Happy New Year's Eve again

 

December 30th Pebble Jar

I used this photo in the blog I posted Saturday, too.  One pebble day left in 2023!  The center jar about to topple over into the overflow dish.  Christmas decor has not yet been taken down and put away.

Blog of last year's resolutions/plans/goals.

The link is just for those who feel the need to find the source document.  Last year's resolutions were:

• Read at least 12 books.
• Re-start the de-stuffing process on the house.
• Get in touch with old friends I hadn't seen in a while.

The only one I consider an unqualified success is the first.  The de-stuffing?  I did get rid of a few things but I really did not re-start the process or re-do any rooms.  The get in touch with old friends:  I made a couple of weak efforts but "life gets in the way".  Between a couple of illnesses, a couple of weeks of dog-sitting, the cataract surgery... I kind of ran out of social steam.

So, what do I want for 2024 goals?

• Read 15 books.  Get myself in person to a library and get my library card renewed (it expired during the pandemic).  And start enjoying the kind of books that I remember!
• Archeological dig of the papers in the house.  It's been getting away from me, and it's time I prioritized it again.  
• Make use of the "broth bombs" I got for Christmas, creative cooking of soups.  Seems like a great way to get through the winter and combine a healthier eating regimen with it.

I'm tempted to try the classic Alicia challenge of 1 mile outdoors every day in January.  I did sign up for the food tracking challenge for January on Cronometer.  I don't consider either of those "resolutions".  At this point they may just be "wishes".

December 31st, 2023

It's time to rebuild the Pebble Jar setup!

As I tried to carefully place the last pebble into the central jar on New Year's Eve day, it caused the predictable chain cascade as not one, but three pebbles fell into the "catch" pot.  Only they didn't... they bounced off the side board onto the floor, and one of them I had a devil of a time finding.  It had bounced all the way out of the room to land on the carpet in the parlor!

Then I had to go find the "leap pebble".  I have one blue pebble that I add to the green ones to represent leap day.  February little jar is blue.

All ready for 2024.

Deeming myself to be socially spent, I waved off going to the New Year's Eve supper at the Chinese restaurant with the Pandemic Five.  I just need a couple of down days to rub together.

Life is good.

Spark on!

404 day and beyond!

 

On Wednesday my facebook memories came up with my post from a year ago, when I declared December 27th as "404 day".  This is a nod to my brothers last racing bib number, from the day he passed on.

I had forgotten that I'd done that last year, but there's Facebook reminding me!

This would have been his 68th birthday.  He passed in July of 2019, about three and a half years ago.

The photo of the day is the corner by my house, under the streetlights, pre-dawn.  So much for "sleeping in" as I suggested yesterday.  Looks kind of slick, doesn't it?  I'm grateful to my sister's friend Jerry doing the kitty care!

My younger sis, Alicia, had the day off work, so we were able to pick the time to walk, and we picked the warmer part of it, when it was mostly wet and slushy, as opposed to icy, but there were some spots.  We avoided the park, and stayed pretty much with cleared off sidewalks.

Thursday, December 28

Last trainer workout of the year!  After I weather wimped on Tuesday this felt good.  

Other than that, I was lazy, reading an e-book.  It's science fiction-y, with multiple parallel universes, but with some murder mystery mixed in.  Title:  Infinite.  Author: Brian Freeman.  I'm not quite halfway through and enthralled.

Friday, December 29

A totally lazy day... finished the e-book.  And a satisfying ending.  Through the dark parts and out into the light again.

Saturday, December 30, 2023

All week, it's been slowly dawning on me that a year is coming to a close.  You can't miss it if you turn on a news program, of course.  But we all cast these things into our own lives, too.

I look back on 2023 and notice a few trends:

More social activity.  Between a wedding and various family gathers, and then the socializing around family health, added to my workout outings with the trainer or walks with my sister... the social activity has risen.  I've even been out to restaurants a couple of times, and got my hair cut two or three times, and went to the symphony once and to that jazz Christmas concert.  

Health costs, though:  between trying to keep myself healthy for the "big" events and succumbing to RSV at least once, and something respiratory that lasted "too long" but I never got tested (other than "not covid").  I managed to keep myself well for the wedding, and get well in time that the cataract surgery happened on schedule.  But I ended up having to reschedule or cancel other things, due to illness.

I set myself a goal to read 12 books in 2023, and I barely made it.  I am considering how I might alter my habits in 2024 to increase that.  I am letting the idea of goals percolate in my mind as the between the holidays week spins out.

Life is good.

Keep Sparking!

Christmas followup

Christmas afternoon, the start on the clearing of walks.  Heavy, wet snow.

Boxing day noonish... melting and slush-shoveling.  I waved off the workout on Boxing Day morning, thinking it would be a hard enough workout clearing.

