A week of DAYs

Some weeks I can sort out and determine that the week has separate days.  Some weeks, like this one, even though I can pinpoint the happenings, they all run together like one long never ending day.   Like a river running downhill, never ending day. 

Monday: Getting boxes from a friend at work, packing boxes.  Turning on t.v. to check Dr. Oz and seeing the news about the bombings in Boston, which played over and over the rest of the day.  I am not a t.v. watcher, or a news watcher...except in times of national tragedy. Watch, while sorting papers and tossing things out.

Tuesday:  Out to get hair cut.  Call from Sister that Dad has fallen yet again, last night, and was taken to hospital by ambulance.  Broken ribs, several stitches in head and arm. Spoke to her several times this day. Do we get on a plane and get there ASAP, or keep the original plan to go on the 5th of May. Fill trash can and recycling bin along with large bag of clothes to take to Goodwill.  Hub checks airfare prices online, just to be prepared.

Wednesday: Dentist appointment at 8:00 a.m. More calls back and forth with Sister.  They discovered Daddy has 3 broken ribs instead of the two they originally thought.  He now has pneumonia and they are talking of moving him to ICU. They said he had a very rough night last night. Yet he has 23 visitors on this day...who lets 23 people in to see a man who has pneumonia?  A man who feels the need to joke and entertain each of these visitors to convince THEM things aren't as bad as they seem!  I was a little shocked that the hospital would have allowed that many people to parade through there.

Thursday: Not sleeping, haven't slept well at all this entire week.  Up from 3a.m. to 5 a.m. with allergies, then take a pill then can't get out of bed when it is time to get up.  Drinking almost an entire pot of coffee...with cream, instead of eating breakfast.  Sister calls with report that Daddy is doing better.  Talk to him, he is joking as usual.  Packing and sorting most of day.  Bagged Chex party mix for lunch, instead of real lunch.  Husband home and cooks himself nice dinner.  I am wiped out, eat half a pear/gorgonzola flatbread from Target, with iced tea..more caffeine.  What the heck!!!  To bed, exhausted, at 9 p.m.

Friday: Awake again a lot during the night, coughing and sneezing.  Bedroom window open but not quite cool enough so just get the allergies.   Slept in till 8:30.  Cooked oatmeal for breakfast..YAY!  Only one cup of coffee.  Glass of carrot juice later. Friend called and said she had more packing boxes for me, so went to get those. She has had some bad news, try to make her feel better.  Went downtown with Hubby.  Had a green drink at Whole Foods, then steamed Sesame Kale and Ginger beets for lunch.  Yay!  Brought home shrimp and veggie skewers for dinner.  A better day foodwise.  More packing and stacking boxes for our road trip on May 5th.  Talked to Sister again.  Daddy is doing better today, but still can't eat.  They think he might have an obstruction in his esophagus, so are going to do some exploring on that. They did say they are keeping him over the week-end, and will release him on Monday.  He will go to the same rehab facility that he was in before when he broke his hip.  Relieved that things are getting better for him.  Sister said he only had 5 or 6 visitors today.

Plans for the week-end. Relax a little bit.  Earth Day Festival tomorrow.  Hubby is going to the Moto GP race on Sunday.  We had tickets for all three days, but gave them away for today and tomorrow.  I wouldn't have wanted to go to this one anyway, so glad to have someone else who would enjoy it be able to.

Amazing how much better I feel after one day of decent eating instead of  JUNK!  We eat well most of the time, but sometimes slip into really bad habits like I have several times this week.  Well, I'm snapping out of it, and will do better this week-end.

Don't try THIS at Home!

Well, I just had a really disgusting happening! There will be no photos, you can just use your own imaginations to picture it. First to set the stage: I am having back problems the past couple of weeks, so can't sit for very long. But I still keep multi-tasking like I always do. Figure if I sit awhile, walk to another location, sit awhile there, etc. You get the picture. Been working all morning on ICAD cards, painting some journal pages, tidying the family room, searching for little metal brads, this and that. Realized I've only been drinking coffee and haven't had breakfast. So what do I do, get another cup of coffee and a bowl of gingersnaps and head to the computer where I've been blog hopping. Well, I don't know how y'all eat gingersnaps, but I like to "dunk em". I'm trying to grab a blog button and get signed up for another challenge, and gawking at traci bunkers site with my mouth open. Both in awe at her stuff, and to stuff a dunked soggy cookie in it. OOPS...you guessed it. I held on to it a few seconds too long, and whadyaknow... It drops right on my keyboard. On the way down it slides on the front of me..oh yes I am still wearing my sockmonkey p.j.s. So there is a big nasty clump on my monkeys, and on the keyboard. For one little gingersnap, it sure made a big mess to clean up. Most accidents do happen at home, and even moreso when multi-tasking! Now my back really hurts and I need to go lay down. And I may need to go buy a new keyboard.

