Day in the life
This is for westcoastlovin and nsfinch and anybody else who might be interested in ramblings on my life.
I’ve got a whole big “How I Spent the Week Before and After Independence Day” post coming - (complete with pictures!) but I thought I’d give you a sneakpeak at some of what you’re in for by reporting on today.
So, Monday was fairly normal, except for having to go down to the mechanic to get him to fix my back window again. (Last fall, my passenger-side rear window started sliding down and not staying up. At first it would only fall down sometimes and then it just kinda dropped as soon as I moved … and I’d have to push it back up with the palms of my hands after parking. He told me it was either a) take apart the whole door and replace the entire motor system for the window (hundreds of dollars) or b) disconnect the motor and leave the window up all the time (no charge). It should be obvious which one I went with. Especially since at that point in time I was not receiving a paycheck. [Well, I technically was, for legal reasons, but I was signing it back over to the non-profit as a “donation” - so for all intents and purposes - No paycheck.])
Anyway, Friday night I accidentally leaned on the button for the rear-passenger-side window control on my door and the motor went “UNNGGHKKK!!!” and the window went *shoop!* and I went “oh PHOO!”
So we parked my car in the garage all weekend to avoid the potenial torential rains we might very well have had based on the weather so far this summer, until, like I said, I could take it into the mechanic on Monday. He didn’t charge me anything this time either. (He’s a close family friend - and a wonderful person.)
Tuesday, on the other hand, started out fairly normal, if a trifle busy. In addition to my other job activities I had to make time to clean out the fridges (we have two, remember) since I’d forgotten to previously and it was co-op day.
Co-Op Day has been more-or-less every other Tuesday for … oh, the last 10+ years.
My mom drives down to the farmer’s market, makes bulk purchases of various fruits and vegetables, brings them home, and all of us sort them out into shares.
Since we eat so much produce we take a double share, and since we organize and do all the work, we breakdown the cost where our family gets a discount. It used to be VERY involved and take hours and hours, back when we were starting out or had ten or more families.
Currently we have only four families with a whole share and one with a half. They wind up with about one-and-a-half to two boxes of food for about $32-$38.
For example, this week one share had approximately:
three and a half heads of leaf lettuce
four heads of broccoli
two cantaloupe
about five lbs of sweet potatoes
six ears of corn
five or six LARGE red bell peppers
a dozen apples
five really big half-ripe tomatoes
eight LARGE peaches
two dozen nectarines
about ten plums
Now that was more than we usually get for that price because they comp-ed us back the price of one of the boxes of grapes we bought last time since about half of them were mushy or bad. But still. It’s a great deal.
We try to alternate what we get, especially getting stuff in season and aiming for one or two “specialty” items each time. Avocados, mushrooms, onions, cherries, acorn squash, mangos, cauliflower, kale, beets, etc, etc, etc.
After co-op was split up, we had a late lunch (wonderful big fluffy salads, eating up the remains of LAST co-op!) and slices of a positively HEAVENLY watermelon.
Then I dropped my brother off at a friend’s house to spend the afternoon playing, got gas, and headed across town to pick up my mom at the mechanic (yep, same one) where she’d dropped the van off. We headed back home and about halfway there - *BANG!!*
… my tire blows.
Fortunately, we took a different route home and were on an ordinary highway, not the turnpike (going 70mph). I pulled off onto the shoulder, we verified which tire (front passenger-side) and called our insurance agency. (We have free emergency roadside assistance for flats and tows and things)
More silver linings? We were just past the really tricky bottleneck portion of the highway crossing over another highway. The shoulder was off an exit lane, so most traffic was at least two lanes over, not even coming near us. It was at least 45 minutes before rush hour would start, and the tow truck had quoted us a wait time of only 30 minutes, so we’d miss all of that.
Furthermore, when the tow guy replaced the tire, he said the damage was probably caused by a bubble or something in or under the surface. Also? The reason that I was noticing a lot of vibrating on my way back from Kansas? Probably had the problem then.
This means I was driving through the boonies of Kansas backcountry. Alone. IN THE POURING RAIN. On an about-to-burst damaged tire. I drove home at 75mph along the turnpike. For FOUR HOURS. On a damaged tire.
Not an hour before I drove my little brother across town. On a damaged tire.
God protected me. That’s all there is to it.
Okay, so spare is put on, tow guy is thanked, we take the exit ramp off the highway and drive home the back way. I’d called the place that replaced my OTHER flat (back in March - picked up a nail) and they said they could get it done that night.
Dropped it off, had yummy homemade stir fry (carrots and snow peas and mung bean sprouts and tofu and other stuff) for dinner, got all changed and fixed up and headed out for our meeting.
Said meeting ran from 7-10pm. - And we filled every single minute of it! (This was our first in-person meeting of the Leadership Team this year. So we had a lot to cover - past, present, and future.)
Came home, sorted and put away all our family’s shares of the co-opt produce. Sampled some of it. (a pair of small red plums and a medium nectarine - YUMMM!)
Checked email and typed up most of this. Remembered to move sheets from washer to dryer so I can make the bed before going to sleep. (I also had to do a couple loads of laundry this morning as I suddenly realized that all my nice jeans that fit were dirty and I had about six different places to go in the next 3-4 days. And since I was already washing, it was time to change sheets.)
Typed rest of this. Recalled that I have another set of sheets that fit my bed clean and in the cupboard. Went and used those. Changed into pjs and got ready for bed. Postinged this. Hope to sleep soon.
(More activities and meetings are planned for tomorrow, tomorrow night, Thursday, and Thursday night. So the week will only get busier. Stay tuned for new developments!)
