Sorry I’m late! We are fine, just a lot going on. But lets dive into Friday Five, just in case any of you would like to share yours.

1. We’ve been safe from the fires so far, and things are improving. We’ve been “downgraded” to warning level. Wizard and I unpacking today and cleaning up where we can.
2. The fire is still only 8% contained, and has burned more than 24k acres. And there’s more fires burning. One we know was started by an arsonist and that’s infuriating.
3. Yesterday, I went out to help with my new grandbaby! OMG she’s totally adorable and I love her so much!! She’s tiny, about 6 lbs 9 oz, and amazing! Her parents are doing great — I’m so proud of them! they had some rough but they handled them and all is well. I had planned to stay the night last night but ended up coming home late at night because I’m tired and plan to make food to take back this weekend.
4. Also #3 is my reason for not posting my blog when I should have. I don’t have access to the site on my phone, and everything else was packed.
5. I’m so tired, but even more happy. But have so much to be thankful for. Baby girl’s birth wasn’t easy, but she’s here, happy. Now I have to run to the store and unpack stuff!!

That’s my quick five, and I’d love to hear yours if you have time to share!! Have a great weekend!

For the record, this isn’t fun. We have been under an evacuation warning from the Airport Fire in the hills (it’s the huge Cleveland National Forest) behind us since Monday night. I desperately wanted to go see our new grandchild, and help the brand new parents. Because of the warning, I was afraid to go so far and not be able to get back in if they issue and evac order. But others are in (at this moment) worse danger than us, so I need to not whine too much. My son, his wife and their two day old daughter are fine. They have people around then who can offer support, and a brother near by. So my  griping is really more about me just missing out

I’m writing this Tuesday early afternoon. We are basically in wait and see, and we’ve made some premilitary preparations so we can move somewhat quickly if needed.

The firefighters are awesome! If you have extra prayers, send them for their safety as they fight multiple fires, please.

How’s your day going?

First up, as I type this late Sunday afternoon, the baby is not quite here yet. But Mom and baby are under excellent care so when the time is right, we’ll celebrate.

The weekend was good, if a little scattered. It’s nothing wrong, just constantly pivoting plans as a reminder that I don’t always get to control life when I plan my days. That’s always a surprise to me Which basically means I didn’t get to do some experimental baking stuff for my imaginary bakery…yeah…don’t ask. It’s a mental thing I do when I’m resting — think about and sometimes research cookies and brownies. I don’t actually ever plan or even want to open a bakery. My mental one never gets dirty, had equipment failures, rude customers, missing ingredients, or any problems at all. Real life…not so much!

Friday, I saw my surgeon. She’s very happy with my progress. The news was 95% good, and we are relieved and happy! The nodule was bigger than expected, and super close to the margins — which was validating in a way. She does not believe I’ll need more treatment, but due to a genetic mutation that was found in the biopsy, she wants me to see another specialist to confirm that. And I’ll do a six month follow up with her.  Overall good news.

Oh and the healing scar looks great! I am collecting them in that spot there with two surgeries there, LOL (My neck surgery years ago is right there).

Saturday and Sunday were days of pivoting plans, and it all worked out. On Saturday, I did get to go spend an hour and a half with my grand dog, Phoebe. That was actually good, because I just sat with her, played some toys, and we both watched some Youtube on my phone. But Sunday, I’m super tired. I have more good days than not, so it’s just my body reminding me it hasn’t been even three weeks since my surgery (and so totally normal), and I’m listening.

Today we are, well, still in pivot mode (first babies!) and also, I get to go hang out with Phoebe again. When I get home after that, I usually get a 3rd degree sniff examination by Maggie

How was your weekend?

TGIF! Time to jump right into sharing five random things about our week. Here’s mine:

