The Bug Zappers - BFF1, Mr. Fix-It, and the Cheese Scientist

Mr. Fix-It and BFF1 - Cleaning up my Viewing Corridor

Word of the Day

Allergize - To cause your allergies to act up.


Woodtick Count - 8

I had an enjoyable few days with BFF1 and her family. They arrived on Wednesday and left on Saturday morning after breakfast. The quiet this morning is deafening. I miss them already.

It became immediately apparent that BFF1 has let the book The Big Fat Surprise: Why Butter, Meat and Cheese Belong in a Healthy Diet by Nina Teicholz affect here a LOT. I probably should have taken this into account when I purchased what I remembered that used to like to eat. She has changed her whole outlook when it comes to eating "healthy". I started reading the book and ACK! She's right. I've actually ordered a hard copy of the book so I can more easily read it with all the footnotes. My Kindle isn't too friendly to this sort of book. However, my menu choices for while my friends were here had to be totally re-vamped, adding a LOT more fat into the cooking choices...or...rather, not eliminating the fat as we've been taught. As we munched on cheese and crackers and sipped on wine, I made spaghetti and meatballs, cheese and crackers, and salad, with full fat dressing.

Every time my friends come to visit, I've been advised to make sure that I have projects lined up for Mr. Fix-it. Although, their stay was a short one, Mr. Fix-it (BFF1's husband) really put in full days of work. Mr. Fix-it LOVES to keep busy tdoing stuff and here at The Lake there's LOTS of stuff that needs doing.

Thursday morning, after breakfasting on a pound of bacon, eggs, and squash blossoms, Mr. Fix-it, using our chainsaw (which he had to fix...several times because the chain kept coming off), cleared out a large sumac tree that had died near my driveway along with a lot of younger sumac that decided to block my view of the ravine, hauling off the debris into the nearby forest. Then...he fired up our weed-whacker that hadn't been used for several years. This too had to be fixed. It needed a new spark plug and new gas. We would need to make a run into the city before he could move to the next project....clearing brush so my viewing corridor. That project would have to wait until Friday. Dinner time had arrived and we enjoyed beer brats, green beans with bacon dressing, and raspberry sundaes for dessert. Oh...and we watched the movie Ironman 3.

I made fresh blueberry muffins for breakfast and fried up the last of my eggs for Mr. Fix-it. After that, we piled into my car and headed to the city to do some shopping. I NEEDED some more groceries. I didn't plan on the change in diet. Since they'd never been to Bargain Bill's, and it was right there, I pulled in and we toured the store. Both BBF1 and The Chemist found items that they had to have and, of course, I never can go into the store without picking up a few items. However, I was good and only purchased some drill bits which Mr. Fix-it would need for yet another project on my list.

After our visit to Bargain Bill's, we swung over to visit with my folks for a while. And then, it was lunch time. I had a coupon for Norske Nook, and it was Friday! We enjoyed a HUGE lunch...Lefse wraps all round. The Chemist and I enjoyed beer-battered cod wraps while BFF1 and Mr. Fix-it enjoyed Meal Wraps made with roast pork, mashed potatoes and gravy. AND....they ordered PIE! Double ACK! I told you that my friend had TOTALLY changed her diet but...dang! No...I didn't eat any pie. I was stuffed from the cod wrap....which was EXCELLENT but I was getting worried because we had a huge dinner planned for that night. Anyway, after lunch, we picked up more groceries (eggs, spinach, and blueberries) and then continued onto Farm and Fleet to pick up what Mr. Fix-it needed to fix our weed-whacker....then...home. At this point, I needed to start getting supper put together while...Mr. Fix-it fixed the whacker and then started whacking, and whacking, and whacking.... Meanwhile, The Chemist and BFF1 headed off on a hike while I made some mushrooms in wine sauce and got potatoes washed, salted and shoved into a hot oven.

My sister, BW Babe and JC joined us for dinner that night but I still managed to join my friends for a walk with Kylee before dinner and before BW Babe and JC arrived. The mosquitoes were awful but last year I'd purchased this weird tennis racket-shaped bug-zapper and since it worked so well, I bought two more. We took those on our hike and it made a LOT of difference. The smell of burning mosquitoes was thick but...we didn't get any bites. Yeah!

Dinner that night? Steaks on the grill, mushrooms in wine sauce (flavored with bacon grease instead of butter), fresh salad and baked potatoes with all the fixings, AND grilled corn on the cob. Again, raspberry sundaes for dessert. It was so nice outside that we had our appetizer (fresh Caprese salad) out on the deck as we chatted before dinner and while dinner was cooked. We moved inside for dinner but than dessert back on the deck. My Thermocell mosquito lamps kept the bugs at bay so we stayed out well after dark on the deck.

Saturday? My friends were packing up and getting ready to leave. I made French toast with fresh blueberries for breakfast. Maple syrup and blueberry syrup. Butter. Mr. Fix-it decided that he just could leave until he finished up one more item on my list. I now have a small table installed on my deck...portable...it's especially designed so I can sit out on my rocking chair and have my wine glass in a reachable location...secure from being knocked over by my darling Kylee.

From all that I've written, I imagine that you're wondering what BFF1, The Chemist, and I were doing while Mr. Fix-it was killing himself, sweating and working. Aside from our time watching him work, we spent a lot of time talking, hiking, picking fresh raspberries and just talking. It was nice.

After my friends drove off, promising to visit me again next summer, I decided to give myself a bit of a break...from eating, from thinking, from everything. I curled up on my bed with Kylee and read two books. Supper? In the past days I'd eaten so much food that and fatty food and drank so much wine that my stomach has been acting up. I've been on a low-fat, low calorie "healthy" diet so long that my stomach was in shock. Kylee and I sat out on the deck for a while as I tried out my new table with a small glass of red wine...one small glass...before we both headed to bed...earlier than I had been to bed since my friends had arrived. I am sooo not used to staying up past 10 PM. Several days of falling into bed at midnight took its toll on my body.

Today? I'm dressed in my workout clothes but I've decided to give myself one more day before continuing with my workouts and yoga....though I have been using a yoga nidra routine to see if I can get rid of my insomnia (stress, event, and tinnitus-related). It gets me to sleep but the dreams have been really weird. My hummingbird feeders need to be re-filled. I need to pick and clean the raspberries. I need to bring bottles up from the basement to wash and sanitize...wine-bottling, Part I (a chore for tomorrow).

Random Quote of the Day

The greatest conflicts are not between two people but between one person and himself.

- Garth Brooks