Today was my monthly weaving guild meeting! Our “year” goes from September to May so we had our end of year guild project sharing and an auction where members could bid on items other members donated.
First I had lunch—leftover mushroom Swiss chicken burger and some Zapp’s Voodoo Pretzel Stix I got at Costco. Matt had a leftover pork chop and asparagus with rice. He also made extra rice for tomorrow and I defrosted some Maryland stuffed ham I had made and froze and some chicken thighs.
The meeting is about 45 minutes away so I headed out after lunch. Why is it always on the good weather day of the weekend (or even the only good weather day in a month of weekends)?
Everyone liked my punch needle project and my seasonal weavings. I volunteered to do some updates to social media and our website to attract new members. I bid on some items and came home with a fancy inkle loom that the donor hadn’t even used before, knitting yarn and some books. I also donated some money for a loom a member brought in last month for me because she wasn’t coming this week. Total score! We had a few things people didn’t want so we are going to list them on line to get some money for our group that way.
It was dinner time by the time I left. I stopped at the produce stand but they didn’t have much so I don’t get anything. It was all stuff that couldn’t possibly be local and what I really wanted was rhubarb and they didn’t have it.
Matt made a Lidl run while I was gone and got food for later in the week and next week when he’s off. It was supposed to just be an little odds and ends shop but I think I will be able to avoid a huge shop this week and just get what we need for his birthday and vacation week like maybe ribs to grill, ice cream etc later on. I don’t want to spend the week he’s off grocery shopping.
He made dinner—salmon cakes made with fresh coho salmon and herbs and leek-arugula-spinach mashed potatoes. So good!
We have some of both leftover so that will make a good lunch!
Our goal today was to go to one of two festivals but the weather for both locations looked bad and neither were close enough to chance it.
Instead we went to an urban farm/dye garden/arts collective and picked up some indigo plants they had for sale. I had heard about the place from my weaving teacher last year and wanted to check it out. I’m glad I did; it’s a cute little space and everyone was wearing masks. It sounds like they might have classes and other events in the future.
Then we picked up lunch at a fun fancy fry, wings and bánh mì place. I got “Hawaiian” fries and Matt got a bánh mì and some wings. It isn’t the lightest of lunch but the portion size is actually really manageable—it’s basically the equivalent of what would be on a sandwich but on a single order of fries instead of a roll.
Somehow it’s not even as heavy feeling as you expect, it’s like magic.
I stopped in the organic market while we waited for the food to see if they had anything good and was tempted by purple kohlrabi but it had the greens attached which would mean I’d have to make it ASAP.
We didn’t have afternoon or dinner plans since we thought we’d be on a day trip so I read more Yellowface and we napped. The newest dog, Dottie, likes to get us up at 7 am no matter how late we all go to bed. It is not her best trait!
Then Matt planted the indigo. We have quite a little dye garden going! I figure at least it gives us the option of doing some dyeing this year.
I really wasn’t hungry for dinner at all but at around 9 we had a little breakfast for dinner.
I’m glad we didn’t go on the day trip though! It looks like it got rained out. It would have been awful to drive that far for nothing.
I figured out how to finish my punch needle project and placed an online pick up order at Michaels so I could use a 30% off coupon.
Hours went by and it wasn’t ready so I decided to leave the house and run some errands first, I had punch needle and rug hooking books in at the library so I stopped there first. One is called Rug Hooking For The First Time by Donna Lovelady which sounds oddly suggestive.
Then I swung by the thrift store. My goal was to find nice ice cream bowls for Matt’s birthday dessert and I was successful!
I thought I’d have luck buying the bowls at a thrift store because they seem like the type of thing that people give as gifts but no one really uses. We love having the exact right bowl though. They look like what all the plastic ones on Amazon are imitating.
At the thrift store I saw a gold Tupperware chiffon cake/pie holder like my mom’s but I have my mom’s now and it didn’t make sense to have two. I was tempted though! I did get a square lid that might fit a Tupperware container that was hers too. It looks a little too big but it was $1 so I figured I’d risk it.
Maybe I should have gotten the cake holder? But it’s not like I’m making two chiffon cakes at once ever. We did used to flip it upside down and use it for sugar cookie storage at Christmas. If it was a different color I def would have bought it. I love actual Tupperware.
