Burgers and Fries

My husband has been in Baltimore on a job site.
He was texting me Tuesday evening around 7:30pm 
I text back, are you drinking?
He said yes.
I said how many have you had that I can notice that in text babe?
He wrote back I'll call you shortly. I was a bit concerned.

Well apparently at 19 Anonymous Street in Baltimore there is a Bar & Cafe right next door at 17 Anonymous Street where Rick was staying. 
How convenient for Rick.
He took a shower after he worked his 11 hr day and changed into his street clothes. He went next door for a drink and a bite to eat.

He bellied up to the bar. He said the place was like a place we loved in my hometown called Marucci's. It was dark, mostly a bar and then in the back some tables with some of the best food around. He said it was just like that and he sounded so happy.

He ordered a drink and the guy next to him began to make fun of him.
He said, "Man, you're the biggest guy in here and you order little girly drinks"
Rick explained that he likes sweet, pink and if there is an umbrella all the better.
That made the man and his friends laugh. 
Then they sent him a shot of something. Had to be clear liquor because Rick does not do brown liquor EVER. 
Everyone in the place was black and this big white boy stood out and boy did they enjoyed ribbing him he said. He loved the bantering going on at the bar. Rick loves talking to strangers so he was enjoying himself.

Then he ordered food. He said it was the very best sliders he's ever had. Fresh burger with homemade pickled onions, cheese, bacon, pickles and the potato bun top was dunked in melted butter and grilled. 
He was moaning on the phone. My man loves his burgers.

He went on about the french fries too. 
They came with garlic aioli and ketchup on the side he told me.  
He said they were the absolute crunchiest and best fries ever. 
He was making me laugh. I said it could just be the alcohol talking. 
He said Nope, it was the homemade damn good food. (sure rick) 
The fries were real potatoes, not frozen he told me twice. 
He just went on and on. The man can live on burgers and fries with a side of pizza every now and then. 

Then a new bartender came in as a replacement for the last man there.
She asked Rick if he wanted another drink. 
The guy on the stool next to him said, "he likes girly drinks" 
This girl was fun and played along and asked if he needed to have a cherry in the drink and Rick told her that he just wanted the same one he had. 
Then he asked this new female bartender, "how did they let you in? Are we at the quota now?" 
The female bartender was white you see.
Only my husband would say this out loud, Mr. No Filter.
Well, that made for a big loud hearty laugh from everyone in the bar.
Someone yelled, "buy the funny white guy a drink on me"
So apparently Rick made friends and had a helluva time.
He stayed late and how he did that and was working at 7am the next morning is beyond me. He stayed until 9p, which sounds early for a young person. But this old coot just worked 11 hrs and drove 2 hrs to get to work. He also had to be up at 6a to do it all over again. Sometimes the damn fool thinks he's 35.

I think I know where he is having dinner tonight.
He told me everyone was so friendly and just a great home town bar like we like and can't find down here in VA. But the kind we loved when we lived in PA.
I ate leftover salad with a piece of dark chocolate on the side. 
Not near the fun, he was having.

He even took a picture of his fries to send me. I knew for certain he was buzzed. He hates people who take pictures of their food. 

Concerts

Rick and I saw that Bob Segar was going to be in town in the spring/summer.
Now I saw Bob in the '70s and it was great!
But boy I would enjoy that again.

So we went to check out some tickets.
Oh my. 
I don't think a ticket was even as high as $20 when I saw him in the 70s
Now we could get 2 tickets to sit on a hill in the grass for a mere $220.00
Rick made me laugh when I asked him if he could do the lawn.
He said I can sit on the grass, it's getting up that is the issue.
That made me laugh. 
He is on the floor all the time with the dog, he can get up.
But I get it, he doesn't want to sit on the grass and he won't be comfortable for 2 hrs.
So we looked at tickets under the "pavilion" with chairs.
It would be a mere $500+ (2 tickets) if we would like to see the stage.
I hate going to a concert and having to watch it on TV's they have all around.  Might as well stay home to me.

