For Julia
As my friend, Julia, has pointed out, I have shamefully neglected updating this blog. So I am going to remedy that.
First, the only animal I've really spoken with lately has been Dogzilla. If you don't count that cute little Jack Russell-ish looking puppy that lives on the second floor. Who was with her "mommy" on a leash going out for a walk when I came home. "Mommy" was talking on the phone, but I said hello to puppy girl, who got all excited, wagging her tail and squirming. "Mommy" apparently decided that since I must not be a dog-hater, that she'd let the leash go so the puppy could come over to me. Puppy rolled over for me, still wagging her stubby little tail and wriggling around, so I could rub her belly for a little. After a few minutes, I picked up her lead and handed her back off to "Mommy". Who was still on the cell phone. Sheesh.
Anyhow, most of Dogzilla's and my conversations have revolved around my promise to keep it our little secret that he doesn't even pretend to have an interest in things like bunny rabbits, stray kitties and the occasional fox. For fear he will be kicked out of his breed for non-beagle like behavior. I think the dear old boy has decided that all that furor over the aforementioned bunnies, kitties and foxes is a young dog's game. Seriously. I've held him up to the neighbor girl's bunny hutches, containing actual LIVE rabbits. Nothing. I've walked him across the street behind the pizza shop, where they put out food for the two adorable little tabby-ish looking stray cats. He's been within 6 inches of them, and looked them right in the eye and returned to sniffing the ground. Then there was the fox. I took him out for a post-Sunday dinner stroll around the yard a few weeks ago. Towards the back of Dad's property is a brier patch, and I noticed some kind of animal sitting there grooming and sunning itself. I knew it wasn't a stray cat because the shape of it, even at a slight distance, was wrong. Ditto for it not being a groundhog. We started walking towards it, at which time it stood up and slinked into the brier patch. The reddish color and big pointy ears made sense when I saw that brushy tail and realized it was a fox. Trotted Dogzilla over to the spot where the fox had been sitting and he noticed nothing. Not even an extra curious sniff of the ground. Mighty hunting beagle he is clearly not!
Let's see what else has happened since my last post.....the Great Abdominal Abscess Incident came to an end just about a month after it began. Interestingly enough, I saw the same doctor at my last visit to the urgent care as I did for the first one. He was really surprised to see I was still coming in. Usually, these things heal up in a couple of weeks, but he and I allowed that this one had been extremely large. At any rate, he removed the final bit of packing in the incision and determined that it was time to let the darn thing finish healing minus any further packing. After a couple days I was mercifully able to shower like a normal person, which meant I could do things like color my hair again and shave my legs without a half hour production being involved. I have an inch long light purplish scar where the incision was, and I am apparently permanently dented in the area where the infection was. Other than that, everything has healed up quite nicely. It did take a very long time to finally manage to wash every towel, sheet and piece of clothing I own, but that coincided with a long stint of dog-sitting for my friend Lisa, who has a very nice washer and dryer at her condo.
I had a birthday in July. I am now 49. Thanks to scheduling, I actually had the day off on my birthday, which was quite nice. I celebrated quietly, which seems to be my preferred was to celebrate these days.
I've gotten a renewed interest in cooking here lately. I've discovered that sea scallops are my "go to" quick fix meal. I just sprinkle them with a mix of salt, pepper and ground toasted cumin seeds or maybe some of Emeril's "BAM!" (aka "essence" if you watch Chef Lagasse on a regular basis), and put them in a very hot skillet to sear about 2-3 minutes per side. With a nice salad, they make a 10 minute meal.