Three hours after Michael’s opened and my errands were complete my order still wasn’t ready so I headed over and asked if I could just shop it myself and they could scan it as if they did it. They agreed! It’s so annoying I couldn’t just use the coupon in person. I didn’t need someone else to grab a hot glue gun off the shelf for me. Anyway, that took some time but at least they were fine with it. I could not kill any more time in the suburbs!
I came home and we split some leftover lo mein for lunch.
Did some odds and ends and had pork chops and asparagus for dinner. We kept going around in circles and it was easy.
Had a popcorn snack while watching Yellowjackets. How is the season over next week???
Tomorrow we were planning on going on a day trip to a festival but it looks like rain and it’s too far to drive if it might be canceled before we get there or gross if it isn’t. We might just buy some plants and get lunch here in the city instead.
Grocery shopping day! Aldi still wasn’t super well stocked and when Matt went to Safeway to pick up a prescription he said they were out of a lot of stuff too. It messes with my interest in cooking.
I did get some boring groceries and came home and heated up my leftover Singapore noodles.
I finished my punch needle. It’s a little curly on the edges so I’m flatting it down with books. The weather was weird, it was very hot in the sun but very cold in the shade. Normally there isn’t that much of a difference! But I did manage to punch needle in the hammock before the shade came and then finished indoors.
For dinner Matt made mushroom-Swiss chicken burgers and steamed broccoli and I had a mango. I really didn’t feel like burgers again but they didn’t have much else to chose from! At least ground chicken is pretty cheap and we got to use up the Swiss we had from the Ruebens.
We watched more Mord mit Aussicht. So many European shows have a single 30+ adult living with their single parent. It’s noticeable! I can’t think of any American tv show besides Frasier that has that dynamic but in our limited international tv viewing we’ve seen in quite a few times.
This morning I dropped off the new book and some community cookbooks I borrowed from a neighbor. She gave me homemade lemon cookies and we chatted for a while about the project. Very nice of her since I didn’t know her before she loaned me her books!
For lunch I heated up some frozen breaded shrimp. Matt went to the halal cart near work.
I felt kind of blah after having two migraines back to back but I finished the wrist warmer knitting project and started my punch needle project on the new, okay-ish frame while watching Truth Be Told on Apple +. Why isn’t that show better? The cast is good. The idea is good. It just doesn’t come together.
Matt had a happy hour type thing and thought he was going to eat at that but it was just snacky. I didn’t really plan for dinner and was just going to snack too. He ended up picking us up some Chinese takeout late. At least we will have leftovers tomorrow! And possibly Friday too.
Got a PR package of some fizzy drinks I’ll have to try.
I think I got to the bottom of the weirdness around the frame returns. Apparently the seller has to okay an immediate refund and the seller did for the first order but not the second. I did get customer service to override the replacement and tell me I’d get refund once they get the frame back. He even sent me an email with the info on it.
I think I found a cheaper frame that might let me do the punch needle project. Fingers crossed it works well enough. I emailed stores and the woman I bought the pattern from but didn’t hear back from anyone.
Did some work and bound the last 50 or so books with the binding machine.
For lunch I made chicken salad with the leftover chicken and had it on salad with leftover tomatoes, leftover arugula and cucumber.
We had some cooked dark meat left but it wasn’t enough for both of us so I froze it. Maybe Matt can have it when I am out of town next month. I also froze the raw chicken thighs I bought last week. I can’t face any more chicken meals this week!
For dinner I cooked a pre-seasoned pork loin and some Brussels sprouts with onions. I just roasted it all on the same pan.
Matt’s work provided a full hot breakfast and lunch for everyone since they had to get there super early to work on a special project so he wasn’t too hungry for dinner. Good thing because I had zero interest in making it!
It’s nice when his job provides lunch, take out in that part of the city isn’t cheap or the options plentiful and the rules around bringing a lunch changed after Covid. In the before times he’d almost always bring leftovers from home but now he normally buys something.
More knitting in the evening while Matt finished work at home and we watched The Tower on BritBox. I think the case seems more interesting this time, last time we watched it because we watched one episode and there were only three short episodes in the season but it wasn’t our favorite. Apparently it’s based on a series of books but our libraries don’t seem to carry them.
