grow

 

An older picture, but I keep pretty pictures up on my desktop sometimes, ones that I have taken, in order to click them open and look at them again or leave them up like a screensaver and have that on my computer for the day while I'm doing other things.  I had dog roses up the other day, and today I switched to these blue flag irises.

That's two weeks down at the office job, and the postal route on Saturday, and today I didn't get called for emergency 'we can't cover it' packages on Sunday - so we went and did some shopping with Grandma.  Esme helped me with all the carrying and such.  We also looked at Christmas ornaments, trees and home goods.  We bought a mop, which I've been needing to get another one.

When we got home, I put dinner in the toaster oven and used the mop a little on the worst places (that had spurred me to get it), and did laundry, and so forth.  I almost went down for a nap after chatting with a friend, but found a hole in a yarn blanket and repaired that, and remembered a hole in a shirt I was going to run under the sewing machine and so forth...

I dreamt of snow last night, so high it filled the entire valley and the yard up... blocking the downstairs doors and windows.  In the dream, I woke Esme and Mark up to look at it, but they didn't think it was really a problem... that dream was probably brought on all by the flooding in the East, and my worries for winter.  The night before I had dreamt of my poor little black cat had been speared through against a tree, and I was so afraid to pull the spear out for fear it would do more damage - and I did, because I couldn't leave her like that, and she ran off as if she wasn't hurt, but leaking green liquid while I was trying to figure out if I could get her into the back of the truck, or if we could bring her to the vet or just what to do about it.. she grew three times bigger into a wolf with fangs and started eating rabbits that I hadn't even seen up until that moment, and I was conflicted, and the wolf started leaking even more neon green goo, jumped into the back of the truck and then disappeared entirely into a mass of green goo in the truck bed.  The stranger thing was that all 'happened' in the dream, in my mom's yard, back in Minnesota, which I didn't find strange until I woke up from the dream and remembered I was chasing the cat originally around the bathtub and the oak tree the spear had been put into, which were places I had played often as a child and have become iconic in my brain. I had a box at the post office yesterday that was leaking liquid all over but only when it was upside-down - it came out like a spout, and when it was right-side-up, it was fine.  That liquid was clear, and probably bottled water.  I had also been very worried about that same little cat outside in the rains - she came in twice but kept going back out and I let her, because she was very urgent about it.  It is very strange what anxious brains do with daily information, and maybe a bit much anime.

Going to go make a cup of tea now and maybe watch another anime episode.

Thursday already

I'm still showing up and doing the best job I can - still learning things.  Trying to put myself to bed earlier at night - more like 8:30 than 9:30, but it isn't happening easily yet.  Did Japanese and French today on breaks, and a little afterwards - but Mark wanted me to get groceries now that the first paycheck is in.  It is supposed to rain now until through the weekend - so I am hoping that doesn't cause any flooding.  The little car seems to be running well, but I also took the mail truck in today because I can't let it sit too long either.  

 

 

the penguin is an alien

well, no ... but hEDS makes me feel like one sometimes

 

 Mark asked me 'how I'm holding up', six days a week - although that won't be six days this week until Saturday is in the bag.  I have to admit, a bit tired, especially in the mid-afternoon, but I might just have to give in and pack an extra peanut butter cracker or something for that.  I used to do that at the hardware store.  It's not all just because I'm not getting to sleep early enough, there is that mid-afternoon slump from eating lunch, then sitting down and not being up and rushing about as much.  There has been something to do most of the time, but I was told that will slack off a little now that we're through the backlog - and it will be more bit here and there cleaning and going back over things for accuracy etc.  I'm getting by okay though - it's going to take some time to get used to any new routine, even if you aren't an alien.

