So, my man has a sinus infection. Our family nurse told him to go ahead and go to an urgent care place, since he had a fever as of this afternoon, and he still was coughing up all the yellow stuff. (Fun fact: Just before he went, he finally gave in and used the saline rinse nasal pot. He did a very good job, and I am still proud of him for letting go of that fear enough to give it a go again. I hate using them, too, and only do it when I really need to use it.)
Anyway, the doctor said he was fine to be around people and all. Just don’t make out with people, share drinks and utensils, cough on people, etc. So, he stopped at the store on the way home.
While he was there, he was trying to get connected to the wifi at the store, while on the phone with me (because I’d told him that they actually have wifi and it works effectively, and you can actually send and receive photos easily when connected to it). He puts me on speakerphone while he tries to figure it out, and starts kind of cursing up a storm in his ‘I’m already sick and now I’m also stressed and annoyed’ frustration/exhaustion. I tell him, “Chill…” After a short beat, I realize and add, “Although, I guess you can’t, since you have a fever.”
We definitely shared a moment of enjoying that idiocy together. 😛 😀 And it was glorious.
Sometimes, it is wonderful to experience a moment of others expressing exactly how you have been feeling for so long, and for which you have felt so alone and unwanted.
Thank you for that unexpected expression of love today, God. Thank you. Amen.
“It has Brie, salami, and raspberry compote, and is on the jalapeño cheese bread from Goode Co. Is it still considered a grilled cheese?”
“I think so. Sounds and looks delicious.”
Over a year and a half ago, I was gifted the leftover entire loaf of jalapeño cheese bread from a Goode Co. Barbecue catered lunch. I brought it to my man’s house and told him I wanted to make us grilled cheese sandwiches with it – I just needed to go get the cheese first. He is excited about the idea, and keeps the loaf for me to come back and cook up the sandwiches in the next day or so.
The next day, however, while taking with him on the phone, I hear him wondering aloud about what something is… Why is there a twisty tie on the floor? What is this plas… And then it hits him. I ask him what it is, and he tells me with gravity that it was the twisty tie from the loaf of bread.
It takes a tick for it all to set in. At first, I thought he had been eating the bread and left open the bag. But then I remember his commenting on plastic on the floor…
Put simply, the dog was able to jump up and get the loaf off the counter, because my man put it too close to the edge. The dog is not very big, so the bread had to be very much right on the edge of the countertop. Massive fail on my man’s part.
The whole loaf had disappeared, along with most of the plastic, it seemed. My one consolation in the upset was that at least the dog would throw up or have horrible poops after all those jalapeños. She had neither, of course. And neither my man nor I forgot about that incident.
Fast forward to last weekend. A friend of his is having a gathering to celebrate the baptism of the children. The food at the small gathering is from Goode Company. I see the bread and instantly recall our denied grilled cheeses. I laugh about it and share the story. I am not mad about the whole thing at all. I find it comical. But I have always been a bit let down that we never got to have those grilled cheeses. So, I’m not sad or mens or anything when I tell the story, just to be clear. It is no sop story.
Anyway, the next day, the friend reaches out to my man to let him know that they have extra jalapeño cheese bread, and would we like to have it? Of course, we accept graciously and gratefully. He delivers the bread the next day to my man, and only asks that he get to see some photos of these grilled cheese.
It took me until today, a week later, to be able to spend the time and make them, naturally. So, we had stuck the partial loaf in the fridge and the full loaf in the freezer. Didn’t want to risk losing them to the Houston humidity. Even still, we did lose one half-piece cuff of the fridge pieces.
Nonetheless, I made an open-faced slice and a whole grilled cheese sandwich (only three pieces of bread were available from the fridge, you see) today. I tried for the first time coating them in mayonnaise first – will do that every time in the future now, because it is amazing – and then cooking them in Kerrygold butter. I used Brie that I sliced up into thin pieces (to be like shredded cheese, for melting consistency and ease), salami that I had sautéed in the butter already, and then raspberry compote that I had, all on the jalapeño cheese Texas toast style bread.
I kid you not, this grilled cheese sandwich was amazing. We both used utensils to eat them, and it was ridiculously satisfying to do so. They were just really, really good grilled cheese.
Of course, I reminded my man to get a photo of the two before attacking them, since his friend had specifically asked for photos. He took them – the most underwhelming food photos he’s ever taken, likely because he was so ready to eat what smelled and looked so good – but he complained that the sandwiches were totally not grilled cheeses. They had too many other things in them, he said, for them to be grilled cheese. I declared that as immediately false, and said the majority of the filling was still cheese, so they were grilled cheese sandwiches. (Obviously, we are ignoring the fact that grilled cheese sandwiches are typically truly sautéed cheese sandwiches, but whatever.)
He sent the photos to his friend with the message, “Hannah’s ‘grilled cheese’”. He then added the aforementioned message and inquiry, and the friend replied that it still was a grilled cheese. My man immediately shouted aloud, “Wring answer!” And we had a very good laugh about it while we finished off our awesome grilled cheese sandwiches.
Thank you, God. Amen.
P.S. I discovered today that Brie is a proper noun by law in France, as it is cheese named after the region named Brie. And now you know, too. 😛
Today, I am tired. I was up and at school early for test proctoring, which I didn’t really want to do, but that I kind of needed to do in order to afford life right now. Plus, it was partly a favor for the person in charge, who needed a last-minute replacement for someone else. So, I went. I was grateful for the breakfast tacos we were given. Moving the desks around was more of a hassle than it ever has been, but they turned out to be quite nice eventually. And I had a surprise of the final section of the test just disappearing and not even being on there anymore, which removed about half an hour from the testing time (and I only discovered it when we were about to start the actual last hour of testing). And I ended up not having anymore work to do for Monday, as I’d gotten it all done last night before going home. So, I got to go home way earlier than expected and a lot less tired than expected. And I had a wonderful surprise set of messages from my best friend. And I got to see my man before he was booked for the afternoon and evening.
