Estoy Nueces

Alright and might fine, I'm writing again, trying to keep to the HoliDailies commitment. Hopefully, the word HoliDailies is there on the upper left so you can peruse the other journalers commited (or should be) to writing each day this month. It's not the fancy little graphic I've seen on the others, but it serves its purpose.

I had a delightful "first date" with a new friend last night. No, I'm not cheating on the husband or changing teams. I just went to the movie with my new friend, let's call her Kitty since I once had a cat with her name. I met her on Thanksgiving and we shared interests so last night we went to see the movie "The Man Who Wasn't There" with Billy Bob Thornton. Excellent movie. Certainly a Coen Brothers movie where you notice the lighting and the makeup and the camera angles more than you pay attention to the story or get caught up in it, but excellent nonetheless. I highly recommend it to movie buffs. I would have enjoyed visiting more with Kitty to get to know her but I'm sure we'll do that soon. I did get to see her house and her amazing collection of cowboy boots--ALL IN HER SIZE!--and her sweet dogs.

Young people don't realize how easy it is for them to make friends. When you're in college or working with lots of young people it is easy to accumulate a circle of friends. As you age you find fewer and fewer people of like circumstances to hang with. My hours are so weird and being an older married woman without children is an odd place. Single women of my age make good friends because they don't have the commitments of husbands and children. Of course, they probably DON'T want to befriend me because I do have the commitment of a husband. So many dynamics to consider.

Today I considered the dynamics of Central Market. I only needed a few groceried but I decided to go there rather than the HEB. I don't know if that was a good choice or not. They did have the milk and juice and half-and-half I needed (which one of the "health food" groceries I go to doesn't have) but I had to hunt high and low for lunchmeat. In a place that is selling poblano tamales and fresh made cheese, you hate to ask a clerk for bologna. I finally found some sliced packaged turkey and that had to do. As for bread, I realize that the tastebuds of Americans have been deadened to real food, but, dadgummit, when I eat a sandwich I really do want it on plain ol' wheat bread and not something dark and hearty and crusty and grainy. That stuff is great for toast or for other purposes but it isn't the sandwich I wanted. Well, no Wonder bread at Central Market so I ended up with a grainy dark bread that will probably mold before we eat five slices.

I also bought a tortilla soup "kit" at Central Market. Tortilla soup is easy to make. I can make it. I have made it. But the way I make it does involve some gathering of ingredients and some thought. The kit made it awfully easy. I'm sure the price was more than what I could have paid for onions and peppers and garlic and cilantro and lime and tomatoes, but the point is, I didn't have to buy them all, I didn't have to chop anything and I don't have extra peppers and tomatoes going bad and a half lime sitting on the top shelf of the refrigerator for a month. It was great soup and I will have to fight my cheap nature again and buy more kits to cook with.

I'm cranky tonight because I need some sleep. Short night last night after the movie and this afternoon I felt energetic enough to clean my car and make lunch and DO some things before the nap. Finally, I was ready, really ready, for a good nap. But I forgot to take the earplugs to the "nap room" and soon Mark's phone calls and his playing with his new router conspired to wake me and make me cranky. I'm going to bed early tonight (she says with conviction).