Bad Day

Today I had to take my moms cat to the vet to be put down. It's not been a good day. I stood in the exam room, petting her and scratching behind her ears while they administered the shot. Mama Bird was on the phone with me during the whole thing. She was in California and the cat took a sudden turn for the worse while she was gone. The cat was fourteen. It's been a really sucky day.

--Little Bird is crying.

Is There a Cardiologist in the House?

I suppose I could share this hollidays top meals. (when not sure what to write about, write about food)
Pretty much everything we ate this Holliday season was cooked in bacon grease or had bacon itself in it. The diet has been resumed since then. There was the frittata with bacon (natch) and poblanos and mushrooms. There was turkey chili (the onions were "sweated" in bacon grease). There was bolognese cooked with a bit of red wine ( same treatment of the onions). The were BLOATS. That's bacon, lettuce, onion, avocado, and tomato sandwiches.
In the next few months I have to lose about fifteen more pounds, an ordeal that is made more difficult by the frigid temperatures outside. Salads are well and good when it's hot outside, but when it's cold, not so much. When it's cold I want soups, thick creamy soups. I want quiche. With bacon. I want pasta with cream sauce. Alas, not gonna happen much this year. Back to the seventeen day diet for me. Phase one even. Ah, well. It was nice while it lasted.


---Little Bird attempts to get littler

New Year, New Post

Things have been a'changin. First of all, once again, sorry for the prolonged absence. I got a wee bit busy. Mostly outside. Walking. Until I hurt myself that is. But I lost nearly forty pounds doing it. The walking, not the hurting.
Also? I am moving!!! To New Mexico!!!! This year!!! In July, but the purging of crap I don't need starts now. So all my STL friends should consider visiting soon.
Also also? It's my birthday! And it snowed! Thirty seven is the same age Mama Bird was when she made some big changes in her life. I have always thought that by the time I reached this age I'd know more about where I want to be in life. All I know is that there ARE big changes coming. The move, more weight loss, and a wedding to officiate. Maybe I'll find my purpose in New Mexico.
Stealing an idea from another blogger, resolutions. Specifically one word resolutions. Mine is Prioritze. What's yours?


------ Little Bird is flying south.

What I Did This Summer

Sorry I've been gone all summer. I wish I could tell you that I was off galavanting around the world. That I had found a great job. That I had met the love of my life and was busy being swept off my feet.
None of those things happened. I went galavanting (by train) to Texas and Missouri. I went to a LOT of concert picnics. I made a ton of pesto (so much so that my stepfather actually got tired of it!) I didn't meet anyone special.
I did bake some cakes for a family and their kids, and babysit for them occasionally. Their three year old daughter apparently recently professed her love for me (I watch movies with her that she's seen a million times and I refuse to tell her what's going on when she asks for the thirtieth time "Where's her going?") also, I am the cake lady.
Perhaps I will figure out this fall something to write about. Perhaps I can get involved in something worth writing about.
Fall is by far my favorite season, there's a sense of anticipation in the air. The mornings are crisper, there is more hustle and bustle. The food is more... involved. Maybe I'll start posting recipes again, that at least would be something.

Little Bird has been remiss

P.S. The first recipe will involve bacon. The best bacon in the world.

Frustration.

Once again, life at failblog has led me to make another serious post.
I was born with Neurofibromatosis. This is a degenerative disease. It is what will eventually kill me. Assuming I don't get hit by a bus first. I don't have health insurance. I can't afford it. I simply can't. What one insurance company quoted me, I wouldn't NEED the insurance! I could use that money (there was a $5,000 deductible involved) to cover nearly all of my doctors visits.
Most people who have met me wouldn't know about my condition if I didn't tell them. I'm lucky in that regard. Most of my issues area largely "invisible". But for crying out loud! What the fuck is wrong with trying to provide adequate health care to EVERYONE!? It's not like I get sick just so I can suck tax dollars out of anyone's pocket! There are so many people like me who fall through the cracks. There are so many people who are worse off than me.
There are so many people who think that folks like me are idiots and morons for saying that current health care is inadequate. They say that we don't know what we're talking about. I've lived the life. I know from what I'm talking about.
If there is a program out there to help me, they sure as hell make it as difficult as possible to get to. See, part of my issues include learning disabilities, which makes navigating the convoluted ins and outs of the system overwhelming.
It is in a word frustrating.

--Little Bird is fed up.

The Change

So there was a recent question on Facebook about where you may have been on 9/11. I answered "at work". But there's more to it than that. I was working at a Whole Foods. It hadn't opened yet. I was hired to work in Specialty and Wine. We were still building out the store. It was maybe 9 am or so. I was outside smoking with one of the guys from the bakery department. We overheard the construction guys talking about the World Trade Center bombing. I thought they were talking about the incident years earlier. It did register that there were no planes in the sky, but not that I should be concerned about it. I went back inside, and ten minutes later all work stopped. TV's were rolled out, in several areas of the store. We all stood there entranced, shocked. Unable to move. Unable to think. My cell phone rang. It was Mama Bird, calling to find out if I had heard. I called my ex-boyfriend (former Navy) to make sure he was okay. It turned out that the Shift Manager of my store had an ex-wife. Her new fiance was on the plane that crashed into the Pentagon.
Nothing more got done that day. I couldn't even think straight.
I remember sitting outside, just before I went inside and found out the news. It was such a nice day. Warm, sunny, a few clouds here and there. It was quiet. Peaceful. And then it all changed.

--Little Bird remembers

Walking in a Winter Wonderland

So, it's snowing here in Chicago. In fact, we're having a blizzard. I mean a full blown balls to the wall blizzard. They shut down Lake Shore Drive. Part of Wrigley Stadium's roof blew off (the press office). And we've had thunder and lightning. They are telling folks to stay inside. You think? That just maybe that it might be a bad idea to go outside for any reason?
My apartment faces the lake. And my blinds are knocking. The cupboards in the kitchen are rattling and the whole apartment is shaking. There are gusts of wind that are so loud it sounds like it take a couple of windows out.
So what to do when you can't go outside, and your cable goes out? Why, you make soup! What could be better fare during a blizzard?
I had gotten a rotisserie chicken yesterday, so after I ate my meal yesterday, I stripped the carcass and tossed it into a pot with water. Just enough to cover it. I had to let it simmer for 2 to 4 hours (I really don't remember how long I cooked it for), and froze it.
Today, I figured that I could add the leftover mashed potatoes from the other day and then puree it some more. I added shallots, garlic and some green onion too. Oh, and milk and sour cream. Topped with white cheddar, more green onions, crispy onions and of course BACON.
I didn't have a recipe to work from, so mostly this was just winging it. All in all, it was pretty good!

---Little Bird is trying to stay warm.