Here's What's Happening

Yesterday I boiled up another batch of pasta sauce. My yield was only 3 quarts this time, rather than the four I got from the last batch. Consistently, I can get one quart of pasta sauce from every four cups of peeled, chopped, and cored tomatoes. There are a total of 7 quarts in the pantry now. I'd like to get another 3 quarts before I'm finished. Eight quarts will take Mike and me through the winter, and that gives me a couple of quarts to give to the kids.

Pasta sauce would be my first priority, but if the tomatoes keep producing, I'll keep making both pasta sauce and salsa. Later on this week, I'll be turning my attention to the plums, however. I'm just waiting for them to soften up some, and then, they will be mine. Oh yes, they will be mine.

The pasta sauce took up most of the day yesterday, and so the only sewing I did was to sew a label onto the True Hope quilt. Here's what I came up with:

After I finish up here, I'm heading off to the post office to drop it in the mail to my cousin, and then I'm going to make a quick trip to the grocery store. I'm starting to think about meals I can prepare for our dinners, while also freezing a few days worth of meals for the beginning of our trip. This week, I'm making Cottage Pies, which are a favorite. I put them in 6-inch ramekins, so they end up being sort of like little pot pies. They're great for the first few days of a trip because we're doing a lot of driving in the first 2-3 days. That means, I can just pop them in the oven and there is no food to prepare and only the ramekins to wash. They're a great way to use up leftover mashed potatoes too.

This morning I finished up the vegetable garden stitchery for the Gardener's Journal quilt. 

Next I'll work on the "Pulling Weeds" stitchery. These two stitcheries are in the next section of the quilt. When they're done, I'll be ready to piece together the whole section to add to the parts that are already complete. 

We're going to a housewarming next Saturday. If I have time to do any sewing today, I'm going to start a Wine Waiter to take along with a bottle of wine. Here's one I made last year:

I love the bow tie.

This is from a pattern I purchased at Sew Happy Me. Now that I've made it once, I think the next one will go pretty quickly, and it sure does make for a cute gift.

Our weather has been kind of coolish and rainy the past couple of days. It's still heavily overcast today. That doesn't seem to bother Smitty. He goes out into the rain, and doesn't even seem to notice. Then he comes in and shakes like a dog. I usually wipe off his fur with a paper towel, and he likes that. George always liked it too. Their fur stays amazingly dry, except on the surface. Yesterday, Smitty got pretty darned wet. Even after wiping him off, his fur was still wet. I'm thinking he's considering a punk look in his future.

Nevertheless, he seems more inclined to nap on rainy days.

Don't we all?

This morning, I gulped hard and called a new orthopedic clinic about my knee. My quilting buddy Pat recommended a clinic in the opposite direction from my house from when I went on Friday. It's in the relatively small town of McMinnville, and I'm hoping they'll be a little more focused on patient care rather than being driven mostly by profit. It was probably good that my experience on Friday happened when it did because I've had a weekend to cool off, clear my head, and think it over. 

It occurs to me that my knees might have been attached to a giraffe, and I doubt the doctor would have noticed. She had her x-rays and that was really all she saw. Knee replacement surgery? Yes or no. That was her only consideration. Offering up an idea of what might be causing my pain never entered the picture. She seemed not to notice that the body part she is viewing on the screen is attached to a living, breathing human being. One who happens to be in pain.

So with that in mind I decided to keep my appointment on 9/6 with Dr. B. as I had already planned. But I'd really prefer not to return to that clinic. So on Pat's recommendation, I called this place in McMinnville and was able to get an appointment with a physician on 9/3. If I like the new guy better and feel better about the clinic after I leave, I'll cancel my appointment with Dr. B. and move along. I doubt they'll miss me or my knees. Certainly they won't be missing my lost MRI...and honestly...I handed them the films! It's a large package! How did they manage to misplace it? It doesn't inspire confidence, does it?

My father always said that he would not tolerate outrage. When it comes to healthcare, it's especially good advice.

So with that, I'm off to not-so-greener pastures. I'd prefer to sit here and chat with you, but the elves who ordinarily take care of things (ha!) didn't show up today.