I do plan to finish the Mockingbird saga by the week-end, as everyone has been asking for an update.

Sunday Evening... 95 degrees

Mother's Day Sunday. I cooked, we watched CBS Sunday Morning, went out to get a newspaper, called both our Mothers.
I made up this recipe for a savory bread pudding. It has bread, milk, and eggs, of course. I added some Italian herbs, and the best thing...lots of BACON. For an experiment, it turned out pretty well. It was a one dish meal, and very filling. Next time I will add some cheese, but only had cheddar on hand and that didn't appeal to me today. I'm thinking some Gruyere next time.


It got way too hot too early for me so I stayed in. With coffee, and a few chocolates and a big pile of books and magazines. Fine way to spend a Sunday afternoon as far as I'm concerned.




Hubby? He went golfing. The heat doesn't bother him. We did have a high of 97 today. Tonight a light salad and maybe a movie. A nice relaxing week-end. Oh, of course the hubby played golf yesterday as well and I went shopping with a friend for a few new art supplies. Now I just need to use some of those supplies this week.

Wintery Road Trip

Hubby had to go to Dallas on business earlier in the week. I had made plans to go along and had alerted friends I'd be coming. When it got so darn cold I almost backed out and stayed home. Especially because parts of Dallas had 5" of snow the day before we left. Hub still had to go, so I promised not to whine, and went along.

This is a farmhouse along the way, that I have been taking photos of for at least 12 years. Every time we go to Dallas. So I have pics of it in every season. I do think this is the first one I have of it with snow on it. I'm really in love with this house. Someday I may just stop and knock on the door....



It was 22 the next a.m., which doesn't sound so bad if you bundle up...However, those of you who know about humidity and wind chill...It was DARN chilly. Hub was there to oversee an outdoor project, so he was pretty miserable all day.

My friend picked me up at the hotel early and we did a wee bit of shopping, but mostly just hung out and got caught up on things. I hadn't been up there since I had my shoulder surgery in October.
A great way to warm up for lunch. El Chico's chicken tortilla soup. I NEED to learn how to make it this good at home.


After a bit more shopping we needed a Cinnamon Dolce' Latte' to warm up again. Hub and I spent the night again and after a morning meeting, headed home, so he could re-pack and fly out again, to a REALLY cold place!

Map Your Day

It's been a long rough week around here. Work coupled with jury duty for Hub and a lot of pain issues for me with my shoulder. I haven't been able to do much physically, and have been crabby and whiney all week. It doesn't help that I haven't been able to get comfortable at night, so am sleep deprived. Hub decided this morning he was going to force me out of my doldrums....I really wasn't too interested in his plans, but knew it would do no good to protest. So, off we went and I decided to kind of keep a record of our adventures of the day. Downtown early...before 10 a.m. First stop, Whole Foods for olive oil and scones. We drank coffee with the scones, brought the olive oil home. Walked across the street to By George and Waterloo Records. I'm already melting by this time, as it is hot and humid. I'm really warm by the time we get back to the car. I REALLY dislike humidity and heat! So we drove to Anthropologie instead of walking. Then Hub heads out Lamar St. for a scenic drive and we go to Starbucks, Skandanavia, then full circle back towards home. Stop at Target for a few things and see all our retail pals from there. Mikey the sign guy saved me some stuff from the Liberty of London...yay! Then lunch at ChickFilA, then get a Frappucino and head home. I'm exhausted, it is 2:30 and 93 outside. My shoulder still hurts but at least I got out and about for awhile. I am so exhausted that I might even sleep tonight...except for the caffeine in the coffee beverage.




Targets' Liberty of London collection is all on clearance now, not much left at my store but got a couple more packs of file folders. The butterfly was one of the promo items the sign guy saved for me.

Another Blue Norther

Here we go again. The cold front coming down from the North has arrived. It is 38 right now, and the prediction is that we won't see above 40 tomorrow. Those temps are really not that cold, but when you factor in the wind, it feels much colder. It was 74 yesterday and everyone was out in short sleeves. HUB even played golf...but of course he will play golf even in snow, but around here when it snows they close the courses. LOL The weathermen are so enamored of the word SNOW because here in Texas they don't get to say it very often. They expect more snow in the Dallas area and it may even reach central Texas as well. I doubt that we will get snowed in here in Austin, we haven't so far... but if the COLD keeps us in, we have plenty of supplies. Soup, bread, comfort foods. We are on our second pot of coffee and it's still very early. I cooked Oatmeal for breakfast, and we feel like that made up for the entire box of Girl Scout Thin Mint cookies we ate last night while watching the Olympics. Can you tell, we are still trying to wean ourselves off the "sweets"? That is such a challenge.

