Escapades in Adulting...my Monday morning shopping trip.

 I went to the grocery store this morning and, if you know me at all, it's the perfect way for me to start my week.  I do love grocery shopping.  Strange, I know, but I really do enjoy it.  I get that from Mom.  I had some things in mind that I needed and did make my list.  I also was planning on doing some bulk shopping for meats if they were on sale.

My biggest mistake, and I NEVER seem to learn this one, is that I did not eat anything before I went.  That always increases what is in my shopping cart.  Here I am walking up and down the aisles with my tummy grumbling and everything looks delicious.  Things that I would not normally buy become very tempting just because I'm hungry. That, in combination with some scarce shelves due to panic buying (not mine this time), made it really hard to walk by things and not snatch them up.  No, I really don't need that ten pound bag of rice but it's such a good bargain and there isn't much left.  And, no, I didn't buy it but dang I wanted to LOL

I had to pull myself together and concentrate.  I bypassed the canned goods, the pastas, the chips and crackers and headed straight to the back of the store to the meat.  That's where I hit the jackpot.  And sadly, that's also where my hunger kicked in full speed.  Apparently, Monday is a good time to get meats on sale.  They aren't out of date, but getting close so they are greatly marked down.  And I bought all kinds....beef roast, pork roast, brisket, chicken thighs, ground beef, cubed steak, etc.  My cart was getting full, needless to say.  I had to return to my list.  Otherwise, my cart would be overflowing.  Luckily, I was able to maintain control and the remainder of my shopping experience adhered to my list.  Whew!

The bottom line is that I love to grocery shop.  I just need to remember two things.  One, don't forget my coupons...which I did, but they're still good for a few more days.  And two, EAT FIRST!

That is all

The Lord Bless You and Keep You - John Rutter

 This hymn closed out so many services of my growing up at FBC in Monroe.  I just needed this today.  It's so beautiful but its words ring true.  Be blessed

Coffee

 Every morning, I get up and the first thing that I do is make a pot of coffee.  Before I feed the fish, before I take Squirt out, before I feed the outdoor cats....I make a pot of coffee.  And, usually before the pot is completely brewed, I have already taken a cup out for myself.  I sit out on the porch, if the weather is cooperative, and have my first cup and just sit and ponder my day.

I did not start drinking coffee until my late twenties.  I was working at the catering company and one day I just decided to have some.  I had a coworker who would make a fresh pot every time she wanted coffee, even if there was a full pot there, she'd make a new one and drink only one cup of it. I thought that was pretty wasteful, so I started having some so it wouldn't completely go to waste.  It did help give me that extra boost of energy and I discovered I actually enjoyed the taste.  I had always liked the smell of coffee brewing so enjoying the taste was only natural for me.

I don't know why it took me so long to start drinking coffee because it was a big part of my growing up.  Of course, antiques wise, I have always loved cups and saucers.  Grandmother had a collection of "after dinner" cups and saucers that I would constantly play with as a young kid.  I know that I did break a couple of them through carelessness but she still let me hold them.  And I loved seeing the table set for breakfast with the cups.

Coffee was almost always had after meals.  At our house, Grandmother would always want a cup after we ate.  If Mom did not want any, we had one of those one cup hot beverage dispensers for things like instant coffee and I would fix one of those for Grandmother.  Instant coffee was a big thing back in those days.  But, often Mom would brew an entire pot and many wonderful conversations would be had the dinner table over a cup of coffee.  Mom always had coffee in her office as well.  If I was at work with here, my job would be to take the empty pot around to the water fountain and fill it up for another round of coffee.  And Mom always had plenty of mugs around her office to share with other people in the building.

So, here I am, on a Saturday morning, sitting at the computer with my mug of coffee.  It is my ritual.  I love the smell and the taste of it.  I drink it black.  Michael uses cream.  But having it each day gives me a connection to people I love that have gone before me.  And I cherish that.  