So I am stuck listening to my albums, Pandora and the like and just remember what a great concert it was in 1976. 
I don't think I can pay that kind of money until I win the lottery.
I mean I love him, but I will chalk this one up to been there done that.
Because of these crazy prices I've missed a lot of bands I would have loved to see, Eagles, Fogarty, to name a few that were somewhat recent.

Perhaps if the Beatles came back from the dead and had a concert I'd pay that kind of money. 

Speaking of concerts my friend and I were talking about meeting people who you like in person. I have not met any celebrity only a few singers from my airport ticket counter days. One was Grace Slick. 
She was just like you'd think she was. 
For you young kids, she was the lead singer in a band called Jefferson Airplane. She was good and salty. Google her. 

I recall a time when there was an old time group of guys that were before my time. I was aware of them, Dion is the one I remember of this group.
After I worked the ticket counter I was going on a flight to see a friend.
I got on the plane and took the last seat that was available. This plane was a small jet and I'm sorry I don't recall which one. But there was no first class.

When we landed this man was so awful. He was in the back across from me. Everyone stood up to deplane and he was so angry that he wasn't getting off first. So this man Dion who thought he was so important kept telling everyone he was important and to sit down and let him get off the plane first. He had a connection to make. One woman turned around and said, we all do buddy. He was most obnoxious. I kept thinking, this is not the early 60's Dion, you are not a big deal and these people don't even know who the hell you are. Shut up and sit down and wait your turn. He just got worse. He was still good looking but my goodness he was a royal ass.

Then one day in another airport I was hurrying to get to the baggage claim.  I dropped a bag and as I bent down to pick it up I hit someone's head who was picking up my bag for me. (We were walking opposite ways) 
I looked up at him and I said, "Oh my God it's you"
(yes, I'm an idiot) 
He laughed and said, "Yep it's me, you got this?" 
I took my bag from his hand and said I did, I thanked him and told him I loved his music and his show at the Coliseum. He smiled, said thanks and turned and walked away.
I was a total dolt!
It was John Mellencamp.  After my shock of it being "him" I realized boy he is short. Funny how all rock musicians are so short. (except Huey Lewis, who yes, I met at the ticket counter)

So I think I am at that age and that stage of poor enough that I won't get to see these oldies in concert again. I will just have to replay the memories and play the albums.

Tuesday

I had to have fasting blood work this morning.
So I made my appointment at 7:15 AM.
I wanted to beat the traffic. (yea that's a joke) and I didn't want to wait all day of no coffee etc.

Rick left the house at 4-4:30 and headed to Baltimore.
We don't do work in Baltimore but an investor who we do a lot of work for bought an apartment building in Baltimore and wanted us to do the work.
Rick said no, and he referred him to another company up in Baltimore.
The man called back, I don't care if you charge me more, I've used others you are the best. 

I laughed and said, "oh he is going to blow smoke up your arse until you say yes"
So Rick said let's meet on a Saturday and go over the scoop of work.
Rick also wanted to give him all his demands.
They did and Rick agreed this would just be two days - 3 tops.
He was also going to give Rick a furnished apartment to stay up there.
We assumed he would get a hotel so he didn't have to drive back and forth.  But a furnished apartment was a great perk that did not reflect the price in any way. 

Rick came back from his meeting and did the contract and added the inconvenience fee. The man signed it immediately and said to me, I thought it'd be a tad higher. OMG. I hate hearing that. Rick padded this a good bit and he actually said to me that he felt bad doing that but this was a haul and he had to make it worth his while.  In all honesty, I think Rick was hoping he would say no after all he was asking. Didn't work. 

Because Rick will not be home tonight Izzy will be a spaz. She won't be able to nap or lay down. She will be at the back door, the front door, the front windows looking for Rick. Instead of walking she will just go to the driveway and stare at the garage door hoping Rick will appear. I've lived this before. 

Instead, I decided to tire her ass out.
I took Izzy to doggie daycare today. I dropped her off at 6:30a as I was going to have my blood work done. She was so excited. She will come home today exhausted and she will just sleep and not be aware that Rick is not home until morning. Then he should be home tomorrow night if all goes well.

