Someday

I have lived most (all) of my life putting things off until "someday" and this fever I have had has sort of caused me to think--is this, now, someday?  Or have I missed "someday" and gone directly to "too late now".

I have (will have) been home rather than at work for four full days.  It feels like weeks.  It feels good. I have forgotten about work and haven't worried or fretted about what I may have "missed".   I have rested.  While the fever was attacking--I tossed and turned. But once it passed--I rested.

Just sitting.  Letting time pass and wash over me.  No time clock to punch.  No place to be.  Not even any meals to prepare.  G and I just stopped eating it seems.  I remember making food on Monday and Tuesday.  G must be eating that.  I have existed on well spaced cheese sandwiches.  On hamburger buns.  Just two slices of cheese and the bun.  No heat, no toasting, no condiments.  Each bite taking forever to chew until I had to fall asleep from the effort.  Looks like I had 4 of them over 3 days.

The house is being painted.  There are so many decisions to make.  This color here or here?  These two side by side?  What about this?  I fear I am making all the WRONG choices and the house will look like a JOKE.  Good thing we have so many trees.

I am going out to a friend's right now--in the car.  For tea and to look at books.  Should be enough excitement to generate a nap when I get home.

Sick Days

I was slammed by a fever and headache after work on Wednesday and have been in bed since. Not eating and not drinking.  Just rolling around trying to find a "cool spot" for my head.

Today the fever is gone--as of now-- but I am dizzy and taking long rest periods on the couch.

I hear "this" is going around but what it is--don't have a clue.  I was very worried it had to do with the two ticks I found on myself earlier in the week.  Dog ticks but not the more dangerous deer ticks.

Got to go rest.  This writing was too much for me.  Sigh.

Seedlings

I made the newspaper cylinders but didn't use them.  Why?  I guess the correct answer is that I forgot I had made them.   Today I transplanted all my little "from seed" tomatoes to pots.  Solo rather than the group pots they had started out in.  Some liked it and others--not so much.

I also "pricked" the tiny zinnia seedlings out of their group pots and now they are in single pots. They didn't like it either (getting all droopy)  but a refreshing gulp of fish emulsion seems to have perked everyone up.  I transplanted the calendula seedlings directly into the garden.

My garden beds look like little green dot drawings.  Everything is sprouting but still very very tiny. I have planted what I actually eat, not what I think I should plant.  I eat carrots, radishes, mixed salad greens (I have two kinds of kale, mustard, arugula, escarole, spinach and mixed salad) the other bed is full of radishes, kohlrabi (I hope), carrots and beets.  Yes!!! Finally I have beets seeds that grew.

Another bed is full of garlic (planted last October), red onions and yellow onions, shallots (two varieties) and sprinkled with scallion (green onion) seeds.  I also have three very large chive clumps.

My peppers and tomatoes aren't ready to go into the garden yet.  And I have cucumber seeds planted in the hot box along with squash and zucchini.  The seedlings at work are calling to me, but I am resolute and will be growing from seed this year.  I want lots and lots of cucumbers for my cucumber water drink, my cucumbers in sour cream and for dill pickles.

I have worked very long and hard tilling amendments into the raised beds to add nutrition.  Last year's garden was a struggle.  I added coffee bean chaff to the beds to "lighten" up the soil plus fertilizer and quick acting lime.  Some of the beds got cow manure as well--the beds for squashes, tomatoes and peppers.  Heavy feeders.

My pea plants are up and trying to grab onto the supporting wires I have arranged for them.  I planted them at the correct Maine time--Fourth of July is steamed red potatoes, fresh picked peas and salmon. I don't know why but I would guess it's because this would be the first "fresh" meal after a terribly long winter of eating stored or jarred foods.

I am trying to empty the freezer.  I want to have room for blackberries, ice cream and stacks of chicken breasts pounded flat and ready to be marinaded and slapped on the grill.  I bought 6 ears of corn today at the grocery--- why do we have corn already?  I skipped the watermelon.  But did buy a branch of red tomatoes which I hope will soften up on the counter in the next few days.

I made a compote of rhubarb, frozen strawberries and orange juice to eat with yogurt.  I also have enough cucumbers to make gallons of my "drink"--because my ankles and hands are swelling--too much salt.  I didn't have any drink last week and missed it terribly.  Which reminds me--to add more cucumber slices to the half gallon of water I have in the fridge.

Back to work tomorrow and the house painters will be here later tomorrow morning to get started. Unless it's raining.  Which would be rather a good thing for my little seedlings.

