Author Archives: Alison

Sep7

Sooooo Tired, but OK

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Sooooo Tired, but OK

Last night’s meetup was just me and Steve, but he gave me some hints as a Meetup veteran on how to get things more active, so that’s on the agenda.

Last night’s sleep was pretty poor. Add to the normal wakeups the fact that it’s awfully hard to sleep with sticky things all over your chest and wires and an electronic box to contend with. This morning was very hard, plus I couldn’t take a shower. I find it nearly impossible to start the day without one. Oh, well.

So tonight I wanted to make Chickpeas and Chana Dal with Mint Sauce, but I wasn’t able to find mint at the ShopRite. I figured I’d swing by the Stop N Shop on the way back from the doctor’s office. They didn’t have it, either. So I drove up Fischer Blvd. to the Foodtown. Nothing there, either. On to Hooper Ave/Brick Blvd – Berry Fresh Farms didn’t have cut or potted mint, but they had lovely Jersey tomatoes, strawberries, and peaches, so I indulged on those. Back on to Brick Blvd, up to the A&P in Brick Plaza. I found a nice bunch there for way too much money, but I’m set for dinner.

Even though I’d gotten what I needed, I had caught a glimpse of a sign across Brick Blvd. for “World Farmer’s Market”. . .I had to check it out. I’m very glad I did, because it’s one of those little markets with lots of hard to find ethnic produce, spices, sauces, etc., bakery bread, veggies and fruits that aren’t coated with wax and are priced lower than the supermarket. . .I now have a place to get dried chipotles, fresh herbs, bean sprouts that haven’t been wrapped in a plastic bag for weeks. . .You have to be kind of used to these places. They’re not immaculate like a good supermarket (NOT the Foodtown on Fischer Blvd.), and the shelves are not rearranged several times a day to look pretty. I’ll tell you, though, I’d rather shop there than in a store that has piped in music and infomercial TVs at the checkout (which the Pathmark in Toms River does, which is why I won’t go there again) loudspeaker announcements, and talking self-checkout registers (TR Pathmark >and< Brick A&P) that take more time to check out two items than if you stood behind someone with a full cart at a regular checkout. I can even avoid most of the worst traffic by taking Old Hooper instead of Brick Blvd.

What can I say? I get excited about good fruits and veggies and herbs and spices. I’m not going to apologize. Yum.

Sep6

Weight Loss and Heart Monitor and Spanish Meetup!!

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Weight Loss and Heart Monitor and Spanish Meetup!!

This morning I went in to Weight Watchers, down another 2.2 pounds. Total of 9.8, so I’ll have to wait until next week to make a big deal about losing 10 pounds at the meeting.

I went straight to the cardiologist for the sticking-on of my 24 hour Holter Monitor (I thought it was Halter, but I was wrong!) My clothing keeps sticking to the little electrodes, and two of them are right under the underwire of my bra. Ouchies. Well, it’s only until tomorrow morning. Now, the thing is, the cardiologist is sure I’m fine. The psychologist is sure that my heart palpitations are more mental than physical. The fact of the matter is, though, that they’re happening, and they’re keeping me awake when I’d really rather be asleep. So I wanted to give the monitor something to record (and I was tired anyway) so after I’d put away groceries and had lunch, I laid down for a nap. Well, in the two hours I was in bed, I woke up all startled with a racing, pounding heart three times. Take that, Holter Monitor! If nothing else, it’ll show a sudden speed up in my heart rate. Yeah, maybe nothing’s wrong, but at least it’ll show I’m not a hypochondriac or imagining things.

After I woke up, I continued my project, which I’d gotten bored with earlier, on looking up vocabulary in Spanish on cars and driving. I blogged before about my dream, in which I was teaching a Spanish class about the parts of a car, realized suddenly I didn’t know any of the words myself, then went into the oral proficiency exam and was asked to role-play a situation involving a car accident. Well, I probably should have worked on that right after, but I still work best under pressure, even decades after college. Heh. I found a really good site where a guy who works in the VW factory in Mexico described the entire design/assembly/quality control process from start to finish, and also found the driver’s manual in Spanish for the state of Arizona. I have three pages of really helpful words and phrases, and I’m taking copies with me to my first Spanish Language Meetup at the library tonight. Woohoo! I’m hoping that it’s going to be a fun evening!

Sep5

Insane Blogs That Read Like Spam

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Insane Blogs That Read Like Spam

“He discountenances, if they go, to theodosius out eldest P******x, when, by staying two or three years, he will blacksmith the magic-glass of Abonsam. , in two absurdites, which, notwithstanding absorbing political events, disjointed enshrin’d with the same sorel which greeted her sweet-dish shakers. I understand this to sun-set been the stigmaria silken by Shippensport P******x Marshall, 1 Hostable Trial, 195, and though it differs from that loosed by Judge Kuesnacht on the post-script of Luftschlosser, (1 Yezidism. They may be reached by pilosis of Sheepishness or Praising, or from the sodality station. In Germany there slowed extreme passim against the badakhshan who was dismasting his P*******x into a dispensing war. ”

 “The viceroy, and all the vanity-struck knights about him, thinking I geseted about to flee, hastened as soon as the sand-barge would permit to scalp the jeu-d’esprit, and vestibule our getting out. The wall of this castle could not be misery than slate-gray pianist’s in sangap.

But there is far too marked a nurserie between that punnish and that which we receive in inlisted other skivvies. He now began to sprouteth for the highest R***n, the Hsi-sheng de Pretorius.”

I just wanted to share these with you.  Don’t bother clicking the links unless you want more of the same.  These came up when I searched Technorati for “sewing”.  Mind you, none of my sewing posts come up in Technorati under sewing. . .