Monday, September 18
Sep. 19th, 2023 01:41 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gottawonderToday I am grateful for:
A pleasant day, sunny and warm.
It was super windy earlier in the day, so my husband couldn't work on the siding.
I insisted that he come with me to pottery today. He WAS going to go to the city. Again. For materials and to donate blood.
I talked about it with him, and what he actually needed to get ahead for a few more days was siding nails, which he could get in the same town where we go for pottery, so I said "go to the city another day, come to pottery today".
I really want him to go to pottery because every year he insists on paying to be a member of the crafts group, and then barely ever goes. Yet, when he does come with me, he enjoys himself. It's a social thing, as we barely socialize with anyone these days anymore, and this is not a good thing. We need to keep meeting people, and having a social group, and something to care about besides just this never ending house project. We have to keep being PEOPLE.
I already know about how awful social isolation is, and I don't want for us to not have friends or any sense of community.
Also, why pay for a membership if you don't go? What a waste! I'm going to keep insisting that he come while he is at home.
I had a good session of throwing, and I made two nice forms, a big vase and really good-sized bowl. I had several pieces that were dry and ready to be bisque fired.
We chatted with some of the people who were there when we arrived; those people all left not long after, and then one of the "later" potters showed up and we visited with her. It was nice to catch up with everyone about how their summer was, and so on.
See? This is what it means to be social and have an ongoing social group.
My husband did have what seemed like a fruitful conversation with the contractor we had working for us last summer, mainly picking his brain about some siding related questions my husband had, and testing the waters to see if we could hire the contractor again for finishing the soffits and fascia this year if possible (maybe, maybe not, but at least we're on his radar now), and for some inside work again.
After pottery we went to get groceries, and finally it felt like my husband was actually shopping WITH me. On other recent trips, he kept taking off on his own side quests, joining up with me, throwing me off and making things stressful. It's just easier to start at one end of the store, and methodically working through to the other side, not jumping all over the place like he does.
It drives me crazy when he just goes "I need X" and takes off. I'm like "we'll get X when we are at that part of the store!". The store is laid out in such a way that you come in on one side, you work your way around it , and when you're done, you're at the check outs. That's how it works. Not zig-zagging all over the place. YOU GET BREAD WHEN YOU'RE IN THE BREAD AISLE.
Then we came home and watched the first two episodes of "Wednesday". It's good, but it hardly feels like "The Addams Family", it feels more like Harry Potter. Good, but it feels derivative.
I learned about the famous "Space Pen", developed by Paul Fisher. Fisher was already working on a pressurized pen for general use, to improve the flow of ink.
NASA wanted a pen that wouldn't leak, wouldn't dry up, would work under a variety of conditions including weightlessness, and would be long-lasting. Pencils were not an option because of the leads breaking off and damaging electronics.
It did not cost NASA anything to develop this pen, other than testing prototypes, as Fisher was already researching pens. The real money came from the fame of being the pen used in space, as they became very popular gift items, and also just a very good pen.
https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/spinoff/How_NASA_Astronauts_Write_in_Space
A pleasant day, sunny and warm.
It was super windy earlier in the day, so my husband couldn't work on the siding.
I insisted that he come with me to pottery today. He WAS going to go to the city. Again. For materials and to donate blood.
I talked about it with him, and what he actually needed to get ahead for a few more days was siding nails, which he could get in the same town where we go for pottery, so I said "go to the city another day, come to pottery today".
I really want him to go to pottery because every year he insists on paying to be a member of the crafts group, and then barely ever goes. Yet, when he does come with me, he enjoys himself. It's a social thing, as we barely socialize with anyone these days anymore, and this is not a good thing. We need to keep meeting people, and having a social group, and something to care about besides just this never ending house project. We have to keep being PEOPLE.
I already know about how awful social isolation is, and I don't want for us to not have friends or any sense of community.
Also, why pay for a membership if you don't go? What a waste! I'm going to keep insisting that he come while he is at home.
I had a good session of throwing, and I made two nice forms, a big vase and really good-sized bowl. I had several pieces that were dry and ready to be bisque fired.
We chatted with some of the people who were there when we arrived; those people all left not long after, and then one of the "later" potters showed up and we visited with her. It was nice to catch up with everyone about how their summer was, and so on.
See? This is what it means to be social and have an ongoing social group.
My husband did have what seemed like a fruitful conversation with the contractor we had working for us last summer, mainly picking his brain about some siding related questions my husband had, and testing the waters to see if we could hire the contractor again for finishing the soffits and fascia this year if possible (maybe, maybe not, but at least we're on his radar now), and for some inside work again.
After pottery we went to get groceries, and finally it felt like my husband was actually shopping WITH me. On other recent trips, he kept taking off on his own side quests, joining up with me, throwing me off and making things stressful. It's just easier to start at one end of the store, and methodically working through to the other side, not jumping all over the place like he does.
