Monday, February 08, 2010

Manic Monday


Lunch: homemade chili, homemade bread...REALLY tasty, but definitely needed sour cream...I enjoyed it all afternoon sans the white stuff. Need to work on the Coke still. Need that caffeine edge to get me through the afternoon. The book is my attempt to teach myself Dreamweaver. The lunch bag's an oldie of Les's...worked for them a whole 2 months before they laid him off. Used to be a subprime of B of A, pretty sure it's defunct now...good riddance.
Gotta work on the plastic too...I'm finally no longer microwaving in plastic, but storing stuff in it is going to have to be a work in progress.
Digression: I've never actually been diagnosed manic, thank goodness, just marked depressive with a hint of bipolar that can be explained away by my lithium deficiency. Still, it makes me wonder after the energy I had this past weekend...well, shouldn't really wonder, since I've been off the lithium for 2 years now...and I've integrated the caffeine back into my life...but...heh...anyway...

On Saturday, I hit the library in the morning and then did the grocery shopping. That in itself is more than I normally accomplish in an average weekend. Usually by Sunday night I've spent the weekend indoors, am quite depressed, and haven't the energy to pull off a shop, let alone laundry. The weather turned cool here, so we opened the windows Friday night and kept 'em open all weekend...what a nice difference! I went with Mom in the afternoon to one of the local dog parks so the little runt could run around (her dog, not my mom), and the strong breezes and sunshine helped fuel me, and continued to stir things inside of me.

Yesterday was hilarious. I was up at a decent hour and puttering. Cleaned the kitchen and thought out what I wanted to do. It was a tall order: bake a batch of toll houses, bake bread, make meatballs from scratch for grinders while we watch the Super Bowl on and off that evening, and throw together a pot of chili. When I realized I was ahead of the game and couldn't stop, I made applesauce muffins too. In between tasks, I did the tax return and the laundry. Cleaned as I went, all the way...kitchen's still spotless. Made a mistake or two, but no disasters. Took the bread out a pinch too soon after the 2nd rise and the towel covering it was sticking to the tops, so when I pulled it off, they dropped in height quite a bit. Need to find a means of covering rising dough that doesn't stick to it...I've noticed this problem before. Been a while since I made bread from scratch though, so I was just tickled to be doing it, plus I'm discovering the wonders of letting yeast do its thing...makes for a much more friendly dough for kneading.

FINALLY settled down for some TV time...geez, wasn't really until after 9 p.m. Put away leftovers and still wasn't ready to slow down, so I retreated 2 of the cast iron pans I inherited from my mom when she moved and downsized. The smell was a bit much after 40 minutes, so I killed the oven and am hoping it did the trick. I knit on the neverending sock until I hit the point for kitchener stitch, which I knew I didn't have any energy or brain power left to deal with...hopefully tonight during "House."

I was a good girl and took breaks, but my body's still protesting today. Or maybe it was the 2 beers I enjoyed while the Saints handed Manning his rear end. Was very glad for New Orleans...as a Jags fan, I'm no fan of the Colts; they may be AFC, but once you've been destroyed on the field once or four times by them, it's hard to be sportsmanlike. Plus the whole Cinderella story of the Saints is nice...almost wore my Mardi Gras beads to work, but chickened out.

Was awake by 5 a.m., and the body was achy enough where I could tell sleep would be a toss-and-turn proposition, so I rolled over, flipped on the light, and read the gem of my library finds: Made from Scratch by Jenna Woginrich. Holy cow, is she inspiring me! I read until 7, took a shower, made my coffee start earlier, fixed myself breakfast, and took it to my wing chair where I could push back the bedroom curtain and enjoy the fresh air while I continued reading. Still leaving the TV off in the mornings. Loving the quiet.

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