Friday Five:
1) Irish stuff - Bank draft stuff lobbed into RBS court. Nothing else to do. Another appointment made in Paisley for the JP. Daughter needs new photos as well. It's almost like stacking up money and setting it alight.
2) Canned 4 half-litres of chili last night. And darned if one of them did not seal! I have NEVER had this kind of trouble with lids not sealing. I don't know if it's the jars, or the lids they are sending. I am going to stop using the Kilner lids and switch to my stash that I brought with me to see if that works better. So later this weekend we'll be having some chili, I guess, since we have to use it up.
3) Ordered a small shelving unit of bamboo wood to go on my south windowsill. For the plants this winter. The herbs won't get nearly enough light in the kitchen, and the grow-light greenhouse setup is going to be full of salad greens. So, if the measurements stated were accurate, the shelf will go up and give me two "extra" windowsills upon which the cilantro, basil, rosemary, etc., shall sit. And maybe some peppers. I am up to my eyeballs in hot peppers. Some of them have dried into incendiary status.
At present I have enough dried to basically make it a year without ever having to buy a hot pepper. The cayennes have decided to put on another round of blossoms. Signs are good that these darlings are going to be the kind that will make it through the winter and bloom again in the spring.
4) Tomorrow makes 3 weeks on the killer diet. I've backslided a little and went up to 1,200 calories a time or two. But usually kept it around 1,000. I can't tell if I'm losing weight or not - my clothes do seem more comfortable, but they could be stretched out. Not going to buy a scale as that leads to the obessive checking of weight thing.... I just hope I've gotten some of the fat out of my liver.
Five more weeks to go. The Daughter is also on it and she definitely looks thinner. I want to be at a steady-state weight before we go back to the States. I'm going with basically empty suitcases, and planning on buying clothes/shoes like mad there. Assuming I can get a driver's license before I go. Or we can't go.
5) They closed the main street near my place on Wednesday for the European cycling time trials. It was blessedly quiet - I was able to open the windows and just hear the trees. Which made me realize that, ultimately, I do want to live somewhere less urban. The Daughter is a city girl, though. So I think we'll be in the city for a while. I really do prefer the sound of wind in the trees to cars and trucks - and drunks late at night.
