Hither and yon, mentally at least
A monarch butterfly was puttering around the echinacea almost all day Monday. It would inspect and eat from one or two blossoms, then fly around the yard a bit, then go back to eating. Lovely.
The four o'clocks out back are budding out nicely. Should be in bloom in a few days. I feel like I'm tempting fate here, but we've had three days without rain (okay, today's not over), and that's the longest we've gone in a while.
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You all know I love my job. There are parts of it I love more than others. One element is helping customers. One of my regulars stopped by Sunday, and he mentioned that he's lactose intolerant. I asked him if he knew that certain cheeses have no lactose; he didn't know that. I took him over to the dairy department and showed him where to look on the labels to check for lactose. "See," I said, "If it says '0 grams of sugar', you're okay." He explained he didn't know that lactose was a sugar. Oops. Well, he knows now. Later I mentioned the exchange to one of the cheese people, who told me, most better cheeses are lactose free, as that's what the microorganisms eat during the aging process. Cool.
Another day I was serving flank steak, which I'd marinated for the demo. Chatting with a customer, I told her I have a wonderful recipe for flank steak done Mexican style, with a glaze made of honey, ketchup, and chipotle chilies. She asked for the recipe, as her granddaughter was diagnosed last December with MS, and the girl has found that a diet rich in stuff like onions and peppers helps her. She literally will eat an onion as most of us do an apple. While grandma shopped for cold cuts, I wrote down as much of the recipe as I could remember, which was a lot. I hope the girl and her mom enjoy it.
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I've come to the conclusion I no longer want to try to reach my erstwhile friend Gladys. I called her mom yesterday, to ask if everything was okay with her, and she knew of nothing going on that was exceptional. I didn't reveal that Gladys had hung up on me. I saw no reason to compound her rudeness, and figured that it would only frustrate my efforts to find out more from her mom. It's starting to feel like my pain is holding me back, like the more I try to understand and get some sort of redress, the more I'm torturing myself.
I think it's simply foolish pride which has made me pursue it this far. I have accomplished so much in the past three-plus years, between the bankruptcy and keeping our life as good as it can be, and some part of me wants her approval. I deserve as much, but we don't always get what we want, and there are plenty of wonderful people out there who do approve of me. I need to reach out to some of them more.
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Ray was an absolute doll night before last. He identified the Blue Screen of Death, took completely over and cleaned up the mess, as you saw from his blog. Yikes.
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I am reading The Art of Racing In the Rain, by Garth Stein. This is back-to-back with Merle's Door. Both are excellent books about dogs, one fiction, the other not, but the tone of each of them is much the same. I cried at the end of Merle's Door, and I'm sure I'll cry when I finish Art.
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Our next-door neighbor Sally came over for dinner Saturday night, and we had a ball. Equally at home talking with Ray and me, and Emily, she is the most amazing companion. Sunday she sent me an ecard with a cat, who "reads" what the sender write to the recipient. Being as articulate as she is, Sally stumped the kitty a bit, and the results are quite amusing.
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Well, it's off to the gym shortly. I've been getting back in a healthier groove. Cardio at least three times a week, weight training at least two. Yesterday I was sore for the first time in ages. I welcome the feeling, as it means I'm accomplishing something.
The four o'clocks out back are budding out nicely. Should be in bloom in a few days. I feel like I'm tempting fate here, but we've had three days without rain (okay, today's not over), and that's the longest we've gone in a while.
__________________________________
You all know I love my job. There are parts of it I love more than others. One element is helping customers. One of my regulars stopped by Sunday, and he mentioned that he's lactose intolerant. I asked him if he knew that certain cheeses have no lactose; he didn't know that. I took him over to the dairy department and showed him where to look on the labels to check for lactose. "See," I said, "If it says '0 grams of sugar', you're okay." He explained he didn't know that lactose was a sugar. Oops. Well, he knows now. Later I mentioned the exchange to one of the cheese people, who told me, most better cheeses are lactose free, as that's what the microorganisms eat during the aging process. Cool.
Another day I was serving flank steak, which I'd marinated for the demo. Chatting with a customer, I told her I have a wonderful recipe for flank steak done Mexican style, with a glaze made of honey, ketchup, and chipotle chilies. She asked for the recipe, as her granddaughter was diagnosed last December with MS, and the girl has found that a diet rich in stuff like onions and peppers helps her. She literally will eat an onion as most of us do an apple. While grandma shopped for cold cuts, I wrote down as much of the recipe as I could remember, which was a lot. I hope the girl and her mom enjoy it.
___________________________________
I've come to the conclusion I no longer want to try to reach my erstwhile friend Gladys. I called her mom yesterday, to ask if everything was okay with her, and she knew of nothing going on that was exceptional. I didn't reveal that Gladys had hung up on me. I saw no reason to compound her rudeness, and figured that it would only frustrate my efforts to find out more from her mom. It's starting to feel like my pain is holding me back, like the more I try to understand and get some sort of redress, the more I'm torturing myself.
I think it's simply foolish pride which has made me pursue it this far. I have accomplished so much in the past three-plus years, between the bankruptcy and keeping our life as good as it can be, and some part of me wants her approval. I deserve as much, but we don't always get what we want, and there are plenty of wonderful people out there who do approve of me. I need to reach out to some of them more.
____________________________________
Ray was an absolute doll night before last. He identified the Blue Screen of Death, took completely over and cleaned up the mess, as you saw from his blog. Yikes.
____________________________________
I am reading The Art of Racing In the Rain, by Garth Stein. This is back-to-back with Merle's Door. Both are excellent books about dogs, one fiction, the other not, but the tone of each of them is much the same. I cried at the end of Merle's Door, and I'm sure I'll cry when I finish Art.
____________________________________
Our next-door neighbor Sally came over for dinner Saturday night, and we had a ball. Equally at home talking with Ray and me, and Emily, she is the most amazing companion. Sunday she sent me an ecard with a cat, who "reads" what the sender write to the recipient. Being as articulate as she is, Sally stumped the kitty a bit, and the results are quite amusing.
___________________________________
Well, it's off to the gym shortly. I've been getting back in a healthier groove. Cardio at least three times a week, weight training at least two. Yesterday I was sore for the first time in ages. I welcome the feeling, as it means I'm accomplishing something.