cheese hounds

On Sunday Dan and I went to one of the big gourmet grocery stores in Ann Arbor to buy first class cheese. We tried all of the samples repeatedly, and ended up buying one brick of a great and mellow and rich Swiss cheese from Switzerland. We bought two blocks of a great sharp Canadian Cheddar. That afternoon I cut off some slices from both sorts and also cut thin slices from a very crusty loaf of French bread. Everyone enjoyed it. We had half the block of Swiss left, and 1 1/2 blocks of the Cheddar.

Last night when I got home from work Dan and I decided to slice some more cheese. There was none left. Our young cheese hounds had eaten it all!

Last night Steven had a band concert. It turns out that his band districts will be the same Friday in March that Bill has all of his appointments at Ball State. It sounds like I will be heading down to Muncie with Bill and Dan will stay home with Steven. That sort of stinks, since we had wanted to have some family time together.

This coming weekend will be the state high school team wrestling championships. The high school team goes to Battle Creek to watch, and this year they middle school team will also go along. Dan and I will actually have some couple time! I am hoping to make some great dinner reservations, and perhaps go out and listen to some music at a jazz club. Then again, staying home and snuggling and chasing each other through the house naked would also be quite fine.

I've been busy watching the television series Firefly on dvd in my spare time. I am really enjoying it...Dan has only been able to see a couple of episodes, but he seems to like it, too.

their own worst enemies

I've been thinking a lot the last day or two about people who are their own worst enemies. Those who try to hurt others (and sometimes succeed) but who do far more harm to themselves.

Someone (a middle aged adult) who used to be associated with the high school wrestling program a couple of years ago was caught on security videotape doing something rather unpleasant directed at a high school kid this weekend at the high school. He had not gotten along with the boy's father. OK - so why would any true adult do something targeted at a kid to begin with? And why do something bad in a public place with all sorts of security cameras? And why do something rotten to someone who has never done you any harm? For that matter, why do something rotten to anyone anyway? People like that are their own worst enemies. He certainly did not upset or hurt the kid - everyone who knows what happened rallied around the kid. All he managed to do is to make himself look immature and petty and vindictive. And this is from a man who can be truly kind at times. He was his own worst enemy!

Ah well. Human nature is an odd and exotic thing. Filled with paradoxes. Genuinely kind people with cruel streaks, like my former friend. Charming people with stone cold hearts, people who believe in God who drive other people away from God with their hypocrisy and harsh judgments. Spouses who wonder why their partner strays when the husband (or wife) only gets distrust, nagging, and neglect at home - and then the spouse who drove away their mate thinks that they are completely innocent and deserve everything in the bitterly fought divorce. And then they proceed to treat their next partners even worse than the first, with even more distrust and nagging and neglect and now with bitterness thrown in. And then wonder "Why me? Why does this always happen to me?" if that second spouse eventually also throws in the towel. Lord, I know so many women like that. They never even see that they contributed to the problems in their relationships, and so never learn how to treat their new partners better so they will want to stick around. Then there are people who value fear over friendship and insecurity over love. People who run into the supervisor's office at every opportunity to rat out their co-workers, then go ballistic if anyone does the same to them (I work with sooo many people like that!).

All of these people are their own worst enemies, and they wonder why their lives are largely lonely and unhappy and why things and relationships do not go their way...

Now I am depressing myself!

Luckily I know many people who are loving and supportive and generous, and quite wonderful in every way!!! I should think about them now, and cheer myself up!

 

cold & sunny Sunday

Had a quiet yet productive day off. I washed down the icky bathroom with diluted bleach from floor to ceiling and got rid of the yuckiness and unpleasant smell from when everyone was sick. Hopefully that will take care of the last of the yuckiness from the Norwalk virus.

I also did some laundry and a couple of loads of dishes.

Dan and I went in to one of the gourmet grocery stores in Ann Arbor and bought some imported and delicious cheeses. He seemed to be feeling sort of poorly today; he did perk up a bit when we went to the store. I think he is coming down with a cold.

We are trying to decide what to do with our time off in June. Washington DC and Myrtle Beach are sort of high on the list right now, but I would be happy to just go camping on a lake someplace as long as I can be with Dan and the kids.

We did make a reservation for a night at Ball State next month, and reserved a cabin for Memorial Day weekend down at a state resort park in Kentucky on Lake Cumberland. That should be peaceful and wonderful, and we might be able to hook up with a very nice man from Tennessee named Don (dlbpharmd) and his wife and children that weekend, which would be great.

back to the hot gym ;-)

Today was a long day, but a good day. Dan and Bill helped out at the high school regional tournament that was held at our high school.

