Days that start off badly

This morning, refilling the reservoir on my Keurig coffeemaker (so I could make tea), I somehow pushed the wrong button. When I tried to start it, it made a strange noise and quit. I texted Jordan for tea bags. When she came out, she said, “Mom, there’s tea in the cup.” Step number one to a day of mishaps.

I had a lunch date with a treasured friend, but the weather predictions were dire, and I know he’s cautious about bad weather, so I had emailed last night to ask if we should reschedule. Waited all morning but no word from him, which was totally out of character. And I wondered why I got no emails at all during the morning. Turns out I had, at the insistence of TCU, changed my password but neglected to log out of Outlook and log back in with the new password.

Weather predictions said late afternoon, and it was apparently going to be true, because though skies grew cloudier, there was no hint of rain, snow, or the devastating winds we’d been promised. We went to our favorite deli for lunch and had a good catch-up visit. This man saw me through graduate school in the late 1960s, so you can see how far back the friendship goes.

But midway through lunch I looked down and announced, “I have my shirt on backward.” He just laughed and said, “It’s one of those days.” Fortunately, I had a sweater over my shoulders, so my gaffe wasn’t obvious to the whole deli, not that anyone was paying that much attention to me.

When I got home, my lunch partner emailed to say the wind was picking up in his part of town. It was and still is dead quiet around me, eerily so, although the temperature has dropped significantly. But I keep waiting for the wind, advice such as “secure outside objects” echoing in my mind. I’m afraid of waking in the morning and finding every flower pot in smithereens.

Yesterday I had a beef and sauerkraut sandwich for lunch—good, but when the waiter said just a touch of kraut, I said I wanted more than a touch. Still, when it came It was just a touch. One of the friends I was with also ordered that sandwich, and we agreed that we wished for more kraut, less beef (it was shredded and flavorful). I brought half the sandwich home, and tonight I deconstructed it. Got rid of the bread, cooked some more sauerkraut (I have a jar in the fridge) with caramelized onions, a bit of white wine, and a tiny bit of brown sugar. Then I dumped the filling of my half sandwich in, stirred it until the meat heated up and loosened up, and put it on a plate—sort of like a sauerkraut/beef stew. So good, and in truth I was proud of my creativity. Saved enough of my kraut mixture to have tomorrow night with leftovers from the pork tenderloin and potatoes Jordan brought me last night. I guess my German blood is coming out. Maybe stollën is next.

Stay safe, my friends, if that bad weather does hit. David Finfrock, the guru of weather, says snow, etc. will stay west of the Metroplex. I have mixed feelings about that, but I really need a grocery store trip tomorrow morning.