Hi everyone. I’ve been neglecting my blog a bit as other creative passions take over. I really need to remedy that. Today, I’m once again late writing a post, as it’s nearly 9PM. At least I’m writing something. I’m joining in with #WeekendCoffeeShare. As you can imagine, it’s rather late for coffee for my liking, but I bet we still got soft drinks in the fridge. I allowed myself a Dubbelfrisss this evening. I normally skip them, as they’re not 100% sugar-free and I’d rather have an extra piece of candy than this. Today though, I gave myself permission for both some licorice and the Dubbelfrisss. Anyway, Dubbelfrisss is only slightly carbonated, but we might have coke too or even alcohol-free beer (alcohol isn’t allowed here). Let’s have a drink and let’s catch up.
If we were having coffee, I’d share that I had a good appt with my psychiatric nurse practitioner on Monday. Last week Friday, I had had a panic attack. It was related to the war in Ukraine and fear of what might happen, which I realized at my appt is different from a flashback to a traumatic experience I really did go through in the past. Not that it really mattered in that moment, as the feeling was just as overwhelming.
I also linked the panic attack to the staff who had triggered me and, since this staff is new, I felt really anxious about the whole situation of allowing him to work with me one-on-one. Thankfully, once it got to this point, we were able to talk through the issue and let it go that way. And indeed, this staff’s first time working one-on-one with me went pretty well if you ask me.
If we were having coffee, I’d tell you that, on Wednesday, I cooked the best chicken pilav! I did most of the cutting of the vegetables myself (the chicken was pre-cut) and also most of the cooking. We had my favorite rice with the pilav too!
If we were having coffee, I’d also tell you that I’ve been taking more flower photos. I finally started actually snapping the pictures myself most of the time rather than letting my staff do most of the actual photographing. Of course, my staff still have to tell me where to point the camera. It’s cool that I can make use of my knowledge of photography, gathered from photography blogs of course, to help the staff figure out ways to help me take better pictures.
I’ve also been running a few of my photos through a plant identification app called PictureThis. The one below is a Chaenomeles Japonica.
If we were having coffee, lastly I’d tell you that yesterday, I decided semi-impulsively to go to Action to try to find macrame cords. Obviously, experienced macrame artists would say I should get high-quality cords, but I’m just trying to get a hang on the knots. The lark’s head knot, square knot and spiral knot are relatively doable after some practice, but I keep getting stuck on the half hitch knot (and don’t even get me started on its variations). I mean, when I saw a beginner tutorial with pictures, it sounded a lot easier than I thought it should be. That tutorial was doing the half hitch knot with just two cords, which all other tutorials show isn’t possible. I’m pretty sure I spent some significant time tying just plain ordinary “old bitch knots”, as my husband would likely call them.
With respect to my shopping spree at Action, I also ended up buying a lot of felt stickers that I now don’t know what to use them for, a new organizing box that I may not even be able to use yet, deodorant, butterscotch candies and probably more. I spent less than €10, but that’s also because my staff paid for the macrame cord and the felt stickers from day center budget.
How have you been?
A Multitude of Musings 
Sounds like you’re having lots of creative fun, that’s a good thing!
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Thank you so much. Yes, I’m definitely enjoying my creative process.
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I’m sorry to hear about your panic attack but glad you have good support from your nurse practitioner. I was very intrigued about your photography – how do you set the focus? At least I always adjust focus even the very few times I shoot with my phone. However it is always uplifting to hear about all the creative work that you do. Hope you’ll have a good weekend.
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Thanks for the complimment on my photography! Quite honestly, I can’t remember whether I even took that picture (the flower one) myself or my staff did. I have no idea what adjusting focus is or how to do it on my phone, so maybe my staff did that with the flower one. The food one, I did all by myself. Thanks so much for stopping by. Have a lovely week ahead.
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That dish looks amazing…mouthwatering. Good luck with the macramé. I have always struggled with the concept of specialty knot tying. I think it is because I am left handed and most tutorials show it right handed and I overthink how to do it.
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Oh yes, that makes sense! I am extremely right-handed, in that I cannot really use my left hand for many fine motor skills. That was one reason people doubted I could do macrame. Thanks for stopping by and for the compliment on my pilav.
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Hi Astrid.
You put me to shame with your cooking.
I can cook and am actually fairly good at it for some types of meals, but lately, partially because I have to be so careful with sugar and grain carbs, then also not having a group to cook for often, and my wife who cooks much better than I do – I end up just not doing it very often.
You’ll laugh at me but my new favorite meal is: 1 can of black beans (partially drained), 1 can of stewed tomatoes (almost any flavor but I avoid those with added sugar), one can of refried black beans (do you have refried beans there? – they’re mostly more black beans, but have some kind of fat added and maybe spices so they’re like a thick bean paste), I like to add a fresh sliced onion, maybe some diced bell peppers, other spices, maybe some red wine and some kind of meat for protein – usually a good sausage.
I saute the onion slices with a bit of olive oil, then (to really cheat) I put everything into a large bowl and microwave the whole thing with several pauses to stir so everything mixes well and comes out as a thick and chunky stew.
It tastes great with some slices of bread (but is amazing with garlic bread and a glass of red wine – which I know you can’t do there).
So – the result is just a dressed up few cans of stuff, but has almost no sugar or grain carbs so my blood sugar is easier to manage and (the best part) I’m loosing weight because both sugar and carbs are so low – and is so easy to make.
It’s almost like I’m not even cooking – ah but the results – my tongue and tum are sooo very happy with each bowl.
But I rarely tell anyone about how my favorite meal these days is warmed up cans of beans. . . .
My wife – won’t touch it (not fond of beans and can’t have onions).
But my daughter, who will eat almost anything – loves it almost as much as I do.
Not elegant by any stretch – but so easy and good.
If you try this, don’t tell anyone you got it from me.
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That meal sounds absolutely delicious! I don’t think it’s weird at all that your favorite meal is basically a microwaved stew of canned beans. I really should’ve mentioned in my post that, on Monday, I made an omelette in the microwave. I’m not sure if Tupperware is a thing where you live too but it was big here in the 1970s and one of my staff gifted me their omelette maker (basically a sophisticated microwave-safe container). That’s how I got the idea of actually making my own omelettes in the microwave. It’s cool, because I have a microwave in my room, so I don’t have to go to the kitchen to do the cooking. Thanks for inspiring me!
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. . . and yes, multiple versions of plastic storage and microwave cookware are around – but the term “Tupperware” is generically used to describe almost all of them 😉
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It’s great to hear about your creative pursuits. I hope you have a fun week next week. Thank you for your #weekendcoffeeshare.
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Thanks for stopping by. Hope you have a great week too.
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Love the look of that Pilav, got me in the mood for something similar.
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Oh yes, it was truly delicious! It was also pretty easy to make. Thank you for stopping by.
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Love your flower photo. Looks like a tulip and they’re my favorite spring flower. Your meal looks good.
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Thank you so much! Tulips won’t be in bloom here until May. If I remember correctly, this flower was a Japenese quinche.
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I am going to download picture this now. And take some flower photos! I will love identifying them with the aAPP! xo
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It’s a great app! You will need help taking the photos I guess, since the flower or plant does need to be pretty clearly pictured for the app to identify it. Then again, it’s free to try out, so if you don’t find you can work it, you can always stop using it.
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