Couch 236: NY PS Langston Hughes

We usually say "broth" in my family. We live in So. CA. Don't know if that has anything to do with it. Also English is my second language. Don't know if that has something to do with it. Maybe T would have liked broth better. But that would require seeing her in person! But she could eat it without her dentures!

Hehe...good point!

My brain also went to buying her stock cubes for soup. They're about £1 each so I did think it was still a nice gift esp as she hasn't been well.

My Pdoc is changing one of my meds, slightly to a newer medicine that has two medicines in one. It's Olanzapine and Samidorphan. It's called Lybalvi. He'll have to get it approved by my insurance. But it is supposed to have less weight gain than Olanzapine. We'll see how it works.

Pretzels (the cracker kind not the soft kind). The perfect afternoon snack. Crisp. A little salty. Crunchy. Quite tasty.

I guess the couch has voted. Soup stock would have been a better gift!
Cheaper too. But it's not like I bought her a whole share of Amazon. I bought her $50 worth of Amazon stock through Stockpile.

Also soup stock comes in cubes?


We always buy the carton of chicken or beef broth. It's kind of cardboardy like milk cartons used to be before they went to plastic. With a round pour top.

Reminds me of my blessed old cat Esther who I had to put down last year. Sniff. She had to have her chicken broth. She had such a thirst and appetite with the diabetes and the chicken broth helped keep both under control. She loved the chicken broth and couldn't get enough of it. The no salt added kind of course. We would go to the grocers and buy like 5 cartons at a time!

Awwww sweet Esther. I wonder if she's met my Rascal, maybe she was on the welcoming committee when he crossed the rainbow bridge in December...

I'm really enjoying the random acts of crochet kindness thing, it gives me positive things to think about, y' know, thinking that maybe one of my little hearts/worry worms/octopi/flowers will give someone who finds it a little spark of joy. I took 6 of them with me to h's appt this morning, and snuck them onto chairs in different dr's office waiting rooms (it's a big building) wherever nobody would see me leave them. My box is nearly empty, I need to make some more!! Currently I'm working on the shamrocks for st patty's.

Thanks Artie. That is a most comforting thought. I think that Esther and Rascal are up there enjoying a nice layabout in a sunny place by a window together.

Kit I'm not putting a downer on you doing something nice for her. But rereading your reply it feels to me you were put on the spot and and slightly nudged into giving her something in order to relieve the awkward feeling.

You didn't have to do/ get her anything and $50 is super generous of you.

Awwww yes... that made me smile!

I think there's a difference between stock and broth? I know one major grocery store here sells their own brand of both stock and broth. But I can never remember the difference and find they both taste about the same if I'm, say, making soup or risotto.

I'm not a cooking expert and without googling, but isn't broth the stuff that's already premade and stock you have to add water to it ?

According to campbells.com: "Broth is a thinner, seasoned liquid that starts with meat and some vegetables. Some broths also simmer bones or even start with a stock as its base." and "Stock is made from simmering bones with vegetables, minimally adding herbs & salt to let the true flavor of the simmering contents shine through."

they sound pretty darn similar to me!

So tomorrow I have training for part of the work day about this upcoming change to live chat, and then I'm off again Friday. Today after h's appointment and running errands, I made a meatloaf and a rice dish. Tomorrow evening is the weekly zoom drum circle I've begun attending, where for part of the time he splits us up into breakout rooms where we can practice one on one the different things he's taught in workshops we've attended. I "meet" new people every week (I use quotes since it's not in person) and people who attend are all over the country so that's cool.

You had me worried! Also i was gonna ask you to adopt me!

Eta - i think of stock as an ingredient and broth as an end product. "Chicken noodle is a broth-based soup." "Cook the stock down until you have a demi-glacé to pour over the mushrooms." But yeah the same thing, like all bread is bread. Let them eat cake!

I miss my buddy so bad. Every night and weekend is hours long torture.

Just because you think a therapist wants something from you, doesn't mean they do, and it doesn't mean you need to give it to them. Just tell the woman to stop it. A client really does get to draw boundaries.

Hugs, Velcro. I'm so sorry.

Thanks LT. This grief is not knowing is extremely agonizing. It will be 3 weeks on Friday I think I need to start coming to some sort of acceptance that he isn’t coming back. But I just can’t handle that my last memory of him is of him dashing away in the night. Or that I didn’t get to say goodbye, or tell him I loved him, or kiss his sweet little face. etc, etc.

I’m spiraling quickly downhill. The self-harm is increasing and SI hs come back with a vengeance.

I also feel really alone. My friends don’t really get it. To them it is “just” a pet, but he was 14 years of my life. Many of them just me and him. I’m single, have no kids, so he truly is/was my baby.

hugs Velcro. I'm so very sorry. I imagine the not knowing is terrible. please keep talking here if it helps at all.

Hugs, velcro.

HUGS Velcro. I'm so very sorry.