That is all

The Continuing Adventures of Just a Waiter - the history left behind

 I did not sleep particularly well last night.  My body was very tired but I could not seem to shut my brain off.  There were lots of thoughts spinning around in my head.  It became a whirlwind of emotion every time I closed my eyes.  My mind was bringing up so many pictures of the past.  And, with that, comes so many different feelings.  I got up and turned my radio on to listen to some relaxing music, hoping that would help me.  Eventually I did close my eyes and fall asleep, even thought I do not exactly remember.

Why couldn't I shut my brain down?  It is because yesterday, at work, I started on a new project.  I am always starting something new it seems.  Many times I take on things myself because it keeps me busy.  Most days, I do not like just sitting at my desk.  I want something to do.  Otherwise, I feel that I am wasting my time and the company's money. Now, that's not all the time.  Sometimes I do relish just sitting for awhile.  We all need days like that!

Anyway, we had a resident move out at the end of last week to be closer to her children.  There were other factors involved in the move, but those are not for me to disclose.  Let's just say that this was the best possible thing for our resident.  Well, the family came and packed up things and got her moved.  Yesterday, I went to check on the apartment to see if it was ready for environmental services to come in and start working on it.  When I opened the door, it looked like she was still living there.  I had to go back downstairs and double check with Melissa that she was officially out.  I actually had to check several times with her because in my head I could just not believe that all of this stuff was left behind.  It looked like they took 2 pieces of furniture and some clothes.  That was about it.

There was lots of furniture left.  I opened up cabinets and drawers and most were full.  There were bags of "trash" all over the place as well.  It almost looked as if someone just packed a bag and left during the night.  Of course, that was not the case, but that's still what it looked like!  I opened up a drawer that was full of pictures.  Family pictures.  That's when I made my decision.

I decided that I was going to get this mess cleaned up.  It was obvious that the family friends who packed up things left too many behind as far as cherished family momentos.  Now, I do realize that not everyone is as sentimental about these things as I am.  But I truly care about my residents and have no desire to see their histories end up in the trash.  We had a resident who passed away several years ago and two family members came in and threw everything out.  She was a published author and kept records of everything.  I was working in dining services at the time and when I went to take out some trash one day, the dumpster was full...and I mean full...of her papers and family pictures.  Just from peeking inside the dumpster, I could see hundreds of photographs....wedding pictures, family vacations, etc.  I picked up several and they were all labeled and dated....and in the TRASH!!  That just broke my heart.  

And I was determined not to let that happen again.  So, started going through all of the drawers and cabinets and pulling out pictures and things like that to return to the family.   I'm not sure if the son of this resident knows that these pictures are here as they were in a rush to move.  And, just so that everyone knows, I have full permission from the family and Melissa to be in there.  They have confirmed that they got "everything" they were taking and have given up financial occupation of the apartment.  So, if they want to throw away all of these wonderful pictures, I will let them do it.  I will box it up and hand it over.  From there, it is their responsibility.  I just cannot personally do that, it makes me so sad to think of it.

It brought up a lot of feelings for me that I will discuss later in other posts.  But, as for today, I will go in and clean up more trash, get things organized and give this resident's life the dignity it deserves.  There are so many things that we will donate because they are in great shape.  As for the family pictures, what happens to them will be up to the family.  I will have done all I could to satisfy my own conscience.  I care.  And having peace of mind that I at least tried will help me to continue to care for my residents.

That is all.

Thought of the day - my daily challenge

 Almost on a daily basis, I will go through my day thinking that tomorrow I will do this, I will do that.  And normally it has something to do with change.  It's often something like tomorrow I'll start getting the house organized like I want it or tomorrow I'll start walking daily or tomorrow I'll cut back on my juul usage.  And then, inevitably, I wake up the next morning and start my day the same way.  I wake up with the best of intentions but then nothing happens.  I get too comfortable in the routine that I have developed.  

So, today I am going to make an effort to challenge myself to do something differently.  And it does not matter how big or small that change will be.  The important thing is that I try.  I may not succeed, but I even cannot fail if I do not try.  

