What is Normal
Jan. 28th, 2021 10:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
taz_39A lot of the stress of the previous week was removed.
I got my tuition back. I got the money for the bass trombone. I at least got started at the new steno school.
I am still behind on a lot of things there, but I'm trying to be more patient. There was no reason to expect that I'd be able to pick up exactly where I left with the previous school. I've got to learn the new software, and get used to everything before I can launch into the actual materials. Case Catalyst is a very involved software, so I can't just dive in and figure it out as I go (trust me I did try and messed up a lot of things in the process.)
Meanwhile at work things were pretty chill this week. No more Training shadowing, so I felt a lot more relaxed just doing the tasks I'm used to.
On Friday night the second Tokyo Treat box arrived from Raven. This stuff is so much fun! We tried a pickled plum fruit strip and it was yucky! But most of the other stuff in the box looks to be "normal" flavors haha. Excited to try it all :)
On Saturday Jameson got a new PC monitor, and a desk from IKEA where he can start doing some PC gaming.
He usually plays Xbox, but there are lots of PC games both vintage and new that we both love. I'm excited to see what his new setup will be like.
With my tuition money back in my bank account, it's tempting to do a little shopping ;) But I've got to remember that the money is still for tuition, it'll just be paid out more slowly. Still, my birthday is in a few weeks so I got myself a few things: some cheap sweaters and camis at walmart, and some cherry bourbon flavored coffee that's been popping up on my facebook ads for some time. I also commissioned some handmade butter paddles from a high school classmate of mine who's an excellent woodworker. And I bought a new face mask from a friend who is selling them to pay for her dog's surgery.
Well...I may have spent too much already. But I definitely don't regret the butter paddles, or the face mask. Even the cheap sweaters. The fancy coffee, I probably should have done without.
I'm also trying to use some gift cards that are about to expire (from two Christmases ago, good lord!), one for igourmet and the other for ASOS. I split the igourmet one with Jameson, he got a bunch of bloody mary mixes and other tasty-looking drink mixes (a little surprising to me as he doesn't normally do mixed drinks), and I got some venison sausages and anellini pasta because I want to make a copycat Spaghetti O's recipe. We've tried one of the bloody mary mixes and it was pretty good, nice and peppery.
The ASOS gift card was given to me specifically so I could buy a leather jacket, so that's what I used it for. ASOS is a shop where things rotate in and out, so I have been looking for a jacket, it's just that even with the gift card I often found the prices were too high so I never committed. Right now was apparently the right time though, because they were having an 80% off clearance sale! I chose this jacket, and I hope it fits.
On Saturday night I chatted a bit with a coworker, a woman who had been on my team as a captionist up until recently.
Her husband had cancer and had been fighting it for the entire time that she was on my team, so I saw how she struggled and fought alongside him for all of 2020. As things got worse, she had to change her schedule to nights so that she could be his caretaker during the day. A few weeks ago, after an incredible struggle, he passed away.
For those who don't know, my mom died of pancreatic cancer back in 2001.
I was too young to be her caretaker, but I saw her suffering, and I know the specific pain of loss that comes with cancer.
So watching my coworker's struggles brought out a lot of emotions, and a lot of empathy for her.
I don't know much about her, but I know that she always worked extremely hard, and was a pleasant person pretty much all the time.
So after her husband passed, I sent a message just letting her know that, even though we don't know each other, I wanted to be there. Not in like a "I'm here but don't actually ask anything of me" way. I meant for real. As in, I can't imagine the horrors she went through while caring for her husband, or the pain she's in right now. But I know the pain that I felt when my mom died, and I know it's similar to what she's feeling now. So if she wanted to talk, or scream, or cry, or just be distracted, I can understand all of that and be there for any of that.
Maybe that's a weird offer to a complete stranger. But she's only lived here in the US for six years, and she did everything with her husband and didn't make many other friends (which I can relate to, outside of Jameson I've got basically no one close). So I thought, what does it hurt to really, actually be there for someone who needs it?
We made plans to grab a meal at a First Watch near her (masked, distanced, seated outdoors) on the coming Wednesday. I hope a little social time will help ease her anxiety and distract her for a little while.
The rest of my work week was ok...we had a service outage on Tuesday, but at least it didn't last all day. These outages are getting really old.
