I made stuff, migraine, fatigue, bad sleep, and cuddly cats

Remember that picture I posted of myself the other day. Well, this one is a better one in my opinion. 

I have been pretty busy these last several days. We went shopping at Fred Meyer for groceries and then we checked out a new store called My Fresh Basket. It opened up in Kendall Yards. My Fresh Basket a bit pretentious but they do have some specialty things that we haven't found elsewhere. I bought a bar of Sandalwood soap as a treat.  Anyway, because we have adopted a new food diet, I made sure we had plenty of fruits and veggies, which meant that I was in the kitchen cutting, slicing, and chopping- doing food prep- pretty much most of the weekend. When I wasn't doing that, I was cooking or baking. I made a peach pie and a Strawberry pie- both of which have been eaten. Last night I made eggplant parm without the parm. I also decided to make my own Popsicles. The above was supposed to be strawberry pomegranate but I forgot the pomegranate.   

This one is lavender lemonade with real lavender. I also used some of my lavender syrup, not a lot. 

Here is peach pineapple.

And this is vanilla matcha. I have a vanilla coffee syrup and I used just a little to sweeten the matcha.

I have been very exhausted the last several days. I have trouble focusing and staying awake sometimes and others I feel sick. At night I've had some trouble sleeping in bed again and end up on the sofa. Today, I woke with a migraine and it only grew worse as the day progressed. Thankfully, after some coffee, alieve, and laying down for a bit, its disappeared. However, I tried to make vegan apple cinnamon breakfast cups and misread the recipe for lack of being able to focus, and put in too much vanilla. Amanda had to take over for me and double the recipe. That did the trick. I decided to make bread today. It has been rising a little longer than usual, but I need it to double in size and with the air conditioner going, it's been a slow process. 

I am a bit annoyed with my Mom. I called to talk yesterday and during our conversation she informed me that I wasn't going to lose weight just because I decided to go vegetarian. Um, thanks. What the fuck?! I don't get it. We were vegetarian for a whole year when I was a kid. They still cook stuff from the vegetarian cookbooks they have, granted it's not much, but still. Plus me being vegetarian affects her in no way except for the the week or so she and Dad will be visiting in October. If she's worried that I am going to become one of those self important, high horse, condemn you for eating meat vegetarians, she's mistaken AND she should know me better than that. More importantly, I should have to feel that I have to justify myself for trying to see if this will be better for me health wise and reduce my physical pain.

On a much happier note, my cats have been very cuddly lately. Even Narcisa. She actually let me lay my head lightly on her last night. She even purred! 

Last weekend's camping, playing chauffeur, Das Stein Haus, shopping, and lunch

Amanda found a cell phone camera lens kit in the check out isle in Wal-mart last night. Fun fact, don't leave the flash on when using them. By the way, that's Narcisa checking out the pickle in my cup.

Okay so last weekend we went camping out at a friend's house. It was a small, invite only gathering and the drive was beautiful. Of course it was a chilly, cloudy, and wet sort of day so of course I loved it. Everyone set up their tents in the rain because if we hadn't, it as decided that it would rain all day and then we would have been trying to set them up in the dark. Of course once all the tents were set up, it stopped raining. 

While we were there we had a Fairies vs. Goblins of theme. Everyone had a grab bag and depending on what was in it a wand or a glass ball, was what you were. The wands were fairies and the balls were goblins. I happened to pick up the bag with the blue ball in it thus I was the King- or because I am a girl- Queen of the Goblins. One of my friend's children was Queen of the Fairies. Everyone else was either fairy or goblin and we played games and did actives outside, tallying up which side was winning. At the end, the Fairy Queen and I had a battle/ sword fight with swimming pool noodles. We ended up calling a truce partly because some meddlesome boys kept trying to get in on it, and also because neither of us were giving up. Honestly, my back was giving me all sorts of grief but there was no way I was letting that little fairy Queen beat me! So for at least a year, the Goblins and Fairies have peace. 

