Thursday, November 11, 2021

Extra Good Day

 When you have a week-and-a-half of rain and fierce winds, a normal day seems as special as the first day of spring, and that's what happened yesterday.  I don't think I even took a picture though.

My appointment with Liz at OT was scheduled for Tuesday morning, but after listening to the wind nearly blow the roof off all night and hearing of trees falling and power outages, my anxiety at driving, or even going outside, went through the roof.  Since I had been feeling lethargic and had had no sleep, I figured that was enough for a sick cancellation and rescheduling for the next day.  After talking to Liz yesterday, she had run into closed roads and traffic delays herself and was super late getting to work anyway.  She said there were a lot of cancellations, so I didn't feel so bad.  Well, I felt a little bad to cancel on short notice.

It turns out it would have been a little scary driving on I90.  I don't think Emily had any problem, but just about the time I would have headed home, the interstate closed for removal of newly fallen trees.  I felt a little better about my decision.  Luckily, no one was injured, but people were stuck in traffic for a long time.  

Yesterday, my appointment wasn't until 1:15, so we had time for some sunshine to appear, and that was so cheerful.  I'm getting more and more used to my car and am more relaxed traveling that 15 or so miles than I used to be.  I know I've had the car for 9 months or so, but I probably don't drive it more than once a week, if that, and just for short distances.  Someone mentioned the price of gas the other day, and I had to admit that I only fill up once every couple of months.  Sheltered life.  I even order food from Amazon Prime sometimes!

It was nice walking home from school too.  Katherine's retainer had broken, so she and Ryan had had to take a trip to make to get that repaired (and stop by Starbucks! and Mama's office!), so she was full of excited chatter.  I sure hope Graysen gets a special day soon, because she took it pretty hard, not getting to go to Mama's office!

We walked home with Wes and Carly, our upstairs neighbors.  They're always gifting me something from Trader Joe's since I don't get there much, and they do. For some reason, it's always something sweet, and he pretends he's only giving it to me to get it out of their house - and also for letting Carly join in the crew a good bit when the girls are over there- which is a pleasure, for sure.  I had heard about TJ's peanut butter cups, how good they were, and that was what he handed me.  Dark chocolate too!  That made a nice treat while the girls did their math pages, and then I put them in a really high hidden place where I won't see them.  So lucky to have sweet neighbors.

It was a shame to have to take them out of their hiding place to take this picture.  A real shame!

The girls had such fun together after being closed up for so long.  They ran and did noisy things for a while and then settled down to a very quiet and complicated-sounding game with chickens and turkeys and fences.  I love it when their imaginations just run wild, and there is so much laughing.

I could hardly stay awake for them to be picked up at 5-ish and ate something and went straight to sleep.  I slept from 6 until 11 and am up now for the night.  I might get another nap later.  It would be nice to stretch my sleeping time out for another hour or so, but I'll take 5 hours.

I think I've mentioned a few blogs I read and how much I enjoy people with taste and style since I don't have any of my own.  I don't have a house any more with free reign to decorate, but I do use some of the ideas when I make little changes, especially in organizing and making the most of my small spaces.  

A lot of them have posts on their favorite things, and I am influenced by hearing their reviews - which is why they're called influencers, I guess.  So, I thought I would mention a few things I've bought lately, mainly from Amazon, that have made my life easier.  

1.  One of my favorite things is this appliance sliding tray.  One of the most aggravating things about a coffee maker is that top opening for pouring in the water and usually an upper cabinet keeping the lid from opening all the way.  I have a double Keurig-type and regular brewing side-by-side appliance, and it was no fun pulling it in and out every single time.  Then I saw that there were little rolling platforms for putting your appliances on that allowed them to be pulled in and out smoothly.  I'm always late to the party on things like this, but I got one and give it a mental thumbs-up several times a day.  




Of course, now that I've decided to share it, this particular one is no longer available.  There is a similar one with a storage shelf underneath, but I don't think I have that much room!  Anyway, there are many other brands and types in all shapes and sizes that will do the trick. Mine was the Everie brand.  It's just such a satisfying feeling to fill your cup with water, smoothly roll the whole deal toward you, pour that water in the top with almost no spills, and smoothly roll it back into place. Back when I still kept my big mixer out on the counter, it would have been nice to have one for that.

2.  Another favorite is this vegetable chopper.  


When I was ordering the Purple Carrot vegan meals, half the preparation was chopping the veggies.  I had to put the deliveries on hold while my wrist heals, but it got pretty tiresome chopping all those different vegetables.  There was always some sort of onion and always garlic and usually a carrot.  Then there were mushrooms and cauliflower and who knows what else.  I have two food processors, a small one and a large one, but I don't enjoy getting them out every day.  I studied ALL those choppers and combinations of choppers and settled on the FullStar one.  It's a game changer.  I just have to make about 4 cuts of a regular onion, throw it on the chopper thing and press down.  Same with carrots.  Mushrooms are my favorite though.  Seconds is all it takes for chopping those things! Satisfying! Maybe one day I'll enjoy a cutting board and knife but not right now.

3.  I'm pretty much bored with talking about those two things, so I'll skip to something I ordered yesterday, and we'll see how that turns out.

A laundry hamper.


Before I moved, I had a walk-in closet and room for a big wicker laundry basket.  Here, I have two skinny closets across the hall from each other.  Seems like a lot of wasted space, but maybe that's to make it wheelchair accessible, which I won't argue with, given my luck lately.



I filled them up pretty quickly and am happy with everything but lack of a place for dirty laundry.  I've been sticking it in an old laundry bag on the floor of the closet, but that's an extra step I don't enjoy, and it looks messy.  I'm hoping this fits between a storage unit and the door.  If not, I think it's cute enough to stand in the bathroom.  

4.  I'm getting the girls some things for Christmas as I hear them mention them, and they have pointed these things out and ask about them almost every day.  They don't know I have them sitting in their little Amazon boxes in the garage.  I'm the one who saw them and asked if they liked them.  Did they ever?!  It took an agonizing time to pick out their favorites, but Graysen chose a calico cat and Katherine a mermaid kitty.  I couldn't make a decision myself if given just one choice!



This site is a good place for seeing all the choices, and the price is cheaper than Amazon, but there is still the postage, which makes Amazon Prime the best bet but maybe fewer choices.

And they love these things.  Don't ask.  Modern kids aren't satisfied with bubble wrap any more.  This set offers plenty of popping and fidgeting and sensory things.






5.  And I got them this Lego Advent Calendar.


They have a cute one at their house with little knitted mittens and hats that has a Bible verse and a chocolate for them every day, but I wanted a fun one for here.  The one I enjoyed making for them is okay, but there's no fun in putting in a boring cloth ornament every day.  It was more for my fun in making it.  


Sweet baby!  It sure was tempting (and probably still is) to go up and down the stairs knowing there was a chocolate inside the mittens and hats.


I've whiled away most of the night and hear it raining again.  I guess I'll try for another nap.





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