Wednesday, October 20, 2021

VET VISIT, DESK AND CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

 Okay, the days just keep coming. 

This morning I had to take Lucky to an emergency veterinarian appointment because late yesterday I thought she ate one or two screws. I was working on my new desk and I left the desk for about an hour while my drill was charging and Lucky was walking around back in the office. I didn't think anything about it at the time. Then I came to drill the screws and they were gone. I searched the house 5 times. Every surface, the floor, in couches, in chairs, clothes, the garbage, everywhere. No screws. Then I thought Lucky was not feeling well the past few days maybe she thought they were treats. They were small screws. But no, she hates anything that doesn't smell like food. She won't even go near if I accidentally drop my medicine. She hates most anything. But she does love to steal my stuff to get attention: pens, post-its, paper, my checkbook, etc. Maybe she stole them and accidentally swallowed them. I was beside myself. I called the vet and they calmed me down and said nothing would happen that night. This morning I took her in after one last sweep of the house, and she had her stomach x-rayed. Of course, no screws. But it wasn't a total loss, they saw she was horribly dehydrated from feeling so poorly over the last few days so they gave her some meds and liquids. 

I got home and once I was relaxed I found the screws. I don't think looking for something when you are panicked is a good idea. I finished putting the desk together and used physics to stand the desk up by myself using books, foot stools and boxes. It worked perfectly. The standing desk goes up and down. 

At the same time I baked chocolate chip cookies with walnuts. I discussed this with my nutritionist and I made tiny chocolate chip cookies. Just bite-sized for bit of sweet when I want one.

 People kept telling me to get help to put the desks together. I am not sure why. I am capable of putting furniture together. I am so capable I put together a treadmill, bookshelves and another desk. Today I put together an electric desk while baking cookies. BAM! Mic drop! 

Until tomorrow...

Tuesday, October 19, 2021

WHAT A DAY!

I woke up at 5:25 am to take the large trash out to the curb for them to take away. I had it all done in 12 minutes since I prepped it all yesterday. I was back in bed by 5:47 am and snuggled up to Lucky. The garbage men didn't come until 9:30 am.  Glad I woke up at 5:25 am. (sarcasm)

I had a phone call with my nutritionist at 9:00 am.  I didn't have much to tell him since I have been on and off Orencia for the past three months and not feeling very good.  

I started to put together the new desk. I was doing really good. I got the legs of the desk all together and then I needed a drill and that's where it all went downhill. I had to charge the drill. That took an hour. Then some other things happened and I lost steam. I will pick it up again tomorrow.

That was basically my whole day besides having a dog with a tummy ache who followed me around all day.

Until tomorrow...

Monday, October 18, 2021

PUT TOGETHER MY NEW TABLE

 Two good things happened today.  I put together the first piece of furniture from my delivery. I put together the table with a glass top. This table is a side table for items that I do not want on my desk. I could not find a corner desk that I liked so I bought a desk and table instead to make a corner "desk". 

I am hoping it will all look okay when it is finished.

Then the dishwasher repair person came and was at my home for less than 20 minutes. He fixed the handle on my dishwasher. He said my dishwasher seems in very good condition. I am so happy to get my dishwasher back. It is really hard to be an up-and-coming chef without a dishwasher.

There was no walking today but I did take the heavy pieces of my old desk downstairs to get them ready for tomorrow's 6am pick up from the garbage company.

I have to get up very early to bring the items outside so I am going to bed early.

Until tomorrow...


Sunday, October 17, 2021

DESK DELIVERED

 My new desk was delivered today. I am so excited. I did not start assembling it yet because I still have pieced of my old desk in my office and I need to get those out of the house first to make room to assemble the new desk. The old desk gets removed starting tomorrow night. Two parts are very heavy. The desk broke down into about 7 parts. 

Lucky and I went on two walks before and after the desk delivery. 

I cleaned up the kitchen to get ready for the dishwasher guy who comes tomorrow.

My tooth is much less painful and, frankly, unless I touch my gums I don't even feel it anymore. I am happy the pain has gone away. I was so used to feeling the pain. 

Until tomorrow...

