Life Skills and Bruises

I've already accomplished a great deal today. I managed to repair a toilet by replacing the fill valve. There were a few complications, and I've amassed some really impressive bruises where my arm hit the side of the tank while working, so I'll be wearing long sleeves in public for a while. It looks like someone grabbed my arm hard, and if I had a significant other, people might be calling the cops on him. But I have added one more life skill to my skill set. And I've finally done some grocery shopping. Tonight I plan to make a vat of vegetable soup and see if that does the trick for the last bit of healing I need to do. I discovered last night that one sure way to set off a massive coughing fit is to raise my voice at insane kindergarteners after trying to sing and dance with them. They were just plain crazy last night, and dealing with them wore me out entirely. I sat with the parents of my teen helper at dinner, and she came up to them looking utterly shellshocked and said, "They were insane tonight. I don't know what their deal was." I told them they'd been drinking Silly Juice.

I went to the grocery store with the really strange staff and had the strangest bagger. I think he's the guy who once asked me in the parking lot if I could see him when he wasn't wearing his orange safety vest. Today, it's rather warm, and his way of saying farewell to me was to tell me not to freeze out there. The checker was of some Eastern European origin, and it seemed like her way of calling me "miss" was to call me "little girl." It took me aback at first, but then I noticed her accent and her nametag and I figured out what she was trying to say and found it rather charming.

My real joy of the day was that the French bread had just come out of the oven, and it was still warm. I had to nibble a bit on the way home before it cooled off.

And now I've realized that I did my usual shopping of buying "ingredients," and I still don't have anything quick and easy to make. But the soup will last me for days, and I think I'm going to make a pesto and roasted red pepper pizza tomorrow night. If I get really desperate, I can go to the Indian market and get some kind of curry sauce to go with chicken. Or I could get a takeout curry from one of the nearby restaurants.

Now I may actually get some writing done this afternoon, since my morning exertions (and the holdover from last night's exertions) have left me too tired to do much else.