Insurance money, soup, Jews, king cakes, and Mardi Gras beads....

My life is consumed with all the above. Yesterday, the lovely insurance lady we are working with to recover our Gustav losses called to tell me a $$ amount for our check had been approved and that the check was in the mail (so to speak). This was after she'd left many, many messages on the home phone and both J's and my cell phones that she needed us to call with more info for one particular item. Nothing could move forward, she said, until we provided her with this info. All weekend we searched for this needed info. And....lo and behold, before we could forward it to her, she calls and, apparently, it's not needed anymore. Same thing happened with the second set of papers she wanted us to fill out itemizing (again) every single thing that was destroyed. After hours of attempting to write tiny enough to fit everything into the teeny tiny lines on the second set of paper (and have it somewhat legible), she calls and says she won't be needing the second set after all. The first set will do just fine, she says. Oh, I say, fine -- just pay no attention to the 27 pages that will probably be arriving at your desk today or tomorrow -- duplicating what you already had. Breathe.

Also, she told me yesterday, four or five days after the loss check arrives, we should be getting instructions on how to make an attempt to recover our depreciation. That should be fun.

Moving on to the more mundane things of life....It was chilly yesterday, one of those days where the high temp was at 3 am and drops during the day. A perfect day for soup. I don't know why, but my vegetable soup rarely tastes the same twice. (Could it be because I frequently experiment with the spices and liquids?) Yesterday, the soup was quite good. Today, with spaghetti added, it should be even better. It's still chilly outside. I'm caught up on most of what I need to do so I plan to spend part of the afternoon with a bowl of soup and the Jews of Sitka, Alaska. I'm about finished with the book and I've gotta tell you, I'm a bit surprised with where it seems to be going. I didn't expect it. It may still surprise me but, we'll see.

Well, since much of this post seems to have taken a bitching whinning tone, let me quickly mention another problem with living where I do (in addition to the weather and the hurricanes and the politics and....). You can never seem to stop celebrating something or other! I mean, come on now, Christmas is finally over. New Year's has come and gone. Enough already. Let's have a few days to relax and breathe again. But....nooooOOOOoooo. As soon as the Christmas decorations go away -- Mardi Gras decorations appear. And the frickin' king cakes. Now, I ask you, how can you fit a slice (or two) of praline cream cheese (or even raspberry) king cake into NutriSystem's plan? Personally. I think NeutriSystem needs to make a few adjustments. Loosen up a little....