New Things

It's been a week of lots of new things. I'm getting settled in and cozy with Joey, the MacBook Pro, finally a computer worthy of being named after Joey Votto.I'm loving having a Mac again! I'm getting comfy now with the dictation software that's part of Pages, the Mac software for documents. The cool thing about Pages is that, unlike its predecessor, AppleWorks, Pages reads and can save in .doc format. That means it can read and communicate with Microsoft Word documents. Very cool!

I finished my first scrapbook page with the new computer. Photoshop works the same as it did on the old computer and I'm having pretty easy time getting used to the smaller screen.

Credits: The Autumn Knocks by GabisCreation

David left on his stress detox vacation Friday. Taking care of me can be a pretty high stress job, especially when you work a full time job already. Chapter 4 in “The Care and Feeding of Your Caregiver” stresses the importance of caregivers having a break from caregiving. That usually means a girls week for Kelly and me. Right now Kelly has some family stuff going on and can't be here till later in the week. That means I get to try something new. I have home health aides that come in a couple of times a day to help out with things and basically do a wellness check. It’s not too bad and rather helpful, especially at night to make sure I'm safely tucked in. I have “me time” to scrap or read or whatever without feeling like I need to be a host to someone in my home but I have someone who is there a few times a day to help me with the things I can’t quite do on my own.

The only bump in smooth sailing has been Marco. Marco likes to try to “run the gate” when the door opens. I blame his daddy; David is such an enabler. He lets Marco go outside and do his roll around ob the driveway and eat some grass before he sends him back in. Of course, I can’t do that. He ran out in the rain Friday night when the “tuck me in” caregiver came in and she had to chase him down in the driveway and bring him back. Did I mention it was raining? Then yesterday when the delivery guy brought my dinner, he did it again. The poor guy was holding the keep warm bag with my dinner, the re copout and pen for my signature AND chasing the cat. Marco didn’t get any further than the steps on the porch last night, but jeez, Marco! On my paperwork for the caregiver agency it says that I have three cats; Kaline, Carla and Marco. There is a note that says to watch out for Marco because he tries to go outside and none of the cats are outdoors cats. He tried to do the entitled “I’m just going outside” march when the assessor came in to meet me too.

Pop will be here tomorrow to get started on construction on the downstairs accessible bathroom with shower! He’s staying tomorrow night and is going to be Construction Guru and caregiver so I don't have to pay for the wellness checks. I am totally excited about the new bathroom! Add that to the new top half of my power chair, that's hopefully in the final process of being ordered, and they'll have a lot of independence back. With the lift mechanics in the new chair, I’ll even be able to stand a little, good for edema, and reach the controls to cook!

As long as everything goes alright for Kelly, she’ll be here Tuesday for the rest of the week and we will have our "girls time” for the rest of the week. It’s been a new world this week, but it’s a good new world.

Pizza Time!

"The Usual"

David got a good laugh out of me last night. I let myself order pizza once a month; it’s my splurge. I know things, like a small Marco’s pizza is 26-36 Weight Watchers points, depending on the toppings and it’s 2 meals for me. It’s usually lunch and dinner but sometimes dinner and breakfast. Yeah, my inner-20-something still enjoys cold pizza the next morning.

Now strange as it sounds, at least to me, my American-born husband doesn’t eat pizza. Everyone has different tastes, but I thought pizza was one of those things that, I don’t know. I mean, pizza, ya know? I think the maturing of priorities is so important. Think if we’d met in our early 20s with very different taste in food and music. We wouldn’t have ever dated, even though we have so much in common in hobbies and core values, which is often overlooked in the dating game at a very young age. So I’m married to a man that doesn’t share my appreciation for Frank Sinatra, Iron Maiden or Drake and we won't share a meal of Mexican, Cincinnati Chili or pizza. I’ll make that trade for being able to discuss religion and politics at a baseball game after a day of chasing trains knowing we’ll still sleep comfortably under the same roof.

What that means for pizza is two things. I order pizza when he works the night shift but I get to pick the toppings, all of them! Last night when he got home and was preparing his midnight snack, he looked at the pizza box that held my Saturday breakfast and asked what toppings I got. I don’t think he’d ever asked me what toppings I ordered before, so I told him it was one of my usuals, a Nani-Classic pizza; pepperoni, bacon and onions, well done. Marco’s, my pizza of choice, bakes them light, regular, well-done or extra well-done. I went on to tell him that’s been my go-to pizza since my teens. “The Usual” is that pizza on half, with banana peppers, green olives and feta on the other half, making two different meals and my “Specialty Pizza” is the Cheesy White with banana peppers and green olives on a thin crust baked extra-well so it’s like a white sauce with tangy extras on a cracker.

David laughed at my pizza soliloquy. I asked why it was funny, because lots of people have regular toppings they always order. But what he was laughing at is that I have names, Classic, Usual and Specialty, for what I order. That’s just part of my organized brain. If Marco’s remembered the pizzas in addition to my address and the nearest location that delivers to my address when i sign in to my account, I’d have those three pizzas and my favorite condiments on a salad saved with those names for one click ordering. Hey Marco’s, if you want an online account idea…

So, are you a pizza fan? Do you have regular toppings you like or do you try different things when you order?

Pumpkin, Pumpkin, Pumpkin

If I tell you to grab a cup of coffee for this read am I an enabler?

Welcome October…Welcomeish October. I have been SO COLD all day! The picture up top is my attempt to warm up. Yes the popcorn bag is a little scorched. I put it in for an extra 15 seconds to try to get more of the kernels to at least half pop. A few singed pieces are way better than rock hard kernels that never reach any point of their potential. And while I don’t like it burned, I actually kinda like popcorn that’s singed a little. My cup’s contents are courtesy of my last Gevalia K-Cup. That leads to two “let me tell yas.”

Let me tell ya about my cup! Back in 2012 I talked about the coffee mugs Kelly and I swap when we get together. I shared one of the mugs I’d found from 20 years prior in my storage and it was her obligation to find our mugs this time. She found the flowered mugs that hold about a Keurig cup and a half of coffee. She chose orange for hers and picked out my favorite shade of my favorite color for me!

Now as for the second thing, let me tell ya about the K-Cups and the pumpkin! I'm expecting a shipment from 11th Street Coffee tomorrow...afternoon. I'll be swimming is seasonal goodness, but I need morning coffee. So a desperate phone call to one of my favorite dealers brought a 12-pack of Signature Blend to get me by for tomorrow morning when David got in.

