This I know for sure...

My cell phone is dying. I've had it for 5 years which, I've been told, is like 50 years due to the ever changing and advancement of cell phone technology.

I like my phone. I don't want to get a new one. I don't want to have to learn all the ins and outs of a new phone. I don't want to have to figure out how to transfer everything on my current phone to a new one. But it takes it forever to do anything and if I try to use it for more than 5 minutes (literally), the phone gets hot to the touch. Recently, I had it in the front pocket of my jeans and it started to get hot. Definitely a bad sign that something is wrong with the battery.

I finally bit the bullet and ordered a new phone through my wireless carrier. It's supposed to be delivered in about 5 business days. In the meantime, I'm trying not to use the phone I have any more than absolutely necessary.

What's Up Wednesday

This week...

My Current WIP (Work in Progress): No writing work done last week due to my hand injury. 

Quote of the Week: "I'm an optimist, but an optimist who carries a raincoat." ~ Harold Wilson  I repeated the quote from a couple of weeks ago because with all of the negative things that have been happening lately, I felt like I needed the reminder that optimism is the better outlook.

What I'm Reading: I plan on starting "Mine Until Moonrise" by Jennifer Bernard this evening. 

Random Thoughts: Although I'm right handed and my injury was to my left hand, I'm learning how much I used the first two fingers on my left hand now that I can't. 

Random Photo of the Week:

                                  Mrs. Green trying to sleep sitting up.
 
 

Memorial Day

 
I hope you and your families have a wonderful Memorial Day holiday. Please take a moment to remember our service members whose sacrifice allows us to live the lives we do.

Kitchen Mishap

There will be no posts this week. I cut part of the tip of my index finger off on Sunday. Although the emergency department physician wasn't able to see the piece back on or put any stitches in due to how wide the wound is without the missing piece, I'm supposed to keep my hand dry, bandaged, and elevated above my heart for a week minimum. 

This I know for sure...

I don't think I will ever make sourdough bread again. That I definitely know for sure.

I mixed up the wheat flour and water that you use to make the sourdough starter that gives sourdough bread/rolls its distinctive tang on May 3rd. You "feed" it a cup of flour and a 1/2 cup of water once a day at the beginning and then feed it twice a day after about the 3rd day. You do this for 7 days or so and then your starter should be ready to used to make sourdough bread. Sounds easy enough, right?

Before you feed it, you have to measure out a generous 1/2 cup of the starter, put that into a fresh bowl/jar/crock and discard the remaining starter that's left. You're supposed to do this each time you feed it. It seemed wasteful to me to keep throwing away everything but 1/2 cup of the starter each time I fed it so I googled recipes that called for discarded sourdough starter. I found quite a few.

Using the sourdough starter that should have been discarded, I made sourdough pancakes, sourdough popovers, sourdough biscuits, and maple walnut sourdough bread (it's similar to the texture of banana bread). I like to bake, but I hated having to bake nearly every night so none of the sourdough discard would go to waste.

Finally last Sunday my sourdough starter was ready to use to make bread. It was a process requiring multiple rising times, starting with letting it rest for 20 minutes after you mixed all of the ingredients together, then you kneaded it, then it had to rise for an hour, then you folded it like a letter, let it rise for 20 minutes, then you shaped into in round loaves, let it rise for an hour, then you put it in the bowls prepared with flour and a pastry cloth and let it rise for 2 1/2 hours and then finally it's time to bake it. Mine baked for about 40 minutes. The recipe stated between 35 and 40 minutes. 

They turned out really well, but it seemed like an awful lot of work to make two loaves of bread. I love sourdough bread, but in the future I think I'll just buy it.

What's Up Wednesday

This week...

My Current WIP (Work in Progress): I had another week where I didn't get much done. Our dryer died last Tuesday. We went out Tuesday to try and purchase a new one, but the national chain store we went to isn't scheduling any deliveries in our area until June. I wasn't willing to go that long without a dryer so I ended up making an appointment the next day at a locally owned furniture and appliance store to purchase one from them. They are currently selling by appointment only to help with social distancing. They delivered the dryer a couple of days later so I lost about 3 days of writing time.

Quote of the Week: "I'm an optimist, but an optimist who carries a raincoat." ~ Harold Wilson

What I'm Reading: I just started "In Moonlight and Memories Volume 1" by Julie Ann Walker last night. It's a book I've had on my Kindle for a few months and just hadn't gotten around to reading yet.

Random Thoughts: Last week in this section I mentioned our local library is closed until May 18th. I received an email over the weekend that it won't be opening until June 29th. It looks like I'll be reading Ebooks for quite a while.  

Random Photo of the Week:

                When your cat thinks she's a human and needs to drink out of a cup.

Happy Mother's Day?

I'm sure I'm not the only person who felt like their (our) Mother's Day celebration was a bit strange. Usually my siblings and their families come for brunch or if they can't make it, they stop in throughout the day or for dinner to bring my mom cards and gifts and to visit.

