Where oh where can she be....

 Heavens to Mercatroid ...


   Somewhere, last Sunday, either at the AA picnic or at the little restaurant the Irishman and I ate a late supper,  I got food poisoning. 

   Yup~~food poisoning.  Monday evening I started crashing, feeling feverish and weak and exhausted. Went to bed at 10 o'clock and slept until 9:30 the next morning. Got up feeling pretty yucky, and by about 11:30 the gates of hell opened  and the abdominal cramping started and the rest, as they say, is history.  For 3 days I was a prisoner of the bed and bathroom. When I wasn't on the toilet, I was either sleeping or trying to get to the toilet.  Unsuccessfully, often.  It was a nightmare. My poor husband, kept saying maybe we should go to the ER ??  And I kept saying, I can't leave the house...and would double up in pain and cry, or fly to the toilet. 

  3 days. I thought I was gonna die.  

 But--here I am, not dead. The crisis has passed and I told himself that I am never leaving my house again.  lol

  By Friday, I was feeling better, although still a little weak (I had lost 6 pounds in 3 days).  I have to say, I did a good job of working very hard to keep myself hydrated.  It's probably all that saved me.  lol  Looking around my kitchen, I almost started to cry. Overripe vegetables, rotting vegetables that should have been canned days ago...and I had a big stockpot full of diced tomatoes and onions that were the beginnings of a salsa canning fest in the fridge.  I was afraid to check them. It had taken a lot of work, chopping all those tomatoes and onions, and I had decided to stop Monday afternoon late because I was feeling so tired. So I stuck them in the fridge to finish on Tuesday morning. Right.

  Miraculously, they were still okay. So on Friday, I limped around the kitchen and finished chopping peppers and cilantro and parsley and canned 24 jars of salsa. In between, I would lie on the couch and rest up. 

I kinda took Saturday off, and went to do a little spreading some money around at the Green Earth market and picked up some organics that I needed, went to an 11 AM meeting where I got to socialize with some people I really like, and then came home and puttered around in the garden. I picked another half bushel of green beans to add to the ones already sitting on the counter that the Irishman had picked while I was sick. He and I watched a movie and snapped and trimmed beans on Saturday night (do we know how to live or what ??)  lol   Today, I canned 12 quarts of beans.

  I have about 25 pounds of tomatoes in the kitchen to can tomorrow, as well as about 15 cucumbers to grind up and make relish with.  I think I'm going to just peel and dice the tomatoes. Thought about canning marinara, (and still may at a later date)  but I'm thinking just the diced ones will be good for now. 

  I actually got my kitchen cleaned up.  That made me feel a lot better. lol  Then I went to the garden tonight and picked bell peppers and carrots and okra. Filled up the island again, but that's okay. I'll get that okra in the dehydrator tomorrow. Get those bell peppers sliced and in freezer bags. And do up them 'maters.  And life will be good.


  Tonight I made a vegan coconut ice cream that was really tasty. Very simple recipe and only 4 ingredients. Easy Peasey.  No ice cream maker required, but I have to tell you, I was salivating over the electric ones that make about a quart on Amazon...especially the Cuisanart one.  lol   We had baked chicken breasts, half a sweet potato with cinnamon, and green beans, fresh from the garden for supper. Watched The Man Who Wasn't There (we're big BBT fans) and had a small bowl of the ice cream with some  strawberries from the freezer on top. Mmmmm....


So--barring any unforeseen circumstances (like the Bubonic Plague or something), life on Honeysuckle Hill should be getting back to normal.  I'll have to water in the morning, as we still have gotten no rain.  The okra loves this hot dry weather (oh yeah--it has gotten hot again too)  and the plants are 7-8 feet tall.  The butternut needs harvesting.  Harvested the cabbages the other day too.  


 That's it for me tonight kiddos....



Namaste.