Day the 191st

Ah, Sports Fans, we have progress...

After I started to recover from what felt like Terminal Scunge, I realized, as I posted yesterday, that Chez Weltha looked like drug lords had tossed the joint looking for heaven-knows-what (and even Heaven might not have been sure, it looked so perfectly awful.)

Last night, I made small progress on my List From Yesterday:

• Yes, Reader, I changed out the Other Cat Box (we have two because we have two cats, Mimsey and Horatius - the Wonder Cats)


• I cleaned in the bathroom. I cannot say that I completely cleaned the bathroom because I did not, but the mirror, sink, toilette [I know, I know, but I hate the word toilet and know not why...] were all cleaned, the floor swept (because we keep the Two Cat Boxes in the bathroom...and there was litter...littered all over the floor), and the trashcan emptied. Left to do there includes cleaning the shower, scrubbing the floor (sooooooo looking forward to this one and hope you can hear the dripping sarcasm...), some basic organization, and washing towels and bathmats. Not to mention buying a new towel bar that I will be asking Friend and Neighbor Paula to install because she has a power drill (and I do not) and various mechanical skills (as before.)


• I cleaned some in the kitchen. There are still dishes to do but not as many.


• I got the trash together (but did not take it out. I should have but did not. Will tonight, and it will sit in the cold until the trash comes again on Monday because they came this morning but no, I was not ready and I'm not anguishing about it.)


• Put Things Away in the kitchen. It looks marginally better, and for that, I am glad.


• Cooked - yes, cooked - dinner with leftovers for today's lunch. All right, it was baked macaroni-and-cheese and no, not the highly low-cal version but at least I used rice pasta for some reason I am not sure. It tasted pretty great last night and heaven only knows how hungry I was...It should taste great for lunch today because...I can actually taste, and that is lovely.


• This morning, made a wee salad of sliced tomatoes and cucumbers and brought my own balsamic vinaigrette to work (equal amounts of balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil, combined with a pressed clove of garlic and whatever herbs I feel like adding...not terribly difficult) to eat with the very naughty mac-and-cheese-yes-I've-been-sick-and-need-comfort-food, please do not scold. Thank you.

And went to bed early and watched the Swedish version of The Girl Who Played With Fire with the wonderful Noomi Rapace as Lisbeth Salander and the delightful Michael Nyqvist as Mikael Blomqvist. I'm now finding myself thinking, "Okay, Mr. Wonderful could well be Anglo-Nordic, particularly English-Swedish and that would be lovely" and contemplating learning Swedish. This is not as far-fetched as you might guess because I have a Swedish friend. I mean, she's a US citizen and all, but she was born in Sverige and has taught me a few Swedish phrases and says, "YES, you could defo learn Swedish" or words to that effect.

One of the qualities this movie has that I love is that both Mikael Bomqvist and his co-worker (and parttime girlfriend) Erika Berger share is that they are portrayed by real middle-aged people who have less than perfect bodies and whose faces (and necks, OH let's not go there) look like they haven't been botoxed into Barbiedom...In fact, one of my favorite phrases is 'Botox Barbie' for that plastic-oid look that I am glad to be avoiding. And yes, I need to post new pics. Soon. It's just laziness on my part...Really. It is. I have them. Oh, and the fact that I don't think I look all that great and like my dad before me, I tend to have 'wonky eye' - one that sometimes doesn't look as open as the other even though there is nothing wrong with them. Not that there would be anything wrong with having an eye that was a wee bit different.

Really not much else to say today other than tonight, I think I am making White Bean Chicken Chili and also some little pizzas that I make with lovely cooked portobello mushrooms, carmelized (well, almost...) onions, and artichoke hearts. I'm making my first pizza crusts and will report on them. I have to cook them all tonight and THEN, can freeze and reheat. Very good they are. They would be BETTER if I could find soy cheese (if anyone in My Town knows where I can find Annie's Soy Shreds, please let me know. I think they are Annie's...Perhaps Whole Foods? Wal*Mart used to carry them, but no more...). Will report lovely little recipe, based 'sorta' on Pizza of the Gods from a certain pizza place here in, oh well, let's just say the name TULSA, OKLAHOMA and it's Hideaway Pizza. There, you have my info.

I quite honestly would ALSO like to make Julie's Coleslaw but we will have to see. And I might have to go by Garden Ridge on the way home because Christmas Stuff is 75% off. And there were a few things I thought, "cool. totally cool" that would be nice for next year...

Here's to being at the end of middle-age and looking forward (in 1-1/2 years) to the "Youth of Old Age."

And in my heart, I'm still 19...

Independently,

Weltha