Super Hubs & EIM

Hubs was up way before me today and managed to surprise me this morning. I included "managed" on purpose because I am a hard person to surprise. I can no longer count the times I have ruined breakfast in bed because I'm dragged halfway down the stairs by the smell of breakfast esp bacon (which we rarely eat so it is more of a treat.) His being up also meant I had one more alarm adjustment that could be made resulting in about 12 more minutes of sleep. Since I am one of the lucky ones who can wake up/fall back asleep generally, this works. This morning I especially needed it since I wasn't feeling that great lately. On a normal day, the extra time would result in a mad dash out of the house fueled by the fear of missing my bus. Today he gave me a ride which rocked since it was probably about 10 degrees out this morning. If not, it sure felt like it.

The actual surprise was that there was an egg/mushroom/sausage sandwich on toast waiting for me. I ended up taking it with me to eat later. PLUS my lunch was packed. Packed, as in completely packed in my lunch bag, zipped up, ready to go. Gumbo, bread/butter, key lime pie yogurt - whipped this time & not as good as the thick n creamy but still good, Odwalla strawberry C - to help w getting rid of this cold, cheddar cheese & black pepper Triscuits, mixed berry fruit bowl - which I didn't eat but will tomorrow since it looks super good, and those chocolate things I adore and am not looking forward to being gone. The blogger in me wanted to line it all up and take a picture or of my lunch bag but the realistic part of me knew it was time to get to the bus stop.

Dinner was a couscous mix that Hubs found for me. While I have had plain couscous before I don't think he has.... yet. We've had bulgar before. Ditto w quinoa. I like both. He just needs more exposure to them in different recipes but I know eventually he will like it too. He just needs to stop calling quinoa "spider eggs."

The mix was in a box and pretty simple - boil water w oil or margarine, add spice packet, add couscous, take off heat and cover.

I got this which wasn't very promising.



This was mushroom and herb. I could smell the herbs but the dried mushroom pieces got lost.


That's fine though since I had planned for this ahead of time.


Extra prep/cooking time means mini snack so I don't end up chewing on the mixing spoons or raiding the pantry for some sort of chips or the fridge for something that would cause a stomach ache.



Black pepper Triscuits and red pepper hummus
(This photo does not do the bowl justice - blue is more aqua. I have three of these that were my great aunt's.)


This was perfect and just enough to tide me over while this cooked.




Mushrooms, garlic, onions, paprika, and cumin cooked in olive oil and a touch of margarine (usually not mixed oil/marg but it was almost burning even on the lowest setting = nonstick pan needed help)


That mix-in saved dinner.



Will I make it again? Yes, since we have a different flavor box already. Will I add some sort of protein to it? Definitely. I can see chicken working well but that is more so since I've made something similar with bulgar and chicken with veggies.

I didn't have the most relaxing dinner though since Molly managed to hurt one of her front paws. There is a good chance it was from playing with Cosmo since they doggie roughhouse play but I can't say for sure. She is moving around and puts some weight on it. I tried seeing what was wrong earlier and she got freaked out and actually peed on me. (Good thing is was my aroudn the house jeans and not my work ones.)Hubs and I figured out it is the side of her outside toe that is hurt. Nothing seems to be stuck in it but she's still not happy. I, being the pet momma, of course is a bit worried. She is dozing on the pet pillow below me now (in the living room to rest on the "doc orders" of the BFF.) She did this once before and it was more so she pulled it/stepped funny. I'm just hoping it is that and nothing more serious. If she was wailing/crying all the time, I would have her at the emergency vet right now.

Please send Molly happy healing vibes!

Things that make you go grrrr

I'm a chatty person. I have always been. The parent/teacher conferences for years always included some form of "excellent student but she talks a bit too much at times." Sometimes I don't make sense. Sometimes I ramble. Sometimes I just start small talk with random people in public situations.

I've ridden public transportation as long as I can remember. The bus steps used to be HUGE to me. I understand that traffic gets messed up the first major snow of the season even though this is the Midwest and snow is no new thing. I understand there are traffic jams due to accidents, power outages, construction and people who generally do not know the basic rules of the road. (My favorite bumper sticker ever is one that says "If I can't trust you to use your turn signal, how can I trust you to use the rest of your car.") I understand that schedules change. I'm just not going to be happy especially this time.

::pauses to take pizza flier away from the orange meowing rubber band chewer::

I am glad that I have started/joined in random waiting-for-the-bus small talk. One of my bus friends today (or "the bus people" as Hubs calls them) let me know of the schedule change that starts Monday.

Monday.

I had no idea.

If I hadn't seen her and she hadn't showed me the notice that she was given YESTERDAY, I would have been standing there in the snow Monday morning thinking the bus was late. Nope. New time. I check occasionally but usually when there is a major change there are notices out for quite a while. I must have missed them if they were because I only recall one with a different number. My guess it was not part of that header and therefore I didn't pay attention. Not my bus equals a quick glance then back to my book.

The thing that really frustrates me is that the evening buses are shifted to where I either have no chance to make one bus or have to wait a good chunk of time to catch the next. I have a long commute and have gotten used to the long commute. It doesn't bug me anymore for the most part. I talk to my bus friends. I read. I knit. I play too much of that Bubble Breaker in Megashift mode on my cell phone. I just wasn't ready for an even longer one.

While it is frustrating, I know it is not the end of the world. There are much worse things going on in the world than a bus schedule changing. We have just dealt with a lot this year and got through it all so now it's like the last bwahahahaha of the year. I do have another option to take a train and luckily I can walk the added distance to get there.

For this weekend, there will be some added yoga and I know I'll be finishing the rest of the box of Zen tea.

::ends venting::