TGIF!! And it’s a long weekend since Labor Day is Monday and many will get the day off work in the states. Let’s get right into sharing five random things about our week. Here’s mine.

1. As I’m writing this early afternoon yesterday — no baby yet! I talked to my DIL on the phone, she’s doing fine. They’re just waiting with no idea when baby girl will arrive. Could be anytime or another week or 10 days. Babies arrive when they are ready
2. I have a surprise doctor appointment with my primary doctor today. When I tell you all my surgeon and the entire staff are efficient, I’m not kidding. I got an email two days ago informing me of this appointment with my primary doctor. I think it’s so he can refer me to an endocrinologist (they specialize in endocrine system, and will help balance my hormones now that I don’t have a thyroid). Plus I know my regular doc and surgeon talked by phone about me because my surgeon told me that before the surgery. I’m just stunned in a good way at the level of care I’ve been getting after lack of care from a previous provider.
3. I’m bored, eating, restless and crabby. So, yep, recovery is going as it should Wednesday was a bright spot as my youngest daughter in law’s mom brought Wizard and I lunch. That was so nice!! We loved and appreciated the food (plus a plant and a bottle of wine for when I’m better!), and for me, it was more just seeing her that helped break up the days for me.
4. I took Maggie for a walk yesterday morning — it’s on my approved list of things I can do as long as I don’t pick Maggie up. I’ve been doing well walking a little farther each day. But yesterday there was a dog loose. I was not up to tangling with a big dog, and headed back into my track. Normally I’d have tried to do something, but yesterday was not that day. I don’t even know how many layers of stitches are in my throat, and I didn’t want to find out the hard way
5. I imagine we’ll be sticking close to home this weekend. But then again, maybe our new granddaughter will arrive. Who knows what surprises the long weekend will bring!

I don’t have much this week But I’d love to year your five!!! I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Hi All! First up, I’m good and recovering well. The whole thing was pretty easy (for surgery!) for me. We got up at three, and were at the center by five am. I was in surgery by a little after seven, and there were, thankfully, no complications. She did grab a few lymph nodes while in there strictly as a precaution to make sure there’s no spread, but overall, everything looks good.

They kept me overnight as expected. The interesting thing is that because the center is brand new, they aren’t set up with patient rooms, so they kept me in recovery. I have never had such care in my life! I had two amazing nurses, and I am grateful to them both. Normally staying in recovery that long would be miserable, but for the first night after surgery, I actually felt safe and comfortable. I’ve had minimal pain, which apparently is unusual, but for stuff like this I sometimes have a high pain tolerance. However paper cuts and mosquito bites me me whine incessantly, LOL. I have some pain, mostly in the left side where I guess she dissected the lymph nodes in the afternoon and evening but it’s easily controlled and much less than I had expected. Overall, I think I’m healing as I should and my only complaint is an occasional cough. It feels like a lot of drainage and irritated throat which is all normal after having a breathing tube but we’re watching it. Each day I’m doing more, but I need to be careful until my fallow up on September 6th. I have internal stitches in a few places, and external steri-strips. It’s a small incision but we definitely don’t want it opening up. I’m not great at remembering to be careful and not lift things, however, Wizard is excellent at reminding me And I’m glad he does. Sometimes I’m just doing what I always do without thinking, so it’s a good thing to have a watcher

Guys, when the kids were young, youngest would just pop up in the weirdest places. Like I’d close the refrigerator door and he’d be standing there. Middle could do that too, but youngest did it more often. The kid can move quiet as smoke when he wants too. So I’m resting in recovery after I’ve sent Wizard home and I think I’m listening to a conversation in the next bay. Then I hear, “Mom are you awake?” I opened my eyes and Youngest is sitting all comfortable in the chair. He said he’d been there ten minutes. He said he thought I was asleep for a bit then I moved in a way that told him I’d come awake. He’s probably right, but I’d have sworn I was awake. The whole thing was such a throwback to when he’d catch me by surprised as a kid. By the way, he didn’t startle me into jumping. I knew he was on his way, I just didn’t realized I’d dozed off and he’d arrived. Plus drugs — I was pretty much just going with things.

And then, I kid you not, he did it AGAIN later that night. He came back and sat there until I woke. A couple days later he said he’d only been gone an hour when he and his wife got something to eat, but I wasn’t tracking time and thought hours and hours had gone by. I believe him. Anyhow, I found it funny. His wife also came and I loved seeing her. She helped me with some stuff which was great. Oh and they were only letting one visitor in at a time because I was in recovery not a patient room, and they were monitoring me for calcium levels and other things. So in my memory it seemed like everyone was a separate visitor even if they came together — if that makes sense. And Oldest came by, it was great to see him and catchup on everything Turbo is doing. I enjoyed talking to them all. His wife had a mild virus so didn’t want to get anyone sick. Middle called, but I did not expect him to come to the hospital.

