Déjà Vu

I was once again at the computer, after 1:00 a.m. this morning, unable to sleep. Only this time it wasn’t an upset stomach keeping me awake, it was lightning and thunder so loud that the building shook and car alarms went off.

The thunderous explosions in the sky went on for hours and hours and hours, making it impossible to sleep.

And “upset stomach” the night before is putting it mildly, because my body’s reaction to that delicious greasy fried Mexican food on Tuesday was so intense that I did not get to sleep until 3:00 Wednesday morning and was wide awake four hours later, still sick as a dog.

Thankfully, it had worn off by noon but, believe you me, I’ve learned my lesson.

Last night was an exact replica of the night before, insofar as timing. I didn’t get to sleep until around 3:00 and woke up four hours later.

Déjà vu.

I guess the fact my stomach can no longer tolerate the way I use to nourish myself that, along with everything else I’m having to learn, I’m going to have to learn healthy Mexican.

Watching Food Network’s “Worst Cooks in America Celebrity Edition”, I’ve already learned from the cooks’ lack of knowledge, which is on par with my lack of kitchen savvy. Week 1 was a healthy Asian Udon Noodle Stir Fry I’m sure I can pull off, and I’m anxious to try my hands at this week’s challenge for the cooks – homemade pasta.

Homemade pasta looks surprisingly doable, except I need to add a standing mixer and pasta roller accessory to my list of kitchen tools.

The problem is space.

Apartment living doesn’t allow for a lot of kitchen space and, when my meals consisted of ramen noodles, canned, frozen, deli that wasn’t a problem. Now that I’m cooking, the counter is overrun with tools I use on a near daily basis -- fruit and vegetable chopper, blender, processor, cutting board, crockpot, microwave, spiralizer. Then, there’s the items I need to occasionally pull from the cabinet and shuffle everything around to make space for on the counter – hand mixer, wok, steamer, toaster. Now I need to find counter space for a standing mixer with a pasta roller.

I’m gonna need a bigger kitchen.

Although I got so little sleep the night before, I was surprisingly productive and lucid the next day. I didn’t make it out of the apartment, so was unable to check into the Community Room to find out how the casino trip went.

After getting so little sleep last night, I again feel surprisingly lucid but won’t be checking in with the other seniors. This time it’s because the office is closed for “staff training”, which means the Community Room -- for the second weekday in a row, is locked up tight.

The reason was "staff training" last week as well.

Déjà vu.

I seriously doubt there’s any “staff training” going on. I’ll have to catch up with The Seer to see if she knows what’s really going on.