I wouldn't even care if we got snowed in...as long as I am not here alone, and HUB is snowed in up in Dallas.

Windows Wide Open

The week-end was wonderful weatherwise. After mid 90's again on Friday, we got a cold front and 30 degree drop in temperature. I love sleeping with the windows open, even though sometimes it wreaks havoc with my allergies. I'd rather put up with that than constant airconditoning.

Saturday I was able to clean house a little bit, between watching several hours of college football with hubby and even a movie. The fresh air gave me a wee boost of energy I hadn't felt all week. Oh, and remember I mentioned all the "unfinished" projects I had, I did manage to finish something...I cleaned off the table in my entryway, yet again. This is always an ongoing project, as we tend to drop things there as we come in. Keys, the mail, library books, found items such as rocks and bird feathers, etc. It gets to looking pretty cluttered, but yet we don't seem capable of breaking the habit. Once the first thing gets put there that doesn't belong, it just seems to snowball until there is a big stack. This is not a big accomplishment, such as finishing an art project, but I decided I'd better start looking at some of my chores as finished projects to keep myself from feeling like I am getting NOTHING done.
So this is the way I like it to look!


Close-up


Sunday, I had a friend over and we looked at books and magazines, planned a few art projects, watched a couple of recordings and ate this!
Vietnamese coffee, along with Italian Pizzelles. A nice little treat.

It finally FEELS like Fall

I've been so envious of those of you who have written that you are experiencing fall like weather. Even though we've had tons of rain, it was a wee bit cool then got hot hot hot again. Yesterday was in the 90's and heat index up to 100. Felt really awful. We had a cool front trying to come in, but the heat hanging over us wouldn't allow it...according to my trusty meteorologist, MM. It rained in the night a lot, and when I got up this morning it was 55 degrees. OH YEAH! Dug out the woolie socks and boots and a long sleeved shirt, along with my shiny green raincoat and scarf. Went out with hubby for awhile, for a stroll through the neighborhood. Then we went to the mall(outdoors) with our umbrellas in hand and strolled some more and got a coffee. Cold and windy, and it felt so good. It is supposed to stay cool through the week-end. I won't ever complain about it finally feeling like fall. It feels like it could be a spicy tortilla soup kinda evening. Maybe I can even dig out my flannel jammies this week-end, along with the wool throws for the sofa and chairs. Oh boy! Can you tell I am really ready for cold weather?

Bundling up a wee bit



Pomegranate blossoms after the rain

I'm such a dizzy dame!

Well, I don't usually answer when the hubster calls me that, but all this week it has been perfectly appropriate. I started having some vertigo on Sunday when out and about, just thought I'd turned my head too quickly. Have been suffering from summer allergies and that sometimes messes me up, so didn't think much of it. I had a few more episodes on Monday, let me tell you, when the room spins round and the furniture breaks up in little segments, it's a weird feeling. Both my Father,Aunt and Sister suffer from Menieres disease....so the first thing I think, is that I may have it too. I did all the things I think I need to do....the dreaded Neti-Pot first, and it helped. Then the Neil-Med sinus rinse...and a Benydryl before bed. YAY! I'm all better on Tuesday morning. No dizziness all that day or evening. Then Wed. morning I wake up and turn over in the bed and the room is spinning again. I rarely talk about my ailments, and I have a few chronic ones. Mostly, I just deal with them. But this is something new, and if I can't get it to go away, I am going to have to see the ENT doc again,and that will involve another round of tests, etc. So I am trying all the home remedies and hoping it will clear up on it's own. Sis gave me advice on what she does when hers flares up. Number one, cut back on coffee...OH NO!!!
Speaking of coffee, here is a card I made a couple of weeks ago for one of my favorite baristas who just got his own store to manage.



And while I was there visiting, I bought these new cups, the first cups I have bought in about 6-7 years. Everyone always seems to have too many coffee cups, and I am no exception, but I will get rid of 3 to make room for these. I could not resist my favorite greenish color on the little tea cup, nor the unusual handle on the white one. The other one is double walled, keeps the coffee hot, and your hand cool. Bought 2 of those.