I wonder if anyone really appreciates me?...I'm looking at you Gordon. I just did a marathon after work tonight. I do it most days, but I think it goes unnoticed....it's all just here when he gets home and I make it look easy. Why, sure I am usually sitting at my computer when he finally gets home, the I get up and finish off all the prep I had done before.
Fer an instance...
I left work at 4:30 PM. Braved the icy roads to Safeway. I was missing a few items for the supper I had conjured up in my head on my coffee break. Picked up some fish for supper, and began worrying about tomorrows lunch...I'm beginning to hate sandwich meat from the deli, because it has so much salt in it. We only have about 45 minutes to meet and eat at home and go back to work, so it always has to be something fast. I always have a huge bowl of fat free 3 bean salad on hand (it lasts a week)...and it's really good, so that is our veggie, but we only have time to slap a sandwich together after that. So, I thought I would buy a huge box of frozen chicken breasts that were on sale, and bake them in the oven the night before for sandwiches. Lots of times we have leftover beef, chicken etc. but not always.
So I bought a box of frozen chicken breasts (that were on sale). When I got home I had to deprogram the dog, who was had been waiting for me since lunch, play...fake play... whatever... I needed to get the show on the road. After dragging in all my groceries, up a flight of stairs... to the kitchen I was getting a little tired...anyway, the show must go on.
Penny wasn't finished with me yet, we had to throw the ball out the patio door, 4,769 times. Then I lifted my groceries up on the counter and put them away. I realized then, I had bought a huge box of chicken breasts that would need re-packaging in freezer bags...shit. Now I had to repackage it all. I did it. Just a note, those cheap boxed chicken breasts looked abused. It looked like someone had run after them with a sword and tried to swipe off their little breasts. It was ugly. Bastards... But, fortunately I had freezer bags, I never have anything I need! So, I put their little breast souls to rest in a nice freezer baggy. This was time consuming, I had not even started supper yet. It was 6:10 PM when I finished putting them in the freezer. I left out 3 of them for our lunch for tomorrow. I defrosted them, and put a little sauce and them and put them in the oven to bake.
Then I needed to wash out a few pots and pans from the night before that didn't fit in the dishwasher...did that. I put in a new load of dishes that had accumulated under my double sink that I was hiding from two days ago. okay. I know.
Start to make supper. I bought frozen Basa fillets. Ahhhhh...crap another problem. I took two fillets out of the bag and put them under warm water to thaw them out. My microwave defrost cycle isn't kind to fish. So I have to give them a bath.....then did other stuff, clean .. wipe..ignore the dog, pour myself a very large glass of wine. Smell chicken baking ..yum. But that is not for supper, so forget about that asshole. (I was talking to myself).
Dog needs another ball run out the back door. By now, I'm saying...go and freeze your girly parts off, because this is getting OLD. I let dog sit at the door until she learns her lesson. I take her frozen body in the kitchen and put her in the oven to thaw out. Just kidding, I put her the microwave, it would have taken too long in the oven. Anyway, play time had ended, because I had shit to do and I needed all my appliances for cooking, not for dog thawing.
The bean salad had to be put in a smaller container, along with more fresh onions, which I chopped up.
Now I needed to bread the fish. I got together 3 dishes, one for cornflakes crumbs, one for whole wheat flour, and one for the egg mixture for breading. Dipped and flipped and breaded those fillets and put them aside.
By this time my chicken breasts were done. Took them out to cool.
I always make Gord fresh juice every night when he comes home. He is a juice junky. So instead of the crap he was drinking before his "incident".. I make my own. It's not that much work, just throw in a orange, strawberries, blueberries, a half a can of diet Fresca cherry drink or whatever you have on hand...non sweetened pineapple etc. and blend it up. He loves it. Sometime I put in a half of banana...or whatever.
Then, I got the asparagus from the crisper, and popped off the ends and put them in a pot to boil. Then I got out my low fat taters from the freezer and stuck them in the oven.
Waited for the the fish to cook..... then we had supper... mannnnn. It was yummy.
I am always so rushed after work, maybe I'm not organized enough, but there never seems to be enough time. Especially now, that we eat two meals a day at home. I'm always planning something new in my head.
