TGIF! Time to share five random things about our week. Here’s mine:

1. Monday I got my cervical spine x-ray done. I was in and out very quickly, which is a win. No report yet, but I’m not really expecting any big changes since I had the two level disk replacement surgery done. This was just to rule our bone spurs or something along those lines. I did get results on my throat swab, no indication of viral, bacterial or fungal infections. Pretty much what we expected, but again, we’re eliminating as much as we can in trying to solve the mystery of my throat issue. At this point, I’m becoming resigned to just living with it.
2. Yesterday, Wizard and I went to our sister in law’s house (wife of brother who passed away) to pack up Mike’s books, magazines and repack some CDs. We packed 36 boxes! I’m not surprised how many books we packed, Mike was very well read on a variety of diverse subjects, including wars, religion, philosophy, poetry, music, art and pop culture. He read just as widely in fiction, including many female authors (he also read my books and was a fan of Blood Magic). There were moments where I caught myself talking to him as I was going  through his books. That’s okay, of course, but I didn’t want to freak out his wife who was upstairs working at her day job   I’m posting pictures of the boxes stacked five boxes high and two rows. I had two more boxes that we took home.
3. Poor Maggie! You won’t believe what happened to her yesterday — A Bath! She was outraged. Well truthfully, she was scared, sigh. She hates baths and water. But she’s all clean now and I put on her new green collar on her.
4. Today I’m meeting Biker Witch for lunch. I’m looking forward to that!
5. Tomorrow Oldest and I are taking some of the boxes filled with books to a donation site or two. Not sure what we’ll get done, but it’s a start. Trying to help here and there has reminded me how much I don’t want to move again!

That’s my five. Now I’d love to hear yours! I hope everyone has a great weekend!

All is well here, but I’m taking today off from the blog. I’ll be back on Friday to share about our week!

See you all Friday!

It was a good weekend for me, except that I miss seeing Silver online. I briefly checked in with her, and she has some things going on. So to Silver: we miss you but more importantly, we want you to focus on what you need to in this moment. We’ll be here when you come back!

Otherwise it was a good weekend. We are doing one big vacation this year (probably this decade or even multiple decades!), and we’re going with at least one of our sons and his family. It’s Hawaii! I spent a lot of the weekend researching flights and the hotels, trying to figure out the best options for us. I finally booked the flight and the hotel, and bought travel insurance on the flight. Normally I don’t buy travel insurance, but this time it seemed prudent for various reasons. And now I’m excited! I even have two swim suits — they are board shorts and tankini tops that cover enough so I feel comfortable. Our grandson is going, and I want to hang out in or by the pool and beach without being self-conscious. One of the sets is two years old, and the second one was inexpensive, so it’s a win for me!

Yesterday I went to lunch with my friend, then we usually go to TJ Max just to look around. It’s so good to see her. This week, I’m seeing Biker Witch, so I have that to look forward too.

This afternoon, I have an appt to get an x-ray for my neck just to make sure there’s no mischief going on in there. Chances are good I’ve just annoyed some deep muscles, rather than anything nefarious going on with my cervical spine.

How was your weekend?

TGIF! It’s time to share five random things about our week. Here’s mine:

1. It’s hard to believe that News Year’s Day was just a few days ago. It feels like weeks have gone by for some reason. I think the week just feels off from the holiday. I vote that next year, Christmas and News Year’s Day do not fall on a Monday! Who’s with me?
2. I spent hours getting some rough estimates on the cost of the flight and hotel for Hawaii this year.  So I told my oldest son his dad and I are actively trying to spend his inheritance on floors and Hawaii. He texted right back, “Get heated marble floors!” I guess he’s now helping me spend his inheritance? The kids always crack me up.
3. Looking at costs for Hawaii or searching for the right floor hasn’t been anywhere near as stressful as shopping for a refrigerator was last year! To be fair, if we go to Hawaii, that’s a fun vacation (one hopes!) so we can’t call that stressful. And one of Wizard’s friends has been in the floor business for decades, so he’s helped us a lot and saved us a lot of stress and worry. However, it amuses me that choosing refrigerator stressed us out more than this bigger investment stuff
4. Maggie is very suspicious of the samples for hard floors we’ve brought home. She really likes our carpet. But Maggie does not pay the bills and therefore, (she will be surprised to learn) she doesn’t make the decisions. As a concession to her, we’re keeping the carpet we have in the bedrooms. Plus Wizard wants carpet in the bedrooms and I’m good with that. The carpets in those rooms are fine, and with an aging dog, it’s just a better choice for now.  We can always change that carpet down the road if we want to do that.
5. Today I’m going to see my regular doctor to talk about two ongoing issues, but nothing dire. Sunday I’m going to lunch with a friend! I’m really looking forward to that! Both of us are trying to see each other more than once or twice a year.