The House Is Getting Painted

Not like this.  G is selecting the colors.  The house was sage green when G first saw it and purchased it.  I saw the house the day we closed.  Yep.  We bought a house I had never seen.

I chose the present color--Shortbread (Martha Stewart) and everyone--including me, hates it.  The painting contractor is/was disgusted by the "cookie" color and the  bright rhododendron colored green shutters.  I thought the paint would fade.  Then I prayed the paint would fade.  But the guy who does the painting, is so good that even 10 years later--it looks like it did the day they finished painting the house.

G has chosen sage green.  He has also chosen--by the painting contractor's rule book--- the light shade which is two values removed from the sage green (the house body color) and the dark is two shades the other direction on the color stick.  He also purchased pints of the colors he was considering and I made color swatches on the front of the house.  It looks like a very odd quilt.

G wants the house to look like it did when he fell in love with it in 1991.  I just want the man to be happy.  I still love the green shutters.  I actually had the color people make the paint from an actual rhododendron leaf.

Update On G's ongoing incision.  Finally the surgeon sent G to the Wound Center nurse.  We have moved on from the daily wet/dry dressing to a "matrix" which is a sort of foam imbedded with collagen and antibiotics.  I pack it in and cover with gauze and tape.  In 7 days the opening has closed 67%.  Very fast working stuff.  Too fast.  As the outer edges cannot be allowed to close before the inner layers have healed.  The nurse may have to "re-open" things.  It's always something isn't it?

The most interesting part of this is that the company that makes this foam "matrix" is located on the repurposed Navy base in our Town.  The company is from Sweden or Finland.  They make the foam here in Brunswick and then ship it back to Europe where the healing medicals are added and then it comes back to the Wound Center and the nurse gives it to G.  Imagine, in a few years, having bandaids with this foam to put on burns or cuts and healing 67% faster than usual.  Imagine having something like this to use in Burn Units.  Right now it's being used to heal or prevent bed sores in hospitalized patients.

G's surgery and recovery have opened both our eyes to how much the medical side of life has changed while we weren't paying any attention.

Calming Path

I am invited to "turn inward" tomorrow for the Dark Moon and "see" the path I should be traveling in the coming years.  I wonder if I can "google" "turn inward".   I guess it would be like meditating.
I would love to have an idea of what my future should look like.  I tend to just blunder along without a thought.

I have tomorrow off and my intentions are to get things going in the garden.  One more bed needs work (possibly a second one) and then I can seed the one bed with kale, rocket, chard and possibly a mixed green (lettuce) mixture.  The bed was full of cabbages last year.  And cabbage worms. Since I rarely harvest more than one good cabbage---I decided to spend my space on things I actually buy and eat.  Greens.

G didn't make nearly enough carrot seed tapes so I got him to make more.  I may even make more myself.  I love carrots.  And beets.  We planted some beet seeds and I hope they come up this year.  I got one woody little beet last year, but lots of turnips.  This year it's kohlrabi.  I like eating that raw. I am trying a heirloom radish--long like a carrot and pale pink on the outside and "crisp" inside.  We'll see.

My seedlings are not thriving.  The tomatoes have purple leaves.  I looked it up and I think it might be too cold for them in the house.  But the websites say it's not a bad thing and they will "outgrow" it and be just fine.  I have quite a few of the Lowe's zinnias.  The first batch has their second leaves. Perky and all green.  No purple leaves.  No basil.  For some reason I just can't grow basil. It must be a curse or something.

We started selling cucumber seedlings today at work.  Way too chilly for little cucumbers but people are buying them.  I am making, and drinking, my cucumber and lemon water to keep myself hydrated at work.  I think the bottle holds nearly 8 cups of water which is 7 cups more than I usually drink. The water with it's light cucumber flavor goes down easy.  I have no idea why.  I also take a quart canning jar with me to work filled with cold coffee, Splenda and cream.  Then I don't need "take out" coffee during the day.

Well, I am covered in dirt and need a shower and my clothes need to be put in the washer.  I think I might finish my library book tonight.  That will be a major accomplishment.

G is doing fine (I know you all like updates).  He likes cardio rehab and they worked him hard today (treadmill on 5% incline).  He doesn't like the lectures-- today's was on fiber and if there is a food group G doesn't like--it's fiber.  No grains, lentils, beans etc for him.  He gardens most days, walks 2 miles with Riley and has cut our grass (it took 2 hours) and cut the neighbor's lawn (not on the same day).   His "zipper" wound is doing great and he is now going to the Wound Clinic and has some new "magic stuff" that I will be inserting each day to make the wound heal a bit faster.  It looks like foam pads.  All this activity has increased his appetite so he is eating better now.  I was a bit worried about too many skipped meals.  His heart is working perfectly.

