New Week

This week I chose Andalusian music to listen to. According to centuries of oral traditions passed down through the generations it is a blend of Castilian and Romani and Moorish music from as early as the 6th century.  As with all music it has changed over time still having the Spanish feel but you can definitely hear the Arabic beat.

Years ago I bought an Ottmar Liebert CD, and loved the music but had no idea it was Andalusian until I searched Spotify's Andalusian music lists and saw him on it.

Also this week was the SEC softball championship series. Though we watched no games except for Alabama's games completely, the TV was on and we kept up with them by just hearing the announcers, pausing to watch an inning or two of several games if exciting things were happening.

Monday: The Exchange Club scheduler called to let me know their truck would be here early, so I got all the donations out and on the porch by 7:30. I had gone through all my warm weather clothes and included anything I was not going to wear anymore. I keep clothes forever, but this time I even gave away things I bought last year and never wore. Several items still had tags on them, I suppose I could have tried selling them, but honestly the deduction for donations is a bigger help for us. And the big bonus is having things gone. Between us, we gave away more then 75 items, both clothing and shoes. I am just glad it is all out of the house. 

I should have gone through each room of the house and decluttered 10 items, but that will have to wait until next time.

After doing a bit more work in the house, I got ready to meet bookclub for lunch at Mugshots. The book this month was Theo of Golden. I thought it was OK, but was not my favorite.

Regardless of my feeling about the book, lunch was wonderful. We caught up on each others comings and goings and were there almost 3 hours. Fortunately we went at an off lunch hour time, to an almost empty restaurant, and paid our waitress early so we would not hold her up at all.

What I learned: High school graduation parties are now common place here. I am talking about renting rooms at the club, full decorations, an activity, and of course party favors for 80-100 of your nearest and dearest school friends. These are for graduates only, no family (other than the hosts parents and possibly grandparents) no extended family,  no family friends,  just a bunch of female gal pals.

I am glad my kids graduated long ago

Listened to Duende by Romero

Dinner: TheHub had grabbed him a veggie lunch plate from The Pig's deli and I had eaten a cheeseburger salad for lunch, so dinner was pretty small.

BLT salad

Tuesday: I was completely out of tomatoes and cucumbers and was so glad when 9:30 arrived so I could go to the produce stand and get some fresh veggies.

I came home loaded down, and spent about an hour processing a gallon of delicious, straight from the farm strawberries. They should be good for a little over a week. 

Luckily the. cukes, squash, and tomatoes don't require special care for storage. I did get a huge head of freshly cut cabbage with all the outer leaves intact. I took them all off, washed and then soaked them in salt water before steaming them to use later.

The rest of the day was spent planning a few things, getting myself all cleaned up then waiting for TheHub to let me know he was heading home from his eye appointment. 

For some reason he has decided to get his new glasses from Costco and wanted me to go with him. I HATE* going to Costco. 

Listened to: Alahambra Moonrise by Al Lethbridge

What I learned: TheHub was able to buy 2 pairs of glasses from Costco for less than he paid for his single pair of existing glasses a few years ago. This included getting bifocals, gradient, and thinner lenses and really cool frames.

Dinner: Because TheHub did not get home from his eye appointment until 5:30, after I had waited on him for about 3 hours, nothing was done toward dinner. Then to top it off he still wanted to go to Costco****. 

Since we were gone until about 7:30, our Cinco de Mayo meal was seriously scaled down.

Taco salad

Wednesday: This was a planned stay at home day. I was expecting the HVAC guy to come service the units to get ready for the summer but he was a no show. It was OK, since I got some house things done, and worked on the puzzle. It is still an exercise in frustration, but we are getting there. TheHub is joining in and has a lot more patience than I do.

What I learned: My bank was sold to another bank. This time my credit card will be changed and I am going to need to go through the process of changing my information for recurring online services and payments.

Listened to: Barcelona Nights by Ottmar Liebert

My personal favorite song on this album

Dinner: I got the cabbage leaves out of the fridge. They were screaming to be used for our dinner.

Cabbage rolls over toast, tomato cucumber onion salad

Thursday: I woke and worked on the puzzle. It is now completed except for one missing piece on the French/Belgium border. I am very glad it is now finished, so I don't have to mess with it anymore but have to admit I think I want to begin another one sooner rather than later.

In the afternoon My Beloved Sister picked me up and we went to Bessemer to meet some of our cousins at The Bright Star for lunch. The meal was planned but the fact that we were seated in Bear Bryant's "private room" was not. (Only 2 of us were Bama fans, so it was not important to those Auburn folks).

We had a great meal and even better conversations. Afterward a few of us went to United Textiles, a block or two from the restaurant. They had a recent fire and were selling what they called "touched by smoke" items for pennies on the dollar. I found 4 curtain panels, 2 table cloths, along with 8 yards of remnant upholstery fabric for under 50 bucks. A good wash and everything should be as good as new. I had not planned on getting anything, but I was very happy with my purchases.