Me, on the other hand, enjoys a night without him. But just one.
I will have the remote. I won't be cooking. A salad that is left over from yesterday will be my dinner. I will look frumpy all day. 
Yea, a day of him away is kind of nice. 
I will lay in the middle of the bed tonight and hog all the covers. Yes!!
But if he is not home tomorrow night, I won't be able to sleep, I will hate that he isn't here annoying me with his habit of changing the channels after I get sucked into a show and I will miss feeding him. 
Who will bust my chops all night long? Not Izzy.
I'm a mess, aren't I?  Yeah, I don't like when the other half is gone. 
I'm lucky he will be home. I know a lot of people who just miss the other half. I try not to think about that, but we're aging and it's always there.

This morning when I had my blood work done I was shocked when they told me I had to do a urine test as well. I never had to do that before. My glasses fell out of my shirt pocket and I put them on a box by the toilet and left them there. I got home and had no glasses to see this computer. I called and told them I'd be back but not until later in the day when the morning rush hour is over. They laughed and said they understood and will leave them out front for me. Whew.

So now I have to drive back into Fairfax just to fetch my glasses. I just hate when I do such dumb things. But the good part of that is Rick isn't here to tease me or bust my chops. He doesn't read my blog so he'll never know. 😋

Monday Morning Blues

Boy, my body hates me after a weekend of alcohol and food.
Feel awful this morning. Back to being a normal person today.
I ate too much sugar this weekend and it makes me feel awful.

Friday night I was sitting in the cell phone lot at the airport waiting for the text from my friend. I could see on my app the plane had landed. 
She text and I went to start the car - battery dead. Ah shit. 

I called Rick and he came over to save me. 
In the meantime, she saw that there was a Vino Volo so she stopped and had a glass of wine and waited to hear from me. 
In 15 minutes Rick was there to jump my car.
Off to the airport, I went.

We headed home to Rick and Izzy.
Rick was convinced her husband was in her big bag it was so heavy.
My goodness, this woman is 4"11 and her bag was almost as big.

Friday night we stayed in.
I had made stew and salad so we had dinner at home.
We put on our pj's and sat and talked until we couldn't.
Rick excused himself at 10p. We gals stayed up later.
She was still on west coast time and I had a 2nd energy so we stayed up.
Besides we weren't going to cork that bottle for heaven's sake.
We watched Sebastian Maniscalco on Netflix. She said she had never heard of him until she read about him on the plane. She asked me if I had heard of him. I said I sure have, would you like to watch his special on Netflix? She did indeed. While I had seen it before I didn't mind watching and laughing again. 

Saturday we began our events in Loudoun County after a good breakfast.
It was basically day drinking. 
Tour of a distillery, a winery and a stop at our favorite haunt in Aldie.
We had a great lunch at The Oyster Bay. 
(I am the loser who hates fish so I had a salad as usual)
We went to the Salamander Resort for dessert and cappuccino.
Okay, I had a cappuccino, they kept drinking.
She had read about it being a 5-star resort on the plane so she wanted to see this place. (it is magnificent)

They had one Gluten Free dessert on the menu.
It is so good. It is served in a mason jar.
I went to the bathroom and come back to the table to see Therese and Rick passing it back and forth.
I said, "hey you have your own desserts" They laughed and said but yours is so much better. So we shared my dessert because Rick's was awful he said.

We were so full that we didn't have dinner went we got home.
We ate and drank our way through Middleburg Virginia.

Back at our house, we watched a movie called Can You Ever Forgive Me?  Allow me to rephrase that, They watched a movie.
I feel asleep half way through.
I wanted to like it more. It was slow moving, at least what I saw.
Can't get much out of this ole gal when she does day drinking.

Back to the grind today.

TBF

My friend is coming to town today so with my work and picking her up I am being blog lazy.

Here is my real ghost story for all my new readers from 2010.

Click here

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

See you all next week.

Husband issues

Company coming again.
This person I really like and can't wait to see.
She lives in Orange County California and as you can imagine we don't get together all that often.

Last time was in Chicago - we met in the middle so to speak.
She has business in DC so she is coming tomorrow night to play with Rick and me for the weekend and then begin working on Monday in DC.

I imagine there will be lots of laughing, talking, drinking and eating.
She is the only person I know as an adult shorter than me. I love that.