Container Gardens & Mother's Day

I have been teaching quite a few classes this Spring and container gardening was most often.  I have a few tips to share with you but the most important one is---use something out of the ordinary for the container.  Like a tower of tin tubs topped with a watering can like this shop has made for their window.  I found it on pinterest.

Container Tips.

1.  Only use light soil made specifically for containers.  It has to do with "Physics" which I never studied but the heavy soils (which are NOT meant for containers) have no where to "dissipate" and the pressure goes outward toward the side of the container and then pushes back and crushes the plants roots.

2.  Use a 4 or 6 month fertilizer in the form of little beads.  Osmacote is what I have used at home and at work.

3.  Use Moisture Crystals--the smallest amount as they soak up water and enlarge and if you use too many--well, your plants will "pop" right out of the window box after a big rain.  The nice thing about the crystals is they provide "insurance" in case you forget to water or the day gets really hot between the before work watering and the after work watering.

4.  Baby Diapers.  I have learned that the new diapers contain Moisture Crystals and I noticed on Pinterest that a Master Gardener used diapers to line containers, baskets and window boxes.  Anyone tried this?  The new gal at work has a 3 year old who just outgrew diapers and she has a few extras.  So we are going to give it a try.  I love a good experiment.  I intend to poke holes in the diapers so the excess water can drain away, but this may not be possible with these new age diapers.  We'll see.

5.  Containers need something tall or striking (thriller) something to drip over the edges (spiller) and something to fill in to make the container look full (filler).  Thrillers are usually singular--as too much of them starts to look like "filler" and the shock value is lost.  I have used shrubs, rose bushes and large indoor plants for the "Thrill" of it.  Spillers are typically that old standby--sweet potato vine.  Only it gets carried away and you are left with boxes, containers and window boxes that just look like a "whole lotta sweet potato vine".  I like lobelia.  It's cloud-like and rather romantic.  Filler can be petunias or anything like that.  Stuff that has lots of flowers and color.


6.  Shade plants for shade and sun plants for sun.  Period.

7.  Odd containers.  We had some succulents planted in an old boot.  Herbs planted in an old used colander with big handles.  Houseplants in a wire basket lined with wet sheet moss.  I am trying to get G to free an old mailbox from the wood support he screwed it to and I will lay a filled container on it's side in the box with the "flap" in the open position.  What pretty mail!  My employer is giving me some cash to go shopping at Goodwill for interesting containers.  I have been hoping for a birdcage or a chandelier.  A nice old wooden wine box would be great as well.  We used to have a wine shop but it's now a "trendy" small plate restaurant.  You know--$75 for dinner and you leave hungry.

8.  Have fun.  A container is a short timer.  You aren't building a relationship with it.  If it works--great.  If not--well, you can always take it apart and start over.  I rebuilt some garden boxes three or four or five times today.  I lost track.  In the end they looked good.  In between, well, not so great.  Easy to fix.

9.  And Happy Mother's Day.  I always love taking orders from sons, daughters and daughter's in law for their moms.  It's been a good week at work.  Lots of love.

10. A special Thank You to my own daughter for lugging the five foot fig tree down from the attic to the back porch.  All by herself.  Dad and I were surprised to find it by the door when we got home from our walk with Riley.  

And Suddenly...Winter Disappeared

We are enjoying warm weather here in Maine.  70's.  Which was what the temp was last.....well, I think it was last August.  I am NOT complaining.  Warm is most excellent.

G has been to 2 Cardio Rehab classes.  He doesn't like the lectures but does enjoy the stretching and exercises and after--in the cool down segment of rehab, he has been meditating.  The RN is concerned re: his blood pressure is too low for her comfort.  100/60.  G learned to meditate when he took karate lessons.  There was stretching, action and meditation.  Now, he uses that experience in rehab.  Perhaps they should teach all the participants to meditate?

I am now working five full days.  It happened last week.  I wasn't asked and, truth be told, I hadn't noticed.  But when I did notice I was suddenly exhausted. (laughing)

I am overjoyed to have tomorrow off.  I started digging in the herb bed on Sunday (after shopping for socks) and managed to wrestle the outlaw mint plants out of the path and out from under the raised bed--where they had made their "escape".  I even have a bag of soil to re-locate them in sturdy pots.
My peas are popping up their little heads in the far right bed and all the rescued bulbs (blown flowers) are now tucked into new homes in the back yard beds.

