It's an Infusion Day - Oh Joy *NOT*

Today is, as usual, a busy day. I start by driving out to the ends of the metro world for my semi-annual infusion. I absolutely hate these shots, but they're holding my bones together, keeping them from turning into Swiss cheese or dust. So I will do what I always do - I'll persevere. 

My bones are crap - always have been. They're getting worse, 
though. Just taking a daily pill was no longer working, so I've 
been switched over to infusions every six months. Today is 
that lucky day *sigh*. 

Today will also be a "find the right frame" day. I have those two artworks and I want to get them into frames ASAP. I'm hoping I can find some that already have UV conservation glass, but if not, I can cut some to fit at the shop. I laid the pieces out for Chickie yesterday and she's totally in love with them too. Said her Mom would love to have "Dawn". Although I would love to give it to Claire - she's been such a support over the past few months - I just can't afford to ignore the close to $200 each picture will fetch after being framed appropriately. So no ... they'll be at the shop and sold to someone who will also fall in love with them. 

I wish I could spend the time to give you a much 
better idea of the true colors here. The dark is purple, 
the light is more beige, and the painting itself has 
a lot more mid-pinks in it than evident. Of course, 
the mats aren't taped either, this was just a quick 
photo for my reference. 

I'll have to do a minimal grocery shopping trip also, but if I don't, I'll probably be OK until next week. I still have a watermelon on my counter that needs cutting up. We won't starve - LOL. 

I already cut up the honeydew, but still have a watermelon 
on my kitchen counter that needs to be cut up. I do love 
my summer fruits. 

Not much to say today, just focused on what I need to accomplish over today. All things considered, it's not bad to be focused every now and again. Have an excellent Friday and Slava Ukraini. I'll be back tomorrow to wrap up the week. 

Braces, Alarms and Mulberries - A Busy Weekend and Week Ahead

I have my next-to-last orthodontic appointment early this morning before work. If all goes according to plan, my next appointment will be my last one. If all goes ideally, it will happen before the State Fair and I'll be able to truly enjoy my time with Sharon at the Fair and at Fest. We'll see - it's really all up to Doc DeVoe, but I've got no complaints at all. He's done a stellar job and I'm absolutely thrilled. 

Dr DeVoe really is this young (well, maybe a few years 
older than this photo - but not by much). But he's 
extremely good at what he does, has a huge customer 
base, and does excellent work. I think I absolutely 
chose the right orthodontist for my teeth straightening. 

My alarm company contacted me early Sunday morning about a call-back that wasn't answering properly. I will be contacting them again, and getting them out to double-check the system on Wednesday or Friday (Friday would be the better day). It's usually just something simple like a back-up battery that needs to be upgraded. But we'll see. 

Our alarm company has gone through a couple of different 
owners and name changes over the decades. Currently we're 
covered by Securitas Electronic Security. Whoever it is, as 
long as they monitor well and can keep our systems operational, 
I'm just fine with it. 

DH and I spent most of Sunday working in the yard. He mowed everything - it's a huge job. I cleaned - swept the patio completely and pulled all of the weeds from the steps that lead from the lower yard to the upper one. One of the things DH was doing was clearing overhanging branches from the public walk in front of the house. One of those trees is a mulberry tree, and it was filled with fruit. How fabulous! I hadn't even been aware that we had a mulberry tree, but the ripe fruit is really sweet. I harvested what I could from the branches he had removed, and he showed me where we have three others in the back yard. One of those is also full of fruit, and I think I can manage to get to many of those branches, so that's a task for Wednesday. 

They're not large, and I'm sure the birds absolutely adore 
them, but so do I! These are the ripe mulberries that I 
pulled off the branches DH removed from the public 
pathway. They're now washed and in my refrigerator. 
I'll try to harvest from the one other tree I can reach later 
this week. Yummy! 

So, all in all, it was a lovely weekend. The weather cooperated, DH's moods were good for a change, and there were no arguments about food choices, etc. I'll consider that a win. I hope your weekend was excellent and that your Monday won't be too dreary. Have a good one, and I'll be back tomorrow. Slava Ukraini. 

Yesterday Was a Catch-up Day - People Near and Far

Yesterday was a day of catching up with people, dashing here and there. Add in some cooking and it was a delightful day. The sun was shining, the roads were perfectly clear, (there's no snow to be found except small remnants on the outskirts of larger parking lots where the plow scree is slowly melting down). I needed some tea, and the brand that I prefer isn't available (except for four flavors) from my local grocer. So, I started out by driving North to the next suburb and a different grocery store for tea. Which I found and purchased from a woman who looked familiar. 

