Gratitude List for the week from Christmas Day to New Year's Eve, 2022

 

Let's fill this post with a week of gratitude!

Sunday, December 25th, 2022

Today I am thankful for Christmas and everything that it represents:  the hope of peace, even where there doesn't seem to be a lot of it in the world at large.  May we make extra efforts to love one another in its glow, and continue this throughout the year to come!

Monday, December 26:  This morning I am grateful for the quiet and the memories to savor.  The greatest gift was the ability to be together, with people healthy again and the worst of the week's weather behind us.  24 degrees Fahrenheit felt warm by comparison.

Tuesday, December 27:  Today I am thankful for memories of my brother, and the inspiration he continues to provide me to keep at the healthy living initiatives.  For all that he left this plane too soon, I don't think he would have changed how he lived his life, which as he always said, "is good".

Wednesday, December 28: Today I am thankful for a fresh new day.  I am thankful that the temperature will top the freezing point for the second day in a row.  

Thursday, December 29:  Today I am thankful for books!  Amazing repositories of knowledge, wisdom, and fancy!

Friday, December 30:  Today I am thankful for the warmer weather this week, that made it possible to walk outdoors several times.

Saturday, December 31: Today I am thankful for sunshine and an unplanned last day of the year.

We'll start a fresh new list tomorrow, on New Year's Day, 2023!  

Happy New Year's Eve Day

 

Remember the photo of The Prisoner in the middle bin?  Friday's trip to the recycle center emptied out the newsprint that attracted him to it, leaving my recycle stack all cleared out.

Friday was a busy day in general.  I did laundry, took those recyclables to the center, and dashed to the grocery to get essentials:  skim milk, berries, bananas, and cucumber and tomatoes for my salads.

I had promised myself an outdoor walk, since the temperatures were going to be mild, and with the sun shining at 3 p.m. I went out and soaked up some vitamin D encouragement!

 

On tap for New Year's Eve Day?  Well, the classic last pebble into the tactile pebble jar calendar, of course.  I will reset it on New Year's Day, and over the course of the two days will probably pack Christmas decor away for another year. 

That should clear the decks for the 2023 goals.  In preparation for setting goals for 2023, I went back to see what I wrote about 2022, and WELL!  Here's the link to last New Year's Eve blog, in case anybody wants to join me on memory lane.  I followed up by reviewing subsequent days since at the end I said I would save resolutions for a later blog... only... I got sick in January, 2022, and never wrote any!  

I did write some pre-resolution thoughts in that New Year's Eve blog, having to do with things under one's control and things beyond one's control.  I notice that at least one of them is something I want to turn into a 2023 goal, since it did not happen in 2022.  Part of the reason it didn't happen had to do with shifting priorities:  the fence and the air conditioner took precedence over any other house projects, and then I was out of budget.  But I could have done better with de-stuffing the house.

It also introduced the humorous phrase introduced by the voice to text translator:  "New Year's restaurant lotions".  Does anybody else remember how hard we laughed over that one?

So what are my aims for 2023?

• Get back to reading more!  I used to be such a reader!  I have kinda-sorta started a bit more this year, but what's missing is "reading for fun".  I want to do more of that in 2023.

• Last year I talked about getting back to de-stuffing the house, and then... it just didn't happen.  I'm hoping to do a little better with that in 2023!

• I'm going to add one that I thought of this morning, based on a few recent life happenings:  get back in touch with some friends I haven't been good about contacting on a regular basis.  

That's about it for me!  I do intend to keep on keeping on with nutrition and activity, but at this point in my life it's not a resolution kind of thing, it's just how to live life, committing to caring for the body that's been entrusted to me for this lifetime.

Here's hoping that you all will enter this new year with the sense of hope and commitment to health:  mental, physical, emotional, spiritual.

Life is good!  Spark on.

🔥✨💖🎉  Happy New Year!

Two days left in 2022

 

Last thing I had before starting my fast Thursday

I like to have a little bit of sweet during my eating window.  And I still have LOTS of Christmas leftovers, so I'm doling them out, one or two items a day.  Wednesday it was pizzelles, Thursday, Spritz cookies.

Thursday was a fairly relaxed day.  I did have my workout with the trainer.  Home for a shower.  It was sunny and 45℉ at 2 p.m. so I headed out for a walk.  By the time I got back it had clouded over, and remained gray for the remainder of the day.

