Livingthedreamwithdiana.com

I’m getting older.

I feel it, and see it every day.

However,

It beats the hell out of the alternative.

Am I right?

Until next time,

Be happy, healthy, and safe. Wash, cover, and protect.

I take extreme pleasure in watching videos on YouTube that have been filmed anywhere in Europe.

It doesn’t matter where in Europe, and it doesn’t have to be there, specifically. Really, they can be anywhere where there is beautiful scenery.

I take advantage of that by taking screenshots of something that I wouldn’t normally see, and saving them for my own use later; specifically making them into puzzles.

I have told you folks, before in a post, that I enjoy doing puzzles on my computer. The app that I use allows me to make my own puzzles from photos I have taken, and saved.

I love it. Not only do I get to see a part of the world I will, probably, never get to visit, but I get the opportunity to see that particular place for a couple of hours, as that’s how long it normally takes for me to finish a puzzle. Let me show you a few shots I’ve taken.

One would think this a silly photo, but I absolutely adore it. The creativity of people never ceases to amaze me. Photos like this bring a much welcomed smile to my face.

Here is a photo taken by a YouTuber on a train traveling through,

Damn it. I don’t remember where they went, but the videos they took were amazing. Look. (Maybe it’s the Alps?)

I think the above photo was taken somewhere in New Zealand, but, of course, do not quote me on that. Isn’t it spectacular?

Just one more, and I’ll stop. This photo is a mine that is still in operation somewhere in the world. I can’t remember where this one is either. Duh!

You get the idea. These photos make wonderful puzzles, and they didn’t cost me a penny.

Until next time, stay happy,healthy, and safe. Wash, cover, and protect yourselves.

I have gone forth, and done my best.

It was time for my bi-millenial refrigerator clean out.

Yuck.

By now, you know that I absolutely hate cleaning; the fridge, the oven, the kitchen, the apartment as a whole, et.al.

But, I did it. I cleaned the fridge recently.

It was Leap Day, so, for that reason alone I guess, I had a sudden burst of energy that I hadn’t had for awhile.

I told Ivan, earlier in the day, that I was going to clean the fridge the following day; we were expecting a bit of perishables to arrive from Walmart the next day.

Then, all of a sudden, while listening to a ridiculous book from Audible.com., I went into the kitchen, opened the fridge doors, and decided, right then, and there, to get to it.

That was 5:30pm. By 8:30pm I was done. Finished. Finito, Benito Juarez. (Sorry. I always say it like that, and have for years.)

I am unbelievably ashamed to show you the “before” photos, but I am going to. Please understand that the yuck was due to having different products defrosting in the fridge without being put into a container to catch the yuck.

That said, here is the transformation, once again.

So, I’m done with this for another few hundred years (days), and am not sorry for the time spent. I was able to get rid of quite a bit of inedible produce, and cheese, and have a better idea what we have, and where it is.

The moral to this post is to put ALL defrosting items in a plastic container. DUH!!!

Until next we meet, stay happy, healthy, and safe. Wash, cover, and protect yourselves.

Have you ever cut your own hair?

Have you ever to wanted, or needed to cut your own hair?

I have, and I do.

So, a couple of months ago, I just did it.

I bought a hair trimming machine from Amazon.mx, of course, and the one night, I did it. I trimmed my hair.

I used the largest blade guide, I believe it to be 1”, and went crazy. Mind you, I had no idea what I was doing, but, truth be told, it turned out pretty, well; really well, actually.

I want my hair spiked, about 2” on the top, and shorter on the sides, and in the back; think Dame Judi Dench.

Now, let’s talk about the back. Cutting the back of one’s hair is probably the hardest thing one can do. Did I do it?

That is a particular matter of opinion. If my option has weight, then, yes, I did an admirable job of it.

Am I going to show you the results?

Hell no!!!

Not in this lifetime.

Can I go out in public, looking like I do?

Do you have to ask?

I don’t give a good gosh darn what anyone thinks of me. You should’ve known that by now. Translated, I couldn’t care less.

So, have a good laugh, at my expense, and, until next time,

Stay happy, healthy, and safe, Wash, cover, and protect yourselves.

