I spent all day clinging to this...

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!

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.