Still working at the leftovers sent home with me from Christmas dinner, too.  It's kind of similar to the loaves and fishes, seems like I eat some of it, but there's always more.  Hanukkah miracle, anyone?

Friday morning has arrived with fog, but not with snow.  The hourly forecast seems to think we're going to be in the 40's again, so an afternoon walk outside is something to look forward to.

On Thursday, while checking Facebook, it presented me with a memory photo, from my retirement "party".  I didn't want a lot of fuss, and neither did Dick, whose last day was the same as my own... so they gave us a joint cake and small gather in a conference room.

I looked at that photo and thought, "dang I look thin and fit..." and then "I wonder what I weighed then?"  Fortunately for my curious mind, I have one of those scales that talks to the internet, so I have online records going back to September, 2013, when I bought the scale.  So I can look up December 29, 2017 and see that the morning that photo was taken, my weight was 136, only about 10 pounds less than it is today.  

Now keep in mind that 136 was about 20 pounds over my fastest running weight.  I can also review that at the beginning of 2017 I was at my all-time lowest adult weight, and I remember being worried at the time that it was TOO low, and working to gain weight over the beginning of 2017.  This illustrates the history I have with obsession over the management of my body weight.  Currently, working on just letting my body be and do it's own thing, with the goal of health, not weight!

This time of year, many are thinking of goals and aims for the "New Year" whether we make resolutions or not.  We also think of retrospectives on the current year, and what we'd like to be different in the next one.  

So here's the weight graph retrospective from the last 365 days:

That steep drop?  Is the time since Halloween, when I began the intermittent fasting experiment.  

Now, this graph seems deceptive to me.  The total pounds from bottom to top is about 20.  What I see in it is some "out of control" pattern, roughly maintaining about 10 pounds above where I am now.  So that steep drop represents, 1. Getting back to that maintenance point, and 2. Dropping about ten more pounds.

So, no, for myself and anyone who might worry about me, I am not developing an eating disorder, starving myself, or "losing too fast."

I have now entered what I consider "the sweet spot" of the process, where I'm fairly happy with my eating, and with my levels of activity (although goals of increasing activity dance in my head).  What happens at this point?  You just keep living your life, listening to your body, and letting that precious body (we only get issued one) determine its optimal state.  Health is more than physical:  it is emotional, it is spiritual, it is mental.  And to a certain degree, it is social!

This is long enough for a blog for today.  Tomorrow being New Year's Eve, I will wrap up with what I aim for in 2023!  If this has made others think and do their own consideration of what's right for them, for their own aims, I am glad!

Life is good.  Spark on!
🔥✨🎉💖

Countdown to the New Year

 

I want to be recycled, too.

Three days left in 2022!

The Prisoner was late celebrating Boxing Day.  But this time I got his photo in the act!

Wednesday afternoon it was a balmy 45℉.  The snow was melting, sidewalks were wet, not icy.  Kid sis Ace and I went for a walk through my neighborhood after she got off work.

We played catch-up on family news, as we do, and we had a couple of weeks to catch up, since LAST Wednesday it was just too blasted cold and windy to walk outdoors.  I'm grateful for every time we get a good walk in during the Winter months.

I made progress on two of my reading projects on Wednesday, too.  I'm now in the chapter about the sense of sight in An Immense World. The creature that fascinated me most in today's reading was the scallop.  For those of you who didn't grow up at the shore, and were not exposed to the Shell Oil symbol, these are the sea-creatures with the scalloped shell (funny how the shape is named after them).

The scallop, says the book, has eyes, inside the shell, at the edges.  These eyes can detect light and motion, and the scallop, alerted by these eyes (from a dozen to thirty or more, depending on the scallop), extends little tentacles to smell whatever it was that alerted it.

The senses of the scallop are used for feeding and identifying predators from which it needs to flee, by swimming away, opening and closing its shell. My imagination went off on that one, imagining the shell looking like an eyelid, closing to shut the eyes and opening to see if the threat was evaded.

The other book I made progress on was Fast. Feast. Repeat.  Very interesting read, simplified for those who don't want to delve quite as deeply into the science underlying the concept, but to at least be exposed to some of the studies that have been done.  I'm not going to gush too much about it, as this is one of those things you just have to be ready for.  

I know there are some fellow Spark refugees who got there long before I did!  I remember JEANKNEE when she discovered research on leptin (related).  I remember WATERMELLEN blogging about her journey to intuitive eating, which had similar roots.  And I remember Becky (KALIGIRL) when she was researching anti-inflammatory diets to help her husband (who unfortunately has since passed).  