 

Funny not funny, my left knee is doing something unexpected - I'm opening one of the locked doors by pushing with it or perhaps the getting down and getting back up from the little car or maybe even hooking it wrong in the office chair I sit in... even a combination of the above.  I'm not complaining about it, just noting it, so I can look back on it later.  I'll just have to pay more attention and figure out what it is.  I had a bruise on my left arm that was from getting in and out of the car a new way and I figured out how to get up without putting that arm on the sharp door frame.  It's funny not funny to have hypermobility and easy bruising, as you can do something really 'stupid' like pick up a huge box and hurt the next day and know it was from that - 'I shouldn't do that' or you can do a lot of little stupid things you're not used to doing in a new daily routine and have it hurt daily and wonder 'what on earth am I doing to cause that'...  and have to go narrow it down.

bits of Monday

Did the postal route on Saturday, had a partially restful day on Sunday, slept in a little, which was needed.  Did Japanese, and a little French.    The power went out for an hour and a half in the morning.  And with the power out I cleaned up a little, and organized my clothing, and then when it came back on I did more laundry and we cooked dinner.   Today, besides work at the office, was a rush to get new tires on the little car, which had popped one of them on Friday when Mark was going to the meat store.  He was helped by a kind elderly gentleman who gave him a ride back down his long driveway in a golf cart and helped him put on the spare, since we did not have a jack or a 4-way in the vehicle yet.  A blown tire wasn't entirely unexpected, considering we know it sat a while before we bought it refurbished - but we weren't going to put chances on the other three after the way the first one failed.  That put us out of going to the supermarket on Sunday, as the spare that was on it was one of those tiny donut things.  

I called the tire shop on my lunch break, and they had the right ones in stock.  With the mail truck, they always have to order it, because it is such a strange size.  Got home in the truck at 4, got into the car, convinced it to start, got out of the driveway and to the tire shop under the 5 o'clock wire, while they had four tires in stock.  And home.  Did more Japanese today.  Watched the first four episodes of Apothecary Diaries (anime), and it's quite good.  I had watched bits and pieces of it in Japanese here and there, but could not find full episodes in Japanese, only in English dub (odd, huh?) It's time for bed again, the day has been full, and I have to be up early again tomorrow.

bits of going towards the weekend

 

 

I had been doing mostly Japanese, but started to slide into a bit of French here and there on my main profile.  Wow, did some more French and Japanese switching off from each other just now (lesson of one, then the other, then back etc.) - the high level French, and the high level Japanese lessons.  I found the feeling of switching from the 'am I doing this right grammar with the y's and the les/leur/lui' on the French to the Japanese 'point click - the syntax falls into place because that is where it goes' very interesting.  But the Japanese is all still present tense, as well, and mostly I/you so grammatically it is much simpler than where I'm at with the French.

//brought the spider plant to work and gave it some water and left it for the weekend,  we are nursing another chicken in the garage but this one seems much better off than the other one to start with.  Mark had a flat with the little car but had a very nice person help him get it changed, as the car didn't have all the tools in it yet to deal with that- and we need to get it kitted up for such problems.

A whole week finished at the new job, and the postal route today.  And then we'll see how restful Sunday is and start it all over again, except next week I'm 'on my own' in the office, so that will be a huge change both timewise keeping track of what happens next and quiet wise, as this week has been a LOT of conversation and I'm not as used to that anymore as I had been when I was at the hardware store, but I've been doing my best to keep up.  There has been SO much talk of food, as well, and I'm really not used to that.  

 I still have to watch and make sure I'm drinking enough - postal route today should be interesting to see where my habit falls on that now.  I always bring a thermos with me and sometimes get an extra drink, and haven't had any problems in a long time.  But at this office job, sitting most of the time, with drinking small amounts throughout the day - somehow I've had more trouble drinking enough than when I'm out on the road drinking sparingly and stopping only at the designated breaks - and then drinking a lot after the route, how does that figure out?   The only thing I can guess is that the humidity difference because the plant is hot and has weird heavy humidity and the office is air-conditioned and dry - it must be altering how my body reacts then the postal route which is mostly 'outside' conditions (window always open) and fairly constant the whole day, my body gets used to whatever the condition is - hot, cold, dry, humid, and can stay in that mode instead of jerking back and forth between modes and then not knowing how much to drink because of it.

office

 

Still learning the range of things there - lots of cleaning yesterday, as some of the other 'hopping around' things didn't happen.  Sketched this up in about ten minutes (here at home, after dinner).  It's easy to draw penguins (a bit too simple here with the flippers long) - but I have felt like the keyboard is so far away from me, had to put it down in my lap when entering figures into the spreadsheet.  If I can remember, I'm going to bring a little plant in for the filing cabinet tomorrow - I have a spare spider plant that needs a home.  It is a bit difficult to drink enough liquid there - but working on making that part of the routine.  I need to stop and get chicken feed at the feed store on the way home this afternoon.  And then I still have the postal route to cover on Saturday.