Aside from Goblin and Fairy wars, there was drinking, good food, and we watched Practical Magic outside under the stars, drinking margaritas. Some of the other campers were in inflated swimming pools with pillows and blankets. I had to go to bed early that night because I was in a lot of pain. I also had reading done, which was helpful. All in all, it was a lot of fun and if we hadn't had to worry about Amanda getting to work on Sunday, we would have stayed longer. 

Monday, I took some friends to a doctor's appointment because they are currently car-less, after a fashion. I hung out at their place for as long as I could before I had to head back and get read for Monday night's event.

I headed over to the north side around the 5 mile area of town to go to Joann's crafts and fabric store for a bit. I saw plenty of things I wanted but I didn't buy anything. We still had grocery shopping and bills to pay, and honestly, I was too hot and achy from the weekend to really care too much. I did look at yarn and knitting needles.

Afterward I met Amanda and one of our friends at Das Stein Haus, a German bar and restaurant. 

Our friend ordered her own beer plank and Amanda and I split one. We couldn't decide which one we wanted to try. So why not try several? We also had an appetizer of Kazen Spaetzle, delicious!

These were our choices.

Here is Amanda's dinner a Schnizel dish

And here is mine. I can't remember what it was called but what I can tell you is that I was very bad and ordered pork. It had a yummy pork sauce, mushrooms, and it was atop a bed of Spaetzel. It was fantastic! 

To finish it all up Amanda and our friend had apple strudel and I had one of my favorite kinds of cake in the world, Black Forest!

Which brings us to yesterday. I had some grocery shopping to do and while I wanted to go to the Kiev Market and one of the Asian markets in my area, I didn't quite make it. I did, however, begin at Yoke's Fresh Market. I was looking for something in particular and couldn't find it but picked up some produce. Next I went to Winco and did the bulk of my shopping there. I was hurting, hot, and tired, by the time I finished there and knew my spoons were almost spent. I stopped by another grocery store and while they didn't have exactly what I was looking for at Yoke's, they had a decent substitute. Bonus, they had a nice deal on tea so I got a couple of boxes.

When I got home, I only brought in the groceries that had to come in and left the rest in the car. But I was too tired, hot, and in too much pain to do the usual meal prep. I spent some time on the phone with my Mom, went to the bathroom, and then picked up Amanda and then went to Wal-Mart to finish up shopping. I'd forgotten mayonnaise, needed pads, and shampoo. We grabbed food at Taco Bell, came home, watched a weird anime episode, and went to bed. 

And that brings us to today. I slept in by accident and just up in time to meet a friend and take lunch to Amanda at work. We stayed there a little longer than we intended but Amanda is working late tonight. I know that parking is difficult downtown, especially during lunch, and especially since there is construction, but as helpful as my friend wants to be with helping me lose weight along with helping herself toward that goal, parking two and half blocks from Amanda's work really doesn't help when my back keeps trying to lock up. I had to stop a couple of times to kind of slowly coax it into cooperating with me. Which of course made me feel even worse because my friend had to slow down to begin with and then stop in the heat while I shifted around until I could walk more. I know she doesn't mind, I know she will wait for me, but I still feel bad about it. 

Last bit of news, we might go look at and test drive a car tomorrow afternoon, after Amanda's doctor's appointment.   

To bed or not to bed, shopping and food prep extravaganza, cute cat

At the moment I am trying to decide if I should just go to bed, get up really early with Amanda, and work on my homework. Or if I should stay up and work on it now and then sleep a little tomorrow during the day... 

Yesterday, I napped most of the day. I suppose I needed to because I couldn't really stay awake. Later in afternoon, I took my friend Chris to Spirit Lake, Id, so she could check out a car since hers is dead. the car didn't work out and we saw the most awesomely ghetto Jerry rigged thing ever. Some folks were trying to put up a satellite dish and raise it really high to catch signal over the trees. So they had a ladder secured with bungee cords to a pallet which was somehow being secured and lifted by a tractor. Not safe by a long shot, but hey, they were getting the dish up, so whatever works right?

Today was exhausting, but worth it. I woke up, called Chris to see if she still wanted to go to the grocery store, and then made a meal plan for the next two weeks, and a grocery list from that. With Amanda in tow, we hit the Dollar Tree, WinCo, and Wal-Mart. Honestly, by the time I was done with Wal-Mart, I was hurting and so exhausted. But we got Chris home and came home ourselves. That's where the real fun began. If you can call it that. 