The rhubarb has been given lobster compost in hopes of a large supply of rhubarb this year.  I think the rhubarb is having a difficult time in the very sandy soil where it is planted.  I added two full bags of compost and I think I could even add two more.  I mixed it in well and the resulting soil was looking very sandy---still.

We have three tiny "christmas trees" to plant somewhere in the back lawn.  Really tiny.  About 18 inches high.  Adorable.  I have a large bag filled with moss for future fairy gardens.  I have seeds to start in my styrofoam "hot box".  I have the carrot beds to fertilize and refresh before planting the toilet paper carrot seed tapes. It's too warm the next two days.  I need a few cloudy, cool days with light rain.

I have tomorrow off.  Lovely stuff.  A day off.

Looks Like The Guest Room Upstairs

Really.  I don't think there are many rooms like this, but I could be wrong.

I am working too much I think.  Had a lovely walk in the woods today with Riley and my friend. Then G and I worked on the pile of dirt the snow plow dumped on the street edge of the property. I did most of it but G helped.

Reading a good book--Broken Harbor by Tana French.

My seedlings are doing very well in the styrofoam "hot box"--with one pot of tomato seeds germinating in just 30 hours.  The flat leaf parsley isn't doing anything.  I may need to try again. Right now I have five pots of seeds under lights and five in the box.

I need an extra day off this week and I might be able to get the carrots, kohlrabi and onions into the garden.  Do you think I could actually manage to get an extra day off????  Didn't think so.

Overwhelmed With Post It's

This would be a horrible idea.  All those notes to one's self dangling overhead.  Unless of course they are notes of love and devotion overhead for a birthday or anniversary.

I have a list on the pantry door.  A long list. Which is bad enough. Some of it is things to do and some of it is things to think about.  I have an additional list of recipes to make or just think about.  My appointment with my doctor is on May 6th and I am FAR away from the number we agreed on.  I am seriously trying but I think I will have to ask for help.  Either a program or a medicine.

I eat mostly yogurt with fruit (from the freezer and my garden) or a salad with some kind of protein.  Right now it's a green salad with carrots and no dressing and pile of crock pot BBQ'ed pork. I sometimes have tuna salad with the plain greens and carrot. I now have a recipe for curried chickpeas that I can use for the protein but a commenter on the Simple Veganista blog said she made the curried recipe with a can of tuna.  I also love the plain greens with chicken salad.  No carbs.

I think my problem is not eating when I actually feel hungry.  It's not time to eat, or I am too busy to eat or I have nothing proper to eat when I get hungry.  Then I just eat (random) things and never feel satisfied. I need to eat sitting down.  Slowly.  I just wish it worked out that way at work.  But it doesn't.  I was halfway through my yogurt with peaches and raspberries when the truck arrived yesterday and then failed to make myself a proper salad when it was time to eat at home.  So the day was a fail.  Breakfast is working just fine.

And my knee has started to hurt like it did last Spring.  No swelling yet.  I have the pad stuck to the side of my foot and I am using this roller thing my daughter got from the running store.  You roll it over tight muscles (which are tender so it isn't a pleasant feeling until you stop) and you feel better. She used it for ankle tendon issues and foot pain.  I rolled it over my back (and G's) and then up and down the back of my right knee.  It feels better this morning.  I think it's the abrupt return to the cement greenhouse floors and the uneven gravel in the perennial yard.  And I'm getting older and older and doing the same amount of physical labor.  I was 60 when I started this job and now I am 68.5.  And this year I have all the work at home to do as well.  I have limited my exposure to work (how fun is that?) to 3.5 days.  So, I go to work 4 days a week but get to leave early on one of those days.  Two hours early.  The maximum time I am sitting on those four days is 15 to 30 minutes.  The rest of the time I am standing, walking, bending or hauling things around.  Why am I so fat?????

I brought a foam Omaha Steaks cooler box from work (the dumpster) and inserted my seed starting mat into the bottom and my pots of seeds.  G says it's too warm.  But I think it might be "just right" with the lid a bit off to the side.  The pink zinnias (8 of the seeds) have germinated already but not much else.  Seeds need heat to germinate quickly.  Especially the tomato seeds.

I have seeds (new to me) named for two WWII dictators.  One from Italy (Mussolini) and one variety from Romania.  Collected by Italians coming to America and the other from an oil contractor bringing a ripe tomato home from Romania.  Both are supposed to be very delicious. Tomato growing is never boring.

