The power of 4

This was not planned, but I realized afterwards that it worked out this way:

Take a 4 gallon stock pot. Add the frozen carcasses of roast chickens past that you've been saving in the freezer (4, as it turns out). Also add the frozen chicken backs you've also saved from home-trimmed chickens past (4!).

Add one package "chicken leg quarters" purchased for added meat (skinned and fat trimmed). As it turns out, the package has 4 leg quarters (which consists of a thigh and drumstick each).

Add 4 bay leaves, 4 celery stalks, 4 small white onions (peeled and halved), 4 carrots (peeled), 3 parsnips (hah!), a large bunch of parsley, a handful of peppercorns, a sprinkling of kosher salt. Add enough water to cover (filling most of the 4 gallon pot, but this won't yield nearly 4 gallons of soup after all the solids are spent and removed)

Bring to simmer, let go all day long.

Delicious, but I'm amused at the repeating 4's...

Healthcare rant

So the other day I ordered some diabetes supplies. My insurance coverage is pretty good, and covers this kind of stuff (I'd hate to think of how bad it would be without insurance! Not only would I be paying price out of pocket, but I'd be paying the FULL price, not the stupid "negotiated accepted payment in full" baloney that goes on...)

I knew I would hit my deductible already, no big deal there, that's planned for in the FSA.

The supplier called me this morning to tell me that my deductible had gone up -- instead of $500, it was $1000. Yikes, big difference, and totally not planned for -- we're supposed to have the same coverage as last year. Disturbed, I checked with our HR department and was told that the numbers had definitely NOT changed, and she confirmed that I was in the system as an individual plan, not a family plan (for which the deductible WOULD be $1000).

So I called back the provider to find out what was up. "Someone" had fed wrong information into the system. My insurance is specifically a $500 deductible, then 90% coverage, for in-network providers (this provider IS in network). For out-of-network care, it's a $1000 deductible and 70% coverage. The data entered into their system? $1000 deductible, 90% coverage. "Kind of in network"? "Family" instead of "individual" coverage? (The more likely mistake, but still not correct!)

But in the meantime, that first order was already billed at the incorrect numbers. Lots of on-hold time later, it's supposedly all been corrected. We'll see...

Another cool thing...

...about the new Market District, that I spotted tonight.

Giant Eagle has experimented with self-service deli counter kiosks. Select your items on the touchscreen, and pick them up later. The new Market District in Robinson took that idea one step further -- the new deli kiosks are at the ENTRANCE, not by the deli counter. Make your selections and you get a little receipt to pick them up, and even optionally you can give it your cellphone number and receive a text message when it's ready.

I tried it tonight, and it worked great. No waiting in line, no need to go to the counter first. Ah, progress...

Goodbye, Hermes

This is still difficult for me to type, but I feel like I have to say something to honor him.

Hermes, my 10 year old cat, passed away sometime early Monday morning. It was sudden, and hopefully not painful for him (although I fear it may have been).

This cat literally came up to me in a rather busy area (one of the side streets off Craig St) as a kitten. He followed me as I walked into a store, then was sitting there as I came out. One of my best friends is a vet, so I picked him up and took him to the office she was working at. After a few days there, she called me and said "you picked him up, he's yours..."

So I had a kitten.


Hermes was a bit of a brat right from the start. He was willful and could be aloof (sounds like most cats, right?) He could also be very affectionate, friendly, and down right adorable at times, even when getting himself in trouble.



Hermes was joined less than a year later by another cat, Loki. The same friend called me, and told me they had an orphaned kitten that needed a home, and I was it. This little guy was so young he was still being fed kitten chow mixed with kitten formula, and using the plastic tray from a Lean Cuisine as his litter box.


Loki is a very different cat than his older "brother" Hermes. Hermes loved being with people, and would always come over to see what was going on, but still maintained his distance and, dare I say, a form of dignity. Loki is very skittish around strangers, and jumps at the slightest sudden movement, but when you're in the couch watching TV or napping it's almost certain he'll cuddle up with you.

So, these guys have been my buddies for going on 10 years now. I've been through a lot, good and bad, and they've always been there for me (ok, non-animal people will say "that's because you own them", but pet lovers know what I mean...)


When I bought a house and moved in with my fiance, who has much nicer furniture than I ever did in my bachelor pads, we agreed to keep the cats downstairs.

So, this weekend...here goes. Hermes has always been one to wolf down his food, and then take some of Loki's for good measure. Sometimes he'd eat so fast he'd throw some of it back up. He's also always had hairball issues. Now, I don't know what actually happened, but...Sunday morning he woke us up, meowing for his food as usual. I went downstairs and fed them. After breakfast I went downstairs to get ready to go out, and one of them had thrown up breakfast. I figured it was probably Hermes, and didn't think much more of it at the time, but told myself to make sure to check in on him later. I went grocery shopping, came home, and he was fine, running over to see what I'd gotten.

