Ugh. Taking a break from watching “The Beat with Ari Melber” because he’s interviewing Bill Mahr. No thanks. The mute button is golden.
I’m still smiling about Quinn’s first day of Kindergarten yesterday! Look at that excited little guy!
I thought about him all day long. (Kindergarten is all day long now. In the dark ages when I attended, it was just half day). He came home with a homework assignment! Sandra described his day like this:
The school bus picks up and drops off right in front of the military youth center [which I think is where he attends daycare]. It’s so convenient. He loves his teacher and a few kids from his class live in our neighborhood. They are all still getting to know one another. For homework, he has to bring 3-5 of his favorite items and tell his classmates about them. He wants to bring a picture of his puppy, Dogman book, his t-ball photo, and a fishing lure.
He’s got it all figured out! I think it’s great that some of his classmates live in his neighborhood. Now I’m wondering how his 2nd day went!
I picked up my new glasses yesterday and they are taking some getting used to. My distance vision is DEFINITELY improved, but as usual, the (invisible) bifocal makes me nuts. I’ll probably treat these like I’ve treated my last several glasses—take them off unless I need them for distance (driving, etc.) They just DO NOT work for looking at the computer, which is where I spend a lot of time. I read all of my Kindle books on my laptop. Without glasses. I see fine in the mid-distance, but the distance correction messes with that, as does the bifocal. So off they come. Also, the transition between distance and up-close (reading on my computer then peering up to see the television with the glasses on) makes me nuts. I sense that it’s the focus “muscle” we take for granted when we’re younger that is significantly slower now to lock in when we switch back and forth. Aging is death by 5,000 tiny cuts. Sigh.
I took Karen’s advice in her comment from my previous post and read “The Wife and the Widow” by Christian White and it was quite good! I’m currently immersed in Megan Goldin’s first Rachel Krall book “The Night Swim” that sillygirl recommended in her comment and I’m enjoying that, too! Thank you for your suggestions! I’ve had a couple of books that I’d pre-ordered last spring drop into my Kindle this week (I always forget about them until they’re delivered!), so I have a number of options right now. Our next Book Club isn’t until October, so I have time to play around for a while before I delve into The Island of Sea Women.
Our neighborhood’s annual potluck and road committee meeting is this Saturday (we hosted it at our house last year, and have hosted it several times which is a lot of work and rather stressful). Nobody was offering to host this year and I did NOT want to volunteer. Luckily, one of the neighbors finally did (whew!), but it could be…interesting. He’s the guy who owns the Airbnb that he rents out (I’ve never been inside). Early on when he was newly renting it out, we had a couple of years of HELL with huge loud parties, underage drinking, cops being called, and property damage/theft. A bunch of us had a big stern sit-down meeting with him and explained with many clenched, angry jaws that it was unacceptable. (He was pretty blasé about it, which was infuriating). But, things improved. Now and then we’re aware of renters, but it’s mostly families or ladies having a girls’ outing, and no problems at all. So, it’s going to be held at the scene of all that former hell! I have doubts that there will be enough seating, or plates/utensils, and he’s also not providing any food! The host always provides the main dish, and the rest of us fill in with appetizers, sides, and desserts. But it looks like this will be more of an uber-casual snackfest? (One of the neighbors told me, “I guess I’ll bring some savory finger foods?” I’m thinking that might be overkill…) My assignment is to provide a dessert, something that is NOT in my wheelhouse. So, I’ve decided to bake some chocolate chip cookies. I normally just make Tollhouse when I (rarely) make them, but I found a recipe that sounds nummy—you mix instant pudding in with the dry ingredients. I knew someone who made chocolate chip cookies that way and they were wonderful. Let’s see how wonderful these turn out! I also decided to throw together my garlic dip, just in case. (Both don’t require plates/utensils or even sitting down!) Heh. Casual is fine. Part of the stress of the past potlucks was that they tended to run rather fancy. I get the impression that attendance will be significantly down this year.
“I'll take the guy who has done a great job and will be 86 over the guy who tried to end democracy and will be 83. But that's just me.” -Aaron Rupar
