We have no napkins.  And, friends are coming over this afternoon for a Fijian themed meal.  The Husband suggested we use paper towels. No, I said, besides we don’t have any. I have time to sew napkins. That was yesterday morning. By the time evening came, my body was too beat to do anything more. I’d spent the day prepping and cooking most of the dishes and cleaning up after myself.  It was a satisfying day. The Fijian curry chicken reminded me of Mama’s adobo chicken in her later years. She said she used tomato sauce. I didn’t believe her until today when I saw how two huge juicy tomatoes combined with onions, garlic, and spices created a rich red gravy. This, I apologize, only makes sense to me.   Back to the napkins. Last night  I brought up the subject again to  the Husband. I could call one of the friends to bring napkins. Do that, said the Husband. Then I thought if she doesn’t have napkins she’d have to stop at the store. How inconvenient.   “We can use paper towels,” I said.  

Yippieee! Hurrah! Happiest of 33 x 2 Birthdays to me. I don't normally look back at my year. This being a day for Thursday 13 , I got curious. 1. Using pastels, I painted my first canvas. 2. Other firsts: I decoupaged rocks and made stepping stones out of concrete. 3. I started the process of putting Mama's estate at rest. 4. The Husband and I moved everything from storage to the garage. Finally, after 16 years. 5.  Garden art! Yard art! Another something I never thought I would ever do. 6. We emptied all our boxes of books and distributed them accordingly to thrift shops, Friends of the Library, and our bookshelves. Some books have been set aside for paper crafting. 7. Mama's house is becoming our home in our own style. The living room looks like a cozy library. The backyard may one day look like this drawing I created a few years ago. Cool! 8. The Husband and I went on a short road trip.  I got to see the Trinity Alps in Northern California f

Lately, I've been thinking again about earning a bit of pocket money. If I applied myself, I could find a writing gig or two, but I'm not ready. I don't know if I'll ever be ready again. When I was a young thing living in San Francisco, I daydreamed about being a street artist selling her creations to locals and tourists. I had one major detail missing in my daydream. I didn't create anything. Nada. Zilch. Zip. But now, all the experimenting I've been doing with paints, fabric, plants, and junk, maybe, just maybe, my daydream may come true. And, if not, I'm certainly having loads of fun. I'm also learning that there's more than one story in a painting. When I started painting this tile, I thought about creating an outdoor scene with overt dollar signs and calling it Stand United Against Greed. I was ticked off at that moment about the current government's dismantling of environment laws and regulations. The result is what you see

The Husband and I went to our first true senior citizen thing this morning—an event specifically catered to old folks. It was a senior citizen brunch hosted by our local hospital's volunteer group.  We wouldn't have known about it, nor gone, if it weren't for our friends, the Mister & Missus H, for which, I believe, this was also their first exclusive senior citizen event. For two bucks (you heard right), we got coffee, orange juice and whatever we wanted at the buffet table, which included scrambled eggs, sausage, hash browns, French toast, steamed veggies, chicken and artichoke in gravy (think biscuit and white gravy without the biscuit), cottage cheese, peaches, and Mandarin oranges. We ahhhh'd when the gals running the show announced that the hospital had also sent over an extra treat of coffee cake for us.  Two bucks a person! Probably the last time we could buy a hearty breakfast for that amount was in the 1970s. These days, it's about $15 per pe

Life is good. Yesterday my retirement check got deposited and our health insurance and car insurance premiums got paid. Today we went to Costco and splurged on beer, potato chips, pesto sauce, potstickers, toilet paper, and Brita filters. Oh my goodness, we even bought a carpet runner for the hallway. Am I being sarcastic? Facetious? I don't know anymore. The Husband and I are now in the category of retired seniors on limited income, so buying groceries at Costco today felt like a luxury. Going home, I found myself justifying the purchases by figuring how much we saved by buying in bulk.   Going through life with the responsible happy-a-go-lucky Husband makes living less scary. I truly believe him when I ask him to tell me "Everything will be all right." The Husband thinks that people ought to eat well because it helps maintain good health. Why should we deprive ourselves of good health, regardless of our income, right? Yup. Life is good. At the moment the Husb

I say I'm retired, so I must be retired. I haven't had a big paying project in years, so I might well say I'm retired. I kicked in my Social Security. That definitely feels g-r-e-a-t! I hope these new tires are durable and long lasting. They're guaranteed for life I'm told.