I love the herbal teas from Republic of Tea. Since I 
don't do caffeine, I check my teas quite carefully, and 
they have several that are favorites, so it was time 
to go to a different grocery store with a larger selection. 

Apparently she also thought I was familiar. It took a moment or two, but we recognized each other at the same time. "Gwen!" I said, smiling broadly. "Hey, S, it's really good to see you again," she said at almost the same time. She used to cashier at my local grocery store, and was my standard fall-back cashier if Polly wasn't on her station. She left because my store wanted to cut her hours and she needed them, so she left to find a different employer. It was really good to see her, and I carried her "Miss You!" wishes back to my local grocery store a bit later in the morning. 

IBS can be caused by many things, but in the case of Ruthie's 
son (and my own older cousin), it's genetic. It results in some 
serious pain, lots of food restrictions, many surgeries, a plethora 
of different medications, and often ostomy surgeries. But it kills. 
It's what killed my cousin, and Ruthie's son has spent most 
of this year in the hospital so far. It's NOT good. 

After getting my tea, I dropped by the office supply company which shares a shopping center with my grocery store. I had ordered a cartridge for the store printer, but had forgotten to pick it up the previous night on my way home. My favorite cashier, Ruth, was on duty here too (she's an old customer who adores our stuff - mostly our jewelry. A real sweetheart, whose son has been extremely ill). I quickly gave her a hug and asked about how her son was doing - which isn't good, unfortunately. Any kind thoughts you could spare for Ruthie's son would be appreciated. He has a chronic health condition, and just spent more than two weeks in the hospital. Unfortunately, although he recovered enough to go home (for a while), he lost his job while hospitalized, so he's quite depressed on top of feeling like crap. He has IBS, which is what killed my cousin several years ago, and his prognosis isn't good. 

I originally was going to get my usual pears and apples 
for baking, but I'm actually in good shape for baked 
fruit right now, and a pineapple and two star fruits 
were calling my name. Living on the "wild side", I 
bought those instead. I'll be having some star fruit 
with my toast for breakfast today. The photo is one of 
the two new heavy-duty baking pans that I just got in 
from Amazon. No more warping sheet pans in my 
oven! Huzzah! LOL

Finally getting to my grocery store, I quickly got what I needed for my "Ogre Juice", but was tempted by a few fruits. The pineapples looked lovely, so I indulged in one, and I also bought two Star Fruits. I've never eaten star fruit before, but looking it up on my phone quite quickly, it seems easy enough. Wash well, cut the top and bottom off and throw away, then slice thinly to eat.  I'll have some with my toast this morning and see how they taste. They've always interested me. I cut the pineapple into small pieces and put them into my dehydrator. After 13 hours, the smaller pieces are perfectly dried, but I need a bit longer on the larger pieces, so I've reset the dehydrator for another six hours. That'll be done before I get home from the shop today and I can add the bigger pieces into the container where I've put the smaller ones. 

In the All Star Game later that night, Connor McDavid of the 
Edmonton Oilers absolutely destroyed everyone else in the 
skills competition, ending up winning the check for One 
Million Dollars! Huzzah! It was a beautiful thing to watch, and 
hotly contested. 

Although the weather is fabulous, it's still cool, and being bald, I wear a hat. I was wearing my "Canada" hat yesterday (it's time for the All Star break for hockey and we were going to watch the skate and shoot later that night). When my favorite produce guy saw me he immediately started singing the Canadian national anthem, and I, of course, joined in with him. What hockey fan doesn't know both the US and the Canadian anthems, after all - LOL? A bright note to my morning, to be sure. So it was an excellent day, all things considered, and I'm ready to dive in to the new one. Have a wonderful Saturday and weekend, and I'll be back on Monday. Slava Ukraini and חיים למען ישראל.

Wednesday Was a Busy Day

I was so busy yesterday, I didn't even have a chance to watch or even listen to Le Tour de France!!! I did get a lot done, though. I made a second batch of baked peaches. This time I decided to parboil and peel them, and it turned out OK, but I won't waste my time doing that again. I think it actually turned out better when I didn't peel the peaches. But I have six portions in the refrigerator now, ready for my lunches. I also cooked two batches of gluten-free brownies. It's one of my go-to night snacks, and I was down to two portions left, so it was time to get restocked. 

Pamelas's Gluten Free Brownies is one 
of two brands I buy for my brownie mixes. 
I like this one because it only uses a single 
egg, and it's fork-mixed. The other brand 
I sometimes use requires two eggs and the 
use of my stand mixer. 

