Pandemic play changes

Sarah earned a part in Morton High School's fall play, "The Man Who Came to Dinner", but it's very different because of COVID. All the actors wear masks during rehearsals, and even during the show.  The show will be online only, with no live audience.  I feel bad for Sarah and all the others, especially for the seniors, but I am thankful (as I bet they are too) that at least they get to have the experience of putting on a play, such as it is.  

Sarah was originally cast as a radio tech person and a prisoner/luncheon guest with no lines, but one of the other minor actors has COVID so Sarah absorbed his lines and had to memorize them in two days.  

The play was being streamed online and available to watch one day only.  For all the other plays that Sarah has been in, parents were allowed to attend dress rehearsal and take pictures.  I always enjoyed doing that.  These pictures were taken by the parent that was allowed to be there.  Thankfully she's a better photographer than I am. The last few are screenshots I took while I was watching it.

New carpet

Noah's new carpet was installed yesterday, so we helped him get his bedroom set up.  Mike assembled his bed frame and hung shelves, Noah moved his computer stuff to the loft, and I helped him make up his bed and move clothes into his closet.  At the end are some before and after collage pics.

Shoe shelf and new nightlight in the mud room.

Noah silhouetted behind the flag in his garage.

His little tiny Christmas tree on the kitchen counter. He put it up just so people would stop nagging him about not decorating for Christmas.

Our old washer and dryer seem happy in their new home.  

His new room is so cool! 

 Instead of smelling like dirty old dog, it now smells like new carpet and paint. 

Sheldon and Sally

When I flippantly said, "We can give Noah our old washer and dryer and just get new ones," it seemed like an easy thing.  It's a big project that will involve at least 4 days. Day 1 was making the purchase.  Day 2 was hauling out the old and preparing for the new. Day 3 is today: delivery and installation.  Day 4 will be installing the old ones at Noah's house.  

The shiny new ones arrived at 10:00 this morning.  I was going to try to get the delivery guys to bring them into the house by using my sex appeal.  But after a look in the mirror, I realize I don't possess that, so I decided to use my "I'm just a weak, middle-aged woman and it sure would help me a lot if you big strong guys could just bring them inside" womanly wiles instead.  I also bribed them with cookies. The nice delivery guys very kindly did and didn't even take the cookies!  

That was a big help, but we still had to move them into the laundry area and install them. Fortunately, we had Marty to help with that.  I think she would like to be a Sherman's showroom cat.  She is so curious about all the new stuff and especially the packaging.  

My job was basically holding and pushing and following orders, in addition to picking up all the trash.  I loaded it all into a big bag and hauled it out while singing "Here Comes Santa Claus".

We got the washer (named Sheldon) into place and discovered that the hose connections are far side of the washer so the hoses wouldn't reach the water valves.  We had a discussion and difference of opinion about what to do about that.  Mike was right, so I relinquished my stance.  He is now at Menards buying an extension hose and a steam kit (for HALF the price of what Sherman's wanted to charge), and I am registering the products online. 

This is what our house currently looks like:

The other 2 cats have been cowering under the bed all day, terrified of all this.  Shadow finally emerged and cautiously investigated everything.

Shiloh came slinking out and made a beeline for my lap, where she quivered  for a long time.

Noah arrived to help with the installation and take home his booty.  He and Mike got into all kinds of contortions.

That's an unhappy camper right there after he dropped something vital deep down inside the bowels of the dryer mechanism.

As of 6:00 p.m., I'm still not able to do a load of laundry.  It's very complicated.  I don't need it to launch a rocket or cure cancer.  I just need it to wash my sheets.  Ironically, I might have to take my laundry to Noah's house to wash it.  Starting to think that $100 delivery/installation thing might have been worth it.

P.S.--The dryer's name is Sally. 

Update: It's a few days later, and I have since done some loads of laundry.  Sheldon makes strange sounds while he's washing.  Sometimes he makes  low wolf-like growl, sometimes he makes whale noises, a couple times he hisses like a snake, sometimes he sounds like an airplane trying (but failing) to take off. Sally is pretty quiet.  She's going to take some getting used to, but she does play a nice little song when she's finished with her cycle.  She only plays it once, quietly, and she doesn't bother you again.  It's much more pleasant than the incessant beeping of our previous dryer, but it's also very easy to forget about the laundry, which the old machine would never allow.

Ridiculous rules

Sarah is the messiest person I've ever known.  She makes huge messes everywhere she goes, and makes little to no effort to clean them up.  Coffee is the worst, and the sugar she puts in it.  There's coffee literally all over the kitchen, so the floors, counters, fridge are always sticky.  She also refuses to cover anything in the microwave.  She heated up an uncovered bowl of chili, which exploded all over in there.  I told her to clean it up.  This is what it looked like AFTER she "cleaned" it.