Post script: I contacted the owner of the beauty salon in the Plaza Taxqueña the other day via WhatsApp, and am going to make an appointment for a cut very soon.

I am setting the Way Back Machine, (does anyone remember that?) to the late 1960’s.

Come along for just a moment.

I was going to summer camp with friends from the youth fellowship group of the church in which I belonged at that time. (The year is an approximate because, at my age now, the date is really quite vague.)

At that time in my life, as it turned out, I had no swim suit, well, nothing appropriate that I could wear at a religious youth group gathering. 😉

So, I made one; from scratch, without a pattern.

It was very well done, even if I say so myself.

It was a two piece bikini; white, with a brass ring at the middle of the halter top, and one at both hips on the bottom. (How I thought this appropriate for a church youth fellowship camping experience I’ll never know.)

As I said, I made this without a pattern, using some very pretty, shiny white material for the suit itself, (no recollection where it came from,) lining it, however, with material from a white, flat bed sheet my mother no longer needed.

(Are you understanding that, in the late ‘60’s, the sheet had about a 200 thread count??)

It went together fairly easily, as I used to be quite a seamstress. It fit nicely, and I couldn’t wait to get to the campground, and go for a swim.

WE WERE THERE FOR FIVE DAYS.

Every morning we had what was called the Polar Bear swim. We got extra points, (for what, I have no recollection,) if we got up at 6:00am, and, at least jumped into the pool. (Some suck ups actually swam)

Firstly, 6:00am never registered with me unless we were going on vacation. Dad liked to get “on the road” before the traffic got heavy. (HAHAHA!)

Secondly, I was 15ish. What kid that age gets up at that hour of the morning for any reason?

I did. But only 2, or 3 times during that week. It was freezing cold outside, and the water in the pool was not only freezing, but had an actual film of ice on the top.

The bottom of the pool, however, was GREEN.

Needless to say, it took me 2, or 3 days just to make the initial plunge into the yuck, but by then, quite a bit of the algae had been cleaned out, or moved about, or, I don’t remember what.

So, the third morning, I jumped in. When I got out, my teeth were chattering, and my body shivering. I was freezing.

As I got out, a friend of mine gasped out loud. And I do mean out loud. As I looked down at my suit, I discovered that

My swimsuit was completely transparent!!!

For all intents, and purposes, I was NAKED!!

Evidently the sheet that I used as a “lining” wasn’t quite effective!

I was mortified.

The boys, however, were not.

I couldn’t get out of there fast enough.

Hope you got a chuckle out of that;)

Until next time.

Stay happy, healthy, and safe. Wash, cover, and protect yourselves.

Post script: update- the ranch dressing, the Kefir, and powdered sour cream is awesome. I highly recommend the recipe, and the substitutions.

I’m not Irish, but I have been lucky of late.

I found a recipe for homemade Ranch Dressing that uses buttermilk as its base. Really, what Ranch Dressing recipe doesn’t?

There is no buttermilk here. I cannot find it anywhere, not even online. Except,

In a dehydrated powdered form that needs to be kept in the freezer. So, I bought some, from Amazon.co.us, and will put it in the freezer. Again, lucky me.

I can’t tell you how many things I have wanted to make using the nonexistent buttermilk, and, now that I have it, I can’t remember a single recipe, except the Ranch dressing.

Let me show you what I mean.

This recipe is one I got from the YT channel That Dude Can Cook. I’ve told you about Sonnie Hurrel before; the roasted turkey, remember? I trust that his Ranch is going to be a good trial for my powdered buttermilk.

Oh, it also calls for sour cream, another very difficult dairy product to obtain. Fortunately for us, I purchased a 1/2 kilo container of dehydrated sour cream, (at the same time as the dehydrated buttermilk powder). Hah! What luck?

However, instead of mixing a quart of buttermilk, (as that is what one of the packets of the dehydrated powder requires, of which I would have to freeze all but the above 3/4 c.), I discovered that I can substitute milk Kefir for the buttermilk, without any noticeable difference, ounce for ounce, of which I just happened to have purchased (2) 500ml. bottles last week.

