Improvements

Things are slowly improving.

The shelves in my daughter's bedroom are back up. Even that was a little rocky -- I screwed in the bracket before painting, just to be sure it would work, and it worked fine -- then, after painting, the screw would only go in half way, such that I ended up stripping the head, and using pliers to wind it most of the way in. That's one screw that won't give up the ghost easily! But she has the stuffed animals back up, and quite a display it is. Her rough estimate is that she has about 105 of them.

The dinner tonight went well -- meatloaf with fries and peas, followed by vanilla bean (my daughter's favorite) ice cream sandwiches (commercially made; I don't do those...yet). I think the meatloaf could have cooked just a little more, but thats being picky. It certainly turned out better than the time I inadvertently cooked it on the lid of the pot, rather than the pot itself.

The Star Trek novel I'm reading is nifty, because it has an actual plot. Its surprising, because its the fourth of a quadrology (?), and I'd read one of the earlier ones, not being impressed with it. For some reason, this one is better. Its still implausible in places, but not a lot of places. Also, "American Food Writing: an anthology with classic recipes, edited by Molly O'Neill" is really interesting, and not just for foodies. To read what it was like to wander through the streets of the Italian section of old San Francisco, or how to approach making the best apple pie, or why Julia Child had notes advising her to 'chop the Baby's head off' -- pretty good stuff.

And maybe tomorrow I'll do a little baking!