I totally blame Kelly for me losing control of my vices! I was only counting points for the first half of the days she was here before the cookies, candy and donuts…or habanero quarter pounder with Kelly’s preferred 5-gallon bin of fries, before the pumpkin bread, pumpkin seeds and pumpkin spice lattes. And did I mention donuts? Oh I did, but the pumpkin donuts are worth mentioning on their own. And I was up to a latte and 4 cups of coffee a day. I gained a little; thankfully I can’t balance on the scale so I don’t know how much I can just feel it in my shirts, and I’m still on cup number 3 today, but I’m not ashamed of that. I’ve circled the wagons and I’m slowly climbing back on because I can’t climb fast. Okay, I can probably figuratively climb faster, but I’m sticking with this story. She reasoned “We see each other every couple years.” I rationalized, “Yanno, you’re right. How much damage can I do in 3 weeks?”

So here I am back down to 3 cups a day and counting every point of that 10point popcorn and coffee snack. I had a 5-point salad for lunch in anticipation of microwave popcorn! Give a full week and 3 weeks of damage will be gone and I’ll have great memories of weeks I concentrated more on treasuring my friends than controlling my vices.

She’s Got Legs, But Don’t Know How To Use Them

Credits: Broken by Karen Diamond Designs

I've started art journaling when frustration is getting to me and it's doing a great job of getting the negativity out of me!  We'll call the art journals part of my "Blue Period" Nani Picasso! LOL

For the first week Kelly was here she was my caregiver while David was on a “vacation from Nani.” I talked about that before; it was my idea that David needed a vacation without worrying about me. The timing of Kelly’s visit was perfect for that! Kel did a great job filling in for David, well except the kiss before bed and keep me warm which is in his vows, but not her friend vows. In fact I don’t recall that we ever took friend vows out loud. Kel didn’t have his proficiency with the craft of leveraging my legs up the last step into the upper floor of our house. There’s angle and lifting that I don’t know because I’m worrying about my part of getting me up that step. That did result in a couple nights of me not going upstairs and sleeping in my chair and one 2-day stint upstairs after an attempt to get me up to the second floor resulted in EMTs putting me on the bed. Oh, I’m okay, so is Kelly and on the bed I where I wanted to be anyway.

The third week was the one that got my watching-what-I-eat the worst, but I’m really not complaining there! Rina came and spent 4 days with us. She’s my niece, not daughter, although I was there as a guardian-teacher often when she and her sister grew up, and maybe that makes it even more special that she chose to spend her time off with me. She helped Kelly help me and after we figured out what needed to be done they got me in and out of Rina’s van with relative ease so we could go on a couple trips to Michigan. We went to Pop’s house for a great day with him and Aunt Judy and enjoyed the meeting of the Italian lunchmeats and cheese we bought at Sofo with the sautéed greens and piada he made; wonderful Italian Soul Food! Then the next day we picked up Scotty and went to the apple orchard (many donuts.) Then we all met Sheri at Dunkin Donuts and headed to Olive Garden for dinner. Of course, there had been dinner at Ya Halla the first night Rina was in!

Rina, Kelly and me at Ya Halla

It's Gonna Be A Great Week

Good Monday! A little variety is a good thing now and then. Saturday morning David left on just over a week’s vacation. I didn't. Yesterday Kelly arrived with her bags for a long stay. Oh nothing is wrong, this was all quite planned this way.

First thing’s first Happy Birthday to Carla! Our middle child is 6 years old today! Okay, we don’t know the exact day but she was born in September in 2008. We gave her the 8th because that was Carl Yastrzemski’s number and she was named for him.

An important part of chapter one of the book I haven't written yet, The Proper Care And Feeding Of Your Caregiver, is making sure the caregiver gets the rest they need. To borrow a tern from my most beloved book of all think, the seven habits of highly effective people, make sure your caregiver, sharpens the saw, or get pre breaks to relax and rejuvenate. When your caregiver is your spouse, that means that sometimes travel needs to be that spouse and his/her friends without you. Of course in my case at least it means I need a babysitter while my spouse is gone. That's where the ever important best friend comes into play!

This week David is chasing trains. Sometimes he's meeting up with other railfans sometimes solo, and calling me to say goodnight and tell me how the trains were today. Yes, he reports that he misses me, but he needs some time to not worry about wheelchairs at break stops or accessible rooms at hotels. It also helps me receive a little stress relief knowing he’s getting that time to recharge. The “sharpen the saw” concept is that if a saw isn't sharpened, renewed, it does at do its job well anymore, it doesn't saw wood. If a Hum an doesn't rest and renew they don't work as well either.

Kelly is officially my PCA, personal care assistant, right now. She's helping with pretty much everything this week. Yesterday we were on the bus at 1 headed to Books, Baked Goods, Crafts and Fun at Paws and Whiskers, the annual open house. We came home with some books, sweets and silent auction winnings as we left a nice donation for the cats! It was a decent haul more than I could have brought home alone. Groceries will be interesting this week as I’ll likely have more bags than usual there too. Of course groceries will have to be from the froo-froo Kroger this week. Gotta have that girl time at Starbucks you know!

We really took no photos yesterday as day one together was talking, lots of buffs who needed to catchup talking. I see much. coffee and talking today too! Although we can talk about rocket science over coffee, it wasn't required to predict that part of our day,

Thoroughly Thursday

First, let’s talk about the weather; BRRRR! It’s mostly in the 70s here and in July 80s is okay, really! There have been some hot days, but this is mostly a very mild summer so far. I hope it means there is a mild winter ahead again. I wouldn’t be happy if Global Climate Change ends up meaning Ohio Cooling Change. If we have the Polar Vortex winters every 4 or 5 years and very mild ones in between, that’d be fine. I can plan vacations accordingly.

Now for some snippets from Naniland as of late.

Yesterday I started my day in the arms of three firemen!

Boy, I wish that was as scandalous as it sounds! It would have been more fun. Lately it's been getting harder to get in and especially out of the bathroom. It’s the location of the counter, door and the turn I have to make in the morning to get to the stair-climber. Yesterday I failed. I was holding on to the counter and the walker just outside the bathroom and my balance gave out. I tried to lift upon the counter and David was trying to do what he could to help but finally my left leg was just to weak to keep supporting me and I told David it was no use; I was falling. The cool thing is it was almost a controlled fall, falling slowly so it lessened the impact. I landed on the floor but also hit my shoulder and head on the shower chair. After making sure nothing moved less than it already did, I managed to scoot out to the stairs, but there was no way I was getting up and we called 911.

