My plan yesterday was to drive to the cake decorating store in Sacramento to get supplies for Ellen & Shelly's wedding cake, which I'm making for their reception on Saturday. But it was hot. Very hot. And gas is now $4.70 a gallon and I started thinking about what I really needed and did I have to drive all the way into Sacramento to get supplies. I decided that I'd find a work around, and get most of the baking supplies at the supermarket. The problem is the boards that the cakes go on, but I'm hoping to throw myself on the mercy of the local bakery and hope that they will sell me boards.
So the plan was to clean off the kitchen counter (a major undertaking) before I went to sleep last night, but dammit, I decided to read "just a little" of the book I was reading, Tess Gerritsen's "Vanish," the fourth book in her Jane Rizzoli / Maura Iles series.
At about 2:30 a.m., I simply HAD to put the book down or I'd never get any sleep.
I slept until 6:30, got up, sat back in my chair, picked up the book and, except for feeding the dogs, I didn't move until about 9, when I finally finished it. It was definitely the most gripping of her books that I have read.
But that meant I didn't go shopping, and I hadn't cleaned off the kitchen counter yet.
Life is complicated further by the fact that the dishwasher died before Walt went to Boston and there was no time to go dishwasher shopping before he left for Santa Barbara, which ordinarily wouldn't be more than a minor inconvenience, but I'm going to be doing heavy-duty bowl/pan dirtying between now and Friday night. Also, our garbage disposal apparently communed with the dishwasher and realized that Walt is out of town, so it has stopped working. I reset it so that the motor will turn on, and give me a nice hum--but the blades don't work. There is stuff in it, and I've cleaned out as much as I can but whatever is left is causing the water to drain slower than usual.
Needless to say, my enthusiasm for doing this cake was rapidly diminishing!!! Especially when I discovered Lizzie licking off the remains left on my dinner plate last night and I realized that there was NOWHERE I could put the cake layers as I finished them that would be doggie-safe--so I must also clean out the freezer in the garage before I finish frosting the first layer.
I'm trying to remember when Pa went off with the kids and left Ma at home alone for a couple of days on Little House on the Prairie. She got an infection on her leg and was about to cut her own leg off with a kitchen knife when the doctor arrived in time to save her. Compared to that, a couple of broken appliances don't seem all that bad.
I did take time out to watch the Tim Russert memorial, which was very moving. I only used half a box of Kleenex.
Then I rushed the dogs off to the dog park, stopped by the supermarket to get supplies (the kitchen counter finally having been cleaned, all the dishes washed, dried, and put away, awaiting all those bowls that I will accumulate making the cake).
I should also mention, in passing, that not only does the dishwasher not work and the garbage disposal not work, but the light has gone out over my recliner. This is not a simple matter of just changing the lightbulb. It's a theatrical light and has to be purchased at a theatrical supply place in Sacramento and, knowing myself all too well, I would not trust me to put the light into the socket or I'll end up killing myself by falling off the ladder.
AND, my DVR is over 50% full of news reports about Ellen & Shelly, who have asked me to make copies for them. I can't clear the programs off because my DVR is not set up for me to record from TV to DVD. I could probably figure out how to do that myself, but just haven't had time because I've been cleaning off the kitchen counter so I can make the wedding cake. But suffice to say, I can't record much on my DVR until I can get the damn news programs off (I think there are about 8 of them--and you can't record just 5 minutes; if you set up the recorder, it records the entire program!)
Finally, the family in Santa Barbara was waiting for the results of a sputum test that they gave Walt's mother a day or so ago. She has MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus), a common infection in hospital patients and highly contageous, which is why she's been kept in isolation and why everyone has to gown up to visit her. She can't leave isolation until the infection is cured, when they can move her to regular intensive care, and then, hopefully, to a convalescent hospital.
But, the test came back positive, so they have to continue to treat her for MRSA before she can move. Walt plans to stay in Santa Barbara until they can move her into the convalescent home.
This means that I will probably be driving to Mendocino on Sunday to scatter Michele's ashes by myself. Everyone else is going on Saturday, but I have to stay here to attend Peach & Bob's 50th anniversary and Ellen & Shelly's wedding reception.
I haven't been up to the property in Mendocino in about 20 years. It's just a small road off another small road and you can easily miss it unless you know what you're looking for and I'm convinced I will never find it. And cell phone reception is not good there so I won't even be able to call to let people know if I get lost.
This is not turning out to be the best week ever. But it's a better week than Tim Russert's family is having, and a better week than Walt's mother and my mother are having, a better week than Walt, his sister and brother are having, so I guess I won't complain.
At least I don't have to chop off my leg with the kitchen knife.
Yet.
No comments:
Post a Comment