Did He See His Shadow Or What?

According to my Aunt who resides in the keystone state AKA Pennsylvania, Punxasutawney Phil did NOT see his shadow.  Early Spring!  Or maybe not, here in Chicagoland the sun is shining for the first time in 183 days and so any local groundhogs definitely saw their shadows.

Oh well, at least January has finally ended. Don't get me wrong it wasn't terrible.  It wasn't great either. Do you have monthly goals? Did you make New Year's Resolutions?  How are you hanging in there?

Here is how my January went:

1. First and foremost, 80% done with radiation!  Wahoo! My skin looks red like a sunburn but it isn't peeling so great news.
2. I ran every day of January.  I hit my goal of running a long run of 6.5.  I raised money toward my goal for Imerman's Angels! 
3. My goal to blog 2-5 times per week was achieved.
4. I listened to 2 audiobooks and read 3 books so that meets my goal of 5 books for the month.
5. I tried two new things! 1. I attended a phone bank and made calls for Abdelnasser Rashid for Cook County Board of Review and 2. The Man and I went to CONEX the Conservation Expo.

Here is where I fell short: I wasn't able to make it to three events I really wanted to go. For one, I was too tired, two, The Man was sick as a dog with a nasty cold and three I didn't get the book of the month from the library until the date of the monthly library book club (#3 was poor planning on my part!).

Overall I give myself an A- for achieving my January Goals.

Another meal from the workshop,  two thumbs up from The Man! Chicken Enchiladas

Here is what I'll be up to in February -- reminder all -- we have an extra Saturday in February. Plan something fun for that day!

February Goals:
A long run of 7.5 miles
Dinner with Friends x 2
Blog 2-5 times per week
Create my first DIY Pinterest Project: A coffee bar!
Try 2 new things (still working on what that will be)
Lastly, have a very uneventful laparoscopic preventative surgery and celebrate being done with medical interventions for hopefully ever. (not including routine tests)

Welcome to February 2020!  Today is the same forward and backward 02022020!!

The End Is Near!

I enjoy that the phrase 'the end is near' can be positive or negative. For the purposes of today,
 it's a good thing.

The end of me driving through the gauntlet to go to radiation will be over a week from tomorrow. What is the gauntlet?  Its afternoon traffic on 95th Street where people don't use turn signals, think switching lanes in the middle of an intersection is cool, and too many people aren't paying attention when the light has changed and I am behind them.

Every day I see a few almost-accidents.  I thought I was done with my mini-rant, but before I leave the subject. Every single trip I have to stop for emergency vehicles, this isn't the rant yet, every day there are emergency vehicles going up and down 95th street--because there are two hospitals in a 2-mile stretch. And every day there are foolish drivers that turn in front of ambulances/police or fire trucks. I mean come on people! 

Okay, I'm done now, back to the good stuff. The end is near for January! It's been a long, long month. Yesterday I got my Valentine's Day leggings from Aldi and as you can see, I'm ready for February! Personally, I'm not a fan of February either, but I'm making an effort this year to appreciate the shortest month of the year. If you love February, please let me know your secret. Maybe it is copious amounts of chocolate?  I could give that a try... 

A couple of things about this picture. 1. #nofilter 2. #nomakeup and 3. my hair was still wet from a shower so you can't see the wavy curl of it. I supposed I could take another picture but #idontfeellikeit.

The end of our streak of cloudy days is near, hopefully, Sunday will be as advertised on my app: Sunny and 51 degrees. That is a Super Sunday! If it is that nice, I'm visualizing myself going on a nice long 7-mile run. #Goals! 

Only 8 more to Go! And 8 Soup Recipes!

You guys, by Friday at 5:00 PM. I'll be 80% done with radiation and I will have a literal handful of treatments left!

Today being only Wednesday, I have 8 left and completely coincidentally an e-mail from Williams-Sonoma popped into my inbox sharing 8 awesome soup recipes.  If I was a food blogger who made money from blogging about soup, I might try to make a recipe a day for the next 8 days.  However, I am not and also--who would eat that much soup.  Additionally, not having a giant freezer prevents me from making a soup a day and freezing it.  Finally, that's too much of a cooking commitment!