Steno class didn't go great, but that's because I'm behind and my teachers have their classes to worry about, they don't have time to be integrating someone who came in halfway through. I mean, they have to integrate me, they just haven't gotten to it yet, and that came full circle in Tuesday's steno class. I probably also need to speak up more about what I need, but frankly after the last school I'm intimidated about asking for anything.
On Wednesday I got up earlier than I wanted to because I realized that I could do my jalapeno project before meeting with Sarah.
I wanted to make "cowboy candy", i.e. candied jalapenos!
These are the last of my jalapenos, and I wanted to save them. I'd thought about drying them and powdering them for spice, but not having a smoker I don't think I could do them justice. Plus candying them sounded intriguing to me.
I boiled and simmered them with sugar, vinegar, turmeric, garlic, and cayenne, then carefully water canned them.
They need to set for a few weeks before we can try them.
After cleaning up I drove to St Cloud to pick up Sarah. We drove to First Watch, both wearing masks in the car. At the restaurant we asked to be seated outside. We were as safe as we could be. We both ordered fancy drinks (non-alcoholic), mine was "purple haze", peaflower tea with lemon, mint, and lavender. Hers was some kind of mango turmeric beet concoction. They were delicious!
The food was great too. We talked about lots of things, some fun stuff and some personal stuff. It was a beautiful day, and we reflected on how our loved ones who have gone before us, too soon, would have wanted us to enjoy the moment. With covid and everything I'm not sure when either of us will get to go out again, but this was a brief and beautiful taste of noralcy. I savored it, and I think she did too.
Back home I took a little rest, then started on dinner. I made shrimp and grits!
I used a pretty standard recipe and made a few small changes: instead of just water for the grits I used half chicken broth, to add flavor. Instead of yellow cheddar I used white, to preserve the pale color of the grits. In addition to the salt and pepper and herbs called for in the recipe, I added some low-sodium Old Bay. With a little sprinkling of tabasco sauce to finish it off, the results were downright awesome.
Shrimp and grits are so easy to make! Don't know why I haven't made them before. Wait, yes I do. They're really bad for you! Lol.
After we had eaten dinner and watched some Fargo, I worked on making the pizza dough for Thursday's dinner.
I wasn't happy with the pizza I made the previous week and wanted to try again. This time I'm doing an overnight rise, hoping that will improve the texture of the dough. It *looked* ok when I went to bed...in the morning it looked like a slime monster! Huge bubbles, and it had risen to the top of the bowl. Well...whatever. I left it alone and we'll see how it develops.
Meanwhile I enjoyed a nice slow breakfast, which is the closest thing I get to "relaxing" any more. I took the hedge clippers outside and attacked a muscadine grapevine that has been sneaking to our side of the property, and also trimmed back my cranberry hibiscus and milkweed. Hopefully they will grow back well. I was surprised to see the parsley (that I had thrown out after it tried to take over my planter) thriving in the sand, as well as a little of the thyme I had thrown out after pronouncing it "dead". If it's happy out there, more power to it. The passion vine is putting out a lot of new growth. The vanilla looks upset but there's nothing I can do for it outside of watering. The lemon tree is already starting to put out flowers again.
I'll probably replant in a few weeks. It's a long growing season in Florida so there's plenty of time.
Back in the house I did my meal prep and a little birthday shopping for my siblings, birthdays upcoming in February and March.
We went for a walk and it was nice, sunny but a little chilly at 60-something degrees.
When we got home I started on dinner, first making the wings in the air fryer and then checking out the pizza dough situation.
It was really bubbly, but I punched it down and it actually stretched out really well, a lot better than the last attempt.
It still wasn't quite how I wanted it, but it was definitely an improvement. And this recipe made two dough balls, so next time I can just focus on stretching the dough and work on getting that right.
After dinner I had steno class, that was nice. It's a good feeling to look forward to steno classes now instead of dreading them. And ironic, because at the last school my class was only an hour long once a week, and at this school its two hours twice a week. Anyway, it went well, and hopefully it'll continue to go well.
This coming week is the same as the last. We're all trapped in this covid Groundhog's Day loop.
Work, sleep, work, eat, cook, post to the 'gram, blog about my repetitive week.