I seem to have also acquired an interest in cocktails, what with this hot, humid summer we've been having. One of my newest drinks involves putting a couple small scoops of a nice tropical sorbet, like mango or passion fruit, in a champagne flute and then pouring prosecco or asti over it. It's very refreshing. I also mix lime juice, pomegranate juice, a little sugar, some fresh mint and rum in my little cocktail shaker (I got it on clearance for about $2 when we got rid of our seasonal summer stuff), give it a good shake and pour it over ice in a nice glass and add just a splash of sparkling water for what I call my pomegranate mojito. I put peach nectar, triple sec and inexpensive but fruity Riesling (I like Hogue Riesling and that Schmidt Sonne brand in the blue bottle) with ice in my cocktail shaker, give it a good shake and then pour it into a large wineglass that contains slices of nectarine (the peaches at the store usually have no taste) , oranges, lime and some white grapes. A splash of sparkling water (orange flavor is nice but not necessary) and I have a white sangria wine spritzer. Again, very refreshing.
Not much else is going on. The clusterfuck that IS our store's remodel continues. We are all mostly hanging on to the belief that it will all be over with by the end of October. Just in time for fourth quarter and the holidays. Oh joy.
Dad is well, as is my brother and his family. My niece, Nicole and her s.o. Genry (pronounced "Henry"), got a house near where Nicole works, which is exciting. Especially, I think, for my brother and sister-in-law, since Nicole, Genry and baby Isabella are no longer residing in the basement. My nephew Zak's girlfriend, Sarah, is moving into the apartments across the street from my dad, so I expect we will see much more of Zak and Sarah. Dogzilla will be thrilled that there are new people to spoil him. Because he isn't nearly spoiled enough with just me coming up every couple weeks to walk him, feed him treats and hoist him into the king-sized bed next to "Daddy".
I've lost about 50 pounds since last August, maybe a little more. Mind you, I'm still not a small person by any stretch of the imagination, but I am smaller. And seemingly getting even smaller. There are pants that I really, really can't wear to work any more for fear they will drop right off me. That's how I gauge where I'm at mostly. By the way clothes fit. I can't button them yet, but I can at least get size 20's on my person. So that's my next goal. To get them zipped!
That's pretty much life in a nutshell. A rather BIG nutshell, but a nutshell. I'll try to do better with keeping this blog up to speed. Lest I forget something!
First, the only animal I've really spoken with lately has been Dogzilla. If you don't count that cute little Jack Russell-ish looking puppy that lives on the second floor. Who was with her "mommy" on a leash going out for a walk when I came home. "Mommy" was talking on the phone, but I said hello to puppy girl, who got all excited, wagging her tail and squirming. "Mommy" apparently decided that since I must not be a dog-hater, that she'd let the leash go so the puppy could come over to me. Puppy rolled over for me, still wagging her stubby little tail and wriggling around, so I could rub her belly for a little. After a few minutes, I picked up her lead and handed her back off to "Mommy". Who was still on the cell phone. Sheesh.
Anyhow, most of Dogzilla's and my conversations have revolved around my promise to keep it our little secret that he doesn't even pretend to have an interest in things like bunny rabbits, stray kitties and the occasional fox. For fear he will be kicked out of his breed for non-beagle like behavior. I think the dear old boy has decided that all that furor over the aforementioned bunnies, kitties and foxes is a young dog's game. Seriously. I've held him up to the neighbor girl's bunny hutches, containing actual LIVE rabbits. Nothing. I've walked him across the street behind the pizza shop, where they put out food for the two adorable little tabby-ish looking stray cats. He's been within 6 inches of them, and looked them right in the eye and returned to sniffing the ground. Then there was the fox. I took him out for a post-Sunday dinner stroll around the yard a few weeks ago. Towards the back of Dad's property is a brier patch, and I noticed some kind of animal sitting there grooming and sunning itself. I knew it wasn't a stray cat because the shape of it, even at a slight distance, was wrong. Ditto for it not being a groundhog. We started walking towards it, at which time it stood up and slinked into the brier patch. The reddish color and big pointy ears made sense when I saw that brushy tail and realized it was a fox. Trotted Dogzilla over to the spot where the fox had been sitting and he noticed nothing. Not even an extra curious sniff of the ground. Mighty hunting beagle he is clearly not!