I feel like I’ve been living under a black cloud for a few days. My phone broke, I mysteriously got poison ivy, bad food, bad traffic, bad customer service, stores not having what I want, migraines, my cold brew carafe seems to have a broken seal etc
Nothing horrible but a lot of little things.
Today I got up, worked on some stuff and had a leftover hamburger and pilaf for lunch.
Did some more odds and ends and then went outside to read just as the neighbor started mowing right near me. Spent over an hour fruitlessly begging XFINITY to remove my mother’s name from the account she never owned.
I had arranged to pick up a plant from a woman on Facebook Marketplace at 4pm in a neighborhood about 30 minutes away, then she asked if she reschedule but I told her I couldn’t so it was back on.
I didn’t want to reschedule because I cleared the afternoon to go over there and since she lived 5 minutes from Whole Foods I set up a grocery order pick up between 4-5 and two returns to be dropped off.
Two returns because I bought a gripper frame for punch needle twice and both were defective. Now I can’t finish my project before Sunday when it’s due. Unless a miracle occurs and I can find one locally. Which I haven’t been able to which is why I resorted to Amazon. Where did these good reviews come from?
I went to leave and slammed my thumb in the screen door. Got in the car and my brand new phone wasn’t connected to any service so I restarted my phone and luckily that worked. Please let this issue be an one off. My last phone always was having weird issues.
Google maps sent me to the wrong address so I was a few minutes late.
While I was driving Whole Foods kept texting me about substitutions and how my order wouldn’t be ready at 4 pm. I had selected substitutions but I guess they weren’t good enough? How many types of baguettes do they sell that there was a third option after the two I asked for?
I got my plant and headed over despite a lack of confirmation that my very tiny grocery order was ready.
As I arrived in the parking lot they texted my order was ready so that was something at least.
I went to the desk for my return and it turns out it was only a drop box and I had to wrap and label the item myself. It didn’t fit in the bag but the clerk said to do my best so I did but it was a gripper frame with hundreds of metal spikes and it tore my hands and the bag to bits. I look like I wrestled a cat.
I don’t know why they would send me to a location that only does tiny returns. The other WFs have clerks that do the check in. I wouldn’t have picked this if it had said “kiosk” on the return options. I finally got the stickers, put them back in their boxes and shoved the whole thing into the chute and it barely made it in.
The clerk did get my groceries sent over to me while I did this which was nice. The place was so busy and everyone was acting like they had never shopped before. This is typical of this location and why I did grocery pick up vs just grabbing what I needed while I was there.
Then they only checked in one frame (hours after I left) and I had to contact customer service and they contacted Whole Foods and had them look for the other one.
I have not gotten confirmation of a refund on the second frame. I’m worried that is going to be a pain because although I selected refund to my card, I got a notification they were going to ship out a replacement. I was able to cancel it but now I’m wondering if that refund is in limbo. I know I selected refund because I screen shot it.
I knew I shouldn’t have ordered a second one when the first one was defective but I hoped maybe it was a fluke. Nope, the second one was also defective but in a different way. I couldn’t even Frankenstein them together to make a good one and just return one, their defects were so different yet equally bad. Ordering two of anything back to back (or replacements, which is why I didn’t want one!) always seems to go wrong.
I wouldn’t even order from Amazon if literally any store in a 90 minute radius sold what I needed. That is a rant for another day though!
Finally I got home and made a beautiful sandwich with the ham from the PR firm and all those Whole Foods ingredients they kept subbing for me.
I am reminded why I hate Whole Foods, Amazon and why I always box up my own returns and take them to UPS drop off points. And why I should trust my instincts! I shouldn’t have ordered the second frame and I shouldn’t have done a return or an order at WF but I was going to be so close by, I thought I could knock it out all at once and be done with it. If the second frame had worked, I would be able to do my project.
I did finish a book and one knitted wrist warmer and started the other today. And my plant looks good (currently quarantined on the porch) but I’d like my weird bad luck to go away.
