show on the grounds that people weren't ready to see black children & white children playing together. Really interesting. It's also an appropriate read, since tomorrow will be the 20th anniversary of Jim Henson's death.

And speaking of tomorrow, it's also the 12th anniversary of Ralph's & my first date. Amazing that we've been together this long, and we still aren't sick of each other, LOL.

Well, Ralph wants to take Hali for a walk, so I guess I'd better get off the computer & get ready to go with them.

Ironman

Last night we went to see the 7:40 showing of Clash of the Titans. The ticket seller said the next available show was at 9:00 for 3-D. We said we didn't want 3-D, and she said, "Oh. Then the next show is at 10:30." Ralph started to walk away, but I asked "What happened to the 7:40 show?" The clerk hemmed & hawed, then eventually called the manager over. Turned out they had canceled the 7:40 showing. To make up for it, she comped us into the movie of our choice, so we picked Ironman 2, which we also wanted to see.

Ironman was pretty good. I liked the original better, which I find is often the case with sequels (notable exception: Empire Strikes Back is the best of the "Star Wars" trilogy IMHO). It was a little frustrating that at a key, exciting point right before the climax of the movie the emergency lights came on & the building was evacuated. I was surprised by how calm & orderly everyone was, although there was a bit of grumbling. Turned out to be a false alarm and they let everyone back into the theater after about 5 minutes. Unfortunately, they apparently kept the projectors running so we missed a pretty important bit. We were able to figure out what happened; still, it would have been nice to have seen it. On the other hand, we saw it for free so I ought not to complain.

Tomorrow we perform for "Oedipus Rex" at the Renaissance Faire. I do hope one or two other musicians show up.

Lastly, today's photo is one the DB sent me of Zoey (the dog formerly known as Frumple). She's all sleepy because she's just come home from being spayed. Such a sweet little girl.

Oh! Not lastly, because I forgot to mention how well MH is coming along with her knitting. She was off work on Tuesday, and not available at lunch on Wednesday, and our "classes" keep getting interrupted by other people, so after maybe a grand total of 2 hours actual lessons she can cast on, knit, purl, and bind off. Her "homework" for the weekend is to knit a stockinette square, then when it's done I'll show her how to fold, sew, and stuff it to turn it into a little bunny.

A good weekend

OK, this is an old picture & I think I've probably used it before, however I don't have anything new so y'all will have to deal with it :-)

Had a really nice weekend. Saturday I went & bought some needles & yarn for MH at work, who wants to learn how to knit. More on that later. I also got two books at Borders and spent a lovely afternoon reading "Corpse on the Cob," the latest in the Ophelia Grey series. Ralph went out for a guys night watching boxing & drinking beer in the evening which left me to brainsuck, read, knit, and eat spaghetti to my heart's content.

Sunday was the rehearsal for Oedipus Rex, a musical/comedy version of the classic Greek tragedy, being performed by some friends of ours at the Renaissance Faire. This meant of course spending a good part of the day at Faire, and for the first time in I can't remember when I actually enjoyed myself. Bought a new Faire outfit consisting of what's called an "Irish", which is a sort of short bodice with an open-fronted skirt attached, and a yellow underskirt. The Irish is grey. I'll get pictures of it next weekend. The reasoning for the new outfit is twofold: one, my middle-class outfit, while beautiful, is hot and very heavy (about five pounds, if our scale is accurate), and two, the group with which we are gatelisted is St. Helena's, which is the guild of peasants & my middle-class outfit wasn't really appropriate.

Getting there early meant in addition to shopping time we were able to take in a show, a rather good magician that we've seen before but always enjoy. He even had a new trick to his act which was a pleasant surprise. While watching, we had yummy meat pies & split a large scone covered with fresh strawberries & whipped cream from one of our favorite food vendors. Later we also had some incredible bruschetta from the Italian vendor, with garlic, red onion, tomatoes, feta cheese, fresh basil, vinegar, and parsley all piled high on what was basically Texas toast. Sooooo good.

The rehearsal itself was great fun, too. Ralph & I play music for the show, Ralph doing the bass line on his sackbut & I play a harmony line on my recorder. Much to our surprise, we are the ONLY musicians for the show; guess no one else was available. It worked out pretty well since the actors sing the melody line.

As mentioned earlier, MH at work wants to learn to knit. Yesterday I gave her her first few lessons during breaks & lunch. She's a quick learner; I only had to show her the moves to cast on twice before she could do them on her own, and by the end of her second row (20 stitches across) no longer needed coaching. She said she was going to work on it today while waiting for her doctor's appointment. Only her second day and already knitting in public!

Nothing of note today, other than the pizza I made for dinner, or rather home-assembled for dinner. Boboli bread topped with the sauce that comes with it, grated mozzarella & Parmesan, and lots of pepperoni. Took about the same amount of time as waiting for delivery pizza, and unlike delivery was piping hot when we sat down to eat it.