I'm sorry there's nothing to share but my stupid pizzas, and my stupid life.
I got my tuition back. I got the money for the bass trombone. I at least got started at the new steno school.
I am still behind on a lot of things there, but I'm trying to be more patient. There was no reason to expect that I'd be able to pick up exactly where I left with the previous school. I've got to learn the new software, and get used to everything before I can launch into the actual materials. Case Catalyst is a very involved software, so I can't just dive in and figure it out as I go (trust me I did try and messed up a lot of things in the process.)
Meanwhile at work things were pretty chill this week. No more Training shadowing, so I felt a lot more relaxed just doing the tasks I'm used to.
On Friday night the second Tokyo Treat box arrived from Raven. This stuff is so much fun! We tried a pickled plum fruit strip and it was yucky! But most of the other stuff in the box looks to be "normal" flavors haha. Excited to try it all :)
On Saturday Jameson got a new PC monitor, and a desk from IKEA where he can start doing some PC gaming.
He usually plays Xbox, but there are lots of PC games both vintage and new that we both love. I'm excited to see what his new setup will be like.
With my tuition money back in my bank account, it's tempting to do a little shopping ;) But I've got to remember that the money is still for tuition, it'll just be paid out more slowly. Still, my birthday is in a few weeks so I got myself a few things: some cheap sweaters and camis at walmart, and some cherry bourbon flavored coffee that's been popping up on my facebook ads for some time. I also commissioned some handmade butter paddles from a high school classmate of mine who's an excellent woodworker. And I bought a new face mask from a friend who is selling them to pay for her dog's surgery.
Well...I may have spent too much already. But I definitely don't regret the butter paddles, or the face mask. Even the cheap sweaters. The fancy coffee, I probably should have done without.
I'm also trying to use some gift cards that are about to expire (from two Christmases ago, good lord!), one for igourmet and the other for ASOS. I split the igourmet one with Jameson, he got a bunch of bloody mary mixes and other tasty-looking drink mixes (a little surprising to me as he doesn't normally do mixed drinks), and I got some venison sausages and anellini pasta because I want to make a copycat Spaghetti O's recipe. We've tried one of the bloody mary mixes and it was pretty good, nice and peppery.
The ASOS gift card was given to me specifically so I could buy a leather jacket, so that's what I used it for. ASOS is a shop where things rotate in and out, so I have been looking for a jacket, it's just that even with the gift card I often found the prices were too high so I never committed. Right now was apparently the right time though, because they were having an 80% off clearance sale! I chose this jacket, and I hope it fits.
On Saturday night I chatted a bit with a coworker, a woman who had been on my team as a captionist up until recently.
Her husband had cancer and had been fighting it for the entire time that she was on my team, so I saw how she struggled and fought alongside him for all of 2020. As things got worse, she had to change her schedule to nights so that she could be his caretaker during the day. A few weeks ago, after an incredible struggle, he passed away.
For those who don't know, my mom died of pancreatic cancer back in 2001.
I was too young to be her caretaker, but I saw her suffering, and I know the specific pain of loss that comes with cancer.
So watching my coworker's struggles brought out a lot of emotions, and a lot of empathy for her.
I don't know much about her, but I know that she always worked extremely hard, and was a pleasant person pretty much all the time.
So after her husband passed, I sent a message just letting her know that, even though we don't know each other, I wanted to be there. Not in like a "I'm here but don't actually ask anything of me" way. I meant for real. As in, I can't imagine the horrors she went through while caring for her husband, or the pain she's in right now. But I know the pain that I felt when my mom died, and I know it's similar to what she's feeling now. So if she wanted to talk, or scream, or cry, or just be distracted, I can understand all of that and be there for any of that.
Maybe that's a weird offer to a complete stranger. But she's only lived here in the US for six years, and she did everything with her husband and didn't make many other friends (which I can relate to, outside of Jameson I've got basically no one close). So I thought, what does it hurt to really, actually be there for someone who needs it?
We made plans to grab a meal at a First Watch near her (masked, distanced, seated outdoors) on the coming Wednesday. I hope a little social time will help ease her anxiety and distract her for a little while.
The rest of my work week was ok...we had a service outage on Tuesday, but at least it didn't last all day. These outages are getting really old.
