Back in Grandma's Kitchen

I'm using a small bowl for my ice cream that has 14 karat gold trim on it...my grandma used to have a set of these dishes, and I got these small bowls at Angie's while I was clearing out a cupboard the other day. They're from Homer Laughlin China, a discontinued pattern.

This is the stuff, although they don't show the small dessert bowl I'm currently using. When I lived with Grandma I used these bowls all the time.

I am still working on cleaning out Angie's condo and it's a daunting job. I'm nearing the point where I can have the furniture picked up by my charity of choice, but there are still things to do in that regard and rather than making more trips than necessary, I want it all done as efficiently as possible. No one is complaining about how I'm handling things, but then they have their own worries; Hub's other sister's husband has a large abdominal tumor that will be examined in the next couple of days. Not sure if it's malignant or not, but he did have stomach cancer five years ago so the reappearance of cancer wouldn't be a complete surprise. In truth, working on Angie's condo is a task that is tiring and fulfilling at the same time, and always difficult. No one goes with me, which is probably for the best because I can organize my thoughts better when I'm not talking to someone else. Yesterday I took my house-painter neighbour over to take a look and to give us an estimate of what it would cost to paint the place. It's small but really needs the paint job, and then it'll be fine. What I didn't need was a little "job list" and exact instructions on what I have to do and how I have to deal with the other people in the family and so on. I admit, I did complain a bit and I shouldn't have, because maybe she interpreted that as me being needy. I'm not needy, and I don't respond well to being told what to do at the best of times, so after a while I was just tired of her nattering and really, I do understand how colours work and yes, I do know what you're going to have to do to complete the job, but how about you do the job, and I'll deal with the family stuff?

From now on then, do not discuss other people, do not discuss how things are going with the cleanup. Relay information that is necessary for the job, and keep everything else at bay. There are times for telling other people what to do, and there are times when this is not a good idea. We could put it this way: my neighbour has no people management skills.

I like to be able to say what I want, because sometimes it gives me a better opportunity to understand what I'm really thinking. Since talking to other people is becoming more and more difficult to do, I'm going to get a little thing so that I can talk to myself instead. It's a present from me to me, and it's a voice-recorder that I'll probably get tomorrow, since today is half done already. I'm hoping it'll be useful as I prepare for this job interview, so that I can make up questions and answer them, listen to myself and adjust what I've said, my tone of voice and/or my approach to the question. I have been told many, many times that I speak too bluntly and that it can be off-putting.

Then again, the people who are interviewing me? Volatile. Reputed to be difficult at the best of times. Interesting. Maybe my bluntness will be a welcome change of pace, who knows.