what’s in the box

Posted on March 16, 2021 by is there any more pie?

When Ebay began, I jumped on the bandwagon and fell in love with bidding on things.  I’d take a break from writing to scroll through whalebone and vintage fabrics, Nantucket antiques and whaling ephemera.

I enjoyed Amazon, too.  Ordering books was never so easy and I didn’t even have to leave my desk to shop.  For many, many years I’ve ordered online from fabric stores and computer supply stores.  I’ve bought fig jam.  And musical instruments.  French soap.  Vacuum cleaners.  Protein bars.

The list goes on and on.  You know exactly what I mean, because you’re doing it, too.  Today I’m expecting the delivery of a new computer mouse, having drowned my former one in hot coffee yesterday.

Banjo Man retrieves the boxes and bags deposited by the back door and carries them upstairs to the kitchen island.  And then he hovers, waiting for me to show him what I’ve bought.

Sometimes I don’t remember.

Many, many times Banjo Man lifts a bag or box and cheerfully accuses me of buying “air”.  Are  you sure there’s something in there, he’ll joke.  And I’ll rip open the box to reveal sewing machine needles or pins or a cd.

It’s a thing we old folks do to amuse ourselves.

But last Sunday?

Inside the package there really was “air”.  It was empty.  No little $3.84 computer cord for my Garmin, no packing receipt, nada.

I couldn’t wait to show Banjo Man.  His “air” prediction had finally come true!

It was a little tricky trying to “return” something that didn’t exist.  Amazon didn’t have a box to check for that.  So I ordered a replacement and was told I didn’t have to return the “damaged” original.  Which was good, because mailing air back and forth is hitting a new low, even during these strange and awful times.

 

 

 

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feeling all the feels

Posted on March 15, 2021 by is there any more pie?

I love this phrase:  “all the feels”.

It makes me laugh.

So, when I tell you that looking at my new rug and towels in my freshly-painted bathroom gives me all the feels, you know I am happy.

This is not the best photo, but at least you can see the rug.  And yes, I need to cut the tags off of the towels before I get on with my life.

I’m feelin’ all the feels about this scrap project, too.

The squares are 4 1/2″.  Some day it will be a quilt.  Some day soon.

Speaking of phrases, this morning I head off to meet with a nurse practitioner in a new-to-me medical practice (our longtime doctor retired last month).  There have been two major miscommunications and mangled appointments, so today it’s “three time’s the charm” or “three strikes and you’re out”.

What’s your favorite phrase, as of March 2021?

 

 

Posted in quilting, rhode island, shopping | 6 Comments

we think it’s spring, oh yes we do

Posted on March 14, 2021 by is there any more pie?

Posing by the ocean in my Saturday afternoon going-to-the-dump outfit.

Here in Rhode Island if the temperature is above 55, it’s not snowing, the sun is shining and it’s March (or April), we call it Spring.

Sometimes I get all dressed up and ride along with Banjo Man when he goes to the dump.  I know that he will head over to Narragansett and drive along the ocean if I am with him.

We call that a “date” now.

And we are very happy about it.  Can you tell?

He looks a little grumpy but he is actually filled with joy.

 

Thursday morning we drove up to Providence so Banjo Man could have some bloodwork done at the VA.  Our doctor retired, so Banjo Man is trying something new.  So far so good.  Bonus:  we were five minutes away from Federal Hill and all that lovely Italian food.

And our favorite restaurant, Andino’s, which–thank goodness–is still standing.

Alas, it was barely 10:30 AM.  We sat in the car in the hospital parking lot and debated whether or not to head over to “the Hill”, kill some time and show up at Andino’s for a major pasta lunch at 11:30.

My poor husband struggled, but in the end decided to go home and get back to work.

We ate a couple of bananas and were home in less than an hour.

Fact:  bananas do not taste like homemade pasta.

 

Posted in family, rhode island | 2 Comments

an elderly loved one speaks out

Posted on March 12, 2021 by is there any more pie?

It has been somewhat shocking to me that in this time of Covid, Banjo Man and I are in the category of “elderly loved ones”.

This past year people were urged to check on their “elderly loved ones”, to bring us food, to give us rides to the doctor and to the grocery store.

Now folks are being urge to get the vaccine in order to protect their elderly loved ones.

Oh.  My.  Goodness.

I think it’s wonderful to help out our elderly neighbors and assorted loved ones, but I had no idea that Banjo Man and I had achieved such status.  We don’t feel elderly at all.

Last May Angela brought us toilet paper and tulips, but I know she didn’t do it because we were her “elderly loved ones”.  Or at least I hope not.

Fact:  You can never have too much toilet paper or too many tulips.

