Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Ten Things I Did Yesterday


1. I hoisted Dave's new stock pot up to a rarely-used cabinet above our hallway, finally clearing it off the living room floor.

2. I called my life insurance company to ask them why I received a bill for $1.35 in interest on a $21 "loan" I'd allegedly taken out against my policies. (I never took a loan and I pay my premiums in full.) Turns out they'd billed me in error during the last cycle and thus I didn't pay my full premium. They offered to eliminate the interest and take the shortfall from surplus earnings in my insurance account. Why they didn't do that in the first place is beyond me.

3. I delivered a note to our next-door neighbor containing the contact information for our managing agent. The neighbor is once again making noises about pruning the cypress trees in front of our flat. I asked her not to do anything herself and to contact the managers, and informed the managers of her comments. Why she thinks our trees are hers to maintain, well...again, it's beyond me.



4. I took down the garden cam and downloaded the roughly 267 pictures it's taken during the past three weeks. We got about 193 pictures of Dave gardening, 42 pictures of me and/or Dave playing Kong with Olga, 28 pictures of Olga alone, 1 picture of me and Dave clowning around, 2 pictures of pigeons, and 1 picture of a magpie -- from behind.

5. I got our sheets washed. This involves minimal effort on my part because I'm still routinely taking them to a laundry for a "service wash." The sheets for our American king-size bed are too big for our little European washer-dryer, and thus emerge damp and must be draped all over the furniture a la the Addams Family for 24 hours before they can be folded and put away. No more of that!

6. I repaired a place in the floor of our entry hall where a tiny wedge-shaped chip had broken off a floorboard. This involved fighting with the dried-shut applicator nozzle on the Gorilla Glue bottle, before finally giving up, unscrewing the lid and applying said glue with a screwdriver.

7. I watered the amaryllis bulbs. Three of the four have sprouted. Flowers soon, hopefully!

8. I discarded the rest of the haggis. It's been sitting in the back of the refrigerator, where Dave abandoned it a few weeks ago. I was growing afraid to touch it, much less eat it.

9. At work, I re-shelved about 100 books which have been sitting around the library on various carts for various class projects, including lots of American literature that I feel guilty for never having read (John Dos Passos, Theodore Dreiser, Kate Chopin).

10. I finally got through all but one of my accumulated New Yorker magazines. And I made the sad decision not to renew Harper's, which I've been getting for more than 15 years. Maybe it's me, but it seems to lack the zing it once had -- and besides, we get it in the library.

15 comments:

alphabet soup said...

Well done you - getting all those tasks behind you.
And - that woman next door is a right pain..
Ms Soup

Yorkshire Pudding said...

11. Why was Dave wearing such crazy trousers (American: pants) when you were horsing around in the garden?
12. Politely tell your interfering neighbour to f-off or you'll trim her bush!

Jennifer said...

Snowflake pj pants! I love them!

"Trim her bush" ....haha!

Ms. Moon said...

A young man in Lloyd who had a yard-service left me a card once. It said, "We cut your grass. We trim your bush."
I am not kidding you. He was so cute.
I love those days when I whack the list of things to do down to nothing. Good on you, Steve!

ellen abbott said...

holy cow! you did all that shit and worked all day too? and I think I'd be a little more forceful to the neighbor lady telling her if she so much as touches those cypress trees that are not in her yard, I will be happy to 'trim' the trees and bushes in her yard.

Sharon said...

I bet it feels good to get so much accomplished in one day! Good work.
That backyard camera takes pretty good photos!

Cheryl West said...

You are a brave man to deal with the aged Haggis. A good fridge cleanout is always a big accomplishment. You really had a burst of energy! I agree with the others about your interfering neighbor who has no business complaining about the shrubs in your garden. She obviously doesn't have enough to do in life.

Linda Sue said...

and all of this before noon!Well done!

jenny_o said...

Is laundry service a common thing, then, if beds are big and washers/dryers are small? I'd think lots of people would have this problem!

Very productive day. I love having those, even though they don't happen too often.

The Bug said...

I love this list. I similar list for me would be Three Things I did Yesterday. Ha!

37paddington said...

Love this post!

John Going Gently said...

Dave's cute but he's wearing pyjamas........
Mind you so do i when feeding the sheep

Elizabeth said...

Great post! And you should read Dos Passos -- although I read it in college so I'm not sure it "holds up."

Steve Reed said...

Ms Soup: Isn't she? Keeps coming back, like a bad penny.

York: Technically they're pajamas. Which isn't really an answer to your question. :)

Jennifer: York is a card!

Ms Moon: Funny! And quite brave as a marketing gimmick. (Or was it unintentional, do you think?)

Ellen: I'm trying not to get in a dispute with this woman, since we DO have to live next to her, but yeah, things may be coming to a head.

Sharon: They're not bad, technically, but I wish they were a little more interesting. I imagined all sorts of activity in our back yard at night, but apparently nothing's really going on back there.

Cheryl: Even fresh haggis entails a certain degree of bravery.

Linda Sue: Ha!

Jenny-O: I think our bed is bigger than most. An American king is definitely bigger than a British king.

Bug: Well, three things is nothing to sneeze at!

Angella: Thanks. :)

John: Hey, if you're in your garden, why not? :)

Elizabeth: Maybe one of these days I'll give him a whirl. All three of them, for that matter. Maybe this summer!

Mwa said...

You're a whirlwind!