Out of the Loop

I feel a little out of touch on blogs.  The weekend went by in a blur of food prep, grocery shopping, going to the clinic and hanging out with Mr. Lina.  Yesterday was a zoo at work, so I feel like I'm playing catch up today.  It's not many days, but I still feel a little out of touch.

Friday night I went through my stash and found the fabric I was thinking of.  I did buy 2m so I should be good for making pj's.  It is a pretty multicoloured stripe with a bit of wrinkle to it, it's going to be perfect for hot weather.  Sadly, I didn't photograph it (bad blogger).  It did not look like I had pre-washed it so Friday I sewed up the cut ends and washed up that and a couple of other light coloured fabrics in my stash. 

Going through the stash to find it reminded me that I bought a few really nice summer weight fabrics last year.  I have a black eyelet that would be so pretty as a dress I think.  Something simple so the pattern of the eyelet can take centre stage.  Maybe put a bright colour behind it.  Plus some black linen, white linen, a patterned linen.  Some of them might have a little rayon mixed in but I know linen was the dominant fibre and what attracted me to the fabric in the first place.  With work places that tend to run hot rather than cool, I think some linen work wear would serve me well.

Annie Lou were fantastic.  Anne Louise and Kim are really sweet, easy to get to know, very happy with our set up and audience.  We had a good turn out of 18 (+2 who paid but couldn't make it, thanks Air Canada) and a two year old.  I thought they were bringing the fiddle player, but Kim plays banjo, and a couple of songs Anne Louise switched to the banjo as well.  It was lovely after the show to see some people commenting on Facebook that they didn't know banjos could sound that good.  They have a new CD that just arrived yesterday, I'm looking forward to hearing it.  The second CD is "Grandma's Rules for Drinking".  Anne Louise heard her mother telling her niece Grandma's rules for drinking and she just had to turn it into a song.  It's quite amusing, I wish I could find a video for the song.  Good thing I don't drink gin, Grandma says it's not good for your complexion.

Kim Barlow, me, Anne Louise Genest, Mr. Lina

I am still figuring out the best way to do afternoon shows.  Usually we feed the artists dinner, they put on the show, they stay the night, I put out breakfast options.  But the afternoon show makes dinner seem odd when you've just snacked all afternoon but often the musicians don't get a chance to snack because people are talking to them or they worry about food flying when they sing, or dairy adding phlegm.  So they need dinner and we don't.  For this show, Anne Louise wanted to stay the night with family in Toronto, so they weren't staying late.  We invited them to come for 1pm for lunch, then we could chat, they would have time to get comfortable prior to people arriving at 2:30 for the 3pm show.  My parents arrived at 1:45.  I still needed to cut up mostly prepped food (maki with smoked fish instead of raw), put out the veggie tray etc.  My kitchen is not organized for two people to do anything so arriving early does not help.  Mom can't hear if you aren't looking at her so even talking and chopping is difficult because I have to stop chopping to look at her and reply.  Going to the clinic from 9-11 also had me feeling like there would be more time for prep than there was.  I was a bit flustered when people started arriving.

For lunch, I made Greek Lemon Soup and a sandwich.  A clear soup and I sort of made a muffaletta and let people cut off what they wanted from a loaf of bread sandwich.  The soup is easy and was very well received, I would serve it again to guests.  Here's the recipe.

1. Bring 4 cups of chicken broth to a boil.  I made about 2 cups of broth boiling a chicken thigh, onion and some cabbage and added 2 cups of bouillon.  You'll want this to be quality broth be it homemade or purchased.
2. Whisk 4 eggs in a bowl.  Add 3-4 tbsp of lemon juice (I used half fresh, half bottled and did a half assed measuring job while squeezing the fresh).
3. Slowly add 2 cups of hot broth to the eggs, whisking as you add the broth.
4. Add eggs and broth back into the pot.  Whisk for the next 4 minutes as the soup heats up and thickens.

Pretty simple, eh?  A lot of recipes call for rice, and I can see how that would be nice, but I liked that it was a lighter meal (and faster) without it.  I floated a slice of lemon to make it look pretty, the book this is from also suggests asparagus tips.

And the clinic...  No surprise here, it is looking doubtful that I will ovulate this cycle.  There are follicles, but they are all tiny.  Considering Sunday was Day 12 and in theory for a 28 day cycle you would ovulate on Day 14, it ain't happening.  If I don't ovulate, then my period won't arrive while taking Lupron-depot so I have to take Provera.  Next appointment is the 23rd (YAY!  I so thought they would make me come in this week just to see if I did ovulate) and depending on how that goes, it is likely that I will be in on the 24th for my Lupron-depot injection and they are going to do an endobiopsy.  So, nothing to do until next Monday.  I had a chat with my manager of what can happen while I'm on Provera and he's totally supportive of me working from home for a day or two and just letting people know I don't feel well enough to come in but well enough to work.  Good enough for me.  Then I can cry when I need to and move on.  I really do have a supportive workplace, I try to count that blessing as often as I can.