Which leads me to other new, trendy phrases I find annoying…

“Spill the tea.”  Look, whatever you call it, it’s gossiping.  Spilling the tea may sound refined and genteel, but the people who say they are doing it–or about to do it–sound very mean, as if they relish being nasty.  And yes, I’m talking about you, people on television!  And people on blogs.  And the god-awful Twitter.

“Speak my truth”.   As opposed to what?  I wince when I hear this phrase because I suspect something whiney or preachy is going to be revealed.  Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love autobiographies, from Billy Joe Shaver to Sammy Davis, Jr, and as a child read every single biography in the elementary school library.  So, please, simply tell me about yourself.  Or better yet, show me.  Keep your “truth” to yourself and let your behavior illustrate the kind of person you are.

“Unpack”, as in unpacking one’s feelings.  Or issues.  I thought this was clever when I heard it the first time.  Nicely visual, in fact.  But the tenth or hundredth or thousandth time?  No, thanks.  Deal with your issues and unpack your suitcase.

Now that I have that off my chest…let’s celebrate the vaccines!!!  And the return to normalcy!!!

I’ve been in and out of stores these past weeks and it’s so obvious that people are much more cheerful.  So many strangers have wanted to chat with me as we stand in cash register lines or pause in front of a row of canned goods at the grocery store.  At an appointment this morning the doctor wanted to discuss Idaho’s wolf population in great detail.  I smile behind my mask after every conversation.

We get our second round of vaccinations next week.

We’ll try not to break a hip when we do a happy dance.

 

 

 

 

Posted in a more pie opinion, rhode island | 4 Comments

a little makeover in covid prison

Posted on March 7, 2021 by is there any more pie?

I have a very ugly bathroom.  It has always been ugly, actually.  The kids painted it brown for me about twenty years ago.  I thought it would look elegant with white trim and hide the ugly wood-trimmed medicine cabinet and lighting fixture.

It didn’t look elegant.

Holes have been spackled and now it’s time to remove the light fixture and medicine cabinet.

Four weeks ago I asked Banjo Man if he would paint one wall for me (I was always the painter in the family but can no longer do such a thing, which irks me no end) so I could get a mirror and a new light.

We had lots of ivory paint leftover from the kitchen remodel, so all he had to do was haul the giant bucket upstairs and stir the paint for an hour or two (just kidding).

He ended up painting two walls with three coats of paint.

First coat on!

And he painted the cabinet doors.

And then my hero decided to paint the whole damn bathroom, which was an excellent decision.

I bought a curved shower rod, which was a nightmare to install.

I bought a towel holder that was also a nightmare to install and was returned to Amazon, along with a scathing review.

Purchase at your own risk.

As Banjo Man stepped out of his shed (after a search for screws for the shower rod) last Sunday afternoon he came within seconds of being hit by an Amazon delivery truck.  The sound of screeching brakes still gives me the shivers.

I spent an entire morning reading about toilet paper holders.  Did you know there are approximately seven different designs?

Here’s the winner, which I love:

I don’t take my cell phone into the bathroom (so I don’t need that shelf), but I really, really loved the double roll design.  It must have been easy to install, because I heard no bad words coming from the bathroom whilst my husband was completing the task yesterday.

The 36″ square mirror weighed a lot.  So Banjo Man built a shelf for it to rest upon.  I have always wanted a shelf so my joy knew no bounds.  I couldn’t believe we hung the monster mirror without breaking it.

Oh, the joy!

I think I’m going to decorate with navy blue, but I’m not sure.  I’ve been to Home Goods and TJ Maxx, but their hand towel selections are almost all white or gray.  I don’t care for gray, ever.  And I’m tired of white.  But I’m in no hurry to decide.

Here’s the just-about-finished photo.  It’s not up to Pinterest standards, but it’s a huge improvement and I am absolutely thrilled.  The new plantation blinds arrived  yesterday, which is Banjo Man’s final task.

It’s amazing what paint can do, isn’t it?

Posted in rhode island, shopping | 10 Comments

tiptoeing into march

Posted on March 5, 2021 by is there any more pie?

Warmer weather is coming, as are more vaccines.  Things are looking up around here!

A sample of scraps of strings from my “string bin” that were used to make 168 blocks last week.

I keep sewing and waiting for spring and the happy day when stores open their fitting rooms.

Yesterday I found myself at the local CVS Minute Clinic being treated for an ear infection.  For some unknown reason, I tend to get ear infections in March.  It doesn’t matter if I’m in Texas or RI.   And now I know that wearing a mask everywhere plus only going out once a week to buy food doesn’t prevent my annual ear infection.

It’s a mystery.

