Saturday

Terrible insomnia Friday night. Woke up at 2:30 and could NOT get back to sleep. Gave up and got up at 4:30 AM.

Had thawed out the remains of the Christmas ham yesterday, so I cut the meat off the bone. Fried some along with eggs for breakfast. The rest went into baggies and back into the freezer. The bone, however, went into a stock pot with water and a bay leaf. Later tonight, (after the beans soak long enough) this will be made into 16 Bean with ham soup.

Got back on the exercise machine and did 17 minutes cardio workout. After catching my breath, (not such an easy task, lol!) went and took my morning shave and shower.

Got down the storage tubs from the attic to begin taking down the Christmas ornaments/decorations. Started yawning severely around 11:00 AM, so went and took a two hour nap! Take that, Insomnia!!!

Upon awaking, I had a huge argument with myself. I want to take the Christmas tree down (it's almost a week after New Year's, for God's sake) but I don't want to take it down (if you know what I mean). I just want it down, not me doing it. So, decided to take a lesson from my daughter, Melissa, and I called her up, instead of working on the tree.

We talked FOREVER as we always do. It's funny, but by the time we hang up (or our phones die, as in this case - mine first, then hers) we seem to have solved all of the world's problems. But, the next day, they are still here! It's the damnedest thing!

Anyway, two things came out of our conversation:

1. Her live Christmas tree, which she put up the day after Thanksgiving and took down New Years Day, had still not lost its needles! This is the one that smells like oranges. Anyway, I got the name of the tree (I think). It's called Concolor.

2. She thinks that calling my friend B___ and now Uncle Carl C___ is cool and mysterious, So she wants to be referred to as M______ in the blog from now on. We'll see...

Anyway, got off the phone with her around 4:30 PM (when her phone finally died) and decided it was too late to do the tree (see how that works? "I would have taken the tree down, but thought it was far more important to talk with my daughter, M______!" Who can argue with that "fatherly" logic?) and then went out to try and reclaim (well, put everything back) my workbench in the garage. After the microwave install and the two birdhouses, it's a real mess.

When I got back in, I found I had a voicemail from Luanne saying they had finally got home. I decided against calling her back today. Five days on the road demands a certain amount of "me" time to recover from, I would think!

So, put the soaked 16 beans into the stock pot, cranked it up and then simmered it for a couple of hours. Used the immersion blender to thicken it (I love that thing!) and then ate dinner (the soup, crackers and some smoked Gouda cheese).

I think this is another example of where simpler is better. The navy bean soup I made with this recipe was fantastic. The 16 bean soup (hey, it looked cool in the store) tastes more mediocre. I think its because you can taste the odd flavor of the Lima beans and other stuff. Not bad, but not as good...

Went and watched TV until sleepy, then called it a night.