Disjointed

No appreciable progress has been made on laundry, schedule or birthday present; napping, except of the eyes-wide-open variety, has not yet occurred. Given the current time, it won't.

Oddly disjointed day. Off to Panera (after resetting the alarm twice, each time for an additional twenty minutes) to have my quiet time, do some reading and some journaling. I pulled out a book I read most of (I have a bad track record for getting through non-fiction, OK?) a couple of years ago, because I think it's the one a friend is bringing for our women's retreat. I've reread up to the point where I stopped the first time; a chapter a day from now until the retreat will finish it. I'll tell you what it is after the retreat.

Then to Target...as I pulled into the lot, someone was pulling out of my favorite parking spot. The person who designed the new lot did so hampered by all the disabled-accessible rules, as well as by an utter lack of common sense. Or any sense. I think his twin brother designed the new check out lanes in the store, but that's another story.

Why do all of the things you only buy once in a blue moon all need to be purchased at the same time? Dish soap - I get the huge bottle, and start watering it down when the level goes down by a third. It lasts forever, in theory, anyway. Shower gel - a friend gives me a bath pack for either Christmas or my birthday each year (geez - yes, I bathe; she knows I like to smell like...figs, or pears, or vanilla) and it takes me most of the year to use it up (my birthday is early January). Deodorant - good grief, the dang thing falls apart before you can use it all.

All of those things, plus a couple more, were on the list. But the thing that killed me was the toothbrush. I use a battery-powered Braun toothbrush, saving the manual one the dentist gives me every six months for use in cleaning things (other than teeth). Early this week, it decided to give up the ghost. It couldn't be shocked back to life with new batteries, cajoled into lasting another month by a replacement head...it was well and truly dead. I've been using one of the dozen or so saved (but not yet used) for cleaning manual ones; it just isn't the same. Target, naturally, does not carry the same model anymore, although the extra heads I have for the current model will fit the one I bought. But here is my problem: they only carried models that plug into the wall for charging. My bathroom has exactly one outlet. From May to November one plug is permanently filled by the cord from the fan, as there is no vent fan in the bathroom. I'd die without that fan on (shut up - not because of that, because of the heat and steam). My hair currently reaches to the middle of my back, requiring daily blow drying.

The wiring in this place is simply not up to a multi-plug thing. As it is, this outlet has it's own little circuit breaker thingee, which will occasionally pop. I'm lazy and don't want to plug/unplug every day.

Would it look odd to have a toothbrush charging on the kitchen sink?

The rest of the day sort of disappeared. I know I finished one game of Chicken Invaders 3 without using any missiles; I only need to do one game without dying at all in order to have a complete medal cabinet. Hey, shooting chickens is a stress reliever. Much Joan of Arcadia has been watched, as I'm sort of quilting. Three flowers an hour isn't exactly breakneck speed, but it will get done. Took the garbage out (this is a big deal; the crap weeds wildflower jungle flower bed the landlord lets grow up around the sidewalk to the alley and the garbage cans is literally higher than my head, and full of both things I am deathly allergic to and flying things with sharp stingers. There have been a couple of times I've simply stood on this side of the jungle and thrown the bags in the general direction of the cans (two of which have no lids); I was on the basketball team freshman year of high school, and my aim is still pretty good). It's been sticky and nasty hot (IMHO) all day, not leaving much energy for anything.

In spite of the weather, I did make comfort food for dinner - Chicken Biscuit Casserole. I'm sure every family has a version of this. The original recipe is pretty simple: Melt 2 TBS butter in a large saucepan. Add 1/2 cup flour seasoned with salt and pepper, stir and cook one minute. Add 1/2 cup milk and 1 - 10+ ounce can of chicken broth. Stir with a whisk over medium high heat until thickened. Add two drained cans of peas and carrots, 1 1/2 cups diced cooked chicken, 1/2 of an onion, diced and cook for a minute. Pour into a casserole dish. Take a tube of buttermilk biscuits (Grands work well - 5 or 6 oz tube) and gently pull the biscuits apart horizontally. Place on top of casserole, covering all the filling. Bake at 375 for about 20 minutes, or until biscuits are brown.

In my world, I use a half pound of baby carrots, cut into thirds and steamed along with thawed frozen peas instead of the canned stuff, and low-sodium chicken bouillon reconstituted in 1 1/2 cups of water instead of canned broth. I also add a can of mushrooms. I like having more veggies. I suppose green beans or celery could also work. Maybe even corn. At any rate, it was very good, even though it raised my internal temperature a couple of degrees.

In a fit of insanity this afternoon, I ordered two new lamps for the living room. The new ones are absolutely perfect for the room, and for organizing the one thing that is always laying around various surfaces in the living room. Nothing is ever easy, however; after ordering them from the mail catalogue I received, I went on-line to find a picture to link so you all could see it - and found the price to be $10 cheaper. After a bit of tap-dancing by the customer service rep ("Well, they print the catalogues far in advance, and can't always offer the same prices as we do on the website - they are two different operations (but the goods come from the same place?") I realized it was much easier to cancel the order and place a second one through the web, without using the catalogue code. Nice to know they won't automatically give you the lowest price (but if I try to return it, they will give me only the lowest price it sold at if I don't have a receipt, even though I could go on-line and access my history and prove how much I paid.)

Anyway - here.

I babble, therefore I must be overtired. I'd say I'm going to brush my teeth with my new toothbrush and go to bed, but the darn thing has to charge for sixteen hours to be fully charged. It has another eight to go...