July 4, 2021

by drplasticpicker

Despite the expression on my trashart winecork friend, I actually had a really nice day yesterday. Most of the day was taking our oldest and myself down to the HMO clinic where I work. It’s further than other offices from our home, but since I work there I prefer to go to where I feel most comfortable. We had a very nice visit with a new optometrist to our group. She was very nice, and around my age. Just joined up, and asked me how long I had been working at our HMO. I told her honestly, “twelve going on thirteen years” and each of those years I have been grateful for.

Anyway, we both got our vision evaluated and ordered glasses. Our son got two pairs and I got one pair. It was fun watching him while he did not know I was watching him – select two frames. He chose two hipster like frames, one square and one round and made plenty of funny faces at himself in the mirror. The only thing Mr. Plastic Picker and I get for having two physicians as part of our medical group, is that we do get double vision coverage. So our son got two pair of glasses. My prescription is so high and I need all those fancy things they provide, that I got one pair. It was a fun experience, and we went to Home Depot afternoon. I bought mulch to hopefully spread around my HMO guerilla gardening project. It was only $3 but I’m hoping it will help keep the succulents alive. That’s what one of my Instagram litterpicking friends said.

I also bought two new paintbrushes, ordered Dark Crimson paint and bought a solvent that cleans my paint brushes. I’m going to really try to work on my chair refinishing project today. The side benefit of getting our eyes checked together, is that I spent a lot of time talking to our teen son. He was very chatty yesterday and I actually had the mindfulness to follow his stories about video games, Reddit, his ambitions in life, and his frustration with one of his friends who talks politics non-stop. The optometrist asked him what he was doing this summer and what he wanted to be when he grew up. He said he was taking advanced chemistry so he could take AP Chemistry. And then he said he wanted to either be an author or a psychiatrist/pscyhologist. This was a big revelation to me. Not AP Chemistry, I knew that was the plan for the beginning. But his interest in mental health was new to me. He told me on the way home that if the world responded with as much love and support to depression as they did to cancer, wouldn’t the world be a better place? That was really moving.

And I made two really good dishes in the Instapot that I kind of made up myself. I had seen an Instagram reel on someone using peas as a pasta sauce, and I Ecosia searched sweet corn soup. The corn soup was because I had purchased cans from Costco for some unknown reason months ago and they have been sitting in the pantry taking up space. I was able to donate them to the food bank, but it seemed wasteful not to try to make something. So with a clear mind and wanting to be creative, I just looked at some various recipes on-line and then put my own variations in and it actually came out perfect. Most everyone had a serving for breakfast with leftover crackers and bread. I have two servings left for lunch next week. I was able to use up some cauliflower that needed to be used up, two cans of corn, and the last of the Better than Bullion container that we have been trying to get through for years!!! I even used the last bits of coconut milk I had from my mom for some reason.

And that was the lovely day that I wanted to remember. Despite getting two pairs of glasses for our son, I tried to refuse the little eyeglass cleaning kits they give. We have them already. It was interesting that in trying to refuse them, the nice young woman really tried to make sure that we had them. “They are free!” I replied, “well we try not to get things we don’t need. ” She looked at us with interest, “are you minimalist?” I looked at her honestly, “Well, I’m an environmental activist.” But my son wanted the two, so we left with two but at least not three. We did refuse the bag they have and just put it in the bag I already carry.

That was it. That was our interesting day yesterday. Oh, and I did get a really big bag of trash yesterday on my evening walk with our daughter. I didn’t feel the need to take a picture but it’s the first bag for the month. I also found a quarter and a perfectly good sweater that is high quality and a fancy brand. Our neighborhood, there are always nice clothes laying around. It’s a college town and you know those college kids. Hope they all are on birth control.