On One Hand, I Had To Go To The Hospital

On the other hand, I got to see and speak to people who aren't my immediate family members! I work a mask, they checked my temperature before they would let me go to the medical infusion floor. I wore gloves to sign papers saying  I would pay my bill and used the gloves to press the elevator buttons, then I threw out the gloves in a trash can. I  used hand sanitizer after taking off the gloves. I wore my coat and mask the whole time I was in the hospital and then after I hand sanitized. I took off my mask and coat threw them in the trunk and hand sanitized again. Then I drove home took my shoes off and put all my clothes in the wash and took a shower. 

I did everything I could think of and stayed as far away as possible from everyone. My visit was to get my port flushed.  It was already really overdue for flushing. 

What is a port? A little medical device implanted up by my neck that can be used to take blood or administer IV drugs right to my jugular. They use it to give you chemotherapy drugs so your veins in your arms don't get trashed from all the sticks and medications. I should be getting the port removed, but that is an outpatient procedure and it's not essential right now.  The flush is to help avoid a potential infection so I needed to get that done. 

How was your Monday? My celery plant is coming along! Look at that! 

 Here we have my future bookshelf. I am going to try and talk BMO and Dear Daughter into putting it together for me. Wish me luck.  They are very busy with all the laying around in their rooms sleeping all day because they stay up all night long. It's only 11:27am, way too early to ask them to do it now. LOL (To be fair, they are doing school work right now, I think.)

Last picture for today,  weedy flower on my Sunday run.

Happy Tuesday!

Throwback Thursday

Remember the good old days when there wasn't a global pandemic?  Good times. Good times.  Happy Thursday to you!

I'm trying to grow celery from a celery stalk. I think it has started growing. If you look close you can see some little leaves starting inside on the lefthand side. I'm not sure what I am doing, so I turned to the internet and found this blog post: Regrowing Celery We will see how it goes.  While it is solidly Springtime, the forecast is calling for a bunch of snow tonight.  Up to 6 inches of snow, ugh!  We are still a month out from thinking about planting outside. Hopefully, I can get this celery going and transplant it outside right around Mother's Day. I am also trying to regrow lettuce, my fingers are crossed. 

Thursday is my short run day. I run in the morning and then I participate in a virtual journaling class.  It's good for reducing anxiety during this weird time. It's a group for people who have had cancer and I think everyone in the group has commented that the pandemic has triggered stress and emotions bringing one back to the uncertain days of cancer treatment.  We are all working through some things. these days. 

Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life

My decision last week to order our whole Easter Dinner from Boston Market was a great decision. The family all enjoyed the food, no complaints at all about my recipe decisions ( I like to try recipes from Williams-Sonoma and my family doesn't appreciate trying new things) and it was much less work for me.  The hardest part was done by The Hubs who put on a mask and gloves and picked up our order. I'm glad it was an option because I was worried about whether or not I'd be able to get all the ingredients from the store - esp. a good ham. 

Today the weather is windy and cold.  My plan was to run about 2.5 miles, I was going to cut myself slack and have an easy day. However, I was feeling good and it wasn't super, super windy so I ran 5 miles.  

As I ran, I noticed how blue the sky was and how vibrant the flowers and grass looked.  I mean, look at this picture how crystal clear is that air?!?  The reduction of cars on the road has made the air cleaner!  Do yourself a favor and go out and grab a nice deep breath of this newly improved air. (Just do that heavy breathing away from other people please).  When we get COVID-19 figured out and are able to move forward, I hope we can plan out a way to keep the gains of this time.  It's easy to see that people staying home more means less pollution = fewer fossil fuels= a reduction in climate change. 

A better environment could be had for all. I'm happy to do my part and avoid driving as much as possible. 

Made some potato salad today and since I have a bunch of parsley in the fridge, I went a little garnish crazy. Tomorrow I have a plan for dinner - it's called Taco Tuesday. I'm trying to stick to an intermittent fasting schedule of eating from 10am-6pm daily.  It's easy to do since I am at home. If I am working downtown I  can't get home in time to start making dinner before six. 

Since the teenagers stay up till all hours of the night my Early Bird Dinner Specials are more like their lunch!

Hopefully the wind dies down more overnight and tomorrow it is as beautiful and sunny as today, w/o a wind blasting from the West.

Tomorrow night I am going to get out of my comfort zone and join a Zoom workout for runners, so that will be ...interesting.

xoxo

What in Tarnation?

I spy with my little eyes a snowflake on my weather app, not once but twice in the next 10 days!  Not cool.

I'm not too worried.  A- plenty of other things to worry about and B- Chicagoland forecasts changed every hour on the hour so who knows!

Today was blustery and I was kind of slow, but I was able to run 4.5 miles and for that I am happy.

I took a picture at a local nursery here-

And then yesterday I took a photo from our front yard.

Weeds you say?  Ah pshaw, I say they are flowers I don't have to maintain.  Plus according to The Guardian: 

"Gardeners should avoid mowing over dandelions on their lawn if they want to help bees, according to the new president of the British Ecological Society.

