And what did I learn today?

I learned today that it is a good thing to re-check one's scheduled appointments one has written down. In advance. And it is also a good thing to be able to read one's own handwriting.

My pre-admittance is TUESDAY, not Wednesday. First glance at my handwriting, it does appear to say Wednesday... but actually reading it, rather than glancing... it is most certainly TUESDAY. Which is tomorrow, not the day after.

What else did I learn today?

My children are bordering tired of chicken. I stopped by the local grocery store to get another couple of cases of canned goods and other sale items. When I got home, I decided to organise the freezer before adding more items to it. We have LOTS of chicken. (Some from my Mom's cousin Ruth, most from various sales over the last month or so.)

For lunch today, we made a big salad. I put some frozen boneless chicken breasts into my Pampered Chef stoneware roaster, sprinkled them ever so slightly (about 1/4 teaspoon or less over 3 breast halves) of Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning and began cooking them in the microwave. After 5 minutes, I took them out, turned them and rearranged them, and added about 1/4 cup of orange juice, right from the carton. Daniel suggested adding some lime and some orange zests, so we did. Returned them to the microwave and cooked them another 5 minutes. (They were done at this point- may take more or less time in other microwaves.) I let them set in the juice for several minutes, then cubed them up. They were added to the salad, along with some slivered almonds and dried cranberry "craisins". Served with a balsamic vinaigrette dressing... delicious! (I saved the pan juice to add to rice next time I make some.)

Anyway, the family is spared from chicken for supper tonight. I have a nice roast beast in the slow cooker. Sam added the potatoes, carrots, and onions just a short while ago.

I learned today that Ben has a "new cat". He shared his lunch with a "parking lot cat" at WalMart last week, and it has become very friendly to Ben. Thankfully, it still lives in the WalMart parking lot. But he did pack up some moist cat food in his lunch today, some that Al will not eat. (Al doesn't like moist food). He said it was kind of weird, packing cat food in his lunch. So we made a few jokes about being too poor to afford to eat anything but cat food. I said yeah, he has to take the cat food in his lunch... and the reason it was already open is that he has to share with his brother. Ben is the lucky one, he gets to carry his half in the plastic 'can'. His brother just had to carry his half of the cat food in his pocket. Without a bag. (we got sillier and sillier.)

Oh, the parking lot cat just reminded me of Chris's incident at the airport several years ago.

Chris was working as a baggage mangler on the swing shift. His car had a broken "wing window" from having to break in to the car at an earlier date. Chris hurried to the car one cold wet night, quickly unlocked the door and jumped in. Just as the car started, there was a movement in the back seat.. then something came over the seat at him. Chris said he was sure he was being attacked by a carjacker... until he realized it was just a stray cat that had found a warm dry place to sleep. It landed in his lap and bounded out the broken window... leaving him shaking in his shoes!

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