Chicken Soup for that which ails you... But not tonight

Chicken soup?  Yes, chicken soup.  To be more specific, homemade chicken noodle soup, made by me.  Did it make me feel any better?  Nope.  Today has just been one of those days. 

I woke up around 9:30 this morning but my body really wanted to sleep more.  It didn't matter.  My mind was wide awake and there was no point in trying to sleep any more.  It was the start of such a "wonderful" day.

I got up and put on enough clothes to at least not be embarrassed if someone knocked on the door.  I immediately went to the kitchen and started to make breakfast and unload the dishwasher.  I can multitask so doing both isn't a big deal.  It was then that I discovered some of my muscles were complaining about yesterday's activities.  Yesterday, we helped my cousin Jennifer and her hubby Brandon move things back into their house.  Their house sustained quite a bit of damage when the EF-5 tornado came through Harvest, Al on April 27.  The main path of the tornado missed their house by less than a half mile.  After five months of repairs, they are finally able to move back in.  After helping move a very heavy China cabinet and an equally heavy dresser, my arm muscles have complained most of the day.  Anyway, after breakfast, I finished loading the dishwasher with the breakfast dishes and proceeded on to the next adventure of the day.

We usually do grocery shopping on Saturdays but since yesterday was busy, we did it today.  First thing in that process is to make a grocery list. No big deal, right?  Wrong!  It took me 20 minutes to find a piece of paper to write on.  I guess I cleaned too thoroughly the other day.  Oh well.  Hijack a kid's notebook and all is well.  Since this is the week that I don't get paid, we are poor this week and we have to be very frugal with our shopping and meal selections.  After a few minutes of discussion, we have a plan.  Tonight is chicken noodle soup, Monday is chicken Parmesan, and Wednesday is taco salad.  What about the other days?  Tuesday is a JV football game at West Point so we will eat on the run/road.  Thursday is payday so to save money at the grocery store the plan is to either bring something home on Thursday or go eat out (likely Mexican).  Friday is the Varsity football game so we'll eat on the road again.  Anyway...  I wasn't overly excited about chicken noodle soup but since Laura felt bad I figured I could try to at least be a little accommodating.  A lot of good that did.

On to the grocery store.  Yay... NOT!  The grocery store is...  It's just hard to explain... let's just say it winds up causing grief in my life every time I go.  And, I am not referring to the grief that goes with being overweight or any of the other things most people might think of.  We get to the store, I grab a buggy, and I head to the produce section.  Since I made the list and I am the one that will be cooking every meal this week I started getting the things I need and putting them in the buggy.  Good googly freaking moogly!!!  How stupid of me.  I was quickly informed by this person I am married to that I am not supposed to be putting things in the buggy, she is!  Apparently the things that I did put in there were done so grossly incorrectly.  Everything (4 items) was picked up and rearranged in a manner that suited her.  How stupid of me, I know better, after all it's this way every time we go to the store.

The rest of the afternoon was pretty much a bust.  I sat in here and watched TV off and on and occasionally tried to navigate my way through the quagmire of the new Facebook layout.  After an hour of that combination of madness, I decide to at least do something useful and start cooking the chicken for the soup.  I cut up my carrots, celery, and onions; smashed few cloves of garlic and then tossed it all into my pot.  Drop the whole chicken in, cover with water, season with salt, pepper, and herbs and let it cook.  Finally, something somewhat useful accomplished and no one complained.  Yet.

For whatever reason I was feeling a little blah and drained.  I love V-8 juice and when I feel this way it usually picks me up a little.  So, I poured a glass and walked back into the living room and sat down at my desk.  "What are you drinking?"  So I answered and get an even harsher question...  "Well, why in the hell didn't get a Solo cup instead of messing one up out of the cabinet?"  I just looked at her.  No answer.  It was best to just keep my mouth shut.  You have to understand that we never drink out of glasses in the cabinet.  We always drink out of solo cups.  I think it is stupid but it's easier to not argue.  Besides, we have a dishwasher.  It's not a big deal to wash the glass. 

So... the evening progresses on.  We eat supper; there is very little conversation at the table.  Back to the living room.  Now, here I am... writing this... trying to release some frustration.  I have to show her how to send a text on my Blackberry because her phone is off because she didn't pay the bill.  Technology is a foreign concept to her and she gets pissed when she can't understand the way I explained to her to enter numbers on the keypad.  Somehow, her inability to understand has now become my fault.

OK friends, sorry to complain so much tonight and be so down on everything but I just needed to vent some.  When you add enough little things together, they become one big thing.  Right now, I have a million thoughts running through my head.  Some make me smile to myself, some piss me off, some make me sad, and some are stupid.  While I would live to just focus on one of them and forget the others, I can't.  As I have been writing, I have had my headphones on with Joe Satriani playing.  I love the music and many times I become so surrounded by it that I don't even realize it is playing.  I just realized that "Ten Words is playing; what a perfect fit for my mood right now.  In fact, I think I'll skip ahead to "Made of Tears".  It takes my thought to places and things that sometimes make me feel a little better... it just depends on how I take it at that particular moment.  Look both of those up on YouTube if you've never heard them.  You'll understand what I mean.

Tomorrow is Monday and I know that the guys that are there with this project we are working on will probably piss me off again... just as they have most every day last week.  But, what do you do except grit your teeth and go on?

I don't see that the chicken soup helped me any tonight.  I think I'll take a walk outside for a few minutes.

Goodnight friends.