Mostly Cloudy on Sunday

On Gold Mountain by Lisa See

This is the latest library book I've read.  It is the story of the author's family, starting with her great-great grandfather, an herbalist, who was recruited to come to California in 1866 to tend to the Chinese laborers who had been hired to work on the railroad and his youngest son, the author's great-grandfather who came to look for his father and brothers. and ending with the author, her cousins, and their children.  It is the story of one family's dreams, struggles, successes, and failures; and I think the author writes about the various members of the family and their strengths and weaknesses with sympathy and understanding.  I really enjoyed reading it.  

Sunday started out sunny, but, it soon became cloudy.  There was some rain in the forecast, but, it didn't rain in my area.

Once again, I had stayed up practically all night, going to bed at 5:00 a.m. and waking up well after noon.  I woke up once at 10:00 a.m., fed the cats, saw that it was sunny, turned up the heater because the house was cold (thermostat had been set at 60F) and went back to bed, "until the house warms up a bit" and fell asleep.  I woke up, again, at 11:00 a.m., when my cousin texted, but I fell asleep again, and didn't wake up until my daughter called to check on me.  I sounded so sleepy that she told me to go back to sleep and I did!  On the positive side, I got my 8 hours of sleep.  On the negative side, I slept away most of the sunny hours, because it became cloudy soon after I woke up!

I had my "morning" cup of tea in the early afternoon, said my prayers, replied to blog comments, conveyed the birthday wishes to my daughter (she says, "Thank you"), did another load of laundry (blankets and a quilt from my daughter's bed - Dancer has been sleeping on them and his fur is all over them!), and I cooked the packet of ground beef I had bought earlier in the week:

Cooked Ground Beef with Vegetables

To 1 lb. of ground beef, I added, from the freezer, a grated zucchini, some homegrown onion , a little celery, some bell pepper, a small amount of broccoli, and some tomato; all the vegetables, other than the grated zucchini, were ground in the mini food processor my daughter had given me one Christmas, thus saving myself a lot of chopping by hand.  I added a little seasoning - garlic powder, ground black pepper, salt, soy sauce and Worcestershire sauce,  I would have added grated carrots, too, if I had any fresh carrots, but, I don't have any fresh carrots and I didn't want to add a can of sliced carrots.  

Breakfast, eaten around 3:00 p.m. had been a banana.  So, around 6:30 p.m., after I had cooked the ground beef mixture, I took out a small package of pasta sauce I had in the freezer and warmed it up in the microwave.  Then, I cooked a small amount of angel hair pasta, added it to the pasta sauce, added some ground beef to it, and had that for my lunch/dinner (or "linner").  I kept some of the ground beef in the fridge to use during the week (maybe to make a small cottage pie or turn into a keema curry) and froze the rest.  

For dessert, I made vanilla pudding, using one cup milk, about a quarter cup of sugar, a tablespoon of cornstarch, and a little vanilla essence.  I also added some small raisins (currants) to the pudding, something I remember from my childhood.  I forgot to take a picture, but, it was delicious!  I ate some for dessert and some for a snack, later.

After dinner, I sat down and did some paperwork, sorting through all the voting information and ads for the upcoming Primary elections, filling out my sample ballot and then, the actual ballot which I will drop off at the official ballot box at the library, tomorrow.  I preferred to vote in person and did so until March 2020, just before the first Covid lockdown took place.  I have not voted in person since then.  I will also return two of my library books at the same time.  

On Sunday, I was grateful for:

- Being able to sleep in!
- Working appliances
- Libraries
- Being able to participate in elections and vote
- Having the option to vote by mail, drop off ballots, or vote in person

Sunday's joyful activity was ... sleeping in!  LOL.  

Plans for Monday include dropping off my ballot and visiting the library to return books.

How was your Sunday?  What are your plans for Monday?