The house across the street from me is now up for sale.  The advertisement had 36 photos of the rooms in the house.  It all looks so "artificial" (and gorgeous) but I hope nice people come to look and buy.  My neighbor can no longer afford to live across the street from me.  A combination of employment issues, poor health and rising property taxes.

I Wish I Had Tomorrow Off

I got used to having Sunday and Monday off.  And now I have to go to work on Monday.  Poo.

The Fairy Garden I made as a sample sold just as I was going to get it to show to the people in my vegetable gardening class.  So, after class, I had to build another one.  Quickly.

Three people showed up to build a fairy garden and one of them was seven years old with the attention span of a gnat.  Her sharp little voice was more than I could stand but I just counted to ten and kept saying "not yet" as she tried doing things out of order.  Later I realized the older woman with her was so much worse.  At that point, the seven year old had run off to look for a "fairy" and was unavailable for me to appreciate.  All three gardens looked very nice.

I then used the extra container to make a second "sample" for anyone wanting a fairy garden.  I used up the entire bag of mosses Riley and I collected and all the bark and twigs and most of the acorns and caps (the seven year old wanted her fairy to have a complete set of dinner plates).  No one made a fairy banner but I think the seven year old might have liked it--if she had stayed around more.  But--searching for fairies is difficult work.

Today, G and I went to Patty's house to help prune her grapes.  When we got there it was warm but the chill arrived mid-way.  It was hard getting G to "not over do" in the physical work.  He was supposed to sit in the lawn chair and supervise.  I circled some of the vines in a box for future grape vine wreath making.  The remainder of the vines got clipped--by me-- into an easily moved pile of same size pieces.  About 3 feet tall.

Now we are home.  Riley threw up his supper. And I was ever so pleased he did so on the plain wooden floor and not on the beige carpet.  I found the new shoe laces I had misplaced.  I have 8 containers of seeds planted and sitting on top of the heating pad (one made for plants) and feel like I am actually "getting somewhere".  G has a large quantity of "seed tape" made up for carrots and kohlrabi.  We use toilet paper and flour and water paste.  Beets next time.  I have already planted my peas.  I did not get to pick up the tree limbs and branches off the front lawn.  I had wanted to get that done today.  It'll have to wait.

And This Is What I Have Been Doing......

Teaching Classes.  Working.  Being Nurse Joanne.  Not Cooking.  Walking The Dog.

All this activity has also increased my weight. Yeah.  Go figure how that works.

On Tuesday I taught two classes after being at work from open to 3 pm.  My day lasted exactly 12 hours and then I got to go home and change the dressing on G's "zipper" which has opened due to an allergic reaction to the stitches.  It's healing and the surgeon's office is happy with my work.

G is actually doing very well.  He sits in the sunshine most afternoons and gets his dose of vitamin D from the sun, sleeps well, is reading his book at a good clip, and even did a bit of repair work on his webbed lawn chair when it self destructed the other day.  In between, he is driving himself to a multitude of doctor's appointments and tomorrow is his first day at Cardio Rehab.

The photo up top is of a Fairy Garden.   Saturday I am teaching Small Space Gardening at 10 am and Build a Fairy Garden at 2 pm.  I am so looking forward to this class.  Right now I only have one person signed up but, hopefully, the little "demo" garden I made up today will interest somebody else.

On my walk with Riley after work (my days are long), in the woods, (which has finally shed about 75% of it's snow cover), I collected lots of bark, moss and lichens.  Two handsful and a pile more between my arm and shoulder.  Tomorrow (my day off) Riley and I will be digging up moss for the class.  I like a Fairy Garden to look "woodsy".  Like the fairy just left home to go looking for an acorn cap to use as her dinner plate.  The Borrowers books were big favorites of mine.  All those tiny things they "borrowed" from the house for their little house.  Matchboxes for beds, etc.

Which brings me round to my weight.  Way more than I thought it would be.  I am feeling quite defeated as I haven't really been eating badly since March 4th.  I think I had salads in the hospital cafeteria most days.  Not much for dinner.  Always bran flakes for breakfast.  Most days it's yogurt and fruit for lunch and a salad for dinner.  Treats are limited to popcorn or a Dairy Queen cone. I'm going to "think" it's water retention and hope for better things tomorrow.  But my ring isn't tight.

And that's what is going on here.  It's all good.  I do have to collect all the sticks and twigs off the lawn (front and back) and then G might show me how to use the gas powered brush to get all the sand off the lawn out by the street.  Orphan Black is coming back on this week.  The Americans is getting very dark and it was nice to see Joss back on Person of Interest which has rating problems due to all the boring Samaritan story line which seems endless.  And Shaw is gone.  Presumed dead.  All the best shows end up doing something to kill the ratings.  Even Elementary.

