New Thing #257--Save The Words!

A friend sent me a link to this article from the Times Online. Collins English dictionary has a list of words that are so little used that they may not appear in the next revision of the book. However, the words will be included in the new volume if people use them; they must appear at least six times in Collins' corpus (a database that records word usage in printed, broadcast and online media) before next February to be included.

I love a challenge, so today I wrote using a list of obscure words. I felt like I was back in sixth grade and the assignment was to use my spelling words in sentences, but these words were much harder. The obscure words made my Spell Check go crazy!

Here's what I came up with (in case you're not familiar with the words, either, the definitions follow):

I sat down to write, wanting to use as many words on the Collins list as possible. I have to admit that many of the words embrangled me, because I don’t have them in my everyday vocabulary. However, the article said they’d be dropped from the dictionary if they were no longer used, and I didn’t want that article to be fatidical.

As I was typing, one of my pets, Pepper, came and sat on my desk. He is a beautiful griseous shorthair cat. All of a sudden he walked right in front of the monitor, blocking my view. I gave a malison, and shoved him out of the way. He just looked at me with vilipend.

The other cat, Jackson, sauntered into the kitchen and jumped up on the window seat. When he sits in a certain way he looks quite fubsy. It may be time to put him back on a diet. Something outside fascinated him, and I looked out to see some birds flying away; the skirr of their wings was quite loud.

Pepper came over and started grooming Jackson. His abstergent tongue did a thorough job of exuviating Jackson’s excess hair. I’ll vaticinate that there will be an olid hair ball in the next couple days; I’ll have to clean up the mess and toss it with the rest of the recrement in the trash can.

Pepper must have done something to anger his brother, because Jackson’s mansuetude quickly turned oppugnant. Jackson chased Pepper out of the room.Pepper ran under the coffee table in the family room and sat there for a while in a niddering manner.The “safe” area must be a roborant for him, because after a few minutes he shot out of there to chase Jackson. However, their activity was over as quickly as started. It always amazes me how compossible they are. Their apodeictic affection for each other is amazing!

After I had spent a few minutes watching the cats, it was time to get ready for work. I decided to wear a necklace with a nitid periapt. I enjoy wearing jewelry; I guess that’s part of my muliebrity, because I don’t know many males who feel the same way.I opened my closet door and flipped the light switch. The bulb chose that moment to burn out. Despite the caliginosity of the closet I was able to find what I was looking for. I don’t want to leave the house looking agrestic. People might question my caducity.

******************
Abstergent Cleansing or scouring
Agrestic Rural; rustic; unpolished; uncouth
Apodeictic Unquestionably true by virtue of demonstration
Caducity Perishableness; senility
Caliginosity Dimness; darkness
Compossible Possible in coexistence with something else
Embrangle To confuse or entangle
Exuviate To shed (a skin or similar outer covering)
Fatidical Prophetic
Fubsy Short and stout; squat
Griseous Streaked or mixed with grey; somewhat grey
Malison A curse
Mansuetude Gentleness or mildness
Muliebrity The condition of being a woman
Niddering Cowardly
Nitid Bright; glistening
Olid Foul-smelling
Oppugnant Combative, antagonistic or contrary
Periapt A charm or amulet

Recrement Waste matter; refuse; dross
Roborant Tending to fortify or increase strength
Skirr A whirring or grating sound, as of the wings of birds in flight
Vaticinate To foretell; prophesy
Vilipend To treat or regard with contempt

New Thing #256--Tattoo You

I will NEVER get a tattoo. I just don't see the point. No one in my social circle has one either (or if they do it's on a part of their body that never shows!). I can't imagine what my children would say if I came in sporting fresh ink.

However, one of the things I thought would be fun to do this year is get a henna tattoo. A month's commitment, but then it fades away. I realized yesterday, however, that I was running out of time. Cold weather will be coming soon, and whatever I'd put on my skin wouldn't be visible. What's the use of doing it if people wouldn't see it?

I don't even know of any place close to me where I could get a henna tattoo, so today I moved even farther down the permanence chain and I applied a temporary tattoo to my ankle.

I went to my local drug store to see if I could find what I needed. Since it's coming up on Halloween, they had a display in the cosmetics section that included false eyelashes, body paint, and packages of "body art". I did a little more searching and found a less expensive package of "Realistic Tattoos" in the costume aisle. The designs weren't quite as sophisticated, but were acceptable for my purposes.

Here's the design on my ankle:

It will probably only last a couple of days, but I think the black "ink" against my fair skin should be pretty noticeable until it peels off. I think I'll save the 5-inch wide butterfly and use it as part of my Halloween costume, though.

New Thing #255--Are You Interested?

Some of the people on my blog roll receive compensation for their writing, but I think the majority of them, myself included, are just doing it for fun. I get my satisfaction from completing each new activity, and then documenting it each day. (However, I have to admit it increases my satisfaction when I see that someone's read and commented on my posts!)

A while back Gregg at One Dad's Life posted about an email he'd received from a casting producer of a reality TV show, looking to see if he was interested in applying to the show. I figured that if people were soliciting him it meant that Gregg was an "A-List" blogger. If I used the same scale for myself, I'd probably be on the "D-List".

However, I might be moving up in the blogosphere social hierarchy, because today I received an invitation to do a paid review on my blog.

When I logged into my e-mail account this morning this was waiting for me:

Hello,

I'm the webmaster of [a Website]. I wanted to know if by any chance you would be interested in doing an unbiased review of our site on your blog.

If you agree you can choose between receiving a product sample or receiving a payment. If you choose the product sample instead of the payment the sample is yours to keep and you don’t need to send it back.

Please let me know if you are interested. Thank you.

I didn't know if I should be excited that I might be joining the big leagues, because some system somewhere chose me, or insulted, because I'm pretty sure the e-mail was randomly generated. I'm not sure what keywords they were looking for, but their product had nothing to do with the theme of my blog. Moreover, I wouldn't be interested in using the product in a million years.

In the end I politely declined my invitation, and sent my response on its way. However, I didn't close the door on future review proposals; I subscribed to the company's list. There may be a paid ad in this blog's future.

New Thing #254--Step on a crack...

Even though the Autumnal Equinox isn't for a couple of days, today felt like a perfect early fall day. Tony and I walked to church, about a half-hour each way. On the way home I walked without stepping on a crack in the sidewalk.

When I walk, I normally just worry about avoiding piles of dog dirt, dodging low-hanging tree limbs, or tripping on the raised edge of a sidewalk. I've always heard the superstition, "step on a crack, break your mother's back". However, it's never occurred to me to worry about the negative effects of putting my foot right on top of the sidewalk seams. Since my Mom is long-deceased, I didn't have to worry about this happening:

While I made a conscious effort to avoid the sidewalk cracks along the way, I was still able to walk pretty normally. The biggest difference is that I had to look at the ground more often than I would otherwise. The sections of sidewalk that I traveled are fairly new; they were mostly symmetrically in size, (which made it easy to walk without stepping on the seams). However, some sections (particularly at the bottom of the driveways) were larger and harder to navigate.

New Thing #253--Extra Credit

Today I did not one, but TWO New Things!