These are the super comfy and soft Aldi Christmas leggings. They are the best, they are like velour.

One of the soups does look amazing and I have everything except white wine and Gruyere cheese on hand to make that soup.  The name says it all, Onion Soup with Bacon, Winter Herbs and Guyere Cheese!  Again, coincidentally, the two needed ingredients are available for a low cost at Aldi, where I want to go today anyway and get those $7.99 Valentine's Day-themed fleece leggings.

Here are the super comfy and soft Aldi Christmas leggings. They are the best; they are like velour.

The stars are aligning for me to make this soup.  I'm sure it is rich in fat and calories, but also it's cold outside and life is too short not to try a decadent meal once in a while!

I feel at this point I have done a great job talking myself into making the soup.  While I don't have time today. I will have time  tomorrow.  I already have another freezer meal defrosting to whip up tonight. It's a stir fry like the picture below except for variety I'm adding rice instead of noodles tonight.

Keep your fingers crossed that Aldi has some leggings left by the time I get there tonight! Yes this is the highlight of my week, as you can tell. 

Happy Wednesday! - the last Wednesday of January 2020!  Do something nice for yourself!

How Are You Doing On Your 2020 Goals?

Did you make some goals or resolutions for this year?  It's a new decade! Exciting times and also loads of doom to focus on globally. Any who...

I am trying to keep my goals simple and specific.  One goal I have for this year is to do or try two new experiences each month.

To that end, The Man and I went to the Conservation Expo at our local high school earlier this month.  There I picked up lots of information from various groups with activities we can try this year. I'll be following up on some of the opportunities to check out wild spaces near us to visit or volunteer when the weather slides out of winter and spring begins.  :-)

For my second new experience this month, I'm really pushing myself out my comfort zone. I'm making calls for a candidate running for my congressional district.  I did postcards and now I'm going to actually speak on the phone. That's big. I don't like using my phone to speak to people, I highly prefer texting.

I should just start each phone call by saying, "Look I am actually calling you and I highly dislike making phone calls, so this shows you how much I believe in Marie Newman for District IL-03."

Our primary day is St. Patrick's Day and this is Chicagoland, so everyone needs all the reminders to go to the polls--esp. before commencing with the green beer drinking!

There you have it, my second new thing for 2020, phone calls for candidates! On the plus side, I can make the calls from home and it also helps me with my full year goal to be involved with  local government.

Anyone else out there have goals to try new things in 2020?

Focusing On What I Can Control!

Read some breaking news alerts about the Coronavirus.  It's really disappointing that this is a novel virus and not just a fancy way of saying you drank too much beer and have a hangover.

I may need to reallocate seven minutes of worry today from cancer to the coronavirus.  Where is my worry time most effective?  Oh yes, that's right.  Worrying doesn't have any actual power to do anything except possibly raise my blood pressure.

So as always, it's best to focus on what you can control.  One thing *I* can control is the answer to the question: "What's for Dinner?"  Yesterday I toiled away at a freezer meal workshop and now I have ten meals prepped in my freezer.  Okay technically it wasn't a toil, and I actually have only 9 meals left because I cooked one last night.

This was my first attempt at a homemade pot pie.  It's Chicken Broccoli (and ample tasty cheese)

This is what it looked liked prepped. Becky McNeill coordinated the event so we used Tastefully Simple products, this was a nice shortcut option. 

And here it is golden brown!

What I learned is that when you make a pot pie in a disposable foil pan, you should put the pan on a cookie sheet when baking or it's difficult to take out of the oven and you will likely break the top crust like I did here.  My smiley face is a little cracked!

I also learned you should let the baked pot pie sit for a while before you cut it or it will probably look like this on a plate.  But I was hungry!

I sprinkled paprika on top.  Paprika goes well with chicken/cheese and broccoli. I give this dish 4 out of 5 stars-would recommend- will make again!

I was pretty tuckered out last night but this will make dinners for the remainder of my radiation a breeze. I think we are going to do another workshop once spring arrives and prep meals for the grill.  I loved grilling out, especially since The Man is Griller in Chief.  :-)

Let's talk about January in Chicago.

