Potpourri

I just went for my 2nd pre-op clearance in 3 months! Even my doctor thinks it's totally stupid that I'm having a simple arthroscopy for the 2nd time in 12 weeks. My last pre-op physical was entirely normal, nothing has changed. "It's a racket", Doctor Meyer and I chimed together. The insurance industry mandates stupid stuff and refuses to pay the providers if every little dumb extra unnecessary thing isn't carried out to the letter. No wonder costs are out of control. We had a good chat about what a broken health care and health insurance system we have in this country. I really wonder how it will be for kids when they are older and have their own families. Anyhoo - all went well, and I'm in a holding pattern until Friday.

Today is Mr. Leslie's birthday. He's 61 - I really hooked up with an old dude. In honor of his birthday, I coerced him to let me take a picture to post: Note massive snow still piled up outside the window. He's a great guy - better to me than I am to him at times. He's doing his best to play nurse and all-around gopher for me during my time of confinement (sounds like I'm birthing a baby, God forbid!). The birthday tradition at our house has always been that the birthday celebrant gets to pick his/her dinner. Guess who the only one is that always wants to go out for her birthday? Yup, the cook. Tom's choice is always Norwegian meatballs, a recipe from his paternal grandmother that my MIL hoodwinked me into learning way back in the dark ages prior to our nuptials. It's a yummy recipe, which I've simplified and defatted substantially over the years, and hub says mine are better than any of his lineage's versions. Sadly for hub, I'm tabling the making of the meatballs, because they're a sh*tload of work, and the worst thing for my knees right now is standing. So I made a nice beef stew in the crock pot yesterday that will be the birthday dinner, and the meatballs are on hold til further notice. I may make an angel food cake from a mix, but haven't decided on that yet. He's perfectly happy without it but will certainly partake if I make it. However, his partake-age and mine are driven by different motives, and I'm not looking for something to trigger a binge. Probably no go on the cake. Birthday's really take a hit when the nest empties out!

After returning home from the doc's this morning, I did make us a great breakfast that I saw on, where else, TJ's blog yesterday. She got it from another great blog, Diva Weigh - I think TJ adjusted it to make it a great WW recipe, that yields 1 point per serving. Both Diva Weigh and TJ have the recipe posted, so I'll leave that to anyone interested to look it up. I decided to do a photo essay of my frittata, mainly because I have way too much time on my hands! Lucky you guys!! Here goes -







On the plate with my slice of frittata, are a few cheery tomatoes (deliberate typo - I love them!) and some cut up fresh pears tossed with a little lemon juice and half a packet of Splenda. Delicious breakfast. The recipe calls for some chopped green chili peppers which I thought I had but didn't. I think they'd add a good kick. So would a tbs. of salsa, which I also didn't have. But it was great just as is. Thanks to the ladies for sharing this yummy recipe.

I totally forgot until this morning that I have a Gyn app't this afternoon with a new doc, as my last one retired after the health care system jerked her around one too many times. I hope I like this new gal. I have a completely normal history in the woman department, so it will be more annoyance than necessity. Not sure how my knee will respond to the stirrups, though it actually feels good to gently bend it, so maybe it will be a non-event.

Have a good day everyone.