Baby how you feelin'?

The Natives are out of school so we we schlepped them over to our local apothecary for a little Covid and flu prevention. I get that not everyone is comfortable with vaccinations, but we tend to be fairly pro preventative behaviors in our house and we feel like the pros outweigh the cons. Maybe it will bite us in the arses later...but I'll cross that bridge if I come to it. I also boosted and flued and let me tell you...booster sucked way more than round one or two. You know what really sucked? Watching Hunter go through Covid, so I'll take a few days of sore and tired because honestly that's just a perpetual state of being for Gatherer. On top of the sore and tired I've made the grand mistake of hoping on the scale. Fasting is going okay but I didn't fast the two days post recovery and when I took the pic below the other day I was so disgusted I didn't post it at first.

Probably looks fine to y'all but I see a ton of fat and a lack of definition. I'm posting it anyway now because here's the truth of it. I probably have some flavor of seasonal affective disorder or something worse. I'm infinitely harder on myself than is reasonable. I'm not in my 20's, I'm not hot, I'm not getting free drinks at the bar. Ain't no one asking for my number. I'm a married, 40 year old mom of 2. I work full time and up until 7 months ago I was also a part time student. I man the fort for my partner to pursue his hobby (which I don't do enough to support and should be more kind in my appreciation of his skills) and make space for him to sit on two boards (maybe more...he leaves the house and comes back, he zoom meets, I don't have the mental energy to keep track of him and it goes against everything I believe in to even want to try). I do my best. It ain't great, but if anyone wants to judge me harder than I judge myself, I'm probably just too tired to really care (oh I'll definitely hurt over it and cry in shame and embarrassment but not enough to do anymore than what I already do). I cook dinner almost every night. I eat left overs almost every lunch to save money. The only adult conversations I have most days are if I talk to someone at the gym. This is as good as it gets. And guess what...I'm probably doing alright for 40. So on the socials, I mentioned food reviews and in classic Gatherer fashion I'm going to awkwardly transition into talking about food. I like it, a lot. I also like wine. A lot. The images below can show you why I have have a little extra fluffy fluff these days. Carbs and fat are fo sho on the menu and I'm not giving them up. To date I'm the only person to try the lemon ricotta, zucchini tomato flat bread. Hunter did not want it when I got home and didn't want it for lunch and the natives hate zucchini so I gave them left over pasta. I loved it I thought it was one of the better flat breads I've made but seeing as no one else in the cave wanted to try it...I don't even know how to rate it. Good as hell? This was a HelloFresh Meal.

Now the lasagna below is a repeat. It was bloody fantastic before and it didn't disappoint. It's a MarleySpoon recipe and shockingly the order actually arrived ON TIME. Nothing was missing everything was in great condition (I had one stock concentrate pack for another meal burst but that's nothing I can't handle). I ,modified the salad to suit the natives palate. Hunter is off hunting things (improv try outs) so I didn't bother making the full "fancy" salad and made a modified Caesar for myself. I gave the natives an adult size portion and figured the left overs would feed all 4 of us for lunch tomorrow. Y'all I was so so wrong. Native 2 asked for a full second portion of "Basanya" and I wasn't about to tell him no. They LOVE this recipe and for real it is not difficult to make, can literally be made in one oven safe pan, and is the fastest basanya I've made ever. Flavors are great (my dearest Italian friends, don't judge we are just trying our best here) and there isn't a single thing that you would have trouble finding at your local gathering location. This transcends the sweet tea scale. Make it. I'll happily send the recipe. If you haven't figured it out basanya is lasagna.

And because it's winter and I could use a little joy, I'm giving you a photo of me in my holiday finest and a sneak peak of what I'll be posting about after Christmas Eve.