Rainy Day Recipes

The rain has been coming down all morning, including during that heavenly extra hour of sleep!

After a leisurely start to the day with coffee and donuts at the Kramerstein's and then more coffee at the Mitchell's, we are back at home, planning how to spend the drizzly afternoon.

And this is what I've decided:

Green Tomato Relish, recipe and photo courtesy of Farmgirl Fare

And Green Apple Butternut Squash Soup, recipe and photo courtesy of Phoo-d.com

Plus a few hours to finish up the work project from hell and an hour at the gym to work off a portion of last night's fantabulous supper club dinner. Maybe followed by some knitting on the never-ending baby blanket project.

Not bad for a lazy Sunday afternoon!

I Can See Clearly Now, My Brain Is Gone

41 is definitely rapidly approaching. And my brain is really getting good at becoming forgetful and just plain odd.

Evidence #1
I walked into about four different rooms this morning, only to completely forget why I went there in the first place. But each time, just at the last minute, I would see something that reminded me why I was there ... the bottle of antibiotics, the coffee mug on the counter, my sunglasses on the bookcase, the credit cards stashed behind a picture frame on the bookcase (but, of course, where else would I hide my credit cards while on vacation). So I haven't completely lost it yet ... or perhaps I have.

After rounding up all my things, I cruised down to the local co-op to get some milk, cheese, cereal, etc. Of course, I ended up getting about twice as much as was on my list. Isn't that always the way? But, that's not a sign of old age. That's just me shopping and spending more than we have. But, the gourmet cheese was on sale!! How could I say no?

But then ...

Evidence #2
I piled everything onto the conveyor belt thingie, joked around with the lady behind the counter, got my reusable bags to the bagger guy, explaining that I wanted the milk in the backpack and everything else in the bag. Was I organized or what? But then, when I went to pay, I realized that I was holding the gourmet cheese, and my wallet was being sent through the checker.

Ah well, at least we all got a good laugh.

p.s. I will definitely check out Sandra Cisnero's book. Thanks for the recommendation!!

I Hate It When He's Right

So this week my funk is being brought to me by the letters PMS. If it's not one thing, it's another, and yes I do blame my funks on hormones, even though Mr. J never totally believes me.

Anyway, as I was falling asleep in my grumpy mood, Mr. J was trying to convince me that I would feel a thousand times better if I made myself get out the next day and get the blood flowing. (Yes, he was also trying to convince me of other things that would make me feel better, but I am keeping this mostly G rated.) I grumbled and growled and essentially gave him the oh-so-grown-up reply of, "Why don't you go out and move around?" Sometimes it's a wonder he still loves me.

So today, after a rather productive day (in addition to plowing through a bunch of work, I also organized my closet and shelves and got through almost all the laundry), I could feel the wonders of hormones working their magic. The funk was returning. So I asked Mr. J if he wanted to go for a sunset walk with me and The Dog. But Mr. J is in the throes of rebooting his entire computer and cannot be torn away from it for a second. I almost bailed and said, in another very grown-up voice, "Well, fine, if you can't take the time, even though you are always telling me I should, then I'll just stay here and play computer games." So. There.

But I bit my tongue and took The Dog for a much-needed walk. It was just going to be up the hill and back. But then The Dog and I decided to continue the loop, even though I ran the risk of The Dog getting on the scent of some deer. (Thank goodness he didn't.) Then he and I decided to add onto the walk by doing the big slog up the steep hill to really get the cardio going. And we made it all the way to the top, even though I was mentally grumbling about my sore ankle, my drippy nose, my this, my that, wah wah wah, all the way to the top. Good thing I was on my own.

I stopped to huff and puff at the top of the hill just in time to catch the height of the sunset. The sunlight was glittering through between the distant Owyhee Mountains and the gray-black clouds of the inversion layer, casting all of downtown Boise in a peachy-orange, sparkly glow. Gorgeous. Almost gorgeous enough to put a smile on this cranky old face of mine.

