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I can't predict when I have the time to post a new blog, but check occasionally. I'm going to try at least weekly.

Friday, May 10, 2013

Cooking up a whirl

Song of the day: “Things” still, by Robbie Williams and Jane Horrocks. Good song.
Woke at the alarm, as usual, of course. (I’m referring to yesterday, in case you’re wondering.) There were the normal chores, such as the average laundry of two batches per day. Feeding the dogs too, of course. Knight II doesn’t like it at all that he’s not allowed to eat along with the rest of them. In fact he’ll be in my cabin standing behind the glass door, trampling like some impatient horse. *sigh* Poor darling.

The paper edit is gradually progressing, still, despite all the distractions. We’re at a third, more or less, so that’s not bad. I’m pleased about what the last two edits achieved, I’ll admit. I’m finding very few typos and the glaring mistakes are gone. The changes now are semantics on the most part, which is incredibly good.

Big brother managed to fix the adapter of the computer, so we saved ourselves an odd forty bucks. Yay. Stupid plug didn’t work, so he had to attach a new one for it to work properly.
Managed to do some work in the kitchen. Tiled part (both cousin Ed and I did, anyway) of the walls, cleaned debris from the floors, and then had to abort right in the middle of that because we had to do a pickup.

Sally isn’t doing all that well. In fact, she is getting mighty snappy because she constantly forgets why certain things have to be done in a particular way. Like today she was all upset because she didn’t get a painkiller when she wanted one, and had completely forgotten yesterday when I’d found her with stomach pain because she’d been mixing up her medication. So we agreed that she wouldn’t control any of her pills, but let grandpa handle it completely. Since she’d forgotten all that, she was a tad upset this afternoon until I’d explained the whole thing once more. Very troublesome when someone’s memories start failing them. There are times when she is completely disoriented, not to mention upset. Like yesterday, before the pill discussion. She hadn’t taken a shower in more than a week, and when I asked her why not, she promptly started crying. Turns out that she worries so much about the effort it takes to see to that chore, that by the time she should be stepping under the shower, she’s basically scared herself out of it. I am well familiar with the problem, having seen it before. You can’t give into stuff like that, because if you start giving up on the most basic stuff, you will soon be left with nothing. *sigh*

But anyway. I’ve got a new hat. Fabric, this time, a bit Ausie, I think. I’ll have to take a picture when I try it on, eh? While I got my hat, I was also able to pick up my computer at the store and get this, they figured out the problem: The (hold your breath) battery (really, you would never have guessed) is (I couldn’t believe it) broken!!!
*sigh*
Seriously, why else did I bring it there, for crying out loud. A year and a half, and the battery dead. And that while I followed instructions and drained the battery completely every time before loading it again. *double sigh* And of course the battery’s warranty only lasts 6 months, meaning I’m screwed and in need of a new battery. Grrr.

Cooking, yesterday involved red cabbage with mashed potatoes, while today we had the same mashed potatoes with cauliflower. Both worked well enough when it concerned hunger, thank you very much.

Spent several hours in the kitchen, by the way. Made three batches of burgers. One on a lentil basis, one on white beans and one on chickpeas. All three worked out well, and each left me with 26 burgers for selling, while the remainder will be enough for the testers.

Also made two chutneys, an eggplant curry and the same pumpkin chutney of last week. No pie this time…at least, not yet. I might change my mind later, but we’ll have to see how it goes.

We had to load up the Land Rover today. Normally we do that on Saturday, for the Sunday market, but we’re going to try the market on Saturday as well, so that means a day earlier. Took a bit, but we’re getting a hang of it now.

Sonia is doing a teeny weenie bit better. There seems to be less paralysis in her back legs, and her pain is less severe as well. Phew. Luckily. Let’s hope she’ll be as good as new within a few days, because this was a big fright.

Well, that’s it for me. It’s been a long day, and I need to be up again in less than seven hours. Before I hit the sheets, I’ll be an hour further along at the very least, darn it! I’m goin’! I’m goin’ already. Grrrr.

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

"Things"

Song of the day: “Things” by (originally anyway) Dean Martin and Nancy Sinatra. My head is alternating between that one and the one Robbie Williams did with Jane Harrick’s. Both are awesome.