I've been keeping up with my Japanese, all except the extra vocabulary site - and did a little bit of the higher French grammar tonight.

early early long week

 Every day starts early early, even before the alarm, as the dogs begin to bark.  Keep on learning all the new things, so much at once it's like cramming a month into three days so far, and doing a lot of backlog they had stacked up of filing and so forth, trying to keep all the processes separate in my brain - and check check doublecheck every printed thing for typos (two today, *sigh*)  tomorrow is another day.  

 

//It's also been quite loud there, lots of talking, echoey etc... with a big temperature and humidity difference between the plant and the office, so I have a bit of a headache that I am putting down to that at the moment, besides being tired and needing to drink a lot more liquid that isn't coffee when I'm there.  Putting on my music and setting my alarm (although I expect Sweetie dog to wake me up earlier, and getting back to sleep after that is touch and go)

penguin at work

 

 wireless keyboard and mouse - we ended up putting in a wired keyboard

First day at the office job (still at post office on Saturdays) was good, just got to find out what their processes are and keep my eyes and ears open and not go too fast I miss stuff or mistype stuff because someone is looking over my shoulder.  More to learn tomorrow.  We had a lot of running around after work - going to have to get used to that - because so many things close now right after I get off here (and aren't open when I start!), it's going to be a bit harder to get some things done but not impossible  ie: bank, feed store, etc. both close at 4 and 5.  I did some Japanese at home (woke up way too early again, 3:30 am - stayed up and got ready) and some on my 30 minute lunch break, and finished the rest at home.  Laundry done, lunch made for tomorrow, heading to bed soon - try to sleep more.

After those dog baths yesterday and sitting in an office chair today I think I might have to do some yoga to stretch out my lower back!

sunday dog wash

 

Did packages today.  Washing dogs tonight - and then start the job early tomorrow.  Did Japanese, and am planning on making the kielbasa and rice dish for Esme in a little bit - they are working on making another pan of peanut butter fudge right now.

friday

Did all the Japanese today, and half of a postal route.  It was raining a lot.  I've got rice on the stove to put up, and Mark is planning on making a few pork chops.  Starting the new job on Monday.

Went and looked up the gauge fuse for the truck - it had popped again, and I need to try to fix it when it isn't raining.  It operates the gas gauge and the speedometer.

I took that budgeting video's ideas on calendars and made one that showed everything I have been tracking - Esme stared hard at it.  It's even got when we put the chicken feed or dog food into the bin vs. when I have bought the latest bag.  Gotta know where everything is and when it happens and then I can start getting it by the tail, maybe. 

bits

 

 

Some good news, will keep working on it, I work the weekend as well, then busier next week.

Did more Japanese today, got the dog food before the hurricane rains come in, and cancelled a meeting for tomorrow.  I also watched a budgeting video today - we do budget, but there are always things that come up that are 'left field' it feels like.  If I hadn't been tightening us up on our budgeting the past few months, and reducing possible trips at the same time, we would have had it worse.  After the video, I've got some more ideas for going forward - maybe save some on animal feed and my phone bill, but I just have to see what I can make work for us.  

ie: I've been tracking the 'frequency' of when I am buying the animal feed for the past few months to nail down exactly how much I need to get each month - and maybe start buying it more ahead of time and save trips.  I know there are 'bulk' as in, longer time plans than the monthly on my phone, and they are supposed to save, but I haven't been able to nail that down and commit to any more than once a month refill, either.  Those are those things you know you should do, and that they would save money, but they're hard to do when you are just trying to juggle everything.

Winter is on it's way, as well, and we'll need to figure out how to bring propane to the house for Mark's office heater (which saves us on electricity by keeping his room warmer, but the rest of the house stays colder, and Esme's room is right next to the heater and the house was planned to keep that room warmer, and it does) - since the other truck is not working and my mail truck has a topper on it, transporting it will be more difficult.  We might have to exchange more smaller tanks or find a strap the tank in standing up in the back seat.