So, it was a good day and I am grateful for it. But I still am very tired.
Thank you, God. Guide me always to pursue and fulfill your will, please. Amen.
I am grateful for my work and my job. As Chris Gardner said about his own life, I feel like I am in a version of the Israelites being led through the desert, heading toward the promised land, and God is gifting me with manna to sustain me on the journey.
Today has been my man’s birthday. We had nothing big deal planned, yet it still turned out to be a wonderful time. I surprised him with chocolate-coffee pancakes, fresh eggs, and bacon (and a freshly brewed coffee) for an early breakfast before I went to school. Then I brought him a surprise chocolate-lovers’ large slice of cake from a restaurant that ships i their cake slices from this awesome bakery outside of town, which he promptly devoured. And I surprised him with a special hot sauce that is expected to be a slightly sweeter version of Sriracha. Hopefully, he likes it. (He told me over breakfast, “I know what I want for my birthday… Sriracha.” I snorted gently and told him something like, ‘Of course,’ and, ‘Yeah, right.’ No such thing right now, dear. We both chuckled over it a bit, but so knew immediately I would go get a bottle of this specific new version that was recently released to a couple Asian grocery stores in town, not far from school. So, I got him a bottle right after school and before the chiropractor appointment, and surprised him with the bottle at the house later, with the chocolate cake.
Anyway, we then went to a rodeo social and my stepdad got to join the committee very easily and be on my man’s team. So, they’ll end up working together for the rodeo this next year, which I think will be quite fun for the both of them, as well as good for them. We also had a great time at the social just being social and talking with a handful of specific people.
And then we had a great and silly dinner together, my mom and stepdad and my man and I. That was a good ending for the night, and I most certainly drove us home (because rodeo meetings typically have open, complimentary bars, and tonight’s was no exception).
Thank you, God for this blessed day and for this blessed man. Thank you for the love I am blessed to share with him and the life we are blessed to share together, through you and your love. In your name, I pray in gratitude. Amen.
Whenever the school has events in the evening, they always have a late start the next day. But it is only an hour and a quarter later than usual. And most people still have to drop off their own kids and whatnot, so they still get up at the same time the next morning. Even if they don’t have all those, it is very difficult just to sleep a little bit longer in the morning than what one days every single day consistently. The body usually just wakes us up at the regular time, anyway. What’s more, traffic is worse later in the morning, so we still have to leave at almost the same time in order to get to school on time. And most students have parents with typical jobs, and so they still have to be dropped off at the usual time at school. What’s more, by starting late, the school eliminates the hour of open time we all usually get mid-morning, a time used for office hours, getting things done, eating a late or second breakfast, running around to play, or, even, napping – a valuable time for all each day. But it goes away for late starts.
So, basically, late start is annoying and doesn’t actually help anything. And everyone is tired and ready to go home…
Which leads me to the better idea that many of us mentioned today: Let us go home early instead. We all have to get up and going at the same time already. Sure, we don’t get that hour of free time mid-morning, but we get to go home an extra hour and a quarter sooner than usual. That also means we get to head home before traffic starts up, even the coaches with after-school practice. Then we can have the chance to go to bed early that night, to help make up for the lost sleep the night before.
Last night at dinner, my man asks genuinely, “Today is Friday, right?” No, dear. It’s Monday.
I mentioned that at school today, and one of the guys said that would be a great day to live, like every day were Friday. And, somehow, I find that idea hilarious. How would life look for someone who truly lived like every day were Friday? In my mind, for whatever reason, that person wears a lot of Hawaiian shirts. Haha
Nonetheless, that person likely would be in a great mood every day and have a great day every day. Depending on the person, he could be totally unproductive or extremely productive. I personally would aim for the latter – get it all done to have a great and free weekend, you know?
Well, I got some sleep last night, but it don’t work out too well after I was informed that a chicken had wound up dead. And we don’t even know why. So, that’s sad. It wasn’t even the chicken who had been acting weirdly, like she might have been sick. It was one that had seemed totally fine. Again, so, that’s sad.
My man had found it before he went to bed for the night, and he told me later that he put it in a Target bag, then that in another Target bag, then that into a kitchen trash bag… and then he went and put it in a public trash bin somewhere nearby, so it would get picked up sooner than if it had gone into our trash bin, which doesn’t pick up for several days… anyway, it was weird to hear and to know. I guess all dying can be hard like that. It was also sad to lose that life. I liked that chicken. Sure, they’re somewhat unintelligent fat-like birds. But I still like them. And I am grateful for them for more than just the eggs they produce (though haven’t produced in a few days now). It’s just sad knowing that that life has ended.
Turns out that they have mites. That combined with the intense heat the past couple weeks or so plus the fact that they were drinking water from the AC drip likely is the combination reason why she died. I am hoping resolving the water source issue will help, as well as that all the work my man put in today to clean out the coop and having given the birds a sandbox that also has diatomaceous earth in it, and then the spray treatment for the coop tomorrow will help to clear of the mites issue and help to clear the struggle others may presently be facing with it all. They already got electrolyte stuff in their water today and will get some apple cider vinegar, too, soon.
hannah ananas 