Bad news first. Sonia, big brother’s Cocker Spaniel is not well as of yesterday. She didn’t get up during the course of the evening, was shaking, and when she finally did get up, she went straight through her legs, held her head at an odd angle, and seemed unable to hear us. This morning, it was only worse, so we left early and went right over to the hospital. The vet is ambivalent between a problem that can be caused by ticks, and a hernia of sorts, something for which she prescribed antibiotics and an anti-inflammatory. I doubt this is it. In fact, I think she either had a spike in fever, or had some sort of stroke, but who am I, right?
Anyway, she’s not actually doing better now, but also not worse, so we’re just going to have to wait and see how it goes. We have agreed, however, that if she gets worse, we’re not going to drag this out for her. She’s and old girl, and she deserves to go without long days filled with pain, and with some dignity.

But alright. Time to get to yesterday. I woke on the late side, partly due to the fact that I’m constantly busy on the computer until way too late. It didn’t help that it was a restless night, with Knight II constantly pushing himself up against me. He is such a baby.

Had a wonderful panic attach that lasted through most of the day, yesterday. It’s been a while since I had that. Heck, except for the few incidents, it’s been years, in fact. I can’t say I liked it. From sheer frustration I decided to pound the kickboxing bag for a few minutes, to get rid of some of the tension at least. It calmed me down a little, at least.

I see you wondering. What the heck’s she been worrying about? I don’t really know, actually. The usual, maybe. Getting on in years and still not having achieved some of my goals? Could be. Money toils? Heck, who hasn’t got those. No reason to get a panic attack about that, darn it. The dogs getting on in years? Sure. But I worry ‘bout that a lot, and try to be realistic about that by seeing it as a good thing that the pack is slowly getting to be less in numbers. Let’s face it, if finances get worse, it is not a good idea to have as many dogs as we used to. I have to remind myself that it is a good thing that they are passing on, in particular since they have all led a wonderfully full life, and enjoyed it to the fullest…on the most part. No. this is not a good reason to have a panic attack either. I’m just going to dismiss is it as silly fears that have no place bothering me at this point in my life. I am doing the best I can, in the only way I know how, and that is all anyone can ever do. Right?

Had to go out for a small donation yesterday (that was after the usual chores, of course) and go over to a specific bazaar where we needed to get clamps for mom’s market stand. You know what I mean, right? One of those metal contraptions with fabric over it? All very professional, and most likely giving a rather quaint image. Hah. We’ll see how it goes on Saturday, when big brother and I use it in town for the new market we’re going to be trying out…if all goes as planned. We still have to hear from the person who owns the spot how and when we can use it.

Tomorrow, or the day after is going to be busy for me. I’ll be doing some experimenting in the kitchen. First of, I need to make that pumpkin chutney for Sunday. The lady who really liked it basically ordered a pot (let’s hope she turns up), and I’m going to try some others out as well. You never know, I might be onto something here. I’m going to try to just experiment and see if there is a market for it.

Had a talk with Sally yesterday. She’s having her ups and downs, being bothered by all sorts of discomforts, and is understandably concerned. There’s very painful cramping, for which we decided to try alcohol free beer. Since cramping is mostly caused by shortages in calcium (which she should have more than enough of due to milk products) and magnesium, it won’t hurt to try. Added to that, since grandpa is now regulating her medication (she can’t keep track of it herself anymore) he noticed that she is holding back on painkillers. It worried us a little, but she volunteered an explanation by telling me that when she’s not in pain she will postpone taking it until she really needs it. Phew.

Tenant has, it seems, reverted a little to her old ways now that her family is gone. Eating is a bigger problem again. In fact, she will say that she wants to eat pieces, but then when you give it, she doesn’t finish her plate. I’m afraid we’re going to have to go back to mashing it all.

Cooking these past two days involved mashed potatoes with baked carrots and broccoli today, and chili sin carne yesterday (I know, I should have added meat, but I couldn’t make myself, darn it) which went down well with a bunch of lentil burgers. Yay. Today’s desert was yogurt with cream. Hah.

