Sooooooo sleepy. We’re waiting for TVMan’s assistant to leave and then we’re going to take a nap. Yes, a nap at 5 p.m., I’m sure I’ll regret this later on. 
You mean “spleepy”.
LiLi and/or Muppet, since you seem to have a little more time this week and hopefully weren’t just ignoring my question last week, do either of you have a good recipe for a nice chewy Italian bread? Probably something with a high gluten content. I haven’t found a recipe that I like. I have both bread flour and straight-up gluten so I should be able to handle anything you throw at me! Please help! 
Bad Chinese tonight - daughter just got home so we’ll be heading out soon.
April 9 is surgery day. It’s a Friday. I figure that means he’ll be discharged on Monday, so I’m already planning to take that entire week off. He got lucky - someone canceled. Otherwise, he’d have had to wait till May. So by the end of May, he should be able to live like a normal person again. That’s good.
I may take some time off in March, too, just to get some yard work done. I was walking around out there today and I’ve got a bunch of bulb-stuff poking thru - yay!! Spring fever will be strong this year.
Happy belated Boo-day!!!
I wish I could believe the entire world revolves around me the way my annoying Official Roommate does. I just heard her through the wall separating our rooms bitching about the new TV Army Boy and I got over the weekend. There is literally nowhere else in the living room we could put it, but she thinks its all a conspiracy against her. She’s also upset that me, Army Boy, and Quiet Roommate were all hanging out and watching TV together because she thinks we’re ganging up against her.
And we are. But it’s because she’s such an Entitlement Bitch that we Older People who actually have jobs and have to work are tired of putting up with a spoiled brat whose mommy pays all her bills and takes over the entire apartment with her crap that she never uses. The rest of us would like to use the common areas sometime. And the freezer.
I need to get a really loud and obnoxious alarm clock and set it for my usual getting up time of 5:50 a.m. and put it right next to the wall. This is what it’s like to work for your money, sister. It is your future. Get used to it.
Based on the size of my ass (and the corresponding size of my pants), the answer is yes.
Alone for dinner again - The Boy is working late on one of his neverending projects. I ended up making a quiche lorraine… I love me some quiche lorraine, but rarely ever make it because The Boy dislikes big chunks of cooked onion in his food. Maybe I should make some french onion soup tomorrow.
taxi, I wish I had a recipe for you, but good chewy Italian bread is one of the techniques I haven’t mastered quite yet. The few times I’ve tried, it came out much too dense for my liking. If you’re willing to fork over the cash for a cookbook, though, I’ve heard nothing but love for Peter Reinhardt’s books on breadmaking. I haven’t read any myself, but I do have a couple of his earlier non-bread cookbooks and can vouch for the fact that he’s a generally awesome author and bona fide bread geek.
I agree re RR’s recipes, but I prefer to only read them in the plainest font on white paper. She gives me the heebie-jeebies.
Many Happy Returns of the Day, BooFae.
Forgot the rest, but a cake sounded good. Just found out that tomorrow’s RN work will be ultra-busy. Too bad I need money–otherwise I’d quit that job like a shot.
And stuff strewn about the garage and never used or even looked at again–stuff with inches of dust on it should be thrown out. Just sayin’.
I wanna new fridge, too! No $ in the budget for it this year. <jealous>
Happy Boo Day!
I’m posting this separately because it’s not a happy post.
Just got an email from the boyfriend. His father has been diagnosed with motor neurone disease (more commonly known as ALS, I think) in its advanced stages. The doctor says he has maybe 6 months to a year to live, but the chances of him ever being able to get off the respirator are slim to none. They’ll know more after x-raying his chest, but unfortunately it’s a rather minor detail at this point.
I woke up this morning after a vaguely ominous dream and checked my email with a superstitious sense of dread. My heart aches so much for my boyfriend and his family - everyone was trying to be cautiously optimistic but the small miracle we were praying for didn’t happen.
Plus I just called my mom and apparently my aunt’s house was destroyed in a fire. No one was hurt, thank God, and they’re insured - small blessing.
Things have to get better sometime, right?
oh, (((((Haze))))). I’m so sorry. 
taxi, I’m afraid I haven’t mastered Italian bread, either- i mostly do a sort of basic French-ish bread, except without the really brittle crust owing to no one buying me a professional oven. I’d try cautiously upping the water and gluten content, and starting on quite high heat, to get a nice open-textured bread.
Tired in spite of two house-slaves and not spending a whole lot of time toddler chasing today. Bed soon.
{{{Haze}}} Things do have to get better sometime.
