Another birthday, this time Kabira. She turns 12 today, a ripe old age for a big dog. She’s still got lots of get up and go in her and aside from some arthritis that is under control is not showing much sign of the passing of 12 years. I think she feels the cold even more than ever though so she wears a heavy fleece outfit almost all the time. Oh, and she’s become rather hard of hearing.
Mom called me yesterday to remind me that I had done a few things last week as I had mentioned in my blog that nothing much had happened. I had forgotten to mention that we celebrated a belated Norwegian Christmas Eve complete with lutefisk and tortillas standing in for the lefse. Carm and I had made a huge stack of lefse in December for our first attempt at this party, but it mysteriously disappeared in my parents house after we had to cancel. This time I got busy making a fudgy burnt sugar cake for Dad’s birthday. He seemed pleased, although I did whip away the leftovers to serve to guests we were having the next night (sorry Dad).
Friday, Trudie called to invite us over for supper so we braved the freezing rain to get over to their place which is around one kilometer away. It is nice to have friends that live so close! And to have a Subaru which handles well on the slippery roads.
Have I lamented about the ice yet today? The laneway is still a skating rink and basically impassable on foot. I haven’t gone outside for a month. This is by far the worst winter in my memory for ice. I’m sick of it.
Yesterday (Saturday), we drove into the city to shop for a top for me and to visit with Carm’s mom. After a bit of running from store to store I found the black sparkly sleeveless top that I was looking for. Just what I needed… more black clothes… my wardrobe for the cruise is predominantly black with a bit of dark blue. Wow. I really went for the Caribbean vibe (not).
After all the shopping and visiting was done we rushed home so I could get supper started. I had a recipe for black bean soup that I wanted to try, but after reading it over more carefully I thought the spices were written down wrong: 1 Tablespoon paprika, 2 Tablespoons chili powder and 2 Tablespoons cumin seemed right off the charts. I often use cumin but only 1 TEASPOON at a time. Plus the green pepper that we bought a few days ago mysteriously disappeared, so I made my adjustments and tasted. OMG! It was way too hot for Leo. I added a bunch more water in. Yuck, now it was hot and watery. Bother. Not much else I could do so I started it cooking, and got to work on a second soup. I whipped together a minestrone and set that up in the other instant pot. Whew.
Once the black bean soup was finished, I removed the lid and set it to simmer to get rid of some of the liquid. 45 minutes later it was thicker, and now we were eating really late. Oh well, the best laid plans and all of that…
Today there is ice on the windows and a heavy drizzle falling from the grey sky. A perfect day to cuddle on the couch with a movie to recover from the 3 days in a row of social activities.
Blah. I think I’ve mentioned recently about how well I’ve been doing… yesterday I felt a flutter… today I feel almost as grey as the miserable sky. I can’t settle into doing anything, yet I feel slightly restless. I’m hoping it is just a blip brought on by the endless days of gloomy skies. Nevertheless, I will do a few minutes on the treadmill and if the ice ever goes away I’ll get outside for a bit. I’ll watch my thoughts, nipping any negative self-talk in the bud.