Today it's a work day, and I'm sure I will find my desk full of "to-do" notes and tasks. I'll worry about what I'm supposed to do with X Y and Z when I get there. I've got some swim time first, and that'll be fun. We've been cool for our nights lately, it's a bit warmer today (in the low 60's F, 17.2 C), but the previous two days were in the 50's (12.7) and it was a COLD walk into and out of the pool area. I'm quite grateful that we're warming up again. It's summer. It's supposed to be a warm season. 

I actually think I posted the incorrect stage map for 
yesterday's stage, and I apologize. Today it's an up 
and down day as they head for three days in the Alps 
starting tomorrow. I do love the Alps - BIG mountains, 
small bicycles, and totally used-up men on machines. LOL

I did take a bit of time to work on my beadwork project yesterday afternoon. I looked at the small stack of "deal with these things" that DH had left in the middle of the study floor. I then looked at my loom and the clock which said I had approximately an hour of "free time" left in my day, and I piled the stack of stuff into a box to be handled on Friday, grabbed my loom and beading materials, and sat on the porch for a little bit. That was quite pleasant, and I did manage to get two more pieces done. It's slow, but steady progress and I'm hoping to get some more done on Friday AFTER I've actually gone through the box of stuff which is currently under my laundry collection basket. That's tomorrow, though. One day at a time. 

Tuscan canteloupe has these sections in the rind. 
You want to choose one that has more gold than 
green in the section dividers. The more gold it 
is, the more ripe it is. 

We're in the height of fruit season here, and I adore fruit, so I also bought a Tuscan cantelope and some organic apricots yesterday. That was in addition to the peaches that I baked. My house has a lot of fruit in it right now. It's not great for my weight - fruit is sugar, after all - but my tongue is happy. Sometimes that's equally important - LOL. 

I went to my co-op yesterday - I hadn't been there for a 
while and needed one thing I buy there. While there, I 
picked up a few organic apricots. SOOOO good! I also 
noticed they had my collagen on sale, so I picked up a large 
container of that, plus a $3 off coupon, AND it was the 
second Wednesday of the month, which gave me an additional 
10% off on the price of supplements. I scored a $54 jar for 
less than $40! Whoot! 

So, have a fabulous Thursday and I'll be back tomorrow. I hope your day is filled with good experiences when you look back over the day before you go to sleep tonight. Enjoy and Slava Ukraini. 

Fruit, Grain, Laundry and an Hourglass - My Thoughts Are All Over the Place

Fall is apple season, and I have a nice assortment of them in my refrigerator. It's my usual breakfast in the Fall - a nice crisp apple, followed by my computer work, and then followed by something else to eat an hour or two later. For the most recent couple of weeks, it's been followed by grain-free bagels with non-dairy 'butter' spread and non-dairy cream cheese (made with almond milk instead of dairy). On top of the spread, I put fruit spread or raw honey. Actually, quite a delightful breakfast. 

I've been eating Soozy's Grain-Free 
Bagels lately. They're not bad, They're 
not as good as a regular bagel, but 
they're not cardboard either. Add 
'schmeer' and some sweet, and 
they're pretty decent. 

Chickie is off today so DH has to work. He managed OK yesterday, although he spent most of the day huddled over his desk in the back. I, on the other hand, spent the entire day dealing with laundry. I washed the mattress pad and put it into the dryer (it took almost four hours for the dryer to get it dry enough to allow me to replace it onto the mattress). I also washed the sheets. I finally got the bed remade around 5:00 pm - it was an all-day effort. 

I do love my Drumi. There are just some things 
I don't want to put into the washer, even on a 
delicate cycle. The Drumi is great for my sweaters 
and fine knitwear, as well as those items labelled 
for hand-washing only. 

In addition, I used my Drumi to hand-wash my three sets of cold weather leggings and my sweater dress. The problem with the Drumi is always getting the water extracted from the wet clothing. It never gets quite as dry as I would like. Sometimes I'll pop things into the washer for a spin, but I didn't this time. The leggings were hung up and dry by dinner time. The sweater dress went onto a sweater frame for a few hours, then I transferred it to the treadmill, draping it over the front panel and the controls. It was finally 99% dry this morning, so I hung it into the closet, ready to be worn again. 

While looking for a good hourglass photo, 
I came across this magnetic hourglass on 
Amazon. It's actually quite nice, but in the 
description, it said it took between 30-60 
seconds to drain down. So ... it's probably 
the most inaccurate hourglass in the world 
if it has a differential of 100%! That makes 
it a ridiculous toy. 

