Sophie's Story

   A few days ago I was cutting up a tomato. C was making an egg quesadilla for us and wanted to put tomatoes on it. While I was chopping the tomato, I remembered something. When I was a kid, I didn't like tomatoes. I would eat tomato sauce on a pizza or on pasta, but I would not eat a raw tomato. If I encountered a chunk of tomato in chili, I would pick it out.   I thought about other foods that I didn't like but now do. I also thought about things that I used to eat that I now wonder why I did.   One food I would never eat was fish. The only fish that I would eat would be a fish sandwich at either McDonald's or Hardees. I always ordered it with tartar sauce only as I didn't like the nasty orange cheese thing that they put in the sandwich. Now I like fish. It doesn't have to be fired in batter. It does have to have the head, bones and skin removed.  I don't want my dinner to stare at me.    C steamed brussel sprouts for me on...

   I was brushing my teeth a week or so ago. while I brushed I was watching a scroll of trending news on my Ipad.  A couple of the news items mentioned a certain movie producer who was sexually harassing women for many years.  I stopped one of the stories to read the entire article. It was an article about a director who worked with the producer. He had known about the misdeeds of this man for many years. He had heard first-hand accounts of the some of what this producer did to women he came in contact with. At the time, the director did nothing. The article talked about how he regretted his inaction and had pledged to donate money to a women's organization to make up for it.   I was instantly furious. Why did he speak out now? It was a little too late. Why couldn't he have spoken up a little sooner when it actually could have done some good and maybe spared a few women from having to become victims.    Unfortunately, I know both sid...

   A week before we left on vacation, C and I found a box of clothes. They were sweaters and sweatshirts that I knew I had, but could never find them. Some of the sweaters were ones that I liked to wear while we are in Door County. They look good and pack well. The weather reports all said it was going to be warmer than normal. I only brought one sweater.    The day before we left I packed my suitcase as I usually do.  My suitcase was loaded. I had to put a couple of things into C's large suitcase. We loaded the suitcase in the back of the car along with the rest of the things we were going to take with us and left.    When we got to the B&B we unloaded our suitcases and settled in. Later that night I went to get something out of the front pocket of my suitcase. The pocket seemed a little full. I reached in to see what was in there. I pulled out a hoodie that I hadn't seen in a very long time. I was glad to see it. It's a cute hoodie white wit...

   We are on our usual pilgrimage to Door County. This trip is a little different. The bed and breakfast that we usually stay at was sold this past spring. That means that the innkeeper that we've come to know for the last 13 trips was no longer going to be here.   We had known that the innkeeper was going to sell. He had told us his plans a couple years before. (We had become good friends over the years.) We hoped that whoever bought the inn would continue to run it as a bed and breakfast. As sad as it was to know that we would no longer get to see our friend the innkeeper, we were happy that the bed and breakfast was going to remain in business.   We wondered what changes the new owners were going to make to the inn. We saw the first change on the inn's Facebook page. They were changing the breakfast. We were both happy about that. No more muffins and stewed fruit. No more cold cereal and grapes. The new owners were going to serve things like pancakes and eggs....

   One of the presents that C gave me for Christmas last year was a swift. It isn't something that moves fast. (Well, maybe it can...) It doesn't sing country music. It can't fly. What it can do is make my life a little easier.    What he gave me is a yarn swift. A yarn swift is a device used by knitters and those who crochet. It holds a hank of yarn and allows the hank to be wound into a ball. I have no idea how old swifts are. Wikipedia says that there are some from the 18th and 19th that are valuable antiques.   Most good quality yarn comes in a hank. A hank, according to Wikipedia, is a coiled or twisted unit of yarn. When you untwist a hank it looks like a giant circle. It is impossible to use the yarn when it is like this. It has to be wound into a ball.   In order to wind the ball, you need something to hold the hank. Otherwise, it gets twisted and tangled. You can recruit someone to hold the hank, but that requires another person to take t...

   I've been wracking my brain all day trying to think of something to write about. I have several topics to choose from. I could write about how much I like my new spell/grammar check program. I'm sure it's saved me from several spelling and grammatical errors. I could write about our upcoming trip to Door County. The problem is that none of them are really enough for a full column. I decided that when I have days like this I am going to write a RAT column. RAT stands for random assorted things.  Today you'll see what I mean.    I am discovering one of the benefits of my new workplace. I worked yesterday and can honestly say that I had a good time. I did half of the monthly Class II controlled substance count. I dealt with several insurance problems for customers. (I love that our software has all the information I need in one spot. Makes it much easier when I have to make those calls.) I helped the tech put away the store order. I vacuume...

   "How's the job search going?" "Have you found a job yet?" "Have you found something full-time yet?"      I'm not quite sure how to answer these questions. Part of the problem is that I'm not actively looking. While I do have a part-time job at a place where I am very happy, I am keeping an eye out in case I find another part-time job in a good place.     I'm afraid what people will say or think if I tell them this. I wonder if  I'll be branded as lazy, not ambitious or being too picky. I'm worried that if I'm not seen to be looking really hard for something full time that people might think less of me.    When I left my job I assessed the job market and realized something. The full-time jobs were in corporate pharmacies. They were jobs in companies that have reputations for burning out their employees and them dumping them. I really don't want to be a part of that. I wanted to work for a place that was smaller...