Dear Quaratine Diary – Week 31

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cooking, dear diary, family, food, humour, sewing, storms

Dear Diary – I think we’re into week 31 of 2022, but I’m not really sure. Summer has a way of making each day slide along, somewhat peacefully. Monday starts with the full promise of time and I’m always shocked when I suddenly realize it’s almost the weekend and I really haven’t accomplished anything of value. Somehow the toilet still gets cleaned and we haven’t starved to death, but it’s no wonder I have a burst of energy in September. It’s like I suddenly wake up and realize that my glorious lazy days are at an end and my house is a disaster. But Diary, it’s still August, so the house can wait. A little extra dust never hurt a soul!

Both of us can’t look good…it’s either me or the house!
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Dear Diary – Mr. Cardinal has been sitting on the bird feeder and pipping all morning. Either he’s a disatisfied diner or he’s trying to let me know his water bowl is empty again.

Dear Diary – I asked Youngest Son what time I should wake him. He said he’d get himself up. So I left him along…I woke him at 5:30 p.m., right before Hubby got home from work.

He was wide awake at bedtime. I was not!

Dear Diary – I took a mini break from sewing. I’m still really enjoying it, but part of me worries that I’ll run out of projects before I get involved in other things and I’ll be bored. Of course, there’s always housework. (Did you laugh out loud too?) It would be nice to earn back what I’ve invested. Then there’s the issue of storage…I have 13 Japanese Knot Bags listed in my Esty store, and a few more ready to be listed, and others nearly completed. Just what am I going to do with them all if I never sell any? I don’t really want to be the most fabulously fashionable grocery shopper in history? (That is if I ever return to in-person shopping. It’s nice not to have to wrestle with a cart with a wonky wheel or deal with…well, people).

I’m trying really hard to remind myself that sewing and my store are what I do…not who I am! It would be so easy for me to slip into the mindset that I’m a failure or I don’t have value just because my hopes and dreams haven’t exactly taken off. I can reason better when I don’t let emotions take over, and I don’t let the enemy in. He knows my weaknesses and has exploited them for too many years.

I’m not looking for pity (or even sales) by sharing this. Just reminding – there is so much more to who we are than the things we do, the company we keep, or dreams we dream.

Mushy stuff aside, I did say when I finished my pieced projects, using up all the smaller scraps of my fabric stash, I would share.

I’m not done yet, but halfway there…

Mom has kindly continued the arduous (slightly mind-numbing) task of cutting strips…probably in front of Escape the Chateau after lunch. Perhaps that’s what I should do – “Sew and Chateau”, and worry less about the future. If I run out of projects, I can always clean.

(I almost said that with a straight face…)

Dear Diary – The trip home was fine and after nearly a week, I finally worked up the courage to try my new air fryer. Yes, I finally succombed to the pandemic fad and bought one for our household. I decided to start with something easy – frozen french fries. While they were ~~burning~~ cooking, I pan fried shrimp burgers for the boys. What disgusting anemic, pinkish, congealed-looking patties, which defied their visual appearance and didn’t stick or fall apart in the pan. Someone knew how to use binder ~~glue~~ well!

Since I am allergic to fish and shellfish, I made myself a BIG salad. I figure if I can’t walk off the extra pounds (that keep bringing friends), I’ll have to watch what I eat. I added cheese, pecans, carrots, and strawberries to 2 kinds of lettuce, and topped it off with a sesame ginger dressing. Yum!

The fries were definitely crispy!

We settled down to our dinner, waiting for the big boom. A severe thunderstorm warning had extended across the southern end of the province all day, but all day it flip-flopped between clouds and sunshine. I did some gardening and read in my chair. Two cheeky red squirrels played on the fence. One of them even got stuck, temporarily, in my gourd bird feeder (which has never housed a bird), and I could hear the scrabble of hind feet trying to get out. These fellows have likely been stuck before as I noticed the opening had been chewed to make it wider. They both sat on the railing over my head and we had a conversation before their nerves couldn’t take it any more and they fled the way they had come.

All this to say, we were waiting for the big boom and had even cancelled Halo Night. With the prediction of high winds, hail, and possible tornados, we were expecting power outages and internet interruptions. Oldest Son was on-call to work if there was storm damage. I was kind of relieved to not be trapped in a game, as I was worried about another kind of boom after ingesting so many vegetables. My system has not taken kindly to veggies for years now, and now that I’m not working and stressed to the breaking point, I’m trying to re-train it to behave!

There were no big booms.

We barely got enough rain to wet the ground.

It was all very disappointing. Not getting the thunderstorm. Happy about the other.

I like thunderstorms. Can my life be so boring that thunderstorms are really that exciting? Probably. I like the anticipation of danager, the sloshing of the rain against the windows, the sound that rumbles in your chest, and the spectacular light displays in the night sky. I certainly don’t want any one to be hurt, or their property damaged, but there is a wildness and wonder to it all.

Instead of wonder, I have to venture into the sweltering yard and water my plants because I don’t have to wonder what will happen if I don’t!

Speaking of wonder, I’m wondering how long it will be before Oldest Son listens to the wise words of those who love him most, and he finally purchases a new car! His car has long been a sour lemon, rife with transmissions issues, squeaky brakes, and flaky everything else. He lost the radio/cd player years ago, and occasionally the A/C too.

Last week, he discovered a flat tire at the end of a very long, very hot day. Remember, he works outside in heavy protective gear regardless of the temperature or humidity levels. He said it took awhile to unstick the spare tire, and as luck would have it, he lost a lug nut in a sewer during the swap. Lo! And behold! The spare tire also had a leak. New spare tire ordered, but consequently, he would not be visiting us for the long weekend.

However, he would have to make a flying trip within the next 7 days to pick up his suit for both a wedding and a funeral the following weekend. (It lives at Homebase because twice he’s shown up for a family funeral missing some of it). Even though I was tired from my own commute home from my folks, I offered to visit him on Saturday and deliver his suit.

Saturday morning, I hopped in the shower before ironing his dress shirt. Hubby kindly loaned a second shirt for the second occasion. I packed a cooler with homemade burger patties, buns, potato salad, chips, and all the condiments (because he has none) and the three of us headed west.

There was construction on the highway. A lot of it.

We arrived after noon and I commenced with a few rounds of dirty dishes and cleaned most of the bathroom. Like Oldest Son, it was pretty furry. Still, it was really nice to be together, and I got a few hugs to sustain me until we meet again. Which will be soon, Lord willing, when Oldest Son has a few days off. I still say that “home” is where your loved ones are…whether a house in the country or a space in the city…and “home” is where I am happiest!