Steven wrestled for the first time in about two months at a tournament in Bedford. Going in, I only hoped that he would not get injured again, as he has had so many injuries this winter. I knew that there would be some very good kids at his weight, and that he would be out of shape and rusty because of his injuries. He surprised everyone, including himself, and won the bloody thing. He beat some very high quality kids in doing so, too.

I was also glad that I went because a kid from another team had an asthma attack and did not have his albuterol rescue inhaler with him. Luckily I had mine (which reminds me that I have to go wash it because the kid had it in his mouth) and after a couple of puffs the kid felt a lot better, and started breathing more normally. He had been injured, he was in pain, and he panicked; a perfect recipe for an asthma attack. Then the asthma and the pain and the panic and the fear all fed off of each other...and you have a kid who is too freaked out to remember how to breathe. The albuterol opens up all of the little passages in the lungs and helps you get in more air; and the act of puffing on the inhaler, knowing that you can breathe again in a moment, always helps mentally and emotionally!

I am happy because Dan went out for some bar food and a beer (or two) with some of the other coaches and parents tonight after the regionals. He doesn't go out and have fun enough; I am always nagging him to go out more often with his friends. Tonight he did, and that makes me glad. I am relaxing with the kids and the kitties, and have been listening to music and relaxing and reading and relaxing. I am going to take a bath in some hot tea in a few minutes. (They actually make huge tea bags you put in your bath tub - the tea is great for your skin and your hair!) Because of my crazy work schedule, I only get two evenings at home in a typical week - this is a particularly relaxing and pleasant one.

birthday

Yesterday was Dan's birthday. We had a quiet day at home, and went out for lunch at a little Vietnamese restaurant in Ypsilanti. Neither of us had ever had Vietnamese food, and he wanted to try it, and this restaurant has a great reputation. The food was tasty, and we enjoyed lunch very much.

After lunch we went to a huge hardware store, and he looked at jacuzzi bath tubs and lawn tractors. Now that the credit cards are all paid off, we can think about making some big purchases and home improvements (the money which would have paid credit cards can now be used for savings and buying things with cash). And looking at stuff like that makes him happy. We did not make any decisions or purchases, but I did pick up some spring bulbs and roots like gladiolas and begonias, as well as some gourmet seed potatoes and asparagus roots. I've never tried growing those two vegetables, but love both and am willing to try.

We then headed down to the middle school to pick up Steven from practice, and picked up a bunch of pizza on the way home. So we had pizza and breadsticks and birthday cake and ice cream for dinner.

It was a peaceful day, and I think Dan enjoyed it, which makes me happy as well.

Today, other than sorting laundry, I am giving myself sort of a day off. I am a bit tired, and want some rest. Tomorrow Dan and Bill will help out at wrestling individual regionals, and Steven will be wrestling at a middle school tournament. I will go spend the day with him in Bedford, down on the Ohio border. I took Sunday off to have a long weekend, and I think I will scrub the upstairs bathroom down floor to ceiling - it has smelled a bit funky in there ever since everyone got so sick...

President's Day

Yesterday was the President's Day holiday. I had the day off from work, as did the kids from school. Bill helped Dan at a job site; Steven and I worked in the house all day. I got a huge amount of housework done over the weekend, particularly laundry. I also found the missing mixing bowl in Bill's room, filled with congealed vomit from when he was sick. While I did not mind (too much) washing the clothes people got diarrhea and vomit on when they were sick (I know they couldn't help it, and I vomited all over one of my night gowns, too), that bowl was the line I refused to cross. I made Bill clean that.

Last night we went out to eat dinner at Los Tres Amigos Mexican restaurant. The food was good, and it made Bill happy to actually be able to eat his fill for pretty much the first time in six years, since he started wrestling. I am expecting him to put on 10-20 pounds in the next year or so, and probably get taller as well. He will be going from the lowest weight his doctor wants to see to a more average weight. His doctor will be very happy to have him put on some weight, in fact.

Two work days, then a four day weekend to celebrate Dan's birthday. It would be nice if he would tell me what he wants to do on his birthday, but I will wing it, and I am sure he will be happy. And Bill will actually be able to eat birthday cake for a change.

Steven saw a sports medicine doctor this morning about his knee. It is healing well, and he can start practicing again this afternoon. In fact, it has healed so much more quickly than they were expecting (ah to be young!) that he can possibly even wrestle on Saturday if he feels no pain in practices this week.

what love are you fated for? (quiz)

http://quizilla.com/users/ElisaDay/quizzes/What%20Love%20are%20you%20Fated%20for%3F%20~AWESOME%20anime%20pics!~

 

You want a Beautiful love, soft but passionate. You are probably very old fashioned and polite. You can't stand rude people, wolf whistles are to you only dis-respective and immature. You love nature and everything beautiful in life. You will fall for a guy that makes you forget about the rest of the world.