Success!! I finally got an appointment with an UCI endocrine surgeon! It’s August 9th, and from what I can see she (the surgeon) is well-qualified and specializes in just what I need. All I need to do is get a CD of the thyroid ultrasound I had in April, which shouldn’t be hard.  Wizard and I are feeling pretty good about this.

As long as we’re moving forward, I don’t want to dwell on the frustrations we went through to get here. In fact these two months of problems may have actually led me on a jagged path to better quality care. Life is funny like that sometimes.

How’s your Wednesday going?

So the weekend was good. Well mostly.

Saturday morning we met youngest and his wife at the auto museum/ winery. The place was so cute! Amidst sweeping fields of grape vines were three buildings with pathways and stairs to reach them. So lovely and peaceful.

The first building was a quaint store with so many things to look at that each time we were in it, we found new things. Totally fun. Tucked into that was a little winery. None of us were interested in wine tasting (too early, and we were all driving), but on the way out, Wizard and I bought a few bottles.

Then we followed a path through grapevines and beneath the warm blue skies to the first building complete with an old fashion gas station out front. There we met that highlight of the day — a friendly cat! Me and daughter in law were smitten, petting him and telling him he was beautiful (because he totally was!) while the two men headed inside muttering things like, “We’re not here to see a cat.”. Then we went in to see rows of beautiful kept classic cars, and an assortment of other classic electronics like older computers to work on cars (don’t judge, I’m not a car person) along with TVs and stereos. We all enjoyed it.

Then Wizard and I sent youngest and daughter in law off to see the top building as it wasn’t accessible to Wizard. Well that was my plan. Wizard insisted I go with them and he’d be fine. So I did (because he means it) and we climbed a hill and stairs to the finally building with a wrap around porch. In the back was the wine/barrel room and we couldn’t go in there. But we looked in like super secret agents Then we went inside the actual building to see more immaculately kept classic cars, some with less than a 100 miles on them. Amazing. Youngest solved all the questions about how they got the cars in there (hidden garages) but none of us are sure how they got one car up to a platform up in a corner of the building. We then discovered a Barbie room filled with Barbies because that makes sense in a car museum, LOL. Daughter in law loved it. I asked daughter in law if she’d be surprised to learn I was more of a Tom Boy as a kid and had zero interest in Babies? She was not surprised However I went through with her because I love her and she was interested. Youngest got about a foot and a half into the room before he remembered something (anything!) else he had to do.

After that, we found Wizard and went back down to the main building where we hung out and did more window shopping, and ended that portion of our fun that day with Wizard buying the bottles of we wine we chose (without tasting which is pretty risky).

After that, we all went to lunch. We had fun and talked nonstop, but the food was the only day’s disappointment at a normally reliant restaurant. Well, we can win at everything, now can we?

Later than evening Wizard went into our bedroom for something,  and I opened a Petit Syrah wine that we’d bought. Um, I had a bit of an uncorking adventure that sprayed red wine on the wall, floor and me. That was a new experience and I’ve opened quite a few bottles of wine. Wizard came into the kitchen, saw the newly sprayed walls, floor and my white shorts, then fixed a look on me. “Did you sneeze?”

I couldn’t help it, I doubled over with laugher. My bloody noses are a little scary lately, but also, funny as heck in some ways. (Note: they are probably just allergies and nothing to worry about). Regaining some self control, I pointed at the wine. “Blame him!”

We cleaned up, did what we could to keep the cork out of the wine and failed. But then came the moment — Tasting the pricy and surprisingly difficult to uncork wine. We both had some trepidation wondering if we’d just invested in colored vinegar.

But it was wonderful!!! Full body, nice balance with a good backend finish for my very amateur tastebuds.

So that was Saturday. Sunday Wizard went racing and I stayed home with plans to workout, wash floors and begin the sourdough process. In the process, I hit my the back of my hand on a drawer pull and bruised it. That’s just annoying. But Maggie’s bladder issues appear to be worsening and she seems a bit restless.  I’ll feel better after she sees the vet on Wednesday.

How was your weekend?

When I was at Trader Joe’s last week, I bought a watermelon. Then I cut it and discovered a yellow watermelon. I never knew!!! How did I get this many decades into my life and not know about yellow watermelons? Wizard and I loved it.

And that reminds me, trying new things is important. Even when it’s by accident, LOL!

So how about you? Did you know about yellow watermelons (I’m pretty sure the answer is yes and I’ve been living under a rock!). And what have you tried that’s new to you lately?

Happy Wednesday!

It was a pretty quiet weekend overall and nice enough. But late Sunday afternoon I opened the door to get a package on the porch, immediately smelled smoke and my eyes started burning. The fire is some distance away from us, so not a concern for us directly but causing evacuations for others. I hate fires.