Dandelions – which will start flowering in the UK this month – provide a valuable food source for early pollinators coming out of hibernation, including solitary bees, honey bees and hoverflies."

-The rest of the article is here!

I would like to add more flowers to our backyard this spring/summer, it, however, remains to be seen if that will be a practical pursuit, given the need to #stayhome unless you are doing essential shopping. Browsing around the garden center while the Hubs is wandering around Menards for hours isn't likely to happen this year.  I'll survive!

Speaking of surviving, I may or may not have a birthday this year. I had big plans to pester my children and the Hubs into throwing me a milestone epic bday party. A well-deserved half-century party.  Now that COVID-19 is here, I may well postpone my birthday until 2021. If the Olympics can postpone until next year so can my big party. 

Advice You Didn't Ask For!

Hi All,
I hope you are having a good Wednesday.  We are home and knock on wood-virus free. I only leave the house to go run, and when I run, I run away from people.  I also take pictures (see below).

Also, here is my advice you didn't ask for...

Boring, but free ways to not gain weight during a pandemic:

1. Weigh yourself every morning.
2. Don't eat after dinner.
3. Drink water, not booze.

See I warned you, boring free, but effective! 

Today in my neck of the woods the weather is on loan from Summer. We have to give it back tomorrow, but in the meantime,  it is the perfect afternoon to sit outside on your porch, balcony or patio.  With a nice glass of water. LOL

 Here we have the free mulch pile my city has for residents ...

 

A great sign I saw in front of a house in Worth, IL 

It's a really unusual time (understatement of the year) but I thought maybe I will try to blog a couple times a week, hopefully with lighthearted content! So this is my plan going forward in the land of quarantine.

#Stayhome #Stayhealthy

Can I Speak to The Manager?

This is not the 2020 I ordered. I would like to return it and get a new virus-free version.

How are you doing?  I'm hanging in there. I'm at home this week and frankly, I'd really rather be at work, how about you?  While I currently have all the time in the day to read books, write and listen to podcasts, I'm having trouble focusing to do any of that.

I don't know if I am feeling more general anxiety because I spent the last nine months or so undergoing cancer treatments and now I'm feeling some PTSD or if I would have this same level of anxiety either way. I feel like my stress is higher than it would be if not for my cancer season.  Just a few weeks ago I was enjoying a comfort that had come from making peace with my 'new post-cancer normal'  and now here we are.

 Now suddenly we are living in a time for everyone everywhere to struggle with uncertainty everywhere. Will we have jobs? Will the kids go back to school?  and most importantly, Will I get sick? Will they get sick? How sick? And this one for me personally, is it possible when we were all sick in February that we already had COVID-19?  Will we ever know? How long does this go on?

A bunch of questions and no solid answers. This is why I've been busying myself with cleaning out cabinets and drawers as well as cooking. These are things I can control.  I am actually running out of nooks and crannies to clean. I'm on the brink of ordering paint to paint our bedroom. I should not do this. I'm not good at painting and it makes me cranky.   Today I am pledging to myself to stay away from any press conferences on my TV and to use my time to escape into an urban fantasy book.  If you can, I suggest doing the same.  If you are working please wash your hands as much as you can!

Yesterday, I wanted to use up leftover noodles and it was definitely time for comfort food so I tried to recreate a breakfast my Oma would make.   1. Cut up some thick-cut bacon and fry it in a pan. 2. Take out the bacon and fry a chopped onion in the pan for a couple minutes. 3. Add in leftover baked potatoes that you have cut up.  4. Stir for a couple minutes adding salt, pepper, and some thyme to taste. 5. Take your leftover noodles and toss those with breadcrumbs you have from stale bread. 6. put the noodles in the pan along with the bacon and cook it all together for about 4 minutes.  Then serve.

I used turkey bacon and added in some chopped yellow bell pepper I had leftover from the day before.  I made an egg over easy to top my noodle dish. I used a little oil in my skillet because I didn't have delicious bacon grease.

My Oma's was obviously better than my re-creation. But I will say this dish is a hearty breakfast and a good way to use leftovers!

Stay Healthy. Stay at home!

Let's Talk About Not Being in the Mood

I'm not in the mood to write; but, I figure the act of writing works like eight out of ten times when I run.  If I just start doing it, and stop thinking about doing it, then I'll be in the swing of it in no time.

So here I am! Today I've been listening to Harriet the Spy as my selection as a classic children's book for the 20 in 20 book challenge. Come to find out, Harriet the Spy was an oft banned book. Why?  Apparently a book about a child spying on adults and taking notes about grown ups set a bad example for kids.  The book is slightly older than The Hubs, so pretty, pretty old. (1964)

I have to admit they might have been on to something. When I was a kid and read the books, I wanted to *be* Harriet. These days if I had to pick a career related to spying, I'd go with private investigator.  That being said all my experience watching PI shows on TV leads me to conclude private investigating looks like a lot of sitting in cars and almost getting yourself killed. I guess I will stick to my day job. Lots of sitting at a desk, but none of that almost getting myself killed.

