BooksRule

Pot roast in the slow cooker for dinner. Nothing fancy, just a roast (chuck roast, I think) with some onion soup mix mixed with water, poured over the top and then cooked on high until tender. I made some rice and then used some of the roast liquid to make some onion gravy. That's all I had for dinner--meat, rice, and gravy. I'll have some green veggies tomorrow. :)

That's great! I do some of the ordering for my university library, which includes a children's literature collection. I would be interested in hearing what it's about. Congratulations!

I checked the list of David McCallum's movie and TV appearances on imdb, and was surprised that I had mainly seen him in a few TV guest appearances. I knew about 'The Man From U.N.C.L.E', of course, but I've never seen any episodes. I primarily remember him from his role as Dr. Henri Clerval in the two-part made-for-TV 1973 movie 'Frankenstein: The True Story'. He was excellent in it. On the TCM topic, I'm hoping that there are some 'new' (meaning not shown before or rarely shown) movies for the Halloween season scheduled for October. But, my TV on-screen guide has already let me see through the first half of the month and although there are a few movies I plan to re-watch, I haven't seen anything that really stands out. Yet.

All this food talk is making me hungry! (I just got home from work and plan to work in the yard for a little while before dark. My dinner might be leftover large lima beans with bacon. I don't know yet.) Speaking of cornbread, I got cornbread at a restaurant in Kentucky years ago (deSha's, for you who know the place in Lexington) that I really liked. I've baked some once or twice since then. It makes a huge panful and can be on the rich, sweet side. It's almost like a cornmeal sheet cake, LOL! On another chit-chat topic, I don't know if it was due to me getting an entirely new central A/C system installed several weeks ago, or because the temps outside have come down a little bit (upper 80s/low 90s during the day, upper 70s at night) but my electric bill this month was about 1/3 lower than last month. I'm a happy camper about that.

My DVR is set to record it as a new episode, but the description definitely sounds like the county fair one. I'm going to take a chance that it's a rerun, because I want to record two other things that evening and something has to go. If this show is a rerun, then it's off the DVR.

When I come in from outside and I'm hot, I usually just sit next to my oscillating fan. After a few minutes, I get cold so I turn it off. I hope it will save me some money (a new system should definitely be more efficient), but I also want to check into getting some new (and more) insulation for my attic before next summer.

Well, the A/C guy was here this afternoon and (as I thought) the Freon was low again. He found the leak and the cost to repair/replace the part/section was more than 1/3 the cost of an entirely new system. So, tomorrow I'm getting a new central air system (outside unit and inside air handler. No new ductwork). The one I have is at least 13 years old, so it makes financial sense to go ahead and get a new one. It's a blow to my bank account, though. :( But the good news is that although I usually keep the temperature set at 78, if I come in from working in the yard (or an exhausting trip to Walmart) I can set that sucker down as far as I want without worrying about whether or not the system can take it.

I know that this summer's heat has been unusual and hard on everybody, but I want to say that I admire those of you who manage to live in areas in the 'usual/normal' summertime heat without central air conditioning. I don't know if everyone has fans, window units, swamp coolers, or what, but my hat is off to all of you. I live in the humid, deep south, and don't know what I would do without my central air. And, I'm not even one of those people who has to crank it down to 65 degrees. I usually keep it on 77 or 78 and I'm plenty cool. But, my aging system has decided that it doesn't want to keep up with the high 80s outside (I guess those recent high temperatures in the upper 90s/very low 100s was the last straw). I could tell that it was struggling this weekend, but the house stayed cool. But I left it this morning set on 79 and it's been a constant 81 since I got home (and hasn't cycled off). I'm going to have to call the repair guys tomorrow morning. I'm okay right now (I'm not delicate by any means), but I know that I would have problems and be complaining left and right if it got much warmer inside. My cat Maggie is stretched out (looking very flat) like she's burning up, but it's not that hot. I was hoping that the last freon charge would carry me through the rest of the summer, but no such luck. I think I'll have three possible options: They can repair the leak without it being horribly expensive, they can charge it up one more time (if the leak isn't too bad) just to get me through the rest of the hot weather, or it might be more cost-effective to get a new system (yay, that's a few thousand dollars I didn't want to spend right now).