As each of them found peace in this new way of relating to food, I just wasn't ready.  I wasn't ready to give up my "it's about calories, only" mindset.  I wasn't ready to give up my sugar-free alternatives that were still sweeteners.  And what I was then doing was working for me, so... I kept on doing it until I didn't.

But now I seem to be ready for this approach.  Not so much for the weight management, for the feeling healthier part.

Onward to Thursday!  I have my trainer appointment, and the weatherman is offering the hope of a little bit of snow, but also possibly freezing drizzle.  I myself am hoping it arrives late enough for me to have gone and come home, with Dexter safe in his garage.

Here's wishing all of you a good week "between", this time of assessment of the old year, and planning for the new one to come!

Life is good.  Spark on!

🔥🔥✨✨💖💖🎉🎉🥳🥳

The end game

 2022 is coming to a close

What kind of a year was it for you?  A good number of "happy" kinds of things happened this year.  My son getting engaged.  A week-long visit from the grand-dog.  A new fence.  The air conditioner being replaced (OK, maybe not "happy", but a bit mixed).

Were there challenges?  Sure!  

I have an overall positive sense of "taking charge" over my own destiny.  The intermittent fasting is doing its job from the perspective of feeling better on a daily basis.  I can feel myself normalizing, if you get that general idea.

Is there still an infinite to-do list?  Oh, yeah!

2023 is ahead... 

That means there are things to look forward to... a wedding in April, followed by another week-long visit from the grand-dog, for starters.  Which is great motivation for staying in shape.  Grandma has to be able to keep that 75 pounds of muscle in line.

Also on the looking forward to list:  cataract assessment and possibly surgery.  Timing on that could be "interesting".  Which reminds me, I only have a couple of weeks to get my "Boston Suggestion list" ready for my dentist (her husband got in to the Marathon!)

I have floated the idea in my mind of returning to an in-person run, like a 5K... but... dancing at the edges of my mind is the Havelock Charity run, in early June, and it's a 10K.  I haven't even started any form of interval training yet... could I possibly be ready for that one?

Dreams!

Reading: an online chat with Lacey led me to discover there is a newer Dragonriders of Pern novel, this one written by Anne McCaffrey's daughter Gigi.  I kind of like that her children are writing in her world, now that she's gone.  It's a writing family.  Anyway, it came out in 2019, and I had been paying attention to other things.  So I ordered it.  It should arrive in time for the New Year.

Besides that one, I still have to finish An Immense World, Fast. Feast. Repeat., and White Rage.  All non-fiction.  And I'm not much of a non-fiction reader, but I've taken them on, so trying to make myself "work" on them.  I'll make Dragon's Code my reward reading!

What about habits?  I'm going to try to watch/listen to less TV.  Reading is better for me!  Maybe listen to more music, that's good for the brain, too!

And the house?  Time to resume the de-stuffing project!  Somehow, I've been retired five years now, and while I started out well with the house, the pandemic put the skids on it, and I've not had a proper re-start.

A fresh new year turns us in the direction of goals, dreams and desires to move forward with our lives!

Your turn:

What are your dreams and desires for 2023?  Anything big looming in your near future?  Something to look forward to?  A project to work on a day at a time?

Let's do it!

Life is good!  It's better when we share.  Spark on!

Boxing Day as it was

 Boxing Day

Here we have Boxing Day's breakfast, eaten at lunch time, made up of leftover Christmas dinner.  It was delicious.  

I barely fasted the 16 hours, then kept a very short eating window (for me) starting my next fast at 3:38 p.m.  My "other" meal was chili soup. I still have at least one meal left in that pot I made on the 16th.

I had a treat for my "supper" dessert: a single chocolate covered cherry.  Which brings me to another Christmas day memory... I gave chocolate cherries to the other humans, and Jonathan (the mythical son) got a second box from someone else!  So that family tradition was fulfilled.

The other family tradition candy from my son's childhood is a dark chocolate orange.  I had found one at Target, and it went to their house.  Since I arrived early, and this was classically unwrapped (from Santa for stocking filling), the son immediately ferreted it away, rather than breaking it open for the "pickins".  Later he opened another package and it was a different kind of chocolate orange... I shall have to ask him how he liked that one.  The chocolate cherries are from my childhood.  The chocolate orange from his dad's.  He gets them both!