We had light snow flurries off and on all Boxing Day.  The ambient temperature was almost up to freezing, but that was enough to cause some melting.

I'd been putting off picking up the prescriptions that had been "auto-refilled" for a couple of days just to give myself some breathing room, but it gave me a chance to try out the roads.  The little "slippery" light on the dashboard went off on the uphill around the corner on the way to the pharmacy, but that's what those safety features are for.

Now that all the sisters have opened their holiday gifts, I can reveal the design:

I swear we all have cupboards full of mugs, but what you see here is the cartoonish version of the five of us.  Alicia squealed (text-squealed, that is) when she discovered she was the one with hair!  Dottie laughed over Alicia's mop, too, noting that the other three sisters were all in short gray hair, and Kevin had his bald head and angel wings.

Not to be outdone, I received a mug with heart-strings attached, too.  

The new Carl mug held my Christmas breakfast coffee, to go with leftover treats from the Christmas eve gather.

Christmas would not be complete without a new book.  

My daughter in law picked this one out for me.

It's a goodie, too.  A short, fast read, written by a researcher and animal lover.

Late Boxing Day afternoon, I called my sister's friend Jerry, as my sis is staying in Kansas an extra day.  I wanted to see if his phone got fixed.  It did!

I figure the roads are clear enough I could go do kitty care tomorrow morning, but he seemed to want to carry on, so I let him, and that means I could even sleep in on my Wednesday morning if I so desire.

Life is good.

Spark on!

Cranberry curd tart recipe

 By special request by MamieAllie, the link is here.  The tart my daughter in law makes.

Fair warning, it's an even bigger production than my olive filled baked cheese puffs.  Definitely a special occasion treat!  I hope you can access the link.  It includes a further link to a video showing the process, as well as of course the step by step instructions.

It involves roasting hazelnuts, and using rice flour for the gluten-free crust, and starting the curd from fresh cranberries.  I believe that is orange zest and a couple of whole cranberries for the center garnish, although that's not shown in the linked recipe.

And I will personally vouch for the layered sweet/tart flavors!  Yum!

Life is good.  Keep on Sparking!

Saturday was baking day, this year

 

This was Saturday.  All loaded up to blend, the pre-dough for the baked olive cheese puffs.  The hardest bit done, the kneading and thumb-pressing, etc. followed.

Those cheese balls were foil-wrapped and put into the freezer overnight, but that's not a requirement of the recipe, just a timing thing.  

On Saturday afternoon I got the text message from my sister as she pulled out to head for her daughter's home in Kansas.  As of that time, I would have said we had been very lucky with driving conditions for our holiday season this year.

The oatmeal scotchies were cooling, to be packed up for the Christmas eve gather.

Sunday morning the cheese puffs were popped into the oven and baked.  In between baking the cheese puffs and roasting the brussels sprouts I headed over to medicate and feed my sister's cats.The cheese balls, once baked were also packed up to go to the gather.

The Christmas Eve day gather was wonderful.  Other people brought goodies, too.

Classic sugary treats, home-made and wonderful from my daughter in law and her mom.  They do a lot of cooperative baking.

Something has become a family tradition in a short two years: My daughter in law's cranberry tart for dessert, after the turkey.

Between the meal and the dessert, a new game was tried out.  It's called Game Rover.  Here's the rules:  you must have at least one dog in the house to play.  All the human participants partner with a dog.  A deck of cards is part of the game.  On each card is a task for the dog to do.  There's a little one-minute timer included, too.  Since we had enough people to do it, we had one to tally the points and one to mind the time... because this game can get a little crazy!

Each human has one minute to draw cards from the deck and try to get their partner dog to perform the task/trick on the card.  These vary from "find the treat" to "lick your chops", "touch the wall", "put your nose on your paw", and the standard "sit", "lay down" etc.  There are blank cards in the deck for you to put in custom cards that your pooch knows how to do.  DIL made a card for my combination command for card called "What does a good boy do?"  It's what I tell him so that he will lay down and wait his turn and let me eat my lunch in peace.

For each successful performance of a task, the pair gets a point.  Whoever gets the most points in a one minute "round" wins.

We only had one dog in residence, so all five of us humans were pairing with the same dog.  Nobody was surprised that the pairing of my son with his own dog took the top prize.  His wife (also known as Carl's "mommy") came in second.  I was content to be third.

Lots of laughter ensued as we tried various ways to get Carl to perform.  In the end, the whole game was successful in wearing out the canine.  A tired dog is a good dog!