First and foremost, it usually lasts eight weeks. I know the calendar says it's only 31 days, but it feels like at least 60 days. AT LEAST.

Granted this year we have had a mild January to date, not much snow, temperatures during the day more often above freezing than below.  However, it's still cold, most often cloudy, and makes your bones weary.

January is not a time to roam these crowded streets with bare ankles, this is for sure. And yet, I see many of my fellow people, wearing cute shoes and sporting naked ankles.  Apparently, no one had a Grandma to tell them, "Wear heavy wool socks in January!  Don't you know that 70% of your body heat escapes from your ankles!"

What? Your Grandma didn't say that about ankles?

I want to say to these slightly short pants-wearing people, "Aren't your ankles cold?  Are you wearing no-show socks?  Don't you find that once you start walking, those little no-show socks slide down off your heels and get lodged in the arch of your foot making you not only cold but also uncomfortable?

I tell you what, you will not see my ankles until April.  It's all boots or low rise gym shoes with fuzzy socks between now and then. In fact, I just picked up a couple of new Valentine's Day fuzzy socks at Walgreens yesterday (2 for $3!).

Fuzzy socks are one of the best inventions of this century.  As I make my way through radiation, I try to wear a different pair each day. Since I have a hospital gown on, my socks and shoes are the only unique fashion features that the Radiation Therapists and Nurses see, so it gives us something to discuss besides the weather.  As I established at the beginning of this post, January stinks and who wants to talk about that when we can discuss how cute my fuzzy socks are and where did I get them?

Next week the Aldi Aisle of Surprises is featuring Valentine's Day! There should be a treasure trove of new socks for me to check out and most importantly, I want to get my hands on a pair of Valentine's Day-themed fleece leggings. They are the softest, most comfortable leggings around and they are only $7.99!  While Supplies Last!

Happy Thursday!

I officially am over 1/2 of with radiation therapy!!!

How Do Sudoku Puzzles Even Work?

As I mentioned previously, if you are an audible.com member and you listen to 3 audiobooks between now and March 3rd, you get a $20 amazon gift card. 

So far I have listened to two books.  I have a third partially listened to, but ah, I'm just not really in the mood for it.  It's a fantasy book, first-person male wizard or demon, I'm not quite sure because it's not grabbing my attention. I'm thinking I may use my last credit to buy a different book. I'd like to get a good thriller with lots of chapter cliff hangers.

And speaking of books and reading, my library is having a winter reading contest.  Woo Hoo!  I participated in the one over the summer and didn't win anything. The way it works is you get a ticket for each book read and you can put your raffle ticket toward various prizes (like gift cards).  Keep your fingers crossed that I win a gift card- Starbucks or Target would be great, but I am flexible and would be happy with any prize.

IS this contest an honor system contest?  Yes, yes it is.  I could definitely lie and get extra tickets, but I am not some sort of jerk that would lie about books read! So wish me luck, I have maybe time enough to read 1-2 books per week. Could I read more if stayed off twitter? You raise a very good point!

That being said audiobooks count so I can listen to a book this week and double-dip in these two reading challenges. 

Today I started this cozy mystery that I got as a Christmas gift. The main character has a Soduku column in the local papers so there are Sodoku puzzles in the book. I am trying to do one and it's not going well so far. 

Please keep in mind that this next statement is mostly facetious.  It's too bad I'm doing radiation right instead of chemo.  Sitting around during chemo gives a person plenty of time to read.  Silver lining right there. 

Happy Tuesday!

More Plant-Based Meals!

This is the year The Man is also on board with my long-standing idea for this household to consume more plant-based meals.  It's better for our health and the environment. 

He has good timing. Over the last few years, our local grocery stores have substantially increased their plant-based alternatives for meat and dairy.  Personally, I have not met an alternative cheese that I like, so at this time I have no plans to give up real cheese.  A while back I gave up yogurt because I figured out through some trial and error, that the greek yogurt I ate after working out was the cause of my major stomach upset.  Like there was a time where I was beginning to worry I had an ulcer or stomach cancer. Yes straight to the worst-case scenario!  Turns out I just can't digest yogurt.  That's weird right?  It's supposed to be easier to digest than milk.