It wasn't bad. Taco-seasoned beef, cheese sauce, salsa, chips. And refried beans that I actually liked. Usually they are too bland for me, but these had just a little salsa -- I think -- mixed in with a few beans left whole (but soft). And toppings such as jalapenos. You mentioned that the drumstick is your least favorite piece of chicken. I like the chicken breast best, but hardly ever cook those for myself. Next to that, the drumstick is my favorite.

I went to two different events at work today that provided food. One was a workshop that had a little nacho bar. Later I went to an open house that had coffee and pastries. So, I wasn't really hungry when I got off work. And, I had to go to the grocery store. It was good that I didn't shop hungry, but I don't feel like cooking dinner. Luckily, I picked up sandwich fixins', so I'm having a cheese sandwich and a chicken salad (the kind from Walmart with cranberries and pecans) sandwich. And a huge glass of ice water.

This made me laugh. I don't think I really paid attention to the tattoos, but I did notice that he has very nice arms. I don't have any tattoos, but I don't have any issue with anyone who wants them. The only thing I wonder about is whether or not someone who gets a tattoo of something 'pop culture'-related that they love at this time, will they still feel the same 20 or more years from now? For example, I love 'Bob's Burgers', but if I got a tattoo of one of the characters now would I still want it on my body in a couple of decades?

Me, too! I'm skipping 'The House on Haunted Hill' and 'The Tingler' because I have them on DVD, but I've already set my DVR for the others.

Watched 'Random Harvest' last night. I liked it a lot. I kind of figured it would end as it did, but it kept me guessing as to how they would get there. And the 'twist' in the middle was excellent! I did recognize several familiar faces from the other three Garson movies I had recently watched. I checked, and was surprised that we don't have a copy of this movie in either of my university libraries (and kind of disappointed in myself, because my campus library has a film studies program and I've tried to fill in the gaps wherever I could). I would order a copy for our collection, but it looks like it's out of print--at least for now (and we can't order from 'third party' sellers, only our vendor who gets the movies from the publishers/producers). Oh well, titles do come back in print now and then, and it looks like this was a Warner Bros. produced-DVD, and they are pretty good about releasing 'collections' periodically. I'll keep an eye out for it. Even though I read that the Hilton novel has a lot of differences from the movie, now I want to read the book (which I know we have in our collection).

Thanks! I'll make sure to watch that one next. (Before I read the comments earlier in the thread!)

I decided to record a few Greer Garson movies the other day to watch later. So far, I've watched 'Pride and Prejudice' which I had never seen before. It was good, but I wished it had been filmed in color (I did read the trivia online about why it ended up in black & white). I re-watched 'Mrs. Miniver' yesterday. The other three I recorded were also new to me. I just finished watching 'Mrs. Parkington'. It was okay, but I thought that Agnes Moorehead was the best character (I think she was nominated for a best supporting actress Oscar for the role). Glady Cooper's character was kind of fun, too. I would have liked to see more scenes with her. I have 'That Forsyte Woman' and 'Random Harvest' recorded, too, but I'm not sure when I'll get around to watching them. Probably not until sometime this weekend. I would love to hear everyone's thoughts on these movies. (Even the two I haven't seen yet. I don't mind spoilers.)

While I was at lunch today, I got a call from the vet's office to say that Miss Alice's ashes were ready any time I wanted to come by and pick her up. It was very nice and respectful. Everything was in a dark blue bag with handles (like from a nice shop). Her ashes were in a very nice wooden 'casket' (I guess that's the term), and there was a plaster (?) imprint of her pawprint ( :( ) with a ribbon so I can hang it up if I want. There was also a certificate of cremation. I was okay until I got to the little clear plastic envelope with some of her fur that they had clipped for me. It was so sad to see that, but I was glad, because I didn't know they were going to include that and I had been a little upset with myself because I hadn't thought about saving some of her pretty rust-colored fur.

There were buses for field trips and sports events, but not for everyday school to and from trips (maybe some of the rural areas had buses, but not for those of us in town).

