Scribblescrawl » Project 365

218/365: 07-28-10 Accidental art at Scootie’s

Scribblescrawl — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 16:22:00 +0000

You may know Scootie’s. You know, the convenience store by The U of M and RP Tracks. We used to buy kegs there. There used to be an impressive collection of fake IDs taped to the bulletproof glass. Yeah, that one. Anyway, I walked there Sunday to buy a Commercial Appeal. For the NYT crossword (which I summarily destroyed, thank you very much). And I walked past a poster pasted on the inside of the store’s window, facing out. It’s the white one on the left. Here, you can see it in the window, easily missed, I imagine.

But if you get closer, it’s quite interesting. The inks have smeared against the glass and created a piece of art out of that tacky poster. Looks a bit like this…

This morning, while I was in the area (Starbucks on Poplar is surprisingly empty at 7:30 a.m., I discovered), I swung past with my camera. The clouds were still hanging in the early morning sky, so I hope you don’t mind that I boosted these in Lightroom a bit to better convey what I see when I look at the poster in person. The world needs more accidentally beautiful things. (More photos here.)

215/365: 07-25-10 Lifesaver

Scribblescrawl — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 04:32:22 +0000

214/365: 07-24-10 Call me Miss Fix-It. Or, call me Miss Tries-To-Fix-It.

Scribblescrawl — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 05:21:18 +0000

Well, today was full of sweat and fury, signifying nothing. I spoke too soon about the air conditioner. It’s out again. It blows cool air and all parts appear to work, but the house is not comfortable. The inside temperature was 90 degrees during the late afternoon, which was positively delightful when compared to the much hotter attic in which I swamp-bathed during my (failed) Miss Fix-It mission to repair the air conditioner. Whatever’s broken doesn’t appear to be a user-serviceable part. However, I am now intimately familiar with my attic’s duct work and the scent of my own steaming skin.

For the occasion, I wrote a little poem about troubleshooting the A/C.

Yep, there’s trouble.
Yep, I want to shoot it.

~~fin~~

There were some bright spots to this muggy, humid heatwave day. I did get the tree limb removed from the garage and most of the backyard’s overgrown weeds cut (under severe orders from Shelby County Code Enforcement, I might add). And I did invent a lovely new hairstyle, perfect for the glamorous repairwoman on the go.

209/365: 07-19-10 Giganticat

Scribblescrawl — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 07:17:19 +0000

The desk is two feet wide and he hangs off three sides of it.

205/365: 07-15-10 House demon partially exorcised

Scribblescrawl — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 17:58:28 +0000

The a/c and hot water heater are working! Turns out MLGW didn’t fully restore my power after the outage, leaving some appliances (the 220 or 240 volt ones, I can’t recall, my mind is mush) inoperable. MLGW fixed the issue yesterday, and now I’m just waiting for the house to restore to its normal frigid temperature. The a/c was out for four days though, all told, so apparently it’s taking a while to cool back down. Funny that a thermostat reading nearly 80 degrees is enough for me to consider “cool.” But, hey! I’ll take it!

More good news: my neighbor who was also affected by the downed tree offered to haggle about insurance claims on our behalf with the tree owners. I might get that limb removed and fence replaced after all. Fingers crossed, and then those fingers crossed, and then arms crossed. With a cross look on my face and hot cross buns for breakfast.

203/365: 07-13-10 Oh great, not again — again — AGAIN, SERIOUSLY?!?

Scribblescrawl — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 14:59:36 +0000

OK so the power went out for the second time Sunday night. The outage got restored around 11 a.m. Monday, but my place got restored much later at around 3 p.m.

When I came home from work Monday night, I noticed the house was warm. I figured this was because the air had been off all day and was merely taking its necessary time to equalize the house temperature.

No.

That was incorrect.

Tuesday morning I woke up brutally early, slapped out of bed by a thunderclap and a mysteriously muggy discomfort. After a few minutes of orientation, I realized… the central air conditioning is out. After ALL THIS?! After all these problems?! My heart, y’all, it sank. My drama and problems trying to keep this house livable have been mentioned in only vague terms on this blog (seriously, y’all don’t want the details), and this was just about enough to break my spirit.

But I persevered. I went outside to check the breakers, slathering an inch of fresh mud on my canvas (read: permeable) shoes in the process. No luck. Back and forth between the outdoor a/c unit and Google on my computer. Nothing. Into the sweltering attic to change air filters and search for reset buttons. Nothing I tried worked. None of the DIY tips. Nada.

