Category: Uncategorized

Coffee Stuff

Do you have any collections?

I have a couple collections, being middle class and comfortable enough to afford them, but my biggest collection is practical — in a way. I collect coffee pots.

Dripolator. Old school manual drip coffee pot.

I have several ways of making coffee. My daily coffee is made in a Technivorm Moccamaster, which is a high-end automatic drip coffee pot that I bought at a discount. My husband roasts beans with a Behmor coffee roaster, which will roast one pound at a time.

Then there are my other coffeemakers, which I don’t use on a daily basis. I have two dripolators made of aluminum and ceramic, two different styles/sizes of aluminum moka pots, a Chemex auto-drip pot, a WWII-era glass vacuum pot (no rubber gaskets), a later (1950s) glass vacuum pot, a modern Cona glass vacuum pot, a stainless steel vacuum pot, a Royal Belgian siphon pot (which I got for $50 used), two press pots, a cold brew pot, and an iconic Pyrex glass stovetop percolator.

I have all my coffee pots in a display cabinet where they share space with a few teapots (which I have collected in the past). I don’t have room for any more, which means I won’t be collecting more esoteric pots like a Neapolitan flip pot or a Bohemian coffee pot.

I don’t know why I collected all these coffee pots. I have a veritable coffee museum. Now to drink another cup of coffee…

The Oldest Thing I’m Wearing

I am wearing a Chicken Mary’s t-shirt from 8 years ago right now. Chicken Mary’s is a fried chicken restaurant in Pittsburg KS where my husband is from.

I couldn’t wear this shirt for many years. It is a size L, which sounds big to you, but I was a size 2xl for many years. I have struggled with my weight all my life, but I am currently about 87 pounds smaller than I’ve been, so this shirt is a reward to me.

My Community Involvement

What do you do to be involved in the community?

I do not do nearly enough to be involved in the community. I am a pretty solitary person, not the sort for team sports and the like. I don’t belong to the community chorus like my husband; I do not belong to a church; I do not do volunteer work. For the most part.

I am involved in moulage (casualty simulation) with Missouri Hope, which is local and through the university. Moulage is the use of makeup and prosthetics to simulate injuries and illness. I also do moulage for the county docudrama, which is a drinking and driving scenario performed for the area students. This speaks to my expertise and my interests.

I would like to be more civic-minded, but I like being alone more. I like writing more. I am not called to community service. Maybe it’s just where I am in life right now.

Vote or Don’t Complain

Do you vote in political elections?

I vote in political elections. This means I get up early to vote over at my election place at 6:30 AM before work, show my voter ID, take the ballot to one of the partitioned booths, and fill it out with Sharpie marker. That’s how we vote in rural Missouri, with a Sharpie marker.

If I don’t vote, I don’t influence the politics in this country. I’m only one person, but if more people with my viewpoint voted, we wouldn’t be in the mess we’re currently in with our president.

Anyone who didn’t vote has no right to complain, in my opinion. What did they do to keep us out of this mess? Why did they not care enough to make their voices heard? Why do they think their complaints are accomplishing anything when their vote could have?

I get worked up on this topic, obviously.

Writing Retreat

I’m currently sitting at Broadway Cafe in Kansas City writing on my iPad. I have it rigged with a Zagg Rugged Case with keyboard, so it’s almost like using a computer. I am trying out a new trackball, the Elecom Bitra, which only takes up as much space as a small mouse.

I am putting off writing on the latest novel. I don’t feel like I have let it gel enough to start writing. I have not been writing, not even the blog (which I am remedying right now).

I am supposed to be writing, as this is a writing retreat. My husband keeps showing me Instagram pictures, so that’s getting in the way. I don’t really feel like writing right now, which is a problem. What is it going to take to get me to feel like writing?

Maybe this blog will help.

A Big Audacious Goal and a Positive Change

Daily writing prompt
Describe one positive change you have made in your life.
View all responses

I have a Big Audacious Goal I haven’t talked about much on here. My goal was to lose weight, and specifically to get down to a 25 BMI. My doctor chose that because, at my age, health outcomes are better with a bit of padding.

I am three pounds away from meeting that goal (and those three pounds will take forever). I have lost 88 pounds so far.

This weight loss has come with many non-scale triumphs. I have gone off of two of my meds, have cut down drastically on at least one more, and am working on getting myself in shape again. My liver is now normal, my kidneys are practically normal, and my blood pressure is a little on the low side. I wear a size 14 now (which is where I’ll stay; I’m not a small person) and I look better. I’m a bit saggy and lumpy, but that comes with a big weight loss and a life of being mostly heavy.

Life is not perfect. I need to get back into shape and start walking again. I could use some endurance and I have some muscle weakness from not lifting weights or anything. I have to figure out how to incorporate exercise in my life without detesting it. I’m afraid of gaining the weight back, especially as the goal is to get me off the Ozempic. The appetite return is daunting.

But I don’t want to gain the weight back, and I know how to eat to keep the weight from coming back. That is key. Now to keep my life in balance, juggle the weight with the exercise and the writing. Here’s to Big Audacious Goals!