Day 517

When you only eat one meal a day you want that meal to count.

I've still been juicing twice a day, even taking juice with me to the hospital. But at least once a day I have "real" food. The other day it was oh-so-good chicken tacos at Alejandra's, last night it was cube steak and roasted red potatoes at my mom's, and today it was a birthday lunch.

My friend from work - the one who took me out for my birthday last year, the one who I went to the movies/show with last summer, the one whose birthday I forgot in October  - took me out for a belated birthday lunch. I got to choose the place and time.

Red Robin. 12:15. Teriyaki Chicken Sandwich. Need I say more?

Other than yes, I ate it all. And thank you to (you know who you are) for the lunch, the gift card to the fabric store, and the good conversation.

Day 516

All the work that went into planting the garden this spring - clearing the plot, putting down landscape fabric to deter weeds, laying the used timbers from the rose garden to mark the beds, and weeding, weeding, and weeding.

All that work and a harvest that isn't exactly worth a picture. It's way down from last year, but that probably has to do with the neglect it has suffered over the last four weeks. But at least it's just enough to supplement my grocery store veggies and keep my mom supplied. We have red potatoes but they didn't make the picture.

Day 515

Every morning I drive by a coffee place that has a new slogan each day. The sayings are typically pretty darn insightful, but I'm not a coffee drinker so I never stop to write them down or take a picture of any of them. But I had to get gas nearby and found myself stopped at the stop sign smack dab in front of the board. Must have been fate.

Except I don't know who it best fits. Hubby and his therapy or me and my exercise bike.

Day 514

A year ago today I wrote about how my husband was at a conference and wouldn't be home. No going somewhere, no dinner out, no special dinner in. Last year on this day I spent my time in the sewing room and in the gardens.

Why is this day so special? It's our anniversary. 28 years. And just like last year, my husband is away and won't be home.

But I did go his way. I spent the afternoon with him watching NASCAR on the TV in his room. (Mostly he slept, I watched.) When they wheeled him away to go have his dinner with the other patients, I drove back to Marsing and had dinner at Alejandra's.

$3.18 bought me two of the tastiest chicken tacos with some chips and salsa. I'm a cheap anniversary date, especially when I'm by myself.

Day 513

Who plants peppers that grow upside down? That would be me. I don't know if it happened in the mix-up at the greenhouse or if I intentionally chose them, but they are not growing in a way I would expect peppers to grow.

I guess kind of like our lives right now. Hospital, day nine, no improvement.