Then, on the way back down the steep, steep hill, I heard some owls hooting. I stopped to look up, not really thinking I'd be lucky enough to spot them. But at the top of a big ol' pine tree right in front of me were two massive owls. (I say they were Great Horned Owls, and since no one was else was there, except for The Dog, who is in complete agreement with my assessment, then Great Horned Owls is what they were. So. There.) They were huge. And they had big-ish pointy ear things. And they were courting (or at least that is my scientific assessment of seeing one really big owl trying to land on another really big owl who has her tail feathers all up in the air). And it was so very cool. Then a dog barked, and what I'm guessing was the male owl (since he was the one trying to land on top of the other owl) flew away, right across the path in front of me. Did I mention they were HUGE owls? (In fact, at one point I was convinced they weren't owls, because I thought what I was seeing was this really long neck with a sort of flat head. But then I realized that was the girl owls' tail feathers, declaring, "Hey, dude, I'm ready!")

So, that actually put a smile on this old face of mine. Within sight of downtown Boise and less than a mile from my home, I got to witness a little bit of nature. And that's pretty dang cool. I just hope that boy owl knows not to get upset when the girl owl gets cranky and tries to push him away. Honey, it's just the hormones talking. Really.

Just Write, for Writing's Sake

But I have nothing in particular to say tonight.

And yet whenever I start with those words, I am usually able to fill pages with nothingness. Wanna see how that works? ...

I successfully procrastinated the day away. Started by dropping off Mr. J at the airport (boo hoo; though I do like me some me-time). From the airport I headed to Borders (because I did not learn until tonight about the local, nonchain bookstore. Next time, for sure!). After sipping my coffee and browsing the shelves and making my first full-price book purchase in months, I headed to various thrift stores and Goodwills, looking for a cool, retro raincoat. No such luck, though I did find a baby blue, full-length, inside-out-sheepskinny jacket (there's a word for an inside-out sheepskin jacket, but that word is eluding me ... maybe it's Ugg Jacket, but I really don't think so). Anyway, I am fully tempted to go back to buy said jacket tomorrow. It's only $29. It's not something I would have ever bought in my Denver or Dallas life, but here in Boise's North End, I think it will suit me just fine. And for the price, you can't beat it. If nothing else, it will be great for Halloween.

I then came home long enough to pet The Dog, change into my oh-so-stylish workout gear, and sprint to the gym for spinning. Ugh! I do not enjoy spinning, but I hate it less than running, and it seems to sweat out the same amount of crap. So I'm hoping it'll do something about getting me into my Halloween costume by ... uh ... Halloween. Of course, I completely sabotaged myself afterward by eating a square meal of chips and salsa. (Hey, tomatoes are vegetables, and tortilla chips have ... corn. So there!). After waiting all afternoon for the answers to questions I needed to be able to do my work, my neighbor called up and invited me to some kind of wine thing for the guy who's running for the local council. Good-bye work; hello free nibbles and wine. And, as it turns out, I kind of agree with the guy's politics, so I'll probably vote for him. And not just 'cuz he liquored me up with a couple glasses of red. Honest.

And now I'm back home, after a yummy lotus blossom salad at the Thai restaurant I've been lusting after for the past two months. And instead of catching up on chick flicks, or chick books, or chick knitting, or chick sleeping, I am updating this blog, which I now know has at least one (and maybe two) reader(s) out there. Hi there! Which of course puts some pressure on me to not just blather on about nothing. ... But obviously not that much pressure!

So, other than this being written on a blog rather than in one of my thousands of journals, I have just proved that my married "single" life is really no different from my single single life of years past. Well, except that I know that in one week, wonderful Mr. J will be back, so I don't have to sit here and "angst" all night about how I don't think I will ever meet Mr. (most-of-the-time) Wonderful. Because I did. So there, old single self!