Speaking of  mortality, Coronavirus is closing down events and canceling trips.  Being selfish I think the following thoughts:

1. It's really BS that I finish like 9 months of cancer treatments and then now that I am ready to go out and do stuff, it's not a good idea to go out and do stuff!

2. I hope this is all sorted so Anna can go on her Band Trip and BMO gets to do all the end of the year senior stuff.

3. Back to me, it's 2020- it's  a big birthday year for me, what the heck with a pandemic! I did not ask for a pandemic this is supposed to be *my* year!   *me shaking my fist at the sky* 

Oh well what can you do? 

Don't forget to wash your hands! 

Speaking of viruses, if you'd like to expand your knowledge of all things bacterial and virus check out This Podcast Will Kill You ! 

Happy March 10th!

Is Winter Winding Down?

Gosh I hope so!  One of my goals for this year was to not get too bogged down in my dislike of winter. If I can rate myself here, I give myself a 3.5 out of 5 on not spending too much time being annoyed by all things winter.

This year I did spend all of January doing weekday radiation so that definitely proved to be a distraction from dwelling on the cold. Plus radiation gives you hot flushes, so well timed on my part--better to have one's internal temp rise in January than in July!

Once February arrived, our house spend the entire month with at least one person sick with some virus.  Was it Coronavirus? I don't think so, but who knows! To round out the month, surgery for me.  Medical interventions not winter blues were the order of the day! Now here is March coming in like a warmer than usual lion; so far, our temps have been decent and the sun has been shining.

The nice weather has lead to a certain BFF of The Man tracking mud into the house several times a day.  Keep your fingers crossed for us as we are crunching numbers and hoping to get wood flooring on our main floor ASAP. If  all goes well, 2020 will be the year of home renovations and me having many more celebrations and fest to attend than doctor appointments!

*Accountability* - How did I do with my February Goals?

Not great!  The cold I had really knocked me out for most of the month!
I did reach my blog post goals and I did achieve the most important goal: Lastly, have a very uneventful laparoscopic preventative surgery and celebrate being done with medical interventions for hopefully ever. (not including routine tests)

Actually as I re-read it.  I have not celebrated having a routine surgery w/clear pathology. So I'm due a celebration. Note to self plan some celebrating!

Wanna Get Away? Travel via Book to Sunset Cove!

A Novel Way To Die by Tamra Baumann
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

"A Novel Way to Die" is the second book in Tamra Baumann's Cozy Mystery Bookshop Series. (The first book is called "Plotting for Murder".) If you have already read "Plotting for Murder" I think you are going to love this second installment. I came into "A Novel Way to Die" without having read the first book so it took me a little bit longer to understand our main character and her eclectic community.

Tamra Baumann's does a wonderful job crafting this mystery! There are several points where you think you know who did it and who helped, only to find out there is more to the story. I enjoyed that she uses technology in the main mystery and I found it pleasing to read a Cozy Mystery that had major supporting characters from several different generations.

Not only does this book have a central murder mystery, but it also has some interesting ongoing mysteries that drawn in the reader into Sunset Cove and makes one look forward to future installments. What is going to happen with the bookshop? Will Sawyer's uncle thwart Sawyer? What will we find out about Brittany's mother? The non-murder mystery subplots are almost more fascinating than who killed the person in this book!

As a fan of Cozy Mysteries, this book really has it all- 1. small town, 2. a plucky heroine who can cook, 3. a cute dog, 4. a handsome sheriff, 5 a bookstore with a book club and 6. A witty best friend.

I look forward to going back and reading "Plotting for Murder" ASAP!

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.


View all my reviews

Challenges for Challenging Times!

What a week! That might be my new catch phrase.  But really more like, what a month.  The Hamel house has been in the throes of medical stuff all month long! Just as I am recovering from surgery and returned to work yesterday, Patrick came down with some sort of cold virus and The Man had to take him to the urgent care last night! Good news, young P doesn't have the flu. Bad news he is on steroids to curtail his uncontrolled coughing.

 Side note: if you have any surgery that is done through your belly button, I do not recommend wearing pants with a button and a zipper on your first day back to work. Learn from my lesson. If possible wear a flowy dress- no belts!

If the current weather forecast holds, in a few days I can crack a window opened during the day and try and get some of the sickness out of our house. I don't know about you, but I am really looking forward to March!

As you all know, I love to read and I also like challenges.  Lucky for me, my public library is doing a 20 in 20 book challenge! I just found out about it and so I am quite behind.  I need to read from the categories listed above  by the third week of March. Eek!  Anyone have any good suggestions for a Classic Children's Book or the Classic book by a Female Author?

I spend time during my surgery recuperation reading Moving Forward and it's a great memoir. Karine Jean-Pierre has that can-do spirit I love to see in people. Spoiler alert- Karine is also a runner!

Today is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent and while I don't go to church; I do still enjoy a good Lent. This year I am giving up nothing! Nothing I tell you!  I've given up enough over the past year. Instead, I'm going to use Lent as a reason to focus on cleaning out all the drawers, bins and closets in my home. Spring Cleaning in increments of 15 minutes per day, join me!