Spring and Getting Things Done

"Spring is here/The grass is riz/I wonder where/The flowers is."  My husband got a kick out of that goofy verse and would invariably recite it when the weather warmed.  I guess he can be forgiven for that--barely.
Yesterday really was heavenly, probably 70 and brilliantly sunny. Nevertheless, I kept my focus and continued my lifetime task.  To free up space in the garage, I loaded up the car with thrift store donations and dropped them at Lighthouse Alliance. That allowed me to get two big boxes out of the dining room.
I was hoping that Jim, at Unshredded Nostalgia in Barnagat, would buy some of my antique paper stuff, but it wasn't to be.  Put what I had in mind in the car, including newspapers and magazines reporting major twentieth century events, a stock certificate from 1911, a number of 78 record albums (Jim said nobody's buying those), and a bunch of other memorabilia.  He rejected all, but regretfully, and I'll reserve them  for the May 30th flea market and forge ahead.
On the way to Jim's, I stopped at Sea Cure Moving Co. (agent for Bekins Van Lines) and got an estimate for moving my things to the left coast.  I was pleasantly surprised that it was less than half of what I expected.
The guy who owns Sea Cure is the father of Tara C., who's been active in the theatre company for years.  She directed me in my debut in Steel Magnolias five years ago, and is often involved otherwise in LETCO and has a masters degree in theater arts.
Ellen Skyped me in the evening and we had a great talk, much of which centered on my move.  At Apartments.com, I had been confining myself to a certain level of rent and she reminded me that--assuming I get the house rented--I can afford to go higher. True, and that gave me a lift.  
Hey, Mimi, now we're cookin'!  

Easter

I'm often snide about Susan's conventionality and religiosity, with my nasty little comments and superior attitude.  I should be ashamed of myself.
I am ashamed of myself.  She's been a good friend and neighbor to me in all kinds of ways and I need to acknowledge that.
Yesterday, I went over at 1:00 and was welcomed with open arms by Susan and Walter, her sister, two nieces, cousin, son and daughter-in-law, and of course, her daughter, Julie, whom I like so much.  I had brought over for the only grandchild, Sophia, my shoe-box-sized container filled with all kinds of stickers.  I know I won't use them anymore and probably would have taken them to the thrift store, anyway.  I didn't realize Sophia would get such a kick out of them, but she loved them. I gave Susan a bunch of very pretty pink tulips in a matching pink vase.
Susan served ham, potato salad, asparagus, a carrots and pineapple dish, corn pudding, rolls, and a wonderful sweet potato casserole, on which she put white peeps instead of marshmallow.  Of course, there were yummy appetizers, as well as all kinds of wine, beer, and soft beverages, plus Sapphire gin martinis.  I skipped the latter, although Walter makes the best in the universe, as they're really potent and I didn't want to have to be helped across the street.
Dessert featured a meringue-based whipped cream bunny "cake," filled with kiwi, raspberries, and bananas; bunny and chick cookies; plus peeps dipped in chocolate. Good coffee accompanied these, and some of us, including yours truly, laced it with chocolate wine.
I stayed until 4:00, then left with copious thanks.  Without having those of my own family around for Easter, this was surely the next best thing.
Later, I impulsively called Aline and asked if she wanted to go to Gravelling Point after she had dinner (I ate so much at Susan's I think I'll never eat again).  Yes. indeed, and I picked her up at 6:00. We went to our favorite viewing area and it was excellent: extremely windy and lots of white caps.  Drove after to Green Street to see more of the angry water, which was barely held back by the bulkhead.  Finally, I drove us down to Dock Street, an area far, far out into the swamp lands, and we enjoyed seeing that, too.
A good, satisfying day.

