Wild Wednesday

I awoke, tired, with the help of the alarm after another restless night. I had a cup of much-needed coffee and then hit the shaver and shower for my half-day at work.

I ate an apple about 10:00 AM for my breakfast/lunch. I left work at 11:00 AM and headed for Meijer's to finish this week's grocery shopping. Besides the few sale items I wanted to pick up, I bought a new humidifier (if you remember, my old faithful one crapped out last winter).

I used to keep it next to the bed, refill it every afternoon and then turn it on for the night. But, now, without it and with the furnace running more and more, I wake up every morning with my nose all stuffed up. I hated spending the money, but recognized the need.

Once home, I again treated the cats and unloaded the groceries. My pantry selves are getting really full, BTW. But, let me give you an example: the last time I bought Dei Fratelli whole tomatoes (28 OZ cans), I paid $2.19 a can at Kroger's (that was when I still had a full-time job). But today at Meijer's, I bought 10 of them for $1.29 each!

Anyway, once home and clothes changed, I laid down to rest (I told you I was tired) and fell asleep about 2:00 PM. I woke up just after 3:00. I went outside and filled up the bird feeder, and then ripped up the last of the old oat nut bread for the wild things.

Back inside, I put down the now-dried walk-off carpets and then vacuumed them. I swept the downstairs floor and made up a bucket of Pine-Sol and extremely hot water (I know I said "Top Job" in a previous post, but I was mistaken). I washed the floor over and over again until all signs of the drain problems were erased.

I went in the garage and coiled up the drain snake I'd left out to dry. Before I hung it up, I sprayed it with WD-40 to try and prevent it from rusting anymore than it already is. The damn thing's probably 75 years old! Then I walked out to get today's mail.

Back inside, I was a little chilled (its only 46 degrees F. outside and just 66 degrees inside), so I wrapped a blanket around me and filled in the Blog entry to date. Then I watched the 5:00 PM news on Channel 4.

At 6:00 PM, I started supper. I had picked up a big can of La Choy Chop Suey vegetables at Meijer's. What I didn't know was what I lacked at home! So, I got out the rest of the roasted chicken and began to harvest all the meat (I saved the two legs for late night snacks). The resulting bones went out to the back yard for the possum.

Then I went into my cupboard to get some rice. Damn! There's none there! Now, as a young lad, I loved Chow Mien (with the hard noodles) but as an old man with this damned bridge, I have to go for Chop Suey (over rice). However, I didn't have any rice!!! No brown, no white, no easy quick cook stuff. Nothing!! But, committed, I wrote it down on the next grocery shopping list and I chose to make some wild rice (this will be interesting!)

Now, as I am sure you all know, Chop Suey or Chow Mien is not a real, authentic Chinese dish. It was created back in San Francisco to feed the immigrant Chinese workers. But, I like it anyway...

I mixed the un-drained Chop Suey vegetables with the chicken and let them get warm while I made the rice. You are supposed to drain the veggies before cooking, but I have a lot of chicken to warm up. When the rice was done, I took off the lid and let it set for a couple of minutes. Meanwhile, I turned off the heat to the veggies and chicken mixture. Then, I drained the Chop Suey mixture and put half of it on top half of the wild rice (wild!)

I splashed that with some good soy sauce and wandered in to watch some more TV. There's boxing on tonight from 8-10:00 PM and then Top Chef. So, if I can stay awake, it should be good!

Then I remembered the new humidifier. So, I got back up, opened the box and set it up. This is a lot bigger than the old one that I used to keep beside the bed. So, I put it next to the TV stand, filled it up and turned it on. It's a lot noisier, too! Okay, so I admit it, I went for cheap. But, if it keeps my sinuses working, it will be worth it.

I fell asleep just before 10:00 PM. When I woke up to go to the bathroom, I turned off the TV and went to bed.