In which there is a quote and some rambling

Today's quote:
There comes a time in a man's life when to get where he has to -- if there are no doors or windows -- he walks through a wall. -Bernard Malamud, novelist and short-story writer (1914-1986) 

I read this and thought about the many guys who have told me that at some point the need to be true to their homosexual feelings overpowers their fears. This applies particularly to men who come out in midlife, though younger guys sometimes feel like that. So I've been told. And some have walked through walls to come out.

In other news, Christmas. I'm about ready for Christmas now. I've started my Christmas baking. I made an eggnog custard pie this afternoon, and baked my first ever fruitcake. It's my mother-in-law's recipe, and I love hers. Not sure if this one will measure up. Let me go taste-test it.

Meh, it's OK. Not as good as my mil's. A little bit dry. Superman likes it. The pie is fantastic, though.

Superman and I are watching "Despicable Me" on our new TV set*. We got a wall bracket with which to hang it this evening. Sproing crawled under the house today to move the cable from one wall to another so we can get a bunch of channels with nothing to watch on the new TV. It was Sproing's first time under the house. He claims it is his last. Silly boy didn't like it much. Superman has never liked it either. We are watching Despicable Me because 1) there isn't anything good on broadcast TV and 2) I want to see Despicable Me 2 so figured it'd be good to remind myself of the original first.

C was admitted to the hospital this evening. His left ankle is swollen and red, and after consulting with his mother over the phone (she's a nurse) he had us drop him off at the ER. He called us about an hour ago and said they were admitting him. Something about a possible infection in his leg/foot. And he has septicemia marks running up his leg. I guess I'll go see him in the morning, see if anyone knows any more.

A few days ago I took the space bar key off my keyboard and ever since it hasn't been as responsive. So my words are running together in type as well as in my head.

And speaking of running together in my head, my thoughts. They do that. I wonder once again if I should take medication for ADD. I get so befuddled when I try to do any work around here. There's this, oh and that, and wait, wasn't I doing something else? I need to remember to do the other thing before it gets too something. All at the same time.

*Does anyone call them TV sets anymore? A set of what? Not cathode ray tubes, that's for sure. An array of liquid crystal displays or something, maybe. No wait, this one is an LED. I don't know what LED stands for.

Lessons for the kitchen

I used to like to bake. I might still enjoy it, but for some reason (probably stress) it's hard for me to get motivated to do anything in the kitchen these days. Perhaps once there aren't so many needy people in my house I'll be able to enjoy it again.

But that's a tangent to what I came to talk to you about.

When I bake, cook, wash dishes, or do pretty much anything in the kitchen, I usually get messy. The front of my clothing is often covered in flour, and gets wet when I wash dishes. When I wash dishes after I've been baking, I end up with paste on my waist.

This morning I discovered a way to avoid getting my shirt messy. Cook in the nude! My stomach is much quicker and easier to clean than is my shirt. However I wouldn't recommend it for cooking bacon.

(I have no idea where this picture originated. It looks like it's from a magazine. I got it from another blog, I think, quite a while ago.)

I only have one class today, and that's not until 3:30. My other two classes were canceled for today. Everyone else is at work or school, and my clothes are in the dryer, hence the baking in the nude. There are many things I would like to accomplish today, studying being first and foremost. I also need to sew a costume shirt for Light. The day started off on the late foot when I slept until 10:30 this morning. But I had an awesome dream about flirting and falling in love/lust!

I have already accomplished a few things. I bathed. That's always a good way to start the day, and something that, on bad days, I skip. So it's a good sign. I iterated laundry, and baked a blueberry buckle coffee cake thingie. I just now took it out of the oven. It has to cool a bit before I taste it. And here's a blog post, something that I've been meaning to get around to for a few days. The kitchen is clean, all the dishes washed and counters and table wiped down. I finally put away the hand mixer that Diva left out last week after she baked a cake. It's been sitting on one of the chairs at the table for days. So all in all, I'm feeling mostly good about my morning's accomplishments. And I needed the sleep, so I'm not going to beat myself up about sleeping late.

But alas, I have yet to do anything that is actually on my list of things to accomplish, so I'm off to do that which needs to be done. TTFN

Yammer

Nothing much to report, so I'm gonna ramble aimlessly for a while

• We survived the weekend. Superman is putting down flooring (laminate, sturdy stuff) in Light's bedroom. She comes home from her first year at college next Friday. We need to finish fixing up the room before she gets here and moves all that other junque into it. We'll probably not be able to SEE the floor until she moves back to the dorm in late August.
• Friday evening was the elementary school's Spring Carnival. I sent baked goods to sell in the bake sale. I DID NOT attend! The wonderful Superman took the kids and a good time was had by all. Including me. Who stayed home. Happily.
• Thursday was the day I needed to do all the baking for the school carnival. I delayed and ignored and averted until 'twas well after midnight when I actually baked those damn cookies. They were good, of course. By the time I was finished baking, then had to wait for the cookies (I also made a pan full of cake-like bar cookie things) to cool enough to put them in individual wrappings, it was too late to go to bed. Does that make sense? I had to make sure the stuff got to the school, so I just stayed up. Superman was able to take the box of goodies to the school when he took the kidlets, so that worked. Then I went to bed.
• And also on Thursday I bought myself a new sewing machine. The old one, very old, needed some repairs and maintenance. I took it to "the place" and the fella said a cleaning and tune up would cost at least $65, and it may need some parts, too. However, there were a couple of new machines, discontinued, on clearance. I got a fairly nice machine for $150. It does more than the old one did. I haven't gotten it out of the box yet, because on Thursday I was supposed to bake, not sew. Superman only last night brought the machine in from the truck. The table I use for sewing has been in Light's room since she left for college all these months ago. Since her floor is being installed, the table is now in the middle of the living room with stuff piled on it. There isn't a comfortable place to set up my new machine. So it is still in the box. Now that we've survived the weekend and I'm not required to bake more cookies, I might just get to play with my machine.
• But not today. At least not while the kids are at school. Because today I did something worthwhile, one of those chores that has been waiting on me for a while. I finished painting the trim in Light's room. She painted her room last summer, but never got quite done with the trim. I have of course intended to finish the trim since she left for school in August. Now that Superman has most of the stuff out of that room, I figured the time wasn't going to get better. I'd already masked the trim, it was ready to paint. Has been for MONTHS. So today I did it. Good for me.
• And because Superman has so many projects he needs to work on around the house, the house decided it wanted even more of his attention. S was in the backyard this morning when I was washing out the paintbrush in the kitchen sink. He knocked on the kitchen window to tell me he heard water leaking under the house. Leaking a lot, evidently. And it stinks. I called Superman. First I asked him how his day is going. He said busy, but fine. OK, it's safe to tell him. If he'd been having one of those days from hell, I'd have waited to tell him about the leak. I told him. He sighed that deep depressive sigh of a homeowner whose house is falling apart on him. Do you know that one?
• This is one of those things about me. When I think I don't have anything to talk about, I can nevertheless ramble on THIS long!! People who know me well are not surprised. Yet I'm always amazed. Is it denial? Or inattention?