When a Plan Comes Together

I had big plans for Saturday, and for once they came together. I was able to go over to my father-in-law's and get my check engine light turned off by his code reader. That was necessary so I could go get my emissions tested, which I did with no delay or problems. That was necessary so I could renew my tags for my Mazda, Daria. Once that was done I did a mess of grocery shopping, buying lots of vitamins. That was necessary because I needed to get a flu shot, and if I bought $25 worth of vitamins I could get a free flu shot. That all went according to plan. As a surprise bonus, I got an email while shopping that let me know I had a book on hold at the library. Since the library was right across the street from the grocery store, that was another triumph.

Jen made fried apples and cheese for lunch, which was a new culinary experience for me, but delightful. We used apples from our friends John and Jen and I turned the rest into an apple pecan pie. We'll be enjoying that with Jen's parents tonight. I also went out and harvested the remaining tomatoes, since it did snow a little bit yesterday and the temperatures were below freezing during the night. I pulled off quite a few of them.

The only two things that didn't turn out so hot yesterday were some pasta and my constitution. In trying to use up the rest of the tomatoes, I made a tomato sauce recipe from smitten kitchen. I haven't had a bad recipe from there, but this one bombed. It calls for adding a bunch of water at the end, which made the sauce soupy and bland. I imagine it would have been all right without it. However, at this point it felt like a blow because I was also starting to feel rather nauseous and achey. I proceeded to have a pretty good set of flu symptoms take hold that left me shivering on the couch. I guess that flu shot may have been a bit too potent. Fortunately, I had The Hunger Games to keep me company under a very warm blanket. The book is grim, but good. It definitely moves at a brisk pace that makes it addictive. I read 2/3 last night and finished it up today. I wanted to read the series before the movie comes out next year. I also had thought about the trilogy as a gift for nephews, but after reading the first book, it's clear I need to wait until they're older. The book lays some parallels to how we in the first world live at the expense of those in the third world, but the author is not heavy handed about it, which I appreciate. I've already put the second book of the trilogy on hold.

Fortunately for me, after a night of laying around reading followed by good sleep and some ibuprofen, I feel just fine today. This is also good, because this was one of the Sundays that we led house church. We did a little experiment and did a hike together as a church group with scripture to read along the way. I dunno how effective it was in practicing solitude on a busy trail, but we had a good time with our church family and it was a beautiful day for a hike following yesterday's solid day of rain. Better yet, we followed it up with frozen yogurt. Score!