Last evening I was cleaning up the kitchen.
I was doing dinner dishes and then asked Rick to clean the top of the fridge.
As I came down the stairs I caught a glimpse of the top of the fridge and thought, oooh gross. 
Rick doesn't have to get a ladder to clean the top of the fridge like I do.

After he was done cleaning it he said, "Therese is shorter than you do you really think she will see this?"
I explained that it had nothing to do with her coming. I came down the steps and saw the dust and thought it should be cleaned.
He didn't believe me. But that was the reason.
Honestly, it doesn't matter if he believed me, it is now clean.

Rick notices nothing.
Until there is a smell he doesn't give a shit. Smells get to him big time.
He trimmed his beard and left all the damn hair in the sink.
Now, why can't he rinse that down? I wish they were stinky.
The whole sink had little black hairs and on top of the vanity. 

So I left it there.
After work, he went to take a shower and I pointed this out.
He said, "But it's my sink, you have your own sink so I shouldn't have to do this if I don't want to"
You sound like a child Richard.
Laughing he said, "I am a child with a beard. I'd have done it eventually."
No, he wouldn't have. He was laughing because he knew he wouldn't do it eventually. Over time he would use the sink and brush his teeth and the water would eventually clean it. A week or so later. That is good enough for him, but for some reason, it really bugs me. 

Before I got him his own magnifying mirror to mount on his side of the vanity he would trim his beard using my mirror. I'd have hairs all over my mirror, my side of the vanity and in my sink. Loved it when I went to put on my makeup but couldn't see through the hair on the mirror.
Apparently, he thinks since it's his side he can do whatever he wants. 
Sadly, I sort of understand his logic and I admit that bothers me a bit. 
Probably also why I don't bust his balls too badly on this. 

As he stepped into the shower yesterday I cleaned it up.
He has known me for 31 years. I have lived with him for 29 years.
Knowing I am anal retentive about this stuff isn't new to him.
He frustrates me when it comes to this stuff.

I left something on the steps of his that he put there.
He walked by it for a month and never picked it up as he was going up the stairs.
I played this game until my head exploded and did it myself.
31 days he left it there. It was his object, NOT mine.

I recall an episode on Everybody Loves Raymond where Ray had left his suitcase on the steps and he would walk by and never carry it back upstairs. 
It's like that only we don't have a big ugly fight as they did on the show. 
After the 31 days, I mentioned it.
He laughed and said, "huh, didn't notice. Are you sure it's been that long?" 
"Yes, I am certain" 
"Why didn't you just take it upstairs if it bothered you so much?"
Why should I, it is not mine and you put it there?"
"Well, you had to move it to vacuum the steps so as you went up the steps you could have put it in my closet." 
"Yes, I could have. Or you could have every time you went by it on the way upstairs. I am not your mom and I shouldn't have to clean up after you." 
Now he is really laughing. He says he is sorry but he'll do it again trust me.
He heartily laughs, I hit his arm. That was our big fight. 
I suppose if that is my biggest beef I should be thankful.
Not my biggest, but it is in the top 5. 
His #1 beef with me is that I leave cabinet doors open.
I can walk under them, he can't. Oops.😉

I just know he would make that cute little Marie Kondo's head explode.

Jury Duty

I have always wanted to be on a jury. 
Of course, my reference is TV and I am sure it's nothing like this.
But I have always wanted to none the less.

I am a freak for Dateline and 20/20 type shows. 
Come on, bring me a wife killer and let me see this play out. 
It's always the husband but of course, you can't say that going in or they won't pick you. 

Well, I finally got a jury summons.
Rick has had many jury summonses and none have come to fruition.

Here's hoping mine does.
I could use the diversion from the office and I would love to do this.

I must call the jury recording after 6:30pm the evening before. 
After calling you will hear a message telling you when and where your group is scheduled to report for service. Sometimes it is canceled. 
Rick has had that happen twice. 
I am in group 0017. I even got a juror ID #.
So come on, don't let me down. Give me an interesting case!!
I'm up for the challenge.

I asked Rick if I will be paid by him while I'm gone.
Of course, he laughs because I am not paid per se.
He said he indeed will pay me the same as I am getting when I show up for work.
Gee, I'm gonna be rich!

