semi-annual post
August 30, 2006
That's what it seems like, anyway. On the rare occasions I get time to post, I'm too tired, too depressed, or too lacking in things to post about, to do so.
I've been feeling blah lately. Depression, stress, staph infection, and a very long streak of cloudy/rainy days have been instrumental in reducing me to a lifeless blob who only does the bare minimum necessary to get by. I'm working on it, though. Trying to do the kind of stuff that makes my co-workers shake their heads in amazement at my splendiferousness.
Here's some stuff from my recent life:
Saturday:
Dragged my sick ass out of bed and took my car to have the brakes fixed. After replacing the front breaks, it was decided that it was actually the rear brakes that were squealing. Fortunately, they just needed to be adjusted, not replaced. That took pretty much all morning.
We came home and I rested awhile, and then dragged my sick ass out to the grocery store for milk, bread, etcetera. And then came home, put away the groceries, and passed out for four hours, waking at 8:00 to do dishes, shower, and then rest some more. Whatever this is I've got (probably another staph infection), it likes a lot of sleep.
Sunday:
Allowed Spouse to drag my sick ass around the north 'burbs. He wanted to go to Skokie for cigars and to the new Harley dealer in Glenview, he wanted me to go along, and he wanted to do it guilt-free. So I got Trader Joe's in Northbrook, and Beadazzled, The Spice House, and Foodstuffs in Evanston.
Trader Joe's--or Aldi's for Yuppies, as Spouse calls them--for coffee and frozen veggies (we took along the cooler) and cherry preserves and a bunch of the usual stuff we buy there.
Beadazzled (which has terrible lighting for a bead store!)gave up some multi-colored flower beads, some cube beads, four strands of 4mm firepolish beads, and assorted cones and spacers. Not a bad selection, especially of findings, and the prices were very good.
The Spice House had fresh bay leaves,granulated roasted garlic, pizza seasoning, barbecue dry rub, and crystallized ginger to tantalize the senses. I never get caught up in the whole Penzey's vs. The Spice House thing, since they are all owned by one Penzey or another, and the family's knowledge of spices and exceptional standards are well-represented in both companies. I like 'em both.
Before we left Evanston, we popped into Foodstuffs, the gourmet shop. After sampling some incredible Rambol cheese (French--a processed, smoked Gruyere), and a couple of to-die-for (Portobello mushroom, spinach and artichoke)dips, I walked out with a $9.00 tub of the spinach and artichoke, with a pack of their seeded flatbreads for dipping. Expensive, but Oh. My. Sweet. Lord. Sooooo good. And they make it with low-carb, low fat Mayo, too!
And after we were done with all those little shops, we ended up in a positively insane nightmare that I'm still thinking might have been a fever dream. We stopped at the grand opening a a new store in Niles, called "Super H-Mart". Curious as to what that might be, we stopped to check it out, and found ourselves in a crowd that looked like rush hour in Hong Kong.
An enormous Asian grocery store. And that sucker was mobbed. Huge produce, fish, and meat, selections, great quality, and some of the friggin' prices were crazy. Two quarts of strawberries for a buck. Three dozen large eggs for a buck. Chicken breasts for $1.49 a lb.
It was pandemonium, what with asian rock bands, acrobats, six million or so customers, with an equal number of shopping carts, and dozens of workers filling displays as fast as they were emptied. The checkout lines stretched the length of the store. But we found so much good stuff so cheap, it was worth it.
I even found big bags of soup bones for 69 cents a pound. I got about 6 pounds worth, for homemade stock.
Stock which I made Monday after work. Roasted my bones and vegetables, then simmered them for hours in my big stock pot with about three quarts of water, additional onions, and carrots, fresh parsley, Penzey's Bouquet Garni mix, a bay leaf, and black peppercorns. The stock came out beautifully. Rich, dark, and interestingly complex.And since I stayed home yesterday, I had time to parley about half of the stock into a batch of my homemade vegetable soup. Spouse was thrilled, as it is a particular favorite of his. And owing to the quality of the stock, the flavor was spectacular.
It turned out to be a good thing that I stayed home yesterday, as I ended up taking Raji to the vet. The histiocytoma on her head has gotten larger and redder, and it looked like it had a head on it, similar to a boil or a zit. The doctor was palpating it to judge the size, and the thing started to ooze pus. EWW! Well, no wonder it got larger and redder--the damn thing is infected.Long story short--pooch is going in for surgery on Friday. Good thing we didn't have any plans for the long weekend! She won't have to stay overnight, but her surgery is at eight am, and she'll be several hours in recovery, getting fluids. And we'll have stitches to deal with, which I'm hoping she won't bother. Being an up-and-down sort of a dog, the cone collar is not a good idea for her. I can see her getting hurt trying to get onto the bed--or off of it.
Spouse called me at work today, to tell me something strange and freaky. One of his former co-workers was struck by a SEPTA train in Pennsylvania. The whole thing is a huge mystery. He was out there on business (field service), and he was originally from that area, but his car was nowhere to be found at or near the scene. They eventually found his car was found at the Scranton airport after about a week, but dang--it's all very bizarre how he came to be there.
List of new things I've tried and heartily endorse:
"Trader Joe's Fresh Cherries Cherry Preserves". Tart, whole cherries, and ton of 'em! If I was making cherry danish, this would be what I'd use for filling. It also rocks on a toasted english muffin.Orly "Bonder" basecoat and "Sec N' Dry" topcoat. The basecoat is rubberized, and holds polish better and longer than anything I've ever used. The topcoat penetrates and deep dries all layers quickly. It dries to a beautiful, glossy, and super-hard finish in less time than the UV polish at the salon does.
I love this stuff! I found these at Sally Beauty, and they are about $5-$6 bucks a bottle. Not too unreasonable, especially considering that it is going to cut down on the necessity of re-doing my polish. And they even made inexpensive--and old--drugstore polish go on and stay on well, so I can get away with cheap polish now and again.
So there. I may be a lifeless blob, but I do manage to this and that.And my nails look fabulous.
Reading: Still plugging through the Aggies, but I'm slowing down a bit. Time to think of something else to tackle. Beading: Warranty work on a boot anklet.
Listening: CD. The "Rent" OCR. When in doubt, just listen to "Rent".
At Random: click here
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