Aside from that, my weekend went well except for nose bleeds. I had a sudden and significant one Friday morning while getting Maggie’s breakfast. Wizard came in and finished feeding her while I went into the bathroom to take care of it. I got it to stop in about five minutes and that’s good. But then I returned to the kitchen and found blood on the floor and running down a white cupboard. Wizard surveyed it, then turned to look at me. “Don’t disappear. The cops will luminal this place and arrest me. I’ll never be able to explain all this blood!” I cracked up. He was only half kidding, and I laughed harder. Because sometimes, we just have to laugh!

Saturday I had a couple minor nosebleeds, and Sunday was blood free! I have a prescription ointment I’m usually and hopefully that helps. I’m sure the weather is aggravating it.

Otherwise, I did some cleaning, organizing for the baby shower in a couple weeks, a bit of online shopping in my endless hunt for clothes and shoes that I like and will actually wear, and I’m beginning a new sourdough starter. With the throat surgery and endless tests, I neglected my old starter and it’d died    I don’t know how I got so careless! Later in the afternoon, we went over to Youngest’s to see a stacked stone planter he’s been building in the backyard 100 degree heat. He doesn’t mind the heat as long as it’s not humid. The planter is going to be beautiful.

I forget to tell you all, one morning last week, Maggie and I were on our daily morning walk, and we were on the sidewalk by a school. Between the sidewalk and the fenced school parking lot is a slope filled with brush. An animal broke out of that brush and hauled-butt back into the hills. I was so startled, I stopped and watched and I’m pretty sure it was a bobcat. It could have been a coyote, but it moved like a cat, and had the bobcat ears from what I could see. Either way, we were lucky! It’s rare for the critters to come down to the street, but it happens. It’s part of the package of living at the base of the hills (it’s a National Forest), and it’s also a good reminder to stay alert.

I’m listening to a non-fiction book by a doctor about wide ranging topics in medicine and the medical field. That’s both interesting and a bit depressing.

How was your weekend?

I just haven’t been reading. There’s lots of reasons, but one thing I have been into lately is listening to trial lawyer podcasts following trials that are live streamed in real time with the lawyers commentary. Recently, I just happened to be two of the strangest trials with unexpected plot twists so I was hooked and not reading or listening to anything else I’ve loosely followed other trials too lately. Why? No idea, my interests can bounce around and I guess it keeps me learning. It’s also good to have on in the background as I’m cooking, gardening or doing projects in the house.

I miss reading and I’m going to spend some quality time searching for really good books. Catching and keeping my interest lately is pretty tough.

How about you? Are you reading? And if so, share what you’re reading!

Happy Wednesday!

While I was doing some early prep for dinner on Saturday afternoon, Wizard got a news alert on his phone. And that’s how we  learned of an attempted assassination of a presidential candidate. And just like that, my weekend filled with anger, disbelief and a bottomless sadness. I just cannot understand what drives a 20 year old kid to murder people. I just can’t.

As I write this, the latest I know (and I was gone most of the day yesterday taking a break from reality before I wrote this blog) is Former President Trump was injured, one man died and two more were critically wounded. And a LOT of people who love those victims have been terrorized and traumatized. I hope to God I am never in a crowd and forced to witness such a terrible thing like that. Ever.

I am sad at what we’ve become. It would not matter to me which of the two candidates was targeted, my feelings would remain the same. This is not how we solve problems. People who do something this heinous are the problem.

Now deep breath and let’s move on: The rest of my weekend was good. The highlight was having lunch with my friend, then we walked around an outlet center and ended  our day out with some sorbet. Friends are truly one of life’s blessings.

So that was my weekend, how was yours?

TGIF!! Friday keep on coming! Okay let’s jump into sharing five random things about our week.

1. Well the good news is I had some chocolate chip cookies in my freezer! Just what I needed this week!
2. The frustrating news is my ENT office told me late Wednesday they will not do my surgery. Oh did I say told? Sorry I meant sent me an email. Thankfully it was just in time to cancel my preop appointment.
3. A huge thank you to another doctor’s assistant who spotted the shenanigans going on with my case. That assistant worked behind the scenes to get me a referral to UCI (a very good University hospital system). That same assistant called me last week I think to let me know the referral was there if I needed it. I suspect she knew I would need it. I’m now in the process of getting a consultation set up there. It’ll take time to get the referral authorization into their system, then we’ll need start over with a new specialist. But I should get better care for my specific situation. The moral of this story is that many times really good people are stepping up and quietly helping even when they have no real skin in the game. I so appreciate that assistant.
4. More good news, I should be able to go to my daughter in law’s shower now! I’m so looking forward to that, and since I’m one of the hostesses it’s good that I’ll be there Even more fun, I’m getting to know my daughter in law’s mom more as we plan the shower and she’s so nice! Truly a bright spot to have all this going on. And just because I’m thinking about it, my daughter in law called just to see how I’m doing and I love her for that. So lot’s of bright spots that make me happy.
5. I’m meeting a friend on Sunday for lunch and I’m very happy about that. Wizard is going racing too, which I’m also pleased about. He needs to get out, see his friends and have fun too.

That’s my week, now it’s your turn! I really hope everyone has a great weekend!