I fired up the sewing machine and repaired a pair of jeans.  I've dug down in all of my old things and pulled out what is suitable and washed it.  I'm a smaller size now than I was five years ago,  closer to what I was ten years ago.  I definitely felt it this week that I wish I had a sister or a friend my size that I could trade clothes off with - but I may have to find a way to the thrift store since I will need some nicer looking clothes and I have some but not enough for full weeks.

bits

Making some progress, both in Japanese and in other things - didn't do as much to that story as I had hoped I would, because I was doing other things - did finish a small painting and started some work on another bigger one that needs finishing

inspiration board

I made a few more synesthete polyglot images the other day.

The extent of my political comments is thus, because yea, it's September, and November is arriving much too soon.  I know - it is going to be winter before we know it and that is always the hardest time to get through with weather, extra heating, holidays etc etc... not to mention the prices of everything has went up AGAIN after doubling several times already in the past few years.  They say it's all going down, we just haven't had it reach us yet .. and yet, it hasn't reached us yet.  Milk, bread, meats, gas, animal feeds, insurance, electricity - we've tightened what we can and I'm doing what I can to make it better. 

We watched the 'debate', so loosely fitting that definition, which was actually two people yelling at each other and avoiding the actual topics, which is par for the course.  I found it very interesting that the investment, financial and technical news stories I read on it all were saying 'this election is going to be very very close' and noticing the avoidance tendencies (pouncing on easy hot points and repeating themselves, instead of talking about what the everyday person wants to know their stance on) and those same financial news authors were stating they wish the actual questions had been answered, instead of returning to 'advertising and style points' while the other 'normal' news outlets all seemed to say whoever they normally lean towards won it and gloss over the fact that neither of the candidates said very much at all substantive. 

//my take - I got a lot more of the actual info I wanted to know from those financial blogs and news sites, side-by-side policy comparisons, charts and numbers, which I guess the general public gets bored with that and just wants to hear about celebrities and shock-and-awe.

 

Today I went to that morning meeting and then came back home, ate leftovers, did chores and slept - there was a power outage tonight while we were eating dinner, but at least we had dinner made

 

nothing else much to report, waiting for phone calls and practicing spreadsheet stuff, have some more things I need to do Friday, including getting dog food

zivis is Fish in Latvian

poisson is Fish in French

peixe is Fish in Portuguese

魚 (sakana) is Fish in Japanese

kr-ack, ka-pow

 

Eh, I kind of want to do some Latvian review as well, after all this time... but I'm making such good progress in the Japanese that I'm actually recognizing words phonetically quickly, instead of sounding them out bit by bit, and the low level Japanese profile is doing a review of katakana, which I actually DO need... *sigh*

Patreon post with recipe below:

 

pea soup with yellow and green peas and onions, and cheesy toast forthcoming

It's turned a bit cold outside, the goat was sunning herself, as were the cats.  The cats have been seeking out warm blankets and sunbeams to curl up on here inside the house, as well.

I touched on three different stories the past few days, but there are so many in my files I can bounce around and come back to each one with new eyes and do something a bit more on it.  The story I've put on my bench to work on today is about 3,000 words and the two that I published at the beginning of the month were both around 5,000 give or take, so it's in the range if I just get some knuckles down on it and make sure it still says what I want it to say, at the same time.

The story is called 'INGie', I've been working on this story off and on since 2019. Since it has been years now and it has sort of sat there waiting for me to do more with it - I'm trying to see if it's ready for the 'publish a thin book' treatment, like Mikki Mack and Salt Magic, which I published earlier this month.

The story is by nature sad, but also full of wonder and possibilities and think-outside-the-box.  It is about an alien that has crash-landed and there is a mutual protective relationship between him and the first human that found him.  The alien has strange powers, but also a distinctly non-human way of looking at things, so the things he creates with his powers and the materials in the warehouse are by definition ethereal and nearly impossible.  I posted a little excerpt on my art page : so I'll repeat here

"He is getting better at language, but still it is slow and he takes his time to find the right word.  Often he will stand there peering at me trying to project an image long enough that I might pick up on it.  The problem is these thoughts are not easy to form in my mind - he is the one working a masterpiece down to the barest shapes and forms to wedge it into the squishy clay of the human mind.  Is it you? Is it me? I focus on the image he has sent to me, trying to make it come together with the object I see in front of me.  It is him, he says, or at least his clothes. He is making his goodbye clothes. I don’t like the sound of that. "

 

bits

Not much to report, did Sunday packages, wrote some extended work into my story 'As Told by a Dog', and try to get ready for a meeting tomorrow.  Trying not to stress on that, but I'm still me.  There is a lot up in the air and contradictions on that and Mark doesn't think it is a problem, but I am pessimistic.  

