It's late!

It was a fun class.  Don't ask about the crusts!  But the soups were good, the bread was good, and the pies were good.  There is nothing egotistical about me!  Now, if I had any energy left, I'd get tomorrow's pie ready.  But alas, my donkey is dragging.  I'm not as young as I used to was!  Time for a quick nap before bed.  The pie can wait!  Take care of you and know you are loved!

Irony

I know this will surprise you, but there have been days in which a topic on which to write has eluded me.  But you probably figured that out if you are a consistent reader.  Tonight is not one of those nights.  In fact, the opposite is true.  Shall I write on the high cost of wellness?  I just received my bill for my yearly physical.  Shall I write on the practice of sending flowers to a funeral?  Two funerals this weekend had to significantly increase the florists' work load.  Or shall I respond to the request for recipes from yesterday's blog (Thanks Colleen for asking!!!!!)? 
From back to front, the recipes will be posted on my web page sometime this week (if the dam don't break and the creek don't rise!), so....  Flowers at a funeral.  Good topic, but hardly worthy of a dissertation.  Why on earth don't we send the ones we love flowers while they are alive?  Just makes more sense to me.  That leaves the high cost of wellness, and since my blood pressure was significantly altered by the bill I received today, it was a winner hands down!
Because I want to live a long and productive life (no snide comments about how long I've already been here!), every year I get a physical.  This year, my doc gave me an A+.  Healthy as an ox--a young ox at that.  Good news, right?  I had two things to discuss with him.  I had something on my nose.  He froze it off.  I had a pain in my knee.  He gave me a shot.  I said thank you.  I expected my insurance to cover the cost of the physical.  Fool that I am, that all men are.  The bill came today.  The office visit?  $287.00.  The nose job?  $420.00.  The shot?  $234.00 to administer.  (The medicine administered was an additional $40.00!)  Insurance payment?  $000.00!  Total cost (before discount by my insurance company [yet another thing I just don't understand!]) $981.00!!!!!  If I believed that my doc were going to get the majority of this money, I would be less incensed.  I think that is not the case.  So then, where does it go?  Being Billy Consumer, I immediately picked up the phone and spoke with the billing department at the clinic.  They informed me the cost of the office visit was to cover services performed.  Okay, I can live with that.  Then, when I asked why the services performed cost an additional $694.00, the answer I received made no sense to me.  Since I have learned my lesson (almost--See the Think Long entry) I somewhat calmly asked to whom I should address my concerns.  The answer?  The administrative personnel.  A letter.  In writing.  (Is there such a thing as a non-written letter?)  Fine, says I.  Give me a name to whom I should write.  The answer?  Administrative personnel.  I almost asked if that were Mr., Mrs., or Ms., but discretion won and I just said "thank you".  (Sometimes I just see no benefit in killing the messenger for a message I don't like!)  The letter is written.  The letter is sent.  I expect a quick reply, since the last thing I asked the messenger to do was note on the bill that it won't be paid until I get some answers that make sense!!!!!  Of course, that leaves the matter of the insurance company's non payment....  But that, my friends, is grist for yet another milling!  Right now, I have bread to make...and there's another topic...the number of students who survived my class because I bake bread!  Now don't you wish I had chosen recipes?  Thanks for the vent, and know you are loved!

all sports Sunday

In what can only be described as the pinnacle of sports participation, the Zubke's Sunday was a testament to perseverance, muscle coordination, and team play!  Whether one was involved with baseball playoffs, football games, or kitchen Olympics, it was all about scoring!  Even the dog did the high hurdle, clearing the fence (well, actually, sneaking around it) and making her way to the top of the platform!
In the upstairs, amazing finger dexterity and quickness of adaption stymied the writer.  Who knew it was possible to watch two football games and a baseball game at the same time?  The seamless switch from on to another was stunning.  Having ascertained that all was well in the Zubkedome, I attacked three new recipes in the kitchens (and yes, I managed to get them both exceedingly messed up!)  In the order of presentation, the first was a 3 and out!  The second was a home run.  And the third?  The third placed me on the gold medal platform!  Squash soup didn't have the punch to make it to a first down.  It's cooling its heels in the refrigerator, waiting for divine inspiration to hit the coach telling him what to do to make it better.  The second, a pecan crusted soy flour chicken was amazing, and with the substitution of soy flour for regular flour, it raised the protein and lowered the carbs.  Not a bad combination!  But it was the pumpkin pecan pie that took the gold medal.  With a pecan and pumpkin flavored crust, the filling was smooth and crunchy, and what a nice blend that is.  P squared may become my new second favorite pie! 
Needless to say, a good time is being had by all.  Wish you were here to enjoy!  Time for the tip-off for all-American napping!  Know you are loved!