By this time, I needed to shower before work. So I step into the shower, expecting my normal searingly hot water, and….

….I bet you can see where this is going….

….wait for it….

….NO HOT WATER.

THE HOT WATER HEATER IS OUT TOO. THIS IS UNBELIEVABLE.

………………………………………………….. which led to what has to be the only logical conclusion ……………………..

The gods are experimenting on me. I am a lab rat in their science project.

Seriously, nothing else makes sense.

So, anyway, after completely and totally losing my mind for a few minutes, I scooped up the melted brainpieces and decided to leave the house. I had to, anyway. It was getting super hot, and work was beginning to call my name.

Normally I leave all my lights and fans off when I’m not home. But I quickly decided that plan wasn’t gonna work yesterday, so before I left, I went through the house manually turning all my ceiling fans on full blast. OK, I thought, that can only help. I hate to leave all this on when I’m gone, but desperate times, right? Riiiiiiight as I’m leaving the house, on my way out the door, arms full of messenger bags and things I needed to run errands, timer ticking on the “get out of the house in 30 seconds or all hell breaks loose” security system, I noticed I’d skipped a light.

So I dashed over to pull the fan chain.

And I did.

And this happened.

At which time I figured the gods were having a mighty successful day at the science fair.

202/365: 07-12-10 Blue Monkey Red Face

Scribblescrawl — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 07:55:32 +0000

201/365: 07-11-10 Oh great, not again — again.

Scribblescrawl — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 07:49:30 +0000

So apparently power outages do not, in fact, follow the same superstition rules as lightning. They will strike the same place twice without hesitation or mercy. Sunday night, mere days after a tree limb snuggled up to my garage roof and destroyed my power for 10 hours, my power went out AGAIN.

There was a storm. I heard something crack. Luckily it was not another mini-tree on my garage. I still don’t know what it was. But it did knock my power out for FOURTEEN hours, despite the fact I was the first person to call MLGW about the outage. Apparently my power didn’t get restored with the rest of the affected folks due to something fishy with my utility pole. Given the week’s toll on the pole, I could understand that. But it was still hot.

Here’s a picture I took of Miles during the outage Sunday night. Clearly he is not a fan.

200/365: 07-10-10 Wacky Cups Party

Scribblescrawl — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 07:23:07 +0000

Saturday I was invited to a birthday party where dressing “wacky” was mentioned, and bringing a “wacky cup” was encouraged. Even with that in mind, though, there are some sentences you never expect to say.

Like, “There’s a guy here in a beaver costume…with a holstered gun…and cowboy hat…drinking out of a mug shaped like a rattlesnake.”

And then that guy dances his tail off.

THIS is why I love Memphis.

179/365: 06-27-10 Sunday Cooking Adventures: Fried okra tofu…what?

Scribblescrawl — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 22:36:54 +0000

Sundays are quickly becoming the day I fool around in the kitchen, finally playing house with ingredients I bought ages ago. It’s summer and even though the weather is cantankerous and simmering, the vegetables are bright and fresh. Toss them with a fat waistline and a slim wallet, and you’ve got me cooking a work week’s worth of packable meals.

I don’t cook much with tofu. Heh, I don’t cook much at all. Every moment in the kitchen is an adventure, especially with food that isn’t ramen. Mmm, ramen. I don’t care what people say. I love that stuff. Anyway, back to this Thai stir fry and the tofu I finally mustered up the nerve to tackle. I’ve tried to cook tofu before, but I could never make it act right, even after draining it between plates and reading a bunch of tips on the internet about proper handling and marinating. So today I decided to fall back on a time-tested method that makes pretty much anything edible: I deep fried the mess out of it.

And…I need practice. BUT. Turns out! Accidentally deep frying tofu with a little cornstarch in the oil you forgot you didn’t drain after you fried okra an undisclosed long time ago will result in cubes that are soft tofu on the inside with a fried okra crust on the outside. It’s like the South got a hold of the tofu and wrestled it to the ground with a gingham tablecloth. And it is awesome. Happy accident, y’all.

Also, the stir fry sauce I made? Great mix of salty fish sauce, sweet brown sugar and slap your mouth hot chili sauce. Not bad for a beginner.

Dang. I might just figure out this cooking business yet.

* The photo doesn’t do it justice. I’m no Chubby Vegetarian. (Man, if you’re into food, especially vegetarian food made by Memphians, bookmark that blog IMMEDIATELY. Everything they make looks incredible. Also, it was the first result when I Googled “chubby.” In a world of porn and fat-obsession, that’s a feat.)