In any case, I give two major thumbs up to Silk Oat Yeah.  It's creamy and has a mild flavor like regular milk but it has much less fat.  It is lacking in protein compared to regular milk so you have to keep that in mind. Overall it is my new favorite fake milk option. Top of my list used to be an almond/coconut blend, which is good as well but Oat Yeah is the closest to cow's milk.  Only downside with Oat Milk is if you can't tolerate Gluten.  Some oat milks are certified GF, but most are not. 

It would be the best if I could get paid for endorsing Oak Milk, alas I'm just a random person on the interwebs.  That being said, Oak Yeah from Silk- very good.

So if you are like my family and trying to reduce meat in your diet, an easy swap is to use meatless meatballs. The meatballs here tasted enough like regular frozen meatballs that with some tasty sauce and yummy noodles no one could tell they weren't actually beef meatballs. I am a big fan of all the varieties of Barilla, protein plus, whole wheat, gluten free- they all quite good.  The protein plus ones are great with the meatless meatballs.

For this dinner, I didn't point out to anyone in our house that the meatballs were plant-based and I didn't hear any complaints.

Next to try on my list is to make a stir- fry with tofu.  I make veggie stir fry somewhat regularly, but I'd like to see if I can manage to add some tofu- I'm thinking with Honey Teriyaki sauce.

One thing that I learned doing Noom is making SMART goals. I need to work on quantifying how many meals per week I want to make plant-based. This way I can track my progress. I should also keep track of what plant-based substitutes taste the best to me.

That being said this is the goal for 1st Quarter 2020:  One plant-based meal per day. 

Two down and Three to go!

That is two weeks of radiation down and three weeks to go. Side Effects?  It's hard to tell if I am fatigued in January.  I find January itself fatiguing.  Too much cold and dark for my tastes.  Now to be fair to this particular January, we have had mild for Chicago temperatures with most days at or above freezing during the day.  Nevertheless, cold is fatiguing even when it is not cold enough to snow.  

Today for fun I was trying to convert how much radiation I get daily in the about 10 minutes of laser-blasting compared to a vacation in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.  What?  You didn't know Chernobyl is a popular tourist destination? It is, in fact, popular, especially now that HBO has aired an award-winning drama about the nuclear disaster.  

Since the area has had little human exposure for several decades, nature has flourished and it is quite beautiful.  Can you eat fruit and vegetables grown there?  I mean, you could.  There is a fantastic documentary called The Babushkas of Chernobyl about these little old ladies who were forced to leave their homes in the wake of the disaster and how they snuck back to their villages and were allowed to live out there days in the exclusion zone. Their ties to the land are so strong they would rather die than leave the land. 

I was bummed to learn there are several different scales used to measure radiation so what I thought would be quick Google search was not quick and I don't have my answer.  Lucky for me, I will see my Radiation Oncologist on Monday and will be sure to ask her. 

Happy Friday!  Snow is piling up outside but it is supposed to rain tomorrow and I am very glad I don't have to go to work in the morning. 

One Of My Projects For 2020

One way for me to find joy in everyday life is having projects. What is more fun than a To-Do List?  Not much I tell you!  To that end, this year we are working on making our backyard into a great place to hang out, and even more importantly a great place for pollinators to hang out!

On Saturday, The Man and I went to Conex (Conservation Expo) and we picked up info on getting a Mason Bee Box. So that's on my master to-do list for March and then in April, we are going to get a rain barrel, May for Mother's Day I want another raised bed to double our garden.  My plan is one raised bed for veggies and one for herbs.

Then for the people,  we need three things:  1. a hammock, 2. twinkly lights and 3. one of those pop-up pools.  I have decided 2020 is the year of backyard paradise!

Also the year of old lady pool parties, every Friday this summer my backyard BYOT (bring your own towel).

At the Conex we picked up a Rosemary plant in a cute crochet planter, right now it's keeping the crocuses company and when The Man gets around to putting together my baker's rack. The bakers rack is part of my future coffee station.  The coffee station is my winter Pinterest project--stay tuned there will be pictures.