 

I've been doing the budgeting for the months ahead - and keep looking at anywhere else I could pick up hours.  The work world just seems stacked wrong now - something went majorly wrong maybe what, fifteen years ago?  How are regular people supposed to make it with all these HR scheduling rules that counter-compete?  Things were more flexible when I was a young adult.  Some of these applications don't even have any way to tell them what hours you can work - they just off the bat require full availability.  And if everyone requires full availability all of the time but only gives you part time work - then that sets people up for failure right out of the gate.

 

Mark made dinner.  Did Japanese today, and I will do a little more before I head off for bed.

this is the illustration I had made for the story, when it was still going to be in the anthology.  It is only 2500 words right now, but it started this afternoon at 1,000 so that is actually a really good expansion.  I worked on the 'Kardega' story the other day and it is at about 1400 words.  I worked on the very first page format of a pig story I had written 'off the cuff' one afternoon last week.  I got some really good material for Cosmic Cat, but it came with chatting with an AI so it is all repetitive and needs to be majorly pared out and see if there is enough there to then take me off writing on the idea.

more cooking

I had a full route today, but it wasn't super long.  I came home and we planned on making meatballs that would last us a few weeks, with the grocery items I got the other day, and our chicken eggs.

 

 

I wrote up Mark's recipe at Neurodivergent Cooking : Meatballs to Freeze

It's a fairly normal recipe, but the other version I made isn't.

Fish loaf or Canned mackerel filets with zucchini  Mark called it 'fishloaf' - I thought of it as way of making it something like the meatloaf recipe but using up my canned mackerel out of the cupboard.  Then I served it with my mock sushi-style brown rice, nori seaweed that I like and red chili paste, wasabi and mayonnaise - all on a bed of soy sauce.

 

Package runs tomorrow, and since I didn't sleep well last night, I'm going to crash.

friday here we go

 Had a lot of things to do early this morning, and went and got them done - groceries, and so forth, and back home before 9 am.  Chopped up all the vegetables to go in the freezer.  Then I had an online meeting at 11.  I helped Mark take photographs and video of his project that he has been making on the 3D printer.  After a bit, Esme will be home and we'll decide what to do for dinner.

since I had that online thing I took a couple of pictures for my artist page to test the camera angles and so forth - but ended up going with the second one for the page

That is a little cat painting I was working on the other night - I still need to add some more black lines and go over a few places before I make the second one.

Last night I made dinner for Esme and I and used half of the weekly container of sushi rice I had made, some kielbasa and orange sweet peppers and a good selection of spices : oregano, paprika, onion powder, black pepper and salt - to make a very flavorful dish.  I definitely want to make that again.

Mark's pizza order:  I always switch up what he wanted to do with the order of the toppings in the pizza - but what makes sense (and he agreed today) is to put the pepperoni on first, then the cheese, then the spices (garlic, black pepper, and oregano).  He always used to put the pepperoni on last, and it would get so crispy that I didn't like it.  But because my instinct is to put it on first, and he didn't do that, it made me stall in the past that he would come out and it would be 'all backwards'.  I thought I'd write it down this time.

Did Japanese and Swedish again today.  The Swedish has went forward into a section that I know a little better.  I'll hear more about the little car hopefully soon, and about the meeting I had this morning.  I work the weekend.

