
It’s been quite the week for wildlife. I had two Harris Hawks hanging out on the fence yesterday. Here’s one of them.
Yesterday, after my two-hour zoom call, doing household chores, writing and all the other stuff, I went to the grocery store to pick up ingredients for Ina’s Chicken Pot Pie Soup with Puff Pastry Croutons that I wrote about Wednesday. I loved the recipe from Monday’s cooking class I attended.
I made a grocery list that was quite extensive. There were a lot of ingredients in the recipe that I never buy, like fennel and leeks. It took a bit of time to hunt everything down, plus get the things we ordinarily use. Plus I needed bird seed for my Bird Buddy AI feeder and for the quail.
Of course, all the lines were jam packed. I didn’t feel like self checkout so I waited and waited. Once I got everything out of the cart, I reached for my wallet.
My wallet wasn’t in my purse!
Then it dawned on my that I left my wallet in my swim bag the day before. I had gone lap swimming at the YMCA. The grocery clerk asked me to put everything back in my cart and go to the manager. I thought she’d at least check me out and they could hold onto my groceries until I came back with my wallet. But no, I was going to get to stand in line again plus schlep the groceries around again.
I called my husband. I called three times and he didn’t answer. I had talked to him moments before. But he was probably on the phone for work. I wanted him to meet me at the grocery store with his wallet.
The grocery store is 15 minutes away and for some unknown reason the street, of course, had a ton of traffic. Once I got to the main road to make a left-hand turn to go two miles to our street, a police car with a siren stopped in front of our turn lane and blocked us. I noticed the writing on his car. Funeral. He was blocking the road for a funeral procession. The deceased must have been famous or well-liked. Yes, there were a ton of cars.
Eventually, after driving back and forth for one hour, shopping, un-shopping and waiting to pay for groceries, I got everything home.
I was planning on prepping for the delicious soup when I called my partner for the HOA newsletter to confirm our meeting was in a week from Friday, not the next day.
“No, it has to be tomorrow,” she said. “I’m leaving town Saturday.” I was afraid of that. That’s why a little voice in my head made me call.
So much for cooking. I had to sit down and write newsletter copy. Hunt for photos, write captions and get ready for today’s meeting.
Then I got to cook. But I was exhausted!

Chicken Pot Pie Soup and and Puff Pastry Croutons

When was the last time you had “one of those days” and what happened
that made it so?

What a day EA! I haven’t had one of those in a long, long time. Somehow I think I would have put the soup aside to fix another day and either ordered takeout or found some leftover something in the fridge after all that 🙂
You’re lucky not to have one of those days for a while. I was going to put off the soup, but my husband was coming down with a sore throat. I thought chicken soup might help him.
That was kind of you. I hope it helped 🙂
Thanks! I know there is something about homemade chicken soup that can be healing, or at least soothing.
Such calm and patience EA! I would’ve been running for the hills. Wow, hopefully you have a better weekend!
I didn’t feel very patient. It looks like I’ll be working on a newsletter this weekend 😅
Good luck “cranking” it out so that you have more free time!!!!
😁
Good golly Miss Molly, you had a day and a half in one lousy day. I feel for ‘ya. On the upside, those puff pastry croutons are ingenious and look perfect.
Yes, the puff pastry croutons were a nice ending to the lousy, no good day! Along with yummy soup. The croutons are made from Pepperidge Farm puff pastry and a cookie cutter with a little egg wash 😉
Gonna try that! Thanks.
Yay!
After a day like that, the good news is the next several are bound to be better, huh? I pray they are!
Thank you! As I am tearing my hair out over the newsletter. I need some prayers and peace.
I have often considered is having “one of those days” better than dragging all the “things” out over multiple days. I fear then it would become “one of those weeks” – LOL. The soup looks great, what time was dinner, I didn’t get an invite.
One has got to admire your persistence: in the face of “one of those days”/weeks, most would just give up and go for something … with less resistance? 🙂
And your day certainly feels like an example of “when it rains, it pours”?
May I ask what that 2 hour zoom call was about? Maybe it started this horribad sequence? 🙂
Thanks for encouraging words about persistence. I have a weekly zoom call that I was invited to a year ago. We talk about all the unmentionables like current events, religion and politics. They are very intelligent people including two neurosurgeons, someone who ran a bond desk, a hedge fund and then there’s me! There’s about 20 people in the group, but any given week less than half participate.
That’s an interesting perspective. The soup is delicious and if you want to make it, google the name and the recipe pops up from the Barefoot Contessa.
Wow! A very hectic day for you Elizabeth. I can feel you my friend. Hope the soup was good?
It was a tough day, but ending it with delicious soup made it better.
Yes, a nice end to n your day. 🥰🤗
A nice lunch today too!
Cool. 😎
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OMG. If that had been me, the entire blog post would have been f-bombs. Kudos for your patience. And your croutons are very cute.
Ha! I did let out a few choice words alone in my car. The croutons are straight from the recipe. A star cookie cutter and Pepperidge Farm puff pastry. Very easy, but cute.
I think after all that hassle I would have ordered out… but the meal looks delicious!
I made it for my husband who was coming down with a fever and sore throat. Otherwise I agree with you. He’s feeling better today, too!
Tasty.. and healing.
Perfect!
Yep!
Your creations look mighty tasty! I’m so sorry to hear about the layers of frustration at the grocery store. Gah. And then a change of plans to boot – when you were ready to cook away.
I had a rough drive this morning to get to a series of meetings. Slow traffic because of a long train, accident, road construction and I’m crossing my fingers that the drive home will be less nutty. Sending hugs! 🥰
Yes, it tired me out yesterday. But all is good today and the soup helped my husband’s sore throat and tasted great for lunch! Good luck on your commute home. My little drive is nothing like that!
So far so good! 🥰😜🥰
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I hope this weekend can be relaxing for you! Those kinds of days are draining! Loved your attitude about i, though.
Yes, it was so draining. That’s exactly how I felt. I felt like a ping pong ball trying to make it over the net. Looking forward to the weekend. I may take out two lobster tails from the freezer that our guest left us last week to start it off!
YUM! Sounds like a great start!
Well, it looks like I’m a little late for tonight. They won’t defrost in time. But now I have something to look forward to tomorrow 😊
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One of those days for sure! Yikes! Those puff pastry croutons have to be the cutest food ever! Hope you are rested and relaxed now!
I’m feeling much better today than yesterday! As for the puff pastry croutons, you could make them with your kids. They are from the soup recipe from the Barefoot Contessa. It’s frozen puff pastry by Pepperidge Farms, a cookie cutter and an egg wash, salt and pepper, baked in the oven at 400 degrees for eight to 10 minutes. I’m thinking of all sorts of other ways to enjoy them? Maybe a sprinkle of sugar and for dessert?
Oh man, that was definitely a patience-trying scenario! Glad you got through the day okay. My turbulent days (like today), tend to just be about thinking too much and stressing myself out for no good reason. Gotta stop doing that!
I’m so much like you and cause my own stress by thinking too much. Maybe it was a relief to have real life issues to try my patience?
Can be a relief to say it was circumstance, not you.
Exactly!
You are a saint! I would have had a hissy fit right there in the store. I’ve been at Costco with a full cart when I realized one of my kids had my credit card. So frustrating. I made them drive over and deliver it to me. Hope the newsletter came out well. You need to do something nice for yourself! Hugs, C
Thanks! I do have something fun planned for myself in a few days in addition to lap swimming and cooking! I have a day for myself to get my hair done and makeup.