De-Cluttering Lessons

In the Daily Challenge program, my track for the past 28 days has been "decluttering." OK.  So I've been slaving away at the clutter that feels overwhelming to me, and I've learned several good lessons:

1.  Don't buy any more books on decluttering.  I've found THREE in my den, and they haven't done anything but add to the clutter.  The best program is Flylady.com.  And her First step is Shine Your Kitchen Sink!  FL recommends ALWAYS keep your kitchen sink clean!  Well, I do that, more or less.  I also have to keep a little red bucket in my sink in which to wash dishes.  Being deaf, I learned a shocking lesson long ago that If I ran water into the sink with the drain plugged, I could easily let the sink overflow if the phone rang and I didn't turn off the water.  I couldn't hear the water running, and omg, wot a shock when the water ran into the apartment below me.  horrors.  So now I wash dishes in my little red bucket, and the drain stays open. No dishwasher any more, either.  Hate 'em.

2.  Find the website that helps you turn off junk mail!  and/or unsubscribe from the political websites that send you surveys and handy-dandy contribution forms and photos.  I have received 4 "Ready for Hillary" photos in the past month.  One would have been more than enough.  Din't like the photo, either.

3.  Read the little postcards from my local government.  It was small and pink and insignificant-looking, but if I filled out the postage paid half and mailed it in, I could qualify for payment of ALL my final expenses--up to $30,000 worth.  (That would probably bury one of my feet or a foot and a few fingers, but still....).  I found this is a bag of "to be shredded" documents.

The Joy of Moving House!

Jack is now living in a real house!  with a real yard!!
he loves playing in the yard, running with his mates, kicking a ball around, riding his wheeled toy.  BUT...the yard has to be mowed, and after he got down to crawl in the grass clippings t'other day,  gaaah...he was horrified to see the grass clippings were stuck to his hands!  He didn't realize the clippings would wash off, and his hands won't look like that all the time.  For now, this happy child is NOT HAPPY about this. He lives from moment to moment.

In Which I Have a Spirichal Quandary....

I have been entertaining the idea of going to church this weekend--lots of services to choose from:  Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday.  Not necessarily a church from my Catholic upbringing, but there are some very nice churches here.  I'm thinking of the Pilgrim Church on the banks of Rock Creek in Dupont Circle.  Or the Buddhist temple across from Bistro au Coin on CT ave.

You'd think that my biggest problem would be spiritual, since I've neatly eliminated churchgoing from my life.  WRONG.  What has been eating at me is WHAT TO WEAR??  I will solve this problem by not going. 

Complaints for the weekend....

1. The list of things I have not seen or heard in my adult life would fill a very large trunk.  E.G. "Hair"--the musical.  What's more, it's on here this weekend, and my best pal wants to go see it.  It was on when she was in high school, and she remembers all the words to all the songs.  If they were playing "The Mikado" somewhere, I'd be very happy to go see that.  I loved Gilbert & Sullivan when I was in high school--there's that generation gap, yknow.  Concordia College in Moorhead, MN, had a fabulous music department, and I've seen many of their productions.  Had a massive crush on one baritone, whose name eludes me--he's probably about 80 now.  Mary Eide had a crush on him, too, but she's happily married (not to him) in Southern California.  They almost never have any G&S here. I have to rely on PBS and that lot for such things.

2. It rained again today...not too too bad, but it was damp.  Still, it's better than being COLD.

More About Coffee....

Officially it's spring, so time to check in on Snoozeville.  I'm considering recipes again, but so far, nothing edible has entered the scene.  I still like a big cup of espresso in the a.m., but I no longer make it as strong as before.  I use ONE big spoonful of coffee instead of FOUR.  And I have retired my really BIG cups for a normal (?) sized one decorated with stars of the Democratic Party: Eleanor Roosevelt, Hillary Clinton, Franklin Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, Jimmy Carter, Harry Truman, Robert Kennedy,  Jesse Jackson, Al Gore (yes, many of us have not lost the faith), Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama.  Missing, of course, are Michelle Obama, Jackie O, and Oprah. (Yes, she's getting into politics via fundraising in Virginia!  Stand back, Rove!) The coffee is delicious this way.

IT's Decorative Gourd Season, M-F'ers!!

If you enjoy 'bad language,' here's a good post from McSweeney's Internet Tendency.  You can order a T-shirt with this inspiring motto from McSweeney's Store, too.  I just may do that. 

Wot Th'....???

My stovetop espresso maker has quit working. How did this happen?  I haven't done anything different, but the coffee no longer rises to the top container.  It's there, all right, but it stays in the bottom container.  It's not plugged or misassembled.  The rubber gasket is just fine.  It just doesn't work.  I've had it for almost 10 years, and I'm flummoxed. 

All the problems with stovetop espresso makers cited online say virtually the same thing.  It works and then it doesn't, and nobody can figure out why.  The other commenters say it works even without adding the coffee grounds, and I just tried that.  True.  There's a little button on the bottom container, and that moves freely if I poke at it.   I do have a second one, but it's 1/3 the size, and I prefer a nice big mug of coffee/espresso in the a.m.

This

Cute but not this

The coffee grounds (always Bustelo, preground) are wet and looking a bit strange after this happens.  And they smell funny, too.  Perhaps they're adding a bit of dirt to the blend.  Perhaps this is why there are sales in so many places on this particular brand.  2 10-oz vacuum packs for $5.  Ordinarily, it's $4.79 each. I keep the opened pack in the fridge.  Nothing unusual there.  Hmm....