Saturday, October 16, 2021

DAY ONE HUNDRED NINETY-TWO OF COOKING COURSE

 I finally got through to Ikea to order my new desk! It turns out there is a problem on their website with the zip code. Every time I changed the zip code to my zip code, it said my address didn't match my zip code. The zip code was wrong. After another 45 minutes of trying all sorts of things to figure out what was wrong, I bought the items with the wrong zip code and called Ikea to get the zip code changed. That was another 45 minutes with customer service to make another order with the right zip code, cancel the first order and then pay for the second order. My new desk will show up tomorrow.

Then I spent two hours in 80 degree weather disassembling my current desk. I had to take everything off the desk first. Then I had to move my computer, phone, etc. to somewhere safe during the transition. Then I had to take apart the desk. This is the fourth time I took apart this desk so I know how to do it. This is the first time I did it myself and it went well until the very end. I tried to turn the desk on it's side and it fell apart and tore the side out of the screws. Oh, well it is going to the dump/recycling anyway. I took many of the pieces downstairs but two of the pieces are large and heavy and I don't want to move them twice.

Lucky and I took two short walks in the heat.

I heated up and plated the ribollita from yesterday. It tastes to delicious.

Until tomorrow...

Friday, October 15, 2021

DAY ONE HUNDRED NINETY-ONE OF COOKING COURSE

I tried to relax a bit today due to my tooth infection. I finally got my antibiotics delivered. I told the Fed Ex guy he was a life saver and he turned around and said thank you sweetie. He comes to my home regularly and he isn't always in a good mood. I am sure his job is not easy during Covid.

I found a gardener!  I am ecstatic. My gardener ghosted me back about 6 months ago. My backyard looks horrible. I saw a guy at my neighbors house and I asked him if he was a gardener. He is. It turns out pre-Covid I helped him when his dog got loose and was running in the road. He remembered me. He came over today (masked and distanced) to look at the backyard. He said it didn't look bad. We definitely have a different definition of bad. But he is going to take on the job. He is going to clean it up and put in new lighting. Then we have a long term plan.

I made ribollita today. I started with soffritto first which is a base of celery and carrots with tomato paste. That is mixed with the ribollita made from kale, cannelloni beans, chard, potatoes, cabbage and stale bread. It needs to sit overnight to get the full flavor. Ribollita means "reboil" since you have to reboil it each time to serve.

Lucky and I took a short walk. 

I tried to buy a new desk from Ikea but the website seems to be having problems, then I started to get through and then the desk was unavailable. Ugh.

Since I have no dishwasher, I am the dishwasher.

Until tomorrow...

Thursday, October 14, 2021

DENTAL INFECTION

 My dental saga continues. Now I know why the pain in my tooth subsided. It subsided because the root in my tooth has died. It is so much more complicated. The fever and pain I was feeling turned out to be the start of infection. I probably could have fought the infection but I started Orencia again a few weeks after I had the Covid Booster. That probably suppressed my immune system so much that the infection went crazy in my tooth. That caused the pain in my tooth/face and eventually the bump/swelling of my gum over the tooth. 

Today the dentist attempted to drill out the space around the root to allow the infection to drain. That proved to be impossible. Since I clench and grind my teeth excessively I have created calcification in my teeth. The drill can't seem to drill through it without destroying my whole tooth. The dentist built up my existing tooth but she had to stop drilling when she realized that she was getting no where.  I had 5 x-rays to see what was going on and was in the dentist chair for 2.5 hours. What was supposed to happen was that the drill was supposed to drill through to the space around the root canal and the infection would drain. Since that didn't happen, I have to start taking antibiotics to see if that works to kill the infection. Of course that also kills all sorts of other things in my body and will wreak havoc while my dentist and my primary doctor are both on vacation. 

I am supposed to call a dental specialist to see if that person will be able to use special tools to drill through the calcification or if he will have to remove the tooth. I am worried about doing anything until the infection is gone. I have to stay off Orencia in the meanwhile.

I took Lucky to get the bird food that I ordered yesterday and then we went for a short walk. 

I got back and started to clean up the kitchen to get ready for the dishwasher repair guy. Just as I got 1/2 through the repair company called to say the part didn't come in today and will come in tomorrow. The appointment was pushed back until Monday. She was super nice about it and I was happy to hear they could get a replacement part during Covid and it seems like it won't cost a fortune. 

Until tomorrow...

