Foggy Start to New Year's Eve day here

 

It's a foggy morning, as I pulled my trash bin back from the curb to the garage.  Still not bitterly cold, that is predicted to show up later in the day.  The snow storm is to start here overnight.  

I'm feeling pretty good, though, as my pantry is stocked enough to last through the weekend, and I've never been a huge New Year's Eve celebrant.  I'll just stay off the roads, in the house, safe and warm.

Sometime today, maybe this evening, I will have my yearly ritual of setting up the pebble jar array for 2022.  Congratulations, readers!  We made it through 2021!

Here it is with all 365 pebbles, representing one pebble a day.  It's been a full year.  It saw the delivery of the vaccines to those who were waiting in line.  It saw early on a very disturbing violent conflict on the steps, grounds, and inside the US Capitol building in Washington, DC.  It saw the reality that changing administrations does not magically make our problems or divisions go away.

It saw fires, hurricanes, tornadoes, bitter cold, oppressive heat... and for all the hype, it saw the resilience of people, mostly at local levels.  

It saw the demise of our beloved SparkPeople web site.  But the owners gave us an ample transition window to save off our content and migrate to new sites.  I chose to move my own blog here.

As hopeful as we were about the vaccines, 2021 did not see the end of the pandemic of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes the disease we call Covid-19.  It has seen variants arise, thwarting our fondest desires to have things go back to "the way we were".  We know more than we knew at the start of the year.  Particularly for those of us at statistically higher risk, we have learned when to hunker down, what activity is worth the risk, and how best to mitigate it... for ourselves.

For me, it saw the return of being with loved ones on a more regular basis, balancing vaccination status, masks, whether in or outdoors, etc.  It saw me go from curbside pickup of purchases, to in the store with mask, and back to curbside pickup for the next/current surge.  It saw the prioritizing of working out, including accepting that for me, the benefit of working out with the trainer (in mask whenever the risk dial went higher than green) was worth whatever risk remained.

We were going to end up here, sooner or later.  I shall enter this New Year 2022 with hope, as well.  Hope for the next phase of the pandemic to be its conversion into endemic status.  That does not mean that the next couple of months won't be hard, and especially hard for those who work in health care.  Even a "milder" disease challenges those who have little protection.  

There are things that each of us can control.  

• We can control what we choose to feed ourselves, and how much.  We don't have to be dictators about it, but we can nourish our immune systems.  There are tools that make it easier.  Many "Spark refugees" have found trackers that we're finding appropriate to continue our healthy lifestyles.  
• We can control our level of activity, based on the real level we are starting with.  Some of us are old-er and not as able as once we were.  Some are recovering from injury or illness.  We may have limitations to sight, hearing, mobility.  The old saying "where there's a will, there's a way" very much applies here.  The information is out there.  A little effort, a little research, and we can find a level that is healthy for us right where we are... not where we were ten years ago, but where we are NOW!
• We can control our habits around things like bedtime and wakeup routines.  We can work on things like screen time, alcohol consumption, and procrastination.  Again, with kindness toward ourselves, and starting where we are, not trying to do everything all at once.  My own challenge is to get back at the de-stuffing, the "Swedish death cleaning" project.  I hope I'll be able to re-start some of the re-doing the house tasks. It is important in all these things to budget our energy, or we'll burn out and get stalled.  Patience!

OK, I think I've talked enough in general about the things I might be able to control, and work on.  But I have yet to get around to the "restaurant lotions" (© Alicia363 - "I’ve always been a New Year’s restaurant lotion skeptic").  I think I might save mine for a later blog, lest this one get too long.

Meanwhile, I'm wishing all of you a safe New Year's Eve, a Happy New Year's Day, and the oomph to make 2022 a healthy year, best can do!

Life is good.  Keep on Sparkin'!

From me to me

Gifts to self?

I'm a bit on the cheap side when it comes to technology.  I only replace things when they break.  I've been limping along with a printer that was on its last legs for a couple of years, and it's almost tax time again, which means I shall need to be printing for reals.