The evening closed with a challenging round of video game golf.  We made through 10 holes in almost two hours, of this scene that none of us had ever played before.  My son won (as he usually does in video game contests), his wife came in second, and us "old folk" (her parents and I) brought up the distant rear!  But we all laughed a lot, and it was good fun.  We often end such evenings with a video game or film.  

The streets were still good when we drove home.  The forecast called for the temperatures to drop to freezing levels and it to be snowing by morning... and it was right!  We did end up with a white Christmas after all!

My elder sister's friend up the street called from my sister's phone while I was at my son's house to warn us of the forecast.  He volunteered to take care of her kitties on Christmas morning.  I gratefully accepted his offer.  Remember me?  The weather wimp?

The snow is continuing and we're supposed to have 2 to 4 inches by end of today, and there's that icy stuff underneath.  

In other family news, DIL's grandmother lives in a care home across the main drag from that restaurant.  And this morning they got the news that there's Covid in her wing of the residence.  The family had planned on visiting grandma for Christmas Day, but out of consideration for the health situation, won't be doing that.  

So we all examined our inclinations and decided to call off the Chinese Restaurant outing this afternoon and just to stay tucked into our own homes.

Maybe next weekend!

Can anyone even imagine playing Game Rover with a cat?  Prisoner sat here at the door after he'd gone out and right back in, as though asking me to change the weather and open the door for him again!

I hope that all of y'all are having the most meaningful Christmas to you this year.  Different years merit different Christmas observances!  And they are all appropriate.  It's not a competition, thank goodness!

May peace and love, comfort and joy, bless your hearts along with it.

Life is good.  Spark on!

Ooh... Shades of Harry Potter

The obligatory proof of presence shots.  

An evening planned by the Birthday Girl herself, the group had dinner at the Blue Orchid, a Thai Restaurant in the Haymarket almost / downtown Lincoln if you don't want to count it as Haymarket.  

After that lovely meal we went downstairs to the Boiler Brewing Company for a Jazz Christmas concert by the Darryl White quartet.   

We were very early, and my son offered to buy me a non-alcoholic butterbeer!  Shades of Harry Potter.  They topped it with whipped cream and butterscotch drizzle, and it was perfect for the occasion.

It was so pretty I had to take its picture.

Darryl starred on cornet and trumpet. The bassist was Hans Sturm, the drummer Greg Ahl, and on the keyboards Jeff Jenkins.

Darryl's two young sons along with him, and the youngest one wanted to hear "Jingle Bells" toward the end of the concert.  The little guy got to play the tambourine for the bells.

The guest singer (Julia Olynyk) also had a son along, who was sneaking in taking photos.  Darryl White referenced him as "the paparazzi" at one point, with a smile, while thanking everyone for coming.  One of the most wonderful things was hearing a Christmas song that was new to me:  "I always cry at Christmas".

I was up past my bedtime, for sure, but it was oh, so worth it.  The kids ferried me back to the garage where I'd parked my car, and I made it safely home.

Life is good.  Spark on!

Time and daylight get short

 

Dark of the morning Christmas lights are the best.  Shiny wrapped packages help make it festive.

Happy Winter Solstice, and Happy Birthday to my dear daughter in law.  What a symbolic time to have a birthday, where the light grows day-by-day as the baby does.

This is going to be a stellar Christmas weekend, I'm thinking.  For one thing, I'm ready for it.  For another, other folks have done most of the planning, so all I have to do is show up and help celebrate!

Friday evening is the birthday bash, starring Thai food and Jazz music.  Organized by the birthday girl herself.  

Saturday I am reserving to do baking and prep work.

Sunday starts the 3 days of morning cat meds duty for my elder sister's cuties.  And Sunday afternoon is the Christmas dinner and exchange for the "pandemic 5".  I am on tap to bring my roasted brussels sprouts, the oatmeal Scotchies (son's favorites), and the baked olive-filled cheese puffs.  Cheese Puffs recipe blog from 2021

As a bonus activity, my co-MIL (DIL's mom) has decided it would be a good thing to try going out for Chinese on Christmas Day!  When DIL mentioned this to the mythical son, he got very excited.  So she invited me to come along, with him telling her "Mom will tell you if it's too much socializing".  Well, given the memories of a particular Christmas past (and I hear this trope is also referenced in a Christmas movie that I don't have on my "every year" list)... I wouldn't miss it.  I can always fall in a heap after.

Good thing I had a quiet Thanksgiving, to store up energy for this weekend!

Merry Christmas to all!  May loose ends be tied, and good heavens may peace descend on our poor world!

Life is good.  Cherish it.  And Spark on, one day at a time, doing what good you can, in your own little corner!

Sunday morning settling back in

 

Sunday we continue to "catch up" on things that have been jumbled up by family and holiday and all that stuff!  This morning I started my day with AMC showing of White Christmas.  Bing Crosby's mellow tones, the schmaltz of the story, the comedy of Mary Wickes and Danny Kaye (I love character actors, don't you?)  Anyway, it was a lovely gentle way to start the day.