Wayward Sparrows

When the world is loud
and spinning in your head
your heart is thumping
running one hundred miles a minute
now, but not before
when you kept up your smile
and tried your very best
as we do - when it is needed
now, when the curtains are closed
and the stage is empty
all should be calm
but continues fluttering
shaken with intensity
perhaps it is time
to take a walk
let the wind and sunshine
sweep over you
perhaps bringing a word
or a whisper
dropped from the feathers
of a wayward sparrow

whaley thursday bits

 

That's kind of a to-done list, instead of a to-do list, up till right now, of course.  I don't know what is with one of the dogs deciding it is time to bark at 3 am every morning lately... but it invaded my dream this morning and whatever the lady I was talking to was about to say, it turned into a broken record repeat of bark bark bark mid-sentence.  *sigh*  So I got up and got myself ready.

I did a couple of illustrations for an animal book, and wrote a bit on a futuristic story that was started a few years ago and I've thought back to it a few times since then wondering why I didn't take it any further than a few paragraphs - added some more to it and it might go somewhere - bit like Fifth Element meets the post office... so far.  Posted my book links around a little and then started getting all the dodgy message requests, of course, as happens. Was up to five just now, and all of them dodgy.  I could have begun editing some more poetry or one of the other stories in my book - maybe the one about the alien, but I sort of just sat back and had a good brain wander, instead.

I had another bowl of that really good chicken, broccoli and orzo soup from the other day, for lunch - it was much thicker today but still very good. There was a small cucumber in the garden so I made cucumber sauce and put it on sushi rice with soy sauce and it was a lot like that cucumber sushi roll from the restaurant, except, not all in one roll.  I still have to think on what to make for dinner - we have kielbasa in the freezer.

 

I've been eyeing some Japanese fish cake recipes to make with potatoes and my canned mackerel - it looks easy and I have everything for it right there - but I know no one else wants that, so I might have to make it for myself tomorrow after my interview.  We need to use those potatoes up one way or the other.  The ones in the garden are doing good but it will be October / November before it is time to check them for pulling.  Whenever the vines turn yellow.

I sat down to paint this little cat I was working on, and couldn't find the paintbrush I was using last night.  I know I washed it.  I know I brought it upstairs - I was very careful not to leave it downstairs!  But I lost track of where exactly I put it upstairs except 'in a good place, a jar, like where it belongs'  But which jar!?!  Brain : I don't know, a good one?  Not the right one.  I had put it in the pencil cup between the stairs and my computer desk, instead of walking it all the way over to the art table.  As soon as I had washed the other brush and come upstairs it was like 'access granted' to the memory from yesterday and I picked it up on my way to the art table to put away with the other brush.

bits again

Here are the links to the books I finished editing  this week. I'm glad I've gotten these two short books out in a little under a week, as they were waiting with just bits and pieces that needed to be finished.  I know I won't have that sort of rapid-fire on anything I might try to write from scratch - so I'm using up my stack while I can.   

Mikki Mack book : 

Kindle link 3.29 (with color illustrations)  -- Paperback link 4.99

"Mikki Mack is a little cat with a lot of attitude, and a lot of heart. She tells the story, from a particularly cat point of view, of how she came to be living at the little house at 67 Maple Street and how things look from the viewpoint of a quite pretty small grey cat (with a gloriously long fluffy tail). Mikki recalls how she was found on the Lost Day, adventures with the mechanical mouse, smiling ceramic duck, a perfect sock and the very special thing she did to help when Mr. Mack got a cold."

 

Salt Magic book : 

Kindle link 2.99 (with b/w illustrations) -- Paperback link 4.99

"Day after day was exhausting. The future was so bright, graduating from Divination school. We were supposed to have all the answers, right? Hindsight is all 20-20, and even those that study the Future don't always get it right. But it takes years and the realization that this magic is not what it seems - it is tearing every cell in your body apart, because you are not built the same way everyone else is. In fact, very few of your kind ever survive. This, is salt magic. And knowing that, makes all the difference. A thinly veiled fantasy story of my experience having Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome, otherwise known as POTS"

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I went to sleep last night knowing I had to be up early today to go cover a postal route.  But then, I woke up way too early, and decided not to go back to bed, got ready instead.  I made my thermos of coffee.  I planned what I was supposed to do, in what order, to get the day done.  And then, at 5:30 am, the carrier texted me saying she is 'going to go in anyways'... so now I don't actually NEED to go anywhere.  I did water the garden, and take one bag of trash up to the road in the sled.  *blows air up forehead*

 

So I was left a bit hanging.  I went and edited a twelve page story into a thirty-four page book, and got it ready for publication.  It probably won't be available for purchase until tomorrow.  