Folks, if I weighed a hundred pounds I wouldn’t let David lift me on his own. 100 struggling or trying to be helpful pounds is a dangerous thing to lift on your own. I’m a little more /sarcasm than 100. The fire department dispatched three EMS guys. After a few tries at ways that would work, we got one with two of the guys behind me lifting and one in front steadying me and balancing me. I ended up hugging the guy in front and the other two hugging me from behind while I balanced. Then they got me in the stair lift chair and I got down and transferred to my power chair without further incident. It had been over a year and now my safety board goes back to 1.

Social Media

Well, a blog is social media, a personal blog is anyway, but I do some other social media things too. My latest big news on Facebook is my friends list. My 2 favorite teachers from high school sent me friend requests. How cool is that? When I was in high school I was a renegade. I was defiant and a had a huge wall in front of me to protect me from my own teenage insecurities. I wasn’t a troublemaker, not really, but I pushed established boundaries. There were two teachers who really saw through my teenage façade and pushed me to break past my own boundaries. They saw potential and nurtured it. I don’t know if they foresaw how truly influential and precious their influence on me would be for the rest of my life but when I got a friend invite from my broadcast teacher and then my French & humanities teacher those were acknowledgements and rekindled acquaintances that I treasure! Justin Verlander could follow me on Twitter and it wouldn’t mean as much. If you like how I turned out, thank my teachers, a couple of them especially.

Instagram; remember my plan for all coffee vignettes? Well, java_nani has become a bit more than that. I found a great Weight Watchers community there and one subset of that that I enjoy a “share the love” group with. We exchange support and monthly gifts in the mail with each other. The gifts include inspiring and supportive items and also an opportunity to share snacks and things that have been helpful to us. My partner’s box goes out tomorrow and it’s as exciting as Christmas!

I’ve also found a great MS support network there. I’m currently participating in a daily IG post meme leading up to World MS Trend Day, July 31. Here are a couple of the daily photo-posts I’ve done:

Prompt: Love

 

Prompt: Fun

 

Prompt: Sand

Short notes:

- My “training phone” died this week and I made the big leap to a phone that’s smarter than me! I have an iPhone that talks to my iPad and they talk about me in front of my chest (where the phone is clipped) That they share information is both cool and scary to me.

- As of this morning for the first time in 31 years I'm not a legal driver. My license expires next week so I went to the DMV to get a state ID. I seem to be the only one who thinks this is a good thing. I haven’t driven in 2 years and it disturbed me that legally I still could.

- On July 19 it was one month since the TV died. I don’t keep up with my baseball teams as well without the home team play by play. For instance it was three days before I read that Joey Votto reinjured his left quads. But other than the details I’m missing, our teams haven’t been doing well this year and maybe we don’t want to watch? Even the Tigers have been streaky. I still hope we have a TV by the playoffs!

- Tomorrow is Eye Exam day. My eye doc is next to Panera. You know what that means! Lunch tomorrow is a You Pick Two Bacon Turkey Bravo and something else with an apple and a latte! Then it’s come home with a new prescription and finally order sunglasses!

Let’s NOT Talk About The Weather

This week I posted a new profile picture on Facebook:

This photo was taken on Christmas day 2013, just a month ago. I have no makeup, my hair is messy and it’s one of my favorite photos of me I’ve seen in a while. I asked David to hand me my camera as we were getting ready to head out of the hotel to go to my dad’s for Christmas morning breakfast and he took the photo just before he handed it to me. So it’s a fairly candid photo except that, just like Tori, when I see a camera pointed in my direction I smile. What I love about that photo is that David took it.

Years ago when I was an assistant editor for a wedding videographer I scanned a set of photos I’ll never forget. You see part of my job was scanning and editing to music “growing up“ photos of the bride and groom before the even met and doing the same if honeymoon photos were provided. One couple in particular provided growing up photos of the slender boy in glasses who was not in a rock band in high school and there were no sports photos. He would’ve been what was probably a “geek,” maybe a “brainiac,” not one of the super popular or even well-known kids at school. The bride was the adorable little girl in dresses and cute poses with professionally done photos and high school photos that included the prom and her varsity cheerleader photo. From the wedding photos I could see that the “cheerleader” was not the ultrathin beauty queen she’d been in high school. I’m not saying that to disrespect the bride. What made their photos memorable were the honeymoon photos.

On an Alaskan cruise there weren’t as many photos of them together as there were photos they took of each other. In the photos her new husband took of her she was incredibly more beautiful than even the professional wedding photographer could show. A professional can set up the classic poses with different people and produce great photos. A nonprofessional captures a moment, a millisecond when they see exactly how their mind perceives the subject. It’s that point where the subconscious makes you click the shutter. I was almost in tears looking at those photos, as I’m often almost in tears talking about them years later, because in his mind eyes he grew up, fell in love and married “his beautiful cheerleader.” The photos from the heart will always be more amazing than a professional could take. David still clicks the button when he sees that split second where I look cute and fun; it’s what he sees when he thinks about me.


I got lots of “likes” and comments on my new profile picture. I posted my new cover photo on the top of my timeline and got very little in the way of response. Hmph. Actually I’m very pleased, even proud, of my new cover photo.

Credits: Snow Fun by Sheri Ferguson Designs.

 

I had the idea that if I used the right mask I could make it look like I wiped the snow with a mitten to expose the baseball. Considering that it replaced the December cover photo when I usually don’t remember to replace that photo for six or seven months I thought it would get more response. Oh well, I think it was a pretty creative idea and a good-looking cover photo.


Tomorrow is my half-birthday! At 7:45 AM I will be 47 ½ years old. I have never expected gifts or greetings or anything like that for my half-birthday. I think the half-birthday is a personal acknowledgment point and for me it also marks the point in the year where I start to round up the next age when someone asks how old I am. It won’t happen right away; if someone asks me how old I am on Thursday I won’t necessarily say I’m 48. But I’ll start the segue to 48. The funny thing is that yesterday I went in for my second steroid injection in my lower back and my hospital bracelet said I was 47.5 years old. When I noticed that after I got home I giggled and feigned an offended tone and told the bracelet I am NOT 47 ½ yet!

I really don’t buy myself presents for my half-birthday although this year it seems I may have accidentally done exactly that. What I mean is I’d purchased some “presents” that were originally scheduled to be delivered on the 29th. Now most of them, according to the shipping information I was emailed, has been delayed a day. I said I wasn’t going to talk about the weather so I have no idea what may have delayed the shipments but they’ll be here late. On the 30th my closer to 48 and 47 self will be expecting a box of coffee (Golden French Toast), my order from drugstore.com that includes citrus body wash so that’s kind of presenty, and my full spectrum light desk lamp. Light as bright as a sunny day will not only help me see better but also feel happier.

I am so looking forward to coming out of the shadows!