Then yesterday Middle and his wife came to the house. Umm…she’s 39 weeks pregnant! And they drove an hour or more away from the house and hospital! She assured me it was fine, she wasn’t having contractions. She looked amazing and the baby was moving all over, so she was right. But still!!! Middle looks great too, and very happy. Oh and this daughter in law had offered to bring Wizard food while I was in surgery. I love that. Wizard said no (we didn’t want her in the facility where she could pick up a virus), but it meant a lot to him that she would do that for him. While I was in surgery, Wizard did as I asked and left to go eat. They had his cell phone, so it was fine.

Anyway, all is going well. It’s probably all been a lot harder on Wizard. I hope to keep healing quickly.

Now I’d love to hear how all of you have been.  I may or may not answer right away, but I will read it. If I don’t show up here Wednesday, I definitely plan to be back on Friday.

Let’s hope I don’t screw up posting this blog like I did on Friday when I put in the wrong date

So we had a good weekend. Lunch on Friday with my sister was awesome, and I got my chocolate cake! That was exactly what I wanted, it was so good. I brought what I couldn’t eat home for Wizard, so he was happy too. I really enjoyed a day out with Biker Witch.

The rest of the weekend was pretty quiet, we just did normal things. Youngest stopped by on Saturday, and Maggie lost her mind with joy. Then after about 10 minutes, she went to bed in another room. She’s fickle like that, LOL.

I talked to middle son, and they are now playing the waiting game. Their daughter is due in two weeks, and who knows when she’ll arrive. The joy of hearing how excited he is — it’s everything to me. It makes me smile all the time. I also video chatted with Turbo to find out how his first week of 1st grade went, and it’s all good. He’s adjusting to a new school quickly and making friends. I’m proud of him! These are such important steps in a child’s life.

Sunday we’d made plans to meet friends for lunch at a winery, but we cancelled that. I was disappointed, but I wasn’t feeling my best. And…mosquitos! The LUUVVV me. Sigh.  Most of the bites have been mildly annoying to me, and amusing to Wizard to watch how my body overreacts. This last one, however, had a mean streak and bit on my ankle over my bad joint. The swelling is not pretty and makes my ankle stiff. It’s not really painful, but the ankle looks terrible and the swelling makes flexing or bending the joint a little harder. I didn’t think being out in the heat would help that.  So we asked for a raincheck with our friends and they graciously understood.

And a programming note: Assuming nothing changes the date, I’ll have surgery on Wednesday and I don’t plan to be back on the blog until at least Monday, maybe longer. If I feel up to it in that time, I will try to send a quick update, but I can’t promise. Just trust that all went well and I’ll be back as soon as I can.

Now I’d love to hear how your weekend was!

GRRR! I accidentally set this for August 6 rather than August 16th. Dumb Witch Moment! Anyhow here’s the blog on the correct date:

TGIF!! Let’s dive right into sharing five things about our week:

1. I made a lot of cookies this week. We took some last night to youngest and his wife (different kind of cookie for each).  We also went to see the progress of the work they are doing in the backyard. It’s a long term weekend project of building stacked stone walls and a lot more.  It going to look stunning when they’re done!
2. Yesterday I worked on sourdough bread and sourdough pizza dough. I made a misstep in the bread-making process which was annoying. Hopefully it’ll come out anyway. The missteps was the usual reason — me trying to do too much in too short of time. Even with excuses, though, it’s still my fault!
3. Maggie sort of mentioned this, but assuming nothing goes wrong, I’m having surgery on Wednesday. It will be 60 miles away in a brand new medical center that just opened one month ago. So we took a test drive out there to make sure we could find it — we did with no problems. Inside, it was pretty, clean and calm, the receptionist very helpful, and they have easy parking in a structure right next to the building. I’m happy as that’s less walking for Wizard than it would be at a big hospital. This building specializes in treatments, procedures and surgeries related to my diagnosis, so not a typical hospital. We have to be there at 5 am On the upside, we’ll be ahead of the morning traffic. And yes, Maggie is going to boarding for three nights just to make it easier for Wizard, and less stressful for Maggie.
4. Yesterday I went out first thing in the morning to do some weeding and trimming in the planters, and I didn’t take my phone. I missed a call with my Insurance Middle Man Company  that does all the authorizations. I realized it when I went in the house to grab my water, and that sparked an hour and a half of phone calls. Wizard knew I had to make those calls ASAP and finished up the gardening work. The whole point of me doing it was to make it easier on him. Even so, the two of us got a lot done and he didn’t mind. Also — the missed call was just to tell me the surgery had been approved. Why the first person I talked to when I called back couldn’t tell me that — I don’t know — she couldn’t even find my file, which makes me wonder if she was working on an etch-a-sketched or a computer linked to the company network? So many questions…but it doesn’t matter now, I’m approved.
5. Today I think I’m going to lunch with my sister and probably having chocolate cake! Of course, the plans can change if something comes up for her and that’s fine too. The weekend will mostly be getting what I can done before the surgery.

