Post Christmas celebrations

The last post I wrote was a week ago when I mentioned how ill my husband and I had been with our colds. I dragged myself through the grocery shopping and I got through another 2 days, miraculously. I baked those doggie biscuits, wrapped and labelled them; and I made a double batch of my homemade nuts and bolts. I made the pie dough to put together apple pies and a lemon meringue for Christmas Eve dinner. I also put my cookie dough together to make a double batch of my Jewel cookies for gift giving. I wrapped up the gift baskets and made sure all the gifts were ready for under the tree. My Sweetie and I drove off to the last radiation appointment on Friday before we could enjoy four days off from the hospital. We came home again and went straight down for a nap. I woke up long enough to call our friends in Charleston Lake to announce there would be no Christmas Eve dinner this year....first time it has ever been cancelled in over 30 years. I pretty much spent the next four days in bed. Yesterday we resumed the treatments in hospital, but again it was followed by spending the afternoon napping.

Today I have been trying to catch up on my emails, and I see where people are putting away their trees and decorations for another year. I  can't do that yet. I still have gifts undelivered, baking not finished, and I am still receiving Christmas cards in the mail. Yesterday I received a beautifully handmade card from my friend Nathalie *wink, wink. nudge, nudge*, which my Sweetie and I both enjoyed. (I would love to steal that sentiment for one of my cards.)  Our friends from Charleston Lake were taking their son to the bus station last night, as his holiday is over and he needed to get back to Toronto. They stopped in here and we just basically exchanged gifts at the door. We didn't open them until after supper and then it was Christmas all over again. The same will happen when we finally are well enough to travel to Smith Falls. We were unable to have Christmas dinner at their house this year, so we still have presents for the family. I think our festive dinners have been hot soup, toast, and ginger ale and cranberry juice. I haven't felt so rotten for years. The cough is getting a little better, but the head cold has turned to sinusitis. I am still needing lots of rest, and I feel very weak and draggy. I worked too hard for Christmas to be over already, so I shall enjoy having my decorations stay up for a little while longer.

The "snowman" is actually 3 presents I wrapped in white paper and decorated with googly eyes, buttons and a red ribbon to look like a snowman. I like my presentation to be fun.

For those of you wondering about my Advent calendar, I actually had 25 days of gifts to unwrap;

Day 23 was a very pretty nail polish and Day 24 was strawberry body butter.

Day 25, Christmas Day, turned out to be a sleep mask and rejuvenating serum.

My first REAL grocery shop of the month.

Snack foods cost me $41.50

 There are items that are not shown here because they will be wrapped as "last minute" gift items for when I am presented a gift by a neighbour or friend that I was not expecting.  Some of these items are also going to be used in gift baskets and to make certain other recipes. I normally don't buy snack foods very often.

Cereals and breads cost $16.45

 The cereals will be used to make bits and bites, or nuts and bolts. I needed to buy the oatmeal and cornmeal to make doggie biscuits for all our canine friends.

Dairy was $13.13 

 I managed to pick up two blocks of cheddar yesterday, another pound of butter and 3 pounds of baking margarine. I haven't started baking yet, but I will be ready if the mood strikes.

Meat cost $23.39 

 Yesterday I picked up 4 pounds of ground beef for $10. Otherwise, we have been eating from our freezer over this past month. We still have spareribs, ground pork, roast beef and a small turkey.

Fruit and juices cost $26.45

Pantry items cost $26.96

 Some of my grocery items are missing from the photos, but I have added them up in my totals.

Sundries cost $31.67

I still have not been able to find washing soda, so I bought another liquid laundry detergent. I also bought 2 $50 gift certificates today, bringing my total expenditure with taxes to a whopping $303.80 Aside for paying my son's GF back $50 for a gift she picked up for me, I think I am done. But I do need to do some baking, as that forms part of the gifts I will be making. I also need to pick up more items locally.

The last two days my Sweetie and I have been very ill. I caught that nasty cold bug from my husband, so now my head is congested and I am now "coughing from my boots". I have my sexy voice. Yesterday after the Radiation treatment and the Pre Surgery appointment  we both came home to bed. We left around 9 AM and came home after 3 PM. It was a long day. Today, neither one of us felt like shopping, but it needed to get done, so we bit the bullet. I will medicate myself tonight and pour it on over the next two days.

It has been difficult getting ready for Christmas this year, but I have had some help. My son and his GF have picked up items for me, and friends of mine have also picked up things I have asked for. I did not have time this year to do a lot of crafting, so I have used some ingenuity to come up with gift basket ideas. I am sure people understand how little time in the day is left over after all the medical appointments. And just having everyone here to enjoy good food and good company is what is most important.