The only photo I have of any of the contents of the Shop Blind box is of the Guide Dog that came home with me.  I took it today, of "Guider" laid out on my bed.

Extremely soft!  Very tactile.  Guider has her name embossed in her ear in braille, and her paws are weighted.  Pip, the guide dog that went home with Lacey's dad is white, with a blue superhero cape.  Pip is similarly super-soft and has those weighted paws.

After reading Jeanne's blog on National Thank You Card Day, I was inspired to go write a couple, and I took a little walk outside to put them in the neighborhood mailbox.  I'm not sure if the USPS is delivering today or not, so I didn't want to put them in my box with the flag up.  And it felt so much nicer than it's been for a while.  The sun was out.  Yay!

Moving on to Tuesday

I have declare December 27th to be "404 Day", in honor of Kevin, my brother.  404 was the number on the racing bib my brother wore on the last day of his life.  December 27th was his birthday.  He was always a good sport, and running for the toy charity in December, he would wear antlers.

Today, being Tuesday, I went to work out with the trainer.  I always feel better when I do that. 

 The leftovers from Christmas dinner are not done yet.  I chopped the remaining brussels sprouts that had not gone to the Christmas gather and roasted them to go with the mac and cheese and the ham that I had for my "big meal of the day" (lunch time).  

I feel VERY well fed, and there's still another day or two worth of ham in that care package. 

There are enough desserts to last maybe a couple of weeks.  Today I dug to the bottom of this cute little box for a couple of chocolate dipped potato chips and one chocolate peanut cluster as my meal-ender.  I'm saving the pizzelles for a special treat.

Then I started my fast at 2 p.m. with my mug of biocoffee as the last item consumed.  It's how I close my eating window just about every day.

Today Lacey's mom sent me a photo of the comforter that she got from the Shop Blind box atop her couch.  Looks like they picked the right colors for her!

Once again, Life is Good!  Keep on sparkin'!

🔥✨💖

Insurance test, then off I went!

 

The brussels sprouts were already in the oven when it dawned on me that according to the Osterholm protocol, I should take a Covid test.  So, I did.  It was, as expected, negative.

I was Grandpa Ken style early, starting in time to deal with potentially bad streets.  Grandpa Ken always used to leave enough time to change a flat tire on the way!

First to arrive, I got out to take pictures of the yard decorations.  Lacey had received a new one for her birthday on the 21st, it's the most darling chicken!

I don't know if Lacey has named her yet, but the hen hasn't yet joined the party of animals roasting marshmallows in the front yard.  She's off guarding the driveway on her own.

I texted the that I was early, but Carl had pre-announced my arrival!  

Before too long, he also announced the other grandparents, and we settled into the first of three noshing sessions... this one called "Pickin's" by the bride-to-be's family.

We settled in to wait for the ham to finish baking and unwrapped a few gifts in the interim.  The reason for starting became clear when the mythical son unwrapped a meat thermometer, which was then put to immediate use.

Dinner (the second noshing) was an overload of ham and cheese, including a classic mac and cheese, which was perfect.  I took no photos, but should have! 

After dinner, we settled in to watch Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol, while waiting for digestion to settle.

And we opened gifts.

There was a theme in the gifts to and from Carl, who gave his hu-mom a hand-warming phone charger to facilitate longer stays at the dog-park.  Carl got a Light Hound vest from his Grandma (me) so he will never get lost in the dark!

Some of the packages, Carl clearly knew what was in them before they were opened, no matter who was unwrapping them and no matter if they were intended for him or not.

Carl kept a close eye whenever the ham was being carved.  He did get his share, of course, but he was always looking for fresh opportunities!

I was allowed "ONE photo mom" of Yukon Cornelius in his new hat! 

For those of you who were wondering what was in the Shop Blind box... there was a warm comforter, which went to Lacey's mom.  There was a tote bag (large) that went to Lacey.  Two "guide dogs" the softest stuffed animals one can imagine, went to her Dad, and one came home with me.  The mythical son got a total of three hats, one of which came in the Shop Blind box.  Again, I neglected to take photos!

Among the favorite gifts given out were a family outing to Robber's Cave sometime in the future (when it gets warmer), and a "donation in your name" to the Food Bank.  Considering how much we had available to eat, VERY appropriate.

For the third noshing session, we have dessert.  Doesn't it look perfect?  It was dismantled around 7 p.m.

