LUCKY FELL OFF THE BED

 Last night Lucky feel off the bed. It was 4 am and bam! she fell off the bed when she turned over. I screamed she got up and shook it off. I know it had to hurt since I have fancy concrete floors. I put her back up on the bed and put a pillow as a barricade so that would not happen again. 

In the morning the shaking was worse. Now I wondered if she hurt herself when she fell. Did she bruise her side or break anything? She was walking fine but I didn't know. 

I packed her in a blanket and kept her close all day. She was making me nervous. She shook so hard at night the bed shook. 

It rained again. Rain we need you but it is too much. 

Until tomorrow...

RAINING

 Lucky has been shaking. A lot. Like little chihuahuas shake. She has never shaked like that before. She is making me very nervous. I am going to take her to the vet if it gets worse. She is up all night shaking and moving around. I am really tired. 

It is raining. Raining and raining. 

Until tomorrow...

MEMORIAL FOR BABY BIRD

 The soil was moved to the backyard by two guys. They spread it around the backyard. Then they dug a hole for the water feature. I asked them very nicely to dig a little deeper so I could bury something under the water feature. They complied and I buried my previous bird, Baby. Baby was in the freezer since he passed away. (wrapped up and in a box) I placed him in the hole and asked for a minute and they all bowed their heads while I took a minute. It was sweet. Now the water feature will be his memorial. 

The landscaper also put in the path to the standing garden and the bench. It is really coming together. 

Until tomorrow...

SOIL AND ROCKS DELIVERED

There is movement on the backyard! 

First there were huge bags of soil and rocks delivered. Then the landscaper moved the many rocks to the backyard. The soil will have to wait for tomorrow. You can see how many rocks he moved by himself. Better him than me! I think that is what Lucky is saying.  The backyard is moving along. 

Until tomorrow...

BOXING DAY 2022

I know boxing day is not celebrated in the USA but I like to celebrate it. It is so English. There are many origin stories of how Boxing Day came to be. In Ireland December 26th is called St. Stephen's Day. Stephen was the first Christian martyr, stoned to death in c34 AD. Being a saint's day, it has charitable associations. Charitable boxes – collections of money – would have been given out at the church door to the needy, according to historyextra.com.

During Queen Victoria's reign in the 1800's, the day became Boxing Day where the rich families gave gift wrapped presents to the poor. Since the servants worked on Christmas, the rich gave them presents, leftover food, and money on the day after Christmas as part of tradition. I remember the scene in Downton Abbey where the servants packed up and left after Christmas and the family had cold sandwiches with no one to cook for them. 

Now, boxing day is a bank holiday and a big shopping day.  

My boxing day was spent walking the dog on a long walk, reorganizing my office now that the TV is gone, watching TV and playing on my VR. I decided that since my office TV is now in the garage in my workout space, I will not replace my office TV. Instead I put my reading chair in that space. The room really opens up. I like it better. I just have a bunch of junk I need to sort through. Then my office will be a zen place to work. 

Until tomorrow...

Merry Christmas 2022

My day started early with me having to soak and cook the top part of the tagine so I could make dinner today. I got that going before breakfast. 

Then after eating I opened presents sent to me by family and friends. One surprise was a Yonanas ice cream maker. It makes single serve ice cream from frozen bananas. Sounds very interesting. 

I also was sent some of my childhood items. Strangely I had a dream about one of the items this week. I am not sure if I saw it on the internet or TV and then I had a dream about it or what. It is my original Pillsbury Dough Boy and Girl from the 1970s. I loved those two so much as a kid. It is so funny. They are practically in pristine condition. 

After watching the new George Clunie/ Julia Roberts movie Ticket to Paradise, I started to make dinner. I made a tagine with butternut squash, chickpeas, potatoes, Japanese yam, and carrots. I used my tagine to cook it. I also made couscous with pine nuts, pistachios, apricots and raisins. What a great meal! 

After speaking to family, I watched Call the Midwife Holiday Edition. 

Now I am heading off to bed after eating a raspberry cheesecake. 

Merry Christmas to all. Until tomorrow...

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVE 2022

I woke up this morning and had a very clear plan. First, I wanted to make chocolates. Not just any chocolates but peppermint pattie type chocolates. Dark Chocolate with peppermint cream inside. I made a bunch of them in different Christmas shapes. 