That’s my five, now I’d really love to hear yours! I hope everyone has a great weekend!

I took Maggie to the vet for a routine thing. She get’s anxious like most dogs and didn’t want to go with the vet tech. The vet tech was nice, but firm and picked her up and whisked into the treatment room. These are really quick 10 minute visits and that includes cutting her nails.

When the vet tech came back, I asked if Maggie was good. She said, “Yes, she just lies there for me.” And then she demonstrated by throwing her hands up like a turtle on their back. I don’t know why, but that cracked up. And while Maggie might be anxious, she’s calm and trusting enough to let the tech do her thing. I’m really glad Maggie’s a good girl.

The tech also weight Maggie and she’s FAT!! Okay I’m kidding, the tech didn’t say that, and Maggie’s not fat. But for a year or longer, she was losing very small amounts of weight consistently. It wasn’t alarming, but both the vet and I were watching it. Then the vet discovered the hernia when she removed what we though was a lipoma. So clearly, Maggie is doing better! I knew she was eating well and not throwing up, but seeing confirmation that she’s stopped losing weight and even gaining some back is really nice!

Also, the staff liked the cookies I dropped off for them

Otherwise, my Wednesday will include an early morning appointment to look at more floors. Isn’t it funny how you think you know what you want until you walk into a showroom with tons of choices? Of course, one we price it all out, we may find we love the floors we have It’s all good, we’re just researching options and pricing it out for now.

How’s your Wednesday going?

Happy New Year!!

I hope everyone had a safe an enjoyable New Years Eve! And I wish for all of us a wonderful New Year!

That said, even though I’m writing this blog on New Years Eve afternoon, I can safely predict that I’m annoyed by the fireworks that scare my dog. That’s my one complained. Some of them are also very unsafe.

So this weekend was quiet, just the way I liked it Saturday all I did was read and make sourdough bread. Sunday was low key too, and for dinner we made trip tip, with fresh sourdough bread and a good wine. And in the best news, my daughter-in-law is recovering from her illness. I was finally able to go over on Sunday, and she looked and sounded much better. I also read again on Sunday because I’m reading a super interesting to me book “Project Hail Mary” by Andy Weir. There’s a lot of science and physics that I don’t fully grasp and I’m looking up a lot of words or concepts, but I’m enjoying the book so much I don’t mind. It’s fun. I suspect I’m looking to books to challenge me a bit more since I’m not writing and getting the mental challenge from that. It makes sense to me, anyway.

Now I’m looking for 2024! How about you?

TGIF for the last time in 2023!! Doesn’t the year always seem fast when it’s in the rearview mirror??? Anyhow, time to jump into sharing five random things about our week (warning: it’s an intentionally quiet week for me and therefore a very short Friday Five).

1. We took our Christmas decorations down yesterday. I’m always ready to do that soon after Christmas. And we got rid of some of the older decorations we don’t need anymore.
2. There’s a lot more room in my freezer these days! I really had it packed full! It makes finding things, and grocery shopping, much easier again.
3. Is anyone else disappointed that we’re heading into 2024 and we still don’t have the pill that restores our youth and vitality?
4. We don’t have any real plans for New Years. We talked about going out to dinner, but we’ll probably stay in and maybe open some wine. Whatever we do, we’ll enjoy it.
5. I hope everyone has a safe and happy New Year!! My wish is that 2024 brings us all good health and true joy! HAPPY NEW YEAR!

That’s my five, now I’d love to hear yours!