That’s my five, let’s hear yours! I have everyone has a fun weekend!

Hi guys, it’s me, Maggie. I have something serious to talk to you about. See, this is my serious face:

So today Wizard left, then he came home. And after that, I heard Wizard and mom talking about me going to a spa vacation next week! In case you don’t know, that’s code for them dropping me off at boarding. I like boarding, but can they really make me go without my express consent? Because I don’t willingly leave my mom. It’s my job to always know where she is, and what she’s doing. I’m, like, really good at my job too.

So what do you guys thing, am I going to boarding (who do they think they’re fooling by saying spa vacation!) next week?

Have a great day with lots of treats and naps!! And if you need some exercise, I suggest chasing lizards! It’s fun and keeps me fit!

It was a pretty quiet weekend for me, which was perfect. I’m writing this Sunday early afternoon, and Wizard is racing. I love having the house to myself (and  Maggie, of course) sometimes. So here’s the roundup:

Friday was the main event with meeting the new doctor. Both Wizard and I really like her, and feel good about our decisions. We have decided to remove the entire thyroid. I won’t get into the gory details of why, but it will likely give me the best outcome. What I really respected about this doctor is she was five steps ahead of me the entire visit — touching on each concern, and recognizing the risks in my personal health history. Since she’s thinking ahead and planning the surgery around the challenges, I no long have to worry as much. It’s a huge relief. We are getting all the authorizations and tests done, and will schedule the surgery soon.

Saturday was some cleaning, and general stuff keeping me busy. Then Youngest called, and after chatting with him a long time, I handed the phone to Wizard so I could feed Maggie dinner. In that time, Wizard somehow volunteered me to make one kind of cookies for youngest, and another kind of his wife. I don’t even know how that happened! But the joke’s on Wizard, I ran to get ingredients today and spent a a chunk of money, LOL!! I mean macadamia nuts aren’t cheap! And as long as I was getting those, I might as well stock up on the nuts I use…and things might have gotten out of hand???? Bwahaha!!! Wizard won’t actually care, but he might whine just for fun.

Sunday, not much. Other than running errands, and making one batch of cookie dough, I got a bit tired. Thanks insomnia! I may or may not have gotten around to cleaning the bathrooms…I don’t know since I’m writing this before I made that decision. I like to mess with your sense of time when you’re reading the blog!

Today I’ll bake some cookies, maybe make the other batter and get a blood test. The order for the blood test is four freaking pages! I’m not at all squeamish about blood tests, but this order is leveling up the game, LOL!! I think it’s just the way UCI writes the order, but still intimidating even for me and I’m in the expert class of getting blood tests.

And we’re kind of on baby watch. The baby isn’t due for another 3 weeks, but babies tend to be born on their own timeline. I had to laugh yesterday, our son called and Wizard answered, “Is she here?”  I cracked up and said, “Real subtle, Grandpa.” He ignored me, of course.

How was your weekend?

TGIF!! I know were only 9 days into August and it still feels like it’s going fast to me Okay let’s dive into sharing five random things about our week. Here’s mine:

1. I made gluten and dairy free shortbread cookies yesterday and they taste like they are dairy and gluten free   I will either drizzle them in lemon icing or  maybe make them into cookie sandwiches using dairy-free cheesecake frosting. That will elevated them a bit, but I still wouldn’t recommend them. A cookie like shortbread depends on the quality of the butter and the gluten in the flower to get the right flavor profile and bite. I didn’t think this version would be comparable, but I guess I had to prove my hypothesis I do think it’d be better if I made the cookie a chocolate flavor with cappuccino flavored icing Those flavors would cover for the lower quality (in baking terms) butter and flour.
2. Also I’ve been craving chocolate cake from Cheesecake Factory for a week now. I rarely have cravings this vivid and specific.
3. Lizard Slayer is alive and well. Yesterday morning I went over to the area of the planter Maggie was hanging out in and saw an unattached still-moving lizard tail. Eww. Then later, Wizard found the rest of the lizard — not moving. My sweet and charming dog is a serial killer. Probably, one day they’ll be a movie about her. All the neighbors will say, “But Maggie was the sweetest girl! I can’t image her being a serial killer.”
4. Today is my UCI appointment. We’ll see how it goes. I was surprised to get a text that they require masks….then I remembered this particular facility has very sick patients who are often severely immunocompromised from the meds they are on to treat their disease. I’ll cheerfully wear a mask.
5. We were going to see Turbo tomorrow, but he’s had a virus. He starts first grade Monday, so I want him to rest and get well. We will likely go the following weekend then I can hear all about his first week of school. As for my weekend, well now I can do some cleaning I’ve been ignoring all week — yay me!!!

Yep that’s my boring five, I bet yours are much more interesting!!! I hope everyone has a great weekend!