 

Then, I sort of fell out on going to town.  And here I am writing this, a drop in a puddle far from any river that will take it to the ocean.  Caught between wanting to curl into a ball because of the economy and knowing that I need to keep doing things and getting things out and taking chances and it isn't going to get better by itself.

Did some Japanese, and some Swedish.  Put out a promotion post for my little cat book.  The books I brought to the gallery are slowly selling now, and the rest of the toys that I made a few years ago.  I do mean slowly.  I got a check in the mail yesterday that will help a little bit with gas, but I haven't knit more toys, and I'm not sure if/when I will order new copies of these two small books to put in the basket there.  The cat book is cute, has illustrations, and might do well.

I'm just trying to stay optimistic but all of that uses social energy, too.

 

Later : we made dinner,  finished the rest of my Japanese lessons, and drew some more digital illustrations that might be used in my novela. 

 

bits

 Was all set this morning to go run things to the dump and get chicken feed, if the truck would go to both places - and then literally as I was about to step in the shower the phone rang and they wanted me to go do a different route, but come in two hours later so I could use the vehicle.  I scrabbled myself up into a higher gear and got the chicken feed on the way in, and then went and split the route with someone else.  I had never been on that route before, so it was a learning curve, but I only had to 'follow my nose' in a few places, mostly where they have changed the names of the roads since the notes were written.

Came home and put some of our tomatoes from the garden that were in the freezer with lemon basil, orange bell pepper, a bit of tomato paste and spices on the stove for a sauce, to go over some pasta I had cooked too much of the other night.  I served that with some Italian bread and an omelet for each of us.  It was really good except since it had been cherry tomatoes, there were a lot of tomato skin pieces in it that we had to pick out - cooking it longer and putting it through a blender would have helped with that, but it still tasted amazing for all garden stuff that had been frozen a few months ago.

Did some Japanese this morning before I knew I needed to go in - will check what I haven't done and get to it before falling over asleep.

Cooking cooking ....

I've been working at putting up the recipes at Neurodivergent Cooking that I use often - and finally got around to putting this banana cake recipe up.

 

I did some assorted cooking today after I got back from the postal packages route.  I only had like a dozen people ask me why we're delivering on Labor Day, well, if we don't, those packages and tomorrow's too will be all piled up, and it's really tough on someone to have to do it all in one day (and get paid for just one day).  We kind of appreciate getting an extra day to do it in.

I made my banana 'flan' cake - but with all purpose flour, for demonstration purposes.  I often use my brown rice flour in it, and it does change the texture.  I documented the process at Neurodivergent Cooking : Banana Cake, not Flan

2 mashed bananas, 3 eggs, less than 1/2 cup granulated sugar, splash whole milk, baking powder, salt, less than 1 cup flour, mix it all up - bake at 375 degrees for about a half hour (but the link above has step by step with pictures)

Then I made the brown rice for the week - to use in fried rice and for snacks.  When I've got it in there it makes cooking pretty easy if we're not doing something specific I have the rice ingredient to fall back on.  With pre-cooked rice and other things I keep in the freezer, a decent and pretty healthy meal for two is only about fifteen minutes away if I want it to be.  I open a can of fruit or put some bread or an omelet or another vegetable beside it and there you go.

Then I decided to go all in and make soup for dinner, and ended up having enough for another day this week, too.  I was intrigued by a recipe that I had all the materials for in the cupboard, basically, and I tried it out.  I think it was a success - although we don't often have soup for dinner, it was just for Esme and I - as Mark was having his leftovers he saved from last night's family dinner of porkchop and potatoes.

The soup was based on an 'Italian Broccoli soup with Orzo pasta' recipe - and it had a lot of garlic in it, which I did not have and Esme probably wouldn't have liked that much in it, anyway.

