Great Energy Day
Though I didn’t get out of bed until 8:30, I had no problem kicking it in gear. I knew the weather was going to be sticky but it didn’t deter what I had plans for.
Tomorrow, Saturday, me and my cousins from Mom’s side of the family are getting together at the Darwin City Park. The cousins are from Emil and Martha Riebe. Emil and Martha had eight children: William, Wilfred, Wilmer, Lena (my mom), Gilbert, Norman, Gertrude, Melvin. All eight are deceased.
It will be wonderful to get together for fun, rather than at a funeral.
I began the morning with laundry and plowed right on through to put the cold salad together. Chopping celery and onions kills my hands, so that I had prepared them yesterday and they were chilling. Brownies will be topping off my “take along.” Dennis washed up the cooler, loaded our two Harbor Freight chairs and fetched a small bag of ice for storage in our refrigerator until we need it. Dennis’ idea is to put the ice in the cooler tonight before we go to bed, thus having a chilled environment for the salad tomorrow morning before leaving for the trip. Ya, I know, older people need to have a plan in place ahead of time or something may be forgotten.
I have not bought baking pans for most likely 50 years. Too late, I got the message that anything other than Pam to spray on the pan prior to baking will allow grease to burn onto and penetrate the surface. As I was thinking on the brownies, I really felt bad that the handles of the glass baking dish showed the decades of grease being burned in place. Didn’t go too good. I had bought Goof Off to work on getting caulking off of cement. Since purchasing it, it has been too warm outside for me to work at it. On a whim, I got the Goof Off out with a small square of fine grit sandpaper. I sprayed a bit on the handles and began buffing. Oh my gosh! The burnt residue came off. My favorite dishwasher, Dennis, has tried numerous times to tackle stains such as those on various baking dishes. Now we know the rest of the story. I will say that initially I tried our nylon dish scrubber and it did melt the nylon. Use with caution and follow up with hot Dawn water to make sure to wash it all off.
I did make two trips up into the attic. With Dennis’ huge gun cabinet being a new addition in the living room, I needed to have some items go to storage. One of the items was the old fashioned wicker clothes basket of Mom’s that I had extra throw pillows and lap blankets in. The other item was a toddler’s highchair that Dennis had spent many hours taking off the old paint and refinishing. For some reason, I have a huge emotional attachment to that chair. Not to worry, the hand sewn teddy bear that always sat in it, went right along to the attic . . . it’s a duo. If I had more square footage, I know I would not have any problem having more of my items around that evoke good memories.
Tomorrow is being looked forward to. Something different and getting out and being with cousins that I have not seen for some time. The wonderful part is that Dennis has gotten to know several of them. He won’t have any problems socializing. By the time we return home it may be late. If I don’t catch you tomorrow, enjoy the beginning of a weekend that promises to have nicer weather in store. Be good, be safe and be . . . happy.