Today was Spanish lesson day, of course. It didn’t go bad, despite the fact that I slept way too little (big brother was out and about with Sonia, and once I heard she was still doing bad, I couldn’t go back to sleep anyway). Didn’t get to bed until three, and was up before nine, darn it.
But anyway, Spanish didn’t go bad. We talked with our teacher (she works on a new technique that is based on what works best for her students. It is very intuitive, and unstructured, which works for big brother and me, I think.
Were a little late arriving at her place (due to Sonia) and had Knight along. It was rather hot, so he was more than a little fussy. With a little luck I’ll be able to leave him home again next week, because he disrupts lessons quite a bit. And what with the heat, I couldn’t leave him in the car.

Summer appears to have arrived, by the way. The clouds are pretty much gone, and the temps have peaked well into the eighties. Yay. With a little luck I’ll be cleaning the pool tomorrow morning, but it’ll depend on how things work out.

Once we got home today (which was late because we had to go to town for another pickup) I was so friggin tired, I decided to take a nap and literally passed out for an hour. Seriously, when Cousin Ed called me awake, I felt like I had to drag myself out of a near coma, for crying out loud. Jeez.

Edits. I did quite a bit on the paper edit, actually. I’m almost at a quarter now, so, Yay! Which reminds me. I better wrap this up so we can get started on applying the paper changes on the computer. Gotta go.

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

A success

Song of the day: "Think Twice" by Celene Dion. Wow. Never had that one as an earworm before. Hah.

So, I am working on a foreign computer now (big brother's, mind you) because mine was giving me a heart attack by claiming that there was something wrong with my battery and that it could die on me any minute. *gasp* It's only a year and a half old, so I'm hoping that this will still be within the warranty, and if not...well, I'll probably have to get a new battery at some point. Grrr. I can't stand the idea of being without my little writing pal, darn it.
Ah well, I'll just have to make due for now, won't I?

So, let's get to the weekend, or more accurately the market. Like planned, I got up half an hour earlier than usual (my dogs had a small collision with Cousin Ed's) and then got to work on making and baking the patties that were going to be the tasters for the unsuspecting passersby. And boy were there plenty. The patties were a hit with the hippies, of course. Healthy, ecological, tasteful, and made with both lentils and chickpeas, that pretty much was a given. Older English folks were weary, and like "hamburgers without meat, ugh") while the younger ones were either horrified at the thought of eating anything home made at a Spanish market, or fascinated. Much to my surprise most of the Spanish' first response was, 'no meat, oh, tofu right?' and then, when hearing that it was with legumbras (palsies) there was suddenly lots of interest. No one had ever heard of it, in fact, and most folks really liked it. Only two were a little 'so-so', and since we ended up selling 24 patties it wasn't bad at all. In fact, I made a nice profit. The pie had quite a bit of interest as well, sold four pieces, covering my expenses, and handed a few pieces out for free rather than having to haul the thing back home. I liked the responses on the overall, seeing as this experiment was partly to find out if folks would like the taste, should I decide to explore this in the future. Another success was my pumpkin chutney sauce, which several folks wanted to buy (hadn't prepared for that). Heck the same went for the yogurt sauce. On the overall I think that most folks liked the chickpea patties best. I am thinking of trying out my white bean pattie recipe there too, see how that one works, and in the end maybe even the lupine patties. We'll see.

There were quite a few funny moments. Like when the spoiled English girl came and demanded of her parents to have Disney's Cinderella music box we had on display. Then, while her parents were otherwise occupied, she came back to check if we were holding it back for her, and I talked her into trying the chickpea burger. You should have seen her face. Seriously, there was pruning involved. I think she was expecting something sweet because she kept it between her teeth like some sort of poisonous animal. Hah. I held up a napkin so she could get rid of it, and watched her dash off with a chuckle.

There was the English fella who looked fascinated, but admitted being nervous about trying it, so he didn't. Had to laugh about that, too. I get it, of course, everywhere folks warn not to eat from stands like ours from fear of Hep, or whatever, but still, the "I want to but I don't dare" expressions are hilarious.