While we were noshing, and watching, and unwrapping, and swapping stories, and all that goes with a family holiday, the weather decided to gift us with some sleet.  But the good news is it was still a good deal warmer than it had been.  24℉ when I started to pack up to go home.

I had to scrape my windshield, but the streets were not bad.  The arterials were just fine, the side streets what I would call "winter normal".  I got home before 9 p.m.

Boxing Day morning I put on my new extra warm holiday socks.  Tradition!

I am sending wishes that all of you had good days, a good eighth night if you do Hannukah, Christmas is you do that, Kwanzaa (today) if that's your thing, and mostly whatever you celebrate or don't, that you are balancing your priorities, to give you the best life possible!

Life is good!  Spark on! 🎄💖✨

Merry Christmas to all!

Merry Christmas to all! 

The last step of the Olive-filled cheese puffs... baking them at 450℉ (hot oven), for 10 minutes.

Cool on a rack, and try to avoid snarfing them until time for the gathering!

Christmas morning is for the kids, and since the kids who inhabit my house are the furry kind, he acted in the form of my kid sis Alicia, who brought them a present that's been sitting under the tree for a while.

This morning we opened it, and The Prisoner was immediately interested.  It dances, it dangles, it tempts.

The streamers catch in the claws.  Oh, this bird will be easy to dispatch.  Mommy will have to put it up when they are unsupervised!

Rubia played with the new toy, too, before Mommy hid it on top of the refrigerator.

I'm sipping Earl Grey tea, with Christmas movies in the background.  I'll get up and move some before taking on the last task for Christmas dinner:  roasting brussels sprouts.  I made these last year, and wasn't sure how well they went over, but then I was presented with the specific request from Lacey's mom to do them again.

A little later I will pack up the car with the packages "to go".  I have decided that I can't decide who gets what from the "Shop Blind" from 2 Blind Brothers... so I'm going to ask the gathered loved ones to make the choice of who gets what from this particular "Santa".  I'll let you know what they decided in tomorrow's blog!

Feeling at peace, praying for the world, that the promise of the season will touch hearts and minds, and give us the resolve to make things a little better, day by day, in the corners of the world where we live.  Kindness, always.

Loving thoughts for a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah (eighth night tonight), and joy for every other holiday that falls in this season.  May we take the best care of ourselves that we can, so that we can also take care for others!

Life is good.  Spark on!

🎄✨💖

Gratitude List for week December 18 - 24, 2022

 

A fresh new post for daily gratitude, the last week to Christmas.

December 18:  Today I am grateful that my son is still symptom free and negative, as of yesterday's Covid-19 at home test.  It looks as though the small Christmas Day get-together is tentatively "on".  

December 19:  Today I am grateful that we have a dusting of snow.  We really do need the moisture, even that little bit.  The weatherman is predicting more for later in the week, too.  Maybe that will "make up for" the frigid temperatures he's also saying we'll get?

December 20:  Today I am grateful for weather forecasts and warnings, that enable us to be prepared when we go out or wise enough to stay in!  Stay safe and warm out there, my friends!

December 21:  Didn't get it updated on the day itself, but I was grateful for the young woman who was celebrating her mid-Winter birthday on December 21.  My son's fiancé is such a blessing to have in my life, and I hope she got enough of a celebration in before the storm blew into town.

December 22:  Today I am thankful that my home has heat and power, and I don't have to go anywhere.  I can stay inside.  I would not even have to open the door at all because cats have litter boxes!

December 23:  Today I am thankful that even when things are not "perfect" they are not truly "emergencies".  My regular blog will have plumbing adventures in it, but my pipes are not frozen and my furnace works!  There are many people who have REAL emergencies out there in this cold weather.  I'm glad that my problems are small by comparison!

December 24:  Today I am thankful that the worst of this particular cold spell is behind us here!  I am thankful that the faucet is getting me by and that good heavens, I *do* know how to wash dishes by hand!

A fresh new post will be coming tomorrow for Daily Gratitude the week starting with Christmas Day!

Christmas Eve Day - Cookie baking day!

 

But first a message from the kitchen sink.  As reported yesterday, I could not get hot water to come forth from this faucet.  All the other faucets in the house, yes, hot water worked just fine.

And cold water worked just fine, even from this one.  But it kept trickling, did not stop.  Got a good suggestion from OJ that at least stopped the audio drip-drip-drip Chinese torture style.  I also followed all the "your pipes could have ice crystals blocking" advice.  Doors to the cupboards below opened, hair dryer applied, etc.