After the Steelers game (so around 4:30) I went downstairs again, and found a very different story. Hermes was sitting on the rug in the laundry room, looking, well, scared. He was drooling, and looked at me and let out a weak little "meow". I immediately grabbed my phone and called my friend the vet (the same one, now with her own practice). I didn't get her right away, so I left her a voicemail and told myself if I couldn't get hold of her I'd call one of the emergency clinics. We ate dinner, and just as we were finishing the friend called me. She offered to meet me at her clinic (which was of course normally closed -- can you tell we're friends?) so I ran off with Hermes.

She said he was dehydrated and his temperature was low, and gave him some intravenous fluids. She wanted to draw blood and do X-Rays, but without a tech to help her couldn't do much more. She felt his stomach, and he meowed, but she didn't think she felt any actual blockages (my fear given his hairball issues in the past). Her big fear was that he'd eaten something he shouldn't have, but there wasn't much else she could do at the time without help. We agreed that he'd be more comfortable at home rather than alone in a clinic cage, so I took him home, to bring him back first thing in the morning. I set him up on some blankets and gave him a kiss (yeah, I know -- I'm a softie, and this was my pal we're walking about). Around 3am I went down to check on him, and he was sleeping, but opened his eyes and stretched when I petted him.

That was the last time I saw him alive. I got up at 6 and went downstairs to check on him, and he wasn't breathing. I wrapped him up in some blankets and took him to my friend's practice. Carrying him in was probably one of the hardest things I've ever done so far in my life. We don't know what happened, and I chose to not have her autopsy him -- we may not have learned anything, and it seemed more respectful to let my little friend rest in peace.

Loki may not fully understand what's happened, but he misses his "brother". I found him sleeping in Hermes' favorite chair, but leaning AWAY from the spot Hermes would actually have been sleeping in. He's been carrying around one of Hermes' favorite toys. And, of course, he's been all over me everytime I'm down there.

I took Loki in for a checkup yesterday, just in case. He's gotten a clean bill of health so far, so that's good at least.

Goodbye, Hermes. We miss you.

Today...

I raked leaves; made a batch of homemade veggie soup (dinner during the week), a crab-artichoke-orzo salad (dinner tonight and during the week), a batch of homemade yogurt (breakfast during the week), AND a pitcher of iced tea for good measure; did 5 loads of laundry; AND managed to watch (most) of the Steelers game . I had help where possible, of course, but still a tiring, productive day...

Ye Gods!

So this morning was the first real run to the Market District for grocery shopping.

I had to park down by Panera Bread (for those of you who aren't local or haven't checked out the Settler's Ridge plaza yet, that's far...)

The place was PACKED. Fortunately, since we'd already done a "scouting trip" and I grabbed one of the cool little 2-tier carts (they're REALLY zippy and maneuverable compared to a "regular" cart, while having more space than a basket), I was in and out pretty quickly since I knew exactly what I needed and where I was headed.

One thing I spotted that we'd missed on Friday night, while I was grabbing mushrooms, was truffles! I don't know how often we'd be getting something like that, but it was neat to see. We stocked up on canned crab meat, frozen crab legs and lobster tails (mmmm!), and dry pasta since we have an insane number of great coupons ($5 off a $10 seafood purchase? Sure, thanks!) and their prices are really good to drum up interest ($7 off each said can of crab, for example).

Not that they really need the sale to get bodies in the store right now. Sheesh...

About damn time!

So we braved the crowds to check out our new Giant Eagle Market District tonight. Once the stupid crowds die down (if ever), it's going to be really cool having such a nice grocery store so close to home (we timed it -- literally 2 minutes 30 seconds from their parking lot to our driveway (but then when we went it took about 10 just to find a parking spot!))

I'll let my lovely fiance go into more detail, but I wanted to comment quickly on the beer sales. Yes, 6-packs of beer for sale in a supermarket in Pennsylvania. Welcome to the post-Prohibition era, PA!

Prices and selection aren't bad, either. It's not as cheap as by the case at a distributor, but it's less than the typical mix-n-match stores. For someone like me who only drinks occasionally and gets tired of drinking the same thing over and over, it's great.

Proof that Wal-Mart = Hell

I couldn't have managed that if I'd WANTED to...

Respect the message, shoot the messenger

Ok, not LITERALLY, but still...

So the G20 came and went here in Pittsburgh. And with it came the protesters. Fortunately for us, it wasn't a major "Battle In Seattle"-type of situation, but there were still moments.

Let's see, we had Greenpeace hanging from one bridge and trying to hang from another. Way to tie up traffic, morons! (Greenpeace definitely falls into the category where I DO respect their message, but they're over-the-top to the point of looking stupid in their delivery)

And then we had the "peaceful" marches that resulted in property damage. I don't agree with, but can see, the attacks on "evil national chains". But a Pamela's Diner? Seriously? It's not like they're some huge money-sucking organization. Was it because the Obama's really like them? Or was it because the dumbass who did it wasn't protesting, just being an idiot causing damage for the hell of it? Way to dilute the message there, buddy.

I actually do feel bad for the protesters who really did keep it peaceful and believed in their reasons. A few idiots going overboard made the whole lot look bad, prompting a police response, and it went from there. Fortunately it didn't get as bad as it could have been, but there's a reason I was avoiding the area those two days...

When I tell someone to not erase my whiteboard notes, that's not an invitation to write OVER them instead!