So yesterday was a bit of a loss in a lot of ways. I didn't do anything except laundry. Today I have to try a few experiments with the scoring blade on my paper cutter. Time to figure out how it works best, and the progression of the interior panels that I want for this year's cards. I also need to get the placement of the front cover elements nailed so that I can start working on those next week. 

Summer Heat and Summer Fruit - They Just Go Together

When I went to sleep it was 90 F degrees, when I awakened, it was mid-70's F. It's only June 7th, and we've got temps that belong to July. We're expected to stay in the heat for most of this week, so we're going to be watering the tomatoes and strawberries like crazy - they might enjoy sunshine and heat, but their soil will dry out way too soon if we don't keep an eye on things. 

I have a fenced plot with five strawberry plants in it that
have successfully wintered over for the past three years.
DH also planted strawberries in a strawberry pot as
well as four hanging pots we have on a wrought-iron
stand on the patio. Those get dried out much faster
since they're in the full sun and the pots aren't large. 

The one good thing about going to work is the air conditioning, which actually works pretty well for the shop. We try to keep things comfortable for our customers, and of course we get the benefit of that. A total win/win - LOL. 

Heat waves always make me think about air conditioners 
for the home. Our central air has been toast for decades, 
and although we've looked into window units, we don't 
want the bother. We also don't want to snake an 
exhaust pipe through an open window, so portable units 
also won't work. We make do with fans, and usually those 
are sufficient. 

A group of fellow WildFit graduates and I are getting together beginning today and doing a "WildFit Reset" challenge. We're starting with a re-do of Week 5 (Fall) and then diving into six weeks of Spring. It all kicks off today. Since Fall is heavy on fruit, I indulged in buying fruit at the grocer yesterday - apricots, pluots, a couple of apples, mixed berries and peaches. I'm looking forward to my breakfasts for a change - I've really missed fruit. It might only be for a week, but it's going to be glorious while it lasts - LOL. 

Today's breakfast was two pluots and one apricot. 
So good! Haven't heard of a pluot before? A pluot 
is a mix between plums and apricots. Very 
tasty. 

If you're wondering, these are NOT GMO fruits. They 
cross-pollinate naturally and over several different 
varieties. Want to watch out and stay away from 
GMO fruits? Stay away from papaya and zucchini then. 
Those two are often genetically modified. 

Of course, doing this reset also required a new set of measurements and photos - not really something to look forward to on a Monday morning. But I got most of the measurements done last night, and finished them up this morning, gritted my teeth, and did my photos as well. My body has improved over the past four months, but I still have a ways to go before I'll be totally happy. So I'm doing this reset with my Tribe. It's just what I needed to get back into the groove of Living WildFit. 

WildFit has a Fourteen Day Reset plan available which is 
often used, but our sub-group decided to do a more 
in-dept reset plan with a six-week program. Today was 
the first day of this new program for WildFit graduates. 

And so, if I don't melt away from the heat before tomorrow, I'll be back with another installment in How the Heat Waves. Of course, despite the heat or your own challenges, please continue to be kind and stay safe. Have an excellent Monday. 

We're Moving Into Spring and A Rolled Rib Roast

I had been thinking we have been in Fall (Autumn) in the WildFit program up to this point, and I was correct. I made an assumption that we would move into Winter with the upcoming week, but I was mistaken. I love how they can throw unexpected curves at us, but I'm actually pretty pleased. Instead of the bleakness and survival aspects of  Winter, we're actually moving into Spring. It's still going to reduce a lot of what we had been eating, because things are only starting to regrow in Spring, but it's going to be a LOT better than Winter would have been. 

It's really hard to determine what would be 
appropriate foods for the season since 
today's grocery stores get produce from 
throughout the world all year around. 
I'm quite sure that foods in Florida in 
Spring would have been far different 
than foods in Minnesota at the same 
time of year. 

Actually, the explanation for why no Winter was interesting. Winter was a time of great hardship - not many growing plants, so not much to harvest and not much for animals to eat either, so getting meat was also constricted. Winter was a time of starvation, and could be used as a time of fasting under the program, but we're not doing those yet (if at all). He has mentioned fasts and intermittent fasts before, but won't actually discuss them in any detail until later in the program. Nonetheless, as we enter Week 6 of 13 on Monday, I'll have to eliminate all of the fruit I have in the house. I just bought a new bag of Peelz Mandarin oranges on Wednesday. I guess I'll have to use quite a few of them in a fruit smoothie or two. With my almond milk and some other veggie additions, it should actually be pretty tasty and will allow me to eliminate the oranges from my house by Sunday night. 

