Round-up of stuff

* I have to thank Charlotte for the suggestion of "wilted spinach" made with a slice of bacon. I found lower-sodium bacon at the store, low enough that I could use one slice to make a batch of the spinach. It's much, much tastier made with a little bacon rather than just olive oil. I've had wilted spinach two nights in a row for dinner now. (I wonder if maybe lightly cooked spinach like this is more digestible. I know you can eat more - or at least I can eat more - because it cooks down and I don't get bored with eating it like I do with a giant bowl of salad. And as coarse and tough as the "baby" spinach has been lately, cooking it is preferable.). I may just freeze individual slices of the bacon to use in future preparations (I know, bacon doesn't keep very long in the freezer but there's no way I can use up a whole package without freezing it) after I get done with making the beans I was going to make (why I originally got the bacon)

* Thanks to a comment (on Twitter) from Purlewe, I ordered epsom salt cream (I didn't know such a thing existed) from Amazon to try to fight my hives. (I looked for it out shopping today but no one had it). I wonder if skin dryness is part of these; it seems after I shower with some kind of moisturizing stuff they are less bad. (When the hives get bad, taking a bath in Epsom salt does seem to help). (Yes, I still take antihistamines but I still get a few hives, especially when it's very humid or there's a lot of mold in the air - which it is right now. Being in my nice air conditioned house seems to help a lot, but being over at work where the air conditioning and ventilation is highly variable from room to room and day to day (and where I KNOW there are molds, thanks to the many leaks) makes them get worse)

* I did get to an antique shop. I wound up finding another set of "house" themed sugar-and-creamers - this one looks like a water-mill, with a millwheel on the side. Well, of course, since I am now using these things as part of "my own private Ponyville," I had to get them, my replica of Ponyville needs a mill. Those things delight me anyway, so I probably would have bought them even if I didn't have all my little blindbag ponies out on a coffee table with the "houses" scattered around them.

I also found a nice old souvenir plate (to add to the collection on my bathroom wall) of Yosemite.

* And I got the tan colored yarn needed for Dr. Whooves, which I think is going to be my next ami after I finish Baymax. I couldn't find the Red Heart Super Saver specified, but I found another brand in a similar color. (it's often kind of a gamble with the craft stores here, whether they will have a particular color of a line of yarn. I will admit I had to order the Vanna's Choice "body color" yarn for Filly Trixie).

I'm half tempted to see if I can make the collar-and-tie removable, so I could swap in a striped scarf, or a bow-tie on the collar instead, when I wanted a change. (I might also be able to work up a little fez for him to wear some times.)

* I also splurged a bit, sodium-wise, and went to my new favorite barbecue place (Cackle and Oink) for lunch. I got pulled pork. (I usually get ribs). Their ribs are good but the pulled pork was amazing and was really what I needed right then. (It was nearly 1:00 by then and I was getting REALLY hungry, and when I get hungry like that, I need something with protein.). Also the people who work there are all really friendly and that makes a difference, too.

* The Red River is higher than I've ever seen it (in the ~16 years I've lived here) and it's a little creepy driving over the bridge over it when it's that high. (But still, it wasn't as high at Platter as it was over at Thackerville, where there was thought they'd have to close the I-35 bridge over it - I saw video of water almost up to the bridge deck). They may close the Roosevelt Bridge over the lake again, which would stink for the couple of students who have to come in from west of here.

I realized this afternoon that some of my discomfort with going over bridges when the water is high like that may be the result of barely-remembered childhood memories of riding on the causeway that lead to Cedar Point (an amusement park in Sandusky, Ohio, my parents took us to a few times). I was really afraid of deep water and going over bridges when I was a little kid, and I think  that affected me more than I realize. (I still periodically have dreams that feature being a passenger in a car (or driving) going somewhere, and the only way to get there is on a road that is right level with water on both sides. (In a lot of cases, it's a very narrow road, like a single-lane road, and the water is REALLY close, and you can't see your destination....) I wonder if that's related to my memories of that. (It's also possible on one of the early trips to Florida, I was also a passenger in a car that drove out on one of the causeways there. I don't like causeways much. That may be why I don't like the Roosevelt Bridge over Lake Texoma, and if I'm going that way and have time, I take the northern route that goes over a much shorter, more modern bridge that doesn't feel so "risky.")