Let's see what else has happened since my last post.....the Great Abdominal Abscess Incident came to an end just about a month after it began. Interestingly enough, I saw the same doctor at my last visit to the urgent care as I did for the first one. He was really surprised to see I was still coming in. Usually, these things heal up in a couple of weeks, but he and I allowed that this one had been extremely large. At any rate, he removed the final bit of packing in the incision and determined that it was time to let the darn thing finish healing minus any further packing. After a couple days I was mercifully able to shower like a normal person, which meant I could do things like color my hair again and shave my legs without a half hour production being involved. I have an inch long light purplish scar where the incision was, and I am apparently permanently dented in the area where the infection was. Other than that, everything has healed up quite nicely. It did take a very long time to finally manage to wash every towel, sheet and piece of clothing I own, but that coincided with a long stint of dog-sitting for my friend Lisa, who has a very nice washer and dryer at her condo.
I had a birthday in July. I am now 49. Thanks to scheduling, I actually had the day off on my birthday, which was quite nice. I celebrated quietly, which seems to be my preferred was to celebrate these days.
I've gotten a renewed interest in cooking here lately. I've discovered that sea scallops are my "go to" quick fix meal. I just sprinkle them with a mix of salt, pepper and ground toasted cumin seeds or maybe some of Emeril's "BAM!" (aka "essence" if you watch Chef Lagasse on a regular basis), and put them in a very hot skillet to sear about 2-3 minutes per side. With a nice salad, they make a 10 minute meal.
I seem to have also acquired an interest in cocktails, what with this hot, humid summer we've been having. One of my newest drinks involves putting a couple small scoops of a nice tropical sorbet, like mango or passion fruit, in a champagne flute and then pouring prosecco or asti over it. It's very refreshing. I also mix lime juice, pomegranate juice, a little sugar, some fresh mint and rum in my little cocktail shaker (I got it on clearance for about $2 when we got rid of our seasonal summer stuff), give it a good shake and pour it over ice in a nice glass and add just a splash of sparkling water for what I call my pomegranate mojito. I put peach nectar, triple sec and inexpensive but fruity Riesling (I like Hogue Riesling and that Schmidt Sonne brand in the blue bottle) with ice in my cocktail shaker, give it a good shake and then pour it into a large wineglass that contains slices of nectarine (the peaches at the store usually have no taste) , oranges, lime and some white grapes. A splash of sparkling water (orange flavor is nice but not necessary) and I have a white sangria wine spritzer. Again, very refreshing.
Not much else is going on. The clusterfuck that IS our store's remodel continues. We are all mostly hanging on to the belief that it will all be over with by the end of October. Just in time for fourth quarter and the holidays. Oh joy.
Dad is well, as is my brother and his family. My niece, Nicole and her s.o. Genry (pronounced "Henry"), got a house near where Nicole works, which is exciting. Especially, I think, for my brother and sister-in-law, since Nicole, Genry and baby Isabella are no longer residing in the basement. My nephew Zak's girlfriend, Sarah, is moving into the apartments across the street from my dad, so I expect we will see much more of Zak and Sarah. Dogzilla will be thrilled that there are new people to spoil him. Because he isn't nearly spoiled enough with just me coming up every couple weeks to walk him, feed him treats and hoist him into the king-sized bed next to "Daddy".
I've lost about 50 pounds since last August, maybe a little more. Mind you, I'm still not a small person by any stretch of the imagination, but I am smaller. And seemingly getting even smaller. There are pants that I really, really can't wear to work any more for fear they will drop right off me. That's how I gauge where I'm at mostly. By the way clothes fit. I can't button them yet, but I can at least get size 20's on my person. So that's my next goal. To get them zipped!
That's pretty much life in a nutshell. A rather BIG nutshell, but a nutshell. I'll try to do better with keeping this blog up to speed. Lest I forget something!
posted by Mel at 12:36 PM
1 Comments:
well, that was a BIG nutshell. Sheesh. Next time, don't save it up! Congrats on the weight loss. Post a pic or something. And I love puppies. The problem is that they growing to dogs. Sort of like kittens and babies. LOL. If Dogzilla doesn't act like a beagle, less chance he will be get sprayed by a skunck!
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