Why would I buy 2 bottles of milk Kefir you ask? Because I wasn’t able to buy just one. Duh!

So, soon, I will rise, and shine, make the sour cream, use the milk Kefir, and by this afternoon we will have Ranch Dressing in abundance. I don’t think I’ll make the chicken tenders as the recipe is calling for above, but will definitely use it on a salad, and as a condiment when next we make hot buffalo wings.

Until next time, stay happy, healthy, and safe. Wash, cover, and protect yourselves.

Post script: happy 22nd birthday to our first grandchild, Isaac James. You changed all of our lives in the best way possible.

Post post script: you may remember that we can no longer receive edible products from the US, so Kefir is our “buttermilk” substitute for the unforeseen future. All good.

Possibly.

When I get to a point where I need another knitting project, I am going to consider this, what appears to be, simple sweater.

I am pretty sure that I can fake the pattern, somehow, as the design is a simple seed stitch, one of my favorites. It will take a bit of working out how to do the neck, but I’m a fairly smart woman, and I’ve been knitting for years.

A few YouTube videos, and I should be set. If I ever get that far, I’ll let you know.

Until then, stay happy, healthy, and safe. Wash, cover, and protect yourselves.

I did it. I did it. I did it. I did it.

(Read that while imaging me moving my bent arms in that particular elliptical motion that is common with those words.)

Only 2 more rooms to go.

I have done all I can in the living room today. I have been cleaning, and rearranging for the past 4 hours.

I’m done.

I don’t have the whole room as a “before”, which is a shame, but I do have most of it.

Here is the miracle transformation.

I swept, vacuumed, and mopped the entire floor.

I know, I know. I had to sit down, too. Well, I had to sit down because my back was yelling at me to do so, so I took a gram of Ibuprofen, then sat down.

Behind the two chairs facing outward, in the photo directly above, #5, there are 11 empty totes, with lids that need to go upstairs. Until they do, they will be “hidden” behind the chairs. (You didn’t even notice them, did you!?!)

And, towards the window, just under the painting, in the same photo, is a small TV, and my foldable bicycle. The two totes have vacuum sealed bedding that go to our single bed, in the spare bedroom, that is next on the list to be gutted. (It’s the room where my father in law spent his last weeks with us, 2 years ago.)

Under the painting on the left, in photo #4, that my friend Connie M. painted for me, are 2 totes with various bits of this, and that, but able to be accessed as needed. What you can’t see, on the floor, in front of the totes, is an entire tote’s worth of gardening bits, and bobs. They are better where they are. Trust me.

Then, in photo #3, you can see that we keep a large tote on the “diablo”, the dolly, at all times. We use it, mostly, to store all of the cardboard we collect from ordering supplies on line. When it’s overly full, we take the contents downstairs to the basement, and put it in the cardboard area to be recycled.

We also use it to bring up our mega haul of groceries, like we did just the day before this. We went to the 3 different stores, and bought each of them out of business. (Yes, we still share our bounty with our friends upstairs). There is absolutely no way we could bring all of the groceries upstairs when we buy in bulk.

We separate the disposables here, in the condo, by glass, cardboard/paper, plastic, organic, and “regular”. In photo #3, there is a large black garbage bag hanging off the left side of the metal cart, between the lamp, and the diablo. That is for the “regular” garbage; stuff that isn’t any of the others, like bubble wrap, and bathroom garbage. It’s all put into various boxes, bins, or bags to be taken, again, to the basement, and put in their allotted bins.

The white buckets are mostly for organic waste; kitchen scraps, to be precise. They are the only organic waste allowed. I do put in an occasional paper towel, napkin, or tissue because they, too, are organic. I’m trying to get the garbage collectors to think outside the box. JK.

Well, that should have been enough for you to have waded through for one sitting. Thanks for that.

I hope you have enjoyed the fruits of my labor. I sure do. It is so much more peaceful, less anxiety causing when I come into the living room. It was sooo worth the time, and effort. We are no longer living in a storage unit.

Will we be able to find anything when we need it ? Only time will tell.

