Boooorin’ in the USA

No photos this week, because when I went on my weekly photo run it was intercepted by errands I couldn’t put off any longer. I planned to do the errands then the photography, but at the end of the errands my body asked me, “WTF were you thinking???”

I was also supposed to drive across the planet to an unofficial work meeting tonight. I smiled and declined.

It’s not mandatory and I’m the ONLY one who usually shows up for those things. This time two of my colleagues – who never showed up for prior meetings – decided to run the show, and I already knew the subject matter ahead of times. It had nothing to do with work and everything to do with getting disgustingly drunk. That’s a hard pass.

Still attempting to write, and get stuff edited, and so on and so on. While Grammarly has a great reputation as an editorial aid, I’m not sure how helpful it’ll be for me. It’s a computerized editor, which means it functions without a soul. It doesn’t recognize slang or conversational English, and has a conniption fit at about 90 percent of my fantasy book. I know a lot of people swear by it. I mostly swear at it. I use colloquialisms and it gives me the stink eye.

But considering I don’t have the $500-1000 to shell out for a pro editor – yet – I have to make do. By definition, editing my own book is an atrocious idea. Therefore I’m the choosy beggar who’s complaining about a free computer program which in theory will help me along the way.

This week I DID shell out a lot of money for little drabs and dribbles, mostly things I’d been putting off or tried (unsuccessfully) to get by cheaply. I’m all for cheap, that hasn’t changed. However, there’s cheap and there’s settling for garbage rather than using a little common sense.

The spousal unit talked me into getting a knockoff battery for my laptop. It did work – for a while. It always threw an error when I booted my computer, and at almost exactly six months of use, it’s now virtually dead. It lasts about 15-20 minutes per charge, if that. So today I ordered the real deal, with a sale and a coupon. Yes, Dell’s stuff is more expensive than some brands, and I wish the keyboard’s touch levels weren’t so stiff, but they build their products to last. And by shopping smart, I got it at 40 percent off what they were originally asking.

I also ordered new eyeglasses this week. I was thinking it had been about three years – turns out it was closer to five. Oops. The optometrist chuckled and agreed my prescription had changed a little. Okay, more than a little. I can see some things better without glasses than with the ones I’m wearing now – and I can’t see diddly without them. I also coughed up enough to add a pair of prescription sunglasses. I don’t do a lot of driving these days, but when I do it’s daytime, and the sunglasses are survival for driving daytime out here. It’s still our rainy season this time of year, but we’ve been known to go several months without seeing a single cloud. The pair of prescription shades I’ve been using to drive are now close to 7 years old.

Besides the new eyes, I also bought a new handbag AND new shoes this week.

If you’ve been reading my blog for any period of time, you know I make the sign of the cross every time I have to shop for either, because I HATE shopping for handbags, and shoes are no better. Well guess what? I hit Ross and found BOTH a handbag AND shoes that fit, all for a song. One stop. Quick walk through the store. Amazing! I also replaced my bed pillow, since my old one was about as fluffy as a #10 envelope; got new bedroom slippers for the spousal unit; bought new sheets for our bed; and a handful of other odds and ends like that I’ve been putting off because

I

HATE

SHOPPING.

Now for a bit of sweet news. My older daughter – whom I despaired of ever settling down – just let me know she and her boyfriend are engaged and planning a wedding in April. She asked me to help her design invitations. I hope she doesn’t back out – this young man is one of the good guys, from what I’ve seen of him. She has so much on her plate, God knows she can use someone who’ll share the responsibilities. They’ve been together for a while now and I know he’d asked her before. I don’t know what he did to convince her to say yes this time, but I’d like to be in on his secret – she’s tough!

Oh – and I cooked. Or rather, I crock-potted and boxed. Lemon chicken in the crock pot, festooned with French-fried onions. The onions were mushy, a little softer than stuffing, because I was gone longer than I planned (hence a 6-hour cook time, vs the intended 4.) And it picked up the lemon-pepper flavoring, which was better than it sounds. The onions were an afterthought because I had a package in the pantry I figured I should use before they expired. But you know what? It was pretty damned good that way. I combined it with some rice and a side of spinach, and called it dinner. There was a lot of food, but very little left over.