Katie and her mental meanderings

I have spent the last three days either a) listening to training on how to use our new EEG machine (fancy-schmancy thing for measuring electricity in the brain) or b) copying and pasting multiple messy Excel files into which my former assistant put lots of data.

My brain is full.

At least it’s nearly spring, and I had lunch with one friend today and am having coffee with another one tomorrow. It is easy to feel a little isolated stuck on the campus on the hill all day, especially when all the students have gone home. The friend I had lunch with is getting married in May but her parents are not able to make it over here from Japan (they’ll have a blessing and another party over there immediately afterwards), and our curate has told her that will be difficult if her father is not there to give her away. She was very relieved when I told her it’s not essential to have the giving away part. The minister who did our wedding said “you don’t want that part, do you?”

Currently reading: several rubbishy chick-lit books. Like I say, my brain is full. The best recently was “Dress You Up in My Love”, by Diane Stingley. A single woman hires an actor to play her boyfriend at family events and so she can be brave when her ex gets engaged. Funny, and an interesting premise.

I watched my first ever live football match at the weekend. The Spouse™’s company sponsors the cup and had spaces to send partners of staff as well as the staff themselves – so we went. I have to say, despite moaning about the endless sport on telly, I really enjoyed myself. The corporate hospitality didn’t hurt, either. I’ll go again, I think. Although the upper-hand team weren’t really trying, especially in the first half.

The culture with Jack (and, of course, seeing her) was also good, as was seeing the minister who did our wedding, and updating him on everything (good and bad) that’s been happening to us. We were in the same city last year for my birthday and visited them then, too, although they lived further away then. Our annual relationship MOT.

but ours was (well, it was the curate). He said he’d come round for a cup of tea at 7.30 last night but didn’t arrive till 8.30, just as we sat down to dinner, having given up on him… He seemed totally unfazed by being late and stayed for quite a while but to be fair to him he was going to the night shelter and I doubt he wanted to arrive very early there.

Anyway we had quite a nice chat, including not-very-surprising surprise that The Spouse™ (former Independent Methodist, no, you won’t have heard of them, very small, very non-conformist, very evangelical) and myself (former various-non-conformist) would have chosen our (very high, lots of smells, reserved Sacrament, no bells though) church. Despite the fact that one of our reasons for going there was that The Spouse™ wanted to go to a large church where he could merge into the background, I think he may have been persuaded to be on the PCC.

I resisted very strongly getting involved in a new “worship band” on my bassoon (I ask you, do I look like the kind of person who thinks bassoons belong in a worship band?), but wouldn’t be too unhappy to do some alt.*y stuff, which it sounds like they might be up for.

I’ve been asked to give a talk in Oxford, where I used to live and have lots of friends – and was given a choice of dates – so I’ve chosen the day after our wedding anniversary, May Day. I think The Spouse™ is a bit confused about what this involves, but we’ve booked a Nice Hotel Often Associated With A Fictional Detective for the night before so we can totter out and see the morris dancers and totter back for breakfast. Don’t think we’ll be staying out all night at a ball, nor will I be getting locked out of my room in my underwear, both of which have been previous May Morning activities.

Made this last week for my cousin M’s birthday, and was asked for the recipe. Here is the recipe as it should be. Dry ingredients and wet alike are measured in cups, one cup being 8 fluid oz:

1-2/3 cups all-purpose flour (UK: plain flour)
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup cocoa (cocoa powder, not drinking chocolate)
1 tsp. baking soda (bicarbonate of soda)
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup buttermilk (either use yoghurt or milk which has been left with a teaspoon of vinegar or lemon juice for five minutes, if you can’t get buttermilk).
1/2 cup vegetable oil (I used sunflower)
1-1/2 to 2 tsp. vanilla extract (just a few drops of UK strength)

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350°F (170°C) . Butter and lightly flour a 8×11-inch pan. Mix the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda and salt in a bowl. Add the buttermilk, vegetable oil and vanilla, beating until smooth. Spread in the pan, and bake for 30-35 minutes. Test to see if a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes in the pan before turning out onto a rack.

This recipe is, like many N. American cake recipes, about a million times easier than many of the UK cake recipes people give me, and also a lot nicer. No creaming etc., and a much lighter mix. Note this recipe is supposed to have no eggs. That is not an omission.

Accidental part: I didn’t have enough cocoa powder but I did have some Mexican hot chocolate – drinking chocolate, with sugar in. In fact, given to us by M. So I added some of that and reduced the sugar. But it’s also cinnamon flavoured. So the cake came out cinnamon flavoured. Since M and The Spouse™ are not huge icing fans, I didn’t ice the cake, but melted some chocolate to put in the middle, and sprinkled some icing sugar, and some more cinnamon, on top.

I used part Green & Black’s plain cooking chocolate and part Swiss Milk Chocolate from M&S for the middle, because that’s what we had in the house, but I think it would have been better without the plain, as it was a bit bitter.

About an inch so far today, I reckon. The service was much quicker in church today, which is what happens when hardly anyone makes it there. The stewards hadn’t worked this out, though, and only let us out of our pew when there was a space at the altar rail – we were at the back of the church – don’t think I’ve ever walked up there that fast.

Slight problem though is that it’s still snowing and we were planning to meet (halfway, for lunch) a friend who lives about 1 1/2 hours away. Halfway between her and us are a lot of hills. We’ve postponed for another two weeks. It’s a shame because we hardly ever see her although she’s my closest, oldest friend (if you see what I mean – I met her in my first week at university and she lives relatively close). But I don’t think we’ve met up since The Spouse™’s birthday last July so another two weeks won’t make that much difference.

So it’s another afternoon of knitting and reading, I think, although maybe if the snow stops falling we’ll head down to the park to make a snowman.

that’s about 3 feature films, 2 episodes of Moonlighting, 5 of “Man about the House”, 4 of M.A.S.H., 5 of Law and Order, and a few assorted other things that just happened to be on. Two girly mags, 2 scarves (one finished and one, small one, started and finished), and one sock finished (the other one was already made).

I now feel a lot less groggy, though I know I can’t be up to 100% strength or I’d have been driven mad by the above televisual diet, and my stitches feel… weird. Someone described it as “feeling like your belly button is being pulled on from inside”. That is just about right… It’s worse when I’m standing up, but I can now sit upright at the desktop computer which is more than I could do earlier in the week.

am feeling just about awake enough to write! I’m still a bit groggy but not as bad as yesterday – about right for a general anaesthetic I think, but haven’t ever had one before…

They didn’t find any major problems in my (investigative) op, one very minor problem which they fixed, but not really enough to be causing my symptoms. This is good as one of the things they were looking for is very hard to fix and the other is relatively easy to fix, but would keep coming back. But it leaves us with few answers.

We’ve another appointment in June with the consultant.

I seem to have used that as a blog entry title before. Perhaps I should stop sniffing.

I was feeling a bit better yesterday, but worse today, so I think it’s time to curl up on the sofa with honey and lemon. Sniff.