The first was in response to a magazine article I read a while back. George Hutchings (aka the Kenya Shoe Man) is trying to collect 100,000 pairs of shoes. He sells them to a used clothes processing company, and is using the money to fund a water drilling operation in Kenya.

There are several places in the area that have volunteered to be drop-off points for the shoes; they all sport bright yellow signs that say "Kenya Shoe Drop-Off". I see one of the signs almost every day, which has kept the project at the top of my to-do list.

The only problem is that I didn't have any shoes to donate. The boy's closets were cleaned out long ago, and Tony and I tend to wear our shoes till they're falling apart. Today I bought shoes at a garage sale specifically to donate, then donated shoes to the Kenya Shoe Man.

The first garage sale I went to had only a small selection of shoes, and I thought they were overpriced. However, I hit the jackpot at the second! The sale was raising money for a soccer team; a sign proclaimed that sixteen families were participating! There was a large selection of very reasonably priced childrens shoes that were in great shape. I explained why I was buying the shoes, and got two plastic grocery bags. I filled the bags with a selection of shoes, not caring about the size or the style. I let some of the soccer players help me pick out the shoes, but threw in a couple of pairs just because I liked the way they looked.

I took my bags to the nearest shoe drop off point and left them in the lobby with about two dozen other pairs of shoes. Driving away, I felt good because I helped out two groups today!

New Thing #252--Get Well Soon

Today I sent a get well card to someone I've never met.

Another thing-a-day blogger (Jen S, whose blog is Everyday Giving) has had a couple of posts about Christian and Stephanie Nielson, who were in a horrible plane crash back in August, and have third degree burns over much of their bodies (See her posts AOK #253 on August 28th and AOK #271 on September 16th.)

As I was reading Jen's posts, I noticed that she had linked to another blog, c jane enjoy it. c jane (Courtney) is the sister of Stephanie Neilson. She and her husband, along with their extended family, are caring for the four Neilson children, who are all under the age of 6, while their parents recover. I got sucked into reading c jane's blog; she's an excellent writer and has posted frequent updates.

In Jen's post, she suggested sending cards to the Neilsons in the hospital. The whole story touched me, and I put a card in the mail. I hope it brightens someone's day.

If you'd like to send a card, they can be mailed to:
c/o cjane
2250 N. University Pkwy #4876
Provo, Utah 84604-1590

New Thing #251--Assurance

My manual can opener stopped working a couple of weeks ago. The gears no longer meshed, and the handle wouldn't turn. Although I didn't think it was that old, I just went to the store and bought a new one. As I was taking the new one out of the package, I noticed that it had a "lifetime" warranty. It made me stop and think about all the inexpensive doodads I buy that have a guarantee-until you read the fine print and discover it's not worth doing anything but tossing them.

I'm sure the companies who offer doo-dad warranties don't expect many people to cash in--what are the chances that someone would keep the receipt and documentation, and jump through all the hoops to mail something away for replacement? I usually just toss the packaging and receipts for things I buy, unless it's a big-ticket item, but I randomly keep receipts for small things. We have a bulging file cabinet downstairs that's become the repository of all types of paperwork. That worked to my advantage today when I was able to find a warranty and receipt and return an inexpensive gadget to the manufacturer that was under warranty.

I decided to wade through the warranty file in the cabinet. It was a mish-mash of paperwork for big-ticket items and little devices. I tossed several sets of papers associated with long-gone electronics and household gadgets. However, close to the bottom of the file, I found the packaging (more like a hang tag) for the old can opener with the receipt attached to it. The receipt indicated I bought it less than a year ago. The opener had a "one year hassle-free replacement" warranty, WHICH HAD NOT EXPIRED! What are the chances of that?

I put the broken can opener in a box with the receipt and took it to the post office. I declined to insure my broken can opener. If it makes it there, fine; if it doesn't I'm ok with that too.

Note--On October 10th we got a package from the UPS man. Inside the package was a replacement can opener. It's good to know that the company stands behind its guarantee.

New Thing #250--Not Just For Kids!

I was out running errands today and started feeling hungry. I didn't want a lot of food, but I needed to eat something, and I knew there wasn't much waiting for me in the refrigerator at home, so today I went to a fast food restaurant and I ordered a kids meal for myself.

I've only bought a handful of kids meals over the years. When my boys were young, I rarely bought them; instead I'd buy the burger and fries (sometimes a soda), and pass on the fancy packaging or junky toy that came with a meal. Once they developed adolescent-sized appetites, we didn't even consider the smaller size sandwiches and sides, but moved over to the "Super Size" side of the menu, because they would need to consume several kid meals before they were satisfied!

For my meal I stopped at the drive-through fast food restaurant closest to my house. The menu had a special section that proudly announced their selections "Just For Kids!" Since I was ordering from the car, there was no way for anyone in the restaurant to know who would be eating the food, but I still felt guilty placing the order.

Since I haven't even looked at the kids side of the menu for many years, I was surprised at all the choices--definitely more than there used to be. A meal consisted of one of several sandwiches, fries or other (healthier) side dishes, and a plethora of drink choices (white milk, chocolate milk, juice box , slushy , or soda). I ordered my meal--declining all of the healthy alternatives--and sat back to wait for it to come out.

After I got my food, I drove home. The food looked like I expected it to; the small sandwich, fries, and diet soda were about right for practicing portion control. I added some leftover zucchini and carrot sticks from the refrigerator to make the meal even healthier. When I was done I realized that I'd had just the right amount of food!

The prize that came with this meal wasn't much. It was a cube that folded out in several different directions with trivia facts on each face. An enclosed piece of paper, obviously targeted for the adults buying the meal, talked about the importance of developing children's educational knowledge. If I were a kid, I'd think the "prize" was pretty lame.

New Thing #249--Bangle

Today I made a bracelet out of paper and clear packing tape.

What I did:

• I cut a strip of paper 1/2" wide and a little bit longer than my wrist. I used purple, as it's a fashionable color this season...
  
  
• Next, I cut a piece of 2" wide clear packing tape a bit longer than the paper.
  
  
• I centered the paper over the tape lengthwise, carefully lowered it onto the tape, then cut off the excess tape at the ends of the paper strip.
  
  
• Then I turned the tape over and folded the tape over the back side of the paper, enclosing it.
  
  
• I put the bracelet around my wrist, and used a small piece of tape to secure the ends together.
  

It looks like a wristband that I would have gotten at a concert!

If I did this again, I'd use patterned paper, or add some decorations before I taped everything up. However, the color did coordinate perfectly with the rest of my outfit...

New Thing #248--Garden Garments

Today felt like the first day of fall. In honor of the cool weather, I pulled out a skirt I hadn't worn since last year, added a polo shirt and a strand of vintage jade beads. I even wore nylons for the first time in several months!

I got to work, finished setting up for the day, then sat outside and enjoyed the weather. One by one, each of the students called to say they'd be late. All had a valid reason, but that still left me with extra time before I had to start work. I wanted to do something with my time, so I decided to do a good deed. Even though I wasn't exactly dressed for it, I pulled weeds while wearing work clothes.

I went around to the street side of the building. My tutoring center uses the basement entrance, so I don't often see the front. There is a walkway leading up to the door, and a small bed covered with gravel and planted with monkey grass that runs the length of the walkway. There were quite a few weeds growing in the empty areas--crabgrass, a lot of nutsedge, and a couple of yellow clover plants. There were also a few tree saplings that had sprouted over the summer.