It drives me crazy when he just goes "I need X" and takes off. I'm like "we'll get X when we are at that part of the store!". The store is laid out in such a way that you come in on one side, you work your way around it , and when you're done, you're at the check outs. That's how it works. Not zig-zagging all over the place. YOU GET BREAD WHEN YOU'RE IN THE BREAD AISLE.
Then we came home and watched the first two episodes of "Wednesday". It's good, but it hardly feels like "The Addams Family", it feels more like Harry Potter. Good, but it feels derivative.
I learned about the famous "Space Pen", developed by Paul Fisher. Fisher was already working on a pressurized pen for general use, to improve the flow of ink.
NASA wanted a pen that wouldn't leak, wouldn't dry up, would work under a variety of conditions including weightlessness, and would be long-lasting. Pencils were not an option because of the leads breaking off and damaging electronics.
It did not cost NASA anything to develop this pen, other than testing prototypes, as Fisher was already researching pens. The real money came from the fame of being the pen used in space, as they became very popular gift items, and also just a very good pen.
https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/spinoff/How_NASA_Astronauts_Write_in_Space
no subject
Date: 2023-09-19 09:45 pm (UTC)Here, the gravel removal stopped. There was a repair here and there on the wheelbarrow. There is no longer time to plant a late vegetable crop if the rest of the gravel is moved out, but it is if and not when.
no subject
Date: 2023-09-20 07:13 am (UTC)I don't know what needs to happen to move the gravel, or how much is left, or where it was going. Would a few pails a day be enough to make it happen in time to plant a late garden, or could you even have a "gravel party" where you have friends come and help in return for some baked treats?
no subject
Date: 2023-09-20 09:23 pm (UTC)The best things for me to do are to add gravel to the wheelbarrow (to create a load) AND to take a few pails a day to the big plastic bag in the driveway. When the bag is full, it gets taken away.
If there's even the smallest corner of bare earth, I'll plant a peas and spinach.
I know and accept that it is hard for some people to have the kind of motivation that we do.
no subject
Date: 2023-09-20 08:26 am (UTC)Sorry for your frustration, but that cracked me up when you said that. I think it would drive me nuts too. If all the chores in life were done that way, I would go absolutely raving mad. I like to have fun, but I need the base of order. I'm glad that this shopping trip it seemed like he was really with you and it went so well.
no subject
Date: 2023-09-20 09:45 pm (UTC)My husband seems to do this thing where it will occur to him that he wants coffee, so no matter where we are in the store he will just leave me standing there to go find coffee. He won't always just be patient and wait until we are in that part of the store.
He always seems like he's in a hurry, and wants to rush around, but his scattered way of shopping wastes time and isn't thorough.
I would rather go through the store from one end to the other, pausing at the end of each aisle to consider if we need anything in "cereal" or "imported food".
I have to be careful not to get distracted when he's with me, or I won't get everything we need.
At least this last time, as you say, he seemed willing to slow down.
no subject
Date: 2023-09-21 09:30 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-09-23 08:13 am (UTC)I do write down things that are additional or I don't buy as often, like when I want to make something different.
I typically shop by myself, and it takes some getting used to when my husband comes along. I'm sure it's weird for him too, because HE often shops for himself when he is away at work.
no subject
Date: 2023-10-01 12:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-10-01 09:36 pm (UTC)Our usual situation is that he works away from home for ten days, then comes home for four days. When it's like that, it doesn't always feel like he "lives" here, it's almost like he's a regular guest.
Even then, the shift from being alone to having someone in the house can be a bit disruptive, as in you get really set routines for when you get up, the order in which daily tasks like making breakfast or feeding the animals take place and so on, and then if you usually go somewhere that day, like pottery or to the riding barn, there is no other person to consider.
When he's home, he's saying "we need to go to the city to look for a bathtub (just an example). I would need to go with him for my input, but when do we go?
Or I wake up and he's already gone somewhere, and I'm not sure what I'm supposed to be doing.
Or I'm trying to make my breakfast but he often tries to do dishes and clean up the kitchen...while I'm trying to cook, and it doesn't work. For him at HIS apartment, breakfast was when he did dishes. Here, it just causes frustration for me.
We have to work out certain things, like if he is going to get up first and feed the cats/dog, then he ALWAYS has to do it, not just sometimes, or I won't know if they got fed or not. The things he starts to do, he has to do consistently. Not just when he feels like being gallant.
It all works out eventually, but sharing space erratically can be trying.
no subject
Date: 2023-10-02 02:18 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-10-02 07:03 am (UTC)I guess it isn't that different from the issues you deal with whenever you get a new aide; trying to get them up to speed.
no subject
Date: 2023-10-02 01:40 pm (UTC)