Pages

DRAFT TODAY, POST TOMORROW: Some posts may be in draft status until I (aka procrastinator extraordinaire) get around to posting them.



Sunday, August 31, 2014

Post post birthday party

Party number 2 was also a blast! It was a totally different group, again no one from my workplace and some odd cancelations, but so fun. My friend R brought broccoli salad after checking the ingredients with me and her friend A brought me some yellow flowers. We had dinner on the patio. And drinks. A lot of drinks. A lot of laughing. My bestie B and I took a break from the group; I am not a fan of him shutting me out when he has crap going on so I had to remind him that he doesn't actually have to go it alone.
Party food
I may or may not have drank a spilled drink off the table and one of my girlfriends may or may not have been a bit frisky with Mick and I may or may not have taken a couple dozen selfies with B and some people may or may not have drank those blue margaritas Mick likes that I advised against.

We had a few overnighters so I made waffles and bacon and Mick made biscuits and sausage gravy for breakfast. It was really awesome to be able to spend so much time with some friends I have not spent much time with recently but consider to be my closest friends. I can't wait to do it again!

Friday, August 29, 2014

Black and white

I went to Flower Child for lunch today and had some yummy veggie soup that had chilies in it.
steaming
I'm not totally sure about this as a work outfit; it seems a little short, but I get compliments about how cute it is so I'll go with it on a Friday.

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Don't make it your own

I had my first scheduled appointment with Dr. Q since my emergency visit. He says I'm doing really well...

Actually, he says I am/my body is dealing with things better than I used to. After working on me today, he basically said that the amount of "stuff" I'm carrying around would have put me in so much pain a couple years ago that I'd be in bed but I'm dealing with it much better now.

On the other hand, he said I need to be careful. I'm dealing better so it's easier to take more on, except that it's not good for me and I could hit a breaking point and set me back a lot. Yikes. That would suck.

We had talked about a lot of other people's issues, as I'm dealing with and/or supporting my friends through what they've got going on. It's not about any one person but I am trying to be a better friend and he thinks I'm taking too much on. He told me "don't make it your own." Hmmm. Am I making it my own? I'll have to be mindful of what I take on I guess.

Saturday, August 23, 2014

Extra NARCOMS survey

I usually complete the NARCOMS survey twice a year. It's for MS research so why not. They send me a little magazine with information about studies in progress and stuff like that.

They recently sent me an "extra" survey about marijuana use. Easy peasy. Done it. Not medically. Not for a long time. Would consider medical use. Especially if studies showed it would help with my specific symptoms. (I think some research has already shown it helps MS spasticity and stuff like that.)

But realistically, no, I would not use marijuana in any form because my spouse is against it. It's so weird to me that someone could "not believe in it" but that's his experience (or more specifically, lack of experience) so there's no way I could change his mind. I hope and pray that I never have to get into it with him on this one. If it really would help and my shit was bad enough...well, I've been known to disagree on occasion when it matters.

Friday, August 22, 2014

Logic vs logic

I don't know if it's a gender thing or an engineer/non-engineer thing but some days...being married is at best, amusing and at worst, frustrating.
 
Before telling this story, I want to remind you that I'm married to a great guy who is my friend and is there for me when it counts. (Exhibit A: blog post last week describing the tea incident. He took care of everything while trying to keep me from becoming really upset about the whole situation.)
 
A few weeks ago, I was no longer able to print from my laptop. He suggested I was still connected to the VPN (work network) but I knew I wasn't. I didn't argue.
 
About a week later, I complained again that I couldn't print. He ignored it.
 
Again, I complained. Again I was ignored.
 
Then we needed to return a pan to Amazon that I had ordered for him. It was supposed to be a fryer pan but when he and his dad used it on the (thankfully not in my kitchen) outdoor burner, it leaked oil out of the bottom. FOR REAL! It's unbelievable; I've never heard of such a thing but he said there were some reviews that had said that, although most did not.
 
So I needed went to Amazon to get the return label. They allow the return label to be sent to another email address so I sent it to Mick to print. THEN he wanted to know why I couldn't print it and FINALLY looked at my laptop.
 
He tries to claim that I have problems because I keep too many tabs open. Unfortunately, most of the tabs I had open at that time were things I was waiting to print out!
 
After about an hour, he was finally able to fix my computer and I can print.
 
And he says, you should really take care of things as soon as you know there is a problem instead of letting it get this bad.
 
O_O
 
Like I have been sitting on this problem and never told him! Gah! WTH.
 
But now I can print. And I have permission/directives from him to text him the things I need done by him. Yes, I text my husband when I need things done. What has this world come to... (I'm old. Get off my lawn.)

Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Milking my birthday (non-dairy of course)

I got a coupon from Fox restaurants for a free dessert. Since I'm an avid fan of True Food and Flower Child, and I know that TF has dairy free sorbet, I was excited about going to lunch with someone. I hadn't actually made plans with anyone though and then realized the coupon expires Monday. I have a business lunch tomorrow and a lunchtime meeting Friday, so today was it. And that meant I went alone.

I'm not sad. I mean, it would be nice to go with someone but I go alone often enough. The guy and gal who usually work the bar weren't there, so I was a little sad that I didn't know anyone. Okay, not so much...

So I had the usual: Panang curry with chicken. The waitress told me the soup was gazpacho today. I love gazpacho so I thought of getting some to-go but after sh told me it was gluten free, she came back and said it had Worcestershire sauce so it was not safe for me. I generally don't question further when I'm told it's not safe but for your info, I can have Lea and Perkins brand. Other brands may have wheat and/or soy.

For my freebie, I had pistachio sorbet. You could tell by the texture it has coconut milk. It was good. I want cake. But that will happen this weekend. And next!

Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Bossypants

Tina Fey's audio book Bossypants is HILARIOUS. In totally thinking about getting my own copy of the book and the audio. I was laughing out loud in my car. There was a bit more name dropping and timeline stuff that I wasn't sure added to the book but it was bearable. I completely recommend this book.

Monday, August 18, 2014

Even Google wishes me a happy birthday

Of course, Google knows everything, so it's not that unexpected!

Sunday, August 17, 2014

No tea for you

In preparation for having two small parties on consecutive weekends, I wanted to spend this weekend making the house somewhat presentable. The main issues as I see them are making sure the dog bedding and blankets are clean (for people with allergies), the bathrooms aren't disgusting, and the common areas are picked up. The kitchen is also a priority but always an ongoing project!

Mick generally takes care of the floor and the outside stuff.

I planned on using Sunday for cooking for the week, prep for next weekend, maybe some grocery shopping...

It took me all day Saturday to wash all the dog bedding and various blankets, change the sheets on my bed, and clean the bathrooms. I also had kitchen things to do such as clean out the dog food bin for a new bag of dog food, wash dishes, run the dishwasher, make meals and eat and clean up...never-ending.

Mick and his family made fried fish for lunch. I was involved although I couldn't eat it. Don't ask. I made myself a pizza as consolation. At least he figured out it was a lot more work than was feasible for a party. I think.

We also figured out that you can't freeze onions and then use them for onion rings. Frozen onions become very soggy. They can only be used as "diced" onions in cooked recipes.

I made some sun tea and was thinking about transferring the tea to another container later to make some sweet tea. But while I was making dinner, I managed to drop the whole glass jar of tea out of the fridge. My hands just stopped working. I hate when that happens but I'm usually more on guard for it and this one just totally caught me by surprise so I didn't have any back up plan. It just fell on the tile and busted.

Poor Mick was such a good honey. He told me to stop crying and to stay put while he picked up glass and brought me some shoes. He mopped it up and just had me take the rugs outside when he was done in those areas.

And YES, I cry when these things happen. I hate that I have control of things one moment and then no control over my body the next. And I was tired and hungry and ready to relax and then had this major detour because my hands don't work.

So I have no tea. And I have no jar in which to make my tea. FML.

I felt like I was pretty productive until that point. That was kind of the end.

Sunday, I woke up with a painful left shoulder again. I tried to take it easy and occasionally stretch it. Midday, it started to pop very painfully but it felt a little better after each time. By the end of the day, it was just sore. I had done very little all day, just some reading and minor picking up and watching the Lord of the Rings marathon on AMC like we don't have it on DVD.

While I was reading thekitchn, I ran across their tour of the Lodge cast iron factory which (again? I don't remember if I had heard this for certain or not) confirms that they use a soy-based seasoning. So I have to strip and reseason all my cast iron pans. Just another thing on the list, right?

When it started to get towards dark, I went out to pick weeds from the gardens. I made a big dent in the weed population a few days ago but it's a terrible battle that I'm losing and I have absolutely no backup in this fight. Unless you count that sometimes others throw out the stuff in my buckets for me. I thought from a comment Mick made on Friday that maybe there had been some help but then I saw that was not the case. Oh well. I keep working on it and they keep coming back in giant patches.

I also pulled a lot out of the raised garden to start prepping for the fall garden. It started raining so I put the kitchen rugs out for a rain bath. Mick thinks that doesn't make sense but these are old cheap rugs that I can't put through the wash so they are just filthy from the dogs. Rain is better than no washing in my opinion.

