Snowed in and Stuck

 Did not go to the store Friday, because of being snowed in. The car didn't start today, and my other half had the bright idea I should take a cab to cover two stores. This, I did not want to do, and found out that at bottom, was the Coca Cola deficit. The next bright idea, to order a pizza, and I mentioned, they have Coke. This brought on widened eyes and a bright smile. "Yeah!"

As you probably know, our car wouldn't start. All I was ready for today was for Bill to have it towed away and fixed. Instead, he tells me to "get out there" and help before it "dies". Someone from the car repair company had done a temporary restart, so he could get to the car repair place. However, he is stuck in the snow, which is also ice. I'm in my pajamas, but okay, I'll put on my boots with yak trax on them. I'm not sure what I'm doing out there, but I end up saying a brief prayer for help for both of us, and lo, a neighbor comes down the alley to do just that. So, Bill comes back from getting the car fixed, and it's all ready to go. It will have to be fixed more later. I have a good laugh on the way to the store, because the person who lives across from the "Jesus Lives Here" guy has a rainbow sign up and another pro-transgenders sign, which probably makes the JLH guy a little uncomfortable, but the other reason I'm laughing is there are three dogs jumping around in the yard, one of which looks just like my "other" family's dog, only gargantuan. So, I'm early enough to hit the Dollar Tree first. But when I go to Aldi's right next door, I take that quarter you need to get your cart, and it disappears into the gear shift. "Sigh!" When I get back, I already have the "refrigerate-able" stuff ready to go, and while Bill heats a concoction he still calls "Farmer Brown", even though it's "Shepherd's Pie", I'm called out once again to chop the ice that is making snow shoveling three times as hard. I'm left out there while he takes a break. Again, I'm not really sure what I'm doing, telling myself, "Well, even though my mom was a spoiled/refined city girl from Minneapolis, my dad came from the farm, so maybe, I have some strength just based upon inheriting his metabolism." This does not help me, because I remember my cousin telling me he got special treatment, being the last male, since he gravitated more toward reading and art, which he obviously passed on to his "children". So, again, I'm kind of lost out there chopping ice, not knowing what I'm doing in the cold and dark. But somehow, after a little more chopping and shoveling on his part, Bill gets the car back in the garage. And I can get more groceries out of the trunk. The only thing I can say I've accomplished is, I did a pretty good job shopping. We were down to NOTHING; even the toilet paper supply was looking pretty scary. So, I'm pretty proud of that...until I have to do part III of my "grocery" shopping at Meijer....tomorrow.

Before we were all in the Same Boat

 When you've been laid up a little too long, your mind starts playing tricks on you. You start fantasizing that you really ARE the dowager in Down ton Abbey. But you notice you're down to the last few toilet paper rolls; the banana tree has become empty; soup is no longer an option; the orange juice has become rank; the milk has to be measured, so your significant other can eat his cereal; the few "fresh" fruits and vegetables look tired, bruised, and worn; and NO, NO, NO; the servants are NOT going to go to the grocery store after all, nor are they going to cook for you.

Becoming a Grandma in every Respect

 Leela and I happened to be looking at some goal setting things on my door, which included a couple of pictures of me, or my head. So, she says, "Grandma, you're not ugly, but are these pictures of a long time ago?" I said, "Well, maybe about 12 years ago." This blew her away, as she was imagining what she might have looked like back then, being as she's only 8 years old. I think she mentioned something akin to a sperm and an egg, or perhaps, an amoeba or a molecule. But it did get me to thinking, well, that means ever since that time has passed, I've really gone downhill.

An Unintended Poem

 Stuck my head out the window to view the hostile, cold universe,

but thought it could be worse;

We could be in a dome in Antarctica doing research,

Instead of in our toasty little homes, attending Virtual Church.

Studied a little Buddhism and learned about Karma,

Thought it was theory, but you bet your Dharma,

Some folks on the Hill,

Are finally getting their fill.

Since good ol' Uncle Joe and Jill,

And even in Michigan

Snyder can't fish again

Flint water won't give him permisi...again.

And even Lou Dobbs,

Will be out of a Job.

Can we hope next is Hannity,

before losing our sanity?

Perhaps Laura and Tucker...

Guess I'd better stop here.

(This actually started out as a prosaic statement, which shows it's getting late, so I wax poetic. Or perhaps, wane poetic.)

History Repeats after a Century

 Outsmarted the defunct part of my Nook reader. I got another free copy of the book I was reading, placed it in an app from play store, which was on my regular tablet. Resumed reading where I left off. It's getting really interesting, as Woodrow Wilson has been elected President in the States beneath Canada. I already know he was another one who lied about a pandemic, got the Spanish Flu himself, consequently, had a stroke, and word had it that his wife was running the country, since he was "out of it". So, we've already had a woman president. This is an historical fiction, and I got reacquainted with the characters just as if they were close relatives I'd been away from for awhile.

50's Housewife for a Day

 I watched my mom in motion as in, "Road Runner". No wonder she was able to keep the pounds from creeping! But in Mom's case, I think she liked the role, even though she had to go back to work full time with her RN degree. She preferred to be what my brother called his "little gray mother scurrying around the kitchen". One should give it at least a week, though, so as to have the joy of sprinkling, ironing, and hanging everybody's laundry, with underwear concealed behind the sheets.

In appreciation of this, I'm reading this book called, Servants, which is not too complimentary of servitude during that Downton Abbey era. I, so far, haven't thought it's too bad to have skills like that and to be employable in that field. I think the problem was too few had other options. I appreciate domestic skills, never having had them. I'm getting into them now, though, from time to time.

I got inspired by my 50's housewife video, glad we don't have to live that way entirely, anymore, while at the same time, putting on an apron to make a good pot roast with sides and a cheesecake. I don't know, however, if Bill will appreciate the stacks of dishes which were the product of my new found domestication. He doesn't even like cheesecake. Well, I do, and I'm pretty sure I made a much more reasonably priced one, since it was "from scratch". This pandemic is having a strange effect, taking me places I have never gone before.

The purpose of a Grandma is to make cheesecake and fudge. I'll have to admit I'm getting better at that stuff than when I was a mere parent. It might have something to do with always having to go out to work rather than starve. What we ate was quickly thrown together.

The age-old Question

 Although I sneak in a cup of yogurt earlier, my breakfast becomes so late, it's really a brunch, and a late one at that. Well, I sat there thinking do I want an egg or the about-to-be-tossed chicken salad? Then, I started smiling, realizing it was the age-old question,

the chicken

or the egg?