I'm off...

to take yet another bar exam. So I can (hopefully) be Esq. in 3 states.

While I am still in bar exam cram mode, I will kindly refrain from using such sexy phrases as "malignant heart," "holder in due course," "collateral estoppel," "real and personal defenses," "defeasible fee," and "long-arm statute."

I will not, however, refrain from making a whole bunch o' prayer requests...are you ready?

1. Please pray that I pass the exam. It is July 29 and 30 (Wed and Thurs).
1A. Please pray that I can focus and keep my anxiety levels down.
2. Please continue to pray for my dear friends, A. and S., that God would move S.'s heart back to A.
3. Please pray that my friends E. and K. find jobs soon.
4. Please pray that L.'s delivery (as in baby) goes well.

In other news...
Gardening
1. I think my cucumbers caught some disease. I harvested a half-dozen massive cucumbers, but the rest don't look so hot.
2. The tomatoes, in contrast, are starting to scare me. Right now, they're still green...but there are approximately 300 (seriously) large green ones with hundreds of little tomatoes coming in, too. And still growing! I don't know if the 14-ft support stakes will contain them.
3. My dear eggplants are doing quite well.
4. My green and banana peppers are also coming in, but the jalapeno plant is not.
5. I think the raspeberries are done for the season. I collected 4 gallons (from 6 plants), washed, and stashed in the freezer.
6. My attempt at corn was a fail.
7. The zucchinis keep flowering, but no fruit yet.

Kitchen adventures
I am cooking up a storm because I am s.t.r.e.s.s.e.d. Roommate is coming tomorrow and will stay in the house with Jack while I am away. I baked her 6 pizzas, a platter of fried green tomatoes, and this cake. Except my oven is broken, and I had to make it in the toaster oven in 2 batches, so...hello, layer cake. I did not follow PW's recipe exactly, and I'm glad I did not. I dumped 2 cups (instead of her 1 cup mashed) of prunes in the food processor with some water and maple syrup and a pinch of salt, then simmered it all down. This meant that I did not have to add any sugar to the batter. I added in a lot more allspice, cinnamon, and nutmeg, too. For the icing, I cut out some of the sugar with maple syrup and added in some allspice and cinnamon. This got good reviews last week when I made it for the office. Oh, and I'm dubbing it "spice cake" or "Christmas cake" instead of "prune cake."

Poor prunes. They get such a bad rap. I don't think the recent "dried plum" PR blitz fooled anyone, either.

Anxiety
I've been so insanely stressed and anxious that I can only keep down tomatoes and string cheese. Don't ask; I know tomatoes are acidic and I have no explanation. I made the mistake of trying toast the other night, and promptly regretted it. I know that no one enjoys throwing up, but - blame it on too much Jimi Hendrix or something - when I get sick I'm pretty sure I'm choke and die. Which means I bawl and nearly have a panic attack. When Roommate was around, she would give me a big hug and refrain from calling me crazy. Now that she's gone, I just have a dog who does everything possible to get in the way.