I made another halibut recipe and Mick didn't like it. To be fair, I fucked it up by spilling the salt when I was measuring it so it was kinda gross but he didn't like it anyway because it was green. He would prefer that I stick with the one I made that he liked and never try any other. Sigh. It's so awesome being married to someone who eats like he is still in elementary school. Yes, I blame his parents. Yes, they know it. Yes, they agree.

I still had a lot to do that I didn't but I just don't feel like I can motivate myself any further. Are all productive days followed by mostly non-productive ones or is that just me?

So that Sunday list up top, I did mostly none of it. That means I have to make my breakfast sausages on Monday night (so the pork doesn't go bad), the sorbet and cantaloupe puree on Tuesday, the seasonings on Wednesday, the infused tequila on Thursday, the infused vodka on Friday (I can't do that one any earlier since it has strawberries), and the rest on Saturday. I also have a round of grocery stores to hit this week since I can't get everything at any one. Wish me luck!

Sunday, August 3, 2014

Weddings, the Wigwam, and the weekend

We were invited to the wedding of Mick's coworker. We thought it was at the Wigwam and then realized they just had group rates there because they were staying there. We checked rates and decided to go check it out since everyone keeps telling us how great and modern it is for a historic location.

Obligatory feet in front of pool photo
We went early to relax, unpack, and go swimming before getting ready for the wedding.

Somehow, I managed to have no photos of me and Mick at the wedding. Bummer cause he looked great.

I expected I wouldn't be able to eat at the reception but after talking with the waitress, found I could have the grilled veggies, smoked salmon, ceviche with avocado puree, and prime rib with pepper relish.

tiny dinner--first trip
My friend K totally embarrassed me out of her love for me. She knew the bride was having a gluten-free, dairy-free cake so she insisted on asking the bride if it had eggs and soy. They decided I could have a piece. I. Had. Cake. In public. It was pretty good. Okay, if you don't have to eat that, you'd probably think it was a little off, but it wasn't dry or anything...expected.
wedding cake
It wasn't a very late party but we slept in anyway. We walked around and saw the main pool that we were no where near. Then we headed to breakfast at Red's. The waitress had me a little nervous but then she took my card to the chef and confirmed my order.
potatoes, no seasoning, bacon, guacamole and salsa
Mick had the most gluten-y thing on the menu. It looked fantastic.
pancakes and sausage
Our impression of the Wigwam? Well, we must have been in the part that hasn't been remodeled yet or something. I wouldn't call it contemporary or modern. And our friends who were also staying in this section pointed out the extremely sparse artwork that just looked odd. And the parking was kind of terrible. But it was a clean, large room and we had a good time.

Sunday, we went to the movies with a friend and saw Guardians of the Galaxy. Cute. Too much unnecessary  cursing. I want a Groot in a pot. I hope that's a thing. We didn't go out for lunch or anything, just called it a day. But I got some good hugs from the friend. And hugs are good for our health so I got my medicine this weekend.

I love getting hugs from him because they are the BEST hugs. I think I've figured it out. He doesn't give me the wimpy hug that people give me when they know I'm "broken" or "fragile" because, I'm guessing, he doesn't know. And since he doesn't know, he doesn't overcompensate and squeeze me to death either. He also isn't afraid to hold on until we're done with our hug. I'm used to the "quickie" hug, so it's so different to have someone hold on for a minute. I don't know how he doesn't have a girlfriend and/or stalker.
via thebloggess on Pinterest
For dinner, Mick and I decided to try my new fryer. He actually fell asleep as soon as I started. Unfortunately, we had not stopped at Costco for more oil on our way home from the movies, so I had to go get some more. I wanted to cry--how sucky is it to have to take an hour delay because there isn't enough oil for dinner. Sigh. Well, I got back and he was up.

I made a basic batter for the cod. He thought it didn't have enough seasoning, which I can easily fix, but that the batter wasn't quite right anyway, maybe gummy or hard or something I didn't get. I, on the other hand, haven't had fried fish in several years so I was just amazed at how well my first EVER attempt at fried fish came out.

I also spiralized some sweet potatoes to make fries. They aren't thick enough so I think we'll have to stick to normal fry shaped fries. We did the first batch without batter and the last batch with batter. I like the battered ones better but, again, Mick doesn't like the batter itself.

fish fry
I also made tartar sauce from Well Fed 2 but using Earth Balance soy-free mayo which is not really Paleo but I can have it so there. I thought it was good, though not quite perfect--I'll keep working on it. It's definitely not as thick as "normal" tartar sauce. Mick wants the stuff his parents use from the jar. (I used to buy it, so I think it's actually a squeeze bottle but what does he know...)

It was a LOT of work for a mediocre meal. I think he may have given up on the fish fry idea for his friends now that he realizes how much work it will be while everyone is visiting. We'll see.