Road Trip

I woke up at 5:30 AM on Tuesday, which was unfortunate. As I said, I didn’t sleep well and was looking forward to sleeping in today. Why? Because I had a 9:40 AM appointment with the spine doctor in St. Clair Shores, so I wasn’t going to work until afterwards.

As I also said, when I took the last of the trash out, the shopping cart I had rolled out there to dispose of was gone! And Carl thinks I don’t recycle!

I left a few minutes early so I could top off my gas tank. Then I ht the road, heading for the “D.”

I got there 10 minutes early  but wasn’t called until 20 minutes after  my scheduled appointment.

But, finally I got examined. They are pleased with the x-rays and amazed that I can walk so well (I had to walk across the floor normally, then on my toes and then on my heels). I told them it was from finally getting “Physical Therapy” (digging the knife in, just a bit).

The upshot is they want one more visit in March (around my one year anniversary) and that should be my last ever, unless something goes wrong.

I headed back for Livonia and work. I knew I wouldn’t be taking a lunch, so I made a pit stop at Jimmy John’s for a turkey sandwich, with cheese and a pickle. I got to work a little after 11:00 AM.

Without a real break, other than a couple of walks, the day was long. But, finally I was headed home. I took the trash can in, treated the cats and changed clothes. I called Jake to bitch about something. After we hung up, I immediately started on making my macaroni and cheese (see recipes) for tomorrow’s holiday pot luck.

Doubling the recipe caused no end of problems, mostly finding things big enough to hold that much sauce. And, grating the pepper jack cheese was a pain (I saw some shredded in a bag at Kroger's, but thought, no way, I want the good stuff from Westborn! Dumb...

I had the big pan in the oven by 7:30 PM and set the timer for 30 minutes. I wanted that sucker brown and bubbly!

Of course the texture will turn to mush in the slow cooker. But, I think I might have a plan for that. We’ll see in the morning.

Then I started washing up bowls and pots and Dutch oven (the only thing I had big enough, other than a stock pot, to both make my roux and hold all that milk, cream and cheese).

When the timer went off, I decided to let it go five more minutes. Then I checked it again. It was definitely bubbly, but not that brown. However, I busted my butt to much to let it burn so I pulled it. I took a picture for you.

I went in to watch TV. Since, I hadn’t made dinner and no longer felt like it (my back hurt, probably from all the grating and whisking), I just got a bowl of the macaroni and cheese (final taste test). It was excellent, although a tad under-seasoned with salt. But, since I wasn’t making it for me, I did that deliberately.

I watched a couple of TV shows, took a pain pill and went to bed.