I took advantage of the functional need to also upgrade the tech so that this printer is on my home network, and I can print to it from any device, anywhere in the house.  It's not tied down to a single computer by a cable!

It arrived Wednesday and I set it up using my phone, then set up the computer to "see" it, too.  Ahhh... now maybe I'll write some Christmas letter responses!  Just a couple.  

I tried it today (Thursday) and had to jump some hoops to get it to print from the computer, but it did a fine job, and I now have an "annual update" letter on its way to a friend I collected at my very first corporate job, back in the 1970's.  We still exchange snail mail letters at holiday time.  She's the one who taught me how to make lasagne, back when I was young!  She was young then, too, but she was of Italian heritage so she learned that among her base cooking skills!

Another gift from me to me was that the donation to my university's alumni association that came with socks, and what's a Christmas without socks?

Year to year comparison

Do your tracking apps send you "Year in Review" e-mails?  Mine does, and it told me that I averaged 7537 steps per day during 2021.  I'm cool with that, based on studies related to health versus steps that show among old-er folks (average age of participants was 72), 4500 steps was enough to show improvements in health, and the positive impact increased with additional steps, topping out at 7500 steps a day.  Above that, there was not any additional health benefit.

Year end weight was about the same as the first weigh in of the year, so it was a "maintenance" year.  While I'd like to do a little better in that regard, I'll take maintenance!

Weathering the weather

Kid sis Ace and I survived our "acclimating" walk in yesterday's cold temperatures.  Today it has bounced back up again, pushing the 40℉ mark for a high, which is in fact "seasonal" for Nebraska.  But tonight it's going to plunge again, and overnight Friday to Saturday they are telling us to brace for snow.  Brrr!  Perfect time for a major snow storm, starting at midnight, New Year's eve?

Hopefully that's not the whole country, just my own neck of the woods, and at this point, we'll just have to be prepared.  The neighbor across the street was just test starting his snow blower when I walked out to get the mail.  If the storm track decides not to come here, I'll be happy.  But looking at the models, I'm likely going to have my "workout sponsored by Mother Nature" over the weekend.

The Pep Talk

All that said, let us live the days we are given, one at a time.  This is the only Thursday, December 30, 2021 we'll ever get.  Whatever we choose to do, may it meet our expectations of "enough".  And may we all rest well tonight, having done just that.

Life is Good.  Spark on!  💖✨🔥

 

Twixtmas and the weather can't make up its mind

Bonus outing to the dog park

The trainer's workout schedule is mixed up this week, because of varying client outages, so I got my workout early today.  I was glad, because when my son messaged asking if I was up for a trip to the dog park, I was already done and dusted and home.  I said "sure", so got to go for an outing with Carl and "the kids" (meaning the mythical son and his girlfriend).

Carl found a twin looking dog toward the far end of the park and they happily engaged in play fighting.  

Carl is behind his twin in the first shot, and he's in the orange collar and vest in the second.

I saw a video that instructed me on the fine art of telling when your dog and his "friends" are play fighting versus when they are in real aggression situations.

It said, sensibly, that if the dogs have exaggerated and loose "bite" behavior, and they both keep coming back for more, with raised tails (as seen here), it's likely play fighting, and healthy for them.

In any case, Carl seemed quite happy with his outing, as did we three humans.

Sharing the wealth

As we chatted, I found out that Lacey (GF)'s aunt, a nurse in a nearby city, had been feeling ill.  She opted out of the Christmas gatherings because she did not want to spread whatever it was.  She was concerned she might have Covid, but finding tests is challenging.  So... opportunity... I dontated my remaining at home test kit for her, and the kids were going to do a contact free delivery of it to her door.

Later in the day, I got word... she used the kit and tested negative.  Yay!  But she wasn't feeling well, and you know, it doesn't matter WHAT the illness, you don't want to spread it around!  I'm grateful I had the kit available to share, though, for her peace of mind.

What about Skittles?