Happy Easter Everyone

Nothing I like better than polka dot rabbits.  Well, carrots are pretty good, too.

I worked today.  And no one cooked dinner.  So we went to Chinese and G had a big bowl of hot and sour soup.  He is always feeling cold these days.  It could be the meds that are slowing his heart rate or it could just be a lack of exercise.  He walks but mostly he sits and reads or sleeps.  He starts cardio rehab later in the month.

I am back to work.  Three and one half days.  I find I enjoy having 3 days off.  This week two of them were in a row and that was very nice indeed.  I set those two days aside for doing the taxes but I only needed five hours on the first day.  So, the second day was like a holiday.

I wish I had planned ahead and cut some branches to force in the house.  I have a lovely collection of eggs and rabbits from my years in Germany and loved having an Easter Tree to decorate the house back then.  I always forget to do the same here in the US of A.  Why?  Holidays were so much easier to plan for in Germany.  The shops had plenty of tiny eggs and rabbits for sale.  Not candy and toys.
I don't even know what is traditional to eat on Easter in Germany.  Or I have forgotten.  Marimo will you remind me????

Next year.  Remind me.  I need a calendar for 2016 to write notes into.  Like the past me reminding the future me of important dates.  I remember doing that one December.  Writing in the new year calendar where I had put the new lights and decorations I had purchased in the after holiday sales.
And, true to form--by the next December I had forgotten about them.  Great to see the reminder.

Now---I need to find a 2016 calendar.

Doing Our Taxes

Kicking and Screaming.  I always leave this to the last and then it takes all of three or four hours and I bang my forehead on the desk and yell "why did I wait?".  And here we are again.

My excuse this year is G's heart.  Not that I didn't have the time (I didn't) but that he hadn't installed the updated tax program before having the heart attack.

This is my story and I'll stick to it.

Another page in the history of our marriage.  I am forever a procrastinator.  Writing this is procrastination.  Picking dead, dry leaves off a fern, that was also.  Oddly enough, I do some things when procrastinating that would be the things not being done by others who procrastinate.  I do laundry, wash dishes, change bedding, take down and wash heavy large curtain panels, wash windows, vacuum, weed the garden etc etc.  Those things don't bother me.  I will even iron huge baskets full of shirts.  And starch them.  No problem.

Taxes?  Problem.  Paying Bills?  Problem.  Car Servicing? Problem.  Driver's License Renewal? Problem.  My own doctor's appointments?  Problem.  Appointments At the Bank?  Problem. Learning New Computer Software?  Forget about it.

And that's the post for today.  I have to stop now or lose whatever slight momentum I have to actually get the taxes done today.  OMG.

Monday, Monday

Snowing.  When will it ever stop????

G has been on the phone most of the morning--making appointments.  Apparently, everyone in Maine who had the right set up--had a heart attack in March.  G has to wait to get into Cardio Rehab and has to wait for appointments with his doctors.  On the positive side: he didn't have the Widow Maker. Others weren't so lucky and their families are planning funerals.  Two that I know of last week.

The Open House was good.  I was very tired when I got home and am happy to have today off.  I have already watered the plants "over-wintering" in the attic-- and they are doing very well--even the geraniums.  I need to start my tomato seedlings. And my pepper seedlings.  And the onions.  And the fennel.  And, I need to take the dog for a walk.  He hasn't had a walk in quite a few days.

What I actually want to do is sit on the cozy couch and read my library book.

The visiting nurse is here.

Spring Open House @ Work

I've gone back to work.  Three part time days and tomorrow a full time day--starting way too early.  I have to go in and water before the Early Bird Sales.  I am NOT an Early Bird.

I went to the grocery today and stocked up on elements.  Sweet potatoes to bake (I like them as a meal).  A roasted turkey breast from the deli.  Sliced ham and cheese.  Some ground beef to add to a can of marinara so G can have "pasta" when ever he desires.  Even a wheat pizza dough ball for an onion and mushroom pizza. Items that can be quickly mix and matched for a low sodium meal or two.  And for me, two large tubs of Greek yogurt as my favorite lunch is yogurt with fresh fruit.  Grapefruit.  Mango.  Peaches and raspberries.  Sounds like Spring doesn't it.

I started watching "DIG" last night.  Jerusalem is the setting.  Plenty of twists, turns, levels, cliffs in the car and on foot chase scenes.  Should be exciting but is mainly confusing. We have to look further and further for things to watch during the basketball playoffs.