Saturday

Ordinary, forever-job day, but it was topped off pleasantly.  Packed my wooden salad bowl set and a few other things.  Finally steeled myself to re-visit the box filled with items surrounding Pat's funeral,; I discarded all the sympathy cards.  There were more than a hundred of these and they meant so much to me, so I saved them, but to what purpose?  I know nobody else in the world would go through them and, for that matter, even know most of the people who sent them.  So it was silly to keep them, but even so, I felt like a traitor for throwing them away.
Worked up a flyer and a program for the Shalom House event.  I called it "A Little Taste of Theatre," which I now think is a dopey title.  Geez, people will think it's a cooking show, but I already sent them to Bobbi and the hell with changing it.
Knocked off in the late afternoon to head up north for dinner with my friend and her guy.  Rather than a plant which she would have had to--well, plant--I stopped and got both of them little chocolate, gold-foiled bunnies.  They gave me a beautiful, bright yellow begonia, which I definitely will plant.
We strolled down Main Street to Woody's, a small luncheonette-type place, very casual, but with excellent food.  Had a good one, then walked back and I took off for home.
Nice day, and Susan invited me, so I'll go there for Easter dinner.

Lots

Talk about activity--whew!  "Captain Carpet" came about 9 am and measured the carpets, sat down to discuss it with me, gave me a price which was reasonable, so I signed on the dotted line, then chatted for a bit.  Very nice guy, he's a talker; is 55, has seven children, and has lived in Somers Point for years.  Interestingly, he lived for many years on Wilmont Avenue, the same street where we owned a rental house. Upshot was, he'll come on Tuesday, April 14, the day after Marifer does her deep cleaning, and the day before the house goes up for rent.
My friend and her husband blew in about noon and immediately started on the chores and repairs I had listed for them.  Working together, they replaced the light over my shower (nine foot ceilings are great, but hard to get to), reattached the slats in the banister out back, fixed the porch light, took down and cleaned the dusty register in the hall ceiling, packed a number of large pictures, pulled the sofa and bureau out from the walls to vacuum behind, carried a lot of heavy stuff to the garage, and performed a variety of other hard-or-impossible-for-me tasks.
To top it off, friend's husband power-washed my driveway and walk.  Because the cockamamie builders put the outside faucet away near the back of the house and I have only one hose, he had to hook it up to the washer hose in the laundry room.  It took him a good hour and he did it in a steady rain.  He is just a gem; fittingly, because so is she.
They left about 5:00, but not before they invited me for dinner tonight.  That will be our Easter together, as they plan to camp up north in their 39-footer over Sunday and Monday, possibly longer.   Fine by me, and I may or may not go to Betty's relatives or to Susan's--or, simply stay home.

Buzzing Around

Picked Aline up for cheese omelets at John & Sonia's, then we performed our viewing-of-the-water-at-Graveling-Point ritual. Dropped her off at work after we discussed going out for dinner on Sunday.
Yes, I know it's Easter.  I thought we might be going to upstate Pennsy, but we're not.  My friend is going camping, which isn't something on my "can't wait to do it" list.  Betty called and when she heard we weren't going, immediately invited me to her niece-in-law's in Galloway. I've been there before, I like Dorothy and her family, but I doubt if I'll go.  Just don't feel like it.
If Susan knew I didn't have plans, I know she'd invite me for Easter dinner. However, I didn't mention it to her; not sure why.  I guess I'm getting tired of the perennial guest routine.  I want to have people over myself and certainly want to reciprocate with Susan and Walter.  Well, we'll see.
I plunged back into my steady job by clearing all the under cabinets in the kitchen and both bathrooms.  It really wasn't all that messy, but I still want to get rid of some cleaning products.
The racks in the oven were pretty bad, and boy, the baked-on stuff is hard to get off.  I actually looked up a parts place on-line, thinking I'd order new ones, but damn, they're forty bucks apiece--no thanks.  Instead, I tried a pumice stone and actually did a fairly good job with plenty of elbow grease.
Ran down--or up--to good ol' Shop-Rite, which was, of course, jammed. It'll be even worse the next two days.
Spent time rearranging the show at Shalom House on the sixteenth. I moved some players around and revised here and there, and I think it works. Also wrote up the program.
Called a lawn service guy and he came over to give me an estimate for clearing out and mulching the front and side beds.  Agreed and he'll come on the ninth.