The soup consisted of : orzo pasta, chicken bouillon, broccoli, orange sweet pepper, handful of green onions, some olive oil, a can of chicken noodle soup in a brand no one else wanted to eat *roll eyes* but added to this really well, black pepper, salt, one small diced potato (raw), italian seasoning and garlic powder - simmered for a good while until the diced potato was soft and the orzo pasta had expanded all the way  - the pasta in this case was actually 'melon seed' style, but it worked the same

So wow, that was a lot of cooking

It may not look like it to some, but this is me trying to save on the groceries and make sure we eat stuff that is actually in our cabinets before going and buying more stuff.  It's not a popular idea with the family, but I think we need to do it.  If I don't cook the basic things like this, out of ingredients they normally wouldn't eat alone, (but I always keep around and that last a long time), then that just means more junk food, and that means buying more junk food because when it's gone they don't know what to eat (bit hyperbole, but it's close).  

 

It's nice that Esme and Mark can make their own food, but it tends to be hyperspecific foods, freezer meals, sandwiches and wrapped snacks, and not a lot of things they have to cook from scratch.  (barring Mark's peanut butter fudge recipe which they've gotten really good at, and scrambled eggs, and Mark does very well with meat products, which are pricey though, and I tend to not want to eat it every day).

 I'd rather buy a few things that I know we'll be using soon and use it with what I know is in the cupboard than have things go to waste before we get to them.  I'd also much rather eat a real ingredient thing than a little debbie cake or such, but I'm alone in that boat.  Esme will eat some of this though, if I put it on her plate and eat the same thing myself.  That worked really well with the lasagna noodles that had been in the cupboard, and several ramen dishes and of course we have eggs from our chickens, which I keep trying to find uses for.

 

Also made an article about ramen noodle dishes - because we've done a lot of those.  In the wintertime, Esme really did like them quite a bit, and we both still like the pork tonkatsu noodle dish.

 

Languages : I did the Japanese on both profiles and the Clozemaster - I'm not sure if I'll get to the two vocabulary sites right now or just try to do some more tomorrow.  I've done a little review on the Swedish, as well, because of the Scrapheap Challenge we're watching has Swedish subtitles... but I need a lot more review on the spelling on that.

bits in this long work weekend

this type of ramen noodles was in my cupboard from a few months ago when we visited a different kind of grocery - it is interesting because the seasonings inside came in lots of separate little tubes, chicken seasoning, fried onion, sesame oil with black garlic in it, soy sauce and chili sauce - all separate.  I asked Esme if she wanted to share it with me, and she said yes, so I put the chili sauce tube back in my curry bag in the fridge to try on something else.  Served it up with a boiled egg chopped up in the bottom of each bowl.
 

Hamburg parsley is more of a Spring herb but it is still growing

this is really good baked with potatoes, or in a soup 

I have that dehydrated broccoli that Mark keeps telling me I should make soup from for myself - I might get around to it one of these days coming up

Did all the Japanese yesterday after work, heated up leftovers from the fridge and went to sleep.  Did the package route this morning, and made the ramen noodles, and now am going to go get the Japanese done again for the day.  I do packages again tomorrow, and might be able to pick up some hours on Tuesday but that is tentative still.  The weather wants to rain, but very little of it is getting all the way to the ground.  And I'm tired.

 

Tried to sleep a couple of times after dinner - but I slept before dinner some and now trying to settle down afterwards just kept getting up and doing other things, read a cooking magazine, played a bit of the game, folded laundry, thought about my novela and what details I need to remember to touch on next, made spicy chili sauce on rice, made black tea with milk, did more Japanese on the high level...

today :

Japanese on the phone - level 11 and just crossed into Section 2

Japanese profile on the computer - level 20, at Section 2, unit 18

did Clozemaster, and babadum and baltoslav (several times on the last bit) - I'm getting to where I know a lot of the vocab words right off now, but I will need to start a practice somehow where I then have to spell out or write the word down as well, because I can recognize it, but I'm not confident about recalling it without prompt.

We're still watching that scrapheap challenge show with the Swedish subtitles - I thought they were Finnish, but more and more now they are Swedish.  And I did a bit of a catchup on DL for Swedish but really the level I had gotten to in there (level 11) is such that I need to review for a while before I can make any more headway, as the spelling for one thing is very difficult to remember. 

//I still find it funny, I post a picture of a ramen wrapper and mention learning Swedish and suddenly, my ad stream is full of Swedish suggestions and 'balkans' and oh, so many ramen types and ramen toppings and ramen recipes..... ?? Ga Ça Vi!