rolling

 It's been a hard couple of weeks - was trying to heal up from that knee I smashed up (it is finally scabbing over enough not to break open, but I still wince whenever I kneel on it, which for some reason, I can't stop doing at least once every few days), and the dental plate caused a soreness and stiffness in one side of my face that I was worried about for a while, but finally has went back down just as it had done before.  *sigh*  I've been taking the plate out as soon as I can at night, and on Sunday I didn't put it in for more than a few hours because it was finally feeling better.  Advil and antiseptic rinse and turmeric/curry powder milk just before I go to sleep.  The hard thing is I don't like to take any pain reliever too much - so even taking three or four single pills during a 24 hour day is a LOT for me - but I was able to see the difference and know that it was helping.

 

Charlotte and Minerva, watching me cook

My anxiety was really up because of that, but I've been running through my 'brain routine' to make sure I don't miss anything and to take care of what I can before it adds to my latent anxiety - and that helps a LOT, really.. it does.  When you can get something that would be a worry taken care of, it helps with the bit that just won't smooth down no matter what.  And it helps to see the difference, between something you can fix and something you have to wait out.

I read part of a book the other day - it was just so cold I spent half the morning in bed, because I could.  Every other day I've been running, work, errands, postal route.  But, Esme is really liking her college courses and work at the office job has been rolling and getting that done which it needs someone to get it done.  Told Esme that is a big thing - show up, do what needs to be done without waiting for people to stick up their finger and say 'shouldn't you be doing...' and don't put things off because they stack up and then it will be even harder to keep it all balanced and working after that.  Rest in between when you have run through the whole list and know that you've done all that you can do right now.  I also showed her my unique budget 'program' language that I have worked out the next two months in to help myself remember to account everything.  She said she actually understood it, that it was logical.

 We've also had what I would swear was a fifteen lb. opossum in the hen house - and maybe the thing that blinded my one green-egg layer a month or so ago.  I bruised him up pretty good with a hand tool and threw him out in a box he was hiding in - but I didn't actually do that much damage because he ran off and up a pole and out across a tree quick as lickety split, and then the dogs went off chasing him into the woods.  I only have the one chicken out of the twelve hens that are left that is laying an egg every two or three days - I don't know if that is the only egg we find and they are getting the rest or if that is the only egg that is being laid because of the cold.  I want to protect them better than that but I looked all over where I saw him go and couldn't find a hole in the netting or the fence - like he melted through it somehow.  I've sprayed white vinegar out there in that place and another I saw one melt through fence four or five months ago on the other side.

Now, it thinks it will snow sometime this week.  I don't need that.  We have a bit more animal feed and propane to get before that happens. Tomorrow will be a bit stressful with that run after work but once that is done we are at that 'what will be will be' state again. 

I've made pancakes, and curry, and orange chicken, red lentils and flatbreads, and bean soup and am researching using a rice cooker to cook my adzuki beans.  I showed Esme how to peel ginger when making the red lentil dish, but the 1 cup to 3 cups of water was too much for it, so half of that meal became soup.  I will have to work on that recipe now that I have the red lentils again, made a special trip to the other grocery store to get them.  I made 'seven spice' with star anise, cinnamon, cloves, black pepper, fennel, coriander and yellow mustard seed.  I had looked at all the five spice mixtures available to me and found none that I liked as much as the one that I am almost OUT of...*sigh* - I had all the spices, so I just used my coffee grinder and made a batch.

For languages, I've studied such a mixed bag it is almost funny - French, Spanish, Lithuanian/Latvian, Japanese, Czech, Russian, and Polish.