Good news on the recovery front from both patients.  Still in hospital but clearly improving and on his way to heading home in the next day or two... that's BIL.  I called my big sis late Saturday afternoon to make sure she's behaving herself, and of course she is.  Sis was always a rule follower!

Then I put together a small crockpot of veggies and chicken tenders and turned it on.  It will make a fine main meal, whenever it gets done.  

I have one package left to wrap, the contents of which arrived on Saturday.  I hope to get that done today, but will allow myself some slack if I feel like it.

The Husker women's volleyball team is playing for the National Championship this afternoon against Texas.  I'll probably flip that on, since it's on a channel I get.  The University and such are hosting a huge watch party at the arena downtown, but I'm not much of one for huge crowds, post-pandemic.

The upcoming weeks the holiday things start up.  My daughter in law's birthday is actually Thursday, but on Friday is the dinner and a jazz concert to celebrate.  Starting on Sunday (Christmas eve) I will take on morning duties for my older sister's cats.  Three days while she drives to Kansas for Christmas with her younger daughter's family.  Still trying to figure out when I'll squeeze the baking in, but that plan will unfold, too.

In between I will have one "normal" week of trainer workouts to keep me grounded.  

Here's hoping all of y'all are staying grounded through the holidays, too!

Life is good.  Spark on!

Saturday catching up

 I set myself three tasks for today:  prepare a birthday card for my daughter in law, write the annual Christmas letter to the only friend I still exchange letters with at Christmas, and figure out the shipping equation for my third sister's gift.

Sounds reasonable, doesn't it?  But when one doesn't do things regularly, suddenly they become an exercise in learning all over again.  I started by sorting through the supply of cards, finding one that I wanted for my daughter in law, and one that I wanted for my friend.  Take the lot downstairs.  Pause for coffee.

Prisoner shows his skepticism of the day's plan.

Write check for birthday card (yes, how often do we write paper checks these days? But seriously, I am not a fan of gift cards).  Address the envelope and put on a stamp.  Start writing the Christmas letter, but get interrupted by package delivery.  The last of the Christmas gifts has arrived.

Locate a box that will hold the last sister's wrapped gift and packing paper to fill the gaps.  Seal it up.  Pause to start breakfast cooking.

Back to the Christmas letter.  Finish it up, inserting photos.  Try to print.  Fail.  Printer status "off line".  Several attempts of various sorts later, finally get the letter printed, two pages. You see about things you don't do often? Pause to eat the breakfast that cooked in the meanwhile.

Start researching how to address the box.  Things have changed in the dozen years plus since I was good at shipping care packages to an APO address, including the import/export papers.  Immediately reject the automated address label creation online that requires an account!  Measure and weigh the package.  Create an address label without postage and print it out, not having to go to nearly as much hassle as for the Christmas letter.  You see, we do re-learn!  Seal the address label onto the box.  

Go into paranoia about whether the card with the two page letter will mail on a single stamp.  Thank goodness for kitchen scales.  Insert letter in card, address the envelope and weigh it to make sure it's under an ounce (which I looked up).  It is!  Great sense of victory!

There is now a plan:  go to the post office inside the HyVee to ship the package.  They will tell me how much it costs, and print whatever else needs to be printed.

About now is when I discover that my keys are missing in action.  A search ensues.  Normal spot on the vanity?  Nope.  All the pockets on all the outerwear I wore yesterday?  Nope.  Bathroom counters?  Nope.  Note to self, Mt. St. Omigawd's foothills are growing, I really need to clear off those flat surfaces again!  I have not been good at maintaining them in an orderly fashion.  

Finally give up, breathe, and decide that they will turn up if I just stop stressing.  Get out the backup set of keys. Sure enough, as soon as I put on my coat and went out to the garage, backup keys in hand, and opened the car door?  There were my keys, on the edge of the doorframe.  Seems when I got home from Big Sister watch yesterday, and was juggling the gym bag I used as an overnight back along with the keys and the phone... they fell, I didn't notice, and they stayed out there overnight.

Is the saga over?  Almost... this keystones cops comedy has one more part.  I got to the grocery store with the post office retail space inside, got the package and the cards off in the mail, picked up a few items from the grocery, and went back to the car, only to have the receipt from the post office blow out of my hand and go skittering like dry leaves across the parking lot!  I opened the hatch and put the groceries in before chasing down the errant receipt (because it has the tracking number on it for the package that's winging its way to North Dakota).  I must have looked pretty funny chasing those receipts down!  One had landed in the middle of the road, the other in the drive-through pharmacy lane.

