(no subject)

We waited until the last minute to file our taxes. I always dread it because we always seem to owe a couple of thousand dollars. We didn't! We're getting a refund! I have no idea how that worked out, even when the tax preparer explained all of it to us. What a relief.

We went next to an old farmhouse in our area that has been converted to a micro-brewery and small event venue. I had promised to buy a particular can of beer packaged in a one-of-a-kind label for the 2023 Norfolk Tattoo. It's for a friend who lives in another country. The brewery had had a contest to design the label and he'd taken part in it. He didn't win but he wants a couple of cans to display on a shelf behind his home "bar". Our timing was unfortunate. The organisers of the Tattoo beat us to the brewery and took off with all of the cans. The only way to get any would be to attend the event - and I am not such a fan of pipes and drums that I'm willing to pay fifty dollars just to buy a can of beer. But the day manager at the brewery recruited the barman to join her in the brew house and lo and behold, they found a four-pack that had been hidden behind the main dock. So now I can give our friend his beer. After I figure out how to ship it to Australia. I think I may have to hold on to it until Pennsic 51 (2024) and hand it off in person.

I tried another youtube recipe and it turned out great. It was for slow-cooker potato & ham soup. The recipe made enough to feed five people and still have enough left over for tomorrow's dinner. It is a little lighter on potatoes than we'd like but it sure didn't look like it would be when we were loading up the slow cooker. My only regret was that I thought 1 tsp. of salt was insufficient so added more. I'd forgotten that ham is salt-cured and that it was going to leech into the soup. Wowsers, was it salty. Not so much that we couldn't eat it, but enough that I made a note on my recipe to warn against that mistake again. And friends on Facebook wanted the recipe - one made some for her and her man yesterday and they both liked the ease and the flavor of their dish. That brightened my day. Oh wait - that friend is a Dreamwidth buddy! Hi Dru!

I am on my computer right now to hide from the three-foot-tall stack of paper I took off of my desk and plopped onto the kitchen table. I have got to sort it. But I am procrastinating..

B the ex-protégée

Oh... and this happened.

When we hosted guests to play cards, as we do each Sunday evening (pretty much), the woman who'd once been my protégée (remember me mentioning her?) joined us. We had made plans to try out the new ham & potato soup for dinner. When it was time to eat, she said she'd been wanting to use the new feast gear she'd bought for herself and since she wasn't going to be attending any events soon so she'd brought it with her to use here. She pulled out a plate and a bowl. When I handed her our silverware and a napkin for her setting, she closely examined the spoon and then took a cloth out of her travel bag and wiped it down with the cloth before placing it by her dining ware. I admit, I was so taken aback that I said, "I'm sorry that my dishes are not clean enough for you" and she just shrugged her shoulders then replied that that wasn't why she'd "polished" the new flatware and turned to start talking to someone else in the room.

After our guests had gone my normally easy-going man asked what I thought about that. I told him I'd felt insulted - and he said he'd felt the same way. I'm not really sure what to do about it, if anything. Not about this particular episode per se, but about the frequent small slights she's begun displaying towards me and mine. They are so small that while they form a pattern, it'd be easy for her to blow off anything I'd say about it as me being "too touchy" or "wanting to put her in the wrong".