The weeds were easy to pull because of all the rain we've had the past few days. The saplings even pulled right out, too; they hadn't developed much of a root system yet. The only thing that I couldn't budge was a maple tree that was about a foot high. It had branched out quite a bit; I pulled as hard as I could, but it wouldn't move. I went inside, got a knife, and cut the branches back to the ground.

As you might expect, my hands got pretty dirty, and I got mud under my fingernails. After I finished, I came in, washed my hands, and got all the crud off. I tried to keep my clothes clean and neat during all this work, and for the most part I succeeded. I did get one smear of dirt on the hem of the shirt, but I got most of it off and the shadow it left wasn't too noticeable.

New Thing #247--Step It Up

We got a new garage door opener several years ago. The new model had all the current (and new to us) safety features, such as a photo-electric garage door sensor that senses if anything is blocking the door. If anything is in the way, the door will stop and reverse. The sensor consists of two electric eyes, one on each side of the garage door frame.

The feature works well, for the most part. Even though we don't have small children at home any more, I like knowing that if something was to be directly under the garage door when it was closing, it wouldn't get trapped.

The sensor does have one disadvantage, though. When the garage door is open, if something breaks the sensor beam, the overhead light will come on, and stay on for several minutes. On days like today, when I was continually in and out of the garage doing yard work, that turns into a real pain. After I had set off the light several times, I entered the garage by stepping over the motion sensor beam.

It wasn't too hard. The eyes are mounted about six inches above the floor. I was carrying a trash can full of yard waste; I lifted it up to waist height, then did some high stepping up and over the sensor. It was so easy, I put down the trash can, repeated the process empty-handed to go out of the garage, then marched back in again. The light remained off the whole time!

After my mini stepping session, I went into the house.

New Thing #246--Hummer

I was outside pulling weeds today, when I looked up and I saw a hummingbird feeding at a flower in my garden.

I love hummingbirds. Earlier this year I put a hummingbird feeder in a tree off my deck. Although I've religiously kept it clean and filled, there's been no evidence that any birds have used it. I'd just about written the little birds off.

I was stooping down by a bed next to the garage getting the last of a dandelion plant out of the bed. I'm not sure why I looked up just as I did, but the hummer was feeding at a canna blossom about five feet away from me! According to Hummingbirds.net, I'm pretty sure it was a female Ruby-throated. It was not as colorful as a male would be, but had the typical hummingbird long beak. I could hardly see its wings, they were moving so fast.

I stood up, trying to stay as still as possible, but I must have scared the bird, which flew up onto a tree in my neighbor's yard. It looked very tiny sitting on the branch. It occurred to me that in all the pictures and videos I've seen there's never been a hummingbird at rest. After a few seconds, it flew off into the distance.

New Thing #245--What Does It Mean?

Today I had a numerology reading done on my name.

According to Dictionary.com, numerology is..."the study of numbers, as the figures designating the year of one's birth, to determine their supposed influence on one's life, future, etc."

When I Googled the topic, there almost six million hits; I chose one entitled What Your Name Means (Numerology). The site told me to enter my full name, and warned me that "most authorities agree that the full birth name as recorded on your birth certificate is the name that must be used for all calculations involving name. Nicknames, changed names including marriage name changes do not dilute the importance of the name given to you by your parents." I submitted the information and sat back to wait for the results.

This is what I learned:

There are 19 letters in your name.
Those 19 letters total to 81
There are 7 vowels and 12 consonants in your name

Your number is: 9

The characteristics of #9 are: Humanitarian, giving nature, selflessness, obligations, creative expression.

The expression or destiny for #9: The expression that you exhibit is represented by the number 9. Your talents center in humanistic interests and approaches. You like to help others as you were intended to be the 'big brother or big sister' type. You operate best when you follow your feelings and sense of compassion, and allow yourself to be sensitive to the needs of others. You work well with people, and have the potential to inspire. This suggests that you could successfully teach or counsel. Creative ability, imagination and artistic talent (often latent) of the highest order are present in this expression. It's possible that you're not using or developing all of these capabilities at this time. Some of your talents may have been used at an earlier time in your life, and some may still be latent. Be aware of your capabilities, so that you can make use of them at appropriate times.

I suspect there's no real truth in my reading, but it was fun.

New Thing #244--The Missing Link

I was sitting at the kitchen table, fixing a broken necklace chain, when I dropped the link I needed. I heard it clink on something hard. Grumbling, I checked the kitchen table. Nothing. I looked on my chair and the chair next to me with no luck.

Expanding my search, I looked at the floor immediately under my chair. All I could see were a couple of crumbs from breakfast (distinctive red sprinkles from my Pop Tart) . Finding the tiny piece of the chain looked like it was going to be tough. I grabbed the broom from the laundry room and started sweeping carefully. When I was done I examined the dirt from the kitchen floor.

The floor hadn't been swept for a couple of days, so there was a big pile of debris. Although I saw:

• a lot of hair (both mine and the cats)
• assorted food crumbs (from under the table)
  
• cat litter (from the laundry room, where the litter box is)
• pieces of eggshell
• a piece of a wrapper from sugar-free mints
• strands of corn silk (from last night's corn on the cob)
• a staple (when I saw the silver color, I thought I'd found the piece I was looking for)
  

there was no chain link. I have no idea where it could have gone. I suppose it will show up weeks from now, after I've taken my chain to the store to get fixed and I've swept the floor multiple times.

New Thing #243--Watch Your Language

Missouri is rolling out new license plates this year. However, they have a grammatical mistake; the hyphen is missing in the state’s nickname, “Show-Me State.” I'm not an English teacher, but according to some references I checked, if you have a compound modifier before a noun, it should be hyphenated.

The mistake is bad enough, but the state isn't planning on fixing it. According to the Department of Revenue, they won't fix the mistake because that’s how the sample looked when voters chose it (from three options) in an online contest. Two million plates have been produced so far, but another 10 million have yet to be made. The department could reorder the remaining plates with the correct hyphenation, but it doesn't plan to do so.

I won't get my new plate until next spring, but Tony's already got his. Today I corrected a grammar mistake on a license plate.

I used a Sharpie to make the small dash in between the two words on the front and back plates. The dash was only about an eighth of an inch long, and hardly noticeable from a distance, but I have the satisfaction of knowing it's correct.

New Thing #242--Build A Better Mousetrap

"Build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door"
Ralph Waldo Emerson

All of the students at my tutoring center are working on a correspondence curriculum that leads to a high school diploma; although each is at a different point in the program, none of them enjoy the class they're currently doing. Yesterday they were looking for any possible distraction to keep from working.

Halfway through the day one of them went into the kitchen area and thought he saw a mouse. I assumed he was making it up, so I walked into the kitchen; a couple of seconds later a mouse ran across the room and under the refrigerator! I tried to be cool about it but I gave a little scream. Pandemonium ensued. Each student had a theory of how to take care of the mouse, all of which involved some type of violent death. I tried to get everyone to sit down, but that wasn't working. All of a sudden the mouse darted out from under the refrigerator, made a circuit around the room and went under the stove. That was enough for me!