Today I moved all the furniture back to the original spots.  G is no longer sleeping on the couch or needing a special chair to sit in (easy to get up and out of).  He looks and acts like he did prior to the heart attack and the surgery.  He may even be feeling better than he did--before.  And yesterday he sneezed and it wasn't the horror he had been led to believe it would be.  His chest didn't split open. Ha!!

Today we are having a light snowfall.  And it's very cold.  But the first crocuses are coming up in the lawn where the snow has melted.  I put all the pots of bulbs outside.  Might as well get used to the real weather.  Tough love.

Well, that's it for now.  I still have the taxes to work on--once I figure out my work schedule.  And then I need to start seeds.  And I have two off site classes to teach on April 14th.  And more classes during the month.  A very, very, busy start to the season.  Whoosh!!!

Have A Seat

We just got back from  this week's visit to the heart surgeon's office.  G can now sit in the front seat of the car, and drive the car, and tuck in his own shirt tails.  Nurse Joanne has been given the heave ho.
In fact, G drove us home and we got him a Butterfinger Blizzard at Dairy Queen to celebrate.

The last bits of "getting back to normal" will be going to cardio rehab for a few weeks.  An exercise program that the local hospital runs.  G has to make appointments with his lung doctor and with his new heart doctor.  But that's it.  Seems anti-climatic doesn't it?  After such an intense three weeks. Of course, G will still be taking 2 or 3 hour naps in the middle of each day for awhile.

Really, that was three weeks???????  Wow.  Amazing what heart surgeons can do these days.

I went in to work yesterday for a few hours.  It was super nice.  Warm and sunny and it smelled like dirt.  My boss was telling people to go see me because "she's happy today and it won't last". I think it will last because I had a glimpse of what "unhappy" might look like and I don't want to go there anytime soon. Now I can tell my boss he can put me on the schedule.  Back to work.  Nice.

Thank you to everyone--your comments waiting for me when I arrived home each evening meant the world to me.  Like getting hugs from people who cared about me.  And your thoughts and prayers were with me on the long drive and the long days sitting next to G in his bed or chair.  I never once felt alone.  Thank you, thank you, thank you.

I will try my hardest to pay this forward for anyone who has need.  I promise.

Cymbidium Orchids

I was given four pots of these orchids--two quite awhile ago and two more a year or so ago.  They are outside from Spring to Fall and in the house for the Winter.  When they are supposed to bloom. I am having no trouble getting them to grow nice green leaves, but flowering?  Not so lucky.  One of them did  manage a flower stalk but an accident involving G dropping something on the pot--ended the possibility of flowers.  Two plants are white flowering and two are pink.

The "trick" to flowering cymbidium is lots of nitrogen spring to midsummer and then a wallop of  super phosphate in August and September.  I get the nitrogen part every year, but miss the deadline for the bud setting phosphate.  The orchids, with nice leaves and no flowers, are up in the upstairs bathroom.  In the tub.

G had a shower today.  He had been apprehensive about getting all the "wounds" on his body wet, so we kept putting it off.  I did sponge baths for him.  But today, he had a shower and loved it.

It's really the small things in life that bring the most pleasure, isn't it.

Will Spring Be Colder Than Winter???

The wind is blowing.  And it's very, very cold.  G is bundled up in as many down items as I can stack on top of him.  He's cold.  Stays cold.  But is getting stronger every day.

We are on that "one day up and one day down" roller coaster that is "recovery". We've had the visiting nurses here.  One just to "check on the household" and today's visit from a very nice RN who checked G throughly, took blood for the doctor's visit tomorrow, and chatted with G about how he feels, is using the pain meds etc.  She wants more walking.  So I got him set up with a heavy sweater, gloves and his chest vent "tote bag" and off he went--around the house.  All by himself.  For 8 minutes.

I used the iPhone to take a picture of the lung vent tube inserted in his right lung.  He had no idea what it looked like.  We also took a picture of the "knob" and"zipper" he now has down the middle of his chest.

He's coughing a bit more than usual today (loosening up the junk in his lungs) and he hasn't had the "sneeze" yet but has been told it's pretty horrible when it happens.

He's eating.  I'm not sure I am making him things he actually would pick off a menu.  Today it was fresh tomatoes and fresh mozzarella with balsamic vinegar and olive oil.  Basil leaves.  A crusty bit of baguette. (probably not something for a cold day) Dinner will be pasta with a creamy mushroom sauce.  Familiar favorites. G doesn't like soup other than chicken noodle--salty--so I can't make that.