I recall a time when my father was chosen. He did not wish to miss work because he was self-employed at the time. (plumber) He told them the woman was nuts and she did it. OMG, when he came home and told us this he was laughing. 
He said, As soon as I told them she was absolutely guilty they let me go.

I am not playing it that way. I want to be on a jury darn it.
I must call the number on Sunday evening March 17th. 
Keep your fingers crossed.
Besides can you imagine the blog fodder with all these crazy people with me at the courthouse? Yea, I gotta do this!


P.S. some of you mentioned you weren't aware of my speech impediment as a kid. I wrote about this years ago - check it out here.

Duane is falling

Rick: Here comes Duane

Me: Who the hell is Duane?

Rick: (laughing) I don't know, who is Duane?

Me: you said he was coming.

Rick: Oh Margaret I'm pulling your leg I knew when you asked who Duane was you didn't hear me.

Me: Gee how nice of you, what did you say? 

Rick: Here comes the rain. But go ahead look out the window, Duane is falling.

Me: You're an ass.

In my defense, he was at the back of the house looking out a wall of glass and not facing me. I was in the bathroom at the other end of the house, cleaning it. I wasn't even in the same room so I think I should get a pass on this one.

I went to speech class for 7 years. The first 7 years of my school life.
I could not say my R's and I had a bit of a stutter.
Sadly they didn't think I could be the next Barbara Walters so they insisted I go to speech classes for years.

There is a pharmacy in New York that for the life of me I can't say. 
Oh, I can say it if I say the first name and the 2nd name very slowly and not together. Put 'em together and it sounds like Duane is falling. 
So Rick likes to pick on me for this. Isn't he lovely?

I don't stutter or say my R's incorrectly anymore but Rick never ceases to tease me when I have a few drinks and it slips. No one notices and if they do they don't say anything, but Rick will surely point it out. Gee thanks, babe.

So after the above conversation, he kept staring outside and saying the Duane is falling. Then he turned away from the wall of glass and said, Hey you may need to go to that pharmacy in NY to get an umbrella what is the name of that Margaret?

Oh my God, the asshole. 
I told him CVS. That made him laugh.
Duane Reade will be the last place I would tell him. 
(reade becomes weed if I say it together so I won't give him that pleasure)

Bohemian Rhapsody

My satellite company gave me 3 free pay per view or video on demand certificates to use by mid-March.
This weekend we used one for Bohemian Rhapsody.
We wasted a movie certificate on this one.

Izzy was sleeping, we turned out the lights and settled into our comfy positions in our theatre seats in the very dark 3rd floor TV room.
We started the movie with all the excitement you could imagine from 2 Queen fans. But that didn't last long.

Sadly this movie was such a huge disappointment.
I am glad I did not waste the money at the movie theatre that is for sure.
It was very poor storytelling at its finest!

This movie had could have been something so captivating. But it was not.
The lip synching was odd and off and that was a distraction to both Rick and me.
So much so that at one point we paused the movie and Rick said, "your mouth wouldn't be like that if singing this word" why did no one notice this?
Now Rick is moving his mouth to the song. I tried it too. I saw what he meant and I noticed it several times in the movie. I wish they had not done close-ups on this kid when singing because then we just began to laugh.  It was so off and odd.

Was Freddie Mercury that tiny of a man? Most of the shots of him were taken from below and looking up at him and his body. I suppose they did that to make him look taller than maybe 5'5". The man portraying Freddie must be very short.

The story was lacking in a linear way. It was lacking in substance and content.
It jumped from segment to segment and you had to figure out time frames by the songs I suppose. We googled while watching because we kept saying things like, Hey this was in the '70s why are they saying the 80's?
Why would they do that we wondered?
Freddie was looking for Jim Hutton one minute and then at the end of the movie. there he was. No context about when or how that happened. He was an important figure in his life. I would have thought that would have been something to give a bit more storyline and substance.

