Of Cold and Stew (and colds and stewing)

I wish I'd blown my hair dry before work this morning, because it was COLD! I don't usually bother drying it, since it dries pretty quickly on its own, but single-digit temperatures and damp hair are not a comfortable combination. I got so cold just walking from the car to the office building that I had to remind myself why I left Florida (in a word, Carlos).

Today just went really slowly. I don't know why. I had work to do, that wasn't it, and though the projects I had weren't new, given that I found a reference to a clinical "trail" they clearly weren't done being edited, either. Just, I don't know. I was ready to be done with them.

Holiday weeks always throw the schedule off, but this week I've found an unexpected benefit to my inability to remember which day it is: today I kept suddenly realizing that "Hey, it's already Thursday! Wow!" What a pleasant surprise. Not that I understand how I felt this at the same time as the day passing so slowly: time is weird that way. Or human perceptions of time.

I got my stew ingredients ready last night, and this morning mixed everything together and turned the slow cooker on. Maybe that's why the day seemed so slow: anticipation! It turned out pretty well, good enough that I want to try it again and tweak it some. A cross between this recipe and my mother's, if I can manage it.

Incidentally, the recipe that I used last night called for beef broth, and since that's not one of my usual staples, I picked up a can at the store. Since the can gave nutritional information for a 1-cup serving, and stated that the can contained "approximately" two servings, I was surprised to find that it actually contained one and 3/4 cups instead. It wasn't a problem for me, my recipe called for 1.5 cups, but if I'd needed 2 cups, I'd have been pretty pissed at Swanson, I must say.

My Least Favorite Coworker (MLFC) came back from the holidays with a cough. Cough-cough-cough. All. Day. Long. This is the same person who has a perpetually runny nose, especially when she comes in from outside, that makes her sniff ... sniff ... sniff all the time. Now, we all have habits that are difficult in communal work spaces. I expect my own nose-blowing might be somewhat irritating to others, but I feel as though it's less annoying than her habit. On the other hand, I don't like her that much, which could totally be coloring my reaction. Like a few years ago, when a coworker I wasn't fond of had a yogurt at her desk every morning, and would scrape-scrape-scrape to get every last bit of it. Every. Single. Day. The noise drove me nuts, but I know that was at least in part because of who was doing it.

Anyway, today I had to keep telling myself, this is not something she chose to do, she can't help it ... but tomorrow I'm bringing in cough drops.

And if she doesn't take them when offered (or hasn't brought in her own, for heaven's sake), I'll start throwing them at her.