Monday This and That

Good morning and a happy beginning to a new week.  It looks to be another quiet one for me.  Maybe I'll get some coursework done, do a little reading.  Haven't been working on my jewelry at all.  Time to get busy.  So what have I been doing?  Watching kittens.  I am so totally addicted to TinyKittens that I have been getting little else done.  Well, the kitties I have been watching all went to their homes.  The three babies I became attached to moved onto a wonderful life.

Well, hubby was right.  I made out the menu for Sunday dinner made a list of the things I had to buy, but hubby said 'don't buy anything because I doubt my sister will come', and sure enough, she didn't.  Not even a phone call.  I'm actually quite relieved, but also a bit annoyed.  What if I had gone out and bought all the items for dinner?  What if I had gone past the planning stage and started cooking a few things ahead of time like I usually do?  No consideration.

I received these two books on Friday.  I buy a lot of used books from Amazon.  Very cheap and usually in very good condition.  Only once did I buy a used book on crystals and found that someone had cut out the crystals.  My money was returned right away so no complaints there.

 

As I continue to work towards a healthier me, I realized that aside from rice, I know very little about ancient grains--Quinoa, Amaranth, Kañiwa (Baby Quinoa) and Chia.  This book not only gives the history of the grains, but also some fantastic looking recipes. 

Such a fun book that follows the Wheel of the Year. We're all kitchen witches.  Anybody who lovingly prepares a meal  with good intent and fresh ingredients is practicing kitchen witchery, and if you are like me and cook for the seasons, you are following the Wheel of the Year. Some great tips for decorating your kitchen, using herbs, and cooking with the seasons.  Great for someone like me who likes to eat a lot of veggies, but doesn't want to get bored with them.

I had a strange dream the other night.  Can't remember the details of it, but I woke up remembering another dream I had several months ago.  In the dream hubby and I had taken our laundry to Newton, NJ. Why we traveled thereto do our  laundry who knows, but dreams are dreams and nothing is as it seems.  So, we stop at this little place and hubby asks me to get us a soda. I go up to the counter and this guy is standing there--my first 'real' boyfriend. I was 18 years old and spent every weekend with his parents who lived on Swartzwood Road in Newton. His family loved me, and it was thought that we'd be married....until the wanderlust struck and I broke up with him for a stupid reason.  The truth was, I just wanted to be free.  I loved him, but I guess not enough.  Or maybe it was because I'd never really been able to live with my strict parents and just wanted the chance.  I did see him again a few years later.  He had married and was in a bad relationship, and I'd gone through and was divorced from a bad marriage.  We chatted for awhile.  It was shortly after that that I moved to the city and never saw him again.  Now, back to the dream. 

So here he is standing there when I go up to get the sodas. I recognize him immediately. He looks at me and says, "You know I have always loved you. Just wanted you to know I never forgot you." I don't remember responding. Took the sodas back to hubby and turned back, but now it was a stranger standing there. 

That dream caused me to do some searching on Google, and I found him....on the Social Security death Index.  I then found a copy of his obituary.  I took some of the names in that obituary and looked for them on FB and finally found someone married to his nephew.  It turns out that he died of cancer in 2011.  Did I have a visitor from beyond the grave?

I don't eat sausage often due to it's high sodium content, but it is one of my favorite foods, and sometimes I just HAVE to have it.  So, this was last night's dinner.

Italian sausage, casings removed ( I mixed regular and hot sausage)
Carrots
Celery
Chopped onion
Garlic
Low sodium chicken broth (about 4 cups)
Canned whole tomatoes
Fennel seeds
Cannellini beans  ( 1 can, rinsed)
Ditalini 
Fresh parsley

Olive oil

Saturday was a very busy day for me.  Most of my Christmas presents done.  Of course I had to keep a few for myself--a pair of the quarter moon earrings and the pheonix earrings.

 They really are a pretty silver but it's hard to get on camera.

 And, of course, had to keep one of these too.