random things

I used to write in a journal. A lot. My brothers used to steal it and read it. Maybe they didn’t really read it, I can’t imagine it would have been that interesting. This is the closest thing I have to a journal and in my journal I would write a lot of random stuff. So here is some random stuff. Someday I will have grandchildren and maybe they might be interested in the way I thought about things. If they are not they can skip this message, just like you can too if you are not interested!

1. Since I don’t come home until after 10:00 these days (I stay late to study) I have not had time to go to Costco to get Kirkland/Mission tortilla strips. These chips are absolutely essential in our house. That is what John usually eats for dinner. Since we were out of chips I went to Ralph’s one night and paid $4.79 for a 28-oz. bag. The 48-oz. bag at Costco is only $3.09. Oh, well, maybe they are better chips. Wrong! The chips from Ralph’s are not near as good as the Costco chips. I thought the chips would be the same but the Costco chips are more airy (I don’t know how to describe it, but the Costco chips are better!)
2. I discovered that on the local community college channel they sometimes play “ARTS” which is just clips of different performances, singing, dancing, and musical instruments. I find myself watching it sometimes. The other day there was a barbershop quartet type group singing a cool song. But it was in German. It was kind of weird, I never thought about how that kind of thing would sound in another language.
3. I have discovered recently that if I can get a half-day at home I can get a lot done and I really enjoy it. On the Thursday before the Fourth of July I got off work early. I came home and got to organize all the stuff under the bathroom sink, I did a bunch of laundry, I packed for our trip. But the biggest project was that I pulled the stove out and cleaned underneath. I had noticed a pen and spoon down there a few weeks ago but didn’t want to bother. Who wants to clean up someone else’s mess anyway (one of the perks of living in an apartment). But on Thursday I was on a roll and I pulled the stove back and found this… (click on the image and zoom in if you really want to be grossed out.)

It looks like a mouse crawled under there to cut an onion and then changed his mind. So gross! I cleaned up most of the mess. I did not take an “after” picture because it’s not a clean as I would like. I probably should have spent this time cleaning the shower, but this was so much more fun!