But in the end, I washed dishes by hand, and overnight, the trickle slowed down, and this morning I removed the plastic wrap drainer from it, and I'm NOT going to mess with it!  

OK, that's what I told myself, but I later did check it out.  Cold works better than yesterday.  Hot is still "iffy".  So I really am leaving the "hot" side alone. 

Today is the day to make the Oatmeal Scotchies (son's favorite cookie), and bake the French Vanilla Wafers to be taken to the Christmas gather across town on Sunday (Christmas Day).

I must admit I am getting REALLY confused about what day of the week it is, between the storm, the holiday, and of course, being retired!

Picture story of the oatmeal scotchies

Old fashioned oats

Butter, one stick lightly salted, one unsalted

Flour, soda, salt and cinnamon

And the star of the endeavor

Sugars, brown and white

Of course there are also two large eggs, vanilla and the zest of an orange, but the pictured ingredients, I measured out ahead while I waited for that butter to soften.  I covered them with plastic wrap against the curiosity of cats, who for some reason don't want to go outside today (after their experiences the past couple of days).

Cream butter, eggs, sugars, vanilla, orange
zest

Add flour mixture,
then oats and chips

Drop by tablespoons.
Bake at 375 for 9 minutes

Cool on rack

Frosty will "eat" the rejects

Leaving the good ones to go to Son's house

I took a break at that point for breakfast and to wash dishes (still washing by hand).  After breakfast, I sliced and baked the vanilla wafers.  The dough had been in the freezer and then thawing in the fridge for two days.

French Vanilla Wafers

As with the oatmeal scotchies,
Frosty gets the excess

OK, I've done enough... and nibbled enough, too!  Tomorrow we bake the cheese puffs (also retrieved from the freezer) and broil the brussels sprouts before heading over for Christmas Dinner. 

Saturday was a virtual heat wave compared to Thursday and Friday.  It got up to 14 above, F, and the wind chill was only minus 1 F.  I started up Dexter, just to make sure he's ready to tomorrow's outing, and we even meandered over the the grocery store, because I was out of, you guessed it, bananas and blueberries. 

Here's wishing all a fine Christmas Eve, doing what means most to YOU this year.  It's been a rough weather holiday week, after two Covid-heavy Christmases.  It's important to cherish and nurture that inner light of Christmas, every year, but especially in the "tough" ones.  I am thankful that it looks as though we'll have an in-person gather, because the path of the storm hit us earlier than it is doing the East Coast.

Life is good.  Spark on!

🎄𝄞♩♪𝅘𝅥𝅘𝅥𝅮𝅘𝅥𝅰𝆔👼✨💖

Christmas Eve Eve Day, i.e. two days to go!

 

Later in the afternoon on Thursday, I did brave the high temperature of the day (-7℉, as it turned out) to clear the small amount of snow off the sidewalks and part of the driveway.  I did this in three sessions, about ten minutes each, in the 3 p.m., 4 p.m., and 5 p.m. hours.

When my face would start to feel the effects, I would pack that session in and came back to hot tea or hot water.

Tomorrow we should get a heat wave, by comparison, and rise about the zero mark on the Fahrenheit scale.

Thursday evening, I joined Alicia's family for candle-lighting for Hanukkah's 5th night, and their gift exchange.  Her daughter had tested negative for the first time since having tested positive for Covid-19 last weekend.  That's something to celebrate.  

Unfortunately, her husband who was also feeling lousy the whole time tested positive for Covid-19 for the first time, after having tested negative all week.  He was actually feeling better, fever had broken, by the time the test came back positive!  

One step back, two steps forward, anyone?  There's that whole isolation / quarantine thing going on.  The candle lighting and gift exchange was celebrated via Zoom.  It was good to see everyone and hear voices.  The worst of all this?  My niece's sense of taste is off, making her enjoyment of holiday treats not so great. 😞

Friday morning, wouldn't you know it, something would go wrong at my own house?  I came downstairs and turned on the kitchen faucet on the "hot" side.  Drips.  Turned it to cold, works fine, but then it won't turn off!  It keeps trickling on the cold side.  I left a voice mail for the trusty plumbing/heating company. Waited for a call-back.  My budget will be... well whatever it has to be!  

Considering the weather, though?  I can live with this semi-emergency if I have to, until such time as they can schedule me a plumber.  Adventure time!  Anyone remember my adventures at "Summer camp" when the water softener broke?  I lived for a week without being able to flush a toilet!