I spent the next couple of hours working in the kitchen while Amanda planted some more stuff in our garden. I did the dishes. I rearranged the freezer and got rid of stuff that we just aren't going to use and didn't have room for. I did some meal prep for the next two weeks, cutting up veggies and meat for curry, stir fry, and so on. I also cut up some strawberries so I can make this strawberry rhubarb dessert my Grandma makes. I also took all of the older oranges from our last shopping trip, squeezed them, and put the juice in a bottle I'd saved. I knew it had a purpose! After that, Amanda cut up some chicken and onions for more meal prep while I made spaghetti. She also worked on the laundry. She also peeled the new batch of oranges for me and we sectioned those and put them in Ziploc bags for the fridge. 

Honestly, by the time we finished eating dinner, I was in so much pain I could have cried. Amanda was in a lot of pain as well, she's got something going on with her heel. We took some medicine though and are feeling a little better. It probably doesn't help that we both got a little sunburned today while looking at herbs and flowers.  

Now, we're both half naked, lazing on the sofa. She's working on a Sudoku and a Cross word from the Buy and Sell paper she picked up from who knows where. I'm writing this blog and am very ready for bed. Even Narcisa is tuckered out.

Speaking of, Narcisa apparently likes parsley. I bought some in bulk (dried) today. It was on the counter and she jumped up to eat her food. But she found the parsley and tried to eat that instead. I've put it in safe place. She's been running all over the house, jumped up and down at the patio doors, and climbed the screen a couple of times. On top of that, she's been up and down her cat tree and chased her tail several times. But she is happy today because she had a little treat.

The verdict is to bed. I can get up early tomorrow and get some writing done on my assignment before Birdy comes over and I can finish it after she leaves. I on'y have to rewrite the whole damned thing, but it won't be too bad. 

Eye exams, apartment managers, grocery shopping, going to witch club, and a messy house

Today, after I pick up a friend and then Amanda from work, we are heading to one of the malls in town for Witch Club. Today it is just a social meet up, but it is a smaller more exclusive group. Well, not the social meeting parts, but there are some things that are more private. A friend of mine took it over from one of her friends and I am excited to see what she creates with it. 

My house is disaster but it is coming along. Amanda is getting caught up on the laundry because I just haven't had the where-with-all to deal with it. But I was feeling better yesterday and did a lot in the kitchen. Since I exploded a pie plate (set it on a burner and then turned on that burning thinking it was a different burner) we are still finding glass in the kitchen. When they say blow something to smithereens, I really did it! I had to vacuum out the silverware drawer and the broiler drawer of the stove yesterday. But aside from cleaning up glass, I did the dishes and then spent about an hour cutting up veggies and some fruit to freeze. I like to basically create meal bags on the weekends so I don't have to cut up lots of veggie if I am not feeling up to it or don't have time. This also makes sure that nothing goes to waste because I forgot it was in the fridge or on the counter. 

Since Amanda had the day off yesterday, we went grocery shopping. There were so many people out for the middle of the day. I thought, oh it's lunch rush hour, but after that, there were still a lot of people out. But we managed to get just about everything we needed. Amanda is looking at a laundry cart thing and I told her to get it but she wanted to wait. There was also a brace she was looking at for her heel that she wanted to wait on. Basically having to get 4 new tires for the car set us back a little bit, but we'll be okay when she gets paid next week. Then we can start focusing on getting a belt for her car and the fuel pump for the Jeep. After that, it is a matter of figuring out what is going on with the heater and air conditioner in the Jeep and fixing the door lock on Amanda's car. Although frankly, I am so ready to trade in both cars for something else. We were talking about the possibility of a truck or even a minivan, but I think we will probably go with a mid-side SUV.  

