Hi, invisible internet friends! This weekend was simultaneously quiet and cozy (video call with best friend! visit to the house! lots of cozy studying while it rained outside!) and not: driving the partner to the ER due to another gallbladder episode and translating in the car while waiting for him.

First the more fun stuff: spent Saturday morning curled up with lecture videos of one of my favorite courses and a cup of coffee. Super satisfying to finally be making some headway in catching up on this course, and also genuinely enjoyable. (Even more so because raining outside, so totally not tempted to be doing some fun outdoor activity instead.)

Afternoon break for grocery shopping with the partner and visiting the new house. A few weeks ago we decided to pay extra to have our patio area covered with tile rather than just have the standard issue (ugly) concrete bricks laid. It was an expense we reeeeeally could have done without at this juncture, but they finished it this week and look how freaking good it looks! (You can actually see the concrete bricks in question peeking out at the very top of the photo – those reddish rectangles. I mean, they’re not horrible, but… for a patio, where we will likely wish to put a table to eat out in the summer, and which we may someday wish to enclose in glass… how much better is the lovely grey tile?!) The oak tree still looks super sad to me now that it’s been trimmed, but a nice bird was sitting there singing in it today, so… that’s something?

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Also had a lovely video call with best friend! We decided to choose recipes to cook together. I opted for the NYT Cooking No-Knead Bread. (Should I link the New York Times? Will they get mad? How does linking work? And why don’t I know?! I can’t be this old!) Anyway. I did not have great hopes for this because I have literally never managed to make good bread in my life, despite three or four separate attempts. Including with a recipe from someone who is literally a baker. She promised it was the easiest bread recipe ever, couldn’t fail. It came out like little bricks of awful. Could’ve paved the patio with it.

Anyway. Guys. Spoiler: this time, I made good bread. I still can’t honestly even believe it. Just look at it, though: it actually looks like bread! It actually rose and got crispy on top and and and it was even good to eat!!! I am utterly astounded by this turn of events.

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So, while I was riding the high of my freaking delicious bread and catching up on studying while the rain fell peacefully outside and our patio looking even better than we expected, the partner started to have some stomach pain. “I’ll just wait and maybe it’ll get better,” he declared. It did not. I bullied him into his shoes and into the car and drove through the ER ambulance bay (this is pressure-ful and scary – what if an ambulance comes?!! I should not be freaked out by this because frequently I am in said ambulances and stray civilian cars are sometimes a minor annoyance, not a huge disaster) and then spent two hours translating in the parking lot while partner was receiving IV pain meds for his errant gallbladder. They did not immediately improve the situation, so I went home to warm up. Had some dinner, put on a warmer jacket, cleaned up the kitchen, and finally poor partner was doing better.

Planning to make him call the surgeon again tomorrow to see if he can be moved up the list, poor soul.