I told them all to call their parents to let them know that sessions were canceled for the day. I called the office, told them about the problem, and suggested they do something right away. As the students were cleaning their things up, I kept making furtive glances into the kitchen. The last thing I did before I locked up for the day was put a new bag in the trash can; when I opened the drawer to get a bag, there was evidence the mouse had been there too. UGH!

Today I bought mousetraps for work. I hope that the problem will be resolved already when I get there, but my serenity is going to rest on making sure the mice are gone. I went to the local drug store to see what was available. Much to my surprise, there was a small section devoted to mice extermination.

The biggest percentage of the section was devoted to baits (rodenticides in technical language). There were small boxes, larger boxes, and something that looked like the silica packets that are enclosed in boxes to take care of moisture. These were the least expensive options, but I passed on them. Mouse poisons take time to work, and there is a risk that the mouse could die (and decompose, then stink) while inside a wall. Not a risk I want to take.

There were also several types of mousetraps. In addition to the old-fashioned spring-loaded bar mousetrap, there was something called the "Better Mousetrap" which looked like a large plastic chip clip with a heavy-duty spring inside. It looked like it would be easier to set than the standard type. However, all mice traps have the same basic problem: at some point there's a dead critter to take care of! I chose to purchase something that was billed as "no view, no touch" traps. You bait them, set them (with a little mouse entryway on the side), then check them. If the entryway is closed, there's a mouse inside, and you toss the entire trap! They were more expensive, but worth it to me.

I'm putting the traps and some cheese in my work bag and taking them to work with me. I'll add my traps to whatever the janitorial staff felt inclined to put in the area; hopefully the mouse won't make another appearance!

New Thing #241--Single or Double?

My friend JD is the editor of the crochet page at the Craftgossip Blog Network. She was one of my first supporters when I started this project, and promised to give me a crochet lesson. We never seemed to find a mutually convenient time to get together; when I reminded her last week I was still waiting she suggested that we do it right away. Today I learned how to crochet.

We met at a nearby coffee shop. JD brought yarn, a hook, and an instruction book for me and her own hook and skein of yarn to demonstrate. I've always admired her ability to work on a project and chat at the same time. She makes crocheting look easy, so I was looking forward to getting started.

However, not everything went smoothly. The first problem was that I am left-handed and JD is right-handed. I recalled my one (and only!) knitting lesson with my mom when I was a teenager. We had the same hand dominance issue, and I could never learn how to knit. After we figured out that sitting across from her made everything a mirror image (which worked for me), JD started with the concepts of properly holding the yarn and the basic chain stitch. Although my chains weren't exactly all the same size, I soon got the hang of the concept and was ready to move on to single crochet.

JD showed me the stitch; I understood the concept, but I had trouble doing it. When I wrapped the yarn around the hook (yarn over in technical terms), I either wound it too much or not enough, and I'd often get the hook caught up on loops when I pulled the yarn through them. After several ripped-out stitches, JD took my sample and quickly got me back on the right track. Although I was ready to give up, she kept saying I was doing great.

After I got to the end of the row I was deemed ready for double crochet. This involves extra yarn overs and pulling the hook through different combinations of two loops at a time. Again, my fingers didn't do what my brain was telling them to do. When I finally finished a stitch, it was either too tight or too loose compared to its neighbors. Again, JD was kind enough to say that everyone had those problems when they started.

The last thing JD demonstrated was the half double stitch--yet another combination of yarn overs and pullthroughs. After I muddled through a couple of these, our time was up. JD let me take the hook and yarn home, and invited me to a meeting of her crochet club. I think, though, that I'll need LOTS of practice before I'm ready to crochet in public!

New Thing #240--A Fancy Figure

Today was my turn to vacuum. It's a pretty big job--we have carpet in almost every room except the kitchen (which has vinyl) the dining room (where hardwood peeks out from under a large rug) and the bathrooms. Even the finished part of the basement has carpet.

I love the look of a freshly-vacuumed room, but I don't like to put a whole lot of effort into the job. There's something nice about a carpet with visible vacuuming marks on it, but the effect only lasts until the first person walks into the room. When I vacuum, I usually try to finish the job as quickly as possible, but today I vacuumed patterns in the carpet.

I started on the second floor, but passed on doing the boys' vacant bedrooms. I vacuumed the hall in the normal way, then began my project in the master bedroom. First I went over the whole carpet as usual to get up the dirt, then I vacuumed concentric rectangles around the bed. By time I got to the edge of the room, there were four sets of lines (with a bit of extra unlined carpet at the far edge of the room).

I moved on the main floor and tackled the family room. Again, I did the normal vacuuming, then I went back to the center of the room and I radiated lines off to each side from the middle (like a palm frond). The last room was the living room. I put less work into this room, but tried to vacuum pretty abstract designs on the carpet. I got the camera and tried take a picture of my work; although the designs were visible to the eye, I couldn't capture them in a photograph.

When I was finished, I put the vacuum cleaner away in the basement. I came upstairs, and saw that one of the cats had already walked across the carpet; there was a series of paw marks from one end of the room to the other. This was quite the transient project !

New Thing #239--Read All About It

St. Louis is a great sports town. We have professional baseball (Cardinals), professional football (Rams), professional hockey (Blues), as well as a good handful of minor professional sports and college teams. This week we also have professional golf; the BMW Championship, a stop on the PGA tour, is being played at a local country club (Bellerive). Although I usually barely look at the sports section of the newspaper, in honor of the local connection today I read about a sport I have no knowledge of.

I come by my lack of knowledge honestly. I have never played a game of golf--miniature golf is as close as I've come. The rules, scoring, and handicapping of the game are a complete mystery to me, as are the vast majority of the competitors.

There have been a few newspaper articles leading up to this weekend's tournament, and a pull-out section of the paper a week or so ago that I ignored. The only thing I knew was that Tiger Woods wasn't going to be playing.

The tournament was supposed to start on Thursday, but it was rained out. Yesterday's play, which was reflected in today's paper, had one player in first place at 5 under par and a five-way tie for second place. There was going to be two rounds (36 holes) today to make up for Thursday's cancellation.

Other than the summary of play story, there were several other articles about the tournament:

• one about how the rain has affected parking--it's at an off-site facility about 15 minutes away (with shuttle service to the course)
  
  
• one about a local golfer (Jay Williamson) who is playing in the tournament
  
  
• a page of statistics, tee times for today, and scores
  

New Thing #238-- All Cracked Up

I have to go to an all-day event tomorrow. Earlier in the week, the organizers asked everyone to bring one ingredient that will get tossed together to make a communal salad for lunch. My contribution is a dozen hard boiled eggs, sliced.

I know from past experience that older eggs are easier to peel than fresh ones. If I know that I'm going to be hard boiling them, I try to get the eggs a couple of weeks in advance. Since I didn't have that luxury this time, today I researched the best way to make and peel hard boiled eggs.

According to the American Egg Board, there's a reason that older eggs are easier to peel. There's an air cell, or empty space between the white and the shell at the large end of the egg. As the egg ages, moisture and carbon dioxide leave through the pores of the shell, air enters to replace them, and the air cell becomes larger. Because of the larger air cell, older eggs are easier to peel.