Think long...respond slowly

There are few things that upset me more than when someone finds a button to push, pushes it, and instead of taking time to think, to reflect, I rapidly respond.  I probably should be used to regretting this type of action, as I am apparently a slow learner in this regard.  As I have aged, I think I have become better at least trying to implement this titular stratagem, but sometimes, the tongue (or fingers) rush to right a point of view.  This particular button stemmed from praying on a bad situation to advance a personal point of view.  Wham.  Bam.  Here's what I think of that.  Understand, I do not regret my reaction.  I regret the rapidity of the response.  I might have been far more eloquent and logical in my rebuttal had I thought slowly.  I might have given reason to consider.  Instead, I probably alienated, and changed absolutely nothing.  As I do my motivational shtick, I ask if anyone in the audience is a time traveler.  Some say yes (I do speak to some interesting groups!), but the point is, going backward just ain't gonna happen.  So I will do what I tell them.  I will attempt to correct my behavior and learn from it.  And here's to being a speedier learner.  Enjoy the wonderful things you have, and know you are loved!

Catharsis

Sometimes, one simply needs to cathart...to release pent up emotions...to do something that requires very little thought, some degree of physicality, and in the end, destroys nothing and perhaps even increases the cache of one's surroundings.  Let me put it another way.  Sometimes, it is necessary to clean the shower!  Let me set the scene for you.  My shower is in the basement.  It's been there over 30 years.  It sits right next to the washer and adjacent to the dryer.  When the washer drains, it sometimes backs up into the shower floor.  That's the bad part of its proximity to the laundry.  The good part is, whenever I take a shower, I throw my towel in the dryer so I always have a nice warm towel with which to dry the body beautiful!  But I digress.  Having a Y chromosome, the concept of wiping down the shower (you know, the one that only I use?) is foreign.  Scrubbing the floor?  Almost unheard of.  Washing the shower curtain?  Why bother...it gets washed every time I take a shower.  Well, today I was somewhat frustrated with the weather, so I was in the basement doing some laundry when I glanced in.  It was time.  I took down the curtain and threw it in the washer with a copious amount of bleach!  I poured more of the chlorinated substance in a wash pan, added some hot water, and scrubbed down the walls.  That left the floor.  I took the scrub brush and had my way with it!  Understand, one can only remove so much of what has seemingly calcified in one cleaning.  I stood up.  I looked around.  I was pleased.  One might even say proud.  I would gladly let someone else use my shower...and they might even accept now that it doesn't look like they might catch some horrific communicable disease just by stepping in.  My spirits were lifted.  My frustration lessened.  My god, I had catharted!  And think.  It's done for another 5 years!  May you find a positive way to release your pent-ups, and know you are loved!

I wish I had thought of that!

I am a teacher.  Translation:  when I find an idea that strikes my fancy, I immediately steal it, adapt it, and call it my own!  Such is the case with today's concept.  Coming from an impeccable literary source, and being published in the most up-to-date format (translation number two...I saw it on Facebook), it truly struck home.  The concept simply is this.  When life doesn't go according to plan...when concepts don't yield expected results, the initial response is either disappointment, or worse, anger.  Both emotions, although normal and unfortunately for many of us, rehearsed, are utterly and completely useless!  Disappointment is a fact of life, and anger puts control of your life into someone else's hands.  Here's the literary part.  Instead of useless, why not respond with a simple but powerful phrase..."Plot twist!"  I wasn't going to be a teacher.  Plot twist.  The very thing I was born to be.  I was ready to be married.  Plot twist.  I didn't, and celebrate every day that the plot went the way it did.  I was going to walk this morning.  Plot twist.  It's raining.  Breakfast at Original Pancake House.  See what I mean?  Like a good novel, I didn't see them coming, and oh, how much more interesting it has been.  As you write the book of your life, I hope there are a few twists that take you in a different direction.  In the rear view mirror, you will probably find they help you toward a happier ending!  Have an "unusual" day and know you are loved!

At the end of the day

I think I have heard this new catch phrase used at least 25 times in the last few days.  If it hasn't been on television, it's been in normal conversations.  I believe I may even have fallen into the trap.  So tonight, I want to examine the end of the day!  It started with a trip to Huron, where we were graciously hosted by an amazing group of retired teachers (and if you are an ontheroadophile, you know how impressed I am with the vitality that exists in such a group!).  We did our thing and headed for Sioux Falls for an appointment tomorrow morning.  We did spread a little money around in various places, encouraging little businesses in S.F. to grow.  Then it was off to our home in Sioux Falls, owned and kept up by the Larson's but always available for our use (The suite in the basement is ours!).  Out to a rather disappointing October Festival meal at the new Minerva's in the Western Mall followed by an absolutely delightful dessert, courtesy of the new gelato bar at Scheels (and of course, the Larson's!).  Then home for a little computing with their pictures and a quick game of bridge.  Now, the only thing between me and the sandman's visit I is the light I am about to turn off.  At the end of the day, it's all about thanks...for the health to travel, for the retirement system that gives us the wherewithal to travel (and spread a little around), for the friends who graciously welcome us into their home, for sustenance (some less than exciting, some to be tried again) and for cards good enough to win at bridge!  Oh, and for readers like you who are loved!  And there goes the light!