Back in the saddle again

This morning it was back to the gym pool. Yeah. I love a chlorine or salt water pool (the gym pool is bromine). I love a pool with a deep end (the gym pool is only 4.5 feet deep). But most of all - really the very most of all - I love a kid free pool that is quiet and serene with no life guards (exactly my gym pool). So it was a lovely lovely swim.

I've also noticed that my speed has increased. It was hard to tell at the other pools. I thought I was swimming faster but I don't track close enough to know for sure in a strange environment. But this morning, I did an extra tenth of a mile with no increase in swim time. Cool. For me, it's just important to swim vigorously for at least an hour. Speed, technique and style really don't count. I need the muscle movement and cardio. But, I won't lie, it's still fun to be faster.

Also I wore one of the old, now modified, suits and 100% success!!!! Nice.

The shows from the new TV season are collecting on my TiVo. I'm not rushing to watch because I want to make them last. I love TV.

We actually did have a TV as far back as I can remember which was the early-mid 1950's. The first one was a giant wooden piece of furniture with a teensy weensy non-color screen. There was programming only about 8 hours a day. There were a few hours in the afternoon and then they would put up a test pattern and there would be no more until the evening news and then there would be a few more hours til about 11 or midnight and then test pattern again.





I had two very favorite programs:

Pinky Lee and Winky Dink

I could, right this minute, sing you the song from Pinky Lee. It is in my DNA. It was on for 30 whole minutes. A lot of the first TV programs were 15 minutes. One day I was watching him dance and sing and he just fell down and then, after a bit, they replaced his show with words on the screen. I couldn't read. I ran to get my Mom who was not at all interested in going to the TV to read the words. I finally nagged her into it and learned that "Our show is temporarily interrupted." This was a BFD for me for two big reasons.

1. I learned that I needed to learn to read or I would forever be begging people so I could know what was going on. I started teaching myself that afternoon.
2. I adopted the phrase 'temporarily interrupted' and used it in every single sentence for about two weeks until my mother threatened to permanently interrupt me.

Winky Dink was a VERY cool drawing show. You sent off for a Winky Dick kit which was a box of crayons and a plastic sheet. You put the sheet on the TV and then followed the ball on the TV with the crayons and made your very own drawing!!! It was just amazing.

Of course, the plastic sheet was lost immediately but who needed that??? Just draw on the TV anyway, right? Turns out, Mom had issues with that, too! Geesh.

I also have a rule about watching scripted TV. I only watch it at night. I don't watch a lot of TV in the daytime anyway. I watch some podcasts back in the sewing room but mainly I use the living room TV for Front Door TV Network. In the late afternoons I watch Ellen and other stuff - British Bake off, Project Runway, House Hungers. Then after dinner, I watch regular TV.

Except there is still baseball. There's a game tonight. But tomorrow's game is in the afternoon and no game on Thursday so I'll be able to get my real first taste of the new shows then.

Time now to go sew some dolls.

Switching cuisines in the middle of the ground beef.

Zoey has not been in her computer bed since last winter. She has plenty of places just for her around the house and she has no compunction about taking a place that's just for me. But when she tucks herself into that computer bed, it just makes me smile. (It should make me want to get in there and clean that cat hair off those pillows.)




Yesterday at the grocery they had hamburger meat on sale so I picked up a couple of pounds. There was a jar of spaghetti sauce in the fridge that was not getting any younger.

Today I browned the meat with some chopped up onions and then went to get out the spaghetti sauce only to find out I had waited too long. I probably could have scraped the fuzzy off the top - why chance it? But what to do with the meat and onions...

In the cupboard I found chili spices, beans and diced tomatoes. Ok, then, chili it is! I found some diced green chilies in the fridge with some chopped black olives - both of which needed to be used or tossed. So I tossed them into the chili pot.

I also have on hand, sour cream, grated cheese and I saved out about a quarter cup of chopped onions. Perfection!

While in the cupboard I spied some corn muffin mix. That is now baking in muffin cups. I have enough chili for about 4 dinners and 4 muffins! I'm so impressed with myself that it's not funny. The three other chili bowls and the muffins will all freeze beautifully.



I also got a lot of other tidbits of stuff done.

I have about 25 songs on my iPod Shuffle for swimming that never get played. Have I mentioned how much I dislike iTunes? I put them all in a playlist and finally convinced the Shuffle to play that playlist. (The Shuffle has had probably one too many swims. The center button is on its last leg. I may never get back to All Music again.)

I made a light weight jacket/shirt last Spring. It's only now cool enough to wear so I've only now discovered that pockets would have been a great idea. Oh wait! In my never ending fabric hoarderness, I saved some of the scraps! Two pockets worth!!! I got them all cut out and trimmed out and pinned on and ready to sew. But I have to change the needle and also the thread so I'll do that tomorrow.

I cleaned out the oven. My new, very expensive, Advantium microwave/oven has a shiny stainless steel interior. The old one, got grimed up quickly and then spent years being gross to look at. It worked great but it was just gross. I am determined to keep this one shiny. And so is my house cleaner. She can make it sparkle. I can get the grime off but it does not sparkle. I watched her carefully last time. I tried to duplicate today and failed. Oh well. As she said 'That's why you have Professional... ME!' So true.

I washed all the dishes from today's shinigans and they are now drying in the drainer.

I'm feeling very productive and accomplished. Retirement Me doesn't get that feeling often so I'm wallowing in it.

Here are the dolls of the day...