I Googled Hard Boiled Eggs and clicked through to several sites. There was a lot of different advice. Some sites mentioned adding salt to the cooking water. Others said that a splash of vinegar made all the difference, while yet others said that cooling the cooked eggs in cold water would make the peels slip right off.

I decided to try the combination approach (otherwise known as "do them all"). I put the eggs in a pot, added water to cover them, then added a teaspoon of salt and one of vinegar. I boiled the water, removed the pot from the heat and let the eggs sit in the hot water the prescribed amount of time. When the eggs were done, I put them in a bowl of ice water and put the bowl in the refrigerator for several hours.

When it came time to peel them, I took the bowl out of the refrigerator, dried off the eggs, and cracked the shells. The first egg wouldn't peel; small pieces of the white came off with each piece of eggshell. The second one wasn't much better-it broke in half as I cracked it on the countertop. I was thinking that all the information on the Internet was wrong!

The next seven, though, peeled like a dream. I started to get cocky, thinking that I had the system down. Big mistake! The next two were almost unpeelable. When I finally got the shells off, they looked like moon rocks, they had so many craters. If I didn't HAVE to have the eggs, I probably would have tossed the whole project. The last egg was pretty obliging, though, slipping its shell off almost in one piece. My serenity returned.

The moral of the story? It doesn't matter how you cook or cool your hard-boiled eggs. They'll do whatever they want to.

New Thing #237--Size Does Matter

Back in July when we visited the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, we became museum members--partly for the premiums. I got a great t-shirt that I counted as my souvenir for the trip. The only problem was that the shirt was a men's XL, about two sizes too big for me. I came home and immediately washed it, hoping it would shrink a bit, but it didn't.

I've worn the shirt a few times, but I got tired of shoulder seams halfway to my elbows and floppy sleeves down to my forearms. Today I pulled out my scissors, pins, and sewing machine and I resized a tee shirt.

The first step was to grab an old shirt from the donation pile to use for a pattern. Holding the two shirts together, I noticed that the biggest differences were the size of the armholes and the length of the sleeves. I cut the sleeves off the old (red) shirt, then crossing my fingers and hoping I didn't make a mistake, I cut the sleeves off the good (black) shirt. Here's a picture of the results--the shirt body is at the top, and the sleeves are underneath.

I used the red shirt pieces to cut the black ones to size. I left the neckband intact, and I used the original hems of the sleeves. I didn't take any fabric off the bottom of the shirt, because I like to wear shirts long. I carefully cut the armholes to the correct (smaller) size, but I didn't cut into the sides of the shirt (which didn't have side seams). Instead, I carefully sewed seams in the correct place, making the shirt narrower.

The hardest part of a shirt, in my opinion, is putting in the sleeves. I sewed the underarm seams on the sleeves, then held my breath and carefully pinned the new sleeves to the new armholes, first at the top, then down both sides to the bottom seam. They fit perfectly! I sewed the sleeves in and tried the whole thing on. Unfortunately, now that it was slimmer through the torso, it was too long. I cut several inches off the bottom, turned a hem and sewed it on the machine. I didn't even have to turn in the raw edge, since t-shirt material doesn't fray.

After a quick press with the iron, here's the result. For good measure I threw the shirt in the washer and dryer to set the seams. I'm looking forward to wearing the me-sized shirt.

New Thing #236--Towering

Today I stacked a coin tower of quarters.

To start the tower, I put three quarters on the counter so that they formed a triangle, then I put a second layer of coins on top (corkscrewing them a little bit). After that, I kept adding layers of coins; each layer was offset a little bit from the one below it. As the tower got higher, it started to lean to the side; I had to stop and straighten it out a couple of times. I was going for a spiral effect, but it didn't quite come together that way.

I repeated the process with all the quarters that were available. The final tower was 36 rows high, and used 108 quarters ($27.00)

Here's my creation:


When I was done I put all the money back in the box. As I was putting the box away, it occurred to me that if there's that many quarters it might be time to cash them in!

New Thing #235--Move It

As far as I'm concerned, the Labor Day weekend was one big eating festival. I went to a BBQ on Saturday, had a meal out with the family and a picnic on Sunday, and another picnic on Monday. I did spend a lot of time sitting and eating; I did not spend any time exercising. Bad combination for me.

I'm a gym rat. I like the extra energy I get when I exercise on a regular basis. I try to get to the gym most weekdays (and sometimes on Saturday), and usually take some type of group exercise class. If I'm left to my own devices, I decide after 20 minutes or so that I've done enough sweating and it's time to leave. If I'm in a room with other people I'm too embarrassed to leave and stick it for an hour.

At my gym there are two classes each weekday morning--one at 8:00 and another at 9:00. I pick one or the other to attend. There is a small subset of exercisers, though, who stay for both classes. They are predominantly middle-aged females who are very fit and wear the latest workout fashions (just the opposite of my baggy shirts and shorts) . Because I felt the need to compensate for my sloth over the weekend, today I joined them and I completed two classes at the gym, for a total of two hours of exercise.

Both classes were held in the same room. The first was Pilates, a blend of strength and flexibility exercises that somewhat resembles what I did in Freshman gym. Although it's tough and a good workout, I didn't even raise a sweat. However, the next class was Cardio Dance; I was completely drenched when I left the gym to come home and shower.

However, I was completely wiped out for the rest of the day. I don't know how they do it!

New Thing #234--Will There Be a Talent Category?

When I was at the store buying cat litter today, I saw a flyer for a Cute Pet Contest at our city's Homecoming festival next weekend. All you had to do to register was submit a picture. Everyone always says how cute our cats are, so today I entered my pets in a contest.

The City has been having "Cute Kid" contests for many years, but this is the first I've heard of the pet contest. If both contests have the same rules, people can vote for their favorite pictures by depositing money (which goes to a local charity) in a container under each picture. Whichever picture earns the most money is the winner.

Now that the kids have left the house, I think that approximately half the pictures I take are of the cats. Although they're opposed to posing for the camera, I usually try to catch them doing something cute before they decide to move. (Probably not coincidentally, I've also deleted more than my share of cat butt pictures as they sprint away.)

For the contest, I submitted a picture of the cats from a few years ago where they were curled up symmetrically on my bed. I used this picture as my computer desktop wallpaper for a while; the picture never failed to generate an "aww" from people that saw it. A short time after I sent my picture, I got an e-mail back verifying my entry; part of the body of the message said that my cats were "just precious!" Although they probably say that about all the pictures they receive, it made me feel good.

I might have to start saving my change so I can go to the contest and stuff the ballot box!

New Thing #233--The Stroll

We went to a picnic today at Oak Knoll Park in Clayton. The picnic started at 4:00, but we didn't arrive until closer till 6:00 because we went to church beforehand.

The picnic was with a group of friends that has been meeting at Oak Knoll Park twice a year- the Sunday before Memorial Day and the Sunday before Labor Day- for almost 40 years. Tony's been going longer than I have, but after we got married we started attending together. There are now three generations at the picnics. It's great to see this group of people, many of whom I see only at these gatherings

When the group started to break up a little after 7:30, Tony and I weren't ready to go yet. After everyone else left, we locked our picnic things in the car and walked through a park after hours.

Although there was a bit of light left in the sky when we started walking, it soon became completely dark. We passed one person going in the opposite direction walking a dog, but didn't see anyone else in the entire park. The only sounds were from the traffic driving down the road that parallels the park.

