Monday, March 29, 2010

missed anniversary

With everything else that's been going on, I failed to mention that last weekend was the first anniversary of my being able to have dairy again. It's been a great year, gastronomically speaking. I've had pizza, ice cream, cheese of all sorts, and of course--MILK! No more having to read labels to see if there's lactose. It's sure made cooking a lot easier, too. I can make stuff with real milk or butter and don't have to try and make do with lactose-free products that don't always translate as well as real dairy. And I can make things I haven't had in years and used to enjoy a great deal--like Cheeseburger Macaroni Hamburger Helper! Don't laugh; that's one of my all-time favorites. I pretty much enjoy all the Ham. Help. varieties, but the cheeseburger one was always the family fav and I would make it for Marv and Paul, but couldn't have it myself. And one of the biggest pleasures with that particular variety is a soup that can be made with it. I got the recipe years and years ago on the back of the package and just love it. Marv's not a big soup lover, so he'll usually eat it on the first night and the leftovers will be split up into individual servings for me and put in the freezer to enjoy at my leisure.
So to whatever part of my body that processes lactose, I say: Happy Anniversary (fill in the blank), and many more!

Friday, March 5, 2010

pasta and a haircut

WAAAY back in September of '09, I got the best haircut of my entire life. I always go to SuperCuts because I'm cheap and I've always had pretty good service there, no matter who does the cutting. I figured that just before Thanksgiving I'd get it cut again, as that's when my hair would start not co-operating with me.
Things came up, I had dental work done and was miserable for a long time, Thanksgiving came and went, AND MY HAIR WAS BEAUTIFUL. My current profile pic on Myspace was taken at Thanksgiving and I think my hair looks pretty darn good. I'd never had a haircut last that long! I had to do a minimal amount of fussing and it was still working! I thought maybe just before Christmas would be the time to get a cut.
Of course, if you've been reading my blog (and if not, shame on you!) you know that that's the time I was dealing with a very bad back, the stuff going on with Marv's mom, Sarah and Lia coming up and Christmas itself. So no haircut, but that was OK because MY HAIR WAS STILL BEAUTIFUL! I was getting compliments on it regularly!
January came and went and February was well into it before the first hints of non co-operation started. By the end of February I knew that was it. No more Mr. Nice Hair!! My big goal this week was to get my hair cut, come heck or high H2O. Last night I decided that I would get my hair cut in the morning and then go to lunch with Paul to redeem our blood-earned pasta coupons at Round Table. I also had a coupon for a free tea tree shampoo with purchase of any hair cut. So that's what I did. I got a wonderful shampoo and a fabulous haircut.
When Paul and I went to Round Table, he was going to get the lunch buffet of salad/pizza bar along with his pasta. I went first and asked how large the pasta portion was. The gal said it was pretty big, and showed me the take-out pan they use for it. It was enormous. Paul changed his mind when he saw that and just got the pasta and drink like I did. When it was served, it also had a big garlic bread twist with it. I think the bread had sour cream in it, which I really don't care for, but the pasta was superb! I could only eat about half of it and brought the rest home for dinner. I'll probably give the bread to Marv; I only took two small bites.
So it's been a pretty good day--free shampoo (and great haircut) and free pasta! And tomorrow I get to go to a stamp luncheon! Whee!

Thursday, March 4, 2010

whaddya want, blood?

I was a good girl today, Gladys. I gave blood, even though my last experience was pretty awful. Many years ago, our church had a blood drive and I gave blood for the first time. It was OK. I don't like needles, but I didn't look, so everything was fine. I got some good cookies and juice and a free t-shirt. We never had another drive at church, so I just never got around to giving blood again. Marv donated several times at other drives around town, and Paul has been a regular donar for years. I was just real ho-hum about it.
Then, this last December, there was a message on the answering machine for Paul, reminding him about the upcoming blood drive at the local sport club. The gal in the message said it was very important during the holidays for there to be a good blood supply on hand, and especially important for Paul, because he was a universal donar (type O-). When I heard the message, I thought, "Well, shoot! I'm a universal donar too! Why aren't I giving blood?!?"
I had no good answer for that, so when time came for the drive, Paul and I went together. The first thing we did on registering was pick up our free red holiday t-shirt. The place was pretty busy, but they had 8 drawing tables, so things went fairly fast. When it was my turn, the table I happened to go to only had an arm rest on the right side. Whenever I've had blood taken for a blood test, it's always been on the left--no particular reason. But I sat down and the gal got things ready for my right arm. That's when things went south. For some reason, she was having a very difficult time finding the vein, getting the needle in, getting blood to come out and just generally saying "Sorry! Sorry!" a lot. Finally another gal had to come over and help. It took forever for me to fill up the bag! Then, when the gal tried to fill the little test vials, nothing was working. She took out and then tried to reinsert the needle. No go. Meanwhile, everything was really starting to bruise in that whole area of my arm. Again, someone had to come over to try and help. They ended up taping up my right arm, moving me to another table and getting things started in the left arm so they could get those little test vials--otherwise they would have had to throw out the bag of blood I had so painstakingly just filled. After several more "Sorry! Sorry!" apologies, it was done. I was pretty calm about it all since the gal doing the blood work was having enough anxiety for both of us. After one more apology, the gal thanked me for being so nice and told me to get another t-shirt. At this time, Paul had given his blood, had his juice and cookies and was just kinda hanging out until I was done. Since I had already gotten the red shirt, I was going to get one of the older blue shirts from a previous drive, but they were out of my size, so I just got another red one. THEN I had my fill of cookies and juice! I'd earned it!! And my arm was bruised for 2 weeks!
SO-----present day. They had another drive at the sport club this afternoon and Paul and I went together again. This time the freebie was a coupon for a free individual penne pasta w/meatballs at Round Table. And things couldn't have gone more smoothly for me this time around! We were in and out of there in no time. I made sure that it was my LEFT arm they used, though....(and no HINT of a bruise this time!) So tomorrow, Paul and I will have our lunch at Round Table!