Manic Monday

I barely slept last night. Don't tell Hubby, but it seems that I don't sleep when he's not here. I guess I miss his snoring. Especially since I don't snore so much any more (maybe my sleep apnea is going bye-bye!). It was kinda quiet here last night. Except for the rifle shots. Assuming someone in the area was up, waiting for the marauding coyotes, and taking them down. A lot of chickens are lost to coyotes and foxes, so I can understand why I heard gunfire last night.

Still, it didn't help me sleep.

So I'm a bit groggy this morning. Finally fell asleep around 3 am. Then the alarm woke me up; I'm usually up hours before it goes off. Got the kid up, he ate breakfast, we milked the goat, then I made cheese. Starting to stock up for this winter when the goat is preggers and not producing milk for us, so I made 2 "snack-size-baggies" of garlic and chive cheese, and 3 baggies of onion and dill cheese. Yes, I tasted so I'm counting those carbs/calories but wow! Delicious! I'll try some sweet cheese next week, like maybe pecan and cinnamon or almond and vanilla, and then maybe the next week I'll try olive and worchestershire and cayenne, or basil/parsley/walnut. Looking for what to put with sun-dried-tomatoes in the cheese. Ideas?

Also put up almost a quart of vanilla goat milk, again so we'd have some during the winter. I had made room in the chest freezer last night, so the milk is already getting frozen, and as soon as my cheese cools down, they will go in the chest freezer too.

Industrious today! And yeah, a little manic.

I've exercycled a little bit today (only 50 calories) while I was waiting for the milk to get warm, but couldn't do it for an extended period of time because milk burns so quickly.

As for the rest of the day, I'm...
-stepping up my exercising/exercycling
-cooking ... something ... ANYTHING to entice me to eat
-working on Kid's school assignments
-reviewing the budget ... gotta find another $100 this month
-harvest potatoes
-water my squash plants / transplant some to pots for wintering inside

We didn't have a lot of veggies this year from the garden. The soil was awful; perils of moving to a new place! Next year will be better. But meanwhile, within the next week or two, I need to do my big once-a-year trip to Vitamin Cottage. They have lots of dried herbs, fruits, veggies, beans and so much more. Reasonably priced! This is what I usually get:
-15+ bags EACH of dried granulated garlic and dried onion dices
-20+ bags dried "soup vegetables" (combo of potatoes, green beans, peppers, peas, carrots, etc etc)
-15+ bags EACH of dried spinach and dried parsley
-lots of herbs, spices, beans, unsweetened coconut, rice, etc.

It may take me most of the winter, but every one of these bags will be empty/used by the time Spring rolls around. And I'll probably go back for more.

Have a great Monday, all.

And don't forget I need ideas as to what to pair with sundried tomatoes in a flavored cheese, and seriously, what do you do when you just don't feel like eating?