At the southeast end of the park there's a little pond that was renovated a couple of years ago. The city put a fountain in the middle of it; the fountain was lit at the base and provided a very romantic atmosphere. There is an original stone path that circles the pond and some steps at one end. I sat on the steps, took off my shoes, and stuck my feet in the water; Tony joined me. The water was VERY cold, but felt great on my legs. We sat there for about 10 minutes watching the water and enjoying the quiet atmosphere, then put our shoes on and started walking again.

Unlike the path leading from the parking lot to the pond, the path along the back part of the park was unlit. We walked through this section quickly, noticing all the things that have changed since we started coming there, made it back to the car, (which was the only one in the lot), and drove away.

New Thing #232--Rivals

Son #1, Tony, is a University of Illinois graduate. Brian, Son #2, attends the University of Missouri. Tonight when the schools played each other in football, we watched as a family and I was able to watch a football game where I could say that "my" team won no matter what the outcome.

We turned the TV on right at kickoff time and claimed our seats. It was a very interesting game to watch. Depending on which team was doing well, one or the other side of the family room was cheering. I got to cheer for BOTH teams.

The beginning of the game was a see-saw scorewise, but at the half Mizzou was ahead 31-13. Illinois had a couple of good possessions (and one touchdown) in the third quarter. In the fourth quarter, the Illini were down by 17 points before scoring another touchdown. The game ended with a score of Missouri 52, Illinois 41, but the final score didn't matter to me.

I can't wait till the teams play each other again next year!

New Thing #231--Rhythmic

In response to a comment about rap music I left on South City Confidential a while back, I got this e-mail:

"If you want to ease into good hip hop, try Common or Lupe Fiasco."

I know nothing about this music style; except for thing that have crossed over to mainstream radio I've never really been exposed to it. I took Kelli's suggestion and it helped me with today's Thing. Today I listened to a rap album all the way through.

I went to the library Website and searched for Common. There were several CDs available; I chose "Thisisme Then: The Best of Common" and requested it. When I picked it up today, the librarian pulled it off the shelf, looked at me and then at the Parental Advisory sticker on the cover and joked that she certainly didn't need to check my ID to see if I was old enough! I guess she doesn't see many middle-aged white ladies checking out rap music.

I came home, put the disc in the player, and started reading the liner notes. The compilation draws from Common's first three albums, released between 1992 and 1997. I have to say that on first listen, none of the songs did much for me, although I did see differences between the early songs (that had sing-songy lyrics with lots of pop culture allusions) and the later ones that were more lyrical and had more grown-up themes. The second time around a couple of the songs were a bit better; if I gave the CD multiple listenings I bet it would grow on me.

However, I still have a problem with the nasty language that rappers feel compelled to use, and I don't think I'm ready to set up a Rap section in my music collection.

New Thing #230--(Do the) Mashed Potato

I haven't cooked a real dinner all week, and tonight's dinner was another easy one-- leftover brats from the weekend, fresh green beans, mashed potatoes, and homemade bread from the freezer. I felt like being creative, though, so I formed the mashed potatoes into sculptures and baked them.

I used instant mashed potatoes to save time, but I added an egg to the liquid to make them richer. I pulled out my cookie cutters (which I haven't used for quite a few years) and picked out some open-backed ones that didn't have any narrow areas to use for molds. There was an elephant, a sailboat, a boot, and a pig. I greased the molds well with shortening, set them on a cookie sheet, and filled them all with potatoes. Holding my breath, I slowly pulled the molds away. Voila! Beautiful little mashed potato figures.


I baked the figures in the oven, and they came out looking like twice-baked potatoes. They tasted great.

New Thing #229--Reuse It

Today I asked a stranger for some magazines she was going to recycle.

We're fortunate that we can throw our glass, cans, plastics, newspaper, cardboard in a bin and put it out at the curb on trash day. We take the office paper and magazines to a collection site at church. There's very little that we can't recycle in our neighborhood.

The one exception is phone books. I still have to take those to a city recycling center (not my municipality) about 20 minutes away from my house. The center is first class; they have bins to separate glass (by color), tin cans, aluminum, and plastics. In a separate section they have enclosed bins for newspaper, office paper, magazines, and phone books.

I have been known to look into the magazine container and "borrow"something if it looks interesting. I figure if I read something and then re-recycle it, it's actually better for the environment than if I went out and bought it first. However, tonight there was a sign on the container sayng that the contents belong TO the city and couldn't be taken away. I dumped my phone book and was getting ready to leave when a woman and her son came up with a recycling bin filled with paper and magazines. One of the magazines on top was interesting, so I asked her if I could have it to read if I promised to recycle it when I was done. She said "yes" and let me take it.

New Thing #228--Word Of The Day

I love reading the Urban Dictionary. It's a slang dictionary that anyone can add to. According to the site, there have been 3,254,545 definitions submitted since 1999. Although I like to browse the entries, I don't incorporate them into my vocabulary. However, today I used a word from the Urban Dictionary, and added to its definition.

My new vocabulary word was destinesia, (a combination of destination and amnesia) which is defined as:

1. When you get to where you're going and forgot why you went there, or
   
   
2. The act of spawning a new web browser window or tab and immediately forgetting where it is you were going to go, thus instilling a sense of panic as you know it was something very important you needed to do.
   

The older I get the more I find this happening to me! I often go into the kitchen for something and when I get there I can't remember what it was I needed to get.

As I read the second definition, it made me think of another way I exhibit destinesia. Since anyone can add to the dictionary, I submitted my alternate definition to the editors; I got an e-mail back that my submission is under review. There may be yet another definition for the word soon!

New Thing #227--Who, Meme?

So I was minding my own business this morning and clicking through to blogs I enjoy from the St. Louis Bloggers site. Lo and behold, I read that I was tagged for a meme (the Internet equivalent of a chain letter) by Gregg at One Dad's Life! Today, for the first time, I completed a meme.

Four place I go to over and over: work (four afternoons a week), Gold's Gym (almost every weekday and on Saturdays when I can guilt myself into getting up early), church (weekly), and Schnucks for groceries.

Four people who e-mail me (regularly): Everyday I get two daily spiritual readings and three e-mails from DearReader.com (similar to an online book club). Hubby Tony is always sending me things I need and want to know. I get excited when I see any of my childrens' names or my friend Dani's name in my Inbox.

Four places I would rather be right now: visiting son Tony in Tulsa, visiting son Brian in Columbia, sitting at a sidewalk cafe sipping an iced tea, or taking a walk somewhere with big shady trees.

Four TV shows/programs that I watch over and over: I'm not really a TV watcher, but I will turn it on if I'm in the family room at night. At this time of year, the Cardinals game is usually the default evening choice, but last week it went back and forth between Fox Sports and the Olympics. I enjoy anything on the Food Network, and HGTV if there's no one else at home to make fun of me.

Four things I have for breakfast: I'm so boring! Always fruit, coffee (with dry milk added because I don't like the way skim milk makes the coffee look), and some type of carb. Favorites are homemade muffins or bread when I have them, off-brand frosted shredded wheat (eaten dry, because they get too soggy in milk), waffles, french toast sticks, or pop tarts.