What I learned: One of my cousins is going to visit Puebla, Mexico soon. I knew nothing about it other than recognizing the name, until Thursday.

Listened to:  Bamboleo by Gipsy Kings

Dinner: Veggie night!

Squash casserole, turnip greens, coleslaw

Friday: This was a planned stay at home day. I had a lot to do and a short time to do it. So what did I start the day with? Reading blogs and coffee! I am so good at avoiding housework.

The HVAC guy came much later in the day than I had hoped. I was just glad he finished servicing everything with a few minutes left before the Bama/Florida softball game began. It was a really fun game to watch if you were an Alabama fan.

What I learned: I heard a great truth in a way I had never heard it before. I am paraphrasing because I was not paying close enough attention when I heard it to quote it verbatim.  People spend their life chasing money, accruing money, idolizing money, and forget money is made of the same material we wipe our (more polite term here, use your imaginations) behinds with.

Listened to: La Tasca by Guitarra Azul

Dinner:  Neither of us were particularly hungry, and had a planned ball game meal.

Hot dogs, coleslaw

Saturday: I woke and indulged in reading and seeral cups of coffee before getting dressed for the day. TheHub headed to Snapper Grabber to buy (per my request)  Mother's Day present __a pound of lump crabmeat. Yikes! That stuff is really pricy right now, but I have been craving crab cakes. If I am going to get a present it might as well be something that benefits us both, right?

He came home and picked me up to run to Publix to buy whatever Bogo's were interesting (not much).

Once home I read a little more before the Bama/Texas game came on. It was a fun game to watch if you were a Texas fan.

What I learned: More than I needed to know about Water Bears (Tardigrade) and whether accidentally ingesting one on foods would make you not a true vegan. Evidently there is no rabbit hole too small for me to wander down.

Listened to: Sabah by Ali Sabah

Dinner: Once the game was over we had a quick meal.

Burger with all the fixings, green beans

Sunday: Mother's Day came with our usual church activities. We did have a bonus this day. One of our Sunday School class members is a cookie artist, and had scads of beautiful cookies for all the moms. What a sweet thing to do!

After Sunday School was over, we headed to Saw's in Hoover to meet Son2 and DIL2 for lunch. We were fortunate to get a table right away, since Mother's Day is the single busiest day of the year for restaurants.

I was surprised that a bbq place would have so many tables of large groups filled with multi-generational diners. I thought MD diners usually went to nicer places to eat. I was wrong.

After lunch we came home, I read, and talked with Son1, and Face-timed with Pip later in the day. 

Son3 called at some point, but I missed his call because I was talking with Son1 at the time.

Son1 always calls the land line first because he knows I am more likely to answer it. I turn the ringer off of my cell whenever I am somewhere that a phone call would be disruptive and have been known to forget to turn it back on for days.

Son3 and TheHub are the only ones in my everyday life who always use my cell to call me, though if I don't answer the cell, TheHub will the try the landline.

TheHub knows I do not carry my cell around with me if I am at home, and he always knows if I am going to be out or not.  Plus, half the time he is out, he takes my vehicle because he likes driving it better than his. He also knows unless it is a life or death emergency I will not drive his car, so if he is using mine, he knows I am at the house. Why he calls my cell first then is a mystery to me. First World Problems!

We watched Marco Polo and are almost through with the first season. I like it enough to finish but I am not sure I want to watch the 2nd season.

And of course we watched the softball national rankings and all the regional playoffs show. Bama is rated number 1 though I would have rated them a little lower. 

What I learned: I have said before there is no rabbit hole too small for me to wander down. Once home for lunch I thought about "busiest " days and wanted to know others things in the states. Why? I have no idea.

Air travel - Wednesday before and Sunday after Thanksgiving

Retail shopping - Black Friday

Movies - Christmas Day

Grocery Store - Tuesday/Wednesday before Thanksgiving

Emergency room - 4th of July

DMV 1st or last day of every month

DisneyWorld - Christmas Day and New Year's Day

Again, no rabbit hole too small for me!

Listened to: Crepusolo Sul Mare by Piero Umiliani

Dinner: We ate a big lunch and were not very hungry.

Pimento cheese sandwich

Potential dinner meals:

1. Crab cakes, coleslaw, strawberry shortcake

2. Out to eat (need to use our minimum)

3. Spaghetti and meat sauce, tossed salad

4. Steak, baked potato, tossed salad, strawberries and cream

5. Veggie meal TBD

6. Big salad meal TBD

7. Greek style chicken, green beans, coleslaw

Read:

Remarkably Bright Creatures

Have a great week staying on plan, going off plan or with no plan at all.

May all your weeds be wildflowers.

Anne

* Hate is a strong word. I like Costco as a store and do not mind going, but I am very particular about the days and time of day I will go. To me some of the rudest shoppers I have ever seen are at Costco, and I limit my exposure by going on the least crowded days at the least crowded time.

**I learned my lesson and have to add Tuesday at about 6 as an acceptable time to go there. There were probably only about 75 cars in the parking lot and that few people can get lost in a store that big.