Any Fruit Dump
Trying to switch over to LJ's "new" editor, I've put it off but after assisting a friend this week, realized that I should make the switch. Things might look different.
I was up at 8 again on Monday, breakfast and to the bagel place, and Lowes for the right kind of plant soil and a plug for our toilet pipe, grocery store for dinner ingredients. Traffic is already getting weird out here in anticipation of the holidays.
It feels kind of cantankerous to say this but as an adult, I've really grown to hate most holidays. The disruption to my work schedule and public services like trash pickup; how awful it is to drive or shop in Florida specifically; the inability to go see family or friends because everyone lives so damn far away. With the exception of Christmas, I often want to get through the holidays as quickly as possible so I'm not sitting around just WAITING for life to resume.
Once the groceries were put away I got to work re-potting the misc plants. I separated out all of the pineapples, and it turns out there were THREE pups in that bucket with the parent pineapple! The two larger pups got their own pots, the smallest gets to stay with Mommy Pineapple, who got planted in the ground.
Then I moved the lemon tree to a larger pot in the hopes that it'll become a medium-sized lemon BUSH over time. We shall see!
After watering everyone and getting cleaned up, had lunch and went thrifting a half hour away at a fancy Goodwill. It was meant to be retail therapy, a sort of treat since I won't get to travel/go on tour this year. Unfortunately it didn't feel fun, mainly because there weren't dressing rooms! Trying stuff on is a big part of the experience, I was disappointed. But I did get new pajama pants and a small black purse (haven't owned a purse in years) so there's that.
Back home I practiced and did more work, then made veal piccata and did a very poor job of it too. Searing meats, and making sauces-via-reduction are a big weakness for me. Thankfully it wasn't AWFUL, just not very good; the meat was chewy and the sauce was gloopy, but the flavors were fine and the sides were normal. Jameson is so patient with my sh*t lol.
Jameson called the plumber today and they're "Waiting on Lowes" to proceed, so my pessimistic estimate of "at least one week" without my own toilet has now been extended to "at least one month." No one seems to feel a sense of urgency about this, so, fine. I grew up in a house with one toilet for five people. This isn't an emergency, just annoying, and since I seem to be the only one annoyed this is a "me" problem.
Tuesday, back to work at 6am. I have a Disney day on Saturday so I will have to put in extra hours earlier in the week.
Forgot to mention that I got sublisted for the Orlando Philharmonic yesterday. The principal trombone, whose name is Jeff, called to confirm that I was interested. Being on the call list does not guarantee that you'll ever be asked to play. But it is farther than I EVER thought I'd get in the classical world.
Ironic Story Time: When I first moved to Florida I auditioned to be a substitute trombonist for this very orchestra! Over a hundred trombonists showed up, they had to extend auditions across four days, and each audition was only about 3 minutes long. All of this just to be a substitute, not even for a guarantee of work. Because of that, this audition was the straw that broke my back. I could not believe how oversaturated the trombone market was; how many people spent hundreds or even thousands of dollars to fly across the country only to hear, "That's enough, thank you" after only three minutes. I never took another orchestral audition after that one, because it had been such an incredible waste of everyone's time, and I could not justify participating in a system like that any more. And now, hilariously, six years later, here I am getting sublisted for that same orchestra, WITHOUT AUDITIONING. What a sense of humor God or The Universe must have. Stuff like this makes me think there must be a trickster god.
Anyway, a normal day of data entry. And I cleaned the bathroom since we won't get the toilet until who-knows-when. And applied for more jobs. And discussed with Jameson what to make for 4th of July dinner.
Wednesday up at 6am again to cram that work in (but what I'm actually doing is buying time to be able to run errands and do chores and take care of my health.)
I've been wanting to get exercise but it's been so ungodly hot + it's the rainy season, so today I did three hours of work and then took a walk at 10am. At ten in the morning it was "only" 87°F/29.44°C. If you're thinking, "That's not so bad," guess what, the heat index was 100°F/37.77°C. At ten in the morning.
But I walked and was glad to get the blood flowing, even if it was incredibly uncomfortable.
Back home more data entry and lunch, then Jameson and I took off to different grocery stores, him for his weekly items and me for 4th of July dinner ingredients. I'm making Chicago dogs, sweet corn, potato salad, watermelon, and a "berry dump" for dessert. In other words the only "cooking" happening is boiling hot dogs and corn (I bought the other stuff premade.) The berry dump will be from scratch, though. Jameson returned with candies, chips, and High Noon seltzers, so between the two of us we have all we need to celebrate absolutely nothing because America is incredibly awful right now :)
After dinner I prepped for the berry cobbler. This is actually a combination of two recipes: "Any Berry Dump" from Half-Baked Harvest, and an apple bourbon crumble recipe from NYT Cooking. I use the berry part from Half-Baked and the crumble part from NYT and it's heaven, have made it before for us and for guests with great success. One key step is to soak your fruit overnight in bourbon, brown sugar, and vanilla (and spices if you're going for fall flavors, which we are not here.)
This time I am using blueberries, strawberries, blackberries, cherries, and one apple. Cherries had a good growing season this year apparently, they are huge and juicy and dark and only $2.99 at the grocery.
As I write this it is pouring out. It hasn't rained for two days so I'm glad, the bananas and pineapples need it. Ideally it will rain tomorrow too and ruin everyone's expensive Disney plans because I'm a grouch and feel anything but patriotic :p
In closing, here is a snippet of a nursing home resident's paperwork that was shared in our group chat. I admire her so much!!!
