Bucket

Boo-kay residence, lady of the house speaking.

It's spelled Bucket.

It's pronounced Boo-kay.

If you're not familiar with Hyacinth Bucket from Keeping Up Appearances, then you have truly missed out.  Poor Hyacinth wants so badly to be upper crust and everyone around her is common as dirt, making the pretense very difficult.  In many ways, she reminded me of my own Mother.  

Anyway, our front porch this week reminded me of that.  I needed a 5 gallon bucket for cleaning the grill and in its usual fashion, the universe paid off in spades.  Suddenly people were discarding 5 gallon buckets and I dragged them home and we became the bucket house.  And, I cleaned the grill, so the buckets came in handy.  

I used to clean my grill once a year, in spring.  I'd replace worn parts and give the inside a good cleaning.  It would take hours and made a huge mess.  Turns out that if you clean the grill more regularly, it's easier and takes less time and makes less mess.  Good thing, good thing and good thing.  I knew a guy once that cleaned his grill back to new condition after every use.  I thought he was an idiot.  We had identical grills.  Mine was a mess.  His looked like it just came out of the box.  I guess he was onto something.  

Last week was kind of crazy at work.  There was an in-office day on Tuesday, and on Wednesday I started setting up my new work laptop.  I'm glad to have a new work laptop because my old one was worn out.  Even though I hardly used the keyboard, the keys in the middle stuck...the ones I keep my fingers on, like I was taught in typing class.  If you press the L key, you're likely to get 14 of them before the next letter starts and I had to press the space bar firmly to get a space.  Now that's gone and I can start fresh with a new machine.  And, all those problematic settings I've accidentally activated over the last 5 years will be shipped back to the company headquarters.  

There was more organizing this weekend.  I cleaned up my tool area.  I used to keep my tools in a tool box, like my Dad did.  But, when. I needed a tool, I had to dig for it.  There were tools I forgot I had and had been borrowing from Rob.  No more.  I bought a $13 hanger for my screwdrivers and pliers and pulled some extra storage bins that I wasn't using in the house (never throw away storage.  It will come in handy later).  Add the label maker and I ended up with a nice, well organized tool storage area.  I can see and find my tools now.  Doesn't mean I'll use them more, but I can find them.  

We went shopping with a home organization shopping list on Saturday.  We got some new nonslip rugs and I got some bins to keep oil in the pantry.  I had stored my oil bottles in disposable aluminum baking pans for years, but I moved them and sometimes need to take them out to get to what is behind them, so I needed something more sturdy.  I got these bins really cheap and they're perfect!

I also got a new skillet.  My good teflon skillet had started to stick on one side and I'd been reading about how we needed to stop using teflon, so I bought a ceramic lined skillet.  I used it for the first time yesterday and it worked perfect.  I use small skillets a lot and if I keep liking this 10" one, I plan to replace my 8 and 12 inch skillets eventually.  

This week's egg casserole has a Mexican theme.  It's the same basic recipe that I shared last week, but instead of ham and Swiss, there's breakfast sausage and cheddar, and I added 3/4 cup of salsa to the egg mixture and increased the sour cream a little.  It should be delicious!

And, the complaining begins:

Google sucks.  They're probably okay if you devote your entire life to them, but if you just want to use some of their services, they suck donkey butts.  The last interaction I have with them is this blog.  And, it has gotten so difficult to blog that I've spent many Monday mornings thinking about just discontinuing the blog.  Right now, I'm thinking about moving it to a new service.  Just thinking about it for now, but if any of you have suggestions for other easy to use blog servicing apps, please share.  

I'm so proud of Democratic TX State Legislators.  It feels like they're running away and I'm sure some news services are presenting it that way, but in reality, they're playing the same dirty game that the pubes play and it's refreshing to see.  I'm so enjoying listening to the little pubes whine and cry about how they're not getting to be the only ones up to dirty tricks.  They're such spoiled little babies, thinking they're the only ones that get to misbehave.  And, when someone shows them what that looks like, they cry and wail about how unfair it is.  

It's funny how I've gone from swearing at them to laughing at them.  Maybe it's the new med.  Not sure.  Don't care.  Their beliefs are a joke.  Their politics of cruelty is a painful joke.  Their pretenses of doing what's good for the country is a joke.  Their ability to govern is a huge joke.  

Early in my career, I learned that you can't corral an angry group.  If you make people mad to get them to support your cause, they will eventually turn that anger back on you.  And, despite the whirlwind of crazy that trump spins to create distraction, I see that anger solidifying against him.  Not as fast as I wish it was, but solidifying nonetheless.  It's like they thought they'd be exempt from his cruelty, only to find that they're the actual victims of it.  

And, I don't feel sorry for them.  Not one bit.

Everybody have a great week!  Live, laugh, and love your way through the week.  Refusing to bend is resistance.  

Lane