(no subject)

1) My house is a WRECK (we're moving furniture and decluttering in anticipation of our new computers, and it's at that stage when it gets worse before it gets better, y'know?) and people are coming over tonight

2) I'm seeing the doctor today about some skeery heart stuff

2) I can't count to 3

3) I have water-blisters all over my hands (probably from a combination of stress and contact allergies), so I can't wash dishes or spin the laundry thing, and I hate making someotherguy do those things for me (even though he's happy to, and does them as often as not anyway)

4) My mother is battling some pretty bad depression during another round of try-to-get-the-sibling out

Yet, somehow, I feel peaceful and happy. I think I'll just be grateful for that, and deal with the other stuff a little at a time.

(no subject)

I'm amused by the fact that because I went and scheduled the emergency-kit party for the end of the month, when we NEVER have any money, my menu is going to be of the "what can I make with what I've got in the pantry" variety. It seems fitting, no?

Anyway, menu will probably be some or all of the following:

Ham-and-cheese puffs (puff pastry, turkey ham, parmesan)

Pan-friend garlic-herb pierogie with basil-cream sauce (frozen pierogies, basil cubes and milk)

A gigantic salad (thanks to my CSA, I get fresh veggies every week even if I don't have any cash)

A pot of veggie chili

Kettle corn

Fresh bread (I'm making two poppyseed/onion loaves right now, and I may also throw together some dinner rolls)

Pears and ginger in puff pastry


Also possibly, depending on time, one or more of the following: Pasta salad with tuna; potato salad; twice-baked potatoes; potato soup in clam broth

Emergency kit party

Reposted from alt.poly (which is why the ObPoly); thanks, tracytreefrog, berkeleyfarm, and wild_irises! You all rock.

So I had this idea a month or so ago, about how to motivate myself
and my loved ones to create disaster preparedness kits for our
homes. I planned an emergency-kit party.

How it worked was this:

1) I created a list of the things that ready.gov recommends for a
kit, then added a few things I thought were good ideas.

2) I opened up the party for ten kits. ObPoly, we made three kits --
two for our two-person household, and one for Carin's place. Next
time I will make a few for Guy's house. (Also ObPoly, two of the
attendees were one of Guy's sisters, and one of his oldest friends.)

3) For each kit, the attendee had to bring 10 of something on the
list. (For example, I brought can openers, sets of eating utensils,
and handwarmers; other things brought were food, paper towels/toilet
paper, vitamins, water/windproof matches, etc.) [Edit: I divvied the
list up and handed out only part of it to each person, so there
wouldn't be much duplication.]

4) I provided the containers (cheap coolers) and we divvied the
stuff up. I passed around some handouts from the ready.gov site, and
put a checklist in each kit. (I also chose to give my housekey to
the two folks who are my neighbors, just in case, and we discussed a
contingency plan for what to do if any of our houses becomes
uninhabitable -- essentially, we agreed to congregate at one or the
other of our houses if it came down to it and was doable.)

5) Then we schmoozed and ate and ate and schmoozed, and wild_irises gave
me a backrub and people gossipped about Usenet oafs, and a grand
time was had by all.

Anyway, it was a fun thing, and now we all have at least the
beginnings of an emergency kit for our homes. I recommend it.

(no subject)

Saw the doctor today. The gist is this: I have some heart stuff (ischemia, among other things) that's not serious enough to land me in the hospital, but is serious enough for him to prescribe heart meds and send me to the cardiologist. Tomorrow. So I need to get to bed so I can get up in time to go to yet another medical appointment. Love and smooches, all! Remind me to tell you the story of how I got my doctor to, of his own volition, give me his word never to bring up weight-loss surgery again. :-)

Nighty-night.