I'm Getting Old

I couldn't tell you the exact moment I went from being a spry young thang to the decrepit old thang that I am now. Geez! No one told me that I'd start falling apart at 40. I thought I'd be good until at least 60. Aside from the itchy, scratchy skin, I'm always experiencing some sort of pain - my back, my foot, now I've got a bad case of tennis elbow in my right arm which is just friggin' wonderful considering I'm right handed. I can barely pour myself a cup of coffee. I feel so weak! My wrist seems fine now though, so that's a plus.
J's not doing much better. He finally got in to see his doctor today and the doc thinks that J has a hair-line fracture in his foot. Great. Add that to his bum knee and we're a fine pair. Grunting and groaning as we get out of bed in the morning. Sexy!
Meanwhile, Simon's allergy shots have got him knawing on his feet again. I started giving him hydroxyzine twice a day and I'll wait out the weekend. If he's still chewing his toes, I'll have to call Dr. Wellington back. I'm hoping when spring comes we'll see some improvement because of these shots. I can't see the point of giving him needles and still having to give him pills. At least when he was just on the steroids, he was only on them during the nice weather. Once the snow came, he was great. I'm hoping his immunity will build up and kick in soon. I hate seeing the little guy so itchy. I know what that's like. Decrepit and falling apart, remember?

Party Time, Excellent....NOT!!

I heard some sad news yesterday. Mike Myers and his wife, Robin are getting divorced. On a weird note, Mike attended Stephen Leacock Collegiate Institute in Scarborough and had a classmate named David Furnish. Last week, David married Elton John! Exsqueeze me? Peas & carrots? Yep, you read right. Strange, eh?

Done and Over With

Another Christmas has come and gone. J and I cut way back this year and I didn't miss a thing. We got to spend some fun time with friends and family and I enjoy that part the most. Mama Rita had us over for Christmas dinner along with her friend Mary. There was a turkey (ugh), but lots and lots of veggies. I brought roasted carrots and zucchini & corn with tarragon. Mary made a bean and pasta dish that was really, really good. We also had potatoes, turnip, home made cranberry sauce, yum! Mama Rita made stuffing and kept some out seperate for me. I brought some vegetarian gravy. Wow! That's a lot of food! J and I came home with enough leftovers to feed us for 2 days.
I worked a short shift at the wine store today. Frances was with me until 4pm. We were pretty busy what with the LCBO being closed. My pay stub was there with a Christmas bonus tucked inside along with a nice letter from the head honchos at the winery thanking us for all of our hard work. Bill had also left us Christmas gifts. Bottles of wine! YES! After I finished there, I got J to drop me off at the other workplace and I got the payroll done and slipped it under Lynne's door for her to finish up when she gets in on Wednesday. I'm not back to work until Thursday. I'm glad all that is done and over with.
I really just want to sleep in tomorrow and lounge around. And I think that's exactly what I'm gonna do! Simon and I will have a great day doing a whole lot of nothin'.

Great Gift!

Yesterday at work we had our secret santa and potluck lunch. Everyone seemed to have a good time except Pete who had something up his ass. Scrooge in a santa hat. Whatever.
Anyhow, every dish was meat free! I don't think it was intentional, but it's nice be able to try everything. There's a pretty high ratio of vegetarians to meat-eaters at my workplace. Out of 26 employees 4 of us are vegetarian.
Dana was my secret santa and she got me an awesome gift. Wrapped in two Toronto Maple Leafs towels was Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover's Soul . I love it! I was up until late last night reading. No more work at my full time job until December 29. Woo-hoo! I've got a short stint at the wine store on Boxing Day, but other than that, I'M FREE!

Can't Wait For Dinner

I'm making a yummy dinner tonight and wanted to share. It's from the cookbook Eat, Shrink and Be Merry which is the third written by 2 Canadian sisters Janet & Greta Podleski. This one is called Parma Chameleon. Tonight I'm using Pete's Tofu which I've always had good luck with. I like to use fresh herbs and grate my own Parmesan rather than using the stuff in a can. It makes a huge difference in taste. And it's easy to make this vegan buy using rice Parmesan cheese and a mozzarella-type "cheese" equivalent. I will sometimes use water or soy milk instead of the egg anyway. It's just used to get the crumbs to stick to the tofu.