Four animals I like best: Cats have to head the list. I like dogs, but haven't had one since I was a kid. The "young" version of anything that's cute and fuzzy. Butterflies (I like to sit and watch them fly; I find it very relaxing.)

Four beaches I've been to: Lake of the Ozarks (the most recent), Coco Cay (a Royal Caribbean private island for cruise passengers), Tampa Bay, and Grand Cayman.

If I understand the rules of the game correctly, I'm now supposed to tag four other people (Sage, Collette, Jackie, and KC) to complete this activity. However, in the interest of full disclosure this is probably the first and last meme I'll ever complete, so if you pass I won't be offended at all.

Gregg, thanks for the easy activity for the day!

New Thing #226--Super Supper

Our oldest son, "Tulsa Tony" went away to college, but came home during the summers. The second, Brian, attends classes out of town, but has chosen to work in the same city during the summers, so he hasn't really lived at home for four years. During the time they've been away, their "parentals" (Tony and I) have tried to visit occasionally. The visits always involve meals -- usually eaten at restaurants. When we were planning today's visit to see Brian it was the first time I went to a BBQ at one of my children's houses.

We decided to take the scenic route to get to Columbia, Missouri, and took Highway 100 west through Gray Summit, Washington, New Haven, and Hermann. Our first stop was the Swiss Meat & Sausage Company (in Swiss, Missouri, south of Hermann on Highway 19). They have fabulous sausages; we discovered the store several years ago and always said we should made a stop on the way to visit Brian sometime. Today was that day. We purchased several packages of sausage, a couple of pounds of bacon, and some summer sausage. After carefully putting everything in the cooler, we started driving again, this time north on 19 and west on Interstate 70. After getting off the highway, we made one more stop, at a grocery store near Brian's house, to get the rest of the things we said we'd bring for the dinner.

It was great to see Brian and his dad sharing the BBQ pit at Brian's duplex. With two cooks, the meat got done in record time! They brought in their masterpiece, added it to the other food that was set out, and everyone started eating. The group included Brian's roommate, his girlfriend, and his girlfriend's mother. There wasn't a spare seat at the table! After a great dinner and dessert, we were able to move to the living room and chat. It was so much nicer than being at a restaurant!

New Thing #225--Virtual Style

In today's Post-Dispatch, they had an article about online clothes shopping. Although I buy most of my clothes in stores, I'm slowly getting more comfortable about shopping online. I have a small group of brands that I know fit me well, so if I order from them I'm comfortable not trying things on. In the article, they mentioned an online company that does what a personal shopper would do--pick the clothes that suit someone's taste and body. It sounded interesting to me, so today I created an account at myShape.com.

The first step in creating an account was to answer questions about my personal style and shopping preferences (brands I like, my dressing preferences, and types of fabrics I wear). There were a wide variety of choices, and you could check as many as applied.

Step two contained questions about my fit preferences, such as the size range I usually wear, how tight or loose I wear my clothes, what size heels I usually wear, and types of skirts and tops I like. Again, I could check as many of the options as I wanted.

The last step was to come up with my measurements. There were about two dozen different body measurements. Some I knew--height, waist, hips, chest-- and some I'd never figured out before--like armhole circumference and front of waist. Based on your measurements, proportions, and fit preferences you're given one of seven body shapes...M, Y, S, H, A, P, or E. That shape is the basis for all the clothes they recommend. I was surprised at the shape they assigned to me.

After all the questions are answered, the site shows clothes in your personal shop that should fit well and flatter your body. You can even filter the selections by color palate and price to make it even easier. The site did a good job of guessing my style preference; I would wear all the clothes they picked for me. However, many of them cost substantially more than I spend for my wardrobe pieces, so I'm not sure if I'll be anything to my shopping bag soon.

New Thing #224--Art Show

Today I did something that I've wanted to do for a long time when I went to an art show opening.

Last week I heard on the radio that Brother Mel Meyer, who belongs to the Marianist religious order, was celebrating some significant events this year: he turned 80 in June, he’s been a religious brother for 60 years, and he’s been an artist 50 years. Tonight was the opening of his retrospective show.

The gallery is in Kirkwood on the campus of St. John Vianney High School. Over the years I've stopped in the gallery a couple of times when I happened to be at the school. Brother Mel works in metal, handmade paper, acrylic, and watercolors. Some of his art is religious, but some isn't. Some hangs on the wall, some is designed to be set on a shelf, some on the floor, and some pieces are so big they have to be placed outside in the grass around the gallery.

I was really surprised at the number of people who were at this event. There was a tent set up outside the building where they were serving drinks, and folding chairs scattered around. However, the vast majority of people were standing. Tony and I went inside the gallery; it was not as crowded, but it was still difficult to get close to some of the works. I tried to pick out my favorite pieces, but it was really hard. I liked them all!

After we walked through the gallery we went outside and looked at the larger sculptures. There were more than I remembered from my last visit--more than two dozen pieces. Although I was pretty sure we could see a couple more if we crossed the road, it was getting dark and hard to see so we left.

New Thing #223--What's The Call?

As I was driving home from the gym today, I saw a late-model car pulled halfway around the corner of the main street and a side street with the flashers on. The driver was sitting with an angry but resigned look on his face.

I didn't really think much about it; most people nowadays have cell phones and would make a call for help themselves. However, as I drove away my conscience bothered me. What if the person didn't have a phone, or had forgotten it today? The police make fairly regular patrols through the area, but if the shoe was on the other foot I would like help sooner rather than later. TodayI called 911 and reported a stalled car.

I actually wasn't sure if a stalled call was a real emergency, but I decided that I'd let the dispatcher make that decision. It was rainy, and the pavement was wet. If another driver wasn't paying attention, they could drive right into the stalled car. I gave the cross streets of the car, and made sure the dispatcher knew that there was no one hurt. She said that she would send someone right away.

I drove away feeling like I'd done the right thing.

New Thing #222--Special Care

When I got out of the shower this morning, both of my cats-- Jackson and Pepper--were sleeping on my bed. They barely acknowledged me when I sat down to put on my shoes. I decided it would be fun to see how long they'd put up with it when I gave my cats a massage.

It's a sad reflection on how busy I am that I hardly ever pet the cats for extended periods of time. Most often they just get a short scratch on the head in the morning when I'm heading downstairs to start my day, or a quick cuddle as I'm filling their food bowl.

I started off the session with Jackson. First I scratched him on top of the head between his ears, then rubbed his ears. He opened one eye halfway and stared at me. Since he hadn't run away, I was encouraged.I scratched the sides of his face, below his whiskers, and under his chin. This is his absolute favorite. He closed his eyes and started purring.

I slowly massaged down the length of his back. The vet said he needed to lose a bit of weight last month, so I think I could feel his backbone a bit easier now that he's been on a diet. I rubbed his legs from the top to the bottom, and then moved on to each of his paws. He flexed them and started purring even louder!

It was very relaxing to watch Jackson enjoy his massage. However, after about five minutes he'd had enough. He slipped away from me, stood up, stretched and jumped off the bed. He sat on the floor about six feet away and started grooming himself.

But Pepper was still sleeping on the bed, so I transferred my attention to him. I basically followed the same procedure for the massage, but added a belly rub when he flopped over on his back. I swear I heard him saying "ahhhhhh" as he was purring.