End of adventures.  Enough!

Life is good.  Keep sparking!

Mixed household

Continuing from the last blog, I headed back over to have the overnight shift with my sister, to round out the doctor's orders for 24 hour "supervision" by a responsible adult.  I'm pretending to fulfil that role!  

I arrived sometime in the second set of the NCAA semi-finals volleyball match.  In case anybody didn't hear, Nebraska has become a big Volleyball state, breaking the record in August for the biggest spectator crowd at a women's sporting event in recorded history.  They packed our football stadium.

Sis and I finished listening to radio coverage of the Husker women (they won), then I went to bed before she did.  I also rise before she does.  It has always been so, since we were kids sharing a room.  Why is it that night owls and morning larks land in the same nest?

Friday's follow up appointment was not until 9, but my body decided that 5:30 was a good time to get up.  Sis had told me not to worry about lights on or sounds.  She doesn't wear her hearing aids to bed.  I'm not sure when she actually retired to her own room.  I know there were lights on in the main part of the house as I fell asleep.  

I managed to navigate mostly by night lights to get dressed and go through my morning routine.  Her kitties followed me around, but didn't start getting vocal until Sis got up and started moving about, too.

It was foggy and warm enough that what precipitation we got was in the form of rain and light fog.  We made it safely to her post surgery eye appointment, and she tested out with OK eye pressures (she doesn't have the glaucoma that I do).  She read the eye chart perfectly. This was her good eye before, too, nearly 20/20 to begin with, except of course for the cataract.  On the way home, Sis observed after the fact that she now sees better without her glasses than with them.

We took the scenic route to and from her eye doctor's office, and nearly got lost on the way there, because Sis had only her near-vision eye unmasked, and could not contribute to "where we are and where we're going."  We were doing what older ladies who grew up together do:  noting who USED TO live in this house or that, etc.  We remind ourselves of our mom and grandmothers and aunties!  

Once Sis was safely ensconced back in her own home and a few last bend over tasks done by me so she won't be tempted to break her aftercare orders, I came home to find The Prisoner waiting to be pampered, as he should be.  He demanded some lap purring time and I fed him canned food, even though I fed him some Thursday as well.

The photo at the top is my sisters cat, Ginger.  The one on the bed here is her other kitty, Spice.  They were littermates, I believe, but in any case were adopted together.  The amazing thing is that Spice is hyperthyroid, which is controlled by medication... she looks so healthy now, and both of them were very vocal, attentive, and confused by a day when THREE people who usually feed them were present at once!

In the end, I was exhausted at the end of all this and came home to a two hour nap.  I await news of the other patient in the family.

Life is good, and it is precious.  Keep Sparking.  And breathing.

Life: it goes on, and we live it.

I got up in time to make my "first appointment of the day" at the dentist on Tuesday.  I eagerly asked about her experience at the Boston marathon.  My dentist's husband is a runner.  He not only successfully completed the Boston marathon, but he ran Chicago, too, she tells me.  And at the Chicago marathon, he re-qualified for Boston.  He's raising money for charity in the hopes of running New York, too.  Shades of my brother.  Once they run Boston, the bug is there!

Sense of humor photo:  he got into the spirit of holiday races that had trophies made from toys.  And yes, he would wear the antlers.

Talking about races of course stirred up memories of Kevin, but December in general stirs them up.  Old Christmas movies bring them up.  Other people talking of their loved ones who have passed brings them up.  And even a date can bring them up.  Today, Tuesday the 12th of December, was another of the family birthdays.  In this case, my husband's sister Carol.  She's been gone nearly a dozen years now, but when you start remembering folks who have gone on before... you bask in the memories for a while.

After I got home, I got a text message from my older sister.  She'd heard from her surgeon about the timing of her cataract surgery... she has to be there to check in earlier than originally told.  No problem.  Pre-sunrise taxi, at your service, Sis!

We move on to Wednesday.  I woke at 3 a.m.  Gave up before 4 and got myself up.  I had my only trainer workout of the weed due to the shifted appointments.  

No Wednesday sister walk because of brother in law landing back in the hospital by way of the ER on Tuesday evening.  Sis was kind of busy, but she did stop by after picking Benji up from the doggie day care place, so I was able to give her a hug and hand her a package for her holiday.  I still should wrap and ship the one for our North Dakota sister.

Thursday morning I was up similarly early.  I was observant on the drive, pre-dawn, of how much better my night driving vision is.  It's easy to take it for granted, but since I was taking her for cataract surgery, the mind cast back to what the vision was like before last August.