I’ve got a whole big “How I Spent the Week Before and After Independence Day” post coming - (complete with pictures!) but I thought I’d give you a sneakpeak at some of what you’re in for by reporting on today.
So, Monday was fairly normal, except for having to go down to the mechanic to get him to fix my back window again. (Last fall, my passenger-side rear window started sliding down and not staying up. At first it would only fall down sometimes and then it just kinda dropped as soon as I moved … and I’d have to push it back up with the palms of my hands after parking. He told me it was either a) take apart the whole door and replace the entire motor system for the window (hundreds of dollars) or b) disconnect the motor and leave the window up all the time (no charge). It should be obvious which one I went with. Especially since at that point in time I was not receiving a paycheck. [Well, I technically was, for legal reasons, but I was signing it back over to the non-profit as a “donation” - so for all intents and purposes - No paycheck.])
Anyway, Friday night I accidentally leaned on the button for the rear-passenger-side window control on my door and the motor went “UNNGGHKKK!!!” and the window went *shoop!* and I went “oh PHOO!”
So we parked my car in the garage all weekend to avoid the potenial torential rains we might very well have had based on the weather so far this summer, until, like I said, I could take it into the mechanic on Monday. He didn’t charge me anything this time either. (He’s a close family friend - and a wonderful person.)
Tuesday, on the other hand, started out fairly normal, if a trifle busy. In addition to my other job activities I had to make time to clean out the fridges (we have two, remember) since I’d forgotten to previously and it was co-op day.
Co-Op Day has been more-or-less every other Tuesday for … oh, the last 10+ years.
My mom drives down to the farmer’s market, makes bulk purchases of various fruits and vegetables, brings them home, and all of us sort them out into shares.
Since we eat so much produce we take a double share, and since we organize and do all the work, we breakdown the cost where our family gets a discount. It used to be VERY involved and take hours and hours, back when we were starting out or had ten or more families.
Currently we have only four families with a whole share and one with a half. They wind up with about one-and-a-half to two boxes of food for about $32-$38.
For example, this week one share had approximately:
three and a half heads of leaf lettuce
four heads of broccoli
two cantaloupe
about five lbs of sweet potatoes
six ears of corn
five or six LARGE red bell peppers
a dozen apples
five really big half-ripe tomatoes
eight LARGE peaches
two dozen nectarines
about ten plums
Now that was more than we usually get for that price because they comp-ed us back the price of one of the boxes of grapes we bought last time since about half of them were mushy or bad. But still. It’s a great deal.
We try to alternate what we get, especially getting stuff in season and aiming for one or two “specialty” items each time. Avocados, mushrooms, onions, cherries, acorn squash, mangos, cauliflower, kale, beets, etc, etc, etc.
After co-op was split up, we had a late lunch (wonderful big fluffy salads, eating up the remains of LAST co-op!) and slices of a positively HEAVENLY watermelon.
Then I dropped my brother off at a friend’s house to spend the afternoon playing, got gas, and headed across town to pick up my mom at the mechanic (yep, same one) where she’d dropped the van off. We headed back home and about halfway there - *BANG!!*
… my tire blows.
Fortunately, we took a different route home and were on an ordinary highway, not the turnpike (going 70mph). I pulled off onto the shoulder, we verified which tire (front passenger-side) and called our insurance agency. (We have free emergency roadside assistance for flats and tows and things)
More silver linings? We were just past the really tricky bottleneck portion of the highway crossing over another highway. The shoulder was off an exit lane, so most traffic was at least two lanes over, not even coming near us. It was at least 45 minutes before rush hour would start, and the tow truck had quoted us a wait time of only 30 minutes, so we’d miss all of that.
Furthermore, when the tow guy replaced the tire, he said the damage was probably caused by a bubble or something in or under the surface. Also? The reason that I was noticing a lot of vibrating on my way back from Kansas? Probably had the problem then.
This means I was driving through the boonies of Kansas backcountry. Alone. IN THE POURING RAIN. On an about-to-burst damaged tire. I drove home at 75mph along the turnpike. For FOUR HOURS. On a damaged tire.
Not an hour before I drove my little brother across town. On a damaged tire.
God protected me. That’s all there is to it.
Okay, so spare is put on, tow guy is thanked, we take the exit ramp off the highway and drive home the back way. I’d called the place that replaced my OTHER flat (back in March - picked up a nail) and they said they could get it done that night.
Dropped it off, had yummy homemade stir fry (carrots and snow peas and mung bean sprouts and tofu and other stuff) for dinner, got all changed and fixed up and headed out for our meeting.
Said meeting ran from 7-10pm. - And we filled every single minute of it! (This was our first in-person meeting of the Leadership Team this year. So we had a lot to cover - past, present, and future.)
Came home, sorted and put away all our family’s shares of the co-opt produce. Sampled some of it. (a pair of small red plums and a medium nectarine - YUMMM!)
Checked email and typed up most of this. Remembered to move sheets from washer to dryer so I can make the bed before going to sleep. (I also had to do a couple loads of laundry this morning as I suddenly realized that all my nice jeans that fit were dirty and I had about six different places to go in the next 3-4 days. And since I was already washing, it was time to change sheets.)
Typed rest of this. Recalled that I have another set of sheets that fit my bed clean and in the cupboard. Went and used those. Changed into pjs and got ready for bed. Postinged this. Hope to sleep soon.
(More activities and meetings are planned for tomorrow, tomorrow night, Thursday, and Thursday night. So the week will only get busier. Stay tuned for new developments!)