Until next time, please, stay happy, healthy, and safe. Wash, cover, and protect yourselves.

Post script: the only downside is that now the rest of the shelves are reachable, so I have no excuses to ignore cleaning them. Damn!! 😉

Post post script: I have to keep looking over my shoulder to make sure nothing has changed; that everything is still where I put it. 😉

I have to tell you how peaceful I feel today.

It’s been so long since I’ve felt this way that it actually registered in my consciousness.

I am acknowledging it as having been the result of a bit of a domino effect.

Firstly, I have been sleeping amazingly well for the past two, or maybe, three weeks, as I have been listening to Better Sleep™, in the hypnosis venue. When I can find the narrator I prefer, I try to listen for at least 30 minutes, up to 1 full hour.

I never finish the episodes, or whatever they are called, but I can sleep, deeply for about 2 hours, wake briefly, adjust my position, and fall immediately back to sleep for another 2 hours. Reposition, and repeat; from 10:30pm., until 6:30-8:30am the next morning.

Secondly, financial security. I have put us on the road to security, as I mentioned a few posts back, and, with the lack of alcohol every f’ing night, we are saving tons of money. We’ve cut way back on ordering groceries on line, so that’s a big savings, even though we did go to Sam’s Club, (haven’t been there in almost a year), Costco, and Soriana the other day, and put out an inordinate amount of money. I have no idea where we’re going to put everything but it’s stuff we’ve done without for so long, we just did it.

I’m not going to complain about how much we spent; it’s for that very thing that we have our retirement income. Thank you Jesus.

I want to say thank you, specifically, to Mayra, for all of the effort she has put into sending our CARE packages as we’ve needed things from the US. That, as per a recent post, has all but come to an end. She will only send us the odd item that is able to be shipped, that we can’t get here. Thanks Mayra. We love you tons.

Until next time everyone, stay happy, healthy, and safe. Wash, cover, and protect yourselves.

Post script: Never again. I bought 2 Christmas mugs on eBay the other day for $5 USD for the pair. The shipping is over $50!!! WTH(F)? Live and learn.

For Red October.

Just kidding. (Does anyone remember what the Red October was? No, I don’t mean the movie!!!)

We have been looking for a new electric kettle for our morning coffee, and refilling the 20L water bottle in which we have our drinking water. I forgot, I frequently heat water to wash dishes, as well.

I have come into the kitchen several times in the past few days to find the kettle completely dry, with the entire contents of the kettle in a mass of condensation on the bottom of the cabinets above it. What a mess. (Though they are getting cleaner;)

Most recently, I came in to find the kettle completely dry, and hot, having not turned off automatically. Argh!!!

In the above photo, the water has finished boiling, and when I went to lift up the kettle, the lid popped open of its own accord. Really annoying. I have since thwarted said “popping open BS” by doing the following.

Haven’t had a dry kettle since.

As we have used this poor thing mercilessly for the past few years, it has given in to the inevitable. It is being replaced.

I just bought a SS kettle, from Amazon.com.us, which should have been delivered by the time you read this. I’m having a hard time waiting for it.

It has a lid that actually comes completely off, the spout is part of the actual body of the kettle, and, has a hefty rubbery handle. It’s preprogrammed with 5 different temperatures for different teas, 1 for coffee, and 1 to just boil. With 1500W, it has a fast boiling time; it claims about 4 minutes. The Chefman, from Costco, takes a lengthy 8-10 minutes, depending on whether I’m in the kitchen waiting, or elsewhere, having forgotten that I’m waiting.

I am expecting a beautiful relationship going forward with the above kettle, lasting, hopefully, several years. For the price, it should be working for/with us for many years to come.

Unfortunately, nothing is made to last anymore; we are a disposable society.

Just wanted to show you what’s going on in our hum drum lives.

Until next time, stay happy, healthy, and safe.

Post script: It came the other day, on the 10th. Here it is, and it works like a dream, though it’s quite loud as it heats the water. In fact, he can hear it in “his” room. However, when the water is cool, I can add it directly to the 20 L jug without having to add any disinfectant. Yea! (That always changes the taste of the water a bit.)