Nastia rearranges her room, giving Elena ideas.

Nastia rearranges her room, giving Elena ideas. And more dinners. Nasia asked if I could take the extra bed in her room down. She sleeps in a queen size bed and the single bed next to hers has never inspired anyone to sleep in it. The last time Amanda was living in the house, she slept with Nastia, the same with Jessica.

A few months ago, Elena broke one of the posts on the bed in a small temper tantrum while playing XBox. Yes, neither Teri nor I heard about it. I had to ask Nastia who did it? I remember being that angry once. I did stupid things like that. I’m not proud of that time in my life. Elena has a lot of anger inside and yes Nastia, we do treat her differently than you, I’m sorry. I took the bed apart and everything except the box spring made a sharp turn in the hallway and fit up the narrow stairs to the attic. So the box spring and the mattress will go out on junk day. A TV set I won at Dave and Buster’s that plays VHS tapes also went upstairs. I wanted to know if the TV worked, of course I’d bought it upstairs first. I plugged it in. When TVs went digital all signals were converted away from what this TV could pick up, so it is only good to play VHS tapes. I played a tape that said family on it and it is a copy of the family reunion my mother planned in the summer of 1988. I watched a few minutes and I stopped when I got to a dozen people who were there who have died since. I’ll get it transferred to another form so it can be seen by everyone who wants to see it. I still need to find the original and return it to Harriet.

Nastia vacuumed the rug, we spun it to hide a worn corner of it. She requested, so we moved her bed against a wall. It turns out it’s up against the adjoining wall of Teri’s and my bedroom. Not that anything is going on, but the sense of privacy has disappeared. It’ll be moved soon. With the room all back together, Elena walks in fresh from work. She comments how she likes the way the room is set up and considers moving her room around to match having the bed against the wall. It does make the room feel larger.

Sunday dinner was going to be chicken marsala, but the mushrooms were bad. They went into the Lomi (A Lomi turns food waste into dirt in under 18 hours, it’s pretty cool. I have almost 5 gallons of dirt from using it.) We quickly pivot to chicken cutlets. I offer Elena the opportunity to cook with me to make up one of her delinquent meals she owes the house, she passes. I guess she doesn’t fear living on take out, Tacos and instant soup for the rest of her life when she moves out. Nastia comes in and asks if she can help. I let her because I’m tired from working outside for all of three hours. Boy it sucks getting old. I had trouble standing up. I cut the chicken and pound it flat. She flours, eggs and milks, then bread crumbs them. I cook the first half, she finishes. Dinner was good. Elena, what are you cooking this week? She is trying to make pulled pork. It’s easy and quick. A good week day meal.