Idea that I must tell the sisterhood

We totally need to publish a cook book on cooking for people with allergies. Include all sorts of recipes. Like Kick-ass Quiche with egg substitute, and Homemade Salsa - minus tomatoes (Tomatillios don't quack like tomatoes!) . Recipes must also include pita chips for those allergic to corn, how to avoid soy, and Yes, you can bake without nuts! (dedicated to my mother who is still surprised when my sister brings home half the cookies that got sent to school when there are nuts in them, but never any of the ones without nuts).

We could interview some doctors and have a little mini-lecture/textbook bit that's titled "You keep using that word..." about what is and what isn't an allergy. (This idea based off of drug allergies to codine with the complaint "it makes my stomach hurt", well that's what codine does to everyone).

We can sell it at our store of many things once we finally get that idea out of idea land.

Question- Mainly for Q...

('cause I know the rest of you don't cook :P)

I'm trying to make that chicken asparagus cheese thing. How do I cook it so that the cheese doesn't melt out? I was thinking of foil boats for them, but that won't work with the asparagus. My current thought is to just cook the chicken and the cheese in the oven (making little cheese filled chicken pop-overs) and doing the asparagus on the stove and just plating them together. My mom suggested to do the chicken and asparagus in the oven and just melt the cheese over the top, but that would dry out the asparagus too much, I think.

In desperate need of cooking expertise,
~DoHP

Vet Visit

First little tomatoes in my garden this year!

Well, Lexis had her trip to the vet day before yesterday. The surgery to remove the tumor she has is going to run us more than $500. $130 of that is because the vet would like to run a lab analysis of the removed tissue to see what kind of cancer it is (in rats that present like this, it's under 1% chance it's anything but benign). He says he believes the tumor might be growing too fast to be a run-of-the-mill mammary tumor; so now I'm figuring he needs me to pay that $130 so that I can:

A--find out that everything is fine as suspected.

or B--find out that the rat has a malignant cancer in which case there's not much we can do anyways until she's bad enough that I have to shell out MORE money to have her euthanized.

Why do I need to pay this $130?

Mr. Borealis had the same reaction I did--we sat in the living room for a long time in silence. When the vet told me, I went through every possible reaction in about 10 minutes. Everything from "yes, she's our baby and we must absolutely do this," to "I'm a bad person if I don't do everything I can," to "We don't have five hundred dollars--good God, I'm already eating microwave noodles one meal a day!"

Mr. Borealis looked at me and said, "It's five hundred dollars for a fifteen minute surgery on a seven dollar rat? I don't think we can afford that..."

To which I replied, "Go tell her she's just a seven dollar rat."

We both decided at that point that we're going to have the surgery done. She's only 18 months old, and potentially has another two years in her.

I'm desperately seeking paying employment now; I have my first dental visit in over a year at the end of this month. I was supposed to go last July, but then we were so busy fixing the house and with everything else. Then I rescheduled for January, but then Mr. B lost his job and we had no insurance. Mr. B's last cavity cost us $400 even after insurance, and that's weighing heavily on my mind.

Need. A. Job.

On the bright side, I've named that little rapscallion of a squirrel Alan. I figured he needed a name here because he hangs around so much now.

Wish me Luck!

Alula

Happy 4th of July!

Well, Mr. B and I went and watched the fireworks with my parents last night in the field behind their house. It was a beautiful time; this year, though, I found myself thinking a lot about last year.

Q, Mr. Q, DoHP, Mr. B, and I were all partying at Q's, playing Apples to Apples and grilling. Then we all grabbed some blankets and some bug spray and headed out to the commons park to watch the fireworks, and it was too cold and wet to continue playing cards. So instead we all joked around, and most of us had forgotten our jackets, and we only had two blankets. As the wind threatened to increase and cancel the show, and the stormclouds were moving in, and there were little bits of lightening and thunder up in the clouds, we all huddled together on the one blanket and managed to share the other blanket by throwing it over our heads for warmth.

What the other residents of our fledgling city must have thought...

But the fireworks still went on, and we managed to get past the awkwardness of being five adults huddled between two blankets. And it was a beautiful time. Dear friends, I must say, I think it's become one of my treasured memories.

It struck me as I was thinking about all of this last night that last 4th of July was pre- a lot of things. It was before I had started grad school. Before Mr. B and I had jobs--and before Mr. B had changed jobs three times, one time in a very stressful manner. Before we were married, before Q and Mr. Q were married, and we didn't know back then that Mr. Q would be shipping out just around a year later. It was before the car accident, and the funeral, and the struggle to heal that's still very much alive. Before we bought a house, before we almost didn't get married trying to fix that house up. Before one of our best friends had a baby and moved away. Before DoHP moved away for better employment hunting grounds, leaving one more empty spot on Q's couch. It was before this blog, and just about everything that's happened here.

It's been a big year, Ladies. It's not New Year's, but I think that the 4th of July last year was the last holiday we shared before life got wierd on us; I'd like to point out now that we all survived, and we're all still friends, and I'm grateful for that. I don't know what's going to happen by this time next year, but I hope next year we all get to spend it together again. Here's to all of our happiness and health, and of course our friendship.

Happy (late) Independance Day,
Alula

Home Again

Well, we're home again, and I owe y'all some pictures. In pictures, I would now like to summarize my trip.
This is a picture of the beautiful drive.
These are pictures of half and quarter streets. Yes, they exist. The story as I heard it is that the city put in the numbered streets, as most every city has them, and then decided that they needed more streets. The solution? 23rd St., 23rd 1/4 St., 23rd 1/2 St...
And a Kudos to these fine businesses which Mr. B and I passed on our way to lunch. I encourage anyone in the neighborhood to stop by and give them business.
--Alula

Vacation Day 3

Mkay--no picture of this because I am frankly horrified. I went to writing today, and then I took to pacing, which is typical of me, and then I noticed that the bottoms of my feet were black. Literally black. And it came from the hotel floor.

I went out to lunch today with Mr. Borealis (Mexican), and then to dinner (again, Mexican). For those of you who haven't heard yet, I'm on a vegetarian diet again--since about last Thursday. And I'm really craving a bacon cheeseburger about now. However, I have discovered that vegetarian burritos from one of my favorite chains are really pretty good.

Hard bed is agravating my fibromyalgia,
Alula

Vacation Day 2

This. Motel. Sucks.

I'm taking pictures of all of this to be inserted when the internet allows. The AC unit is from the 80s or earlier and doesn't really work. There is no closet. The bed is a full, though they are claiming it is a queen, and I full-heartedly believe it is made of cardboard disguised with a mattress cover. Literally no bounce. And Mr. Borealis likes to spread out when he sleeps (the reason we have a king size at home) so I slept on roughly twelve inches width of might-as-well-be-a-concrete-floor last night.

And now I have received a phone call that Mr. Borealis's boss would like me to join them for lunch. Thai food. I appreciate the Thai, and I do like meeting new people, but the whole aspect of meeting someone I know I have to impress (or at least behave in front of) is always a little uncomfortable. It's like a job interview, and I'm supposed to be on vacation, %#$*@&(#&!

With mucho understanding that the two of you would like to spend time together since Mr. Q is back, I would like to clarify an earlier comment I made to Q's last post--Mr. B and I had A LOT of "territory wars" when we started living together as professional married people. That's why we spent so much time at Q's place, because it was nuetral ground. So if you guys would like to vacation at our place while we're out of town feel free--our movie collection is on display, and we offer free high speed wireless.

Also, I think I've already said it, but I'll help you clean organize anything that needs it Friday for the party.

Alula