Friday, February 7, 2020

Productive Thursday

Osteospermum: some with yellow centers and others with purple centers

Today has been another productive day!  In the morning, neighbor S (my piano teacher) called to confirm today's lesson time (we are still trying to find the best fit, but, I think we have found a good time, now).  Then, I spent about 30 minutes practicing the piano.  After that, I cut up the chicken breasts into small pieces, added the curry powder and spices to coat the pieces, and kept it covered in the fridge to marinate.  I also chopped up two large onions and kept that aside.

Once that was done, I took my shower (I didn't want to shower first and then cut chicken and onions), got dressed, wrote out checks for two bill payments (yes, I still prefer to write checks!), took the kitchen trash out, and brought in the mail while I waited until it was time to go for my piano lesson.

Today's lesson went well!  I received two stickers!  I was told I did well with last week's new pieces, but, now, she wants me to memorize them!  Ha, ha!  What a joke!  I don't even have my cell phone number memorized!  Then, she had me play several new pieces and I am supposed to memorize all but one of them, too!  Oh, my!  My memory is such that, one year, I even forgot my own daughter's birthday!  What mother forgets her only child's birthday?  I think I hear my brain cells laughing at the idea of memorizing piano pieces! 

Afterwards, I came home and had lunch.  Then, I ran some errands. 

First, I went to the post office to mail my bill payments.  Dropped them off in the collection box on the counter.  Then, I went to the bank (the post office is on my way to the bank).

Once my bank transaction was done, I went to the Armenian grocery store, located next to the bank, and bought the majority of the rest of the items I needed for the prayer gathering dinner and a few items for my own use.  I bought:

Apples (@$.49/lb)  = $1.36
1 papaya (@$.89/lb) = $1.84
2 avocados (@$.79) = $1.58
Tomatoes (regular; @$1.09/lb) = $2.96 (for the salad)
Tomatoes (Roma; @ $.79/lb) = $1.19 (for the chicken curry)
1 green bell pepper (@$.39/lb) = $.15
1 red bell pepper (@$1.29/lb) = $.25
1 yellow bell pepper (@$1.29/lb) = $.39
1 lb. bag carrots = $.50
1 cucumber = $.59
Green beans (@$1.19/lb) = $2.65
Red lentils (@$1.29/lb) = $2.28
Garbanzo (chick peas; @$.99/lb)  = $2.09
5 cans condensed milk (@$1.69) = $8.45
Total spent = $26.41

Then, I went to the pharmacy to find out about my inhaler.  I called in a refill last Friday, although I had come to the end of the refills.  Usually, that is not a problem because the pharmacy contacts the doctor's office for a new authorization.  I have now come to the end of my inhaler and have been trying to eke it out, taking one puff instead of the prescribed two and just once a day instead of twice a day.  As a result, I run out of breath, especially when I am counting out loud when I practice my piano pieces!  When I called the pharmacy to find out the status of the refill, I was told they were waiting for the doctor's office to authorize a refill.  Today, when I went in person and asked them, I found out that they had sent the refill request to my former primary care doctor, who has not been my doctor since June of last year!  This is after I gave them my new primary care doctor's information, not once, but twice!  So, now, they have sent a request to the current doctor and, hopefully, she will take care of it, tomorrow.  Maybe I will call the doctor's office and tell them that the pharmacy is supposed to contact them.  In the meantime, I do have my rescue inhaler, if needed, and I need to remember to put on a dust mask when I vacuum the house, tomorrow! 

After the pharmacy visit, I went to the dollar store, next door.  I bought two packs of paper plates (10 plates per pack), a pack of plastic spoons, a long handled dust pan to replace the one that cracked, a small plastic watering can to replace the one that started leaking, some grapes (@$1.99/lb), a bottle of lemon-lime soda.  My total came to $14.04. 

That was my last errand for the day.  I came home, put away the groceries (sorry, I didn't take any pictures), had a cup of tea, watched the evening news, made a couple of phone calls, finished tidying and dusting the family room, did a little more paperwork and filing, cooked the chicken curry, put garbanzo beans (chick peas) to soak, and made myself some dinner:

Dinner: Salad with Honey Mustard Dressing, Sauteed Chicken Breast Strips, and Half a Baked Potato
 
Today, I am grateful for:
- More stickers at my piano lesson!
- Exercise for my brain (memorizing my pieces!)
- What I was able to accomplish
- Warm wool sweaters that I knitted
- Video chatting with my daughter

Today's joyful activity was playing the piano well enough to get stickers!  LOL.

Thursday's To Do List:
- Practice the piano/Piano lesson - DONE
- Pay bills/Post office - DONE
- Bank - DONE
- Groceries - DONE
- Pharmacy - DONE
- Dollar store - DONE
- Finish tidying and dusting the family room - DONE
- Cook the chicken curry! - DONE
- Clean the rest of the kitchen

I ran out of energy to clean the rest of the kitchen, today.

Friday's To Do List:
- Call the doctor's office re. inhaler refill
- Cook: garbanzo beans, dhal, green beans
- Clean the bathrooms
- Vacuum
- Clean the rest of the kitchen (after the cooking is done)
- Practice the piano

How was your Thursday?  What are your plans for Friday?

18 comments:

  1. I just love that you get stickers for your piano playing. You might surprise yourself and find you are able to memorise more than you think. X

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    1. I do, too, Jules (love getting the stickers). :D Oh, I do hope I'll be able to memorize at least one or two pieces by next Thursday!