I just picked up a five-pound bag of 
Peelz Mandarin oranges on Wednesday. 
I guess I'll have to make them into some 
smoothies for the next couple of days to 
get them eaten before Monday. 

We're also switching to a non-fruit version of our veggie smoothies for the next few weeks. I have four smoothies with fruit already made up, so I'll be drinking two on Saturday, one today and one Sunday. That will allow me to make non-fruit versions for the next few days on Sunday. There's something wonderful about feeding all of these veggies into my Ninja blender and letting it roar. It's awesome at taking all these components and making something I love to drink from it. 

I love my Ninja blender. I've been using it several 
times a week and really pushing it's ability to 
make liquids from solids. I've been very impressed 
with the motor, and when I make liquids to the 
very top of the capacity, I get enough for four 
days of smoothies. 

DH had given me a mandate on Wednesday. To present him with a menu for Sunday that might, maybe, return some of the now-nonexistent joy back to his Sundays. He's REALLY unhappy about my nutrition program, apparently thinks it's ruining his life. His bad mood is certainly ruining MY life. But, I told him Beef with garlic roasted green beans and honey roasted carrots. He decided on a rolled rib roast (basically, a prime rib without the bones). I'll be shopping today and will see what the butcher has to offer. I'd prefer to buy the prime rib, have the butcher cut the bones off, then package the bones with the rolled rib roast so that I can have them supporting the meat while cooking. But I'll see what's available. 

I've always done Prime Ribs before, not without the bones. 
This will be a new experiment, but I'm looking forward 
to roasting it and to eating it. 

So, on that note, I'm out of here. I've got a Zoom call this afternoon and lots of things to do for the rest of the day. My "extra" day off hasn't been an open span of time yet! Have an excellent day and I'll be back tomorrow. As always, please be kind, stay safe and wear your mask. 

Dragon Fruit - I wasn't Let Down By the Dragon

I started my day out with some fruit, a usual start with my nutrition program, and I indulged in a type I've never had before - yellow dragon fruit. It was really delicious - very sweet with a little crunch because of the seeds scattered throughout the meat. I'll definitely get another one of these. I'm impressed and want more. 

Dragon fruit comes in three different varieties, yellow 
and two types of red. I had a yellow for my breakfast 
today, apparently the sweetest of the three. It was 
delicious and I'd get it again. Want to know more about 
this fruit? Follow the LINK to an informative short 
description of each of the three varieties. 

I have a mango almost ripe and ready to cut up, and I'll look for more fun fruit when I go back to the store tomorrow. I still have plenty of grapes, blueberries, bananas, oranges, apples and pears, but I'm loving the fact that I'm looking for new flavors and varieties. I love fruit, so having it first thing in the morning isn't a burden to me at all. 

I love mango, it's a firm and tasty fruit. I bought 
some already cut up from my store, as well as 
a whole one which will be ready to cut up 
tomorrow. It's a lovely fruit and a treat to eat. 

I was banished to the bedroom last night to watch my baking show on the upstairs TV while DH worked on his computer in the computer room with the other TV. I grabbed Voodoo and got some work done while waiting for my show to come on. I'm really happy with how Voodoo is working out. I'm using it every day and it's performing like a champ in almost every instance. There are a few exceptions I'll have to chase down - I'm sure it's a setting that's causing the glitch and I have to find it and change it. Still, Voodoo is proving to have been an excellent decision all-around, and I'm quite happy with it. 

This isn't far off from DH when he's crabby. He won't 
listen to anything you say and he's throwing a fit, 
walking away in mid-sentence. Just like a five-year-old. 
I guess I expected more of someone I've spent almost 
45 years with. Just sayin'......

DH is still not talking to me. It's been since late Friday, when I first texted him I had been chosen for the vaccine lottery and was scheduled to get my Covid vaccination on Sunday afternoon. I have no idea why he's not talking to me, but as long as he stays out of my way, I suppose I can live with sharing his air while he gets over his latest BS temper tantrum. I gotta tell you, though. This is NOT what I signed up for when I married him more than 40 years ago. He's like a five-year-old and it's tiring, exhausting and exasperating. 

Oh well, enough bitching. Bitching really doesn't accomplish much of anything. I'll wrap this up and wish all of you a wonderful day. Please be kind, stay safe and wear your mask. I'll be back tomorrow.