Good News Day

I woke up this morning to the dog barking furiously, eager to get outside and attack whatever he had seen trespassing in HIS yard.  After "it" had been run off the property, Riley had to quarter the area with nose to the ground, neck ruff standing high, full alert.  Extremely busy.  A second flurry to make sure everything was safe.  Then continued surveillance from the comfort of his dog bed, located next to a low window sill.

My email account was full of the very best stuff today.  Wheat Belly, Paleo Recipes.  I spent the entire morning (forgot to even eat breakfast) reading everything about Wheat Belly.  I didn't know that old wheat had been genetically engineered to become dwarf wheat (perhaps 100 years ago).  Did you know that people lived on wheat bread, as, sometimes, the single food they ate each day?  And now, this wheat, could cause so many health problems.

I know, personally, that not eating wheat has allowed me to free myself from obsessive eating of flour and sugar based foods.  Uncontrolled NEED to eat more and more of these products.  My husband and I would, before, eat a full pound of prepared pasta between the two of us. Sometimes with only butter and cheese.  And then have a bag, each, of popcorn.  Washed down with diet Coke.  While we reclined on the couch and only got up to take another Aleve for our aches and pains. (G still eats half a pound of pasta)

I still need Aleve.  Especially after walking the dog on uneven surfaces.

Did you notice the red Crocs?  I finally admitted defeat and paid full price for them. Christmas Foot Wear.
My hairdresser suggested wearing one red Croc and one of my green Crocs for the holidays.  One is new and one is worn.  I think I would be more likely to trip on the concrete flooring.  Green socks and red shoes might be safer.

The meatballs came out fine.  Not great, but edible and no one got sick or died.  I followed the USDA suggested rules on meat that is no longer pink after a few days in a home fridge.  Follow Your Nose was the advice.  If it smells funny or feels tacky, don't eat it.  It smelled like meat.  So I used it.  The quality of the taste was downgraded by the lack of oxygen (making it pink) but the long baking in homemade marinara seemed to even things out.  I don't plan on buying ground meat "ahead" ever again.  If G wants meatballs, I will go out and buy meat and make the balls right away.  I served mine with more of the zucchini pasta and I am very happy with it.  Just julienne strips of unpeeled zucchini, salted and left to drain for at least one hour.  Then it can be stored in the fridge (I add paper towels to absorb water) and lightly reheated.  It twirls like pasta and is filling.  If you make this--do not cook it.  You can rinse off the salt with boiling water over a colander but no cooking.

Wheat Pasta is relatively tasteless.  It's the "mouth feel" and the conveyance of the pasta sauce to your mouth that we really want.  And the zucchini pasta does the trick.  Great in a stir fry or lo mein.  In fact, zucchini pasta would be fantastic in any Chinese dish, subbing for rice or noodles.  If you had one of those empty convenience food packages (add hot water, steam and drain) you could even bring your own zucchini noodles to the restaurant and ask for a cup of hot water to heat them.  Drain and add to your entree.  I just wish I had heard of this fantastic meal item when the garden was still producing zucchini as the grocery prices right now are very high.  Next year I need to plant twice as many zuke plants.

I wasted the entire day yesterday sitting here at the computer.  And so far, today, I have done the same.  I haven't even read my book.  This lack of wanting to "do" anything that resembles WORK is troubling.  I am a project oriented person, usually.  I'm hoping it's just a phase and will be replaced by ambitious work in a few days (or better still, in a few minutes).  The laundry is getting done, food is being cooked, shirts are being ironed, dog is being walked.  I even hand washed all the meatball prep dishes and the stove yesterday.  That looks like an impressive amount of work.  But the house is a mess and the yard is an even bigger mess.  I think I will make the bed, iron a few more shirts, get the dog towels folded and work on clearing off the dining room table (again!!!)  My daughter is coming over this afternoon. Then I will walk
the dog.

I watched Prime Suspect last night and Fringe.  I recovered all the current episodes of both from the TiVo deleted files (563) and now have them stored so I have something very, very good to watch if I get sick this winter, along with the three episodes of Zen and the new Masterpiece detective in Case Histories.  This is turning out to be a Very Good Season for television.  I still miss Detroit 187.

Moving to the bedroom to make the bed and fold dog towels.