Forgot

it was full moon until I saw it come out from some clouds out my window. I never tire of the moon's spell.

So an uncaffeinated Rabid Librarian

is a sluggish Rabid Librarian, indeed. I had no caffeine this weekend, and I dragged all day. I don't even remember what I did Saturday, other than wish my aunt a happy birthday. YKWIA and I may have gone to the store, and I picked YKWIA and A from somewhere they'd gone to have a date out. Beyond that, I can't remember. And Sunday it took me 8 hours to do the cleaning I normally do in 2-3. (We visited a lot, too, and I did laundry, both mine and his, but still, it shouldn't have taken so long). I just couldn't seem to go any faster. Then we worked on something we'd planned to do, finished that, and it was too late to watch the Netflix movie, which I have kept with me, and maybe we can sometime this week. Our queue has dwindled quite a bit, and I'm considering cancelling the DVD plan. We didn't use it for awhile, and we have of late, but still, we average a movie a week at most. I'll think about it anyway. My streaming plan is going up by $2, and I think the DVd plan is about $8, so that would offset the increase. Every little bit helps. I just put my last $4 into the car as gas. I have 55 cents in the bank until late Wednesday/early Thursday. I'm just hoping that eighth of a tank of gas will last until then.

Anyway, I'm sorry, as a result of not having caffeine, I really didn't blog this weekend. Sorry abou that.

Last night I was itching quite a bit, but was so tired when I got home that I didn't register much other than I had some bumps on my abdomen. This morning I looked at it, and they are red spots with white, blister-like centres. There were two big ones, maybe two small ones forming. At first I thought maybe I'd gotten an infected injection site, but that's never happened, and I always use a new needle, etc. Now I did scratch myself accidentally with a needle, come to think of it, in that general area, but still, that wouldn't explain four places. Then I thought, maybe I'm having a outbreak of shingles. I have had chicken pox, I'd had a headache and was tired all weekend (but that could easily have been the lack of caffeine for both), and they were on one side of my stomach. But though they hurt when touched, they didn't hurt a lot, like shingle pain is normally described, but itched instead. Still, it could have been a mild case. But the more I investigated, the less likely that seemed--shingles are normally blisters appearing on a raised irregular red sort of shelf on the skin, going along the nerve. These were individual and spaced out. Really, the most likely thing is either folliculitis--an infection of the follicles, or some other skin infection. So instead of going to the doctor with something I'm pretty sure is minor, I'll just keep them clean, put some Neosporin ointment on them, and keep them covered with bandages, and I think we're good to go. That way in the unlikely chance they are shingles, I won't infect anyone (you can't catch shingles from another person, but in rare cases, you can have someone who hasn't been vaccinated or had chicken pox get that, as it is the same virus). I did check since I work in a children's hospital even though I'm not in direct patient care, and covering them is sufficient. So either way, it should be okay. Hopefully they'll clear up quickly.

I got an e-mail today saying that Kroger was reviewing my application. Yay! Hopefully I'll hear from them soon.

Tomorrow I take YKWIA to an appointment and hopefully get my allergy shots.

I took some of the recipes I'd found and put them in an Android phone application, and it's nice. It can be backed up to Dropbox and you can import them from web pages, although I've noticed it imports everything but the actual ingredients most of the time. Maybe it's not fully compatible with every cooking web site. But I've gone in an added those, and that's not too bad, especially as it gets the directions, which tend to be more of an issue.

Tonight I dug around in the pantry and found some Easy Mac, which I made in the microwave. It doesn't require anything other than the noodles, water, and powder pack. Now, this was one of the things I was given in a gift basket when I broke my ankle after being hit by a car...four years ago. It pretty much tasted like that, too. I did put about a half a teaspoon of butter in it and it made it creamier and mitigated the flavour a bit. But, hey, that was dinner.

I was going through a cookbook I had out from the library, and there was a great recipe for roasted peppers with baked eggs, and it had an ingredient I had never heard of--harissa. So I looked it up, and it's a paste made from chiles, spices, and olive oil, with some garlic and various other optional ingredients. It's North African. You put it in a jar and cover it with olive oil, then seal the jar, and it keeps for a month. Whenever you use it, you just put a little more oil over it. The spices were cumin seed, coriander seed, and caraway seed. You toast those, grind 'em up in a mortar and pestle (which I have) or coffee grinder (which I don't), and then put them in a food processor with the chiles (which have been soaked in hot water, with the stems and seeds removed, then you put in a little olive oil and process till you get the right consistence. Then you follow the procedure above with the jar and the olive oil. I think I'm going to try it.

