I can’t believe another year has come and gone! In so many ways we are so much better off, but in some I can’t help but feel like I’ve stagnated. I’m not beating myself up over it, mind you, simply commenting.
Today I’m grateful for the love of my husband, that keeps me going. Who also preheats my bed so I can get under a warm blanket.
Posting this from the phone at dinner. Pretty neat.
Another week gone by in a whirlwind of activity. I think this month is just going to continue to be that way, and I best try to get into my zen about it NOW and just accept that’s the way it’s going to be and figure out how to deal with it. I’ll be back in NYC again on Thursday of this week. Have I mentioned how much I loath driving in NYC? It’s like bumper cars in a slalom with a little frogger thrown in for good measure. Ugh. At least that -should- be the last time for a little while. I can hope.
The chef from Elements and his sous and one of the waiters are down in NOLA for a seafood competition. And thanks to the joys of technology and twitter, we’re able to see at least some of what they’re up to. Of all the meals they’ll have down there, it’s the jambalaya at Coop’s Place and coffee and beignets at Cafe du Monde that I’m oh so freaking jealous of. That’s the New Orleans meal I crave. One of these years we’ll get down there, just not in the heat of summer.
Now planning a trip to Ohio for October. See about staying in some cool places on the way back.
Cold brewed ice coffee ROCKS. I’m seriously loving making my own ice coffee. I just plan it into the weekend fussing and it’s not a big deal to make, and then the carafe lasted me the whole week- including Saturday! The coffee’s so good that I just add some vanilla soy milk, no sweetener, and ice and I’m on my way in the morning. This is so going to cut down on my Starbucks fix.
It’s only Monday and I’m about ready to lose my mind in anticipation of what this week is going to be.
Monday- Jersey City. Usual chaos. 9 pm call with Singapore.
Tuesday- NYC. Miss my farmers market. 8:30 am call- need to figure out where I’m taking it from.
Weds- Jersey City. 7 am call, 8 am Dr’s appt that could not be changed as I need the infusion this week. 9 pm call with Singapore. Mid-day meeting with one of the managers.
Thursday- Piscataway. Finally a quiet day.
Friday- Jersey City but need to leave early to get to the Elements/Kevin Sbraga dinner and contend with the Friday shore-bound traffic.
Saturday- run brief errands and then head out to Westchester to see my cousin and her kids at a BBQ at “the out-laws”.
In the meantime, somewhere in there I need to find time to do laundry and other stuff around the house. Plus I’m PMS which sends my energy levels down and my fatigue levels up. I’m already fighting everything. Meh. Whine. Feh.
Dinner tonight was as simple as it can get. I picked up some peeled and cooked shrimp from the Amish market on Saturday. Took the tails off, stuck them in the mini chopper in two batches with some mayo and garlic salt. Added some horseradish afterwards. A little toasted pita and a sliced red pepper for me, some multigrain wheat thins for the Husband, a few olives for us both. Will have to keep this one in mind for the rest of the summer!
Dinner tomorrow will be home made tacos. I picked up some ground beef this weekend as well, and some different tortillas. That will cover Monday, considering I’ll also have to roast a chicken for our lunches. Tuesday I’ll bring home some take out Turkish from near my office and then we’ll figure out the rest of the week. Friday night elements is doing a special dinner with Kevin Sbraga who won Top Chef a year ago, so we’ll be going to that. The menu will certainly be interesting!
But how is it only Sunday and I’m already tired? Sigh. That does not bode well for this week.
This house. I love this house. But this is one damn quirky little house. With water issues. Lots of water issues. This time around it was a leak from the well. As it turns out, we haven’t had any service done on the well in the 17 years the Husband has lived in the house, and the access to it was one of the things that was actually done right. So, remarkably, it was a bit less of a hassle than we’d thought it was going to be when the Husband first saw water sheeting onto the driveway.
Note to self: don’t talk about anything mechanical related when in bed and not quite clear on it. There’s a little bit of a difference between turning on and off the pump for the well and the water for the house. Especially when one is in the shower thinking you’ve turned ON the former, when you’ve actually turned OFF the latter. Yes…that was my Thursday morning. Gah. Not fun.
I’m grateful it’s all back to normal now, with less cost and damage to the azaleas than we’d originally thought it was going to be.
We’re at the end of this horrific hellacious heatwave here in NJ and throughout much of the country right now. I’m grateful that we’ve managed to maintain power, which means air conditioning and computers….and the Husband’s sanity. I did still manage to get out to run some errands today, but early for me. I’m glad that Griggstown has a stand at the farmer’s market. Usually I go up to the farm itself so I can check out their fruits and veggies, but today I was grateful to just get a couple of chickens and not have to make an extra stop and get out of the car again. I can roast a chicken in the convection toaster oven and not have to heat up the house. Chicken salad for the Husband, and something for me with the thighs, maybe make some couscous to go with them. Since it would be just for me, I could even think about doing it in the microwave.
I bailed on the dry cleaners, that’ll have to wait. Tomorrow it’s ONLY supposed to get up to 93. Only 93? That’s crazy hot even for me, and I don’t mind it warm. Not sure what we’ll do about dinner tonight. I got some ground beef, though they didn’t have the all natural, and I hadn’t thought to get any from the organic farm that now sells at the farmers market. Next week I will have to, it seems, so ground beef, maybe some steaks. I’ll make some tacos at some point this week for dinner. I’ll roast a pepper when I roast the next chicken tomorrow.
For today, though, there’s some more chicken salad, some cooked shrimp, cold cuts and salad fixin’s, and pita and humus would be fine for me. Might be some other options lurking in the fridge. And fruit. I have plenty of fruit. There are peaches and sugar plums and blueberries and cherries and an orange flesh melon that was oh so sweet.
And did anyone get the name of that truck that hit me, backed up, and then rolled over again?
So maybe it’s not your typical mid-summer supper, but it worked for us for tonight. Tacos with all natural ground beef I picked up from the Amish along with some shredded cheese, and some whole wheat tortillas from the supermarket. Next time maybe I’ll chop up some of the farmers market tomatoes instead of using the jarred salsa. Or maybe I’ll just remember to buy some better jarred salsa. This one was supposed to be on someone’s best of list, I think, which is why I bought it instead of what I usually buy. But I found it way too watery and it just made everything messy. Maybe if I drained the whole jar it might be useable but that’s just a hassle. Meh. But otherwise dinner was really yummy, and I think we’d do it again. Not too bad to make even in the heat of the summer.
Once that was done I roasted a quick chicken in the convection oven. I forgot the carrots today, I was in too much of a rush, but it will make chicken salad for lunch for the Husband for one day and lunch for me for one or two days during the week. Even though my work schedule is going to be messed up this week and odds are I didn’t need to make the chicken. Oh well. Maybe just take one day for me and make more chicken salad for him. We’ll see.
I just ordered a cold french press to make ice coffee concentrate. I don’t usually like hot coffee, except, weirdly, for a soy cappuccino at elements from time to time, and I think that’s mostly because they don’t do iced coffee beverages. Otherwise, year-round, my preference is for iced coffee or espresso drinks. But you can’t just throw hot coffee over ice for the most part, it just gets watery that way. You generally make a stronger coffee concentrate which you put over ice and with some soy milk and maybe a bit of flavoring. It’s part of the reason I don’t make it at home. But if I can put elements’ coffee blend into a concentrate over ice and have that most days of the week, in my nice reusable cup, yeah, I can take the effort once a week to do that. Besides, if I don’t have to go get a coffee, it’ll help keep me away from the pastries in the morning, even if I did choose carefully it was still no good even twice a week!
It’s full on summer in New Jersey, there’s no doubt about that! NOAA said it was only supposed to get into the low 80′s today, but it was at least 92 when I was out.
Today’s haul from the farmers market. First of the cherry tomatoes, sugar plums, peaches, blueberries, and eggs. At the Amish I got some cheese and cherries and a peach shake. Not to mention some steaks and all natural ground beef. Oh, and some shrimp! At Griggstown I got some plums, a chicken, a biscotti and one cookie for each of us. Lol.
After all that did a run to the supermarket for some staples, and then the dry cleaners so I can be presentable when I go out in the world. Tomorrow is laundry and maybe the other supermarket. We’ll see what it feels like after brunch.
I know I’m not supposed to have too many of the tomatoes; they’re one of those vegetables that many fibro folks don’t do well with and unfortunately that does hold true for me sometimes. But for the first ones of the season, I really will just suck it up and try not to eat the whole container in the weekend. I’ve been making a concerted effort to up my fruit intake especially over the summer when I’m able to get so much stuff fresh and local. I’ve been trying for three servings a day. I know that doesn’t seem like a lot and is definitely less than is recommended but considering I could go days without any, that’s a big step. And it’s keeping me away from the vending machines if I have something at my desk that I can nosh on at that moment.
I’m not quite sure how it’s gotten to be the middle of July.
It’s almost harder to be on an emotional roller coaster when it’s not your own life that’s going through it!
Yesterday, I saw an old friend and her family off as they made Aliyah (moved to Israel). First it was the departure in the morning, then tracking the flight all day, then the arrival ceremony at midnight (for which I set an alarm). I managed to see the whole family get off the plane (including Maggie the wonder pup!) and then went back to sleep. Only this morning did I find out that the kids were actually interviewed, so I went and replayed the video to find that part to rewatch, and recry, through. I’m completely in awe of her and her family for doing this. It takes a special kind of person to make this move, and they’re it. Yes, you’re finally the right kind of crazy.
Today, I have a friend whose son was in a motorcycle accident. He was found next to his bike in a ditch this morning, airlifted to the hospital ICU with multiple breaks in his neck. She’s still recovering from her own rather major surgery a couple of months ago, and this is really the last thing she needed. And there’s nothing I can do for either of them but pray. I’m too far away to help in person. I’ve known her online for more than 10 years, and it’s only perhaps later this year that we’ll finally meet face to face for the first time. And yet she’s part of that extended circle to which it pains me when I can’t go to them when they’re in need, that I can’t help.