High Anxiety

Being the type of person who is not usually prone to moments of extreme anxiety, maybe because my life is pretty darn low stress, I am having a hard time wrapping my head around the extreme nervousness and worry that Keith is experiencing with this new job. He was off this weekend, waiting to hear what his next assignment would be, and I'm surprised that he didn't blow a blood vessel with all the worrying that he has been doing.

He finally got the call to report to work first thing this morning, which resulted in shaking hands and pacing around the room, so worried that he is going to do something wrong or get somebody hurt that it just might happen because he is stressing himself out so much. He is going to be going on the van that they call the dog catcher to catch up with a train that needs a crew change or something like that. He has no idea how long he will be gone, if the train is coming or going or where he will be tonight. Yes, that is nerve wracking but he lets it get to him so much that he is just a nervous wreck.

I'm thinking medication if he can't get himself to calm down.

I did do a little research and found some supplements that I'm going to make him take, a B complex vitamin, magnesium, calcium, and possibly valerian. If he can't get himself to calm down then he's going to worry himself right out of a job.

I'm getting frustrated that he can't seem to just calm down and realize that it takes a long time to learn this job and a long time before everything makes sense (if it ever does) and that every other guy working for the railroad has been through the exact same thing and they are all just fine and haven't killed themselves or anyone else yet.

Anyway.

Does anyone ever use their microwave for real cooking or do we all just use it to heat up water for our tea? I got to thinking about that yesterday after I bought a bacon rack thing to use in the microwave and the bacon came out perfectly. I hate cooking bacon on the stove, messy, time consuming, and if you don't stand there watching it, your bacon is  burnt before you know it. Plus it really stinks up the house.

We had a package of bacon in the fridge and I was thinking bacon and eggs for breakfast, so when I was at Target buying cat food, I checked out the microwave cookware and got the bacon rack and also an egg cooker for making egg mcmuffin sandwiches. I haven't tried that yet, but if it works as well as the bacon rack, the $3.99 I spent on it will be well worth it.

It got me thinking about what else can I cook in the microwave and have it come out better than on the stove? When microwaves first came out back in the dark ages of the late 70's, early 80's, and they were all these huge countertop things that took up lots of space, microwave cooking was the latest and greatest, but it seems like most of us got quickly bored with the novelty or something. I never have really cooked anything in the microwave, just vegetables here and there and reheating a dinner or two.

So, I got some microwave cookbooks from the Goodwill bookstore and am going to actually try using my microwave oven for some real food. And we will see how that goes.