The little blue birdie in this photo is Skittles.  He's the one who has been ill.  Chumley the Cockatiel pictured with him is no longer with us.  I think I blogged when she passed last Summer.  

Skittles has had health swings over the past week or two.  His humans took him to an avian specialist, who gave him antibiotics to treat an infection, but now the antibiotics upset his tummy.  The followup treatment involves apple cider vinegar.  

He is recovering slowly, helped by a LOT of human vigilance and pampering.  We're hopeful.  They've had this birdie for seven or eight years, Lacey's dad told me when I asked.  Makes me feel good to know how loved the birdie is!

So, that's me, a cat lady who loves dogs and birds!

Weather ahead

Tomorrow we're going to get real Winter temperatures, and the weatherman is on right now talking about the potential for a "significant Winter storm" come the weekend.  Well, you know we've been spoiled so far!

Here's hoping that whatever the weather, we all take good care of ourselves... tender loving care comes in so many forms!  I feel as though we've made the most of this one and only Tuesday, December 28, 2021 we'll ever get... don't you?  Now let's remind ourselves that whatever we chose to do was enough, and we are worthy of our night of rest!

Life is good.  Spark on!  💖🔥✨

How was your Christmas?

 Was it impacted?  How?

Thinking back over the years, I have to acknowledge that there have been many Christmases, impacted by various conditions of their year.  I distinctly remember the first Christmas when I could not spend Christmas eve with my family, because I had to work.  I don't remember what else was going on that year, but I do remember going to work on Christmas eve and having the spirit of the holiday descending on me, despite the circumstances.  The teenaged me thought I had all kinds of reasons to not be happy that holiday, but I found a sense of joy.

I remember Christmas 1996, the year we had experienced so much loss in our family.  My husband's brother, and both our mothers had passed on during the Summer.  Writing Christmas cards in a hotel room in a distant city, where I was working, I decided to call a friend I used to work with, not knowing at the time that she had lost her daughter the same year.  As it happened, my voice sounded a lot like her daughter's, and when she answered the phone, it took a minute for her to sort out who was calling.  We had the nicest conversation about how some years, rather than having a big celebratory Christmas, we might need a quiet, holding it to your heart Christmas.  We would "keep" Christmas, 1996.

Yet another Christmas, I ended up overnight at O'Hare airport, having been on the road for work, and missing the last connection home.  I did not get a hotel room, but stayed in the airport overnight until my 6 a.m. flight "the rest of the way home" to be with my husband and son.  I observed the decorations in the airport and watched the work crews, cleaning overnight, and coming in to work in the morning.  I understand there are many in those kinds of circumstances with travel disruptions this year.

Yes, Christmas can be impacted by many, many challenges.  Somehow, in my experience, as changed or challenged as it may be... it still shows up, just like in Whoville, in Dr. Seuss's original story.  Nothing can stop the power of the event!  Even if you are hurting this year, even if you're longing for "normal", Christmas itself is far from "normal".  It is extraordinary.  And sometimes, at least in my own life, the challenges just make it sweeter.  And yes, sometimes my eyes leak just thinking of it.

Love is the root of Christmas.  Even if you feel alone, lost, worthless, or unappreciated, Christmas (as in the dawn of Love, the birth of the Christ-child, for those of us who follow that faith) reminds us that we are not abandoned by our Heavenly Parent!  Substitute your own faith story that gives hope, if you need to.  I don't want to be exclusive, even though I am talking about my own experience of Christmas.

Christmas 2021 at OneKidsMom's place

Rubia (the blonde) and The Prisoner (gray tabby) enjoyed canned food on Christmas morning.  

The weather was beautiful, with the high temperature above 50℉.  So those kitties spent a good deal of the day outdoors, sunning themselves on the deck or prowling about.

I had no company invited; this was planned to be a quiet day!  I did drive across town to deliver a few leftover of those baked olive cheese treats to Alicia!  We made it a short visit, deliberately.

I went for a walk in the afternoon, and snapped a quick photo of folks out playing pickleball on the basketball court in a nearby park.