So, the idea when I get paid is, along with all sorts of bills that I will pay, is to try to save money and eat healthier by cooking real food. So far I have some meals planned over the next two weeks, if I can afford the ingredients:

1. Whole wheat honey bread
2. Eggplant penne pasta
3. Potato leek soup
4. Salmon with blackberry-ginger sauce
5. Asparagus frittata
6. Roasted peppers with baked eggs (which requires the harissa)
7. Zucchini au gratin
8. Quinoa salad with avocado
9. Roasted onion and garlic potatoes
10. Slow-cooked beans (with fresh dry beans this time)
11. Lentil cashew pilaf

Breakfast will be Greek yoghurt with berries, or sometimes boiled eggs and toast. I want to get some carrots and celery and string cheese to snack on. Not every meal will be home-cooked. Some lunches might just be peanut butter and the no-sugar added spreadable fruit, with maybe soem popcorn or a piece of fruit. But I am going to try to cook more and eat more vegetables.

Okay, I'm still a bit hungry. I Think I'll have some multi-grain crackers and peanut butter, despite having already brushed and flossed my teeth. I also got all my pills put into their reminder box (I'd forgotten to do that last night, and didn't have what I needed today), stocked up my insulin so I have enough, have taken my nightly Lantus, and have stocked up on pen needles. I think I'll head on to bed soon. My computer did a bunch of updating when I first turned it on and only has about an hour's worth of charge now, so I"ll go plug the laptop up.

PS Hope you have a happy solstice (summer, or Litha, for the northern hemisphere, or winter for the southern) AND a happy full moon, as they coincide today, the first time since 1948, or so said one story I read. Also, if you're in the southwestern US, try to stay cool. THe heat wave is predicted to go up to 122 degrees in Phoenix, for example. That's insane. I used to live in the desert, and 110 was not that bad, really, but at 120 they start grounding planes because the rubber tyres start to melt. Remember, please think of your pets, whose bare paws can burn on hot asphalt and cement. I've been through some rough heat waves (over 65 days of over 100 degrees in Kansas, where there's enough humidity to make that horrible and a lot of people died throughout the midwest that year (1980)). Also, avoid throwing cigarette butts out of the car or anything else that could spark fires, as they're almost impossible to fight in those conditions. Good luck!

I took this last night

I still don't have a camera that can take a perfect picture of a full moon, but this was pretty nice. Tonight it should be even more full and stunning, as the moon is at perigee, closest to the earth for the year. When it rises at dusk, it's huge. This was near midnight, when it was high in the sky, but the clouds came out nicely. I thought you might enjoy it.



Okay, I think I'm going to eat something, take a hopefully short nap, and then work some on the house. Have a great day!

Happy harvest moon

It's hard to believe autumn will be here tomorrow. It was cool a few days ago, much like fall, but it's been pretty warm and humid today. I'm so glad I put the air conditioning back on last night--I've been warm all day, and I've driven around in the car a lot, plus my friends had their windows open but I just couldn't seem to catch a breeze.

***Warning to guys who are sensitive on this matter: Commencing to write about gynaecological stuff***

Today after work I went to a new (for me) gynaecology practice--my least favourite kind of doctor's appointment so far. They took a fairly detailed history and the physician assistant gave me a thorough exam. Good news is, I should get the results of most of my tests in a few days. The bad news is, I was strongly urged to get a colonoscopy as the result of one of the in-house tests. I had hoped to put that off a few more years (I'm only 46). That may lead to yet a less-favourite kind of doctor's visit. :) But I did get my Pap, and an order for my mammogramme, and some encouragement about doing better and more frequent breast self-examinations. They also did some blood work to determine if I'm going into menopause yet, because I'm so hot so often and I'm starting to have a few issues with my cycle. One good thing is although my family is supercharged with diabetes genes, I'm not aware of any gynaecological cancers in our family on either side, and so I wasn't a candidate for any genetic testing, which was fine with me. If I'd met the criteria, of course, I'd have wanted to be tested in a heartbeat.

Before and during the appointment, I got news that one of my family members had a major health scare today that fortunately turned out not to be as serious as it could have been. I do hope everything is alright and that he gets a clean bill of health. It's downright scary when people younger than me have that kind of scare.

After the appointment, I hurried across town to the pharmacy to get some pen needles and medicines, then I got some gas at Kroger, and then picked up some fish dinners for friends and myself. I went over there and watched an episode of 'Alphas' and visited for awhile, and then came on home about 9 or 9:30.

I did not get to the YMCA, of course. I'm going to try to go tomorrow instead. I will make it eventually. Today was just so busy, and frankly, I didn't so much feel like working out after being poked and prodded in my lady parts (although the PA was really careful not to cause too much discomfort, unlike some places to which I've gone. One visit to a place over on Harrodsburg Road years ago nearly sent me off the table, out of the stirrups, and I wound up going home and curling up in a ball for hours, it was so bad.)

Anyway, at least that's over for another year, hopefully. I do go back in two weeks to discuss my blood work and other test results. But there shouldn't be any further examination for awhile.

My neck is bothering me. I think I'm going to get into my pyjamas, turn on some music for awhile, maybe read and relax for a bit before bed. Good night.

By the way

I caught the full moon in clouds the other night. It's not what I call a clear picture of the moon, but it's kind of misty and mysterious looking: