(no subject)

We're having friends over to play cards on Sunday, as usual, although given that it is Easter and the day after most of them are driving up to a SCA event, that was in the air for a while. Since we're all childless adults (as it were), I suggested that everyone to bring Easter goodies and we can fill each other's baskets. Don't know how that is going to go. We bought a few odd things to throw in - some bacon jerky for the two diabetics, a container of glitter candy for the woman who always puts confetti glitter on any cake she bakes. Stuff like that. We bought some supplies on our commissary trip and after we acquire two new tires tomorrow (to match the other two purchased in November), we'll check out the Dollar Tree and craft shops to try to find small empty and inexpensive baskets. Or else I'll be using my heraldry markers to create 'baskets' out of paper bags. I expect that some of our guests will be pranksters since it is also April Fool's day.

Pennsic's mayor reminded me that I owe him a package. I've got to get started on that project. I'd thought to finish putting the trim on the bottom of my Viking coat first but really - that's been on the to-do pile for about two years and the pouches are needed now. So I'd best get on that.

I spent nearly $200us on prescription drugs today. That's just my co-pay, insurance handled the rest. And I will be adding extra costs to that as soon as the insurance approves my GP's prescriptions for insulin. One is a once-weekly dose, the other a daily one. The latter one is likely to discontinue once I get my glucose levels down to what the pancreas can handle. Or so says my GP. He also gave me a referral to an endocrinologist and a shrink. I am actually looking forward to the shrink - I'd rather proactively address depression than just hit it with mood enhancing drugs.

Our local base's pharmacy will fill prescriptions for free. It's a time-waster with a wait in their lobby sometimes for over an hour but after shelling out $84 for my copay for glucose tester strips and looking at needing to pay for insulin, I think I'll be sending a message to my GP to get a script for diabetes related stuff. I'll just bring my Nook to the pharmacy.

Three days of over-70 degrees weather. Summer is nearing.

(no subject)

A lovely day was/is today. Sunny, mild temps (mid 50s Fahrenheit) and very little wind. T-shirt weather. We went to Sam's Club to buy new tires for the Kia Soul and walked from there to Long John Silver's for a fish & chips lunch. Yeah, yeah, I know - (ugh, Long John's?) - but over the years we got used to it while we were feeding teenaged boys and their friends so now we get a yen for it once in a while and happily feed the yen knowing that it will be a months or years in returning. And it didn't tip my carb count up as badly as you'd think.

I carried a purse to hold our Nooks so after lunch we settled into chairs in the outdoor living section and read our novels while the crowd swirled around us. My gosh! There were So. Many. People! Oddly the crowd thinned as the afternoon wore through. I should have checked out the fruit before we left but I was a tad overwhelmed by the crowd and the noise so homeward we came.

Our willow appears to be budding leaves now rather than pollenating. it is almost time to mark the branches which will need pruning come this autumn. Another sign of warmer days are the tiny little motorcycles that are zooming up and down our street - the rider's heads are about even with our headlights so now all of us have to be very careful when coming or leaving. I hope my speed-demon neighbors down the way have gotten that memo.

Oh - and about that 'potato spice blend' I tried on chicken breasts a few days back. It was delicious. But the chicken was cooked in our slow cooker and for the second time it came out fall-apart tender and yet exceedingly dry. All the juices just baked out of them, it appeared. I think the next time I buy some of that stuff I'll brush it onto the breasts before cooking them in my frying pan.