Greetings of "Merry Christmas" from a safe distance accompanied the whole circuit, lifting the spirit with each repetition.  I mused on the reason we say it, to lift one another up.

My Christmas Dinner was the vegetarian chili I made earlier in the week, topping a baked potato.  The transition from the eating excesses of treats back to feeding nutrient rich meals has resumed!

I'll leave you on Boxing Day with the reminder to do your best to take care of yourself and your health this one and only December 26, 2021 we will ever get!  You are worth taking care of... this, and every day.  At its end, remember that whatever you did to work toward health and fitness was ENOUGH for today!  Appreciate your efforts, and rest easy, in the knowledge that you are indeed loved.  We can only live one day at a time, and each one counts as its own part of life.

Life is good.  Spark on!  🎄🎁🔥✨

If you were wondering what was in the Two Blind Brothers Box...

 Those who kind of follow along in the blogs saw...

this photo of a slightly worse for wear box that came for Christmas.  I had various theories of how to present it and to whom, and finally decided to take it as is, unwrapped.  

I said it could go last, after all the packages had been unwrapped.  I told the group the story of ordering it sight unseen, and trusting the company to send something wonderful, based on nothing more than that trust.

Then I shared my musings about whether to offer this box up in exchange for any of the gifts I had given them.  Nobody wanted to trade their sox, or chocolate, or gourmet boxes for this, so by default it went to the hosting couple.  Here they are modeling the contents.

The mythical son, in his usual comic style, under wraps, and in the cap.

He has taken photos this way since childhood, so why would I expect him to be different as an adult?

The hostest with the mostest, models with her mom helping out on the comforter.

With your curiosity satisfied, I'm wishing everyone the Merriest of Christmasses, with joy in my heart, and contentment in my soul.  However you celebrate (or don't) today, may you be kind and gentle to yourself, so that you might pass along that attitude of kindness and bless the world in so doing.

We are all worthy of being wrapped up in a warm comforter of love!

Life is good.  Spark on!

🎄🕯✨

Christmas Eve Day

 

Golden brown and ready to go

I had not made these in YEARS.  Seriously, it's been a long time since we had a big enough family gather to justify the work that goes into making them.  As I started getting ready for the effort, I looked high and low and could not find the printed out recipe!

Oh, well, I kind of punt on this one anyway, most years.  But it looks (and tastes) like I got it right.

These are the famous (or infamous) olive filled baked cheese balls.

  

Amounts for those who were asking yesterday, from how I threw it together today:

1 lb. mild cheddar cheese, diced.

3 Tbsp butter (I used lightly salted today, being out of unsalted)

1 cup flour

1/4 to 1/2 tsp ground cayenne pepper

Sift the flour and cayenne together onto the softened cheese and butter.  I cheated this year at this point:  I used the food processor to mix the cheese (diced up), butter (softened), flour and cayenne (sifted together into the mix).

Then you work it into a dough, make balls of the dough, thumb press an olive into each ball, round it out, and bake at 450℉ for 10 minutes until golden brown.

And there you have it... a huge production... but done!  Yield:  2 dozen.  This recipe can be cut in half, by the way.  In fact, it's really doubled from the original which back in the early 1960's called for a blender, not a food processor, to combine.

Now I have to keep them safe from the cats and myself until time to go to the gather.

Rapid test, "if you can get it"

I had one on hand from the last time I tested.  They are saying omicron will only show up at your highest viral load on this one, so test hours ahead, not the day before.

About 1 p.m. I did my BinaxNOW test.  After the 15 minute wait, it came up negative, so I figure I'm safe for the gather at 4!

See you all on the flip side:  A very Merry (and safe, too) Christmas to all!

Be good to yourselves, this one and only Friday December 24, 2021 we'll ever get.  With hopes and prayers that a year from now we won't be having to be quite so careful!

🎄🕯

The day before Christmas eve... Cookie baking day!

Also work out with the trainer day.  

My session with him was earlier than usual by a couple of hours, so there was lots of time to prepare for tomorrow.  The plan was to bake today and tell myself these are for the gather, to keep my mitts off them.