Basically, the movie is like this, Freddie hears a band and on the night the lead singer quits he tells them he can sing and will replace them. Poof like that he is in a band. They write well together and make hits. They tour and make albums and next thing you know Freddie is an asshole believing his hype. He leaves his friends high and dry and goes solo.  Then he finds out he has aids and becomes nice and he crawls back and they play live aid and then dies. All along the way, he has a dear friend in Mary who he loves and adores but of course, he is gay.
All of this wasn't how we remembered it except the storyline of Mary.

We kept saying, why are they not sticking to the facts? Rick said maybe they didn't think the real story would hold appeal. I think it could have been great with a better screenwriter. While I understand you want to have an epic ending or movie magic, then don't write a screenplay about a real figure and then make shit up.  Shouldn't history be a fact? (I know nothing in schools is accurate either)
Creative liberty they will say. I call B.S.

While the movie was bad in my opinion, the music saved it.
It really made me miss rock music even more today!

I do not understand how this movie won the accolades it did.
If this wins the best movie at the Oscars I will just give up.
Rick said that he felt the movie was boring and Freddie Mercury was anything but boring. I think I agree with that statement.

Afterward, I googled this movie and saw the clip I am showing you below.
We were correct, most of it isn't at all how it happened.
Did they think all of us from the '70s killed too many brain cells and wouldn't remember?

This next weekend I am going to use our certificates for the movie Can You Ever Forgive Me?  Hopefully, that won't be a disappointment.
I may use the last one to rewatch A Star Is Born, we'll see.
It is not a movie about any real person so they can't get the facts wrong.

Did you like Bohemian Rhapsody?
Did you see Can You Ever Forgive Me?

Presidents Day.

Long week over!

I believe it was 8pm when I was finally able to just sit.
I had energy yesterday for the first time in 3 weeks so I took advantage of it. I'm feeling better but not yet back to normal. 

Rick was looking for something on Netflix and did not find it.
I said with all these show tiles you'd think they'd put some oldies on there.
Rick insisted they do that. So I rattled off some old movies. 
None were there.
So we turned off the tube. 

We talked about some of our old favorites over the years.
It normally seems like Rick and I have been together forever but we haven't been.  We talked about the first time we each saw The Jerk. Would it be funny to us now or would it feel stupid to us?  
There were a few movies I loved that he has never seen. 
They weren't on Netflix either. I've mentioned them before.
They aren't my all time favorites but good movies to escape.

The Four Seasons is one of my favorites. I think that would hold up.
Same Time Next Year is another.
Both of these are Alan Alda films. Both so good to me.
When a Man Loves a Woman - oh my goodness is this movie moving.
Andy Garcia is perfection. Meg Ryan is dark and the children in the movie act so well it will break your heart.
Most of my favorites are black and white movies from the '40s. 
Rick will fall asleep through those, he always does. 
We still laugh when Rick says he can't sleep and I tell him to watch the Winona Rider movie Little Women. It is like an Ambien for him. 
It is my favorite rendition of that movie. To me far better than the one with Katherine Hepburn and far far better than the newest one. I don't care for Susan Sarandon but she was terrific as the mother in Little Women with Kirsten Dunst, Claire Danes, and Winona Rider. I wasn't even annoyed watching Sarandon which I normally am for some reason.

The other day Rick was signing into our bank online and it asked for his favorite book. 
He wrote Little Women and laughed because it is not his favorite book. 
He has never read it.
I set everything up and forget to tell him the little things like sign in questions. Oops. But he guesses and he is correct. 
He knew my favorite movie, book, and author. (All different)
So he is able to just move through the process using my answers. But the other day he was also asked when signing in somewhere else what your mothers maiden name was. He paused and thought, hers or mine? He typed in mine but he spelled it wrong. I would never have done his mothers maiden name because I can never spell it. So I told him to change the I to E and you'll be fine. He got in and asked if anything was actually his information. 
I chuckled and told him hell no, it's all about me. 
He replied, It always is. 
Yes, as it should be Rick.😉

Rick has never seen these movies I spoke of and since I had seen all of his old favorites we began the search on Netflix. I am certain they would be on Amazon but I can't get much from Amazon because my smart TV is over 5 yrs old and Amazon no longer works well with this outdated TV they told me. Great. I can get them the long work around way but it's such a pain in the ass that we don't watch a lot of Prime as we should.