I told her to clean it again.  I told her that when she moves out, I'm going to come to her house and dump sugar all over the counters and coffee all over the floors, and she said, "Well that's just fine, because there won't be all these ridiculous rules at my apartment in L.A."  (She's always said she wanted to be an engineer, but this year she decided she's going to be actress.)  The ridiculous rules she refers to are:

1. Don't make messes, or
2. Clean up after yourself.

I said, "Well, I know you'll be there, because you'll be stuck to the floor."

The perfect roasted broccoli

One of my favorite Rev customers is America's Test Kitchens. The videos are very interesting, and if they weren't paying me to caption them, I would have to pay them to watch them.  I grab them up whenever I can.  Yesterday, there was a stream of them flowing into my work queue, so I did one after another, enjoying every single one. 

I've been roasting broccoli for about 30 years and thought I knew how to do it, but one of the ATK videos revealed some secrets to the perfect roasted broccoli, and I realized I've been doing it wrong.  I bought some broccoli yesterday and could hardly wait to roast it today.  I followed the ATK method exactly, and the end result was, as promised, perfect.

At least I thought so.  But Mike ate a piece and said, "It's usually crunchier on the florets. Did you season it?"  This made me question the perfection.  So I hunted Sarah down and made her try it and give her opinion.  She said, "This is not as good as usual.  It needs cooked longer."  So I took some out to enjoy myself, hit the rest with a little garlic salt and put it back in the oven for Mike and Sarah.  

In case you're wondering, this is the technique for perfection.  Heat the oven to 500.  Yes, 500!  I've never asked my oven to go that high.  While it's pre-heating, put the empty pan in to heat. The other secret is to add 1/2 tsp of sugar to the broccoli to aid in carmelization.  For me, perfect was 11 minutes.  For everyone else, it was more like 40 minutes.

Washer and dryer racket

Mike and I went washer and dryer shopping tonight.  I like our old ones, and they work perfectly, but they're 15 years old, and Noah needs a washer and dryer, so we're giving them to him and getting new ones for ourselves.  

Adam, the salesman at Shermans, showed us the features and benefits of several models, and we decided on one and went to the little chair area to make the deal.

Adam: Do you want the full delivery, or just the free shipping?
Me: What's the difference?
Adam: Full delivery includes installation and removal of the old ones.
Me: Sounds expensive.
Adam:  $99.99.
Me: What does the free one include?
Adam: They leave the new ones outside, and you have to haul them in and hook them up.  They weigh 230 pounds each.

I leave that one up to Mike, because I won't be much help in that department.  He decides that he and Noah can handle it, so we avoid the $99.99 charge.  I'm thinking we're done, but no.  Adam has more things to say.

Adam: Do you want a cord?
Me: It doesn't come with a cord?
Adam: No.  It's $24.99.
I look at Mike, who shrugs and says, "How are we gonna start it?"
So we buy the $24.99 cord.  But Adam isn't done yet.
Adam: Do you want the hoses?
Me: How much are they?
Adam: $19.99.
Me: (grouchily) Yes.
Adam: Do you want the steam kit?
Me: What? What is that?
Adam explains that our washer and dryer have some fancy steam sanitization system, but it doesn't work unless we purchase the $39.99 steam kit.  A glance at Mike tells me he doesn't really care.
Me: You mean the washer and dryer that we're paying hundreds of dollars for don't come with all the things they need to use them?
I don't recall Adam's response.  I think he mumbled something and looked away.
Me: I don't think we need the fancy steam thing.  Our ancestors washed their laundry in the creek. 

We also passed on the pedestals, which would have been another $500 (!!).  I found a pedestal that somebody put out on the curb for garbage a few years ago, so our dryer has been on that for years.  It's nice and saves some bending over, but not worth $250.  Mike said he can build a wooden platform for the washer, so it will be at the same height as the dryer.  

I used my coronavirus vaccine money to pay for them, and we left. 

Update: It is now the next day, and Mike is pulling out the old machines to make way for the new, and we discovered something we'll probably need: this thing.

Adam didn't mention that last night, so I called to ask him if it's included with the exorbitant price of the dryer.  As soon as he answered the phone, I realized I didn't know what the thing was called.  So I said, "Does our new dryer come with a...you know, one of those thingies that looks like an elephant trunk?"  He said, "You mean a dryer vent hose?"  I said, "Ok, whatever" and he said, "No, but we include one free in the installation.  Oh wait, you opted out of the installation, didn't you?"  So Mike is now at Menards buying an elephant trunk, or whatever you call it.