Then, before I delivered a batch of treats to a neighbor, I got some mail ready to take to the post box and washed dishes for the second time today. 

The treats I took my neighbor were: Gingerbread Blondies with white chocolate chunks, raspberry cheesecake with raw brownie, and "peppermint pattie" chocolates. My neighbor had a stroke a few months ago and I haven't seen him since when he was in the hospital. Lucky has missed him too. We went over and brought he and his son the treats and chatted for awhile. He was surprised in the change in Lucky. But she hasn't seen him since September but she stops by his house every day. 

Then I made another plate of treats for another neighbor. I dropped it off at his house later in the day. He left something he got me from Morocco at my door.

Then I went to the eye glass store. I figured the best day to buy eye glasses was Christmas Eve. No one is eye glass shopping the day before Christmas. Sure enough there were only five people in the whole store. I had done my research ahead of time and tried on the frames virtually so I knew which frames I wanted to try on in person. I really liked one and I bought it. Then I also bought sunglasses. I will soon be able to see! 

I got home and started making a vegan quiche. It was originally for tomorrow breakfast but I ate some for dinner. It is a vegan tofurky and spinach quiche. It tastes good. It is basically the equivalent of a ham and spinach quiche if you used turkey bacon. 

While I was making the quiche I also started soaking and seasoning my tagine. I want to use my tagine tomorrow to make my meal but I need to prep it for the first use. First I had to soak it, then oil it and then bake it. I could only fit half of it in the oven at a time so I will have to do the other half tomorrow morning. 

Lucky and I went to bed early so Santapaws would come faster. 

Until tomorrow...

ONE DAY UNTIL CHRISTMAS

Such a busy day! 

We got up early to take Lucky to the vet. She needed to be checked for a UTI. This was supposed to be a follow up but I think she has another UTI. The reception person was less than helpful. I was worried that Lucky would get worse over the holiday weekend so I wanted to get a refill of her antibiotics but the receptionist was giving me a hard time. She gave it to me finally. Then when the substitute doctor called to give me the preliminary results, the Dr said there were no refills the receptionist just gave them to me  and she broke protocol. The doctor finally concerned that it was good that I got the meds when I did because she didn't call me back until almost 5pm on the final day before they close for two days and Lucky should start taking the meds. Is this when I say I told you so?? 

Then I got home and the handyman showed up to do a few things. My oldest TV died so he moved my second oldest TV to that place. I need to decide if I want to buy another TV. He hung a picture. I had him remove an electrical thing outside only to find out it was necessary and then he had to put it back together. He was not happy. 

In the middle of all this the landscaper showed up. He was alone because his helper was ill. He did so much. He laid all the foundation for the slate to go on. 

It is really moving along. 

Until tomorrow...

BREAST MRI RESULTS

They said the results of my breast cancer MRI would take a few days but I got the results today. All good news. The Power of the Tiara worked again. 

The landscaper came again today and brought pounds and pounds of dirt. He also brought bags of rocks and the part of the water feature that goes underground. I am supposed to get another delivery on Tuesday of "good" dirt and bigger rocks. The good dirt is for planting. I need to spend this weekend looking at plants online. 

I decided to terminate a client's contract today. I    will not work with toxic, demeaning and bullying people. So I ended the agreement. I know some people will applaud this and others will think this is weak or a stupid decision. Until you have walked a mile in my shoes, you do not know the amount of time I have already spent living and working with bullies. It effected my physical and mental health and I am not going to do it anymore. Hard stop. I will find other work. 

Until tomorrow...

BREAST MRI TODAY

 Today was my breast MRI. I do not have problems with MRIs since I have been having MRIs since I was 19 or 20 years old when I hurt my back. Beck them it was the old MRI machines where the circle you went into was really little. I learned to zen out when I was in there. Never open your eyes and just try to go to sleep or a deep relaxed state. The MRI today had music so I was able to listen to rock music (my choice.) The only thing I forgot was I hate when they say "3 more minutes", "now it is going to be 2.5 minutes". I would rather they just let it run until it is over. Their talking brings me out of my zen. 

I will have the results in a few days or more since it is Christmas. You may be asking if I wore my special Tiara and yes, I did. Of course I got weird looks since the MRI department was moved during lock down to a larger building. I don't care. That Tiara has magical powers and was given to me by a friend who helped me years ago when I had my first breast cancer scare. 

Until tomorrow...