Getting medical treatment in the Time of Covid is a challenge, as I’m sure many of you know.  Our family doctor retired last month and I transferred my records to a local group of doctors.  Yesterday morning I was to meet with their nurse practitioner for my official first visit/check up.

And yet…I had had a fever the night before.  Because I had had a fever I needed to see a doctor and get antibiotics.   But because I had had a fever I wasn’t allowed to see a doctor.  And because I hadn’t yet seen this particular doctor or nurse I couldn’t get a prescription called in or get a tele-med appointment.

I would not pass the screening at Express Care either.  Unless I lied.  Which was tempting, I admit, as a last ditch attempt to get an antibiotic.

The doctor’s receptionist suggested going to the ER.  Or registering online at the CVS Minute Clinic and taking my chances.   So that’s what I did.  The nurse practitioner at CVS hesitated about seeing me without my getting a rapid Covid test (I had to wait in the car and talk to her on my cell), but when I told her I had already had Covid she said, “Come on in!”

I asked her if she’d had a busy winter and she said absolutely not.  She had only seen one case of flu, compared to an average of fifteen cases a day last year.

A line of happy seniors waited for their vaccines nearby.  She told me that people were getting choked up because they were so relieved to get the vaccine.  I felt that way when Banjo Man got his.

Thirty minutes later I had my antibiotics and headed home to curl up on the couch and watch endless episodes of TIME TEAM, a show about archaeology digs around Britain.  It always puts me to sleep, despite my fascination with the Stone Age.

Today I’m feeling much better and have returned to this week’s project, yet another scrappy quilt.  This time the pieces are from my bin of 5″ squares.

I love sewing half-square triangles.

Especially when these colors remind me of spring.

 

 

Posted in quilting, rhode island | 4 Comments

the windermere children

Posted on March 2, 2021 by is there any more pie?

This was quite a film.  Based on a true story, it’s the mostly unknown story of 300 children who survived the Nazi death camps and were sent to the English countryside for rehabilitation and treatment.  The caretakers were expecting small children, but the Windermere refugees were mostly teenage boys.

This was a wonderful movie.  Especially the ending.

Break out the tissues.

From PBS:  This is the stark, moving ultimately redemptive story of the bonds these children make with one another, and of how the friendships forged at Windermere become a lifeline to a fruitful future.

From Amazon:  One summer’s night in 1945, 300 children are in transit from Prague to the Lake District, a remote and picturesque corner of the English countryside. They are child survivors of the Nazi Holocaust that has all but wiped out Europe’s Jews – and for these particular children, their entire families too. They are some of the 1000 children the British government has granted refuge to, giving them a place where they can rehabilitate and grow strong after the devastation of the war. They carry only the clothes they wear and a few meagre possessions, along with the physical and psychological scars of all they have suffered. They do not know what awaits them in Britain and naturally they are fearful: they don’t speak English, and having spent many years living in death camps, have missed out on a proper education. But the children are also excited, for the war is over, and there is always hope that the future will be kinder to them than the past. 

90% of Europe’s Jewish children were murdered in the Holocaust.  Only 150,000 survived.  Thirteen million other European children lost parents in WWII.

What to do with these orphaned children became one of the largest humanitarian aid projects in history.

And here is a little piece of it.

 

Posted in movies | 3 Comments

last week’s tv and covid vaccines

Posted on February 28, 2021 by is there any more pie?

Banjo Man received his Covid vaccine February 8 and I got mine last week, on the 24th.  Oh, happy day!  I was nervous and expecting side affects, but a sore arm and a small fever was all I had to show for it.

Piece of cake.

But until the end of March we are practicing Safe Vax, as in waiting for the recommended two weeks post-vaccine (after our second doses mid-March) to feel invincible and free.  Which means the daily question:  what are we watching tonight?

HELL’S KITCHEN has returned to Fox on Thursday nights, bringing great joy to Banjo Man.  A less-than-wonderful season of BELOW DECK has wrapped up and I’m glad.  THE BACHELOR has been full of bullying and mean girl drama, so we are sick of it.  I hope they cancel the show.  Stick a fork in it, it’s done.   We know who he picks, they’ve already broken up, and no one cares.

Which brings us to Amazon Prime and Netflix…

I’ve written about The Tunnel before, but that was before we’d watched all three seasons.  It was a wonderful show and we loved the characters.  It’s violent and sad, so be prepared.  At first I was worried about so many subtitles, but it quickly becomes more English-speaking and easier to follow after the first episode or two.  The first few episodes of Season 1 are a bit slow, but the characters develop quickly and the suspense never stops.

I do have an issue with British police detectives roaming around scary places in search of evil serial killers without having a gun.  There is a tendency to open doors and step into caves and tunnels without being armed.  So either British (and often French) police are super brave or insanely foolhardy or the writers got lazy.  I don’t know, but I loved this Amazon series despite those bits.