Then I am so tired after that I don't have me no more jam...I turn to jelly and go to bed, and it starts all over again the next day. jam..to jelly. No wonder I couldn't keep up with posting every day this month. Especially with our car and tenant troubles this month. I am surprised I did as much as I did. But, at least talking about it keeps me sane.
I always look forward to the weekends, even if I know full well something will come up and I can't do what I want to do. Something always comes up. I know some of my friends don't understand why I don't do more for myself. For me alone. Well, it's hard to explain. Gord and I are in this life experience for better or worse. Yes, we bitch, natter and clatter...but, we always have had each others back. No matter what. Not your normal marriage probably, but it's ours. It's been a rough go this year with his "incident", our vehicles, etc. and now tenants moving out of our rental building. But, fuck...we are still alive to talk about it. No point feeling sorry for yourself; jest get up in the morning and do it all over again, and hope you get it right the next time.
I so envy some of our neighbours...they have all retired at the age of 55. Where did we go wrong? I'll tell you where, we didn't work for the man, we have our own business. And it took a little longer to hit the jackpot than we thought. It will come. We have a good plan.
8 comments:
"Jam to Jelly" I like that definition of life. I highly suspect that retiring is gonna be a hard thing for you to do because you will find it hard to slow down to do less. Besides, Penny won't let you. :-)
Well my mom does work for the man and she's still working at 67. So sometimes the man doesn't get it right either.
What beans are in your salad and what's the dressing? You can always make coleslaw with stuff like beets and use a vinegar/oil dressing on it instead of mayo.
:)
can you link to the blog post about "the incident" when you mention "the incident"? so i don't have to ask you to repeat yourself?
thanks for the chuckles as usual!
When you get really jellied out and need a break, come on out! I can stick Balonie in the garage with the rest of the animals, and I can fix you a sorta bed in the spare room. This is a really good place to hibernate!!!
Anon Mom...sorry it was when Gord had his heart attack last February. I should be more specific...I hate going back to the archieves to link; then I have to relive it again. I want it to go away. But of course you know it won't. And of course I will have to remember ..how to link.
Brenda.. You are right, Penny will never let me rest. She is looking at me right now grrrrrr.
Andie... awww your poor Mom, she probably works for a company like I do that doesn't have a pension plan either. I will probably be "hobbling" to work in my walker at 67.
I have changed up my bean salad recipe now for 6 months. Finally I got it where Gord likes it...and I do too. I don't think most people would like it, but we do.
Right now I am only using two beans. Green beans and kidney beans. I would use yellow ones, but my store doesn't sell frozen yellow green beens. Dinks! Gord doesn't like any other beans...so "beans"..that is it. I used to use canned beans other than the Kidney beans, but I thought I could cut out the salt content by using the frozen ones.
My recipe is basically in my head, and probably nobody else would like it, but we finally got it to where we both like it. And after the beans are gone, the juice left over is great to squirt on anything else you like tarted up.
This makes a big batch:
1/2 bag of frozen green beans, boiled up for a few minutes and then dunked in cold water and left to cool.
Chop up two large green peppers
Slice up (thickly) a large sweet onion or more. But cut the rings in half, because it's hard to mix those huge onion rings in a bowl.
1 large can of kidney beans...don't buy the cheap ones, because the mush up. Been there.
Then...in a bowl mix up the dressing:
1/2 cup of Splenda
3/4 cup of plain vinegar...and give it a gurgle or two more just in case it's not tart enough. Hey, I fly by the seat of my pants...
Shake in a generous tsp. of celery seed, black pepper and garlic powder. Mix it all about.
Pour this over the beans.
Mix it all about again. Put in the fridge overnight and forget about it. It usually tastes best about two days after, but we eat it next day.
Isn't that life for most of us domestic godesses? Same old slog day in and out. Yet when he hubby takes some initiative to actually do the dishes 'for you' he needs to meke a grand announcement about it and looks surprized when you don't drop down on your knees to thank him!
OOps forgor to say... our Binny does the ball off the porch umpteen thousand times a day! He looks at the ball then at you. at the ball , then at you. He may as well be speaking English, he makes himself so clear.
I've never made bean salad but I'll tell you this, I cooked (for the first time in my 65 years) dried lima beans at my cousin's house last week. I had NO idea how many BEANS nor how BIG they would be! Huge pot; tasted really, really good and then, YEP, I got the worst stomach ache ever! So, let's not talk about beans, okay? :)
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