And a good time was had... almost

Last night was so much fun. I got to the ballpark just after the gates opened and before I could even get past the ticket scanning lady, I heard a shriek of SUSAN!!!!!!!! It was Sophie, my favorite lifeguard at my old pool. I knew but had forgotten that she worked Mariner games in the past but I didn't know she still did. It was so much fun to see her again. She's not at the pool any more so I didn't even get to see her when I went back last time.

On to my seat which was really, truly perfect. I kind of wished I had brought my binoculars although they would have been a PIA to have had to mess with so it was kind of a wash. I watched batting practise and soaked in all the stadium stuff. There is so much to hear and see, it's a bit overwhelming and this was an hour and a half before the game even started!!

Robert and John got there in time for the national anthem. I was surrounded by Red Sox fans on all sides. It was pretty funny. As a bonus, Tuesday home games are when former player and current worst-ever-broadcaster joins the TV booth and ruins the games for my watching. There was a fair amount of satisfaction in being able to look up from my seat to the TV booth and give him the stink eye.

We let all those Red Sox people have their fun and take the lead and be all gloaty until the 8th inning when we took over and left them in the dust. It's funny. When the Mariners lose, it's really just another day at the office. No biggie. When the Red Sox lose, those people get all bent out of shape. The guy on the other side of me from Robert and John was really really pissed.

And it is very delicious to walk out of the game with the huge crowd and continue down the road with them all until I get to my very own front door and just fall into home. Never gets old.

I was all jacked up about the whole evening and it took me forever to go to sleep. Totally worth it.

Wednesdays are always busy at the pool. Except for today. Mostly just me and it was nice.

I turned off my air conditioner yesterday and it's still cool enough not to need it. I don't think that's going to last but I will enjoy it for now.

Today is cleaning lady day so I need to get off my butt and do all the things I would have done last night. Put away clean dishes, putting away stuff.

Cough... cough

I have this personal thing with the gym. On the days when the sun is not shining glaringly in my eyes, I walk up the stairs from the gym garage to the front door instead of taking the elevator. Their are five four-step flights from the garage to the street then around the corner into the gym's front door. I count it as part of my workout. And a kind of test to make sure I can still do it. Some days it's actually difficult and some days not at all. Weird. (Otherwise, in my life, I try to avoid stairs as often as possible.)

Today it wasn't really hard or easy but I noticed that when I got through the gym to the locker room I was really winded and coughing. My COPD is soooo much better than it was for several years that often I forget I even have it. I can go through days without even thinking about it which is kind of amazing and very cool. So now, when I can't breathe easily, it's generally a reminder that I forgot my morning inhaler. Yep. I think forgetting it is my little rebellion.

COPD is really embarrassing as it is totally caused by my own stupidity. By the time I started smoking at age 15, it was widely known that smoking could kill you. But, I lived in the part of the country who's economy at the time was totally dependant on everyone smoking a lot so everyone did.

Yesterday, I saw a tweet about the old days and candy cigarettes. I had not thought about them in years. This photo is not me but it sure could have been. My friends and I were pack-a-dayers in grade school.



I always had a pack in the little girl purse along with my dime.

Girls, particularly, always carried a dime for emergencies. Phone and toilet. Back in the olden days payphones* were prolific and most public toilets in the ladies room cost a dime.

Kind of hard to imagine today but you could not pee for free in restaurants, hotel lobby restrooms, department stores, IF you were a person of the female persuasion. If you had a penis, no problem - spray at no cost whenever and where ever you wanted. No penis - you pay OR crawl under the door for a free pee. If you were with a group, the first would crawl under and the rest would get a free ride, one after the other when the first came out and held the door open.

It was barbaric and they finally outlawed it in one city and then another and then the rest. Whew.

Those olden days were stressful - that's why we needed those candy cigarettes!!

*I saw a guy on a payphone a couple of weeks ago and nearly strained my neck with a double take. 1. There's a pay phone that works??!!!! 2. There's a person actually using a pay phone???!!!

It was outside the QFC at Westwood Shopping Center in West Seattle. Next time I'm there, if no one's using the phone, I'm going to look and see how much it costs to use it. And, probably I should get a photo...

My tweets

• Tue, 16:18: Photo https://t.co/zUPM3fivAb
• Tue, 16:18: Photo https://t.co/jdf14H3oUI
• Tue, 16:18: Photo https://t.co/btw3S0ODLe
• Tue, 16:18: Photo https://t.co/7DXsOnj5uS
• Tue, 16:18: Photo https://t.co/ffr6vL2WrB
• Tue, 17:42: At the baseball game. Guest of the opposition fan club but… https://t.co/JwobsGfWf1 https://t.co/S1hVx2mH1B
• Wed, 11:24: Nice reminder to make sure I get mine today. Sounds like a good issue. Thanks! https://t.co/u4fORYCGDn
• Wed, 11:26: At last, the answer is in. Whew! https://t.co/t5y0cuUfvv

Experimenting

It's only 3 pm but I feel like it's already been a fuller day than most and I'm not even sure why. I've been very busy sewing and clicking mostly.

My first experiment was with my sewing desk. A while back I ordered some all purpose risers. Clear plastic add-on feet for a table or desk or bed and never used them. Today I decided to see what my sewing desk would feel like 1 inch higher. Initial results are very promising.

Then I tried out an idea I thought of the other day... using pipe cleaners for doll eye glasses. I'm not sure I love them but it could be more the execution rather than the raw material. I'm still thinking.

(So nanila you might want to hold off showing the doll below to Humuhumu. There's a chance I could do better with glasses. I'll be doing more experimenting in the next few dolls.)

And I marketing survey request for a COPD study that will pay me $200! That survey took some time but I'm totally fine with $200.

OH and ticklethepear totally solved the terrace curtain problem and so very elegantly!! Painter Drop Cloths. Amazon has them the perfect size. $40 on Amazon fixes the problem perfectly.

And I keep getting distracted by email and twitter. My housecleaner brought me a delicious dish of steak (which she pronounces like stoke - past tense of steak?) and potatoes. That will be my very good dinner tonight. Another game against Boston. And it heated up considerably but I got the a/c on in time to prevent the heat from getting inside.

The dolls du jour including the eyeglass experiment...

And one more thing

My grandmother always kept her kitchen garbage can under the sink (left hand side). My mother always kept a kitchen garbage can under the sink (left hand side) even when she had and also used a trash compactor. And, so, of course, because DNA and all that, I have - for the 47 some odd years I've had a kitchen, kept the garbage can under the sink (left hand side).

Until today. Yep. I'm breaking outta the mold. I'm going rogue. I'm turning my back on my genes.

Today arrived a really beautiful stainless steel step-on-the-pedal-to-open kitchen garbage can that is sitting right out (under the counter eave) in public!!

I ordered it from Amazon and it came while Amira (the cleaning lady) was here so we set it up together and moved the plastic bag from the old under the counter broken, dirty, 25 year old plastic under-the-sink garbage can to the new beauty. And then over the next hour, while she was here, took turns tossing trash into it with much fanfare.

It is hilarious and a little pathetic how much fun I am tossing trash this afternoon.

I'd say 'it's the little things' but this is huge, friends, I'm telling you this is HUGE!