Also on Amazon:  Martin Freeman (of SHERLOCK and FARGO fame) is brilliant as a police detective who risks his career and his reputation to catch the killer of a missing woman in Wiltshire.  It’s based on a true story, which I always enjoy.  This 3-part drama skips the violence and murder and starts at the search of a missing girl.  The Wiltshire police do not come off well, but the mother of a missing girl who never stops campaigning for better laws and justice for her daughter?  She’s a hero.

IMPOSTERS is Banjo Man’s current favorite.  Labelled a “dark comedy” when it appeared on Bravo in 2017, its two seasons now stream on Netflix.  The writing is clever (great dialogue), as is the plot.  A beautiful young con artist sets up men to fall in love with her.  Once they’re married, she strips their bank accounts and takes everything they own.  She disappears, on to the next victim.  The fun begins when her last three victims join up to find her.  In the meantime she’s now attempting to con a very dangerous man.

My absolute favorite show of the winter has been the PBS remake of ALL CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL.  After having owned a Pekingese, we watched the episodes with the pampered Peke Tricki-Woo with great joy.

Last week Amazon Prime and our Samsung Smart tv stopped communicating.  I did some research in an attempt to fix the problem, but learned that older (2016 and earlier) Samsung tv’s need newer firmware for Prime, but neither Prime nor Samsung supply it or care.  The solutions are to use another device to connect to Prime streaming or buy a new tv.  But since I am the Queen of Tech Supplies, I rummaged through my precious bin of cords and devices to retrieve an almost-new Amazon Fire Stick.

Banjo Man is always in awe of all things techie and, from his cozy nest on the couch, declared his shock, awe and amazement at such basic skills.  Hilarious!  The downside?  I now have four remotes to juggle.

And that’s all the news from the couch.

 

Posted in rhode island, television | 4 Comments

rhode island’s favorite toy is woke

Posted on February 27, 2021 by is there any more pie?

Our little state has been in turmoil for years.  Bankruptcy, federal takeover of the largest school district, Speakers of the House ending up in prison (as have a mayor and a handful of state representatives).  Summer and fall protests, looting, burning, attacking diners on Federal Hill.  The list goes on and on, but I’ll spare you the rest.  Let’s just say the FBI keeps busy here in the smallest state of the union.

And of course Covid.  Or Corona, as it was known as a year ago.  The previous weeks have been rough, as the vaccine rollout was barely a trickle and no one appeared to be in charge to address the problems.  Our governor is leaving for DC.  Amidst the screaming from mayors and state reps, this week the Covid vaccine began to be available to those 65 and older.  Now that CVS, local senior centers and a state-run mega site are distributing the vaccine, people are beginning to schedule their shots.  A sigh of relief was heard o’er the land.

But the real issue?  The reason people in this state were in an uproar this week?

Mr. Potato Head has dropped the “Mr.” in order to be “gender neutral”.  He will now be sold as Potato Head.

Which is hilarious, especially because Rhode Islanders are so miffed.  If there was a State Toy, this would be ours.  In other words, don’t mess with our potato.

He began in here in 1952.  Are you old enough to remember that originally the toy was sold as only the little decorative pieces?  We supplied our own potatoes.

And yes, I used a real potato.  I am that old.  

He was the first toy to be advertised on television, in 1952.

In 1964 he was sold with the plastic body.  Those plastic pieces had been declared dangerous, as their sharp ends pierced little fingers and also could be swallowed.  So the ends were blunted, the pieces enlarged and a plastic potato body was born.

A line of Potato Head friends and family developed.  He had all sorts of outfits.  He was a star on Toy Story.  Somewhere along the line he quit smoking and lost his pipe.

And now he is woke.  The world has a gender-neutral potato.

I cannot stop laughing.

 

Posted in a more pie opinion, just for fun, rhode island | 4 Comments

nine more days

Posted on February 19, 2021 by is there any more pie?

February is almost over.

Let’s party!

We’re having another little storm today, but the weather in Austin is improving.  Will has his power back.  Ben’s has stayed on.  Water issues continue, but my Texans are warm at last.  Tomorrow the ice will start to melt and temps will stay above freezing.

I’ve been stress-cleaning all week (Banjo Man is happily looking forward to taking it all to the dump tomorrow), but yesterday afternoon when Will texted to say the power was back on after 80+ hours I celebrated by baking.

And now…what do I do with five dozen oatmeal raisin cookies?

Let’s talk about pumpkins:

These are now four months old.  They are in perfect condition and remain cheerfully orange on top of the little liquor cupboard.

Eternal pumpkins.  Who knew?

 

 

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