So there is my taste of Tuesday Nani. I hope everybody has a great, bright day and if you don’t I’ll let you know how the sunny lamp works.

I Love

Welcome to Day 14 of 30 Day Blog Challenge, hosted by Katie at So, Funny Story… Today is another photo day! I’ll try to be a little less photo than last time.

A picture you love.

I’ve got two; just two.

This is me and my brothers and sister that you saw on Sunday. Acting goofy by request of the photographer, my Mom which makes it double special.

This is David and me with Grandma and Tori. It’s at Spago Ristorante in Windsor, Ontario (Canada) celebrating my 39th birthday. David left work and came directly to Canada for my dinner. This was the night I gave up trying not to fall in love with him.  I put up a valiant fight. (Of course I wouldn’t have the guts to tell him know that for a few weeks,)

A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Happy Birthdays

I told ya I wasn’t going to get all 30 days of the 30 Day Blog Challenge. Yesterday was a pretty full day and the prompt was Share something you’re afraid of. I’d have just said, “spiders,” no photo because that would make me worse, do a ceiling check and hopefully see nothing (as I honestly do more often than I see something) and called it a blog.

So, today…

The prompt for the 30 Day Blog Challenge at So, Funny Story… is:

A recent photo you took.

I took his one during our weekender last month while we were waiting for a train. After David got me and my chair out on the sidewalk for a nice shot across a pond, he took a seat at the car. I just love this picture of him stress-free and enjoying his favorite hobby. 

Also it’s appropriate that David is the subject of honor today because it’s his birthday today!

Happy Birthday, Honey!

My Hamburger Bun Runeth Over

Mmmmm….

I feel like I’ve talked about Gevalia before but I looked over my last few blog entries and don’t see it. Maybe I told David or wrote it in my personal journal. Hmmm… My brain has been taxed lately. Anyway, I used to drink Gevalia coffee all the time! I got the beans and used it in my coffee maker that grinds the beans right into the filter. Good coffee and a great way to make it. At that time I was living at home, no car payment, immortal; as the average 20-something, so no medical bills and I was enjoying the benefits of my first job that paid more than minimum wage. I was making $5 an hour full time!

Please remember that a Mr. Goodbar was 15 cents when I was a child too.

Anyway, car payments and a travel bug a little later and I terminated my Gevalia deliveries when I had to start cutting costs. Well, Gevalia started making K-Cups and they offered a fee sample on their Facebook page. I’d forgotten just how wonderful that coffee is and the K-Cups, are comparable in price where at that time so long ago the beans and ground coffee was considerably more expensive than even Coffee Beanery coffee by the pound. So I’m blissfully back on the Gevalia!

Let’s see what Joyce at From This Side of The Pond is asking in today’s Hodge Podge, shall we?

1. This week's Hodgepodge is Volume 123. What's something you've done recently that was as easy as 1-2-3?

Using a scrapbook template. I usually do my pages from scratch or alter the heck out of a template when I use one, but this year the end of the month has meant that I’ve used some templates pretty much as is. Remember that in catching up since 2008, my rule for this year is I can only scrap the current month from any year. At the end of the month I do a few folders with templates. They still look good, but I don’t claim the layout as my original design for the page. I can do three or four pages in a day to close out the month that way, though!


2. The Wednesday Hodgepodge also happens to fall on the first day of May ...what is something you may do this month? 

I may be going for another MRI. Since I blew my out-of-pocket out of the water in January, the MRIs are essentially free (to me) for the rest of the year. Since my bills won’t be paid off until late next year, I want to get all of my testing done this year!


3. The Englishman Horace Walpole is credited as saying, "The world is a tragedy to those who feel, but a comedy to those who think" How do you see it?

A little of both, but mostly a comedy. It’s the thinker in me that remembers the serenity prayer; I change what I can, accept what I cannot and I don’t beat my head against a wall trying to change things I can’t.


4. May is National Hamburger Month...how often do you eat a burger? What are your must-haves when it comes to burgers? I assume you vegetarians won't be celebrating so tell us what you'd like instead? 

I eat burgers once or twice a week. Burgers are usually the next day dinner after spaghetti, which David and I both enjoy. I also now and then get a hamburger when we eat at McDonald’s while railfanning and I feel like a hot lunch rather than salad.

Must-haves are ketchup, mustard and relish or pickle and I require enough of them that the burger is more of a condiment flavor than actually something I can taste. Seriously, I like hamburger as a condiment, but I really don’t want to taste the meat.

Last time we were railfanning we stopped for lunch and I got a Quarter Pounder, no cheese and extra everything else. THAT was a Nani burger! The condiments we just dripping out of the bun and the pickles were stacked as thick as the burger. YUM! Okay, truth is I could probably have just had pickles, but then it wouldn’t be warm. :D


5. Pansies, petunias, geraniums, impatiens...of the four mentioned, which is your favorite in a patio pot? Will there be pots on your patio this spring? (Or whenever spring comes to your part of the globe?) Who does the gardening at your house?

I like them all, but I think pansies best. The gardening at our house gets done when someone who gardens visits.


6. When did you last (literally or figuratively) shout "Mayday, Mayday!"

I think last night. I woke up to :nature’s call” and I couldn’t prop myself up to sit up on the bed so I could stand. David got up to be my grab bar. That’s just one of my normal challenges, maybe it’s more one of David’s challenges.


7. Say farewell to your April in ten words or less.

I will always love you April, you bring baseball back!


8. Insert your own random thought here.

I’m going to see a movie today! Sheri’s on vacation this week and we’re going to go see 42. I’ve been hearing so much about the movie and seeing the ads during games, I’m kind of excited. Jackie Robison’s story is one of the most important things in the history of the sport I love so much. It was baseball, and given baseball’s place in America at that time, the country’s moment to wake up and grow closer to the rich society we can be if we shed backwards notions that any kind of unsubstantiated hate is okay. It makes me smile to think of all that we’ve gained every time we’ve become more equal and it makes me hungrier for all that we still have to gain.

And lunch at Friendly’s – They have ice cream!

And We Danced

Cluster created with I Love by Miss Edna and Suruha-Freespirit

Welcome to the first February A Chocolate Bouquet Blog-Hop. February’s topic is All Things Love! I promised yesterday that I’d turn back the clock to 2006 and tell you about how it came to be that I’m the arranger of the Valentine’s dinner with the story of our first Valentine’s Day dinner together.

