Six the hard way... belatedly

OK, OK, I know you are wondering where I've been all this time! Well, maybe you're wondering. Maybe you're saying, "I don't give a flying fig where you've been", which is perfectly fine, too.

My husband suffered through 2 weeks of pneumonia, got better, and then promptly ended up in the hospital anyway. He spent what must have been a horrible 24 hours for him in the ICU, and is now expected to come home on Friday. I'm terribly exhausted, as I haven't slept much at all in the last few days, and it's catching up to me. No amount of coffee can save me from my sleepiness- believe me, I'm trying to give Starbucks their annual profit in one week.

Before he got sick, I had a birthday. My 33rd, in fact. We had a very nice day together, and I'm glad that he waited until after my birthday to get sick (kidding! I'm kidding.) He got me a very nice set for serving sushi and Japanese tea:

Beautiful, isn't it? I couldn't believe he remembered I asked for these so many months ago, and I was genuinely surprised. I had to use them as soon as possible, so I made this:

Yes, it's heart-shaped Philadelphia Rolls! My daughter scarfed this whole plate down. We went to the Japanese market, and fortunately for us it was free sample day. We ate our way through the market, then brought home a bunch of fresh fish and Chocolate soymilk (my daughter also scarfed that down! It's all gone already). However, my first batch of sushi rice came out like rice pudding, and was just awful. I had to try again. This meant it took me 6 hours to make sushi. It was worth it in the end.

My husband also bought himself a new toy, before he went in the hospital. He got a beautiful new Jeep, which is huge and I have to learn how to drive it. Fortunately, it's an Automatic- his last car was a stick shift (yes, I should've learned how to drive it, but didn't). The ridiculous thing is his last car was so tiny and this one is so big and the car payment is almost the same and the insurance is almost the same. Gasoline- so NOT the same...

I hope you are all doing well and enjoying your summer without melting in the heat wave. Be safe and have fun out there.