Soups to You

Last night, I made Lentil Soup with Garam Masala.

I didn't have chili powder, so I used paprika. I also didn't have any cloves, but I think cloves are gross unless we're talking about sweet pickles, which we are not, so I wasn't upset. And my lentils were green, not red, so the soup, which was a lovely deep red when I put it into the blender, turned a horrific pukey pea green when I took it out.

The taste? Pretty darned fabulous. But it gave me heartburn.

Now I either want to try another squash soup, or pumpkin soup, or maybe even some sort of sweet potato soup. Maybe I should just make a potato leek soup, since we have a shitload of potatoes and a couple of leeks and they should be used before they get bad.

I'm home with the older kid today. I'm off work, he's off school. It's alternately snowy and sunny outside, but it's like, negative 60 degrees. So we won't be going anywhere. We've already had a couple of visitors--very nice guy from Major Home Retailer #2 (whose quote was almost double Major Home Retailer #1's) and Independent Contractor, whose quote was about $250 under MHR#1. Except he says we can't do the job until it's at least 40 degrees out, because it has to be at least that for the caulk to cure properly. At this rate, we won't see 40 degrees until July. But I guess that prevents any impulse buys. I'm not opposed to letting that money sit in the bank as long as possible. Although I'd really like to get the damn windows in post haste.

One of the cats is at the vet for his bi-annual dental cleaning. As expected, they called me relatively soon after he was under anesthesia to tell me he needs at least 3 teeth pulled to the tune of $260. When I finished laughing, I told them "yeah, I don't think we'll be doing that today. Let's just go ahead with the cleaning and go from there." I wouldn't even pay $260 to have three of my OWN teeth pulled at this point, much less my cat. Yes, I love my pets. Yes, I feel like they're family. But to be honest, if one of my children needed a $260 dental procedure, I'd be getting a second and possibly third opinion before laying down that kind of cash. And let's be honest--if the cat were having obvious problems related to his bad teeth, I'd suck it up and put out the money. But he obviously isn't having trouble eating, he doesn't appear to be in any kind of distress, and as long as I can avoid letting him eat damn near $300, I'm going to.

Speaking of things that cost me more money than they're worth (so far), HaveItHandmade.com went live today. :) I'm happy about this, yet scared that my expectations will be far, far exceeded and the site will take off like gangbusters and I'll suddenly find myself with orders I can't stay up late enough into the night to fill.