For our first Valentine’s Day together I wanted to have a nice romantic dinner. I told David I’d cook and asked for the key so I could have dinner ready when he got home from work. I set the table and decorated with candles, scattered red heart doilies. I set my CD player up in the room to play the CD I’d made for dinner. I put the wine in the refrigerator to chill while I did the prep for dinner. We had Old Bookbinder’s lobster bisque and I made shrimp scampi. There was white wine and chocolate fondue for dessert. Yeah, it was sorta textbook romance which I’m usually not crazy about, but every now and then from the book is quite nice!

When David got in he brought a dozen roses! It was the first time anyone had ever given me roses and I just melted! We enjoyed dinner which I was so pleased turned out perfectly; I always have a little bit of trepidation when I cook seafood because it's so easy to overcook it. We enjoyed another glass of wine with dessert while we listened to the CD from dinner again and David asked me if he could play me a song. He got out the CD as I was clearing the plates from the table and told me it was his favorite love song. It was Your Own Special Way by Genesis and he came to me by the sink and asked if I’d ever heard it. I hadn’t and we listened and while we listened we began to dance in the kitchen.


I remember being overcome with emotion and in my mind saying “this will be the song we dance to at the wedding.” It was the first time ever that I'd truly thought about myself being married. I was definitely past the point of no return with this man.  Next week will be the 8th Valentine's Day dinner I've orchestrated for the two of us; the seafood becomes more succulent, the chocolate sweeter, the flowers more beautiful and the love even more real every year.  I wouldn't change it for anything!

Please join us at A Chocolate Bouquet with your post about love of any kind!

Happy Lunchtime!

Busy, Busy day today! That’s lunch. David laughed because I sent him a text yesterday asking him to pick up salad on the way home. We’d just opened a new bag on Wednesday, but after lunch. He asked if I “went all rabbit” on the salad. The truth is, and it’s been the truth for many years, baking makes me crave salad. Dough on my hands, pinch a taste to make sure the seasoning is right, taste the “test cookie” to make sure the taste is acceptable to be a Davinities treat, I baked 8 dozen cookies yesterday morning; my veggie crave was off the chart!

So now I’m relaxing with my crunchy veggies; celery, carrots, radishes and red bell pepper, protein: a sliced string cheese and Omega-3 fat; 6 Kalamata olives with lettuce shaken in 2 TBS Newman’s light Balsamic vinaigrette; a feast fit for January.

So, now I’ll tip my cap to Mrs. 4444 at Half Past Kissin' Time and thank her for hosting Friday Fragments! Here are the rest of my tid-bits:

**  So far I made the batter for the loaded loaves and have two small ones done. I’m waiting for them to cool so I can remove them from the pans to reuse. My new pans are the perfect size for gift trays. The ones last year were the entire gift. I like to give variety.


**  I’ll be finishing the Oreo Truffles before David gets in from work and the Pecan Pie Cookies will be after dinner. They don’t take an awful long time to bake..

Once you taste them you forget what they look like!

**  After considering the lines at the post office on a Saturday before Christmas, David and I decided to do our mail drop on Monday, his Sunday. We’ll still, I hope, have time to get the tree up.


**  I have the most awesome husband in the world!

I’m late in saying that, but I ate the last of the support material that goes with that declaration for breakfast.

David got these for me when he was combing grocery stores looking for my “solo uvetta” (only raisins) panettone before we left New Jersey Monday. He didn’t find only raisin panettone, but he found pumpkin cupcakes with Rudolph decorations! AWESOME!


**  I don’t care for the traditional panettone and Noni always had the only raisins bread for Mom and me. David found one that was just raisins and candied orange peel and I said I’d give it a try because the citron is what I didn’t like. Well, it turns out that what I always thought was the reason I didn't care for it, the same reason Mom didn’t like the traditional panettone, was not the reason I didn’t care for it. It’s the candied orange-peel. I tasted on piece off the top and didn’t cut it, so I’m taking it to Dad’s on Christmas Eve. I ordered a raisins-only one for me…at 4 times the cost of the one I didn’t like!


**  They discontinued offering the bracelet I had my eye on at Swag Bucks just before I got enough points for it. But they did start offering the one you see below. So I cashed in part of my Swag Bucks for it. I was wondering if they’d charge me for the shipping. They didn’t! Then I expected to see my bracelet sometime in January. It took a week before there was a package in my mailbox! Wow! It kinda makes me want to watch some more videos.

My Swag

Meet Me in Marietta Monday with a Mug

Oops… It’s PM not AM and I’m finally posting Monday. It’s been a busy day, lots of phone calls, errands and White Tornado stuff. I’m working on the kitchen right now. That’s the toughest one to have done because it’s one of the rooms we use all the time, but the pantry cupboards are becoming wild confusion for the places I can’t reach. So, I’m recruiting my tall hubby to help organize those cupboards to have the less everyday things out of reach and the total everyday things, like soup, closer. I’m ready for lots of “shorty” jokes!


When I went out this afternoon I swear it smelled like summer! In fact, the record for the warmest day in Toledo history for March 19 was 78 degrees in 1921. Today it was 79 degrees at 6:00 PM! I’m happy to say I’m again part of Toledo history, but sad too. This winter was so awful for my flowers! This is only their second spring and perennials need the cold and snow to “rest.” Just like people need sleep to be their best. The crocuses bloomed way too early after our practically snow-free and mostly too warm winter and they just weren’t pretty like last year, not robust at all. March isn’t even over and the crocuses are all gone.

Friday - March 16, 2012

(Notice the withered remains of a purple crocus?)

Last year I took photos of the very first blooms on March 28. My gorgeous purple stripe crocus and the daffodils were in bloom April 10 and the rest of the narcissus joined in after the crocuses were done April 22. The narcissuses are all bloomed after yesterday morning’s rain and they just look weak compared to the photos last year. This is web-published, so feel free to come back to it and link me up to myself if I complain next January, but I really hope it’s much colder with a lot, a real lot, more snow. They say that after the nuclear winter there will be robust growth and there were definitely beautiful flowers after Snowmageddon!

Okay, there’s my crying over spilled petals. There will be fewer flower scrapbooks pages this year and the photos won’t show as much of spring’s splendor. I’ll concentrate on the older daffodils that predate me living here. They are more established and are much stronger on short rest!

April 10, 2011

Meet Me On Monday

And now I join the bloggers who share with Heather at Acting Balanced for Meet Me On Monday...only mine is Meet Me On Monday Night!

1. How do you like your eggs?
I prefer Egg Beaters, omelet style or as the Quichettes I talked about Friday. Oh those are so yummy! When I do get the mood for a yolky regular egg, I like them over medium, better if they’re overdone than underdone if it’s in a restaurant.