I have noticed over the past few months that I have become more and more dehydrated.  I do not get enough water in my body.  I sweat a lot, even if I'm not being extremely active.  And, yes, there is always that thought in the back of my mind that the sweating may have some underlying cause, but today that is not the focus of this challenge.  Today, I want to see if I can drink mostly water throughout my day.  I have allowed myself to have my morning coffee.  Let's face it, that's not going to change unless under a doctor's orders LOL  And I am going to allow myself one non water beverage during a meal, but that will be it for me.  The rest of the day, I am going to drink water.  

I actually like drinking water. I did not like it much growing up, but now it is one of the things I will crave.  My body will tell me that I need it and it is time for me to listen more.  The downside of it is that end up in the bathroom a lot.  Oh well LOL Still, I enjoy it and need to have more of it in my daily diet.  That is today's challenge to myself.  Keep your fingers crossed for me!

That is all

Song of the Day - Let There Be Peace On Earth

 

I know that I have posted this before, numerous times.  But, in our crazy world today, in our crazy country...I just wish that everyone would stop and take a moment to be kind to their fellow man.  That is what Jesus wanted and what is taught to us in Sunday School.  I'm not sure why it is so difficult now only in that labels mean more to people than the person standing next to them.  Show some compassion and consideration for those who are not you.  That is all.

Quote of the day

 After my blog about creative writing, I have been thinking about the stories, written by others, that have had a great impact on me.  Meaning, their words stay with me.  The images they painted, the characters they created.  There are a lot more than I realized.  This passage is one of my favorites. 

Charlotte was both!

Recipe of the day - Chicken and Eggplant in Garlic Sauce

 A few weeks ago, I took several ladies from HG out to lunch.  Our destination was a restaurant called Phoenix.  It's Asian cuisine.  I hadn't been there since before the pandemic.  Michael and I used to go fairly often.  The food was always good and this time was no different.  I ordered chicken and eggplant in garlic sauce.  It was wonderful and I decided to try my own hand at making it.  I was pretty happy with the result!

Chicken and Eggplant in Garlic Sauce

3 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts, diced

2 slices of red onion, minced

1 lb sliced mushrooms

olive oil

4-5 cups of diced eggplant (roughly 2 large eggplants)

1 cup water

1 Tbsp crushed red pepper

3 Tbsp garlic powder

10 tsp white sugar

2 tsp cornstarch

4 Tbsp soy sauce

4 Tbsp oyster sauce

Heat olive oil in a pan over med-high heat.  Saute chicken, onion and mushrooms until the chicken is cooked through and the veggies are starting to soften.  Drain on a paper towel.  Add eggplant and more oil if needed to the pan.  Cook roughly 4 to six minutes so that the eggplant is getting soft.  Add water, red pepper and garlic powder.  Reduce heat to simmer and let the liquid cook down.  While this is cooking, make your sauce.  Combine sugar, cornstarch, soy sauce and oyster sauce.  Stir until the sugar and cornstarch has dissolved.

Once the liquid in the pot has cooked down (mine never completely evaporates), add the chicken, mushrooms and onions to the pot and stir to combine.  Pour sauce into pot and make sure everything gets nice and coated. Let this simmer a few minutes so that the sauce thickens nicely.

I served this over brown rice and it was quite tasty!

Enjoy!

Love In The Lunchroom and beyond!

 I miss creative writing.  I don't know if I was ever really good at it, but I so enjoyed doing it.  Growing up, anytime there was a creative writing assignment in school, I just gravitated to it with so much enthusiasm. I need to find that enthusiasm again.  

The first thing I really remember writing creatively about was gnomes.  In our AG class (academically gifted...I'm not sure it's PC to use that term today), Mrs. Goebel introduced us to the world of gnomes.  There was a very large coffee table book that had come out around that time concerning gnomes and, of course, Tom Clark gnomes were starting to really take off.  We had to do a project on gnomes.  We had to create a society of gnomes and detail their every day lives.  I did mine on Hawaiian gnomes.  Like many kids that age, I did not do as well as I could have, but I did pretty good. And I thoroughly enjoyed creating this world.  This project also started my lifelong collection of gnomes...but that's for another blog.