Pepper decided he was finished after a couple of minutes and jumped off the bed to join his brother. I'd been dismissed; my job was through.

New Thing #221--Here or To Go?

My plans for tonight had me going to a section of the county that I don't often get to. When I left work, I realized there was no time for me to put something together for dinner from the house; I'd have to get something from a restaurant.

Usually when I'm eating out it's with Tony and we use an Entertainment coupon book--partly for the discounts, but also to help us discover new places to eat. However, the vast majority of the coupons are for Buy One, Get One Free entrees. Since there was only one of me tonight, I used a restaurant coupon for a free entree and carried out my "free" meal".

There were several coupons for restaurants in the area I was going to.
However, the first one I picked was no longer in business, and a second one was open only for lunch, so I settled for a "fast casual" chain restaurant. I placed my order at the counter. When they asked where I was dining, I said "one for here...one to go". The cashier didn't blink an eye!

When my food came out, tonight's dinner was arranged nicely on a plate, and the extra was boxed in a sturdy carry-out container for lunch tomorrow. I put the container in the cooler I'd brought in my car so it would stay cold.

New Thing #220--Electronic

Last time I was at the library I picked up a brochure about the e-media services they offer. I was surprised to read that the St. Louis County Library has recently added the ability to download eAudiobooks, eBooks, and videos if you have a library card.

It sounded interesting to me. Today I browsed through their selection of videos. There weren't a lot of blockbusters or new releases available. However, some of the instructional videos caught my eye, so today I downloaded a video from the library.

There are several media providers listed on the library Website, and they all seem to operate slightly differently. I used OverDrive, the only company that offered videos.

The downloading process was easy. First I downloaded the OverDrive software, then picked my video (an exercise video called "Soul Sweat"), and downloaded it. Even though I have a fast DSL connection, it still took about an hour to finish the download, so I did some housework and kept checking on the progress. After it was completed, I clicked "Play", and my video immediately started!

The video can stay on my hard drive for seven days, then it expires. If I had chosen an Audiobook or eBook I could keep it for 14 Days; some of the other providers have different rules about downloads.

I've mentioned in the past that I think it's weird to watch something on a small computer screen; that was certainly a disadvantage of this format. The quality of the video was pretty good, and the music was ok coming out of my dinky monitor speakers.

New Thing #219--A Weed By Any Other Name

As Tony and I were out walking tonight, I decided to pick a fuzzy weed to twiddle in my fingers as I walked. Instead of one stem, I got two. As I was observing them, it occurred to me that they were really cool looking, and would look interesting in a vase. That was the inspiration for today's Thing. Today I picked weeds and arranged them in a bouquet.

Once I started looking, there were materials everywhere. My selection was mostly grasses, but I added color with a trumpet flower, a daisy, Queen Anne's Lace, and some purple clover flowers. Each of the plants had its own unique texture.

Tony managed not to laugh at me as I zig-zagged back and forth picking things that looked interesting; as a matter of fact, he started helping me look for things, and he even ventured into a particularly weedy section of common ground to pick the daisy for me!

I came home and arranged my finds in a small vase . The grasses gave the arrangement vertical height and an airy feeling. I set the vase on the island in the kitchen, and it really classed it up!

New Thing #218-How Long?

I woke up today feeling great, but as the day wore on I developed a headache and body aches, and all I wanted to do was sleep. Since I wasn't in perfect health today, it was probably ironic that I played the Longevity Game.

The introduction to the game states:

"Sneak a peek into your potential future. How long can you expect to live? We developed the Longevity Game to give you a peek into your future by identifying the factors that can lead to a healthier, more productive life."

The game consists of a series of twelve questions about your weight and body mass index, your drinking and smoking habits, use of drugs, how you handle stress, and your driving record. The Age Tabulator starts at 74, and the number goes up or down as each question is answered.

The cutest part of the game is a little avatar that's generated depending on how a question is answered. Here's mine:

According to the report card at the end of the game, I'm living a 5-star healthy lifestyle, and I should live a long life.

New Thing #217--Connected

I have two bracelets that I wear continually on my right wrist. They are fisherman bracelets that I received on retreats--the first one when I was a retreatant in 2005, and the second one in 2006 when I was a member of the team that presented the retreat to other women.

The bracelets are composed of interlocked snap swivels, a kind of fishing tackle. The snaps open and close like a safety pin, and are difficult to close with one hand.

When I was running errands today, I felt something tickling my wrist. I looked down and noticed that one of the two bracelets had come unclasped and was hanging loose. I could have taken the whole thing off and put it in my purse, but instead I put it back on my wrist and I asked a stranger to fasten my bracelet.

There was a young woman with a toddler who was in the same aisle of the store as me. She seemed to be glad to do it, and had no trouble fastening the clasp. Soon I was on my way, glad to know my bracelet was safe.

New Thing #216--Cap It

The summer sun and heat have really done a number on my hair and scalp. Both were dry and needed a deep conditioning. I bought a jar of conditioner at the drug store a couple of weeks ago, but never got around to using it because the directions said it needed to be left in (under a shower cap) for an hour to obtain the maximum benefit. Today I decided the job had to be done so I glopped the conditioner in my hair, put on the oh-so stylish plastic head covering, went outside, and did yard work wearing a shower cap.

According to my beauty sources, I needed to use the plastic cap to hold in heat on my head to allow the conditioner to penetrate deeply. It did indeed hold the heat in; even with today's below-average heat and humidity, the cap made my head very hot. I could feel the humidity building up inside the cap.

We live on a very quiet cul-de-sac street. There's never a lot of people coming through, and today was no exception. My neighbor, who teaches piano in her home, had some students come for a lesson, but I was on the other side of the yard and they didn't look my way. A delivery truck drove down the street when I was pulling some weeds in the front yard. I was tempted to move to the side of the house so they wouldn't see me, but I stayed right where I was!

After the hour was over and I rinsed the conditioner out, my hair felt great. I cleaned off the shower cap and put it and the conditioner away. Who knows when I'll want to repeat this activity?

New Thing #215--Orange Crush

Today I performed an experiment, and I crushed a soda can using steam and atmospheric pressure. Or more precisely, I partially crushed the can so the experiment was a partial success.

The experiment's steps:

• Empty a can of soda, wash it thoroughly and let it dry.
  
  
• Put a small amount of water in the bottom of the can.
  
  
• Get a dish that's wide enough to allow the can to sit in it easily. Fill it with cold water.
  
  
• Get some tongs and a gas heat source. Hold the can with the tongs over the heat. Heat the can until you see steam come out, telling you the water has begun boiling.
  
  
• Quickly flip the can upside down (mouth down) into the ice-cold water. The can should collapse in on itself.
  

That's how it was supposed to work. However, since I have an electric range, I had to make some modifications. I put the soda can (with the water) in a pan containing a small amount of water, and put both on the stove. I figured that when the water in the pan boiled, the water in the can would be the same temperature. I guess my assumption was inaccurate, because nothing happened when I took the can out of its water bath and turned it upside down in the cold water.

I tried again, but this time I let the soda can sit in the boiling water for several minutes before I removed it. This time I got a partially crushed can (see the picture at the top). I would hardly call it the implosion that my source said would happen, but I decided to be satisfied with my partial success.