2. Who is the last person you spoke to on the phone?

David. Even though it’s his Sunday, he’s been monitoring the temperature for work so they can report it.


3. Do you have a place you keep 'junk' in your home?

Yes, our home. *See White Tornado Project


4. What is on your 'spring cleaning' list?

See answer for #3.


5. What blog post have you written recently that you'd like more people to know about? (don't forget to link it up)

I’ve actually been pretty happy with the hits to my blog since I started blogging daily during the week. I’ve become a regular reader of more blogs too. I don’t always comment but I still read. Although right now I have a bookmarked file I need to catch up!

If there is a post I wish had more attention, it’s The Main Event, from January 2009. It’s not so much that it needs attention, but I’d love to share it with my newer blog friends. It’s the post where I revealed to my cyber coffee shop regulars that I’d eloped.




Monday Mug Shot

Marietta, Georgia

When I was bound and determined to end up in Atlanta, Marietta was where I hoped to live. The visitor’s center is the old train depot and freight trains still run past it when you visit. I got to see a Piggyback train th3e first time I was there with my Mom in 1989. It was double cool because the construction company I worked for at the time got shipments of upgrade lumber from Canada via piggyback; semi containers already on the trailer ready to go from the rail car and be attached to a waiting truck. Yes, that was a vacation, but I liked trains anyway and it was an opportunity to see the headache I wasn’t having at work; “Piggyback, and I don’t care where it’s going!” They are very cool cars to watch!

I stayed in Marietta when I went to Atlanta on my own in 1990. That was the trip where I sat with a Headline News writer at lunch and talked. His advice to me was to enroll at Specs Howard Broadcast School when I get home and come back. I took that advice and a year later I was back. John came with me that trip because I had an interview with a production company in Marietta that did train videos and he wanted a trip with lil sis because I was about to become a 12-hour drive away and he wouldn’t see me as often. We stayed in the same hotel I had in 1990.

On the day of my interview, I drove John to the bus lot. He was going to go to Six Flags since I wasn’t a big theme park fan and he was, and I’d drive back after my interview and shop at Underground Atlanta a little before we met and got dinner in the city before we took the bus back to my car.

I thought the interview went okay. It would be a dream job, videoing trains all over the country as an assistant producer for the small company. I also knew I was really inexperienced and the job was a bit over my head as my first interview after broadcast school. When John and I met back up downtown I was excited to tell him about how the interview went. He had enjoyed Six Flags and told me about th4 roller coasters he’d ridden. He was 32 years old and put him near roller coasters and the inner child just blossomed! Then he gave me a plaque, which hangs on the open wall in our closet area today. There was a booth where you could get personalized plaques done and he had my very unusual name in wood letters next to a carousel horse, which I had a modest collection of at the time. SO perfectly me. It was to hopefully be my congratulatory gift. John always had more faith in me that I had, but everyone needs friends that can lift you up that way.

I called the company on Friday, just before we were leaving. I didn’t not get the job. They had done some number crunching and decided that the new position for which I had interviewed was one they would have to put on hold. They gave very positive feedback about my interview and welcomed me to keep an eye out because when they did decide to hire it, they’d post in the same magazine I’d originally gotten their address from and welcomed me to apply for it. They could have not told me where they’d post it and not said to apply. I took it as a good interview. I got a week’s vacation with a dear friend and one more week in Marietta.

Sunday Sharing

We’re on break from the White Tornado now. David is helping me with some of the liftables that are more than I can handle and the David-specific stuff that I refuse to be the one who decides if it goes or stays. That and I want us both to know where his stuff goes!

David was at what I lovingly call a “grownups play date” yesterday, a model train operating session at a friend’s in Michigan, so he was gone all day. That gave me nothing but uninterrupted scrap time! I got the last three pages done for the major project I’ve been working on for over four years. Now starts the proofreading. That’s a David thing. He’s the pro and I’m, especially bad at seeing my own typos because I know what I meant to say and often, that’s what I see. Plus, I like having a second pair of eyes check out the layouts before I get them printed. Once the printing is done, it’s done. It’s just too expensive to do it twice. If David asks why I laid something out the way I did, or tells me it looks cluttered or not balanced, I can make adjustments. Still, editing is most to proofread my typos!

Part of scrapbooking, for me anyway, is that I often create templates of special elements in separate files to use in my layouts. Those separate file often end up being freebies. Since the project is a gift, I can’t show the page just yet, but I can show and share a word art I did for one of the pages.  This is a special book to me and sharing little pieces of my creative heart only make the whole project more special.  I’d like to share this word art with fellow digiscrappers and anyone who might enjoy the sentiment to enhance a photo or add to their blog!

Click preview to download at 4-Shared.


We had brunch around 11:30, so in lieu of lunch, for our afternoon break we had cake! I was inspired by a blog I read yesterday morning. I don’t really remember how I got there, but I think I followed links from Pinterest. Of all things, recipes are the greatest thing I get out of Pinterest. Well, that and an organized place I can keep my White Tornado links, but I have been inspired by so many wonderful recipes! So I found myself in the archives at GFE, Gluten Free Easily, and a few different gluten free versions of Mug Cakes. I never realized how many types of Mug Cake recipes there were! So, as I was looking at the vast variety of recipes, I started wondering if there was a Weight Watchers friendly version. I found a couple “healthier” recipes, but they all ended in a whole regular egg and 3 tablespoons of oil. I got out my little points calculator and came up with 10-15 points for one mug cake. No thanks. The oil was way too abundant for my mind for just a mug of cake. So, on to recipe building.

I analyzed a total of 7 recipes from different places boasting benefits for different reasons. There are some things you swap out and some things you don’t. I wanted a cake that was fluffier than the gluten free recipe and lower in oil than, well, lower in oil than any of them. I came up with a combination of ingredients that seemed like it should be good and the total was only 6 points! YAY!! But the big question after all that – does it taste good? Because what is it worth if it’s within my dietary guidelines but it tastes bad, right?


So I combined it, nuked it and WOW! Warm and tasty chocolate cake!

Ugly, but tasty!

My rule for posting a recipe that I put together is that I have to have all the accurate measurements, and I have to recreate the recipe with the same results at least twice after the measurements are finalizes. Well, with this one, I wrote and used the exact measurements the first time. I just remade the recipe, plus the regular sugar variation and even my finicky Hubby says he’ll eat it again!

So here’s my version of the 3-minute Mug Cake:

Nani-style Mug Cake

¼ cup almond flour
6 packets Splenda
1 TBS cocoa
½ tsp. baking powder
¼ c milk
¼ c egg substitute
1 tsp. vegetable oil

Mix all the ingredients in a coffee mug, microwave on high for 3 minutes.