So, while we were out yesterday, we were kind of looking at the different suvs around. We also talked about a 5 year plan and working toward getting a house, which is awesome! As soon as Amanda started talking about if we really wanted to settle in this area, five year plan, and taking some kind of class that her boss is taking to help get a house, I pretty much wanted to snog her, but I was driving and she'd just had Reese's Peanut Butter Cups for a treat. Since I had been out of allergy meds for two weeks and was already itching like crazy, I didn't want to push it.

I can't decide if I like my apartment managers. They are strange. I can say that I think a 75$ late fee for being one day late on rent is utter bullshit. Yes, we were one day late in getting the money order to the office, but that is only because I spaced it the night before when we got home. No, I don't have t pay that much this time. Apparently they have a one time waver where you only have to pay 25$ for a processing fee. Which s bullshit too, it should never cost that much, but whatever, I will get them the 25 and be done with it.  I also call bullshit on them being able to kick us out in a matter of 3 days if we couldn't pay rent. This was just some of the explanation one of the ladies was giving me yesterday. This place is obnoxious with all their rules and regulations. No worries, I'm not planning to move anytime soon. In fact I don't want to move until I get a house or if this place becomes intollerable and I don't see that happening. Although, I may end up blowing a gasket if the kids don't stop beating up on the trees, running up on my patio, and leaving muddy hand prints on my windows. Like my Dad said when I told him my annoyances "Get of my lawn!" It is true. I have a territorial bubble about my house, lol. I don't want anyone within a certain distance unless invited. Animals are the only exception.

Okay, last thing, I had an eye exam this week. Because I knew my eyes were going to be dilated and I already have a light sensitivity, I had a friend take me to the appointment. The nurse I had was brisk and a bit rude. No, I didn't look fancy, but why put on make up when you know they are going to be putting something in your eyes? But that wasn't really her problem. Her problem with me was that I am fat. No, really, I did not read her wrong. When I got into the exam room and tried to sit in the exam chair, the arm rests made it impossible. So, I asked her very politely if they moved up. She looked at me then the chair and sighed and proceeded to tell me that she'd never had to do that before. The arm rests did move up and we got on with the appointment but she was annoyed that I had to adjust how I was sitting so I could lean forward for a couple of things. I just wanted to tell her to knock it off, grow up, and get over it. I didn't, I was super polite but she couldn't wait to get out of there. The eye doctor was nice but he seemed to focus on some of my medicines and asked if they are helping me. I thought that was a little strange and a little invasive, but whatever. 

The end result is that I do need new glasses and I took my prescription and came home. I've already ordered them and they are on their way. Bonus, I got three pairs for what I would have paid for one pair by going to Zenni optical. I basically got a main pair, a back up pair, and finally a pair of prescription sunglasses! And here are the pictures of them starting with the sunglasses. 

I couldn't resist the dragon pair. Because DRAGONS!!!

The night is dark and full of cats!

Ellie-belly

Forget "the night is dark and full of terrors" as the Red Priestess from Game of Thrones always says, the night is dark and full of cats. Three of them to be exact and all three demand that I feed them and then get my ass to bed so they can either lay on me, my pillow, and or around my feet.

Yoda-chan

I really should be in bed but unfortunately I am staying up long enough to see if money came and if so then I need to go to the store. Groceries are a necessity and I really don't want to fight the 1st of the month shoppers tomorrow. I don't do well with people en-mass, they are loud, pushy, and down right rude. I can sleep when I get back and then even sleep in since I won't have to spend an hour or two tomorrow shopping.

Galen-Monster

I've been spending almost every afternoon at the city library. It is marginally quieter there, well until the kids get out of school and then things are a little iffy. I didn't know this until a day ago, but there are actually employees whose only job is to walk through the library and monitor what goes on. Kind of like library bouncers if you like. It's actually really awesome, so when a group, and it's always a group, of kids gets rowdy and loud, one of the monitors comes along and shuts them up for a bit. But I think from now on, when Skoora and I go, I am going to make sure that we rent a private study room by the time the kids get to the library. It will just make things easier, I think.

Speaking of the library, I applied for a circulation clerk position. It's only 10 hrs a week but it is a start and I wouldn't be lifting too much. Also, it's a library job and that's one of my dream jobs.

Well, two minutes until I know if I am going shopping. See ya later.