Tribute to Uncle T

For an even better tribute, read this post.

He's gone

My beloved Uncle T passed away this morning. He had been ill and was ready, more than ready to go. Poor Mom had to give me the sad news. I have a huge hole in my heart that may never heal.

He was a generous, loving man that gave so much to his family and community. He volunteered his time, well into his eighties (and of course, we worried about him overdoing it). His marriage to Auntie L showed us what true love could be, what a good husband was, how a marriage was a partnership. He was the patriarch of his family. We all looked up to him. He was the wise elder. He was one of the last of his generation. A World War II vet. I miss him more than words can describe.

Blogging

It looks like I've picked up a new reader or two. I'm not sure how, but I'm happy about it. I finally finished updating Google Reader with all the blogs I follow regularly, along with some I don't follow so regularly. Hopefully, this way I'll spend less time checking up on people.;) But I admit I'm disappointed when there aren't any updates. Come on people, talk to your fans!

3.05

Yup, that's what I paid to fill up the car. But I should be feeling lucky since I've seend $3.11 and $3.17 since then.

Generosity

Does a generous nature come naturally or is it something that is taught? Unfortunately, generosity isn't something I'm known for. And when I do give, it is a forced effort. I wish it weren't.

Take today for instance. I wanted to buy a little gift for a former coworker who just had a baby. If she were still at the office, someone would volunteer (or get nominated) to buy a group gift or gift card or both. Everyone would contribute whatever they wanted and it would all be anonymous since it is usually our admin who collects the funds and you won't find anymore more discrete than her. Back to the baby gift. See, we didn't socialize outside of the offce. I didn't even get an (e-mail) announcement. But I do want to congratulate her on this big change in her life. So how much do I spend? Is a card enough? Should I buy a gift equal to what I would have contributed to a group gift? If I buy just a token gift, am I cheap? Do I overthink these things?

J and I talked about this a few times and we agree that we weren't brought up to be generous. Maybe that it was because we didn't have a lot of extras growing up so there wasn't anything to give. And on the receiving side, when we were given something, we always wondered what strings were attached to it. How grateful you were supposed to be to receive it. What you were supposed to do in return. So "gifts" were looked upon with suspicion.

I am fortunate to have friends with big hearts that I try to emulate. But even so, I am still having trouble being generous.

Cough! cough!

Yep, I've still got it. It has been a week. I do think I'm getting better, but now the biggest problem is I cough all night and keep both myself and A up. I don't think I've gotten more than a couple hours of sleep for the past couple of night. A wants to dose me with Nyquil tonight so he can get some sleep.

St. Patrick's Day, not!

So much for celebrating. We went to McDonald's on Saturday to try the new Angus burgers (had a BOGO coupon) and get a shamrock shake. I haven't had one of those in years and I used to love getting them. I loved the flavor, but not the texture. Unfortunately, they were out. Maybe I'll have better luck next year.

I didn't get around to buying corned beef and cabbage earlier in the week so I thought I'd try today when I did my usual grocery shopping. The grocery store had 8 heads of cabbage and no corned beef. Guess I'm not being very Irish this year, lol. Although I did manage to make and send off two shamrock cards.

My splurge of the day

On the way home from work, my carpooler and I decided to stop at the local farmers market. This is a pretty small market, only a dozen or so vendors. Sometimes there's a few more, but it varies. She bought a bunch of produce and some BBQ. I bought some pita bread, tzazhiki, and humus. Now I reek of garlic. Good thing I don't plan on kissing anyone tonight, lol.

Anyway, I call this my splurge of the day, but it should probably be called my splurge of the week or month...how often do I buy a grocery treat without a coupon and it being on sale?

Starve a cold, feed a fever?

Or whatever that saying is, lol. I'm home again today because I don't want a repeat of yesterday (going into the office, then coming home with a fever). A and I have different philosophies on how to treat a fever. I figure my body is running a fever to fight off an infection so I should let it run its course and not take anything. A says to take something to bring down the fever. Maybe he just wants me to take something so I stop complaining.

Two people in the office are sick. One went home sick on Friday and the other was sick Saturday, came in yesterday, but went home early. It sure sounds like something is going around the office, especially since we've got some of the same symptoms. I wonder if I can blame them for getting me sick. And I wonder if I would be sicker if I hadn't had the flu shot this year. It was my first time getting the shot.

I wish I could fall back asleep and take a long nap. But I have trouble napping unless I'm super sick. Guess that means I'll be well enough to go into work tomorrow.

No wonder I don't feel well

I've got a low grade fever and I don't know why. But it explains why I've been feeling achy for the past two days and why I was having trouble staying cool during the day and warm and night. Add in a bit of a sore throat and I think I'm sick. How much do you want to bet that I'll be all better tomorrow, just in time to go back to work.

A new blog

I decided to start another blog, just for recipes. I have such a hard time keeping track of my favorite recipes, I thought, why not keep them online? And on top of that, I can share them with everyone. There's only one post at the moment (and it is mostly a repeat of soup from below, but it's a start. I have a link on the sidebar or you can just click here.

20+ labels

I decided I like this label option on Blogger. I thought it would help me organize and find previous posts. I've tried very hard to not create too many labels or overlap label topics. But in the short time I've been adding labels, I find I already have 22 or is it 23 labels. I can't believe I've posted about that many different topics. Or maybe my life is more interesting than I think it is? I doubt that, lol. The indexer in me is appalled at the rapid increase in the number of labels. Especially since most labels are only used once.

An amazing dining experience

You would not believe our dining experience last night. It was amazing! We actually sat down at our dining room table to eat, lol! We had to clean it off this weekend since our tax guy was coming over. Needed room to spread out all the papers and such.

Mind you, the whole table isn't cleaned off, but just the fact that we've got enough clear space for the two of us to eat is a miracle. No more dining in front of the TV (unless I want to catch the news ;)).

I guess this means I've now outed myself regarding what a bad housekeeper I am, lol.

Soup, soup, and more soup

We're on a soup kick here. A couple weeks ago, I made a beef barley soup. Then A took some leftover yellow peas and broccoli and turned that into a yummy soup (though the cilantro he added was an odd touch). Yesterday I made Peruvian chicken cilantro soup. It was a mix of this recipe and this
one. I love this soup. My version wasn't quite as good as what I've had in restaurants, but all I had on hand was chicken breasts and I was too cheap to pay five dollars a pound for organic chicken at Trader Joes. Besides, theirs was boneless and I wanted bones. Makes a better broth, you know. I did have some homemade stock on hand to add flavor. Next time, I'm going to use chicken quarters for better flavor. If you do follow the above recipes, the only thing I'd suggest is upping the vegetables and decreasing the salt. It calls for one tablespoon and I used almost two teaspoons and I thought the soup was too salty. On the other hand, we hardly salt our food so your tastebuds might like more salt. I am definitely going to make this again.

Rest in Peace Suzy

It was with great sadness that I read of the passing of Suzy. She lost her fight with cancer this morning. You can read a little about her on her blog and this blog continued by her husband. And words from her Lifetime Moments family here and here. Isn't it amazing the auctions her friends put together for her? Such an outpouring of support.

I always scoffed at those who said someone they never met touched their lives. But now I know it is true. Suzy really did touch my life. I never met her in person, but the few times we corresponded by PMs (private messages), her warmth and zest for life were evident. When she posted online, there was never an unkind word from her. She was optimistic and upbeat thoughout her entire fight. I will miss her.