Serve warm. It's not a pretty cake, but it's tasty!


(I made David’s substituting 2 tablespoons of sugar for the 6 packets of Splenda.)

Links

GFE - Gluten Free Easily

Blog Carry-Out Meals, Not So Filling

So I took a break because I was hungry, but you know how I am with breaks, I have to sometimes take a break from my break. That is once I tackle the stairs and get to the kitchen, I have to sit for a few before I actually make lunch. No problem there, that’s why my computer is set up on the table right by the entry to the kitchen. I can read a couple blogs and then move on to the kitchen when my legs are ready.

Well, I sat down and read Glo’s blog where she mentions Cream of Potato Soup. Then on Suzanne’s blog there is a recipe for drop biscuits (with photo!). Tummy was complaining that it was feeling what Eyes were looking at. Finally, I stopped at Joy’s blog where there was a vignette that had the most beautiful chocolate chip cookie in it! I’m telling you, Brain was full! Tummy, notsomuch.

I did read and download the last parts of this month’s scrapbook kit from Su’s blog and Edna’s blog. Edna was talking about her trials with Murphy. He and his laws are not among my favorites either. Edna, I hope your day’s gotten much better, because I think I picked up a cyber-hitchhiker at your place!


Yesterday afternoon, I took out a bowl of stuffed pepper soup from the freezer and put it on the counter to thaw for a few hours so it would finish thawing in the fridge overnight. If I just put it in the fridge without partial thawing it, it takes 2 days to thaw. So after my tummy finally convinced my brain it didn’t get all the stuff I looked at, I went in to get the soup out of the fridge to heat it up. But… There was no soup in the fridge!

I turned around and looked on the counter in horror. Did I forget to put it in the fridge? If it spent all night and half of today on the counter, surely it was spoiled. But there was no soup on the counter. Then I opened the freezer door.

David and I have an agreement about making each other stop and listen when it’s important. I talk a lot, so does he; I think it’s for room noise because if the TV is on, it’s often muted. No one takes any offense if the other isn’t listening unless the “this is important” is spoken. I never thought the “this is important” was necessary for a “while you’re going downstairs” request!

I asked, “While you’re going downstairs, can you take the 2 stuffed pepper soups out of the freezer in the kitchen and trade them for a minestrone from the deep freeze?”

He said, “Sure.”

Never trust that you were heard when the response is a one-worder.

When I opened up the freezer, all three stuffed pepper soups, including the one I’d put out to thaw, were in it. It seems all he actually got was “Put stuffed pepper soup in freezer.”

::sigh::

So now, the stuffed pepper soup is on the counter to partial thaw and be lunch tomorrow. I had Parmesan oatmeal (recipe idea from the web, very tasty) with some crunchy romaine and carrots as sides. It was good, Tummy was sated, but Taste buds had something different in mind!

I’m enjoying a cup of afternoon coffee, regular coffee with a tablespoon of brown sugar and freshly ground cinnamon. M-Mmm! (Completely within my 2-points for a drink limit)


I noticed last week, reading friends’ blogs, that the torch of Meet Me on Monday had been picked up again, YAY! Thank you to Acting Balanced for starting it back up!

This week's questions:
1. What is your favorite kind of soup?
2. What was the last movie you saw in a theater?
3. What is your least favorite TV program?
4. If you were to write a book about yourself, what would you name it?
5. What 3 places that are on your bucket list to visit?




1. What is your favorite kind of soup?

Just one? I love soup, I mean I really LOVE soup!

Both Noni and Mom could make stellar soup from scratch or leftovers, out of anything! I have that influence from both sides of my family and I’m so happy that I inherited that double whammy talent! I make no apologies for my pride in my own soups. The freezer currently holds 2-serving bowls of minestrone and stuffed pepper soup. I just finished my last bowl of fall harvest veggie soup a couple weeks ago. The next soup is going to be a milled roasted vegetable soup…unless some new inspiration strikes my fancy!

Restaurant soups, I love the Stuffed Pepper soup at Eat’n Park and Cheesy Tomato at Cracker Barrel.

Canned soups, NEVER Progrosso! I always doctor the canned soups up a little, but I don’t change the Campbell’s Harvest Orange Tomato! (I just always have it on hand for a quick meal!)


2. What was the last movie you saw in a theater?

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2.


3. What is your least favorite TV program?

I don’t watch a ton of TV, so I really only tune in when a program I like is on, it’s usually off otherwise. I will give that I’ve seen, because others like it, and HATE with an untold passion America’s Funniest Home Videos. I see nothing funny about people falling, failing or doing stupid things in front of or with kids.


4. If you were to write a book about yourself, what would you name it?

Um, The Chronicles of Nani. :)


5. What 3 places that is on your bucket list to visit?

I don’t do the Bucket List thing. I refuse to assign myself an expiration date! So, I’ll say that San Antonio, Texas and Hawaii, all of it. As for #3, the very first thing I’d put on my “bucket list” is immortality, so I have some time to think about it.

Links:

Glo Sews

The Coloradolady

A Vintage Green

Free Spirit

Miss Edna’s Place

Acting Balanced

Nani Is A Happy Little Princess!

I’m posting my first post of the day a little later than usual today. Pop was over this morning to see what could be done with our crashed bookcase. It took him about an hour to go from shattered pieces to shelving unit anchored to the wall! It took me the better part of the day in 2007 when I assembled the other identical bookcase and David constructs with words, not wood! Assembling a unit from a kit, even a unit that had splintered a few screw holes and taken a chunk out of the bottom of one shelf when it fell was very simple work for my Dad, who has worked in construction since the early 70s. He’s already said that he’ll come back when I get the rest of the kit-furniture. I’ll prepare a nice lunch spread to say “thanks!”

After Pop finished putting the shelves in and put away his tools in his car, we had minestrone. I was both anxious and a little nervous about Pop tasting my first try at minestrone. I thought it was good, just a few tweaks away from great, soup is my specialty, but the opinion of the senior minestrone maker in the family was the true test. He liked it! He really liked it!

After lunch he wanted to make sure he had the directions to Sofo, MY Italian market, so he could stop before he went home. I enjoy the fact that both Pop and my brother feel the desire to stop at MY ethnic store when they visit. I have the edge there!  Sofo is a truly awesome place for Italian groceries!

So far, the popcorn popper is the only thing on a shelf, since that was the tallest appliance and it was used to place the first shelf. After a couple of serious moving, bending, lifting and stretching days upstairs, I promised myself, and David, especially David, that I was going to relax today. Just like working out, rip, then heal to build muscles, I rip then heal to restore strength.