Anyone watch the ABC show A Million Little Things? Who is Barbara Morgan? Why is she watching the house? Why did she lie about who she was? Did I miss something or has none of this been revealed?
Any guess by those that watch it?

Happy VD Day

Do you enjoy this hallmark holiday?
No big deal to me. 
Just buy me chocolates and flowers any ole time.
I just don't do this holiday.
The pressure on these poor guys for this holiday is crazy stupid.
I just don't partake.

I can take deep breathes again, yippee for small steps.
I am leaving you today with memes. I am feeling better enough to get some things done that I have neglected by putting my head down on my desk while so sick. So here's my easy way out.

and to continue the theme above...

ooh i just love these

this reminded me of a friend when I was younger. She was gorgeous. 

A cool, aloof gal. A matter of fact kind of gal like on Dragnet, book 'em Dano. She was like that. Smart as a whip. She never just laughed and smiled easily. How we came together was interesting. She was a good friend when you hung around long enough to find that out. Most didn't, including guys. Guys didn't care at first, she was pretty, they were drawn to her like moths to light. When we went out the men would flock because of her, but ended up with me and she could never figure out why. I guess she assumed because I wasn't as pretty as her I had nothing to offer. Ah, but my friend I did and do. :-) The smart guys got that. I didn't need the others if they didn't get that.

And lastly this is a photo of Lake Erie from Presque Isle State Park.

While these sort of look like rocks they are melting ice dunes.

I just thought it was pretty and I follow P.I. on my facebook so I thought I'd share.

Cook or Bake?

Happy Wednesday.

I coughed a lot less last night. I had a bowl of soup for lunch. 
I had a big bowl of soup for dinner. Then I had a popsicle later in the evening. I woke up ravenous. So I had what Rick refers to as my awesome scrambled eggs. He's nuts. But that was what the doctor ordered except that soup feels better on this raw throat. 
I at least now can have a Halls throat lozenge whereas when dieting I wouldn't because of the sugar. 

The first night we met he said to me, "Your last name is Italian so I imagine you are a great cook." 
HA! I laughed and told him that I was a great eater.
He said he loved to cook. 
I said I loved to eat so this could be a good relationship. 
Then I asked, "Hey why would you assume if I am Italian American I can cook?"  Busted.  
We have since laughed about that first night blind date.
I forget a lot, but that first night we met I remember a great deal about that night. Where my keys or my glasses are are another story. But that first night when I saw him and my heart skipped a beat I don't forget that.

I recall the first time at his home and he cooked for me. 
I was blown away. My God was it good. 
I told him I could only make 5 things very well otherwise I don't cook. (boy has that changed)  
1. Quiche
2. Egg Rolls
3. Cream Puffs
4. Chili
5. Spaghetti Sauce
He said there is no way you can make cream puffs and egg rolls if you don't know how to cook. I just smiled.

He came to my apartment one day and I was making cream puffs. 
As you all know who bake this is such a simple easy thing to make. 
You look like a baker but anyone can do them. 
He was blown away. I just laughed.
Years later after we lived together I made cream puffs and he said, Oh my God those are so simple. I asked if he was now unimpressed. 
'Sort of' was his response.
I guess I should have made him go to the other room so he could stay impressed. Foolish me.

Last evening as I was devouring another bowl of soup that he made for me he asked when I was well if I would be up to making egg rolls. 
He has tried but he insists mine are better. I don't see much difference and tell him that the reason he says mine are better is only so he can have them made for him.  He insists that isn't it. HA!

I bought store spaghetti sauce one day. 
I felt as though my mom was rolling over in her grave. 
But I needed something quick that day and it was fine for one time. 
As Rick ate he kept saying this sauce sucks. Okay, mister deal with it!  And he did. I saw him eat two helpings so it didn't suck all that badly.
Rick thinks I should bottle mine and sell it. Nope.

Rick is the cook of the family and when he sat behind a desk all day he came home and cooked. He came home and did a lot of things he no longer does. I prefer corporate Rick myself. But now I am home all day even though I am working. I can be downstairs before he is home. I feel like I should get things started at the very least. But normally these days I am cooking and I have not killed him yet. He is always so appreciative of whatever I do and that helps you know? He also thinks I have improved so much that I shouldn't say I can't cook. 
I just think he says it so I'll continue to cook. I'm not that dumb I tell him.