Steno class didn't go great, but that's because I'm behind and my teachers have their classes to worry about, they don't have time to be integrating someone who came in halfway through. I mean, they have to integrate me, they just haven't gotten to it yet, and that came full circle in Tuesday's steno class. I probably also need to speak up more about what I need, but frankly after the last school I'm intimidated about asking for anything.
On Wednesday I got up earlier than I wanted to because I realized that I could do my jalapeno project before meeting with Sarah.
I wanted to make "cowboy candy", i.e. candied jalapenos!
These are the last of my jalapenos, and I wanted to save them. I'd thought about drying them and powdering them for spice, but not having a smoker I don't think I could do them justice. Plus candying them sounded intriguing to me.
I boiled and simmered them with sugar, vinegar, turmeric, garlic, and cayenne, then carefully water canned them.
They need to set for a few weeks before we can try them.
After cleaning up I drove to St Cloud to pick up Sarah. We drove to First Watch, both wearing masks in the car. At the restaurant we asked to be seated outside. We were as safe as we could be. We both ordered fancy drinks (non-alcoholic), mine was "purple haze", peaflower tea with lemon, mint, and lavender. Hers was some kind of mango turmeric beet concoction. They were delicious!
The food was great too. We talked about lots of things, some fun stuff and some personal stuff. It was a beautiful day, and we reflected on how our loved ones who have gone before us, too soon, would have wanted us to enjoy the moment. With covid and everything I'm not sure when either of us will get to go out again, but this was a brief and beautiful taste of noralcy. I savored it, and I think she did too.
Back home I took a little rest, then started on dinner. I made shrimp and grits!
I used a pretty standard recipe and made a few small changes: instead of just water for the grits I used half chicken broth, to add flavor. Instead of yellow cheddar I used white, to preserve the pale color of the grits. In addition to the salt and pepper and herbs called for in the recipe, I added some low-sodium Old Bay. With a little sprinkling of tabasco sauce to finish it off, the results were downright awesome.
Shrimp and grits are so easy to make! Don't know why I haven't made them before. Wait, yes I do. They're really bad for you! Lol.
After we had eaten dinner and watched some Fargo, I worked on making the pizza dough for Thursday's dinner.
I wasn't happy with the pizza I made the previous week and wanted to try again. This time I'm doing an overnight rise, hoping that will improve the texture of the dough. It *looked* ok when I went to bed...in the morning it looked like a slime monster! Huge bubbles, and it had risen to the top of the bowl. Well...whatever. I left it alone and we'll see how it develops.
Meanwhile I enjoyed a nice slow breakfast, which is the closest thing I get to "relaxing" any more. I took the hedge clippers outside and attacked a muscadine grapevine that has been sneaking to our side of the property, and also trimmed back my cranberry hibiscus and milkweed. Hopefully they will grow back well. I was surprised to see the parsley (that I had thrown out after it tried to take over my planter) thriving in the sand, as well as a little of the thyme I had thrown out after pronouncing it "dead". If it's happy out there, more power to it. The passion vine is putting out a lot of new growth. The vanilla looks upset but there's nothing I can do for it outside of watering. The lemon tree is already starting to put out flowers again.
I'll probably replant in a few weeks. It's a long growing season in Florida so there's plenty of time.
Back in the house I did my meal prep and a little birthday shopping for my siblings, birthdays upcoming in February and March.
We went for a walk and it was nice, sunny but a little chilly at 60-something degrees.
When we got home I started on dinner, first making the wings in the air fryer and then checking out the pizza dough situation.
It was really bubbly, but I punched it down and it actually stretched out really well, a lot better than the last attempt.
It still wasn't quite how I wanted it, but it was definitely an improvement. And this recipe made two dough balls, so next time I can just focus on stretching the dough and work on getting that right.
After dinner I had steno class, that was nice. It's a good feeling to look forward to steno classes now instead of dreading them. And ironic, because at the last school my class was only an hour long once a week, and at this school its two hours twice a week. Anyway, it went well, and hopefully it'll continue to go well.
This coming week is the same as the last. We're all trapped in this covid Groundhog's Day loop.
Work, sleep, work, eat, cook, post to the 'gram, blog about my repetitive week.
I'm sorry there's nothing to share but my stupid pizzas, and my stupid life.
