Aw fudge, once again I’m on the inside looking out—I’m sure it’ll end soon

I’m a little bummed.  Yesterday (Wednesday) I was supposed to head to the Lutheran Center for a pot roast lunch and 50’s root beer float, but spent the night before with a lot of body aches & fever.  When I finally got up, my head was congested and throat hurt to swallow. 

C’mon, I just got over the flu a little over a week ago!

I’m guessing it’s a lousy cold, with really awful timing.  Colds always remind me of that one episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show where Mary gets sick and mumbles to herself “Colds are 3 days coming, 3 days with you, 3 days going…” 

I sure hope this one doesn’t last 9 days.

Still, I consider myself lucky.  The day before this cold hit (Tuesday) I did make it to the center (my first time there since our trip to the aviary last week) and got to see some of my favorite people—Geri, Colleen, Mary, Paul & Evvie.  

Lunch was chicken stuffed with broccoli & cheese, orzo, green beans, chopped fruit.  There was also some wonderful slivers of blackberry pie.  I have to admit, I was pretty surprised when they announced a second grade class from a nearby elementary school would be paying us a visit.  Shortly after, the place pretty much exploded with children but I say that in a good way.  These kids were all 7-8 years old and you couldn’t ask for a sweeter, more fun bunch.

One little girl came over to my table and plopped down in the seat beside me.  She wore such a serious expression that my first instinct was to try and make her smile, but decided against it and just talked to her like I would anyone else. 

I asked her name, did she have any brothers or sisters, own any pets.  She told me her name was Ophelia, she had 3 sisters and 1 brother, and a cat.  I said “Your brother has 4 sisters?  Is he your slave?”  She did smile but said no, because he was 2 years older.  Makes sense to me!

Here’s our lunch—stuffed chicken, orzo, green beans and blackberry pie.  The kids made us laminated placemats with messages of caring.

Something just occurred to me—back in 1968, before we moved to the farmhouse and still lived in town, my cub scout troop made Christmas “snowball” ornaments to hand out to the old folks at the local nursing home.  And now here I am… I’m not ready.

Well, I don’t have a lot else to share here—just wanted to check in and keep the old blog fresh, like the milk in my fridge.  And speaking of fresh milk, I believe I’ve found what I was looking for, for now at least.

If you recall, I recently wrote about the 2% milk from the store going bad in just a couple days, so I needed to find an alternative.  I tried oat milk, but it was too thick for me with a chalky aftertaste.

A couple other bloggers suggested Fairlife Ultra Pasteurized Milk which also comes in 2 percent; when I went to buy it, I noticed my market had a generic version for a much lower price.  Like the Fairlife, it also has a month-long expiration date and was only a dollar more than regular milk!   So I got a carton and it has stayed fresh and delicious for over a week now.  I am blown away, ultra-pasteurized is the way to go.

I still want to try the coconut milk, and the Fairlife—but for now I have something I can enjoy.  I’ll never go back to regular milk again.   And on that happy note, some juice and a hot bath are calling.  Thanks for reading.