I'm Getting Old

TGIF!  It's been a busy week.  You know what I like, though?  I like it best when work is busy and home is quiet.  I love coming home from a day filled with fast-talking lawyers, expert witnesses and runaway juries to the quietness of my house.  I like balance.  See, with just three of us there it's like a little getaway every evening.  Coming home and making dinner, sitting around the table swapping stories, and after cleanup, plopping down on the couch is what it's all about!  Some nights when I get home, my handsome husband will say something like "I was thinking about (fill in a certain food here)" and that's his way of saying, "Babe, take the night off."  So that's what we do!  Those nights are particularly wonderful for me.

My two most favorite guys
I don't think they planned the color coordination;
it's just the way they think

We have a local Thai restaurant that we like to go to.  We thought we had trained them quite well to our eating style.  With onions being poison off limits in Hubby's diet, the owner sat down with us once and marked up a takeout menu for him so he knew what he could order without getting ill.  And recently I started ordering my food "water sauteed."  That was met with resistance at first; she told us it was the oil that binds the sauce.  Huh?  Well, the vegetables taste even more amazing.  I'm sure there's not so good stuff in the sauce that they make (sodium for starters), but the amount that I actually consume is less because it's very thin and the veggies aren't cooked in the sauce, but rather in water.  I love it!  This week was not such a great experience.  A rogue onion was found in Hubby's dinner and the dish I ordered, though it said "spicy" and I knew it would be hot, was almost inedible!  Maybe that oil would have diluted the spice.  The onion was the more important issue and it might be a while before we go back.  It's so hard when you have food allergies to trust someone again.  I know it's difficult as a chef to keep all the food separate in the kitchen and as a consumer with an allergy, you can't expect perfection and it's a risk you take with eating out..  We understand that.  I won't expect next week to hear "Don't cook tonight" and I will have a week's worth of meals planned by Monday.

So the title of my blog today is "I'm getting old" and I'm sure you're wondering how the above paragraphs have anything to do with me getting old.  Well, I'll spill it right now!  Last week I had an eye exam because I was sure I had something wrong with my eyes.  Within the last few months my eyesight had significantly deteriorated to the point I thought for sure I was going blind.  I wore my "cheater" glasses for reading everything from recipes in the kitchen, notes I wrote in my office and even sometimes for looking at the computer.  See, I had glasses from the time I was in ninth grade until I was about 33 much younger than I am now.  I've spent the last 11 or 12 years being glasses free thanks to a little thing called LASIK!  The freakiest thing I've ever done, but the best thing too, for myself (besides becoming a nutritarian).  As your eyes age and change, weird things start happening.  No longer can I see the little print.  Shoot! -- sometimes I can't even see the LARGER print. 

So the doc whips out the funky machine.  Click, click, click. "Better with 1 or 2; 3 or 4?" we go.  In the end... "I'll be writing you a prescription for BIFOCALS!"  Are you kidding me?  My mom wore bifocals.  So does my dad.  Actually, I think my mom wore trifocals.  Those things are for old people, I say to myself.  Oh, there's no line on my glasses that anyone else can see, so no one will know, right?  Except for all the head bobbing that's going on.  Glasses add so much to a wardrobe, she says convincingly.  I know there are folks who actually wear glasses with clear lenses to enhance their appearance.  I was kind of looking forward to the idea of a new look.

First, have you ever tried to choose a pair of glasses and try them on (never mind reading the price tag) when your eyes are dilated?  Thank you to the sweet lady at the eye glasses place that helped me.  She did quite nicely picking out a "petite" pair, thank you very much.  I wait a week, continuing to wear my "cheaters" that are HUGE for my face purchased from the local big-box store at a very reasonable price.  I have a pair on each floor of the house and one in my purse for reading labels at the grocery store.  After a week I get the call and swing by on my way home to pick up my new style.  I'm sort of excited at this point until I put them on.  Huh?  Am I supposed to be able to see better with these things?  There's a lot of neck shifting, head bobbing and eyeball movement going on.  After a week of wearing them, I'm still getting used to the idea that (A) maybe I'm not really old, just that my eyes have spent way too much time staring at a computer; (B) no one has moved the stairs, I just need to look at them differently; and (C) maybe I look okay as a bobblehead.

So here I am modeling my glasses for you!  Things are getting better and I'm adjusting to the view.  I can't believe how bright things are.

Well, it is Friday.  That means the weekend is nearly upon us.  I have no great plans, though the weather is supposed to be dry -- we'll see, after last weekend's promise of good weather and my attempt at a hike.  Next week brings the start of Lent, so I need to seriously consider my Lenten promise and what that looks like for me this year.  How will I spend those weeks in the desert?  I also will be thinking about Valentine's Day and a special meal to fix for my sweetheart.  I already know what my blog will be about next Friday! 

Here's a variation of my favorite snack... I was trying to make something akin to an Almond Joy, but the apple just wasn't the appropriate vehicle in which to deliver such a tasty morsel to my mouth.  It did have almond butter, cocoa nibs, currants, and coconut.  It was good, but I'll work on a different fruit.

Have a super weekend and check back here Monday for a snapshot of the foods I make this weekend.