They called back after 8 and could try to get me a certified plumber today.  But it was going to cost me an emergency call charge of $$$, plus whatever repairs the plumber had to perform.  I went back and forth for a bit about it.  After thinking about it, I am declaring a "winter camp" adventure.  This adventure will include washing dishes by hand and heating the water to do so in my trusty tea kettle.

There are people with worse problems than mine, who need that plumber more than I do.  I'll end up paying a bit more to the water company for that running water, but... folks are dripping the faucets to keep their pipes from freezing, and if they have burst pipes?  They need help!

Adventures or no, Life is Good!  Be well, and Spark on!

🔥🕯🎄✨💖

Four, then three days 'til Christmas

 Wednesday, a day in waiting

Waiting for the storm, I could see the cats getting a bit on the antsy side.  A cat fight on the dining room table is not something I like to see.

I scolded Rubia for messing with the tree, and she was watching me with caution ears pricked.

Wednesday was a gray and dreary looking day.  Cold, spitting a few flakes now and then.  All day long it was waiting for the predicted storm to start.

I ended up like a bump on a log for a couple of hours, in front of schmaltzy movies on the TV.  As happens in times of anxiety with not so great food choices available, I dipped into Frosty the Demented Snowman cookie jar, and I made grilled cheese sandwiches (2).  Tasted wonderful, but more than I need for the day.  I decided the best thing to do was to close the eating window early.  I brushed my teeth and carried on.

The mythical son had a work thing, out of town, and called me around 3 p.m. as he was on his way home.  That broke the spell of "bump on a log" and I started stirring around the house, folding and putting away laundry and starting the dishes to wash.  Sometimes you just need something to jog your elbow.

I tucked myself under the covers while Zelenskyy was addressing Congress.  Honestly, thinking of the people in Ukraine losing power while my own part of this country is under siege from Mother Nature?  Yeah.  Makes his speech even more powerful.  

Thursday, the coldest day of 2022 (I think... might January have had worse?)

Harking back to the Zelenskyy speech:  How would I survive without power, in a Winter like this?  It was -11℉ out there, with a predicted high of -4℉.  For those of you who speak Celsius, that's -23.9℃ at nine a.m., headed for a high of -20℃.  Add 20 mile an hour sustained winds with gusts up to 35, and I am not going to even look at the wind chill factors.

I know if we played "can you top this" many of you could laugh at my temperatures.  I also know that there were times in the not so distant past when I went running outdoors at -10℉.  Don't care to repeat that today.  Stay inside, my friends.  Those of you in Arizona and Florida?  Don't rub it in!

I slept in Thursday morning, until 5:30 or so.  Considering that I turned in early, and even counting the wake-ups that the watch detects, Fitbit clocks my sleep at nearly 9 hours.  In my opinion, this is a good way to spend time on a cold day!

I resisted at first, but did eventually cave to The Prisoner's demands to be let outside.  I did not want to open the door at all, because of course that lets the cold inside until the furnace catches up.  He was smart enough, within five minutes, to respond to my calls to come back inside.  Cats!

Due to Wednesday's emotional eating I found (unsurprisingly) that I was not at all hungry when I got up.  I decided to defer eating until the body truly sent physical hunger signals.  That took until 10 a.m. and I was credited with a 20.5 hour fast by the little app.  I broke the fast with something a whole lot healthier than Christmas cookies!

Here's breakfast cooking, just after I added the egg beaters to the sauteed veggies.  It was ever so yummy!  I followed it up with my coconut mocha coffee.  

Fully satisfied, I decided to finish wrapping the last few presents for Sunday's Christmas gather.

A little later, I moved the cookie dough and the olive cheese balls down from the freezer to the refrigerator.  I figure that gives them two days to thaw before baking.

I'm waiting for the temperature to moderate a bit before I make even an attempt at clearing.  You can see that the wind has already been moving it around, though.

Can't tell it from prior year shots?  Not surprising, this is the pattern the wind around here paints with the snow on my steps!.

Here's the funny one:  the frost invaded the door jamb.  This photo is from the inside of the door!  Yes, like a freezer in need of defrosting!

Bottom line, I'm about as ready as can be, just waiting on time and weather!

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a warm and healthy few days leading up thereto!

You're worth taking care of, every day!

Life is good.

Spark on!

🎄🔥💖