Tenant's family, smartly spending the last few hours of their time in Spain at the beach came by as well. Funny Beach Marbella is definitely a good spot to have a bit of family fun, and from the look of them they liked it.
Since I had Knight II (he wasn't doing so well. Lost one or two of his stitches, meaning another trip to the vet) with me, Cousin Ed was the only one who went for a swim with them. Next week I'm going to do a dip as well, maybe swimming a mile, or so...might as well get some exercise done, right.

Sold two of my tie dyes, too, along with one of mom's purses and some second hand stuff. So, all in all, not a bad day, despite the fact that we didn't finish loading until seven and weren't home until a quarter to eight. Yikes. That was a long day, but since at the last possible moment we sold three more packets of burgers, it was well worth it. Hah.
Once at home, we unloaded, ate some of the food big brother made and I ended up reading another chapter in the paper edit, yay! Going well that way, dude. Wish all the edits went like that.

Right, well, yesterday dealt with Saturday was...well busy as usual. Woke up pretty much wrecked due to the Knight. He kept crawling on top of me. I think he was making up for the five days at the hospital, for crying out loud.
The normal chores got done, of course. Some Spanish, too, and tenant's family came for their second to last visit, meaning that this was the last time to show them the kitchen in progress, and the yard...or at least the parts of it that they hadn't seen yet. Hah.

Loaded up the wagon, as usual, got everything in right before we had to go out and get a donation from town, which kept us away from home for more than four hours. Took a while to load, you know, despite the fact that it wasn't all that much. It was just a lot of sorting, and, naturally, lots of stuff that's better to toss than try to sell. Folks just don't like to pay for something that is broken, meaning that about seventy percent of stuff that we get donated ends up at the garbage regardless or is used by ourselves until it is really unusable. What we can save can pay for more dog stuff, right? Luckily we don't need much for ourselves. Basic food, as in, nothing precooked, is healthier anyway.

Which reminds me, when my kitchen is done (are you noticing that I am totally obsessing about this? Hah) I will be making my infamous vegetable bread again. Really dudes and dudedettes, my mouth is watering just thinking about it.
Finished yesterday by editing the first chapter, thank you very much, and then passed out for the night.

Which brings us to today, doesn't it? Nothing really fascinating, actually. Grandpa was nice enough to haul my future kitchen tiles down to my terrace already. This way, I'll be able to start just as soon as I've got a minute.
For me, the day involved driving most of the time. First there was Knight's visit to the vet, and her being too busy, so I had to come back later on. She suggested that if I couldn't today, I could come back tomorrow or the day after, but I rather have it over and done with, so I told her I'd be there.

Then I had to drop of my computer, which took forever. Got to hang out at the gadget store for quite a bit and drooled over Kindles and iPads, and whatnots...in particular this wonderful camera that literally made my eyes cross with the whopping price of 497 euros. Yikes! So not taking up that old hobby again, unless I get a really, really nice present from my imaginary sugar daddy. Hah.

But anyway, picked up another small donation. Nothing suited for the market, but you can't look a gift horse in the mouth, right? Then, after unloading the few groceries we did at home, it was back out again for me to visit the vet's and have Knight treated.
My turn didn't come until 45 minutes later, but I spent my time chatting with this nice English lady and her daughter with a German Shepherd and three puppies. And then, after Knight was stitched up and we waited for him to wake up I talked with the vet's temp assistant. A nice Spanish fella who graduated from vet school nine months ago, whose girlfriend is English and whose interests lean toward anesthetics. This is the first intern I actually like. Very friendly, and doesn't make me uncomfortable at all, which doesn't happen often. A nice fella. I hope he sticks around, even if he is still wet behind the ears. Heck, the fact that Knight didn't even growl at him (which he always does when it concerns new men approaching him) ones says a lot. I don't think that's ever happened before.

Well anyway, I stopped at the pharmacy afterward to pick up the antibiotics for Empera and Kollosus, and decided to drive back through the woods, rather than risk sleepiness over the normal road. Hard to get sleepy when you're bouncing all over the road, hah.

The doggies are looking at me pitifully. It's time for bed, and I'm more than ready to go there. Hah.