Thursday, April 30, 2015
Hump Day
Wednesday started off nice, weather-wise, but it slowly went
downhill.
I wanted to go to Kohl’s at lunch, so I debated on where to
eat. Then I had what I thought was an inspiration! I’d go to Applebee’s. It’s
been years since I was there, but they had a “two-fer” menu (you get a choice
of any two items) I was fond of.
Big mistake!!! They no longer even carried the sandwich I
liked (even though you only got half) and the French onion soup (which I loved)
was now only on the upscale“two-fer” menu that costs two dollars more.
But, I bit the bullet and ordered the onion soup and a half
of a sorta club sandwich. I told the waitress I was pressed for time and please bring me my bill with my food.
The food took forever. When she finally brought it, she
forgot my bill. I reminded her and she said she’d be “right back.”
The soup was as good as I remembered. The sandwich was just
so-so.
She eventually brought my bill and (eventually) brought my
change.
The upshot was I overpaid for mediocre food and, (forget
Kohl’s), barely made it back to work before 1:00 p.m. NO MORE APPLEBEE’S!!!
It was warm, but the clouds had thickened and it smelled
like rain. So I was afraid to leave the windows cracked in the truck. By the
time I got home from work, I had given up all hope on cutting the back grass.
So, I went out and coiled up the extension cord and put away
the battery charger.
Sidebar: It was at 100% on the display, so I assume my
battery is still okay.
BTW: There were two photos I forgot to post yesterday regarding
setting up the battery charger, so here they are:
My neighbor called me from over the fence. He said that his
family was all coming in from out of state next Saturday. He’s having a wake
for his Dad at his house. He wants to put up a tent between his deck and my
fence. It will just fit, but the ropes holding it up will have to be staked in
my yard. He asked if I minded and I told him, no, of course not.
He said he would fix my garage problem after that.
Back inside, I put up the one shower curtain in the
downstairs bath. I took down the one in the main bath, but didn’t put up the
new one. It’s too cheap (my bad).
I warmed up some of the pasta and ate that for dinner. Then
I watched the Red Wings get eliminated from the playoffs. Damn!
Wednesday, April 29, 2015
Tuesday
Tuesday was (finally) a perfect Michigan spring day. Oh, it
started out cool (I wore a jacket into work), but it ended up in the 60’s and
sunny, with a slight breeze.
I took the trashcan out to the road and then headed into
work.
I went to the Newburgh Grill for lunch again and got the
bean with ham soup and a gyro. Both were excellent.
Then I went to Lowe’s. I picked up two clear shower curtains
(Caley put a rip in the main bathroom one and the half-one downstairs has mold
on it that didn’t wash off) and four primed 2-inch wide, 8-foot long lath
strips.
I drove back to work through Hines Park. Nice…
When I got home after work, I retrieved the trashcan and
then went inside. The damn cat had thrown up on the bedspread. So, I cleaned it
up, treated it with “Shout” and threw it in the washer.
Then I changed clothes and went out back. I was going to cut
the back lawn, but the tractor’s battery was dead (I was afraid of that). I
still don’t have electricity in my shed, so I got one of the 100-foot power
cords and my macho battery charger. I plugged the card into the only outside
outlet I have (on my patio), ran it out to the shed and set the charger on “slow.”
It’s too late for tonight (even on “quick”) and supposed to rain tomorrow. I
guess the grass can wait.
Sidebar: Back in the day, I would have got jumper cables and
the truck. But the last time I jumped the old bike, Tracey jumped all over me!
She said you never jump a small battery with an auto battery. I dunno. 12-volt
to 12-volt? What’s the problem? But, I figured she knew better than me, so now
I don’t do that. Besides, she scares me…
So, I gave up on working outside. I went out into the garage
to work on the cabinet doors. I needed to clean up the three cabinet doors that
were over the stove. I used some nitrile gloves and spray degreaser. Those
doors are really gross!
Now, here’s my challenge. The original upper cabinets are
flush-mounted, frame and panel doors (a top rail, a bottom rail, two stiles,
and a panel).
The later addition of the base cabinets look similar enough that,
with paint, I think they will match.
But the ones that were over the stove were plank-style (like
the old ones in my house). Now, I added lath strips to mine, just to give them
some dimension. But, here, I want to match the “look.” Since they will be
across the room, I think I can pull this off.
I scrubbed them twice and set them up to dry.
Back inside, I made a simple pasta sauce from thawed out
items. I fried up a diced onions and, when they were translucent, threw in
three cloves of minced garlic. I pulled those out and fried up a pound of
ground chuck, some diced red peppers, a smaller amount of green peppers and
some diced leeks (all of which I froze last fall).
When that was cooked, I added in the onions and garlic and a
big can of whole tomatoes that I crushed by hand, first. I threw in a can of
tomato sauce. I stirred that up and started adding herbs. I used my hand to
measure (I was making this all up, if you haven’t guessed) some oregano, basil,
and some red pepper flakes. I also added a lot of black pepper (I’d been adding
salt during the cooking process). I kept taste-testing and adjusted as needed.
Meanwhile, I cooked some pasta. I had half a box of penne
and another half of mostaccioli (I dislike mostaccioli – its smooth side doesn’t
hold sauce well). But I made them both.
When the pasta was ready, I topped it with the pasta sauce.
I had thrown away my fresh grated Parmesan cheese from Westborn. So, I used my
chuck of Parmigiano-Reggiano and the micro plane to top my dish.
It was fantastic!!!
I stated to watch my NCIS shows but fell asleep
before the first one finished.
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