Wednesday, October 13, 2021

MY REFRIGERATOR IS A MESS

 I was all set to go pick up some bird food before the mask mandate is lifted but a client called and that threw me off my schedule. I had to be back in time to meet up with the dog walker. Instead I went for a walk to the post office to pick up and drop off some mail. I made it back just in time for the dog to be dropped off.

I realized that my refrigerator is a mess. I couldn't get another item in it if I wanted. I have items from my Italian Pastry course, previous courses and now my Contemporary Italian Cuisine course. I think it is time to remove everything and decide what to keep and what to throw away. 

I am hoping to start the Ribollita tomorrow but I have the dentist in the morning and Friday morning I have the dishwasher repair person so I don't want to make too many dirty dishes. I have to wash all dishes by hand. I have to clean up my kitchen a bit tomorrow before Friday morning.

My walk was okay. I was afraid I was going to be ultra sore but I am fine so far. Tomorrow morning will tell.

Until tomorrow...

Tuesday, October 12, 2021

HAPPY WORLD ARTHRITIS DAY

 After working this morning, I had a bunch of tasks to take care of.  I called service to get my dishwasher fixed. It is the latch that broke not the handle. I have an appointment for Friday morning. I guess I am washing dishes by hand until then.

Then I made an appointment to get have a garbage pickup for large items to get rid of items in my garage. I am also getting rid of my desk of more than 15 years. I am so excited to get a new desk. I have been wanting a new desk for ages. Tomorrow I am going to order a new desk.

I called my dentist. Long story short, I have a tooth that was giving me problems when I wore my mouth guard. The dentist decided that the mouth guard was pressing on the tooth and it was irritating the nerve. Since my mouth guard was over 20 years old, I decided it was time to invest in a new mouth guard. This new mouth guard is not irritating this tooth and mostly the nerve pain had subsided. 

The night after my last appointment at the dentist I had a fever. That caused me to get a Covid test because I thought I might have been exposed. I did not have Covid but I had a new pain. The pain was going up my face from my tooth to my eye.  Over the weeks, this subsided too. At the end of last week I noticed there was swelling in my gum over that tooth. It is still swollen but not as much. Today I decided I needed to call the dentist and get it checked. The mask mandate is about to be lifted and I want to get it checked before that happens. 

I am still recovering from my long walk on Friday. I am not sure how much the Orencia is working to keep my rheumatoid arthritis at bay.

With all that going on, I had no time to cook today. 

Until tomorrow...

Monday, October 11, 2021

LUCKY WENT TO THE VET

 I got up early and took Lucky to the vet to get the sore on her buttocks checked out. Background: about a month and a half I noticed Lucky had a scab on her buttocks. It took a while for it to heal and fall off. 

Back to this weekend, I saw another mark in the same place on her buttocks. I tried to touch it and Lucky did not like it and let me know with all her teeth barred. I called the vet to get an appointment. Since Monday was a holiday I got a Monday morning appointment. 

I took Lucky today and they checked it out. It is a growth. They biopsied it and it is not cancerous. They suggested I leave it for now and if it becomes infected or has more problems, they will take it off since it requires anesthesia. That seems like a good plan. I also checked on her stomach issues and we decided to increase one of her meds and do another check in in a month or so. She got a pedicure while she was there. Overall a good vet visit for a 12 year old dog.

I spent the whole morning at the vet office so I decided that cooking was out of the question. Instead I figured out a way to put all the items on my counter into a storage box. I have items from each cooking chapter that have been accumulating on my counter to the point that I have no space to cook. Now I have so much more space. I still have to figure something out for the rest of the items. I have had to buy so many items to make all these dishes. 

I decided to make Slow Cook Black-eyed Peas for dinner. I used my crockpot and it took 5 hours. They are delicious. I never really had black-eyed peas before and I never cooked them. It was super easy to make.

Tonight I closed my dishwasher and the handle broke. I can still open it but not without a screwdriver. This is not good. I am super bummed. I need to get this fixed. It seems like a plastic part broke. Ugh.

My friends adopted kid helped me out today. Not only did he stop by two stores for me to pick up my planning calendar and a parking card but he fixed my light box (for photography). I have two light boxes and I could only put together one of them. I have owned this light box for almost a year and have never been able to put this light box together. I tried to put it together at least 5 times for at least 30 minutes each time.  He did it in 1 minute. Literally. The correct use of the word. 

That was my day.

Until tomorrow...