Later that year, I started writing my own serial/soap opera.  Back in the day, passing notes was a big thing.  And one day I thought to myself, what if this person passed a note to that person...what would they say?  "Love In The Lunchroom" was born from that.  I took that first story to my AG teacher and she ended up reading to the class.  Everyone loved it.  I knew the art of the cliffhanger, so making my fellow students want to hear the next episode was not that hard for me.  Of course, being 10 years old, my knowledge of the facts of life were limited and people got pregnant very quickly...and gave birth even quicker LOL  Still, it was fun.  I wrote that for 2 years.  

I loved most of my creative writing assignments in school.  Poetry, not so much.  Not because I dislike poetry, but because I was not very good at it.  I remember in 10th grade that we had to write a poem and the art class was going to create a piece of artwork based on the poem.  Now, this is a wonderful idea but I was not confident in my poetry skills at the time and asked that mine not be used.  I have always kind of regretted that.  Ah, well.  I also wrote a radio drama in 12th grade.  Our honors English class was studying Oedipus and we were to give a presentation on it.  I wrote a radio show called "As The Greek Urns" to tell the story.  We turned out the lights, stood at the microphones and presented the radio drama.  We even had old fashioned sound effects.  I got an A on that one.

I would often write stories as a teenager that sometimes I let people read and sometimes not.  Being a gay kid in a small town, there were many things that I could not out right express.  But, I could put it into writing.  I could disguise it.  Sometimes it was a story based on someone I had a crush on.  I just put them in a different situation, but I was in control.  Sometimes it was a story based on what I wish I had been able to do if I weren't gay.  Disguised as someone else, but still in control.  Honestly, it really did help me cope with a lot of things at that time.  

I do not have many of these writings anymore.  Some I just threw out.  Some just disappeared over time.  I still have "LITL"...all 2 seasons, somewhere in a box.  I need to find them and read them again.  No, they're not good unless you're 10 years old.  Still, I would enjoy revisiting them.  Maybe it will inspire me to write more.  Only time will tell.

That is all

Marching Band

 One of the things that the end of summer and the beginning of the school year brings to mind is marching band.  I enjoyed playing in the pit during marching band.  I was always afraid that I was not coordinated enough to actually march, so when Mr. Sturdivant asked me if I wanted to play in the pit because of my keyboard experience, I agreed.  And I did enjoy that.  

I didn't always enjoy band camp, though.  It was hot.  It was always hot.  Of course, being in the percussion section, we had already had one week of camp just to ourselves.  One of the drawbacks of being in the pit was that you're not moving, which ironically is why I joined the pit.  Standing there in the heat was almost unbearable at times.  But I still enjoyed watching the shows come to life out on the field.

Admittedly, once I came into marching band, we weren't great.  The year before I joined was Mr. Sturdivant's first year and that halftime show was quite entertaining.  He did things that our marching band had not done before. The color guard got new uniforms and performed with different types of flags.  The show's ending brought the opening number full circle in an unexpected way.  It was one of the most enjoyable shows the band had ever performed, so I was quite anxious to be a part of it.  

Our show my freshman year didn't really capture that same energy and spirit, although it tried.  Our opening number was pretty good and it popped visually.  We added a drill team that year.  Sadly, they only twirled their rifles for about 30 seconds at the beginning of the show, never to pick them up again.  And the flags kind of got left behind because so much attention went to the drill team.  And, honestly, our trumpet soloist was not very good.  He was a great musician but didn't have the chops for the solos.  I can say that because I am not a soloist either, even though I spent years being first clarinet.  I simply wasn't soloist caliber.  Our ending didn't work either.  Unlike the year before, there was a musical bridge transitioning back into the opening number.  We just simply stopped playing the last song and started playing the opening march again.  It was very abrupt.  Not to mention that the big push in our closing number, Can't Help Falling In Love, was supposed to be shaped like a big heart.  That poor heart never held its shape LOL

Still, I enjoyed it.  I loved going to competitions, even though we almost never won LOL  There's just something fun about those.  The weather is nice and cool and crisp.  It's fun to see what other bands are doing.  There is just an energy being at that kind of event and I crave.  I would love to find some competitions to go to this year....if there any even being held this fall.  I should look into that.

