And Now I Pay the Price

As mentioned earlier, our weekend was grand, fabulous, delicious. An absolutely lovely time was had by all.

But now my skin has seriously rebelled. Was it the pasta? The cheese? The wine? The bread? The beer? The sugary ice cream? Or just a mixture of too much gluttony for one weekend? Or is it totally unrelated to any of that? Perhaps a change in weather? Or the fact that I used different detergent while in Costa Rica (though that really wouldn't affect the skin behind my ear, would it?)?

If I knew the answer to any or all of these questions, perhaps I could stay on top of this annoying rashy condition of mine and keep it at bay. But I don't. So I fall off the wagon, go back to living my old life, live like I want to. And then I wake up with bumpy itchiness all over my torso.

And each time it comes back a little bit worse than before.

If I had decent health care, perhaps I could go to the same doctor on a monthly basis and we could try to solve the problem together. But we have lousy health care with a ridiculously high deductible. So I jump from one clinic to another when things get too bad and beg for antibiotics (me, the girl who hates drugs, especially antibiotics). And I hope that by going on these antibiotics I'm not just building up a tolerance to them so that when I can finally go to a doctor, nothing will help.

So now I'm back to cutting back on wheat and sugar and alcohol and gluten. I am not going cold turkey like last time (though I did drop 10 pounds in 2 weeks ... bonus!). But I will try to be better. If only I didn't like the eating and drinking. It would make life so much easier.

Grrrrr.

Fall and Friends

What a weekend! The rain started to roll in on Saturday. The first rain we have seen since June (well, not counting the rain I saw in the North Carolina or the fantastic torrential downpours we witnessed in the mountains of Costa Rica). There are still roses on our rose bushes, but most everything else is hunkering down for the fall. One maple has already turned a medley of oranges, reds, and yellows ... all on one leaf; while the other maple is starting to show hints of the brilliant red we were promised. The ash is almost bare, but the sweet gum is stubbornly holding onto its leaves, as it will do all winter.


In other words, fall is here! And I just found out that I have an autumn twin south of us in Colorado. I too am bundled up in sweater and furry shoes, sipping tea as I pay bills and file away paperwork. Nice to know I'm not alone in the joys of everyday life!

Our weekend was fabulous and a huge reminder of why we love where we live. Friday night was roasted chicken night with pals Ryan and Sid. They patiently waited as that stubborn bird took forever to cook. And they raved about it, even though I knew it was a little overcooked. My plot of starving them for an hour or more before eating worked!! :-) Saturday we cooked up a huge pot of stock and then transformed it into a Thai chicken soup and a cream of cauliflower soup, which we then shared with gal pals Judi and Sharki, with some leftovers going to poor, ailing Miss Z. And then yesterday was an Italian cooking frenzy as I whipped up two lasagnas for dinner party #3 ... the first lasagna was the traditional meat and sausage, while the other was a turkey mushroom lasagna that may be my new favorite (don't tell my mom, as the traditional one is her recipe, which I have loved and adored since I was able to enjoy lasagna). And each meal was supplemented with delicious homemade treats, including a pumpkin-chocolate-chip bread from Judi and divine homemade prosciutto and sausage from the Kramersteins.


Wonderful friends, good food, cool autumn weather, a muted rainbow of colors everywhere you look. Just what I want from our autumn in Boise.

Work and Stuff

I have one fun excuse and one completely understandable, and entirely not fun, excuse for being gone for a while.

I'll let you decide which excuse is which.

We headed south of the border for a couple weeks, living la pura vida down in Costa Rica. The first week was work (for Mr. J), while the second week was pure relaxation. Costa Rica is gorgeous and full of friendly folks, but the highlight for me was our stupendous GPS. Not only did it have this guy who would pop up every now and then to fill us in on the geology, history, or silly facts of the region we were driving through, but the lady who directed us along our way knew EVERYTHING ... even when a speed bump was coming up on some obscure (to me) back road of Costa Rica.

OK, so that wasn't really the highlight of the entire trip, but it was pretty dang cool.

The other reason I've been quiet around here is I've been swamped with work. If it's not the High-Power Laser Handbook (zzzzzzz, huh? What? Oh, sorry. I fell asleep just thinking about it), it's sentences like this that have been keeping my brain swimming:

However, adequate answer to the question as to the extent to which aid to (a) economic infrastructure and services as well as such social infrastructure and services as (b) education and (c) health including basic health and nutrition is devoted to rural areas cannot be answered in the absence of detailed data on the location of such expenditures.

Wha?!?

101 pages of this is turning my brain to mush, causing my eyes to permanently cross, and leading to a ridiculous headache that is encircling my entire head from the neck up. I can guarantee that my hourly rate is not nearly enough to compensate for this one.