PARMA CHAMELEON

Olive oil cooking spray
1 lb. Firm tofu
1 cup fresh whole wheat bread crumbs*
¼ cup + 2 tbsp. grated Parmesan cheese, divided
½ tsp. each dried basil and dried oregano
¼ tsp. each salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 egg
1 ½ cups your favorite tomato pasta sauce, divided
½ cup packed shredded light mozzarella cheese (2 oz)
1 tbsp. chopped fresh parsley

Preheat oven to 400F. Spray a non-stick baking sheet with olilve oil spray and set aside.
Drain liquid from tofu and blot dry with paper towels. Slice block into 6 to 8 equal slices, about ½-inch thick. Lay slices on paper towels and blot again.
Combine bread crumbs, ¼ cup Parmesan cheese, basil, oregano, salt and pepper in a shallow bowl. Place egg in another shallow bowl and beat lightly with a fork.
Working one piece at a time, dip tofu in egg and then in crumb mixture. Make sure both sides are well coated with crumb mixture. Place on cookie sheet. Repeat with remaining tofu pieces. (Don’t worry if you have some crumbs left over – you’ll use them later). Spray tops of tofu with olive oil spray. Bake for 8 minutes. Using a spatula, gently turn pieces over. Bake an additional 8 minutes. Remove tofu from oven, but leave oven on
Spray a medium casserole dish with cooking spray. Spread ½ cup pasta sauce over bottom of dish. Lay browned tofu pieces in dish close together and in a single layer if possible. Top with remaining pasta sauce, followed by mozzarella, remaining Parmesan cheese and parsley. If you have any crumbs left over, sprinkle them over the entire dish. Bake, uncovered for 15 minutes. Turn broiler on and broil about 4 inches from heat source for 2 minutes, or until cheese is golden brown. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

Calories 247, fat 9.8g, protein 22g, fiber 4.5g

*To make fresh bread crumbs, place a couple of slices of whole wheat bread in a food processor or mini chopper and pulse on and off until soft crumbs are formed.

Big Head

After I posted the last message, I went to bed. I woke around 6am with a pretty bad sinus headache. I popped a couple of Tylenol Sinus and went back to sleep. I really, really, REALLY hate anything wrong with my head. Headaches are the worst. Any other sort of body pain or ache is manageable. Even my back pains are not as debilitating as a headache. Anyway, I woke up again around 9am with a doozey! I was in such agony. J brought me in a couple of more Tylenol Sinus and I sort of fell asleep again. When I woke up at 11am, he suggested that maybe if I got up, it would help to drain out my sinuses. I sat on the couch for about 10 minutes and couldn't take it anymore. I really thought I was going to throw up. Yet, I was really hungry. Through all of this, Simon seemed quite concerned. He stayed in bed with me most of the morning and anytime I got up for a bathroom trip or a drink of water, he was right behind me. He's such a sweetheart. J offered to make me a grilled cheese sandwich. At that moment, it sounded like the best friggin' thing I could ever eat. I layed back down and he came in some time later (I don't remember how long. I think I was getting delirious at this point) with a plate holding the most magnificent grilled cheese sandwich I have ever seen. He even put a pickle on the side, but I had to send that back. My stomach sort of flip-flopped at the thought of it . Simon and I shared the sandwich and I popped a Tylenol 3 this time. I was ready for something more serious than over the counter meds. I passed out again until 3:30! When I woke up this time, I felt a little groggy but refreshed as well. My headache was almost all gone. What a waste of a day. I had so much planned and so much to do and did absolutely nothing. I was really pissed off. But very appreciative and grateful for the two main guys in my life. J and Simon. They really took good care of me. They rock!

Back In Sympatico World

My computer is now up and running! J reformatted and did some updating for me. I've graduated to XP and am finding it a little strange. I was so used to the 98 and 2000. This one is different and I'm playing around trying to get things set up the way I like them. I haven't got any of my programs put in yet or my CSI game. Who has time? We're still living out of boxes and trying to get things into ship-shape. Don't even mention Christmas to me! I might just skip it this year. Now that we're in a big apartment building I'm being denied a real tree. I'm so stubborn and spoiled that if I can't have a real Christmas tree then I don't want one at all.


I noticed at the grocery store they had some potted Norfolk pines deocrated with little bows and things. That may be a possible sustitute. I wonder if they are difficult to look after and how big they grow? Something I'll have to look into with all the free time I have.