Rainy Monday

I was woken up this morning by the rumble of thunder and the occasional flash of lightning, and during the day we were under a tornado watch, heavy rain, high winds and a very cool day.  It’s still pouring down and the sky is heavy… so instead, here’s a lovely photo of a “beauty bush” sent from Vancouver for me to enjoy!  Isn’t it pretty?  Jerry is in a small ball on Don’s lap, glaring at me.  He spent a good part of the morning on me, then he got pushed off when I went in search of lunch and later when I was on a Zoom call, so he’s sulking at me.  Don was glued to a series of games today, although he didn’t watch any in its entirety.  He’s also enjoying the rain, although he’s finding it difficult to breathe with the high humidity (100%, as there’s rain) so he’s moving slowly.

I’m finding it comparatively easier to breathe today, which is surprising to me.  Perhaps tiredness aggravates the breathing, I don’t know.  I got a call from my family doctor to complete the renewal of my disability coverage (you’d think that would be permanent, wouldn’t you?  Especially if the initial report described it as permanent… But it’s not.  Ah, insurance companies and policies.)  It would also be great if the disability payments were tax-exempt, but again, they’re not.  😞  I’m again at the stage where I’m hungry (YAY!) but at this point my energy isn’t equal to the hunger.  I’ll have to work on ordering some food for a few days, just because my freezer is not full any longer…  I tried making a mango lassi today, which was yummy.  Then I went through my freezer and there are no more prepared meals awaiting me, so I’ll have to address that if I ever get a support worker again… today makes 3 days without one!  I’ve filed complaints with both the agency and the overall coordinator, so now we wait…

Some random thoughts occurred to me today.  Chief among them is that pasta dishes are really easy to make, but also easy to get wrong.  Not cooking the noodles enough, or too much or too little sauce, using ersatz ingredients - as a friend put it, cornstarch is not a replacement for cream! - or just piling on cheese are all ways to ruin an otherwise good meal.  I’d said to my niece that I wouldn’t order pasta from most pizza chains because it’s cheaper to make at home (we usually have all the ingredients except heavy cream) and it’s easier to adjust the flavour to what you’d enjoy as opposed to the oddly bland stuff that’s served.  She initially argued with me, but then tried it and realized that it’s true.  I also told her that the main reason that food in restaurants tends to taste better is just the sheer quantity of salt that’s used.  She went off to research and came back to me in some horror.  Based on the nutritional content of many popular restaurant dishes, one meal can provide almost a week’s worth of salt!  Similarly, we’re told that salads are supposed to be healthy, but again, the dressings can boost the fat/salt/calorie content WAY above the daily limits.  Even for me, struggling to meet higher calorie intake, the levels are staggering.  All that being said, a really good pasta dish, while high in calories and fat, is a delicious and comfortable meal!  

My alarm has gone off to remind me about my meds… very handy tool to let me know when I’m about to miss a dose.  I’ll be good and head off to attend to that, and then find something for dinner.  Good night!