Sunday, November 21, 2010

A day in the life

I'm typing this on Saturday.  The story is about yesterday (Friday for those who are days-of-the-week impaired). I'll post this on Sunday (tomorrow, again for those who are typically a step behind).  I could post it today, but then I'd have two posts today and none for tomorrow and that would be a very bad thing.


Bud got off from work at noon on Friday so he could be my chauffeur.  I had an annual physical scheduled with my family physician.  The doctor's visit went well and it looks like I'll last another year or so at least.  We also discussed a relatively new vaccine to prevent shingles.  I've never had shingles, but I know people who have, and it doesn't look like anything I want to try.  However, I knew that in order to have shingles later in life, you had to have had chicken pox as a child.  I didn't remember having chicken pox.  I had all the other childhood diseases.  I had several different types of measles.  I had mumps on one side of my neck and stayed in bed for two weeks.  Then, on the day I was to be released from my boring prison, it was discovered I had given mumps to myself on the other side of my neck and I was confined for another two weeks.  I thought I would die!   My sisters both had chicken pox at the same time and I recall sleeping in their beds with them, scratching their itches for them, sharing food and drinks with them, and doing anything and everything I could possibly do to catch chicken pox from them.  I never had a single pox and never ran a fever so we assumed I just never got chicken pox.  But, last year my doctor ran a test on me, and it says I've had chicken pox.  Must have been the mildest case in the history of mankind.  However, just because the chicken pox was unnoticeable doesn't mean shingles would be fun.  So, we discussed the vaccine.  It costs several hundred dollars for one stupid little shot and many insurance companies do not cover the cost!  I don't know whether our insurance would cover it or not -- I'll call them to find out.  But, if it's not covered, I'm just gonna have to take my chances because there is no way in the world we can afford several hundred dollars for one inoculation.  


Also, it was that time of year again when I had to go for the dreaded mammogram.  I hate those things, but I understand how incredibly important mammograms are, especially in my case.  One of the drugs I take daily is estrogen, a known risk factor in breast cancer.  However, aside from being more than a little bit uncomfortable, I have a great deal of difficulty now when the technician says "don't breathe and don't move".  Oh, I can handle the don't breathe part.  It's the don't move part where I can't seem to cooperate.  How does a person who is persistently dizzy not move while standing with one breast schmooshed between two Plexiglas plates and tilted at a 45º angle?  Surely, modern medicine can come up with a better way to do this.  I'll bet if we started squishing some male doctors' penises between those Plexiglas plates, they'd be finding a better way sooner rather than later.


As a treat after being poked, prodded, twisted, folded, bent and mutilated, Bud said he would take me out to dinner.  First we stopped at Barnes and Noble.  Bud still had money left on a gift certificate from last Christmas, and he wanted to get some books to read and use up the gift card (just in case he should be fortunate enough to get another this year).  He got three books. I didn't even look at a single book for me, which has to be some kinda record for me in a bookstore.  Since I have over 600 books to be read on my Sony eReader, I didn't think I needed to tempt myself with forbidden fruit.  At the checkout counter, the clerk gave him 49¢ in change.  It couldn't have worked out more perfectly if he had actually looked at the prices.


Then we went to Mimi's.  I had already been there, but Bud had not.  So, of course, we got the free muffin sampler because he was a newbie.  We both had a three course meal for $12.99 each from the prix fixe menu, which I think is an outstanding deal.  I started with a Caesar salad; Bud had Ceasar salad and a cup of New England style clam chowder.  The salad was ordinary, but the chowder was really quite good.  Then we both had a Golden Seafood Duo, which is Sam Adams beer battered fish and golden buttermilk shrimp served with homemade coleslaw and french fries.  The fish was a white fish and tasty.  The shrimp were good, but there were only three of them.  Shrimp are my third favorite seafood, right behind lobster and crab.  Actually, I love almost everything that comes out of the ocean (I'm not too crazy about octopus and squid, but both are okay once in awhile).  Usually, the more seafood you put on my plate, the more you are likely to be my best friend (for a little while at least).  In my opinion, McDonald's makes the best french fries in the world, so to me the fries were only okay.  The coleslaw was flavorful, but I had just eaten a Caesar salad and wasn't too interested in more rabbit food.  For dessert we both chose fresh apple cinnamon crisp with a dollop of vanilla ice cream.  All in all it was a gratifying meal at a reasonable price.  We also had some great drinks.  I had two (I don't drive remember) melon margaritas with my meal and Bud had a Godiva chocolate martini with his dessert.


