Easing Back Into Life

I haven’t been blogging much because I’ve been feeling better and have been able to be more active. I’ve been cooking a lot with my new pressure cooker. I got a new cookbook called Great Vegetarian Cooking Under Pressure by Lorna Sass. It has revolutionized my life and made it fun to be a vegan. The recipes are really flavorful. The pressure cooker has become my favorite toy. I can whip up a wonderful soup or stew quickly. It’s so great to have enough energy to be able to shop and to cook real food. While I’m certainly not back to 100% of my former self, I’m at least back to 70% and that’s pretty good.

I’ve been studying for my exam on June 9th to upgrade my professional qualifications as a drug and alcohol counselor. I don’t know what my next job will be, but in case I find something in the addiction field, it makes sense to do that. I’m currently plowing through a textbook of therapeutic techniques and it’s a great review. It’s also amazingly time consuming. I have three heavy books to read before that date and I’m behind already on my schedule.

I’ve been taking a writing course for cancer patients at OHSU that has been surprisingly fun. I don’t usually write fiction or poetry so this has been a stretch for me.

I’m also working a tiny bit. I have a few loose ends to tie up at work for the study. I’m taking that slowly and very grateful that I can do so. I have a couple of clients that need some attention. I’d like to call each of my old clients to say goodbye, at least the ones that I was dealing with when I went on medical leave. I’m feeling well enough to do that now.