We tried a new kind of tempeh, black bean tempeh made by a local company. I sauteed it and coated with storebought BBQ sauce. I wasn't blown away but it was nice tempeh, much more tender than regular. However I think it's about twice as expensive as the more commercial tempeh, so I don't know how often I'd get it. I also made drop biscuits (AS is the biscuit expert so I just looked for an easy variation). They were OK but would never compare with hers. And we had coleslaw and sauteed chard using CSA veggies.

But anyway, new tempeh, new biscuit recipe, I think that counts as a new meal! What's that, 28 down, 22 to go? I forgot how the CSA veggies sort of cause new meal attempts to happen naturally.

Spoke to AS again. Her mom is sleeping a lot but otherwise seems OK. AS says it's like having a newborn; pills every couple hours, exercises every couple hours, weigh-ins, blood pressure and glucose checks twice a day. All about checking boxes and keeping to a schedule. She's not getting much sleep but it's obvious her plan to come down when her mom got home was the correct one. The aunt hasn't called at all since AS's mom kind of told her off over the phone after she'd left. That's good because I can tell AS is very emotionally fragile with the exhaustion and responsibility and homesickness and lack of sleep.

AS is working on getting the home nurse set up. She also set up some follow-up appointments for Tuesday that she plans to accompany her mom to. So it looks like at least another week apart.

It was easier when she was in NYC because she was always happy when we spoke; tipsy and happy when we spoke at night. I was happy for her and not worried about her. Now of course, I'm very proud of her, but worried and wishing I could do something to ease her burden. She looks thinner on FaceTime and seems on the verge of tears most of the time. I think it'll get easier as her mom is able to stay awake more often and starts to take charge of her own routine more. Also AS is trying to catch her mom up on laundry and housework, but she'll catch up on that and have less to do in a few days. And she's got a couple freelance assignments she planned to do while away, but little free time and no good Wi-Fi signal, so that's stressing her out.

But we're getting through. Fun activities planned for Thursday night, Friday night and Sunday evening. Would have been more fun with AS, but we'll make up for lost time when she returns. We're hoping for Wednesday. We'll make up the budget too; we're now about $1300 in the red on shared spending. But lots of freelance work that AS is expecting checks for any day now, so I'm not going to worry about that.

Anyway, to end on a fun note, I realized I never shared the cat portraits that I got made as my birthday present! Here they are! They're very small, 5 or 6 inches square. NT hung them up in a corner of the living room for me. They're very accurate portrayals of our sad-eyed, flop-eared, many-toed, overweight doofus Whiskey and alert, pretty little girl Clue. They're both such wonderful cats in their own ways; I'm really happy we immortalized them in paintings! (PS, the file is showing up sideways in the post, but clicking on it brings up a version that's right side up.)