Marinated Cherry tomatoes

I have been getting a ton of cherry tomatoes. When I got the blight on my plants I was afraid they were done for, but thankfully not. So today I made a bowl of marinated tomatoes. I used to have a recipe but now I just throw the stuff together. It is so yummy. I take the tomatoes and cut them in half. I either use thin sliced red or green onions and add in. Then I use a small amount of olive oil, balsamic vinegar, oregano oil, a tiny bit of sugar substitute, and parsley and let it soak. The longer it soaks the better they are. They are great on a leafy green salad or just alone.

So here I am thinking about food again, LOL. I am hopeless. I also picked some rhubarb and am going to make a rhubarb strawberry pie. I cut the sugar in half by using the whey low sugar substitute. I would use only that but it doesn't thicken the same. Tastes exactly like sugar though and has only 5 calories is natural. It is the best sugar substitute I have ever found. I can't stand most of the sugar subs. That nasty after taste.

We were going to go to the zoo today but I have several things I want to do today so tomorrow we are going. I need to get my camera's ready. And I have to clean out Chester's cage. So we will make a day of it tomorrow.

A weird thing happened a little while ago. I craved a cigarette. It has been 5 years on the 1st of next month. I rarely even think about them and haven't had a craving for at least a year. Just out of the blue. I was such a dedicated smoker. It controlled my life. I couldn't sit through a movie, the first thing I did in the morning or after a meal, light up. I wouldn't go places you couldn't smoke and after my heart cath as soon as I could get up I went out for a smoke. I smoked though both my pregnancies and throughout my childrens childhood. Sometimes more then 2 packs a day. And once during a blizzard I ran out and actually thought about walking to the store 14 blocks away. 14 inches of snow, so hard you couldn't see, freezing temps and I was going to walk. But my neighbor had a spare pack.

Looking back now I can see how sick that was. Even then I hated its control over me. I have never regreted quitting. I worry that the years of smoking will still catch up with me. When I developed my asthma I still couldn't believe my lungs weren't damaged from smoking. But so far so good. Anyway, so getting a craving was weird. Probably triggered by my call from the work comp people. Because nothing used to get me through a stressful situation like a smoke.

Now I just reach for something to eat, LOL. Except for I am reaching for water instead. That is how I broke my smoking habit. Carried water everywhere with me. Brushed my teeth like a million times a day and drank water any time I wanted a smoke. So I am doing that again with my binge eating. I started back yesterday making a concious effort to stop this bad habit. I had it so under control. It sneaked back in slowly. But I am giving it the heave out the door now.

Having the work comp people call kind of helped the reality of the surgery sink in. It is different now then it used to be. Now they give you an advocate who isn't associated with the hospital. They make sure your not forced into working too soon. That is nice to know. I don't want to screw the shoulder up for good. And they talked about what my income would be. Back to pennie pinching for awhile. Turns out I was suppose to be getting reinbursed for my gas mileage from PT and the doctors all this time. My work comp lady at the hospital should have mentioned it. I never thought about it. She said I can add it all up and summit it but it would be difficult to figure out. I was going for my hand and my shoulder some times. And I really don't care about it. I only care about getting fixed up and back to work without restrictions.

I am not expecting my shoulder to ever feel the same. When you get hurt and get it fixed it is never the same as it was before the injury. I mourned my old back for a couple of years. My wrists will never be the same. It is just a different type of discomfort. Mostly what you end up with is a stable back, neck or whatever was injured. But not the same. I am prone to scar tissue and that is a big reason I didn't want surgery. Oh boo hoo for me. Sigh. Anyway......

Well enough rambling. Time to tackle that cage and then I am going shopping. I want a couple of shirts that will be easy to get in and out of for after the surgery. And my favorite store is having a big sale. Yippy.