I bought a nice pork tenderloin and am looking for a recipe for cooking it.  G likes his pork sweet and sticky.  So, I am looking for something Asian inspired.  But not too much soy--as we are low sodium now.

I was going to make his new favorite lasagna "cupcakes" but can't find the package of won ton wrappers I tucked into the freezer.  I have pulled open the drawers three or four times, looking, and still no luck.  I have a small amount of egg noodles in the fridge and might just layer them up with lasagna fixings and bake them.  I think two small oven proof cups.  Easy enough to pop into the oven to bake.

I have the dishwasher going, am in the middle of cleaning my bathroom vanity (ick), have to do the evening pills and we have to be at the hospital by 9:45 for the chest X-ray.  So, we need to leave home by 8:45 at the latest (to find parking)---- it takes quite awhile to get G up and dressed in the morning so I think I will be setting the alarm for "still dark" tomorrow.  Early bedtime.

Is It Spring Yet????

No grass showing but the expected storm--well, it went somewhere else, I guess.  Not that I am complaining.  I was not looking forward to shoveling the driveway.

G is home.  This happened on Saturday morning.  We got settled into a sort of routine with visits to the bathroom (thank you to our daughter for installing the raised toilet seat), naps, adjustments to the wing chair where G is napping, reading email and watching tv.

He slept on one of the two extra long couches in the living room last night because out four poster bed is just a little too high.  The couch is just a little bit too low.  As is the case in most everything, getting down onto the couch was a whole lot easier than getting up off the couch.  We managed with the 9 step program (of my own making) starting with two or three harder pillows being added behind his back to get him into a more "seated position".  We had to stop often while he worked through the discomfort.  He has a lung tube that cause "twinges".

My friend P, asked at her gym this morning, and they are graciously lending us one of their "step" exercise steps.  G will be able to step up on the "step" and then settle his bottom onto the bed and "roll" onto his back.  This also will "twinge" quite a bit.  It looked so much easier when the PT helpers did it.

Best of all, G is finally eating and has some appetite.  I served him a simple pasta with marinara and he had two servings.  Still not happy with the low sodium turkey or ham I got for him but he liked the cracker (only one) and the chocolate chip cookie I home baked for him.  I skipped the salt in the recipe.  G is lucky--not diabetic.  So he gets all the sugar he wants.

I want you all to start looking at the labels on the stuff you eat.  So much sodium in everything. Fat-well I was into that on Atkins and I know what has fat and what doesn't.  The lower the fat content--the higher the sodium.  Wrong on so many levels.  Try to lower your fat intake and they kill you with sodium.  And bread.  Try to find low sodium bread.  Even the multigrain loaf was over the top.  360 grams in one slice.  Limit is 2000g per day.  About a teaspoon.  I will be making my own bread for him to eat.  I think the no knead one you toss into a hot cast iron casserole.

In fact, I will be taking care of him 24/7 and not going back to work until his recovery is complete. Six weeks. I'm not being a saint here.  For better or worse.  He'd do the very same for me.

Things Are Improving

Another update.  The only thing hooked up to g when I left the hospital room at 4 pm on March 11th were the chest drain tubes.  the oxygen is only being used when he does his "lap" walks around the nurse's station.  And he even tried that with out holding onto the cart handles today.  He also washed his face and brushed his teeth standing up in the bathroom.  Yes, I am bragging on him!!!

I also passed a threshold.  I drove the car to the hospital instead of asking for someone to drive me.
Well, there wasn't anyone to drive me.  So, my choices were to drive myself and be with G or stay at home and feel defeated.

I also had to pump gas.  Since I went as far as the gas station, I decided to go a bit further down the same road and visit work and pick up the floral basket they had made for me.  Beautiful.  Really, really beautiful.  And they were so happy to see me.  The concern was evident on all their faces.

So--it was a four star day today.

Oh, and I walked Riley when I got home (at 4 pm) and he was very, very surprised and delighted.  The floors in the house are covered in dog toys.  I am just going to leave it all out since that's the way he likes it. Riley has been so good.  I leave him in the morning and come home after dark (usually) and he doesn't complain.

G had a feeling that he might be able to go home on Friday.  I'll let you know.

Many, many thanks to all who have mentioned in their comments and emails that they have the two of us in their thoughts and prayers.  As I mentioned to my co-worker --- I can feel the good vibes.
don't ask me how I know that's what it is--but I feel like I am wrapped in happiness and kindness and that feeling is transmitted to G when I sit next to his bed or his chair.  And to Riley who is eating and sleeping and feeling quite positive about his person.