Do you hear that? Shh, listen close. What do you hear?
A cat purring, a man gently snoring, and a furnace fan running, keeping me warm. Nothing is beeping, no one is talking, and I’m free to do what I’d like. I’m pretty sure this is what heaven sounds like.
One point of note from yesterday’s post RE peach rice pudding. If you’ve never had rice pudding it’s kind of like bread pudding but made with rice and we always do it in a smallish old Crock Pot (there’s just something about an avocado colored appliance). There’s cooked rice, sweetened condensed milk, sometimes evaporated milk, butter, cinnamon and nutmeg, and then some kind of fruit – usually either raisins or craisins for us, sometimes dried cherries and Mom keeps contemplating dried blueberries but hasn’t ever actually worked up the nerve to try it (they’re not her fav). But when Mom was mixing it up the other day she decided to get creative. She took some peaches from a jar (we get the best peaches this way from Costco) and put them in our little hand-powered food processor thingy and got them really little and kind of mushy like an applesauce consistency and then dumped that in the mix. We also boiled the rice in milk this time, just to see how it would be.
Are you familiar with the concept of a “foodgasm?” Think about it for a second, it’ll come to you.
If she can remember what she did different this time I’ll share the recipe. It’s not at all hard to do and I think it’s just phenomenal. It may well be a Midwestern thing and I know it’s kind of a poor man’s dessert because the ingredients are generally pretty cheap. But it’s awesome.
Ok, enough about food.
This is the graphic I used on the cover of that big project I’ve been working on for class. The paper I used was my undergrad thesis which was about Electronic Portfolios, so I thought this fit really well. No clue where we got this originally – my boss found it for a flyer we did at work. But I love it. And I love Wendy for helping me so much. (I love Wendy for lots of reasons, this is just one) I checked the schedule yesterday and I’m currently caught up for class. Which of course means that if I have time today I’m going to see if I can work ahead. You know, overachiever and all that.
So I may or may not have mentioned that my new good buddy Dr. P is coming to town on Monday to give several presentations. Because I invited him. (omg, I just really love taking credit for this one!) And because I am the little weirdo that I am, I am kind of concerned about the first impression I make. Well, the first physical impression, he already seems to be delusional enough to think I’m maybe a little awesome. Also, because of who will be attending these various presentations, I feel like I need to make a super awesome impression on those I haven’t met yet (or those who have never bothered to take notice of me before, you know, cuz I’m just a peon and stuff).
I have a pretty reasonable work wardrobe, but I tend more towards the casual end of “business casual” which means that when it’s cold out I often wear my black Skechers slip on tennis shoes.
They’re quite comfy, and most of the time they’re just fine. (particularly since my boss has a huge collection of these in other styles that she wears all the time) But this is a Big Kid event so I think it calls for Big Kid shoes. And a whole Big Kid outfit.
Let me pause to explain how much I LOATHE shopping for shoes.
I have size 11 Wide feet. The reason I have so many pairs of Birkenstocks (8 pairs) is because they make most of their sandals in larger sizes. Many companies do not. Many companies also do not seem to realize that those of use with long feet often have long wide feet, and some of us have the added bonus of higher than average arches. The shoes I have that are not Birks are generally from other high-end companies like Clarks, Teva, and SAS. Yes, I pay out the ass for my shoes – but these fuckers fit well and last a really long time, which makes it totally worth it to me.
And I’ve reached an age where I refuse to spend money on shoes that I cannot comfortably wear for 10 hours a day; so that rules out heels, pointed toes, straps that aren’t adjustable, and generally speaking anything someone my age would actually want to wear. These factors seriously limit my shoe choices. So before we left to run errands yesterday I did a little pre-shopping prep on the interwebs.
I found these on the shoe store’s website. The company is LifeStride and the style is called Devlin, in case anyone falls immediately in love with them like I did. It said they had my size, online, and that I’d have to call the store to see if they had them in stock. The store is so close that I just took a chance and went. The very nice sales lady took me right to them (based on my sketchy description), found the box with my size/width, and they’re PERFECT. Plus, they were on sale. I find them to be stylish but not trendy and kind of timeless.
Anyway, so that’s the shoes. Black dress pants, tailored jacket that has a kind of abstract black and white design with bits of red trim, thinking a black tank under that (I get hot easy), and then red/gold jewelry. (our school colors are red/white/black) Definitely swankier than I usually dress, but it should still be comfortable and appropriate given how cold it’s supposed to be tomorrow.
I’ll be away from a real computer all day tomorrow because of the events and such. I’m debating about taking my iPad with. I’ve already decided I’m taking my purse (which is HUGE) so I could stash it in there along with my little bottle of Mio or whatever water enhancer liquid crap I decide to take with, and my camera, and a snack, and the flying squirrels only know what else. Tuesday will likely be the same, though I may have time to pop in sometime in the afternoon. It’s hard to say at this point.
Actually, this whole week is kind of weird. I’ve got all that on Monday and Tuesday, Wednesday I have a tech info session to attend in the morning and then a class to teach in the afternoon (one of my favs) plus the class I’m taking to go to that night, Thursday looks to be multiple meetings, and then MAYBE Friday I’ll get a chance to catch my breath. I’m going to try to at least say HI and BTW I’m not DEAD YET, but who knows. I’m also really hoping to be able to do a better job of keeping up on reading your posts this week. I feel so out of touch with y’all right now, and that makes me sad.
On another slightly sad, but actually kind of ok, note – yesterday was the 2nd anniversary of my Dad’s passing. It was a little hard, but not terrible. I felt/feel bad for Mom because my sister left for Ireland yesterday so Mom is having to stay at her house for a solid week to take care of my nieces. She brought them here yesterday afternoon so all the girls (the kid is here this weekend) could play and do craft projects. So I know that helped a little, but she told me that all she really wanted to do was hangout in her own house.
Miss E learning how to make a duct tape rose pen with a little help from Miss A while Josh draws a picture for Little Miss A in the background
(damn, we need better variety with the first letters of these names, though E is the third in line with a name that starts with E… and yes, that is my hobbit hole)
Anyway, Josh found The Croods on Netflix last night and we watched that after Mom and the littles left. (still no fucking cable, though that’s supposed to get taken care of this morning – have I bothered to mention the utter insanity that has been my dealings with the cable companies this week?) I’d wanted to see it, but didn’t want to pay movie theater prices for it. I thought it was good, but I’m kind of a sucker for kid movies. But then I cried. Something about the relationship between Grug and Eep (dad and daughter) reminded me about my dad and it touched me. So it was a good cry, and just a tiny one. Excellent little movie if you haven’t seen it yet, I’d recommend it. (and it looks like there’s a part 2 set for 2017!)
Not much else to share. Josh has some kind of cold/upper respiratory junk again, but has actually been pretty pleasant. He helped get the chores and errands done and didn’t bitch at all about me telling him we don’t have extra money right now. Evie is her usual cantankerous self. And I’m finally starting to feel like I’m (appropriately) back in control of what’s going on.
Thanks to those of you who have tracked me down and made sure I’m alright, and thanks to those of you who have been quietly cheering me on from the sidelines. Knowing that all of you are there helps, more than you probably know. Love to all of you…
Mental in the Midwest 
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