We went to my dad’s for lunch and picked up some subs on the way. He never gets takeout unless we are over so it was a treat for him! He and Matt got cheesesteaks and fries and I got the worst tuna sub I’ve ever had. Normally I don’t get tuna out because it’s so easy and I make it a lot but I had a craving for some deli tuna. It was like eating paste. Just very dry tuna with a little mayo, no seasoning at all. I saw literally one tiny piece of celery. There was another sub place we used to go to years ago and they had really good but what I thought was pretty typical deli/sandwich’s shop tuna so I thought it would be like that. Nope! I’d be ashamed to have it on the menu. I could only manage about a quarter of it.
Our plan was to then go to a museum near PA after (my dad lives about halfway between here and there) but the traffic was nightmarish so we didn’t. Instead we went to Costco right away and got a chicken, the chicken taco kit, laundry detergent etc. I wanted charcoal but we didn’t see it. Why isn’t it with the grills and yard stuff? Where is it?
Matt took a nap and I put together this frame for punch needle I got and it was defective. Can’t anything be simple? I really wanted to go sit outside and craft but instead a wrestled with the stupid thing and it didn’t work.
For dinner we had the tacos and we watched Yellowjackets and I had some popcorn. Our visit was fine but missing the fun museum part and the awful sandwich and defective frame was annoying.
Plus it’s Mother’s Day and I am not a mother and my mother is dead. At least it’s over now and I can stop getting these endless “treat your mom” emails.
I’m still battling with Xfinity to get her name off my dad’s account—an account he opened after her death! It is so bizarre and frankly upsetting. Every time I log in, they greet me as my mom even though he is the only name listed on the account. They cannot tell me how her name became associated with the account, she never had an Xfinity or Comcast account in her life. It has been dragging on for over a year. Worst customer service ever. Dealing with that on Mother’s Day again was something else.
We went to Fiber Arts Day at Manor Mill today. It was a very rainy day but luckily it was all inside! I got some dye plants (one is actually amaranth—top left) and a punch needle pattern and yarn.
It was way way out in the county in a very rural horse farm rich community. It was a pretty drive both ways even though there were some one lane bridges which are always a little stressful!
On the way back we stopped at our favorite pit beef place (Maryland’s answer to barbecue) and got some pit turkey sandwiches and a small macaroni and cheese to split. They made the best turkey! So juicy and flavorful. We were tempted to get ribs for another meal but I just grocery shopped and I think we are stopping at Costco tomorrow.
We read a little and fell asleep in the afternoon—we had a lot of early mornings this week and we got up at 7 to go to the festival.
Then we had some refrigerated spinach tortellini with sautéed mushrooms and some wilted fresh spinach for dinner. I was still pretty full from the sandwich!
We worked on our knitting (Double pointed needles! Knitting flat!) while watching Mord mit Aussicht.
Got up early this morning. Worked on my knitting then went and picked up the rest of the books from my grant partner to bind. Not looking forward to that!
Then I drove out to the county to the Apple Store to pick up my new phone. The woman working there was impressed I knew how to set up my phone and wanted to do it at home which seemed a little strange (it’s so simple!) but she told me I’d be surprised at how many people can’t handle it or make mistakes.
I ordered a phone case at Target because they were 55% off so I stopped there on my way home. Last time I got a new phone I had to order a case and it took forever! I got a clear case because my new phone is supposedly purple but it looks basically grey/black.
Some jambon de bayonne from a PR company arrived today so I need to figure out what to do with that! Matt suggested making some bread to go with it in the bread machine.
For lunch I added some tuna to the leftover pasta salad I made earlier in the week. It wasn’t bad! Matt was at work today and got a couple of slices of pizza.
I read in the hammock after he got back (early, to finish the day at home) from work. The weather is gorgeous! It’s supposed to rain tomorrow but maybe we will get lucky.
For dinner Matt made us burgers and coleslaw and I had some of the chips I got in York. They are odd. They almost have the texture of a pressed potato chip like a Pringle but they seem to be made of actual slices of potato. They also don’t taste like barbecue.
We watched Ted Lasso and Candice Renoir and knitted. The pattern has you knitting flat for a section on double pointed needles and it’s really floppy and awkward. I tried to find some info or a video online but it doesn’t seem like a common thing to do? It’s a pair of wrist warmers/fingerless gloves and I think they will look okay but it’s a little counterintuitive.
I had another migraine and we have to get up tomorrow at like 7 to head out to a festival so I think I’m going to bed now! Wild Friday night!
Rachel Eats Dinner 