The search for the missing set of keys

 

Unlike most men, most women carry their essentials (e.g. Wallet, Keys, Tissues, etc.) in a handbag.  When going out as a female, I do what other women do - use a handbag.  I have humorously described a handbag as being like a black hole: It has infinite capacity, and useful things can only be extracted from its "event horizon." Once deep enough into the bag, it's hard to find anything anymore.  This weekend, I learned how deep a handbag could get.

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On Friday, RQS and I decided to spend the afternoon driving out to Paramus, NJ again, so that she could pick up a miniature roasting pan like the one I have, that she could use in her toaster oven. Since this was a day I would be presenting as a female because of a planned stop at Lane Bryant, I got shaved, showered and dressed.  Then out the door we went.  It was a smooth drive until we crossed the river into Rockland county, where we hit the expected traffic jam just West of the bridge. But soon afterwards, it was smooth sailing to Home Goods, and then to Ikea.  After buying the pan, it was off to Lane Bryant where I looked at a few blazers that were slightly too small for me, while RQS looked at a couple of dresses.

Soon, it was a short drive home, where the next day's "fun" was to begin.  On the way home, we stopped off at Trader Joe's to pick up some food and loaded 3 bags into the car.  When we got home, I opened the door, put the keys into my bag, then loaded the refrigerator with what I brought inside.

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Saturday came, and we didn't start getting ready to go outside until early afternoon.  After getting ready to go out to RQS's friend's exhibit at a Yonkers art gallery, I noticed something was missing - my keys!  There was no way I could go anywhere without them.  It was a mad search for keys, and all I could find were Mario's set of keys on my desk.  So I knew to be extra careful with this set while out for the day.

We arrived at the art gallery and chatted with RQS's friend.  I was introduced as Marian, and RQS caught up on old times.  Then it was time to go home.  Once home, we tore apart the place and found nothing.  The keys found a good place to hide from us, and they weren't coming out without a fight. After a 2-3 hour search, we gave up, and I resigned myself to paying a locksmith to cut a new set of keys, and to programming the car key - at a cost of $250 or so.  Ouch!

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The clocks changed, but I couldn't get to sleep until 4 am or so.  Sunday morning arrived, and I only had 4 hours of sleep - for 2 days in a row.  But this time, I had an idea.  My bag has front and back zippers.  The front zipper opens a small section of the bag where a woman can put her lipstick, etc. to be accessed easily.  The back zipper opens a section of the bag (along with a bottom zipper) which can be used to attach the bag to a luggage handle for travel.  I've misplaced my keys in that pseudo-compartment before.  So I'd check this area again when I got up.  Lo and behold, the keys were there.  What a relief.  What a way to start the day!

This was the first weekend in a while that I spent fully as Marian

 

This weekend, RQS came up to my place, knowing that I'd be in Marian mode all weekend.  I was having lunch with a friend from the imaging/indexing firm I once worked with, and then would be spending Sunday evening with friends from my game night group to enjoy some comedy.  If I had still been with XGFJ, this would have been impossible. But I am with RQS, and am very grateful to be sharing much of my life with her....

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When I woke up on Friday, I knew that I had a 12:30 lunch appointment with my friend (noted in a prior post).  Since I didn't want to change back into Mario for the evening, I let RQS know who to expect at the train station.  She arrived on the 5:00 train, and we proceeded to Trader Joe's to do some shopping before going home for the evening.

Saturday came, and we started off the day very slowly. But we had a goal - stopping off at Home Goods and then Ikea in Paramus.  So we got on the road by 4:00, and took Jersey side roads to reach Route 17 North of the store.  Arriving at the store, RQS went a little nuts (an over exaggeration) buying things for her place, while I bought a small handful of things I know I'll be using in the near future - such as a 3 prong blind cleaner that I picked up for under $4.00.  Then, it was off to Ikea, where I found a small "baking" (?) pan I could use in my toaster oven.  I spent more in gas and tolls than I did at the 2 stores. It was a good excuse to get out of the house, and allowed the 2 of us to do something we don't get the chance to do at her place.

But Sunday was the big day of the weekend.  We were meeting friends from the Yonkers Game Night Group to go to dinner and watch some comedy.  Although the comedians weren't that great, we enjoyed a nice night out with friends who know me as Trans, but treat me as a "normal" person.  I think they are glad that RQS is in my life, and I hope that she can be with me occasionally on one of our bi-monthly game nights.

Ikea

 

In one sense, if you visit one Ikea store, you've visited them all.  There is a winding path through the furniture showrooms, and it's all geared to lead you to an area geared for impulse buys before picking out the unassembled furniture (in boxes) from the warehouse side of the store.  

But first....

Last night, I sat down on a plastic chair that RQS had placed in front of her desktop computer.  Sooner or later, the chair was going to break under my weight (it was a flimsy piece of molded plastic), and it did in a spectacular fashion.  As I moved to get up from the seat, my shifting weight caused the rear legs of the chair to collapse and break off, causing me to land on the floor in an embarrassing way. At that point, RQS came over to help me up and I knew that we'd have to replace the chair today.

Morning came, and RQS had to go to her gym for her weekly round with her personal trainer.  When I picked her up, I knew the perfect place for us to go to get the replacement chair - Ikea.  So, it was off to Hicksville, and to do some chair shopping.  RQS was surprised to see how big the store was, and got some ideas of what she could do in her place.  After trying out a couple of chairs, we settled on one model - and purchased it.  And then we went for dinner at a seafood joint I knew in Lindenhurst.

Once finished with dinner, it was back to RQS's place to assemble the chair.  Assembly of most Ikea furniture is relatively straight forward.  One looks at pictures in sequence, and assembles the parts to look like the images on each page in sequence.  And that is what we did until RQS almost stripped the screw head because of a flaw in its manufacture.  To prevent damage to the remaining part of the hex screw head, I decided to use a pair of pliers to get the screw down as far as possible, then try to use the provided Allen wrench to tighten the screw the rest of the way.  Luckily, I was successful where RQS wasn't. Now, RQS has a solid chair she can sit on - at a very reasonable price.