I am not feeling the love this morning. It is 5:15am and I have been awake since 4am, thanks to HRH deciding she didn’t want to sleep (in her own bed) any more. After 45 minutes of me calmly, patiently (with gritted teeth) ignoring her and putting her back in bed, she peed on her bed (after telling me in a rather loud voice, “I angry with you. I pee bed”). I wiped her butt and dumped her on her father - I am done for this morning. Call me in a few hours when I have calmed down enough to be “Mummy” again. Until then, steer clear, 'cause I am done!
Oh, Haze, I’m so sorry to hear that! Lots of good thoughts and prayers for the whole family.
Hi RalfCoder, welcome to the MMP. I see you’re in Grand Ledge. I grew up in E. Lansing.
taxi,here’s a Peter Reinhard recipe posted on smittenkitchen. It’s an entertaining post and the bread sounds really good. Might have to try it myself. Seems to me that I had a pretty good recipe for focaccia, but I can’t remember which cookbook it was in…
Happy belated birthday, BooFae. Glad you had fun in Hungary.
Book group has come and gone. House wasn’t quite where I wanted it to be, but really much better than it has been lately, so there’s that. I decided while finishing cleaning this afternoon that I really need to go through the house and pitch about 1/2 of my belongings. I really have too much stuff. (Anyone want to help?)
Have to admit that MEKKA made me giggle.
Guess I’ll knit a bit to wind down…
Hugs.
ETA: Sorry about the rough start to your day. Aren’t strong-willed children fun?
GT
I forgot to mention that we made taxi’s brownies today. They were very tasty for breakfast and I think they even tasted better after sitting for awhile.
The only weird thing was the icing. It turned out with a very strange consistency and I ended up with uneven blobs all over the brownies. (It didn’t matter because they weren’t for clients, though.) But it did have a wonderful flavor.
Oh, dear Haze. I am so sorry.
Yes, me too.
I meant to comment earlier but I get a little disjointed trying to read and respond on my phone since I left my laptop at home.
Found another blog post about that recipe, taxi, with lots of detail, too. Found all of this through Food Blog Search, which I found through Simply Recipes. Very cool.
Haze, I’m so sorry.
Happy Belated Birthday, **Boo-Fae. ** It sounds like you had a great weekend.
My daughter came down and paid us a surprise visit today. Poor kid, she had totally forgotten that my son doesn’t get out of school early on Wednesdays anymore. So she sat here from around 1:30 until my son and husband came home. I don’t get home until 5:30.
Anyway, when my son got home, she and he went to see Shutter Island. In the meantime, I ran to the grocery store and picked up some steaks and taters. When my daughter and son returned from the movie, I broiled up the steaks and fixed the potatoes.
Hubby had a loooong day and was almost involved in an accident while driving his semi. Fortunately, he avoided it, but narrowly. Some asshole in a van just cut him off from the right. Didn’t look or anything. Hubby said there was maybe 20 feet between between him and the van and of course the van was going slower than hubby in his semi.
Hubby had to lock it up. Fortunately, although the trailer started to fishtail and go sideways on him, he managed to stop it. He’s got years of driving experience and is well on his way to two million miles safe drving. Today’s incident almost put a stop to that milestone.
Folks, never, EVER, get in front of a loaded, moving tractor trailer if you’re going slower than the truck. You’re going to lose if the truck can’t stop.
Hm, I’m at loose ends. I’ll have to figure out something to do.
I’m not going to use anything that says “it’s from suchandsuch book/magazine/cook” unless it also says it’s been heavily modified. In any case, I’m not publlishing the translations, just using “translating pieces of the blog” as a way to test that the “translation aid program” is, indeed, able to aid me as advertised. The only direct profit is supposed to come in the form of a piece of paper saying I can translate.
I checked, because my brother’s father in law, Joe, died of ALS and I don’t remember that other name coming up. Apparently ALS is one of the possible subtypes of MND, but in any case and based mostly on sister-in-law-the-doctor spending two years reviewing her theoretical knowledge of ALS vs her experience with her father vs her experiences with other patients, and in my own distant experiences with Joe, you and IrishFamily are going to need a lot of these:
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Good Mornin’ Y’all! Up and caffienatin’ on a rainy Thursday mornin’ in south Jawja. We’re promised heavy rains and tstorms with localized floodin’. Sounds like Spring. At least Spring in these parts.
{{{Haze}}} and {{{IB, IBDad and family}}}. All of you are in my thoughts and prayers.
Also, sorry about your aunt’s house. At least there’s insurance but still, it’s hard to replace a lot of stuff.
{{{Dotty}}} just cause I figured you need it.
Yay for the daughter visit Taters. Chitlins and trouts to the van driver that cut MrTaters off. I hate potential Darwin Award winners on the road.
Time to feed rumbly tummy, caffienate some more and get ready for another day of irk.
Happy Thursday Y’all!