After dinner we needed to walk off some of those high density calories so we wandered about the shopping center for a bit.  We found a great looking wine shop that has live music on Friday and Saturday nights and wine tastings all the time.  We're gonna mention this to Tim to see if maybe White Light can get a gig there.  That would be a fun place for all of us to go and listen to them play while we sample wine and eat hors d'oeuvres. 


Then we went to the Williams and Sonoma store.  Bud is like a kid in a candy store in there.  The goofy sales clerk kept trying to talk to me and I kept telling her "I don't cook".  She finally got a clue.  Who knew there were so many types of knives?  We have two kinds of knives in our house.  The ones Carla is allowed to use, and the other ones.  The other ones are very sharp at all times.  A normal person, not being careful, could end up getting cut.  Carla, even being careful, could end up missing digits or even appendages.  But, in spite of the fact that we already have numerous knives (Bud actually has a special knife carrying case so he can take them on the road with him), Bud is always interested in buying more.  So we checked out knives.  One knife of particular interest to Bud was a tomato knife.  WTF?  A knife just for tomatoes!  Are we being serious here?  Then he looked at a boning knife. Okay, I've heard of boning knives and I think they have something to do with fish.  Since I thought fish came already predeboned from the grocery store, it never occurred to me you would need a special knife to debone one.  Well, I just looked up the definition of boning knife and it shows just how much I know!  It's used to remove the bones of poultry, meat and fish.  I'll just stick with my proven method of gnawing the meat off a bone, thank you.  Anyway, Bud liked the blades on the knives he was looking at, but he didn't like the handles.  He liked the handles on a different set of knives, but he didn't like the blades.  So we spent about a half hour trying to find out if he could get the blades he wants on the handles he wants.  So far, the answer is "no", but we're gonna check on the web.


After our tiny shopping excursion, I was pooped.  Bud took me home, and I took myself off to bed.  But what a great afternoon I had!  I got out of the house, saw lots of other people, and got to act like an almost normal person.  Oh, and while I was at my doctor's office, she gave me the paperwork to get a permanent handicap placard for the car, so when I'm in the car with anyone now, we can get a decent parking place and I don't have to walk all over God's green earth to get from the car to the door.  All in all, I'd say it was a totally successful day.

4 comments:

  1. Hey Carla, anytime you have a knife question just ask me, I'm a chef! Tell Bud that his best bet for any knife is a brand called Henkle. They have a lifetime warranty and if he chips the tip of the knife or gets a knick he can USUALLY take it to any store that sells them and get it replaced for FREE (my favorite word when you are dealing with something so expensive). I also have a safety measure for you if you want to ever try to help in the kitchen. Kevlar gloves. They are the newest hottest thing they will keep you from cutting appendages and burning yourself. Professional kitchens require everyone to wear them when slicing and dicing. It saves everyone hospital bills and workman's comp cases. Look it up give it a try. Any questions just ask me:)

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  2. Most of Bud's knives are Wusthof. He knows about Henkle, but I think those are the handles he doesn't like. And thanx for the safety tip, but Carla and kitchen are two mutually exclusive terms. I'll look into the gloves for Bud though. He would love to be a chef, and he and his friend Harold are both good enough, but they want to have their own restaurant and none of us have the bucks for that. Bud doesn't want to cook full-time. Bud may have some questions for you though from time to time, so I'll pass your comments along. The only question I have about the kitchen is "When do we eat?"

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  3. FYI For some reason the blog wont let me sign in anymore with my yahoo account. I had to get a google account due to my Driod cell phone so I am on your followers list twice. Hope thats ok

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  4. Aunt Carla, did you use WTF? How funny! Although, I thought the same thing when I was reading about the tomato knife. Wendy

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