I’ve been thinking a lot about 2019.
2019 was a tough year for us. We lost my mother-in-law. We knew we were selling our home, but we didn’t know if we could easily sell it or where we would go next. We had a lot of expensive home repair projects before selling the house and it was stressful. We both kept getting sick and going to urgent care. We traveled, too much. Dan and I were apart, too much. It was all jarring. By contrast, 2020 has been good. We are settled in our home and we are together. Even though the world is a mess, we are doing well. I’m happy.
It’s hard to believe that it is week seven. I found out that my best friend’s aunt has Covid-19. I think that I’ve met her, but I don’t know her, still this is hitting close to home now. The aunt is the care taker for my friend’s grandmother, who is still healthy. Her aunt is asymptomatic, so that’s positive news as well.
On a personal level, this week was both productive and exciting. I found out that a non-fiction piece that I wrote will be published in Intima: A Journal of Interpretive Medicine. I was also asked to write a blog entry for the publication. I’m beyond thrilled at this opportunity and still shocked that my story is going to be published. I spent most of the weekend polishing the first 46 pages of my manuscript and sent it to my new writer’s group for feedback. This is another area where 2020 is going well for me, I feel settled enough in my home life to focus on my writing. More great things are coming, I can feel it.
Landscapers began working on our back garden, which until a few days ago, was a dirt lot. They did the framing for a path on the side of the house and our deck, concrete was poured. Hopefully it will be completed in a few weeks. I can’t wait to have lazy days in the sunshine and backyard bbq’s. We also did our first front yard maintenance: Dan mowed our lawn and I watered the plants. I just ordered garden tools so I could weed. Growing up in Los Angeles, I could never have imagined that this would be my life.
I love to organize! Dan bought me racks to organize our pots/pans/lids.
He also bought and built a shelf to organize our powder room.
The kitchen experiments continued. One evening we had a very British dinner: jacket potatoes (baked potatoes for Americans) smothered in Branston baked beans. Beans on potatoes is a little odd, but it is growing on me.
Dan made an English trifle with Bird’s custard, fresh strawberries, angel food cake and blackberry jello- topped with fresh whipped cream and sprinkles. Yummy!
Our biggest experiment was with our newest kitchen gadget: tortilla maker. We watched a few YouTube videos to learn all about tortilla making and then used the bread maker to make the dough for flour tortillas. They were tasty, but we need more practice. Maybe a different dough recipe. This new skill is coming courtesy of tortillas being sold out at our local store. We can master this!
Last night, Dan made homemade mac and cheese. It reminded me of my favorite mac and cheese that I used to get at the employee cafeteria, “the Dinosaurous” back in the late 90’s when I worked at Universal Studios Hollywood. I used to love it and then they changed the recipe or brand, it wasn’t the same. Until they changed it, I ate it pretty much every single shift.
Falling in the category of both organization and food, I wanted to share the most amazing product that we have recently purchased: Rubbermaid Fresh Works Container. I have them in a variety of sizes and use them to store produce. I used to have a problem of produce rotting before I could use it all and that is no longer an issue. Lettuce lasts about three weeks! We have saved money and reduced waste. It has been especially important as we are trying to avoid trips to the grocery store. It is easy to go two weeks and still have plenty of fresh produce. I highly recommend them.
We finished the third season of West World. We loved the first two seasons, but three was a let-down. The story was a muddled mess and it lacked the creativity of the first two seasons. Some of it was downright silly. Yes, we will watch season four, but if it doesn’t improve, we might ditch it.
We also watched the HBO movie, Bad Education with Hugh Jackman and Allison Janney. It’s based on a true story about of a high school scandal in New York. it’s a crazy story and Hugh Jackman is unrecognizable. He’s great. I highly recommend it.
A beautiful sunset picture from one of our walks. The weather had been warm and lovely. We keep seeing cows in our neighborhood!
And finally, the cute cat pictures. The last one was taken when they both saw a plastic bag that was blowing in the wind and it captivated them for about an hour.
