Dept. of Good Things

[kaffy_r]

Things That Are Good

My late friend Nick's mom, who has become in a very odd way, a little like the only mother I have left, and with whom I had fallen into the habit of calling, as he once did, every week or so, suddenly wasn't answering my phone calls. I started to get very worried, especially as this is almost a year to the day when we lost him.

Happily, a few days ago, I called her place and happened to get one of her neighbors who was there presumably feeding her cats. She told me that Dee wasn't dead, she was in hospital, and not because of anything awful; because she was having her hip replaced. Not only that, but Dee would be home sometime this week.

Sure enough, I got a call from her tonight, and we had a perfectly lovely talk. I was so glad to hear her voice! And she told me that the company finally - finally - sent her Nick's final pay and holiday pay, and will probably free up his 401K and send it to her. As it should have done immediately, but didn't because HR, with the laudable exception o the wonderful woman who is now gone to another company, is full of narrow-headed weasel-bait.

Other good news; I made a very acceptable beef balti for supper tonight, with only a couple of substitutions needed (powdered ginger for fresh, sadly, and I went with burger/minced beef because I have a little steak, but I have Plans For That, so burger it was, and it suited quite well, thank you.)

Ah, yes, meat. I've been increasing the amount of meat in our diet ever since BB was diagnosed with a significant B12 deficiency a few months ago, and his doctor told him to Eat Meat Now. This is a little sad, since we'd recently commented on how we weren't heart broken about how little meat we've been eating over the past couple of years, but if he needs meat, he is going to get as much as I can shovel into him.

(We're still not going to be eating pork unless we know exactly where it comes from (except for our occasional Hecky's order. Hush, it's Hecky's), because large factory farms for pork are particularly horrendous ways to treat the animals that nourish us, as well as being horrible ways to treat the water table and surrounding environment. OK. TMI, I know.)
Much of the necessary head work for Chapter 23 is now done.

I haven't been fired. I saw two more robins today. I have cats to pat. My husband loves me, and I love him. And it's spring, now and finally.

Hmm. This was a rather scattered post, wasn't it?

Comments

[owlboy]

Will nutritional yeast work? That stuff has tons of B vitamins in it, and you only need to eat a tiny lil bit.

Sometimes though people just can't absorb b12 no matter how much they eat and they need to get injections of it.

[kaffy_r]

He's actually getting regular shots now, since his doctor told him the mega B vitamins he was taking wouldn't help him, at least not until they got his levels up to normal.

When it comes to nutritional yeast, I'm not sure if it qualifies, but I always keep Marmite in the house, and I often use it to take the place of beef broth base in soup, stew and sauce recipes, since I discovered by accident that no one can tell the difference - even BB, and he's officially a Marmite hater if you ask him to eat it by itself or on toast, etc.

[flowsoffire.livejournal.com]

Yay for good things! It's good you were reassured about your friend and she turned out all right. The end of your post is all the lovely things!

Ahhhh, that Martha icon is gorgeous. I went to see your icons so I could see the maker's name and snag it, and ended up stealing a couple of One and RTD era icons… ;) Love a good icon…

[kaffy_r]

Help yourself to any of the icons, as they're free for the asking; some of the folks who created them are apparently no longer on LJ/DW, which is sad, but their work lives on.

[flowsoffire.livejournal.com]

Yes, that's sad :( Good to know, I always feel awkward snagging icons when I don't know the maker's name…

[kaffy_r]

I try to put as many IDs as possible on my icons. Unfortunately, when my laptop underwent a major meltdown about 14 months ago, my Best Beloved was able to retrieve thousands of images, but without the identification I'd appended to them. Which is frustrating; I don't want to be thought of as someone who takes, but doesn't credit.

[flowsoffire.livejournal.com]

Oh, I understand that—I'd be beyond frustrated in the same situation! Still, you credit everything you can so one can tell you do take that at heart :)

[thisbluespirit]

Nothing wrong with a scattered post - and I'm glad there are some good things going on in between everything else. ♥

[kaffy_r]

Awww, thanks. I've been reading some of your posts, but am still so very behind on everything. You're bidding fair to get me interested in Frank and Mrs. Mortimer, but so far I'm resisting manfully. Heh.

[thisbluespirit]

:lol: yes, resist! I just need a place to talk about it, and it is interesting, but I doubt it's for everyone. Some things catch you at a particular time and place and turn out to be exactly what you needed - and sometimes that can be the most unlikely old TV show, it seems. :-)

[kaffy_r]

Oh, I definitely understand!

[a-phoenixdragon.livejournal.com]

No, this was a wonderful post - in all a manner of ways!! Bless you!!

So glad Nick's Mum is okay - and very glad that you and BB are doing alright yourselves. Being the carnivore I am, more meat would not be a bad verdict to me, lol!! Knowing my luck, one day I will get ordered to stop...arrrghhh!!

Good policy!! I have pretty much shied away from pork at our Kroger. It...has wierd issues the last few years and I do not trust where it comes from, much less if it actually IS pork. After so many dinner-time disasters (and you're talking to a woman who loves good pork-chops)I have almost completely forgone it myself. Arrrrghhhh.

Yay not being fired!! And yay animules!! And yay good times with hubby at the beginning of spring!!

And yay Chapter 23 coming along for you! I'll keep cheering over here, lol...

*HUGS*

[kaffy_r]

Being the carnivore I am, more meat would not be a bad verdict to me,

Yeah, it's weird; I adore meat. I love the taste, and for years I made merciless fun of vegetarians, although I saved most of my disdain for vegans. And then I started reading about how much carbon footprint animal husbandry imposes on the world, how much arable land worldwide (26% for crissake) is used simply by ruminant herds, how much methane cows, bless their hearts, put into the atmosphere, how much the ... plumbing ... discharge from factory hog farms pollutes our water and earth, how much grain goes into feeding a single chicken instead of a dozen people .... and ever so much more—

—and, given the improvement in fake meat technology, and my burgeoning love for a lot of middle eastern and Indian subcontinent cooking that fills you up without meat, I started cutting back on it. And I didn't miss it. The cut back was so very gradual, I think that helped, and I didn't cut meat out entirely. A good steak? I'm still there, knife and fork in hand, in a New York minute. But let's say I don't make fun of vegetarians anymore.

Now vegans ... I kid! I kid! Mostly.

[ljgeoff.livejournal.com]

Here's hoping you don't mind GAS (geek answer syndrome) -- when Crystalynn was pregnant, she used a vitamin D spray, methylcobalamin spay.

When I am only cooking for myself, I eat very little meat.

[kaffy_r]

Hi there, darlin'! Don't mind at all; BB's actually getting shots. He'd been taking heavy doses of B12, but the doctor told him he needed the big guns to come in for a few months. After that, the supplements should be sufficient, along with slightly more meat.

[clocketpatch]

Scattered good news is far better than clumps of the other kind. I think this post was lovely.

As for meat... Good luck with getting the B12 up. I think you can get it in injectable or pill format as well, because I seem to recall a friend having to go visit the nurse every other month for B12 shots and then graduating to tablets, but perhaps her problem was more severe (I think she had issues with digesting it or something? She certainly ate a lot of meat)

Mostly, I don't buy or cook meat at home, but I'm not really a vegetarian because meat tends to just happen away from home several times a week anyway. And how do you say no to free meat?

[kaffy_r]

I think you can get it in injectable

Precisely what BB's receiving currently. He'll be getting injections for a few more weeks/months, and then the supplements should be sufficient.

I'm amazed at how much both BB and I migrated away from meat. We were well on the way to simply having it as an occasional fun luxury until this.

And how do you say no to free meat?

Heh.