
Over the past week, I have been hit twice with some sort of intestinal bug. Either I ate something not quite right, or a germ hitchhiked on my sleeve somewhere while I was out and about and entered my system. Since it happened not once but twice, I did begin to wonder if perhaps it was something in my refrigerator. As I’ve said previously, my new refrigerator hasn’t been working properly. Everything I put in it seems to freeze, even though it is set at the lowest setting. When my old refrigerator died, my landlords did not go all in for a replacement appliance, though I am grateful for their effort. It is an upper freezer old timey model, equipped with none of the amenities available in some of the upscale newer refrigerators. For example, there is no ice maker. That being said, there is no external bar for ice, water, etc. and the freezer doesn’t offer a lot of usable space once the ice cube trays are in there. This is an old house, and I love it, but it does have a setback or two. The sink has no garbage disposal, and the dishwasher is in a drawer. Other than that, and the new frigid refrigerator, I love, love, love it here.
A repairman was called to check out the situation. After giving the fridge a thorough going over, his conclusion? It’s fine. Hmmmm. Before he arrived, I prepared my visual displays. On the counter were several rock hard bottles of frozen water, two ice laden green onion bouquets, and one fifty pound cauliflower now a solid block of ice, I referred to as a veggie pop. After checking the dials, and calibrating the whatsits and thingamabobs, his conclusion, “it’s fine”. In what universe is it fine? Am I missing something? He suggested I put less in the freezer. That would limit my usable space to two Lean Cuisines and a bag of frozen peas. After bantering back and forth for a bit on the “it’s fine” theory, he called the game and went to the locker room. If this is the worst thing I have to deal with in my life, I will manage, but it is annoying. I texted my landlord his findings and she texted me back, “keep me advised”. Hmmmm, again. Shall I text again tomorrow and each following day with, “still not working”?
Let’s move on. Most likely if things are freezing they are not contributing to my internal distress. More likely to cause a problem, would be if it was running too hot. Could be a bug. Not in the fridge in me. Whatever is going on in the deep nether regions of my body, it all came to a head night before last. I beat a solid path back and forth to the bathroom for about four hours. Boo accompanied me, seating herself next to me on each visit. While I hung my miserable little blonde head over the toilet, she remained vigilant by my side. I believe the cat thought perhaps this was some new weird sort of game I’d thought up for her entertainment. After a while, seemingly bored with it all, she went back to her bed, looking at me as if to say, “this really wasn’t that much fun”. Blessedly, I finally fell asleep, not waking up again until around 9 a.m. When I opened my eyes, Boo was standing my chest, her wet nose pressed firmly against mine. If I could describe the look on the cat’s face, it would be quizzical. It was as if she was asking me, “are you broken”? I am usually up way before the chickens, so most likely her food bowl needed to be filled and no treats had been deposited on her mat as the usual eight o’clock routine required. (It’s in her contract.)
It is much less fun to be sick, not that it’s ever a really good time, when you are living alone. My head, toenails, eyelids, eye teeth, and belly button were all complaining as I rolled myself out of bed and set me feet on the floor. Was the room spinning, or was it just me? Since there was apparently no one riding in on a white charger to come to my rescue, I needed to get myself up and moving. Padding into the kitchen, I did my due diligence by filling the cat dishes and distributing the treats on the mat. I looked at the coffee pot longingly, but my stomach issued an urgent message to my brain saying, “touch that pot and you’re a dead woman”. Okay, okay. Fifteen minutes later, I was again staring at the ceiling trying to recalibrate myself. Thankfully, by yesterday afternoon I was feeling much, much better and seemed to be heading toward being fully on the mend.
Today, I took a long look inside my refrigerator. I wore industrial gloves and an anorak so as not to develop frostbite. Turns out, one of my egg cartons had an expiration date of the beginning of January. Thinking back on recent events, both days I got sick I had eaten eggs from that carton in the morning. I also remember thinking as I took a last bite that the last egg had an unusual after taste. Tossing them, I decided I need to pay more attention to the dates. With Dale gone I’m not using food as quickly and doing far less cooking.
Due to this freezing situation, I have had to toss a lot of food, and these days it’s a pricey thing to do. I keep mentioning how expensive food is getting, but really it’s getting kind of alarming. I stopped by a local farmers market a couple of days ago and bought two heads of broccoli and three small zucchini. When I went to the cashier I handed her a ten and got thirty-eight cents back. Whoa. I thought she was kidding. If I hadn’t been in such a hurry, I might have handed them back to her and gone elsewhere.
Lately, I have been toying with the idea of ordering in from some of the websites who deliver pre-made meals. Doing some research, it appears you can pick and choose from all manor of flavors, frequency of delivery, and preparation types. There are meals you cook yourself, meals already prepared for you you simply heat up, healthy meals, meals for those needing special diets, low-calorie plans, those with no calorie limit, all manner of ethnic foods, a little something, something for all ranges of tastes and desires. Looking at them en masse, was like being handed a menu at a restaurant with page after page of items to choose from. Two hours later, you still can’t make up your mind.
Eating out every night is a lovely option, but my budget resists the idea strenuously. Too bad, cause the CEO of this company, namely me, was all over that idea. So, either I need to begin cooking again, a task I normally find cathartic but lately daunting, or find a partner who is skilled in the culinary arts.
I’m not doing any partnering anytime soon. It is a time in my life where I need to take a look at myself, where I am today, where I want to be tomorrow, and how I wish the rest of my life to look. Until I get that sorted out and in a neat pile, a partner wouldn’t be fair to either of us.
I am involved in a class that helps to narrow down the playing field. This has been very helpful for me in identifying things I need to change, things that make me fulfilled, and things that I can slough off and leave behind me. As I’ve said, adventure is in the air this year, and I intend to fly with it.

Currently I am in the planning stages of a trip to Montana which is very exciting for me. Dale was born and raised there and always wanted to take me with him to visit. His daughter, sister-in-law and I will be flying into Seattle for a few days, then renting a car and driving east to Missoula. Missoula is a bit of a concern for me, I have to admit. My ex-husband has settled there with his new wife, number 5 (but who’s counting). That would be an awkward reunion. Maybe I’ll get one of those masks with the glasses, nose and moustache? I told the ladies, if I suddenly throw myself on the floorboard, hit the gas there’s been a sighting.
Once we have seen what we plan to see in Montana, we’re going to at least do a short stop in Yellowstone. The park is really something that needs to be the intent of the trip, I believe, rather than a stop, but it will be interesting to see what we can see while in the area. Apparently there is a convergence close to one of the park gates of an alpine river (cold) and a second river (boiling). Where they meet and combine creates the perfect temperature for a spalike dip in the water. Well, that sounds perfectly wonderful.
So, exciting new things on the horizon. Almost the weekend, yay!!