Fried on Friday

Nearly two weeks of daily appointments have left me feeling a bit frazzled. I begged off on my walk with Sue this morning, and that's going to earn me the weenie award.

My weenie-ing out was only so that I could find time to go to the grocery store. Sounds like great fun, huh? There will be nice reprieve from our busy summer next week when we make a trip to the lake. For now, the trip is just adding items to my to-do list.

All of that to say I don't have a lot to tell you this morning. I've been working on the eighth of the Snow Globes blocks in the background. Sometimes I think embroidery projects are the only things keeping me sane. I love the time I spend in the morning, focused on doing something small and slow. It calms me for the day ahead.

Even with that, I've been hard pressed to find time in the mornings, and I've missed several over the past ten days or so.

Yesterday, I needed to head out early to pick up my new glasses because I needed to get back home to head off in the other direction for my haircut in the afternoon. Phew! When I got home from my haircut I took a nap. We were home past midnight after our Fourth of July celebration, and I needed more sleep to make up for what I'd missed. (I know you're not supposed to be able to "make up" on sleep loss, but I don't believe it.)

The other casualty of our Fourth of July was our diet. After eating a death burger (and a brat for me), we both needed to get serious again about this whole weight loss effort. We've been maintaining our weight, which is good, but we're both still motivated to lose some more. I had some CSA veggies to dispense with and made this delicious Beef and Broccoli Bowl last night. I really like that the recipes on the Cooking Light Diet are searchable, and so I can find recipes that match up with our latest CSA share. This one used red and green onions, broccoli, and carrots, and it was quite tasty.

The recipe is right here. I'd just add that when you add the vegetables and water, you need to lid the pan in order to steam the vegetables. The broccoli and carrots aren't going to cook enough in the time allotted unless there's some steaming involved.

Our farmers used to sell shares of beef and pork as a part of their farming efforts. They've moved to all vegetables now, and so this dish also used some of the remaining beef shares we obtained just before leaving on our trip last year. It's surprising how delicious their grass-fed beef has been, and I'm sorry they decided to end that part of their efforts. Apparently the cost of keeping livestock when coupled with the loss of pasture acreage that could be used for farming made it a money-losing proposition. It's certainly understandable why they decided to go a different direction. It's been fun being so close to a farming operation and seeing the changes they've made over time. This is our fourth year as a part of their "farmily."

As I mentioned, today's agenda includes grocery shopping, but I'm still hoping to make my way into the sewing room this afternoon. I've been keeping up with my monthly projects, but I'd also like to move some of my other projects along. Even so, I'm excited to make the next color for the Rainbow Jubilee quilt. July's color is red, and so I'm itching to see how it will look with the addition of red blocks. Here's where it stands now.

Up until now, I've been making the blocks two colors at a time in order to catch up. This month should be a breeze with only one color to make.

And now I'm determined to get in some slow stitching before starting the rest of my day. I hope you're Friday is slow and easy.