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It was a beautiful morning to stand in the bread line. Low 60s, filtered sunlight. I stood between two white men. One was a man my age with a five-year-old daughter playing Barbie dress-up on a battered previous-gen iPhone. He declined the cabbage but said thank you for everything, wished all the helpers happy new year, and talked about how he uses the day-old bread to make homemade croutons and bread crumbs. He was good-looking, almost professional-looking, but I didn’t like him. He sounded too much like me. The other man was older, mid-fifties. He talked to me the whole time in line while we filled out forms for our new year’s registration. He told me about solar flares and sunspots and how President Obama has warned people to be ready for a drastic solar storm. He told me that he’s interested in a group that thinks they can predict earthquakes based on solar winds. He tried to steer the conversation into talking about our corrupt government but I asked him questions about the sun instead, prying away at the edges of what he knew, dancing away from the parts where I could tell he was starting to make things up.
This afternoon we took the kids hiking. We got a little lost in town trying to find the right place so we stopped at the tourist center and got lots of maps and brochures. They got us pointed in the right direction and we took a little hike through Texas woods. Compared to Pennsylvania, Connecticut woods were denser and darker and felt a little taller. But Texas woods are short and scrubby. Still dense and pretty dark but the trees are weirdly short, almost like tall bushes. And there are cacti here. Are they just succulents? What is the difference between a cactus and a succulent? Is one a subset of the other? I’ll have to ask Google.
We didn’t hike for long but my legs were very grateful for finally getting to walk. I miss Bristol badly and I hate living too far from anywhere practical to walk to. There I said it. But hiking now and then will really help.
My little sister is the primary reason I wanted to move down here. Instead of 24 hours drive from her, we’re now a three hour drive. We’ve lived here for what… three months now? And have visited her four times. This pleases me. The past visit was highlighted by something we’ve all been waiting a long time for – the Bostwicks got to ply our first table top RPG. Not pictured – my gorgeous amazing sister breastfeeding her baby while GM’ing for us. I want to remember that she did voices for all of the NPCs and they were excellent. She made the story herself but it was in the Mouseguard setting. A sort of Redwall-meets-D&D which is perfect for her. Pictured, though, are my daughter along with her step-cousin – they finally had the sense to recognize each other as kindred spirits. Also my brother-in-law holding my amazingly gorgeous nephew, and yes, my sister GM’ing. Just not while nursing. We also had my thirteen year old gaming with us but he declines pictures.
It’s a lovely scale, and the customer service from the company was excellent. The first one I received was dead on arrival. It lit up enough to switch from kGs to lbs but would never take a weight at all. So I contacted them and they sent me a brand new one, no questions asked. So I really can not fault their service. I was very pleased with their great attitude about the whole thing.
The second scale arrived and had no such problem. I popped the batteries in and it lit right up. Switched it easily over to pounds. But sadly it was terribly inaccurate. The scale would read a twenty pound difference from room to room. I don’t know if it’s because I am a bigger girl (CERTAINLY well under the 400lb limit) or if maybe my apartment isn’t level enough? But I can’t get a straight reading on it at all. I gave it a shot. Now I am moving to a new apartment in the next month so I will take it along and see if I have any better luck in a different space.
I received this scale at a discount in exchange for my honest review. Thanks to #SmartWeigh for the opportunity and for their terrific attitude about the replacement. I will update my review later if it works better in my new apartment. You can purchase the scale on Amazon.
2 cups unsweetened almond milk (I use Blue Diamond Unsweetened)
1/2 avocado
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 packet of stevia – I get mine from Aldi and you could add one more if you want it to be sweeter. I have been drinking unsweetened flavored seltzer all day so my need for sweet is very low right now.
Add all of these ingredients to the blender. Throw in as much ice as you can until it’s totally submerged. Blend until the ice is mostly smooth.
At the end, add 1/2 graham cracker and pulse lightly until it’s incorporated.
Mmm, so good. The avocado makes it smooth without any dairy too make my tummy feel bloated. The lemon adds brightness for contrast. Graham cracker gives it that feeling of indulgence without overdoing it.