After Sis checked in, I headed over to the other tower to visit BIL, who was doing what most hospital patients do: fighting off boredom and the various monitors that beep at irritating intervals.  It was a light-hearted and amusing visit.  At one point he said he might just lean back and close his eyes, saying he was a "bad host".  "Not your job to entertain me," sez I, "It's your job to get well."  "Working on it," sez he.

To me, BIL seemed pretty much his normal self.  They are working on figuring out just what's up and fixing it.  The body is a complex system of chemical signals... let's get 'em saying the right things to each other!  Mostly we talked about movies, actors, and stuff like that, as we have some shared interests in that area.  Old TV shows flickered on the ever-present screen.  

After about an hour and a half, my phone rang in my pocket.  Elder sis was ready to be taken home, so I took my leave of BIL, retrieved Dexter from the hospital garage, paused at the entrance to get her on board, and drove to her house.  While there I gave her a package for her holiday that matches the one I'd given Alicia the day before.  She had something to eat and we shared tea and conversation.

At noon-thirty, her friend Jerry brought in Arby's sandwiches, and we handed over "watcher" duties to him.  I came home and nodded off in front of the TV for a while, and am due to head back for the overnight shift.   

So, yeah, that's my week so far. 

Life is good!  Spark on.

Confused about what time of year it is?

 I am!  The weather keeps teasing us with warmer than seasonal days mixed in with more seasonal ones.  We had three days in the past week get to 60 F.  Believe it or not, the lawn guys came on Friday and are still doing leaf blowing cleanup, all due to the fact that no snow has settled in to "seal" the ground.

The things I've ordered online have been trickling in, and they get stashed up in the spare room until I decide to wrap them.  The Christmas card from the kids showed up in my mailbox Thursday.  Poor Carl was snapped with antlers on.  As usual it's a collage of photos from the year, including a couple of wedding shots, and a couple of pet shots.  And it's signed by the newlyweds, Carl, Kiwi, and Scout (the last two being the birds).  My son assured me that Carl managed to shed those antlers in short order.

Friday morning, I wrapped the sister gifts that I was enticed into acquiring by the internet.  Still to be wrapped are the things for the kids (two packages yet to arrive) and for my son's in-laws.  

The tree in the bay window, from the inside view.

Shopping is almost done.  

In between the holiday stuff there's a lot of everyday stuff.  Tuesday next week I have my rescheduled dental appointment.  Due to the rescheduling, I have gone six months since my last cleaning.  That's the old "normal" scheduling, which I have not followed in over a decade, maybe 20 years.  I've been on tight cleaning schedules for a very long time.  This is a test!

Because of this appointment on what would normally be a trainer workout day, the workout had to be rescheduled, too.  It is now on Wednesday!  It will be a very strange week.

On Thursday, I will be the cataract surgery taxi driver for my older sister.  Her gentleman friend (even older than she) would certainly be willing, but in the case of being the extra ears to listen to the doctor's instructions for after care, she wants a sister.  That's what sisters are for!

One thing that doesn't confuse the time of year is the availability of schmaltzy Christmas movies on the streaming services.  Saturday night it's "Love Actually".  Earlier in the week, it had been "Holiday" (Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn), "Christmas in Connecticut" (Barbara Stanwyck), and a few of the newer Hallmark offerings.  I truly love "Holiday" but it came on at 9 p.m. and I was asleep before the good parts.  

Saturday morning, I got myself out to acquire the traditional dark chocolate orange.  This was prompted by an instant message from a family member to see if anyone had already got this item!

Sunday morning, more wrapping!  I still have some deliveries that haven't arrived, but some years I do stay on top of things.  Hoping to make this year one of those.

Life's good.  Spark on! 

Santa's Helpers

 Or "how does Amazon do it

These two little delivery vans parked in front of my house, Sunday.  They stayed there for a while.  They seemed to be conducting a bit of business exchanging packages for delivery.  

Last year during the Christmas season my trainer and I had noticed one big delivery truck transferring a whole bunch of packages into the back of a minivan in the parking lot of the strip-mall where his studio is located.  

The two vehicles came back and did this on several different days when I was there.  We puzzled over what might be going on.  Today I was gutsy enough to go outside and ask if they were lost or needed any help?

They declined but were polite enough to thank me for asking.

The two trucks stayed in place for maybe half an hour or so.  Maybe they were taking their breaks and doing paperwork related to the exchange.  

At about 5 p.m., they proceeded on their separate ways.

  

Life is good.  Spark on!

Happy December

Before I go any farther, I note that I have written three blogs' worth this week, much of which has gone in the bit-bucket at my own hand.  Not fit for publication.  Reason:  failure to be uplifting.

In between there were some bright points, so I'm rescuing them to put this blog together.  I took a picture of the tree lights when I trundled the garbage to the curb Thursday evening.

