Sick Again

I should have know that after a rough night with Eric, that he would be sick today.  So in between taking care of Eric and the eyrpy laundry I managed to get a lot done.  

I packed up a slew of packages for John to mail. Yeah, more stuff out of the house.  Tagged 11 hats for charity. Knit 2 more hats and started a third one. Almost got the washer fixed, Sears sent the wrong part, oh well next week. I only got through a third of my to do list, with only 4 hours of sleep last night all I can say is oh well there is always tomorrow.  

Passover Round Up

There was a positive side of being totally unprepared for Passover this year. I only had time to buy 3 boxes of Matzo this year do to travel for my moms birthday and other things happening around here. So I only had time to get to one store and all they had was matzo and chicken. They had no other Kosher for Passover mixes.  They also had grape juice, apples, dried fruit and dates the things I needed for charoset and fruit compote.

So my Passover cooking was a big pot of chicken soup, making the fruit compote and charoset. One day of busy cooking for John and I. The charoset lasted until yesterday the very last day of Passover so breakfast was taken care of. We finished the matzo last night. So I don't have to make a trip to the food bank with the left over mixes.

No one missed the Passover coffee cakes for breakfast. No one missed the snack cakes or cookies in the afternoon and evening, we ate fruit instead. We did not eat a lot of junk food and no one missed it, even me. Yes, all holidays have their junk food of cookies, cakes and candy. We ate on the light and healthy side.

The best part of not being prepared for Passover this year was that instead of gaining 5 pounds, I lost a pound. A holiday that lasted a week and I lost a pound. We will have to try this again next year.

Whether you celebrated Passover or Easter I hope that you enjoyed the time with your families.

Family Time

We had a great weekend visiting with Teri. She had some talks for work in Tucson on Thursday and we got to keep her until Sunday afternoon.  We did the usual family thing of eating and shopping.

Today Eric had the day off from program and he did not want to go run errands or shop.  Can you believe  that a 20 something young man would want to spend his day off kicking back and watching tv?  So I spent the day cleaning. Waiting for parts to fix the washing machine and the service man.  Well 2 out of 3 things done is not bad.   

I also got to fill out piles of paper work for Eric. 

I started another hat tonight. The pile of finished hats is growing faster than the baskets of yarn are shrinking. I think it is time to tag the next batch to put away for next winter. 

Tomorrow I will start a sewing project in which I will be making 2 dozen mystery items.  I always seem to do projects in dozens lately.  I hope to have them finished by the end of the week. 

Well it is getting late and Eric has things to do and people to see tomorrow. Have a great day and enjoy your families.  

A Roller Coaster

Today was a roller coaster of a day.  It started off at 4:30 with a headache.  Followed by a call to pick up Eric from his day program at 10:15, before I had recovered from the headache. He was running a fever and is a little bit stuffy.  

The most wonderful part of the day was shopping with Teri at Savers. I also bumped into an old friend and we had time to catch up while Teri was trying on clothes.  Followed by dinner out with John and Teri.  

I even managed to finish 2 hats today. I am thinking about adding the one on the left to my etsy shop.  I will try to post it this weekend. Well it is getting late and we have a busy day planned for tomorrow. 

Recouping

I am still exhausted from the trip to Los Angeles last week.  I went in for my mothers birthday. We had the party at a place called Dukes in Malibu. The view was spectacular so I guess it was wrong of me to expect great service too. They could not grasp the concept of sauce on the side or can we get a basket of bread. So I got my lunch as everyone else was finishing up with nothing to nibble on in the mean time. It is one place that I don't mind being so far away from.  If you like your sauces on the side I would recommend dinning in Tucson. Even the mom and pop places can get that one right.

I also saw a fantastic play at the Mark Tapper Forum. It was called the Tallest Tree in the Forest. There was quite a bit of history in it. I had never thought of the world from a black point of view before. It is very similar to the Jewish experience at the time with the exception that we were mostly white and could blend in better in some areas. Skin color was and still is a very decisive issue for many people. The issue of name calling is still here today. I guess we have not evolved as far as we like to think we have as a country. So anyway if you are in Los Angeles during its run please do try to see it. It would be well worth your time.

I have almost gotten caught up on laundry, paperwork and getting Teri's room ready for her visit. I de-fibered her room and put things away. John dusted and vacuumed twice. I washed all the linens and will make the bed tomorrow.

I think it will take a few more days to get my body back in sync. Big cities are nice for some things, but I love the pace of life in Tucson much better. Tucson does not tie my tummy up in knots. Although with my tummy tied in knots it was very hard to come close to over eating or for that matter eating at all.  So I came home a little lighter. We are not all packed in like sardines. Even out winter traffic is better.

Fruit Compote

It has been a while since I have shared a recipe. I have this cooking on the stove as we speak. This is a holiday favorite of mine. For those of you who indulge in a little too much matzo this time of year this recipe is the perfect cure.

Sheri's Fruit Compote

8 ounces of Dried White Peaches
8 ounces of Dried Apricots
8 ounces of Dried Pitted Prunes
2 Cinnamon Sticks
10 Whole Cloves
Water to cover

In a large pot, place all the dry ingredients. Cover with water. Bring to a boil on medium heat. Cover and simmer on a low heat until the fruit is soft and tender and the water becomes like syrup. The fruit should absorb most of the water. This will take about an hour. Be careful not to burn this. Check the water level every so often. You may add water as needed but don't drown the fruit, you will want this to have a heavy syrup.

What ever you do DO NOT ADD ANY SUGAR. The fruit will be sweet enough.

Cool in the pan and then transfer to a container and store in the refrigerator.

This should make enough to last a small family for all of Passover.

The Flight from He Double Toothpicks

I am on my way to visit my mom to help her celebrate her 75th birthday. It was a toss up wether to fly or drive.  About 10 minutes into the first leg, I was seriously regretting the decision not to drive. I do need to regress here for a minute.

I had the window seat which is usually not a bad seat.  A last minute boarder plopped her self in the middle seat. I am no skinny mini, but at least I fit in the airline seat with a little room to spare.  As the woman sat down not only did she fill her seat, but also half of each seat on either side. I was effectively pushed into the wall of the plane. This is not a comfortable way to spend over an hour of my life.  

If you think this was all, her companion in the seat right in front of me went into a diatribe of how he should high jack the plane before trying to get everyone around him to join in the speculation of where would this plane be lost.  This was followed by more trash talk. Thank goodness no one took his bait.  This leads me to the question of just where is an air Marshall when you need one?  

Then the PDA started. Yes over the airplane seat.  If I was a little bolder my comment would have been to get a room.  I got further smashed into the Planes wall. As I tried to regIn some of my seat space her companion then pushed his seat as far back as it would go. And started glaring at me. I am sure there are closets with more space than I had. Now I know how John feels on some flights. 

Every time I tried to knit or reclaim seat space I got rewarded with a swift jab to the ribs.  After we landed, I told her how rude she was, she became totally offended.  She could see nothing wrong with her behavior. 

Which leads to the question of manners. Do they need to be taught in school as their parents did not bother.  Rudeness does seem to be on the increase.  Can I put a sticker on the person as an award for extreme rudeness.  Maybe a likeness of a black lump of coal. After all we we reward  good behavior with gold stars. 

Then there is the question of what rights I have on an airplane in these post 9/11 days?  Do I have the right to the entire seat that I paid for. Can airlines require wide bodied passengers who easily fill 2 seats by their lonesome make them pay for 2 seats without being sued?  Where is the media on this issue?

Here is hoping that the rest of the trip goes better.