Happy Chocolate Day!

Today is Chocolate Day!  Chocolate Day is celebrated on the third day of Valentines Week. So I think I’ll eat my rose tonight.

David has been bringing home little gifts when he finds ones that just scream me. At this time of year, there are lots of those! At the end of January, he brought me a Dove rose. I know the rose is 3 Weight Watchers points. I figured it out right away, but I haven’t been able to bring myself to opening it. It’s so pretty and so sweet and romantic and once I eat it, it’s gone! I think official Chocolate Day is a good day to finally open it. There WILL be more chocolate, likely even more chocolate from David!

The past couple of nights we’ve had another treat he brought me.

He knows me well! That little black forest cake was the perfect size for us to share for dessert for two nights.


Last thing I’ll share for now is a vintage thing for Vintage Thingie Thursday!

I have three peach-tone glass dessert plates from Grandma’s. You don’t really see the peachiness until there are a few stacked together, but they ARE peachy!

I confess that it was a set of four, but I lost one to a knock off the counter that also claimed one of my dollar-store glass plates. Obviously the peach dish was a bigger heartbreak!

I don’t know exactly how old these ones are. What I do know is I hadn’t seen them before we found them in the back of the cabinets that had many other old dishes. I spent a lot of time at Grandma’s house and did a lot of foodie things with her. So, I’m fairly sure they pre-date me! I do know they are pretty and totally match my peach and green kitchen future!

See more Vintage Thingies at Suzanne’s blog, The Coloradolady, every Thursday!

Links

Chocolate Day

Sofo Market

The Coloradolady

Monday Mug Shot

Uncle John’s Pancake House

Toledo, Ohio

This week’s mug shot is not a nostalgic trip down memory lane, at least not yet, someday it will be. This is my newest mug!

Yesterday David and I went out to breakfast, which we do on occasion, even when we’re at home. He had a couple of coupons for a free breakfast, with the purchase of a drink, at Uncle John’s pancake House, so we decided to give it a try. It was a little farther a drive than we usually go for breakfast, but not really any farther than we do when we are j the mood for IHOP and with coupons for 2 free breakfasts, the price was nice!

It was fantastic! The restaurant was pretty full, but we were still seated quickly (although there was a wait by the time we left) Our waitress was at our table pretty soon after seating, but not at all too quick, we didn't feel rushed to sit down. I was impressed with the coffee service. There is a color code to differentiate between regular and decaf so the staff with coffee for refills, which seem to be everywhere and constant, can know without asking which to refill. And your coffee cup only goes empty if you insist.

I had a Greek omelet with pancakes as the side instead of toast or hash browns. Two things were at play there for me. First, how can you go to a pancake house for the first time and not at least try the pancakes? Second, and this is the important part, I couldn’t decide between an omelet and pancakes when we left home and seeing the menu didn’t make it any easier! The Greek omelet, which I had made with Egg Beaters was super fluffy with asparagus and feta and I t was SO good. I’m going to try that at home, but I’m not sure what the secret is to making it that fluffy! I was planning on having one pancake and taking the other two home, but David was hankering for a little more and… well, we didn’t take any pancakes home. The pancakes are light, fluffy and everything a pancake house pancake should be. YUM!

After finishing breakfast, David went to pay the coffee bill and get change for a tip. When he came back to the table he had a bag. I asked what was in the bag and he told me he wasn’t telling. I asked, a little surprised, if it was a half-birthday present. I never expect gifts for birthdays and especially not half birthdays, but he told me I could think of it as that. When we were leaving, we passed a display case full of coffee mugs. I didn’t even mention wanting one because I kinda figured out what was in the bag!

A great sign of love is to acknowledge someone’s passions, no matter how trivial the trinket seems. It was a wonderful morning.

Oh Noooo!

Busy…Busy…Bus—STOP!

I was truly in crisis mode. As it turned out I couldn’t even move the box with the bookshelf, much less assemble it. It got heavier in the five years it sat in storage! So, David took over the assembly today after breakfast. He got the support base or one side done and was ready to attach the other side when *SNAP* *BOOM* The side he was assembling slid and cracked two of the base levels on the other side and one of the shelves. I jumped, as much as I can jump. Nothing fell on him, it just fell on itself.

He released some expletives at it in his boomy voice. Scrap wood. That’s what he called it. He wants no more assemble-it-yourself stuff.

“But it’s more expensive,” I protested.

“And better quality,” he countered.

I couldn’t deny that. I remembered the comparison between the black lacquer entertainment center and the assemble-it-yourself bookcase I bought and put together in my old living room. The entertainment center was FURNITURE. The bookshelves were someplace to put books. So I looked at the selections online for a local store of a chain furniture stores.

Wowsers! I selected and added up the cost of all of the items I was planning to get from IKEA, minus the kitchen cart, which I may get getting from Amazon. The total is THREE TIMES the total at IKEA with the kitchen cart!

Then was crisis time. The gloom was setting in. I was looking at my major project and my dream for an organized and accessible home stop dead in its tracks. There is no way I can even dream of affording all good furniture and it’s not necessary to have “good” furniture. I don’t care about “House Beautiful,” I just want “Home Comfortable.” The price assembly obstacles meant that the “woman cave,” or craft room if you prefer, would be towers of cardboard boxes and I’d still need new cardboard boxes.

Oh gloom. Oh despair.

Then the phone rings, Pop’s ring. Pop asked how things were and I told him “great except we had a bookshelf collapse in assembly and it’s broken.”

You see, David and I are both professional people by trade and training. Pop is the former king of his construction empire. I didn’t think he’d have time to help with all that assembly and honestly, it’s so far beneath his skills and now the first part was broken.

I explained what happened; he said he could probably fix it. He’s going to give me a call this week when he gets his work schedule for next week and come down to fix and put together the bookcase on his day off. He also said he’ll come down and help assemble the other furniture when we get it. We’re going to “leave it to the retired professionals.”

I told Pop that when he comes over to fix the bookcase, I’ll pull out a container of my minestrone from the freezer and we can have it for lunch so he can try my minestrone. I could hear the smile in his voice. Smile from me too. I want an honest critique of it! I’ll go to Panera the day before and get a baguette to go with it. We don’t live together anymore and I’m a married lady now, but my Pop is still looking out for his Little Princess!

In the mean time, annex stops for a week and a half and I start the boxes in the eventual woman cave tomorrow!


Breakfast at Uncle John’s Pancake House was wonderful this morning! I’ll tell more about it tomorrow because, YAY, I got a new mug!

Now, after a late lunch, it’s scrapping time, then comes a late dinner. Ah, weekends!