I never rode the school bus when I was in school (they didn't even have buses in my area during those 'olden' days. You walked, rode a bike, or a parent dropped you off or picked you up. Buses came later when my little sister came along), so for those of you who did ride the bus or have children who do/did, have buses always picked up kids so freaking early in the morning? Maybe the kids next door to me are at the very beginning of the route, but I had to get out early this morning (forgot to pay the water bill so I had to run downtown to put it in the dropbox before city hall opened for the day) and they were getting on the bus at 6:40am! The sun was barely up. I admire those kids for catching the bus and for their mom for getting three kids up and ready on time (although I think it was just two today. One was at the curb screaming to the other two 'the bus is coming! The bus is coming! I see it! Hurry!', but I only saw one other one walk to the road to get on board.)

Okay, here's something a little bit lighter in tone. Go to google, and type in the word cat. Then click/tap the pawprint icon that shows up (I think on the right), then continue to just click/tap around the page/screen. You're welcome.

I'm so sorry for your loss. I should be getting a call in the next few days about my Alice's ashes. I asked for the paw print too, and I know that will be tough to see. It was so strange getting out just one cat food dish last night instead of two. My other cat woke me up about 5 times during the night to meow and purr in my face. I don't know if she misses her sister, but I think she's aware that something's different. I got a very nice sympathy card from the vet in today's mail. He said some nice things and included a clipping of a newspaper article that he had written a few years ago about how important it is to grieve for our pets. Everyone at work today who had heard about it (mainly through my posting some of Miss Alice's best photos on Facebook. She was a beauty in her healthy years) were very sympathetic.

My Alice had never been a lap cat either (her sister Maggie was clingy), but I had noticed that in the last several weeks she would stick really close to me. She liked to sleep on the couch in the living room (where I watched TV), but a lot of times when I would be in the den at the computer, she could nap at my feet (which she had never done before). I had to get into the habit of watching for her before I moved to get up.

I had to let my Alice girl go over the Rainbow Bridge this morning. She was my baby girl cat for 19 years, but 19 years didn't seem long enough to me. I still have her sister, and I hope to have her for some time to come (although she has her health issues as well). Alice had been declining over the last few weeks so I was semi-prepared, but I guess you're never really prepared. At least I got to be with her at the end. The vet and his staff were so kind. The vet talked me through the whole procedure and let me be with her afterwards as long as I wanted. I should get her ashes back in a few days. So far her sister hasn't seemed to notice that Alice is gone (she's sleeping), but I'm going to watch her around dinnertime to see how she acts.

I get numbers on my cell phone occasionally that I don't recognize and don't answer. There's usually no voice mail left. However, for the first time ever, I got a call last week that said 'suspected spammer' (or maybe suspicious spam') so I didn't answer. It turned out to be a message from a doctor that I'm going to see for the first time next week. It was a local number, so it was odd that it tagged that one (of all of the other spam calls I've gotten) as suspected spam. I'm guessing that maybe because it was a recording and not a live person it was tagged? But how would my provider know? Anyway, weird.

I received my '40 year pin' (and a framed picture) several months ago. I've been at the same library for that amount of time (right out of graduate school), but have done various jobs within the library. I've been eligible to retire for a couple of years, but as long as I basically like my job I'll keep working. I'm trying to get in better shape right now and once I do if I feel like I could travel (and do the walking that would probably be involved) I might retire and do some traveling around. But I have two elderly cats that I don't like to leave for more than one night at a time, so my travel options are limited. And even when I retire, I would be eligible to go back to the same library to work part-time at the front desk (one or two nights a week and the occasional weekend) to make some extra money. One thing I do like about my job these days is that there isn't any real pressure. I do my job well (at least I think I do) and I fulfill my duties (including doing some research, conducting workshops, etc.) but I don't have the pressure that the young librarians to do obtain tenure (I got that decades ago). And, if I decided that the atmosphere of the place had changed for the worse (due to changes in administration, for example) I have the freedom to just retire. It's kind of nice.

I hope that everyone who is in the heat advisory areas is staying cool and safe. It's 93 degrees here right now and is supposed to get up to 95 by 3pm. We had a record-breaking 100 degrees in the area yesterday. I did go outside and pull some weeds in a flower bed for a while. It wasn't too bad because I was in the shade and there was a slight breeze. But once the sun moved and I lost the shade from the house, I came inside. I might go back outside later and pull weeds on the other side of the flower bed that will be in the shade of the front porch for at least a while. I had my cold water with me and was careful not to stay out too long. I do feel good because I at least got a little bit done.