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  2. Yum, your dinners looks so good! Have a lovely weekend ☺

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    1. Thank you, Natalia. I had a healthy dinner and then, spoilt it all by eating tortilla chips as a late night snack! LOL. Hope you have a wonderful weekend, yourself, and give that baby of yours a cuddle from me. :)

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  3. I hope you can get your inhaler! Glad the piano lessons are such a success! Andrea

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    1. Thank you, Andrea. I called the doctor's office and left a message with the receptionist. Hope the inhaler will be ready for pick up, soon!

      The piano lessons are going well, although, I am doubtful if I'll be able to memorize anything!

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  4. I can understand about forgetting your daughter's birthday ... my twin sister forgot mine one year!

    Good luck with learning the piano pieces. The piano is the only instrument where I can play well from memory ... something about the way I practice the pieces. I'd fail miserably on any the other instruments.

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    1. Oh, too funny about your twin forgetting your birthday! I had mentioned my daughter's birthday to her the night before, when I said goodnight to her. But, when I called her in the morning, I wished her a good morning and she laughed and said, "Don't you mean, Happy Birthday?" Ever since then, she's come home for her birthdays! LOL.

      Well, I'm hoping that I will be able to memorize at least a few of these pieces. Maybe I'll focus on the Happy Birthday song, so I can play it to my daughter for her upcoming birthday!

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  5. I wouldn't worry about not having the energy left to clean up the kitchen. You will have to do it all AGAIN once the cooking is done. You did an amazing lot today. I hope you didn't over extend yourself.
    Running all those errands and then still coming home to cook and clean some more, puts my day to shame.

    I laughed all the way through your description of the piano lesson. You are a funny lady. I certainly could relate to the line, "What a joke! I don't even have my cell phone number memorised!"

    I see that dealing with the pharmacy has not got any better for you all these months. What a shame. You have been more than patient. Good luck with the cooking today. Dinner last night looked fabulous, by the way.

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    1. Thank you, Susan. Yes, the kitchen will need cleaning again, after I cook; I am a rather messy cook - always spilling things!

      Glad you enjoyed reading about the piano lesson. :D

      It was a good dinner, wasn't it? Then, I snacked on tortilla chips at night, and spoilt it all! Oh, well.

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  6. You did have a productive day! Let us not discuss 'forgetting things' ...Daughter 3 and I went shopping the other day and I not only forgot my shopping list, but also I forgot to call in my prescriptions for refill (which was the whole reason I needed to go in the first place)- fortunately I either looked totally demented or pitiful and the kind pharmacist took pity and secured the essentials- I prefer to think it was because I am a longtime customer, but the 'demented' part is probably more likely!
    You are having such fun and success with your piano lessons- back in the dark ages when I was in school I had 12 years of lessons which made me adequate ... but I never had any talent-
    I still enjoy banging away at the piano, so it is nice to think about you getting such pleasure from your lessons-
    Both Paige and Whitney are getting along better than expected, so that counts as the biggest 'plus' for the time being-
    Do take care- as always my fondest wishes-
    Barb

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    1. I think we are so forgetful because we are too distracted (often with good reason to be so). I've got to the stage that I put things into my purse as soon as I think about it, rather than rely on remembering to do so later! Often, I keep things near my purse and still I forget to take them with me!

      I'm so glad to hear that both Whitney and Paige are doing better than expected. You know I will be mentioning them (and another little girl I know of) at the prayer gathering, tomorrow.

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  7. You did well with your piano playing. I hope you will be able to memorize the pieces. I have a theory that some people memorize music well and others sight read well. I used to play an accordion and I struggled with sight reading but could easily memorize once I learned a piece. I can memorize when singing, too.

    It's too bad you have been getting the runaround with prescriptions again. You mentioned a dust mask. Well, I was shocked yesterday when coming back into the entrance area of a building where two separate businesses are located. One was under renovation and in the doorway, a man had started cutting a sheet of wallboard with a power saw and dust was in the air and all over him and he didn't have a mask! I scurried through that vestibule holding my breath.

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    1. Thank you, Bushlady. I have no problem with memorizing lyrics and remembering a tune. But, memorizing the actual music? Well, I will give it a try! Lots of practice, I guess, to build up muscle memory.

      Oh, my! I hope that man doesn't suffer from asthma!

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  8. Oh, How I WISH!!! A first-time dropper-inner here, from Nana Diana, and I just absorbed the gentle tenor of your day, with such wonderfully simple moments as a PIANO LESSON and marinating a chicken. We're in a flurry of furnace-not-happy, snow on the ground (crusted mightily on the doors and windows of both cars) and a house-guest coming Monday for a few days. Clutters and piles of sorteds, the scent of those wonderful pink pearly things in the washer full of guest-room linens (I love to keep the bed "made up" but then wash everything fresh and fragrant to fluff and smooth. I enjoyed your day---especially the PROGRESS and what my Mammaw called "what you have to show for it." Those things are so appealing. On to my own. Bye from the Heartland.

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    1. Hi Racheld, so glad you stopped by and enjoyed reading about my day. That's mostly what I write about - what I did (or didn't do!). I spent 6 winters in Wisconsin, so I know a little bit about that snow! I'm glad I don't have it where I live now, because I can't take the cold, anymore. I hope you will visit, again. Thank you, too, for taking the time to comment. :)

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