1. It’s brutal hot. It was 111 degrees and humid here yesterday. Today is supposed to be the same and last through the weekend. Thankfully we have A/C and I’m grateful for that.
2. No baby yet as I write this about 8pm on Friday. My daughter-in-law saw her doctor and they tried to nudge things along. First babies are stubborn! But all that really matters is that everyone is healthy and when baby girl arrives — mom and baby are in good shape. Well, dad too, but you know what I mean
3. Today (Thursday) totally got away from me and became exhausting. I had my day planned to manage all the tasks I hoped to do while still recovering — but the heat, Maggie having another episode of bladder accidents for a few hours (these episode come and go in serious weirdness but her vet is trying to help her), and a dead car battery ended up crowding the day and making us both tired. Probably I shouldn’t have tried making sourdough just yet…but…well…I did So I shall take a bit of blame. I wasn’t lifting anything heavy though!
4. In an upside to yesterday, I ran over to Youngest’s house to pick up an extra watermelon they had, and to go over instructions to pop in a couple times over the weekend to play with my grand dog and give the dog sitter a break. (She’s way more than a dog sitter, she’s a family friend, but dog sitter describes the situation. And yet I feel bad calling her a dog sitter and I had to add a parenthetical to point that out….maybe I’m really tired!) This quick visit on my part should have taken five minutes but Youngest and I got to talking and we lost an hour and a half! As I was driving home, Wizard called and said, “Did you lose track of time?” Um…yeah? But it was a great break to a long day! Also Wizard finds me losing track of time hilarious because it’s so rare.
5. Today is my follow up with my surgeon. I hope she has the biopsy results to give us the best information. But we have had no reason to expect anything other than good news. As for the rest of the day and the weekend — it’s baby watch and checking in on my grand dog when needed. And resting a bit more than I have this last day or two

That’s my five, now I’d love to hear yours! I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend filled with all the things that bring you joy!

So I’ve been reading a book for weeks. I know…what happened to the voracious reader Jen who used to consume several books a week? Yeah, I’m wondering that too. However, I do like the book I’m reading — “The Lying Game” by Ruth Ware. It’s a mystery about a group of girls in a boarding school who played a game of lying…until something happened that changed the game of lying into real life survival. The book starts when the women are all adults living their lives and must come together because something has washed up on shore that can expose the lie and threaten their lives. I’m not very far along but it definitely has me intrigued.

I’ve listened to two old books, “The Bride” by Julie Garwood (love her!), and The Nightingale by Kristen Hannah (one of my all time favorites), because they were easy and familiar, making them perfect to listen to in the first days after surgery.

Now that I’m improving so quickly, I’m looking for new books to catch my interest.

What are you reading or listening to?

Happy Labor Day to all the U.S. witches! And Happy September to everyone! I love fall and look forward to cooler weather…eventually as it’s going to be 100+ all week here. However the rabid pumpkin spice love in fall is something I don’t really get. I mean, pumpkin is okay but it’s not chocolate people, okay? Let’s not get confused, Chocolate Rules All The Seasons! 

No grandbaby yet as I’m writing this on Sunday afternoon She’s taking her time, planning for just the right moment to make her debut. I’m happy to wait, but I’m not sure her parents are as patient as her Grandma, LOL.

Otherwise, it’s been a decent weekend. Friday, we saw my primary doctor. He was very pleased with my progress and gave Wizard and me an extra level of confidence. I am getting rest, but also moving as much as I can and he was fine with that. That helped Wizard to relax a bit more and let me do things if I feel up to it. While Wizard has been great, I recognize that in a lot of ways, this has been harder on him.

Saturday we did stuff around the house, then went over Youngest’s house because Turbo and his family were going over there to swim. It gave us a chance to see him as it’s been a long time. We enjoyed that then came home. I can’t swim until I’m cleared by my surgeon and Wizard is tired, so it worked out well. OH!! guys, I forgot to say, my oldest son and daughter-in-law had gifts for us from Italy. Long story but the gifts ended up at Youngest’s house, so we were able to retrieve them. One item is some olive oil that smells amazing — better than any olive oil I’ve ever had in the states! I can’t wait to try it! And some balsamic too, which is also cool!

Sunday, we went to breakfast. The restaurant was having a bad day, but it was nice to get out. Then after lunch, I decided to do some errands as I’m just starting to drive comfortably now. I picked up some fresh made sourdough since I’m not up to making it myself yet (but soon!). The sourdough is to dip in the olive oil and balsamic Then I ran by Trader Joes. ‘There I got some regular and dairy free parmesan cheese to make a gluten free pasta dish with the olive oil, my fresh basil leaves and the parm because it sounds yummy. And I bought a bunch of random stuff because that place has a spell over me. I asked the very nice girl at the checkout if she could pack the bags super light and she was happy to do it. I normally hate asking stuff like that, but she made it easy and I so appreciated it. She offered to me help out to the car, but she did such a great job of packing the bags light, I didn’t need it.

This week is another week of light duty for me, but hopefully on Friday, I’ll get clearance to do more.

How was your 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.