You just never know what's gonna happen for dinner around here...

You just never know what's gonna happen for dinner at the Gormans on a given night. I don't even know what's gonna happen.
    Today I took out the garbage--the second pick up truck full--from Italo's work on redoing my bathroom: Lots of old tiles, cut new tiles, floor boards and all that heavy stuff. Then I came back, fed four dogs, four cats, noticed that a beautiful finch is nesting in the hole in my porch overhang ceiling and that three or four hummingbirds are digging on the hummingbird food hanging from the porch while half-a-dozen new families of cardinals--or returning old friends, it's hard for me to say--are digging on the wild songbird food hanging from the front tree next to the kid's tree swing.
   Done admiring the birds, I spent time cleaning the bits of tile paste that were on the bathroom floor from the recent installation, made calls for a couple of stories, got in a heated Facebook argument about Sapo, the Matses frog sweat medicine, cleaned the kitchen, did some pushups and then it was time to go to the store. I needed Comet to finish the bathroom floor. Plus paper towels, new chalk for the girls, garbage bags, catfood, dog food, new bathmats for when I'm done the finish work in the bathroom, ibuprofin for my damned sciatica, lettuce, onions, tomatoes.
   When I got to the store, part of which was accompanied by a full-blast Van Morrison Into the Mystic, I realized I'd accounted for everyone but Madeleina and I. What the hell were we going to eat? I was broke, so steak was out of the question. We had beef ribs recently, so the short ribs in the fridge didn't tempt me. I made fresh burgers last night so they were out, shrimp was super highly priced and small, we had salmon a couple of nights ago with the beef ribs...Okay, I picked up a loaf of fresh Italian bread with sesame seeds thinking I'd make nice, hot, roast beef and pepperjack cheese--with seared red pepper--sandwiches. But on the way to the deli counter I overheard some kid complaining to his mom: "Meatloaf is just hamburger meat in a dish. I hate that..." and so I got inspired to make meatloaf.
    I already had left over ground chuck, eggs, red onion, garlic, yellow and red peppers, tomatoes, ketchup, scallions, celery, good breadcrumbs...all I really needed was ground pork. I'd rather make it with pork/veal/beef, but I can't do veal for the last 25 years or so because I think that it's cruel even beyond my sensibilities--and I accept a lot of pain from the food I'm gonna eat. So pork and beef. But I got so excited I forgot the damned chalk!
    Madeleina was nice enough to re-up the garlic in olive oil we keep on hand while I diced all the other veggies and put the meat on the stove to cook it just enough to eliminate 40 percent of the fat.
    While that strained I sauteed the garlic in olive oil, onions, celery, peppers, scallions. When they were near done I added the diced tomatoes. While that was going on I salt-and-peppered the meat, added bread crumbs, a little ketchup, and pulled a few eggs from the fridge.
    When the veggies were done I added them to the meat/breadcrumbs and when it cooled a bit I added the eggs, some Worstershire sauce, more black pepper--butcher ground--then mixed it by hand till everyone knew everyone and the mix was even, then dropped it all into a pyrex container, topped it with a little ketchup, three slices of bacon, and tossed it in the oven at 340. It should be done in another half hour. It's starting to smell nice.
    If anyone asks, I don't really know how we wound up with meatloaf, except for the kid who hates his mom's meatloaf mentioning it loudly at the store.
    Hey! I'm not so proud. I'll take inspiration where I can get it.
    And Madeleina can use the Italian bread with sesame seeds to make a salmon sandwich to take to school tomorrow. It's all working out.