I have always been a baker though.
I think because that is food I would prefer to eat.
In the very early 70's I smoked a lot of pot so I'd have munchies and make pecan rolls or something like that. I had so many cookbooks of desserts and when high I'd begin to bake and had no fear of experimenting. Always turning out great. My boyfriend at the time loved that about me. I made cookies, pastries, pies etc. 
Then I grew up.
I didn't bake as often but honestly if I had a choice to eat cake for dinner or really good savory food I would always choose cake. No question about it. Even today that would be my preference. 
So you can imagine how finding out I was celiac changed my life when my favorite food group was cake.

My younger sister, on the other hand, ate weird shit when she had the munchies.
I recall after school she would get high on the way home with her friends and walk in the house and have an after-school treat.
I was shocked but our new mom never realized it. 
Pam sat at the kitchen table & ate pepperoncini's with a big glass of milk. 
How weird is that combo? Our new mom would say, isn't it something how she can eat all those pepperoncini? 
I would just agree with her, I never sold out my sister. 
To this day when we see one another, which isn't often, we talk about that.  We were bad, we took advantage of having this new mom who was overwhelmed with her new family and having teenagers and a new baby. She didn't notice a lot and we weren't nice by using that to our advantage.
Damn kids.

Do you prefer sweet or savory? 

Bronchitis

Well, I am just a fun gal these last 3 weeks, aren't I?
The burning in my chest made Rick convinced I needed to see a doctor.
I went to urgent care instead. 
I have bronchitis.
I have not been this ill for 10 years. Ever since they discovered I had celiac and I changed my diet I no longer had eczema, colds, sinus infections, rashes, rosasea, swelling or getting bronchitis yearly. 
So here we are again. It's back. Yeah.

I had to sit in the office with a nebulizer and mask over my face. 

They took my blood pressure and while it is normally average it was 172/85. yikes. 

Before I left they did it again and it was still high at 148/70 but better. 

I freaked out but they felt it was probably the coughing, the illness etc. 

God, I hope so.

I was just at the gyno and my bp was fine. My lord old age is the pits.

I told her (Dr.) this has lingered for 3 weeks and she asked what and how I was eating.
No one has ever asked me that. 
I told her I was dieting and what I was eating.
She put her notepad down and stood up and said, "That is just not enough food. Listen this is no time to diet. you aren't eating enough to get well. I want you to have some soup, it has salt in it. I want you to get popsicles for that raw throat to be soothed. I want you to have some sugar like carrots or in your coffee and eat some fruit, But I don't want you restricting your calories or your body isn't going to be strong enough to fight this. Don't need to overeat but my goodness that is too few calories do you hear me? " 
I said, "Yes Mom" and she laughed but I was thinking, Yee-Haa. 

I came home and went back to the office. 
Rick called to see how it all went down.
I told him - Good news, I don't have to diet because she feels that limiting my calories is not helping my body rebound from this. 
Bad news, I have bronchitis.
I really only want soup. I am not hungry and everything tastes off to me. Even my coffee tastes odd. But my throat is so damn sore that popsicles sound wonderful to me. 

Man, we are in a rough patch right now, the shut down, in turn causing money stress, sickness.

I do want to share something about Rx.
I got an Rx for albuterol HFA inhaler. 
It was not covered by my insurance and out of pocket was $71.xx at Harris Teeter where I get my prescriptions.
I told her I didn't want it filled just yet I wanted to check prices.
So I came home and went on www.goodrx.com.
It is $29.xx at Walgreen with the coupon from Good Rx. 
It is $53.xx at Harries Teeter with the coupon from Good Rx.
Guess where I am going?
And if they can do this for less, then why don't they just do that?
Argh, our medical in this country is so screwed up.

Have you ever used Good Rx? 
I use it for my thyroid medications as well. ($10 for 3 months)
Give it a look if you haven't used it before or if something isn't covered by your insurance. It has been a Godsend in my life.