In the glow of the tree lights, the Prisoner's ears look like they are illuminated from within as he pins me to the couch with his purring.  Animal companions are good for our health, mental and physical.  Sending peaceful vibes out to all of yours!

Back before I retired, I would every so often hoof it down to the Haymarket section of town to a little place called Licorice International.  I've done my shopping online since 2020, but this year I have gone out a little bit more.  Licorice is not only a favorite flavor of my own, but my son's father in law is another fan.  So is my personal trainer.  So I made Wednesday a small business shopping day and visited their location in College View, closer to my home.

The past three years I have used the "Shop Blind" at 2 Blind Brothers online.  You send them money, they pick out what to send.  The first year I did this, I was ecstatically happy with what they sent, and we divided it up at the Christmas gift exchange.  Last Mother's Day I did a shop blind and they sent me some things that I liked and some that will never be used at my house.  On Friday, this year's offering arrived and for the first time it had something in that package that no one in our gift exchange group can use, and it was the priciest item in the bundle.  After venting my emotions (in the "not fit for publication" part) I came to the reluctant conclusion that I was going to have to go through the process of returning the entire bundle, despite my liking for three of the four items in it.  They do not accept partial returns.  Sigh.

Anyway, once that decision was slept on and made, my mood improved.  Saturday morning it has been repacked and shipped back to them.

Another "not fit for publication" was my initial reaction to my latest investment in satisfying my curiosity about DNA and food sensitivities.  Yes, I had my analysis done.  It was information overload when it arrived, and I did not respond well.  However, I slowed myself down, and took advantage of some videos they make available, and of a 20 minute one on one consultation with one of their nutritionists, and I feel by now that I can see my way forward.

However, it should be noted that several of the foods that they identified as "optimal" for my genetic makeup are certainly not what I consider readily available around here, and as y'all can probably identify with, a gal has a budget!

Baby steps, Barb, baby steps.  Last year it was the experiment of one with intermittent fasting, this year it's the experiment of one of trying to eat for my genetic tendencies.

In case anyone is interested in how or what they uncover in this genetic analysis, this part is for you.  

How:  They use your DNA that you submitted to either Ancestry.com or to 23andMe.  If you haven't done that, you can submit a sample for analysis, directly to these guys.  A few years back my older sister gave all of her siblings the ancestry DNA test for Christmas, so I didn't have to pay to have that part done again.

What: They give you a list of foods "optimal" for your DNA.  This puzzled me at first, because a lot of foods that are both generally considered to be healthy, but have become part of my regular diet were MISSING from my optimal list.  For me, seeing "oatmeal" and "blueberries" and "olive oil" and "broccoli" absent was puzzling.

The nutritionist said yes, those foods are indeed healthy, and I can still enjoy them, there are just better options that more closely fit my personal genetic makeup.

Not so puzzling, given what the genetics uncovered was their choice to consider anything with gluten in it as non-optimal.  Apparently of the two gene variations that indicate a likelihood of sensitivity to gluten, I have one of them.  And with a sister who is definitely sensitive to gluten, that sort of reinforced the "I'm not surprised, but I am saddened" reaction.  Since I haven't observed a lot of reaction to gluten (unless I OVER indulge), I'm in more of an "observe" than a "forbid" mode on this one.

They look at your ability to metabolize caffeine, and alcohol.  I am likely sensitive to caffeine:  no surprise there!  I have been decaffeinated for years.  They determined I'm likely normal in my ability to metabolize alcohol.  I could not say, I've been alcohol free my entire life.  But it's kind of comforting to know that if I *did* at this late date decide to try a sip, it likely would not turn me into a drunk.  But honestly, it just doesn't appeal.  Never did.

The final specific sensitivity they look for is lactose.  And my genetic variations say "not likely to be sensitive to lactose".  I rejoiced at this because for all the diets that are out there saying "no dairy, it's bad for you", I have resisted.  I love my dairy!  Apparently my genetic ancestors gifted me with the ability to enjoy it.

And the last bit they do is give you a customized list of vitamin/mineral needs and a macronutrient chart recommendation.  I found this validating of my life experience with food.  It has me higher on carbs (57 - 65%), a smidgeon lower on proteins (19 - 25%) and fats (23 - 31%).  When left to my own devices and being conscious of trying to "eat healthy" this is how I fall.  I will no longer give myself a hard time for failing to meet protein and fat targets that really were not right for me.

  

I will probably burble more on this over the course of the experiment in later blogs, but that's enough for starters.  I'd be curious to know if any of the readership have been tempted by this kind of analysis or had it done.  It does explain quite a bit why "one size fits all" doesn't work!

And despite the side-trips of the week that I deliberately left out:

Life is Good!  Keep on sparking, y'all!

