breathing, and eating

I haven't been able to take a deep breath in nearly a week. There's a little man with a feather living somewhere deep in my trachea, and every time I open my lungs wide to let in a gale of oxygen, he rubs that feather ever so lightly on the walls, tickling me and making me hack and cough. I feel like I cough so hard some times my eyes are going to pop out of my head and roll across the floor. I double-up into a fetal position, feet kicking the air in protest. I just want to breathe normally.

I went to Walmart and bought two bags of hard candies-- one Ricola honey-herb, with natural cough suppressant, and the other sugar-free Jolly Ranchers, fruit flavor variety. The Ricola really seem to help, but they only last about 5 minutes. I wonder how many of those I can eat per day before I get menthol poisoning.

Eating seems to make the little feather-wielder angry. I just had lunch, Round Two in my delve into the world of frozen meals....

Today I had a Burrito Especial from Amy's Kitchen, a company that makes organic and all vegetarian foods, even down to how they process their milks and cheeses, using no animal enzymes. Several of their options are vegan, and they have everything from complete frozen meals to salsas to boxed mac and cheese. If your store carries Amy's in its organic section, you should test them out, you won't be disappointed. I just saw online that they also carry Indian Samosa and Spinach Tofu Wraps... yum.

Anyway, I've had their burritos before and always loved them. I usually get the Black Bean Vegetable Burrito, but I branched out this time. I don't regret it-- it was warm and cheesy and filled with rice and black beans. The only negative I can express is that I wish they were a little bit bigger. At 270 calories it feels more like a side dish or at least a main dish in need of some tortilla chips and salsa or similar, but they're also too big to eat two. I did scarf some wheat thins and a little York peppermint patty, but I have a feeling by 3 I'll be raiding the company fridge for communal string cheese.

Husband, despite his whining about wanting "real" food today, again participated in our money-saving scheme by eating a Boston Market Beef Pot Roast meal. The two-compartment tray contained suspiciously square pieces of beef and some mixed veggies covered in a dark brown sauce next to a generous helping of mashed potatoes. When asked how it was, he said "mmm" with a shrug; then, after swallowing, he told me, "nothing great ever came out of a freezer." I agreed with him, but again we concluded that at 440 calories, it was much healthier than fast food and with all that steak and potatoes was just as filling.

All that said, we're eating out tonight. My best friend in the world is coming to see me, all the way from Maine. She hasn't been down here since... this time last year I think. She's staying for three nights on her cross-country trip from Maine to Colorado. After getting laid off in July from her proofwriting job for the New York Times magazine, she struggled to find work, eventually deciding to just wait tables until the winter, and now she will be a ski instructor in Colorado for the duration of the ski season. I'm so excited about her visit!