Long day, short post

I arranged my day today so I could stay home all day and work--and yet it was lunchtime before I got back to editing my manuscript. I had to read email, read the paper, do a laundry, shower and wash my hair, do my yoga. All that eats up a lot of time. But I did spend a profitable afternoon working on my manuscript.
Tonight my memoir class met for the first time for the spring session. Lovely to have all those women together--they are so fond of each other, so sharing. We had one newcomer, but she fit right in and was the only one who had a piece to share with us. We listened spellbound to her reading about her father's descent into Alzheimer's. It sparked a lot of conversation, because many in the group are of the age where caring for parents is a major concern. Beyond that,  we caught up with each other's news and generally had a good time. I know I'm supposed to be leading this group, but sometimes I have a hard time getting control, because they head off in their own direction.
My longtime friend Linda came early, and we had a tuna supper--albacore tuna (that good stuff from Oregon) spread over greens dressed with a cilantro dressing and then topped with an avocado dressing. I decided to omit the chile from the avocado part but keep the curry. Now I think it would have been wiser to omit the curry and keep the chile--it needed that bite! I fixed pimiento cheese sandwiches for the group and, unfortunately, have too many left over. Sigh. I guess I'll have to eat them tomorrow.

Cleaning Your Kitchen

Want to know how clean your kitchen is? For a small fee, I will rent out my dog Scooby. Sunday night, after my brisket/grease disaster (see my post for 9/26), he spent a long time licking the kitchen floor that I thought I had cleaned so carefully. Then Wednesday night--three nights after the disaster--he discovered some grease that must have dripped out of the bottom of the oven and spent a good ten minutes licking it, until I finally told him it was time to go to bed. Sort of like a tracking dog, only for food remnants. Every dog has his special talents--and that's Scooby's, aside from being the most loveable, sweet animal ever!
Errands this morning--did you ever realize that you can buy a lot of groceries and spend a lot of money in much less time than it takes to unpack what you've bought? By the time I did that, went by the office, went to the vet for animal food, and took Jordan to the safe deposit box, I was pooped.
Tonight was the first session of my fall session of the evening writing class--I have nine enrollees, though two were absent tonight. A most interesting group--a minister, a psychotherapist, an aspiring fiction writer, four repeats from last session, a woman who took a similar class from me ten or twelve years ago. We had a good time. The talk was much more open and free than at the noon class I taught Monday--I hate to say this, but serving a glass of wine makes a difference. Anyway, it was a happy, encouraging evening, and I have great hopes for this group. I served bourbon hot dogs from the freezer, brownies that were so mushy and moist they were hard to deal with, and pimiento cheese that I bought at the store but spiked with a bit of cayenne that made it really good. I can see my lunch sandwich tomorrow!