Due to the pandemic, no one came over this year. It was quiet, strangely so when we were used to a busy open house type day in the past. My sisters all called to wish my mom a happy mother's day and had sent their cards through the mail earlier in the week. My brother stopped by and left a bouquet of flowers and a card on the porch, then called and let us know they were there before he pulled away.

We usually go out to the zoo or visit one of the local parks that are known for their floral gardens. We didn't do any of that this year. We just stayed home. My mom and I had dinner alone. Usually we have a few family members over as well.

The day seemed too quiet. It felt like something was missing. I can't help feeling that somehow my mom was gypped out of her Mother's Day celebration even though she seems fine with how things went.

This I know for sure...

Our dryer died on Tuesday. It just stopped running in the middle of the cycle. My brother came over to see if he could fix it. He's a whiz with anything mechanical and had previously replaced the drum belt about 8 years ago.

Even though he went in and out the basement door and had no contact with my mom or I, he still wore a mask and gloves.  He was concerned about being an asymptomatic carrier and exposing my mom and I to the virus because he works with a bunch of people who don't wear masks and think either the virus has been blown out of proportion or that it's all a hoax/conspiracy. Honestly, I don't know how someone can claim it's a hoax given the number of deaths there have been in the US alone, but I suppose that's a post for another day.

Once he examined the dryer, he went out to his car and called me to tell me the bad news. The dryer motor was dead and there was no resurrecting it. I can't complain though, the dryer is about 20 years old. I spent Wednesday after work shopping online for a reasonably priced dryer. As long as it dried the clothes, I didn't care if it had 12 drying cycles or not. We didn't need the "will periodically come on and fluff your clothes up to 8 hours after the drying cycle is complete" option. (Who leaves their clothes in the dryer that long after it shuts off?)

We settled on a dryer at Home Depot that was also sold by a locally owned appliance/furniture store. I've purchased furniture from the locally owned store in the past so I was familiar with their service. Home Depot offered free delivery and installation and would remove the old dryer. The locally owned store charges $50 for delivery and $20 for installation and removal of the old dryer. While I try to support locally owned businesses as much as I can, I didn't want to pay an extra $70 on top of the hundreds I was spending for the dryer itself. Needless to say, I grabbed my mask and headed out to Home Depot Wednesday after dinner. They had the dryer in stock but are not scheduling any deliveries until after June 20th. I did not buy the dryer. I can't go that long without one. I left and called the local appliance/furniture store from my car.

I explained that I was interested in a certain dryer and wanted to ensure they had it in stock and what the estimated delivery would be. They had it, but are selling items by appointment only. Estimated delivery would be in approximately a week. I made an appointment for yesterday after work. I ended up purchasing a different dryer than the one we were originally interested in. The one I bought is the same make and nearly the same model as the dryer we had and was only a few dollars more than the one I planned on purchasing. To thank me for my business, the store owner (he took care of me himself) gave me free delivery instead of charging the $50 and it's scheduled to be delivered tomorrow morning.

I felt good about supporting a local business. He was happy to have my business and I was happy I didn't have to pay for delivery after all. So I guess the gist of this whole post is to support your locally owned businesses if you can.

What's Up Wednesday

This week...

My Current WIP (Work in Progress): I accomplished very little in the way of writing last week. I helped my mom take care of some paperwork that needed to be taken care of and submitted. It turned out to be a longer process than either one of us expected.

Quote of the Week:  "Even a monkey will fall out of a tree from time to time." ~ Proverb  This made me laugh so I thought I'd share it.

What I'm Reading: I still reading "Fatal Accusations" by Marie Force. I should have it finished by the end of the week.

Random Thoughts: "Fatal Accusations" by Marie Force is the last book I have that I borrowed from the library before it closed due to the Pandemic. I have plenty of books on my Kindle to read, but I prefer to read physical books. Our local library isn't scheduled to open until 5/18 right now. That may change as the date gets closer. I guess I'll be reading ebooks until I can go to the library again.

Random Photo of the Week:

                 Mrs. Green likes to sit on my lap and keep me company when I'm knitting.
 

There's Always A But

Life is certainly different from what we are used to. Social distancing, wearing masks when out in public, worrying about contracting Covid-19, or worse accidentally exposing our loved ones to it.

I'm one of the few people who hasn't really been affected by the pandemic and the stay-at-home order issued by our governor. I work in the financial services industry which is considered an essential business so I'm still going into the office Monday thru Friday (although to be honest, I would much rather work from home).

I realize how lucky I am and I'm incredibly grateful that I'm still able to continue working...
(here comes the but) but I can't wait for our local library to re-open. Even as I write that, I realize how selfish and petty it sounds when so many people are struggling financially.

Here's hoping we are all able to get back to normal, or at least a "new normal" soon so people are able to go back to work, get back on their feet financially, visit with our loved ones without having to do it separated by a window or door, and to a much lesser extent, be able to go to the library.

Holy Cow!

I can't believe it's May 1st already. This year seems to be flying by. Though I have to admit the month of April dragged a bit for me. The weather was mostly cold and windy, and it rained or snowed quite a bit last month.

                        Here's hoping it warms up and the days pass by a little slower.