In the late afternoon I was messing with soaked/dehydrated almonds, made homemade coconut milk and homemade almond milk, and I was up to my elbows cleaning the 8 dehydrator trays, Vitamix, nut milk bags, storing the coconut pulp and almond pulp (leftover from making the milk) in the freezer to use later, and was sick and tired of doing dishes and cleaning up I opted for something Q&E - tacos. The meat already prepared in the freezer, so essentially heat and eat. As soon as hubby got home from work we took Christmas gifts to the neighbors, ate a bite, did 2 loads of laundry and hung them in the basement to dry, did some last-minute Christmas things and called it a night. Daughter and granddaughter will be here tonight - let the fun begin!

Rob, great to see you! Your life sounds full, hectic, but gratifying. I second everyone's kudos in the mom department for you! We seem to have a lot in common. I'm a researcher/writer/editor/teacher/historian by profession (it's so hard to explain what I do, haha!). And music is a HUGE part of my life. I worked for 12 years as a professional musician before going back to college to do whatever it is I do now. My parents were so supportive of me and my music growing up. I didn't realize until I was at least in my 30's how exceptional they were. I cannot remember one single time them asking me to stop practicing or even goofing off with my friends on the piano, drums, guitar, trumpet, whatever...and I didn't know for a long time that other kids' parents weren't like that. Lass--we are lucky here in Washington (state) to have several excellent writing grants available to us. Think positive! If you don't get it this year, write and ask them how you could strengthen your writing to be competitive for next year. Then follow up and apply again! Also, check out Jack Straw. It's an amazing fellowship where they have you share your work on NPR and other venues. IIRC, the deadline is usually in October. And thanks for the encouragement! I'm celebrating small successes. If I do a little each day, it will eventually get done. :-) I'mhappy--have you tried opening your printer on your hard drive and making sure it's properly installed? Sometimes a printer can go offline even after it's been fine before. One easy check would be to uninstall it from your computer and then reinstall it. llucy-- I'm glad things are OK with your mom, but sad that you have been experiencing anxiety. I don't have first hand experience with that, but definitely second hand, as my daughter Joy has a lot of anxiety issues and full on panic attacks. I understand how frightening it must be. You're in my prayers. Steph--so very sorry you've been sick!! This heat sure doesn't help! I know you feel internal pressure to get stuff done every day, but remember your health is job #1 and getting the rest you need to get better IS doing something! Laundry and dishes aren't going anywhere. They'll wait until you're feeling up to it. :-) Audrey--that cake looks amazing, just like your name, lol! I swear if I didn't have diabetes I'd bake, then eat, that entire cake, hahaha! murraysmom--how cool is it that you have such wonderful friends to vacation with!! That sounds delightful!! And YAY for recycling! Shades, if you ever line your entire yard with empty wine bottles, I'm driving over the state line to have a serious chat with you, hahaha!! ;-) Schoolhouse, let us know if you try the tea again and how it turns out. Maybe it was just something different about your digestive system at the time and it will go down like it's supposed to now.

My husband came home this afternoon to move a big winch that he had sold. He borrowed a trailer to haul it on, and it was a wreck....most of the bed rotted out or missing. Had four tires....but one of those was missing. The winch weighed about 1000 lb....big like for a Gulf shrimp boat. He managed to get it loaded and then bottomed out trying to drive out. I pulled him out with my truck and then when he went over the wooden culvert at the front gate, pulled some of that up too and it got stuck under the trailer. I say all this to say that it makes me a nervous wreck to help him because he doesn't know the word "stop" and he takes too many chances. Then I had to follow him with my flashers on because the trailer had no tail lights. Once he got it unloaded, had to follow him back to where he had picked up the trailer. It was well past dark by then. He went back to his boat to go shrimping in the morning and I came on home. I stopped at Sonic and got a double meat hamburger for me and one with just meat and bread, for Gertie, my dog, that rode along with me.

I'm going to a holiday gathering tonight so have no idea what I will be eating. But since I'm not the one cooking it (catered affair), I know I will enjoy it!! I have a ham bone in the frig just waiting to be turned into pea soup, so maybe I'll do that tomorrow (thanks, Rhizo!!). And fried oysters are about my most favorite thing ever, so those sound wonderful too but not something I'd make at home.