It's Not The Size Of The Splash...

So true!

http://www.gocomics.com/nonsequitur

Not So GRRRRR!!!

On Monday I discovered that my kitchen computer wouldn't start, and there were some very important files on it I needed to finish a fundraising calendar.

When I discovered the problem I sent an panicky email to Bill, a friend/computer guru who built the computer for us several years ago.  Hubby Tony was nice enough to take the computer tower to Bill's during lunch, and Tuesday night when I was out running errands I got a call from Bill.  He told me he'd started working on the computer, asked which files I needed to complete my project, then emailed them to me; they were waiting in my Inbox when I got home.

As I suspected, once I had the files the changes to the document the printer had asked for didn't take long to complete.  I sent the revised files to the committee one last time, then (with fingers crossed)  submitted them to the printer first thing on Wednesday.  I talked to him later in the morning, and he said everything looked good and he should be able to have the project done by the target date of next weekend.

There are no coincidences in life.  Tuesday morning, when I didn't know how things would all work out, I read the day's page from this year's calendar.  It said:

When you don't know what to do, pray.

A good reminder.

Priorities?

When I open the mall Customer Service desk my shift starts at 9:30, but since I have to leave home at the tail end of rush hour I build a cushion into my commute time and usually get there about 15 minutes early. I fill up the extra time by using the wifi hotspot in the center of the mall to check my email, Facebook, and all things Internet.

Today at 9:15 I was logging in when two teenage girls (who looked like they might be 15 or 16) came up to me. The conversation went like this:

TEENAGE GIRLS: "What time do the mall stores open?" 

ME: "10:00, except for the Apple store, St. Louis Bread Company, and Starbucks."

At this they looked moderately annoyed.

ME: "What are you shopping for at the mall today?" 

TG: "Homecoming dresses." 

ME:  "Cool!  Where do you go to school?" 

They seemed not to want to give me an answer, and it occurred to me that today WAS a school day. I thought about it, realized there was an off-site store nearby that might have what they were looking for, and offered to look up that store’s hours. While I was searching on my phone, one of the girls spoke up…

TG: "We ARE planning on going to school today!" 

ME: "After you get a homecoming dress?"

TG: "Yes".  

Sadly, the off-site store also opened at 10:00. I remember from my high school days how long it took to find just the right dress; I wonder if those girls WILL make it to any of their classes today.

GRRRRR!!!

A group I belong to puts together a thought-of-the-day calendar as a fundraiser, and this year I'm heading up the calendar committee.  For the past four weeks we've been exchanging emails.  Last week I designed the final document and sent it to the printer.

I got a message from him today that I needed to make a few changes before he could do the job.  The changes sounded easy, and I figured I could take care of it in 30 minutes.

However, when I got home tonight my kitchen computer (the one that has all the calendar files on its hard drive) wouldn't turn on!

I sent an SOS email to my computer guy, and another to the calendar committee asking if anyone had the last version of the document I sent.  Hopefully one of those will pan out.  Either way, it's going to take me longer than 30 minutes to finish this project.

Over And Above?

A middle-aged man came up to the Customer Service desk and asked me if we had a Victoria’s Secret store. (We do. Doesn’t every mall?) I pointed him in the right direction, and then, looking uncomfortable, he asked if we had any other lingerie shops. (We don’t, but the anchor stores all have departments. I showed him where each was on a mall map.)

As he got ready to walk away, he told me he was looking for an item for his daughter. I said he was a VERY GOOD father to do that. He replied he had no choice; he was a single parent!

Barometer

This morning I was going to take a walk in the neighborhood. However, I didn't realize it was raining; when I stepped outside there was a light mist coming down, which was enough to make me change my plans.

In retrospect, though, all I would have had to do is look at my hair in the mirror. It's always a good barometer of the humidity in the air:

Float or sink

Last night I started putting the garden to bed for the year, removing plants and cleaning things up.

Back in the spring I planted a couple of pepper plants and a variety of tomatoes.   As they started growing I placed a stake next to each, and trained the plants onto the supports. However, when the summer heat wave hit I wasn't as diligent.  Now the plants were sprawled all over each other, and it was hard to tell where one stopped and another one started.  I was confident there weren't going to be any more vine-ripened fruits this year.

Nothing beats a ripe red tomato from the garden, but I always manage to find a use for the end-of-the-season green ones, too.  They go into a large bowl on top of the refrigerator, where some of them will turn red. The ones that don't eventually go into the bag in the freezer for making stock.

I began my cleanup job on the far right side of the bed.  The first plant held a few large green fruits.  I took them off, tossed them in a  bucket, then pulled up the plant.  Took less than five minutes. The next two plants, however, had dozens of small grape fruits.  I began removing them one at a time, decided that would take forever, and pulled the bunches off in clumps.  They, too, went in the bucket, as did the rest of the tomatoes I came across and a couple of green peppers.  I kept going until our "green" recycling can was completely full.  The majority of the job was done, and the rest will wait until next week, when the trash has been picked up and the can emptied.

