Full Moon Thursday...

  (Not sure what this has to do with anything...but I liked it.)

  It's been a rather lovely day...started out cool and rainy and ended up sunny and dry, but still cool. Tonight is downright cold. I had to put my coat on after the meeting I attended , and then I went to the market while I was down in town and picked up a few things like walnuts and organic raisins so I can make granola bars this weekend.

  Earlier today I went to Market on the Square, to pay a visit to Aimee and pick up 5 pounds of gorgeous  organic asparagus...O,  sweet lord.  I cooked a pound of it for supper and will blanch and freeze some of the rest...it is really wonderful.  I also got another jar of the stone ground mustard (I am in LOVE with that stuff!!!!)  as well as some local Havarti cheese. I love that store and encourage everyone to go see them ...if you're in the Carlinville area.  I also indulged in an Illinois made ginger soda for the ride home...it was a little sweet, but really good.  I love ginger soda...

  And that reminds me...I got a thing at Xmas from MissB's niece that is a thing to make your own sodas and sparkling water, and I have yet to use it. Maybe I'll try making my own home made ginger ale...OR maybe sassafras. I love sassafras and have always wondered why nobody ever made a soda out of it.  (Wait--sasparilla??  hmmm...)

***************************

  My eye is still hurting. Not debilitating, just icky.  I'm putting warm compresses on it several times a day,  and I think that's helping a lot.  Right now, I'm smelling like a eucalyptus factory, with salon pas patches on my shoulder, neck and knee.  lol  Feeling kind of old and used up right now.  That salon pas works pretty good though, I have to say. By morning, my neck won't be so stiff and my shoulders won't hurt. Even the ubiquitous knee will feel a little better.  This little bit of cold hits me upside the old body like a shovel.

*************************

 Got some wonderful news tonight:  I am going to be a great Aunt again!!!!!  This one is about 9 weeks right now, so probably an October baby. This one will be number 17, I think....how blessed am I ???  It's my baby brother's first grandchild....he's a mess in a dress.  LOL  Today's his and his wife's anniversary, and my niece called them tonight to give them the good news, right after she got back from the doctors office.  I'll have to call her tomorrow....And, the Irishman's niece is also having another baby, in August, I think, and that will be #18.

***************************

  Got a room full of sleeping dogs...making all kinds of goofy noises,  like they do.  Lip smacking and rabbit dream noises and of course, farts. No day is complete without a full spectrum of dog farts...as everyone knows.  LOL

   Had to buy a 40 #  bag of chick starter tonight at the farm store because they didn't have anything smaller. It's more economical, of course. The 7# bag that I bought was 4.99...the 40# bag (same brand) was 9.99.  It's just such a big bag to have to keep in that room.  That poor room is a mess--and stuff is piled up on the bed and the potatoes and sweet potatoes and squash from last years garden is in there...the carpet cleaners live there...the chicks pen is in there. All this, PLUS a queen sized bed, dresser, bedside table, giant sauerkraut crock, a bale of wood chips for the chicken pen, a bookcase, a lot of appliances that actually are stored in the big closet that I can't easily get to because of the chick pen, and a pole lamp.  Can you imagine the level of chaos in there?????  The only thing that saves me is knowing it's temporary. In a month or two, the chicks will be out in the regular coop and I'll spend a day or two trying to rid the room of all the dust from the chicks that will have settled on everything and get all the rest of the stuff back where it belongs.  I'm actually getting pretty good at it--lol--it gets this way at Xmas too, when everything gets tossed in there all willy-nilly and then we get a visitor, and I have to zoom in there and make room for a sleeper.  

  Pretty convenient having a guest room.  Unless somebody needs to sleep in it.  LOL

******************************

  I need to get to bed. I will be sitting with my neighbor's husband tomorrow for about 7 hours while she goes with her church committee visiting shut-ins.  I'll take Student of the Weather with me for reading and we'll have lunch together and talk about all kinds of interesting stuff. He's a really wonderful guy...and watching the Parkinsons slowly steal the life from him is tragic. If it's warm enough, maybe I can talk the Irishman into coming over and having lunch with us and then we can all head into the woods and go mushroom hunting.  People are finding a lot of them, but it will probably be cut short by this cold spell.  We're having nighttime temps in the 30's again for a few days.

******************************

  I wasn't home for supper tonight, but I made my honey veggie burgers that I fortified with brown rice, adzuki beans, raw sunflower seeds and flax seeds...cooked them up and sauteed onions and bell pepper slices to put on top. Used some leftover rice and beans to make a protein rich side dish, and cooked a pound of fresh asparagus...it was really good. And satisfying. And nutritious.  I ate before I left and he ate when he got home from work.  I sliced a little of that havarti cheese to go on mine...mmmmm.  And  did I tell you--the people who own that dairy are my neighbors cousins?  lol  What a lovely small world, eh ??  The meeting I went to tonight was a womens meeting...small and intimate.  One of the women said she always reads my Facebook page and  salivates over the descriptions of my cooking.  She said "Will you come over and cook for me?"  I said "Yes. Yes I will."  and we all laughed.

***************************

  Time for bed. Almost 1 AM and I am starting to be really tired. I foolishly drank a small cup of coffee at the meeting and it has kept me awake past my preferred bedtime.  Probably lucky I am feeling sleepy at all....(I KNOW better than to do that....)

  My newly found cousins' son is having knee surgery tomorrow, so I have a few prayers to say tonight and in the morning. She's pretty nervous about it and I told her to call me if she needs an ear. My niece is having her first baby.  My son is anxiously awaiting news of when he will return to work. And I am one sleepy old woman. blessed with a life I could never have dreamed of having.

  Goodnight my bloggerfriends.  May all YOUR dreams come true....

Namaste..