I slept late, cozy in bed with six inches of fresh snowfall outside. Self-care Sunday started with a failed latté experiment that caused no harm. I wondered if the foam would be thick enough to float a maple sugar candy even for a second, but no, it dropped right to the bottom of the mug. Oh well!
After coffee and getting a fire going, I meditated for twenty minutes. Then I listened to a dharma talk while I shaped and baked a loaf of sourdough. I was grateful for the long, slow, quiet morning that stretched into afternoon, and for all the causes and conditions in my life preceding today that enabled me to enjoy a lazy morning. I took a few leisurely phone calls, met with cousins on zoom, meditated again, and finally started those orange sweet rolls I’ve been planning to bake. After the dough rose it was time for a zoom cocktail with Kathleen, so I made a Salty Dog with one of the Christmas grapefruit she sent me from her tree, and finished up the rolls.
I was a little disappointed in the sweet rolls, and don’t recall where I got the recipe anyway. They’re tasty enough, but either my yeast was old, or it was too cold for proper rising, or who knows, operator error of some sort. Most of the filling ended up crusted on top of the pan or stuck in the muffin cups, and the pastry wasn’t exceptional. Oh, I’ll eat them anyway, and give some away, they aren’t bad: just not up to my usual standards. I’m grateful for humility. And I’m grateful for Self-care Sunday, a day when I consciously give myself permission to be lazy, and rest, and breathe through the day with no pressure or recrimination even when I fail to accomplish the self-care goals I set.
Kathleen is my go-to animal person. She’s just about to retire from a career in one of the best little zoos in the country, doing the job of two regular humans. So when she told me how to safely dispose of outdated medication, I did what she said. These pills are over a decade old, an acetaminophen-oxycodone combo that had been in my travel first aid kit forever. I pulled them out last week when my back hurt so badly I needed something stronger than Ibuprofen, and took just one. It dulled the pain for a little while, but also made me queasy as opioids tend to do–I’m grateful for that, I could never get addicted to them–and I told her I was gonna pitch them.
“Put them in with your old coffee grounds when you throw them in the garbage,” she said. Horrors! I never throw coffee grounds in the garbage, they’re essential to my garden compost! “If any animals get in your trash they won’t accidentally ingest the pills because they’ll stay away from the coffee grounds.” Okay, she won with that, and I sacrificed today’s coffee grounds. Now I know how to safely dispose of outdated medication so it doesn’t pose a danger to other creatures. And now you do, too. I’m grateful for learning something new.