Sunday's project

 

Tree decorating for me is not a design project, it's a walk down memory lane.  With a smaller tree now, I did not put up every ornament in the box, but chose a few combinations that spoke to me.  I didn't take photos of them all, either, but here are a few.

This little angel's box says "Jo" on it.  Jo was my mother's name.  It's a birthstone angel, with a topaz, for November.

Does it feel like you are seeing double, with another topaz birthstone angel?  You are.  This angel's box is labeled with my name on it.  

My birthday and my mom's are within a week of one another.  She purchased these angels as Christmas gifts the year that she passed, and we found them when cleaning out.  My sisters each got one angel from their own birth months, I believe.  They gave me both my own and mom's, because of the coincidence of birthdays.

Larry Bird, my favorite historical basketball star is at his prime, in Celtics green.  I watched him in college.  Hidden by the branches a bit is Shaquille O'Neal in a Magic uniform, dunking.  We bought the two of them together one year, one for my favorite player, one for my son's favorite player.

Also in this shot, the Pinocchio that came from my business trip to Italy in the 1980's.  The green Triathlete ornament was from my work team the year I first completed an Olympic distance triathlon.

Toward the top of the shot is an antique icicle ornament that had belonged to my paternal grandmother.

Going backwards in time, at the top of the tree is a papier mâché unicorn that my kid sister Alicia brought back from her ninth grade trip to Mexico.  Also featured is Woodstock, the very first ornament from my very first apartment.  A University of Nebraska Husker ornament is a more recent acquisition, I think it came from my son.

Another year I bought a couple of dog breed ornaments, a boxer and a Rottweiler.  The boxer was for an on-line friend's dog.  To Rottie was for a dog named Maxie who lived next door to us when my son was growing up.

Throughout some of these shots you can see the Mardi Gras beads, which I did NOT get at Mardi Gras, but at various running events, over the years that I participated in them.

Later in the day, more decor came out.  This includes my friend, Frosty the demented cookie jar.

I have to have a candle light display.  That is my ritual for the darker months of the year.  Either before sunrise, after sunset, or both, light the candles and savor the glow.

During the Christmas season, the angel choir of candle holders joins the array, along with the Christmas tree..

Life continues to be good.  Spark on!

Black Friday and the weekend

 

My neighbors from Uzbekistan made me a plate of leftovers from their feast, and walked it across the street Thanksgiving dinner-time!  People are so nice!

Shokhsanam is an excellent cook, by the way!  Every time she's brought me something, it's been marvelous.  This was no exception.

And, as anticipated, the morning after the feast day the scale responded as it would.

Friday morning I fulfilled a promise to a fellow military mom.  Her son is in uniform and will be away from his family for Christmas.  The card is sitting in my mailbox with the flag up, ready to head for his APO address.

I don't do Black Friday shopping.  I haven't for years.  My whole marriage was spent avoiding it because my husband was not a fan of crowds.  I think I went once or twice in my lifetime, once with my youngest sister, and once when I was a 20-something single (I think I went with a girlfriend).  

Friday was laundry day.  Leftovers day (yummy, but easy to overdo).  The weather was overcast and cold (high was under freezing).  I filled the time with binge watching of old West Wing episodes, taking short breaks to check on the hostage release in the middle East.

Saturday we have some snow predicted.  The weather sites differed in their predictions of when it was to start and how much, of course.  The traveling party was to be driving home from their family thing.  The snow started here between 10 and 10:15 a.m.  Half an hour later, got a message from DIL that they had crossed from Missouri into Iowa.  They had encountered flurries, but it wasn't sticking yet.  

About noonish, the message came of their safe arrival home, and before snow had really accumulated here.  Yay!  A successful holiday trip!

On Friday I got the "new" Christmas tree out.  I bought this tree online after Christmas last year.  It was because the old one wasn't lighting right.  Drove me nuts!  

So... first time out of the box... the new tree did not light right.  And of course it is now long since any possibility of returning it.  

This tree is a foot and a half to two feet shorter than the old one.  The old one had five plugs that you had to organize to get it to light up the way it should.  The new one has only TWO plugs.

I could not keep away from it... kept tracing the wires.  I kept futzing with it, and finally on Saturday afternoon, with a twist of the bulb closest to the juncture... lights!

With the lights finally working, I ran out of gas!  I will save that annual trip down memory lane of setting up ornaments for a Sunday afternoon activity.

Sunday morning I got up to snow on the ground!  Welcome back, Winter!

Drive safely, everyone, the Holiday weekend is almost over!   Hope your hearts are full, you got exactly as much family gather as was right for you THIS year, and you're ready for the next few weeks.  We have only twenty-five days of shortening daylight before it starts to grow again!  

Life is good.

Keep on Sparking!