Trying To Stay Busy

I don't know if it is nervous energy, or  if I am trying to stay occupied with everyday life so I don't have to think about my next appointment, pill, treatment or the pain, the bigger picture.  I do know that I sure have been cramming a lot of the mundane in the past few weeks.
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I haven't been posting lately because I have recently begun to lose my train of thought.  I like to call it "side effect #419".  I just can't seem to get the essence of what I want to say across. It can be very frustrating to me.  It even happens when I am talking to my family and friends here in our pond.
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I know [hope?] y'all understand.  You have been a great source of support to us with your comments and mail, so I thought maybe I would leave you ::breathless:: with a list of my activities these past few days.
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I hope you enjoy. I know we sure did! [Warning:  There are amazingly l-o-n-g run on sentences to follow. Oops!]
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Friday was pizza and movie night, at home, but before we could begin Wallene had to take an on line algebra quiz. It had to be submitted beforemidnight Friday night.  No problem, but she was without a graphing calculator. Although she was doing the work without one, they are allowed to use them. It makes checking her work a lot easier.  Her Dad and I researched the price [$100] and availability [plenty] at Staples and with my $5 off coupon we headed on over.  Surprise! They were sold out and the only other one in stock was $120. No thank you.
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We then went to Wal Mart. ::shudder:: It was amazingly empty for a Friday evening. We were able to zip in only to discover that they too were sold out of the calculator we wanted.  Their price was better [$94] but they didn't have any other models to choose from. We decided to give it one more try and drive over to Best Buy since there seemed to be a run on TI-83 graphing calculators in Sterling, VA that evening.
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We had success at Best Buy. I literally ::skippyhappydanced: in the aisle.  We purchased the last one for $105 and Wallene was able to complete her quiz on time. At 10:00 pm we settled in for delicious $5.99 pizza and watched "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close".  We had purchased the pizza on sale and it was one of the best frozen pizzas we have tasted.  It was a "Freschetta Deluxe Topping Rising Crust Pizza".  If you can find it, even at the full price, $7.99, buy it! I only had one piece and I would've had more but. . .  Regardless, there were no leftovers. :D
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After a quick night's sleep we woke to a gloomy, doomy, very chilly day.  Wallene was dropped off at school at 8:30 am.  She was participating in her Marching Band's fundraiser until 1 pm, so Pooldad and I settled in for a cozy day indoors.
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Here's where the weekend fun [for me at least] really began.
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While Dad drank his coffee I prepared breakfast.  I have to admit I was inspired by Spadoman's trip to Chicago and all the great meals they ate.  Since we're watching the pennies and my sodium [yawn!] I made breakfast with food on hand and tried to make it as healthy as I could.
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It was so delicious!  I made skillet potatoes, crisped in olive oil with green, red and yellow peppers, onion and a splash of oregano and paprika to spice it up.  Served with 1 egg over easy, 1/2 piece of toast, a bowl of grapes and two bites of a sausage patty made me a very happy camper.  Pooldad had the same, but X10.  "Growing boy" and all that y'know.
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After breakfast we bundled up and walked the dog.  It really was a drizzly, bone chilling day for the end of April, but it made coming home to a cup of rich Ghiradelli hot chocolate much more appreciated. Finally, we warmed through so we tackled the weekly chores of dusting, vacuuming, cleaning the kitchen and laundry before we picked up Wallene.
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For lunch [still inspired] I played short order cook. Everyone was served a steaming mug of homemade bean and smoked turkey [in lieu of ham] soup with their choice of sandwich.  Wallene had a BLT, Pooldad had a fried hotdog with mustard and diced onions and I had 1/2 roast beef, swiss cheese, lettuce and banana pepper sandwich.  This is my favorite sandwich, by far, that I make at home.  Pooldad enjoyed the other half.  Thank goodness I have him to eat my extras. :D
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With nothing much to do we all took naps.  There is something about sleeping on an overcast day that is so comforting, y'know?
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For dinner [yes, still cooking and cleaning the kitchen] I made ghoulash with individual dishes of sliced raw veggies for dipping in spicy Catalina dressing. YUM  Although I do think I chopped, diced and cut up my weight's worth in vegetables and fruit this weekend.
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We slept in this morning and awoke to one of the prettiest days in a long time.  The change in the weather was amazing.  It was if Mother Nature flipped her "I'll be nice today" switch and gave us a sunny, 70 degree day.  It was perfect for the long[ish] car ride out to see our Grandma.  It is such a gift to be able to spend a few hours with her, forgetting that she is 100 years old!  She is such a spit fire.  She, of course, put in her request for next week's lunch and dessert [Chicken and dumplings with lemon cake] so we will be back again soon to deliver the goods.  It was so, so nice to feel good enough to go and see her.  Sometimes I become so physically drained from the car trips to and from my appointments I don't want to get in the car if I don't have to.  Today it wasn't the case.  I had so much energy I couldn't wait to get out and enjoy it, especially if it meant visiting Non.
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On our way home we filled the van, saving .20 cents a gallon by using our grocery store rewards card - a bargain at $3.75/gal, picked up a fresh fruit and veggies to fill out our menu this week and came home to plant our container garden on our back porch.  This is very exciting for us because it is an experiment.  We aren't green thumbs [more of a black thumb, if you will] and this is our first time attempting vegetables. We planted two different tomatoes, one yellow squash, one mild pepper and for fun a watermelon plant. :)  We'll see how it goes. I am most excited by the watermelon and hoping it does well because when we were at the store today we paid $5 for a small watermelon [on sale!] and spent $18 on 6 lbs of grapes which will last us until Tuesday.  Throw in a few bananas and we had $25 in fruit that won't last us a week.  Thank goodness the tomatoes were on sale, but better yet - the Farmer's Market opens next Sunday!! And I will happily pay more than that for home grown, locally sourced, organic produce. Bring.IT.on!! :D
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The icing on the cake to the near perfect weekend was dinner tonight.  I made chicken fajitas [again with the chopping of the veggies!**] refried beans and Spanish rice.  Since this was my only sodium intake of the day I indulged and had some of everything. Wowser it was good - even if I do say so myself. ::wink::
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Have you ever had a meal, that when you were finished, you just knew you needed just *one* more thing?  LIke, say, maybe a cake to make it complete?  [Does that make sense?]  We have a lot of ice cream, sherberts and homemade cookies in the house, but they just weren't going to do.  They weren't fitting the bill. It had to be cake.  So, at 9:30 pm I made a carrot bundt cake [speedy cooling it on the back porch since the temperature had dropped 20 degrees since sunset] with cream cheese frosting rosettes dotting just the top of each piece.
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It was the perfect end to a near perfect weekend.  And I really do appreciate you reading while I rambled along. heehee
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It will soon be Monday morning here and so I will begin another round of "facing the big picture".
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At least I know I can do it with a smile on my lips and a lighter heart.  It really does make it easier Tadpoles. Trust me.
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Thanks for everything.  I am sure we will chat soon - be looking for me in your comments. :)
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And I'll see ya' all on the flipside.

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[**I actually love to chop vegetables and fruit. It sounds weird [you know me!], but it is so relaxing and rewarding to stand and chop, chop, chop away.  I do own a nice food processor, but I like my knife and cutting board. tyvm :D]