Clearing Out and Drones

Geez, I think I'm as energetic as most people my age and maybe more than a lot of them, and yesterday, I used every bit of that pep.
After our walk and breakfast, I dove into clearing out the linen closet.  Now this isn't a standard-sized closet; it runs along a whole wall in the master bath behind sliding doors and is equipped with four long shelves.  One side easily held all my king-sized bed sheets and pillow cases, a number of large towels, tablecloths for both the dining room and kitchen, blankets and pillows, plus boxes of tissues, cotton swabs, and so on.  On the other side, I had my incredibly extended collection of cosmetics, skin care products, all kinds of stuff for teeth, fingernails, and practically every other part of this bulging body.  I kept my scale (lotta good that does me, as I don't like the numbers on it) and paper goods (I mean toilet paper, of course) underneath, and there was plenty of room for all that and a lot more. So that's what I tackled.  I'd hate to figure up what I paid for the mountains of things I threw out, but oh, what a liberating feeling.
My friend came a bit after 1:00 (she had conferences at 4:30) bringing a huge roll of extra-strong bubble wrap and started immediately wrapping the larger pictures of those I want to take.
I finished the bath chores and started in on the kitchen drawers. Filled a big box with donations of an enormous variety of utensils, almost all rarely used, and I still have plenty more.  I asked my friend to take two small tables to the garage, thinking their absence would make the rooms look bigger.  She also substituted a family picture for the rather gloomy one--boats at dusk--in the living room and switched around some other items.
In the meantime, we had turned the oven-clearer and let it go the full four hours and some minutes.  It looks better than it did, but not perfect; maybe I'll run it again.  It was impossible to get the racks clean, I'm afraid.  I wonder if I could buy new ones.
Friend left a little after four and I ate a can of peas for dinner, then took a drive to Graveling Point.  Boy, was I tired, but in a good, accomplished-much-more-than-I-thought-I-would-and isn't-that-grand-kind-of-way.
Today: Breakfast with my pal, then more of the clearing-out same.
WIDER:  Our blood-drenched leaders continue to champion horrors beyond belief.  Now it's supplying drones to "allies":
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-cracks-open-door-to-the-export-of-armed-drones-to-allied-nations/2015/02/17/c5595988-b6b2-11e4-9423-f3d0a1ec335c_story.html

Busy

Busy day.  I spent the morning going over boxes of memorabilia I had already packed and consolidated a lot of it. Tossed much, also, but maybe not enough.
Called Bill G., my neighbor, who's a contractor, and asked to have him power-wash my sidewalk.  However, my friend later told me her husband has such a washer, and he'll do it. While I was talking to Bill, Betty and Alex C. drove up.  Said goodbye to Bill and took them inside.
At his request, I gave Alex a little tour of the house--he liked it a lot--then he loaded the chair I'm giving Betty into his SUV.  Betty then took us to lunch at Cuisine on the Green, which was very enjoyable.
They left from there, I drove home, and my friend came about 3:30, followed by Marifer R., Susan's cleaning person.  We discussed having her deep-clean my house before it goes up for rent.  She was here for an hour while my friend and I showed her what we needed done and while she explained her methods, and so on.  We were both very favorably impressed with her, aside from her fee. We think it's too low and will probably augment it.
Linda V., from my acting class, called.  She's unable to make rehearsal, but will be there for the performance.  Said she has a friend whose mother may want to buy my house.  Odd, as it ain't for sale.  When I explained, she took Walter's number and said maybe the lady would rent it.  Whatever.
Today, my friend has a half-day, then conferences, so will come back to help me do whatever.  I think I'll ask her to clear more space in the garage; in fact, I'll ask her to throw away or take to the thrift store some of the Christmas items I have without me seeing them.  I'm afraid that's the only way I'm going to be able to relinquish the stuff.
The little sweetie in Tokyo Skyped me last evening.  He was very busy with guiding his bus through a tunnel (his upturned chair), but was gracious enough to smile and wave.  He expressed great uneasiness about the vacuum cleaner, a scary creature and a menace to Mommy, but I'm sure he was distracted later: They were going to go to the station to view the trains.