When I was finished the three-gallon bucket was half filled with unripe tomatoes.  I brought the bucket into the kitchen and removed innumerable green star-shaped sepals, then ran water into the bucket to clean the fruits.  After the bucket was full, I noticed that some of the tomatoes were floating, and others were at the bottom.  Surely that had to mean something.  A quick Google search gave me the answer...Green tomatoes sink. Ripe (or I guess in my case, partially ripe) tomatoes float.

Now I know.

Fly! Fly! Fly!

Another Monday, another day at the mall Customer Service desk.  My shift starts at 9:30; I left the house at 8:50, and arrived at the mall parking garage 25 minutes later.  I wound my way up to the top level, and parked by the door that's closest to the desk.

The large, four-level garage has several access points into the mall.  Every access has stairways and elevators that run from the street up to the fourth floor.  The top of the stairwells have glass windows all around and a glass door.  It's hard to see inside when you're walking up to the door, but that's usually not a problem.  Today, however, I opened the door and came eye-to-eye with a bird.

I think it was a sparrow, but it was moving too fast to be sure.  I'm guessing it came in on one of the lower levels, got confused, and flew up.  It must have been sitting on the trash can next to the elevator, but when I opened the door it flew right at me.  I don't know who was more surprised!   I jumped and gave a little shriek (which must have looked hilarious on the security cameras).  The bird quickly changed course and flew up to the very top of the stairwell, where it perched on a tiny ledge and stared at me.  As I walked farther in, it took flight again and disappeared down the stairwell on the other side of the elevator.

Logically I knew the bird couldn't do anything to me, but my adrenaline was working better than my logic was.  I was afraid to walk down the stairs in case I ran into the bird again.  In the fourteen months I've worked at the mall I've never used the elevator, which is very slow, but today I decided it was worth the wait...

Grind Your Own

Hubby Tony and I are trying to eat healthier. As part of that commitment I'm taking a close look at everything in the pantry. For example, the store-brand peanut butter I buy tastes good, but the second ingredient (after peanuts) is sugar. It also has hydrogenated vegetable oils.  I've also recently learned that peanuts aren't as nutritious as other types of nuts, so I figured we could do better.

Last year I made almond butter, but it was a lot of work. We were doing the grocery shopping today, and one of our stops was Whole Foods. I remembered they had machines in the bulk department where you could make your own nut butters.  I've always walked past them, but today I stopped and ground my own.

There were three different grinders arranged in a row on a counter across from the bulk bins. Each had a clear reservoir that held nuts, a nozzle coming out of the bottom of the machine, and an on/off switch to the left of the nozzle. Underneath the machines was a shelf with plastic containers and lids.

I chose the center machine, which contained almonds.  It was a lot of fun to use. I turned it on, and a heavy stream of ground almonds came out of the nozzle like soft-serve ice cream. As it fell into the container, I noticed that the texture wasn't as smooth as my store-bought variety. I scooped up a little bit with my finger and tasted it.  It was a little grainy, and without ANY added ingredients, a little bland!

Over the last few months I've started eating my peanut butter without jelly.  Until I get used to this new nut butter I might have to add a smear of preserves or a little honey to my next few sandwiches.

Rescue Plant

The mall I work at is landscaped, and serviced by, a professional plant company. They do wholesale changes of plants a couple of times a year (giving the areas a different "look"), and swap out individual plants when they get old-looking. Several months ago when the plants were last changed the company added colorful red, pink, and yellow bromeliads along with the basic greenery.

I've become friendly with a few of the people who care for the plants. Yesterday one of the woman came by the Customer Service desk and asked if I wanted one of the bromeliads she'd taken out.  It had a spent bloom, and she was just going to throw it away.  I'm already growing one bromeliad (a pineapple plant), so I decided I was up to the challenge of taking on this new plant.

According to the tag, my new plant was called Guzmania 'Marjan'.  The long, narrow, green leaves were arranged in a rosette that formed a reservoir, with a stalk rising from that. Originally the flower spike was a bright yellow color but now it was brown and dried-out looking.  A few of the leaves had seen better days, too.  I put the plant in the office, then carried it out to the car when my shift was over.  It was two feet tall, and top heavy. I had trouble keeping it upright on the passenger seat floor of my car.

When I got home I brought the plant inside, cut off the flower spike as close to the leaves as I could, then set the pot on the east-facing window seat in the kitchen next to the two orchids that don't spend the summer outside.  Of course the cats had to investigate, but it didn't take them long to pronounce it acceptable.

Technically, I won't be taking care of this plant for very long. Bromeliads only bloom once, and their sole purpose in life after blooming is to grow new plants, called pups, for the next year.  When the pups have developed a small rosette of leaves and are about half the size of the mother plant you can separate them and put each new plant in its own pot.

The tags says my Guzmania needs medium light, moist soil, and an average temperature of 55-80 degrees. That sounds like the requirements for all my plants. This new plant does have one unique care requirement, though. The center of the rosette is supposed to be kept filled with water (ideally  distilled).  I'll do my best to remember to do that. The plant will either thrive, or it can go in the compost pile.