Photo by Erika Siebring. 
Photo by Erika Siebring.
Hey there everyone! How ya doin’?
Well as usual I haven’t talked to you guys since last week, so here I am telling you about what’s been going on! Well, this time it’s a bit more interesting than usual: my work schedule is entering it’s first “wonky” stage.
Now today is Friday, but it is basically a Sunday for me. I worked this past week, Monday through Thursday, and I will go back to work over the weekend and through next week. So essentially I go from a normal 5-day work week to a 3-day one, another 5-day one, a 7-day one (I believe) and then I think it goes back to normal. Anyway, so this week was short — here’s what I covered for work, though:
Monday: Commissioner’s Meeting; pretty regular, no biggie
Tuesday: a little drive to a town just northeast of North Platte to cover the construction on a new high school track field. Very fun, but also VERY muddy — had to clean my shoes and pants afterwards. My company business cards arrived and now I can give them to sources I meet! I feel so official!
Wednesday: A very unique opportunity — a interview a nice sweet man who has been making his own brand of spurs for over 50 years; a very nice story. And then that evening? Wendy’s Drive-Thru, a large Coke with a little rum, and another hot bath.
So, what did I do yesterday? Cooked some bacon and had leftover pancakes (chocolate with almond extract, of course) and honestly had a very relaxing day. Little lying down; checked my mail to find a letter from my friend — who I then promptly answered back — and wrote other small greeting cards to my other college friends. Four little envelopes, each with little encouraging memes, and then the large envelope with my friend’s letter in it — then I dropped them off at the post office and they should be arriving soon! Dinner? Hommade garlic butter sauce I made before and some pasta. I also found some fast food coupons in my mailbox, which means my Friday Night “eat out” days will now be a little cheaper! Yee!
Now for today: I finished off the rest of the bacon (sad day) and make another round of almond extract pancakes — BUT! This time was special: I made them pink with my food coloring! No chocolate chips though. I used those up with the fudge I tried to make earlier and I melted some others and put them into heart-shaped molds for a little taste of sweet. BUT, then I went off to the Salvation Army for their weekly Produce Giveaway; my coworker told me about it last week and I wanted to give it a try! As you can see from the photos above, I got a lot of great produce!
Now, what did I do with all of it? Simple: I cut up the peppers and stuck them in the freezer to cook with eggs for workday mornings; I took the little bitty potatoes, mixed them with some cayenne-infused olive oil and spices, and roasted them in the oven for later; I washed tomatoes and cut them up to make bruschetta (with minced garlic and dried basil) and some are even roasting int he oven right now — trying to make sun-dried tomatoes. I still have a large bag of them left, so I’ll have to find a way to use those up. And the bananas? Mixed those up with the last of my milk and peanut butter to make a smoothie (which I had for dinner and are storing in the leftover milk container). So once again — A LOT of cooking going on this weekend!
I’ve lost weight, which is a really good thing for me; about 14 pounds since May. Most of it is due to my change in eating habits but progress is still progress.
This week I was really bad at my meditation, as I just kept putting it off and I got too tired, but I want to get back on that this next work week.
As always I have been texting my friends a lot and I could never get tired of that — I’m not that far away, I know, but I do miss their faces and hugging them in person. Hopefully one will come visit me in the next few weeks, though. I really want to explore the town some more so I can treat my friends to a nice weekend; in fact I just discovered the other day that there is an Escape Room place here.
Oh! I washed my sheets today as well — now they’re still as soft and comfy, but their clean now!
My first rent payment is due pretty soon, but I set aside money for it and signed up for automatic payment. So hopefully everything will go fine and there won’t be any hiccups.
Oh! I told y’all I was taking a break from Once Upon A Time, which I still am, but I discovered that all the seasons of The Good Place are on Netflix, too! I’ve been waiting for that for forever, and I can even watch it with French subtitles! So I’ll have to divide my time between the two as best I can.
But honestly, I think that’s all right now. I know I really need to get out of my apartment on weekends and such but I have to admit it is a little hard. I mean, my job involves driving around, talking to people, so on the weekends I just want to relax and do my own thing; I guess I really am an introvert at heart. . .but I know I need to experience new things.
Anyway, I think that’s all for now — I got the tomatoes “sun-drying” in the oven and dishes washing — used a lot of those today! Tomorrow I’m covering the weekly Farmer’s Market and an ice cream social, and we’ll see what this next week brings me.
Merci.