What are they?  My brother's favorite cookie:  classic oatmeal scotchies.  Interestingly, they are also my son's favorite.

Before I started in on the baking, I took Dexter for his fill up.  Dexter is my Honda Fit that is doing double duty as the sleigh this season. I'd been procrastinating.  I think this is only the fourth fill-up or maybe the fifth, this year.  It took 8 gallons and cost over $22 USD!  Ouch!  That's with a 42 cent a gallon discount, too.  As I drove by the grocery store I marveled at how full the parking lot was.

At the end of the day, Frosty the demented cookie jar has leftover cookies in his tummy.  You know the ones:  not quite company ready?  A little too burnt, or not taken out a little too soon?  They still taste fine but the best cookies go to the gather, of course!

I got a visit from my younger sis with her dog Benji along for the ride.  She left me a "fish tank" gift (yes, she declared it such, and I have yet to unwrap it at the writing of this blog entry).  I took full advantage of the opportunity to send her home with "red neck Tupperware", i.e. repurposed plastic containers, in this case filled with some of those cookies. 

Yesterday she'd dropped off another gift, that goes with the memory of the day before Thanksgiving.  The tiktok posting of the outing linked here.  The Ace was enthused enough to buy t-shirts - one for her, one for me, opposite colors.  We "mature" ladies don't need a whole lot to amuse us, do we?

A word about TikTok:  it is a medium, it does not create the content.  When I do go over to TikTok (and I don't a whole lot because I get bored with it fairly quickly)... I am generally shown clips of dogs, cats, birds, a hospice nurse whose content I like, a couple of folks that Ace recommended to me, and a hysterical teacher or two.  Somehow I have never seen the videos that make the news as challenges to violence or vandalism.  There is AI buried in this app that shows you things you have reacted positively to, not things you have scrolled on by.

After dabbling making the tiktok in the link above, I made another one on Thanksgiving morning, the making of the pumpkin pie.  Then I have pretty much given it up.  I have decided that video is not a medium for me.  Some folks are really good at this stuff, but for me, it's a lot of work, and not much reward.  It's just not a high or a thrill, other than to determine that if I wanted to do so, I could.  But as they say, never say never.  And I do enjoy the comic folks, including the Bone or No Bones pug, Noodle, and the aspirational Mrs. Space Cadet, who trained for and then ran the NYC Marathon this year, raising money for the Michael J. Fox Foundation.

Tomorrow's plan:  

Make baked cheese balls.  A family classic.  I already diced the cheese, which is only step 1, and am leaving it on the counter overnight to soften.  The plan is to make these close to the last minute, and carry them to the gather trying to preserve their heat?  Or... plan B:  make them early, and request to have them zapped in the microwave at the host home.  I've done both in years past.

Dexter has already been loaded with the wrapped gifts, just to make sure I don't leave any behind!  I even popped the cookie containers in his back seat.  

Christmas eve supper with son, his girlfriend, and her parents.  The same group as got together at Thanksgiving.  Then Christmas day will be at homne, quiet, recovery day... at least that's the plan!

The Pep Talk:

Even holidays are worth being smart about our choices.  Health is the best gift we can give ourselves, and that means following safe practices about how many people and which ones we surround ourselves with, in this time of surging Covid 19 cases, the second Christmas in a row.  At least this year we're not holding on for our fingernails waiting for vaccines to become available.  Many of us already have taken them, in my case three shots over time.  With the added transmissibility of the Omicron variant, better masks are a good idea.  

And with a small gather of fully vaccinated and boosted folks, I feel I'm doing what I can, and doggone it, I'm ready for Christmas!

Whatever your plans and choices, savor and enjoy however you celebrate.  It is the season of peace, good will toward all.  Let's keep that purpose in our hearts and do our best to show it in our actions, this special time of year!

Life is good.  Spark on!  Merry Christmas!  Happy Festivus!  Happy Kwanzaa!  And best wishes to last into the upcoming New Year.