Still, memories of being in marching band, mostly, are enjoyable.  I miss the people.  I miss the music.  I miss the pageantry of it.  It was a good thing.

BTW, pictures are just random from the internet, not of MHS Marching Band.  Would love to see pics and vids of us if anyone has them to share!

That is all.

The Continuing Adventures of Just a Waiter - A Good Reminder

I've spoken on several occasions about all of the different things that I do at Heritage Greens.  I work very hard to keep my residents' lives as close to normal as possible through all of these daily changes in the world.  And I'm not the only one at work doing this.  You will see people crossing over departmental lines in order to help out and that's a wonderful thing to see.

Days can get long and tough.  You take on additional responsibilities because you want to help your fellow associates and help to even out the burden we are all facing.  It really is essential, for me, to take time to take care of myself.  I did not do it as much during the first wave of the pandemic because I was in worker mode.  It definitely took its toll on me and I learned not to do that again.  We have changed some of our policies at work in order to protect our residents.  Some people may look at it as taking a step back, but that's not really the case.  It's doing what needs to be done so that we can all move forward.  

And with those precautions comes paying closer attention to the residents so that they do not get worried about why we're doing what we're doing.  And making sure that they do not close themselves off.  That's really an unhealthy aspect of this pandemic that I have witnessed.  It's exhausting for all of us...both mentally and physically.

But then I hear something that makes it all worth it.  Last week, I emailed a family member about some long term care insurance information concerning her dad.  I also told her about taking her mom to lunch with some friends and having a wonderful time.  And she wrote me back to talk about the insurance but she also took the time to thank me.  She thanked me for "being a bright spot in so many lives.  That is a true blessing."  Needless to say, that made me feel good.  I take pride in knowing that families know that I care.  It gives them comfort and I am proud to be able to provide that...especially now.

That is all

Recipe of the day - Mandarin Orange Nut Loaf

 This month's cookbook is one that belonged to Grandmother.  "Home Cooking Secrets of Monroe".  It was put out, as a fundraiser I imagine, by the Monroe Junior Woman's Club.  There's no date on it, but I'm thinking it's late 60's or early 70's.  While reading it, I recognized lots of names in there. Some are people I know and some are names I just remember hearing at one time or another.  

There are lots of fun recipes in here.  I made this one a few weeks ago and did enjoy it.  It smelled divine baking in the oven.  I will try it again and probably tweak it just a tad.  Enjoy!

Mandarin Orange Nut Loaf

1 11oz can mandarin oranges, drain and save juices

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg

1/4 cup milk

3 cups Bisquick

1/2 cup chopped nuts (I used pecans)

Measure reserved juice and add water to make 1 cup.  Mix with sugar, egg and milk.  Add Bisquick and beat 1/2 minute.  Stir in nuts and oranges.  Bake in greased floured loaf pan at 350 for 50 minutes.

*The next time I make this, I think I am going to roughly chop the oranges so that they are more even distributed throughout the loaf.

Down To The River To Pray - Alison Krauss

 Just happened upon this song while looking for music on Youtube.  I'd not heard it before, but I always enjoy Alison Krauss.  A good song for a Sunday.  Enjoy!

Jeremiah 29:11

 

Today, like every day, I am doing my best to stay hopeful about life.  I was searching the internet for some Bible verses about hope and came upon this one and it really spoke to me today.  I have to keep my faith going in the Lord, that He has plans not only for me but for us all.  Even at my age, I anticipate a fulfilling future that is guided by God.  I know that He will use me in the best way possible.  I must trust that.  That does not mean that I should stand by and let the Lord do all of the work, but I should take into account that any trials and obstacles in my path are set there by Him for a reason.  He has hope for me and my future.  I accept that.  I believe that.  I trust in that.  And that's a good feeling.

Quote of the day

 The beginning of each month always fills me with such hope.  Hope that I will make some changes for the better.  Hope that the world will quiet down and listen to the sounds of the earth calling.  Hope that new endings will bring new beginnings. That is all.