Friday, July 30, 2010

all right then...

Trying here to rebuild a sensible life.

And how many hundred times have I begun this in 65 years? (almost 66)

Never mind. Now is now.

So: I have managed to say Morning Prayer (BCP) every morning (except Sunday) for 10 days. Second Samuel and First Corinthians. My word. That David was a piece of work, wasn't he? This morning, the fate of Ahitophel. Reminding me to go back and read Dryden again. If I can find him in the tohu-bohu downstairs.

Then a list for the day. Any old list, in any order.

And then, JUST DO THE THINGS ON THE LIST.

So far... I have had some breakfast and some home-latte, and cleaned out the vegetable bins of the fridge (OOG) and emptied the results into the compost bin, and then cleaned the fridge under where the bins sit (double OOG), and then it was no trouble to pry the kick plate off the bottom of the fridge and give it a good scrubbing, and so it goes;

Then I rescued a couple of peaches and put the kettle on and blanched them (and dealt with a brief mutiny on the part of the microwave, which doesn't always "answer the helm" as I'd like it to)...and managed to wrestle the skins off them and cut them off the pits....thumbs very uncooperative with this task despite extra-strength Tylenol. But now I have nice peach pieces in the fridge for the yogurt-granola parfait which will be either tonight's supper or tomorrow's breakfast.

Weather threatens to be stinking hot again today, so I retrieved three nice chicken breasts from the big box of frozen ones in the downstairs freezer...re-bagged the remaining contents and got that miserable awkward cardboard box out of the freezer. Gave the chicken pieces a preliminary thawing in the microwave (now docile again), and have them baking in the toaster oven -- being all green and energy efficient here folks!!! So then I'll have cold chicken "in hand" for the weekend.

Somewhere in there I made a bit of a meal plan for the next few days.

And fed the cat. Who has decided that she can eat Friskies Turkey'n'Giblets after all, just to please me.

And set out a jar of sun tea to brew. In the sun.

And looking at the not-improving yield of the vegetable bins, I decided I need to learn to make caponata. Thank you, Giada! so that's on the list for later today.

Oh yes, I cut up two large and incredibly convoluted red peppers into medium dice and put it all in the freezer...to bag later, will add colour and flavour to my dinner next winter!

Also on that list -- answer a couple of emails and then SHUT DOWN the laptop for the day; spend an hour on Sunday morning's sermon (leaning hard on Walter Brueggemann); strip and remake my bed and start the laundry for next week; clean the litter box; phone two friends; move an additional box of fabric and craft materials upstairs; start a cold-brew-coffee process (trying to complete it without getting coffee grounds in my ears!!!). Find a rational place for the new wet-dry vacuum and all its "giblets" too. Find a rational place for a bag of nice clean dusters/rags. Apply water and Miracle-Gro copiously to the exterior of Tether's End.

And possibly bike decorously up to the Public Library and read for a bit, in the A/C there...

And tomorrow is also, God willing, a day.

4 comments:

Jim said...

Sounds like a great and productive day.

I've managed to get up and showered, myself.

Christine McIntosh said...

I'm sooo impressed. So far (it's 10.23 here, and greyish) I've slept in, washed my hair in the shower, had breakfast and washed the dishes. And the towels are in the washing machine. Oh - and I phoned two people. Don't feel particularly worthy. :-(
But what, pray, is "sun tea"?

Crimson Rambler said...

"sun tea" is a "green" expedient. I like iced tea as a summer bev, and it has never seemed sensible to me to boil the kettle, make hot tea, and then pour the result over ice cubes: energy to heat it up, energy to cool it down, right? ...so I take a very large clean glass jar, put in four or 5 teabags, fill up with cold water from the tap, cover with a lid or plastic wrap and set the jar outside in a sunny spot. The tea steeps in the sun. Some folks add lemon peel or lemon slices or sprigs of mint to the jar as well. BTW I love your posts on R. S. Thomas!!!

Christine McIntosh said...

Hmmm. Don't see it working in Scotland! Thanks for RST comment - hope to have more to say about "Counterpoint" when I've read it all.