Day 20 is a nail file and Day 21 is Polynesian Island shower gel.

Daybook: Monday December 19/16

Outside my window.....it is snowing. The temperature is quite cold this morning. My son is outside brushing snow off the windows of the car.

I am thinking.....this is the last week before Christmas and I need to get the final push on to get things ready for Christmas Eve.

I am thankful for.....my son and his girlfriend for helping us out. My son has been shoveling snow and moving things for me.

From the kitchen.....there has not been a lot going on yet. I will be baking a couple of things this week, hopefully. And I will be doing a clean in there between bakings. My cupboard doors and appliances need another washing down. My floor definitely needs a scrub.

I am wearing.....blue jeans with a gray knit sweater, and socks.

I am creating.....another Christmas card this morning for one of my husband's friends. When he asked to speak to me last night to wish me a Merry Christmas, he mentioned how much he enjoys receiving my homemade cards. I had asked my husband to verify that the address I had for him was still current (which we found out it was), so this morning, instead of mailing out the store bought card I had already prepared for him, I made a card. He made such a fuss about how he has kept all the cards I have made for him, I didn't have the heart to tell him that this year was going to be different.

I am going..... to Hotel Dieu Hospital for my Sweetie's echo cardiogram mid-day and then off to Kingston General Hospital for his radiation therapy. I will stop to get some baking margarine and butter to start a batch of cookies.

I am hoping.....we don't get too much more snow today.

I am hearing.....the blower on the furnace. I also just heard an emergency vehicle with its siren going past our house. I didn't look up to see, but I think it was the fire department paramedics responding to an accident.

Around the house.....there is still way too much  to do.

One of my favourite things.....lately, is the wheelchair that I borrowed from my SIL in Smith Falls. It has been so valuable in getting my husband to his radiation appointments. We can park closer to the Cancer wing, so I don't have to run ahead to the Main Entrance to try and find one that is available. There is no way my husband can walk the distance on his own.

A few plans for the rest of the week.....include a 2-3 hour appointment tomorrow for Pre-Surgery. My Sweetie had some eye surgery scheduled for mid-March, but it has been moved forward to January 4th. He still has his radiation appointment scheduled before this Pre-Op appointment. This coming Saturday is Christmas Eve. We will be having company here for dinner with a gift exchange afterwards. We have a long standing event with our good friends from Charleston Lake. We go to their place for Thanksgiving, and they come here for Christmas Eve. Their son and his wife and our Middle son and GF are also part of this Christmas Eve Special. Sometimes we have been fortunate enough to have other family members join us, but it has been going on now for over 30 years.

Here is a picture I am sharing.....

Day 17, 18 and 19...an eyebrow and eyelash comb, Chamomile eye makeup remover and Shea lip butter.

Snowy Weekend

It snowed overnight on Friday and we woke up to a driveway full of snow.

The sun came out after the ice storm on Saturday night

I wanted to take a photo before all the ice melted. 

It was a great weekend to just stay put if you didn't need to go out. My Sweetie is down with a nasty cold and he is coughing "from his boots". He spent most of Friday, Saturday and today in bed. I guess I needed to sleep as well because I lay down on the couch about 1:30 after lunch and a hot cup of tea, and I didn't wake up until 5:30. What?!

I did manage to decorate the tree. I have put up some decorations, cleaned off some surfaces and put decorations and Christmas serving dishes down, but I am still not done. I have kept the dishes and laundry done up. Hopefully I can do a little bit of baking this week. The next two days however are going to be full of medical appointments. Besides the usual radiation treatments, we have an echo tomorrow and a pre-op procedure on Tuesday for an upcoming eye surgery the 4th of January. Busy week ahead.

Day 15 and 16...eye shadow brush and luscious mango whipped lotion.

Get 'er Done

Sometimes you just have to do it. If you wait for inspiration to strike, or wait for a day where you aren't feeling overwhelmed, or wait until the sky turns pink, it doesn't get done. Yesterday morning I started my day with my usual chores, and I peeled, cubed and boiled my second 5 pound bag of turnip, and I wrapped up some more stocking stuffers. Before I knew it, it was 12:45 and time to leave for the hospital. When I came home I realized that at this rate I would never feel up to cleaning and decorating my house. So I just started taking pictures down off the walls and placing them inside an empty Rubbermaid tub. I took out the boxes of decorations and started placing them on the dining room table that I had managed to clean off on the weekend. I switched out the pictures that I took down with Christmas decorations.

My dining room table was my main staging area. The pretty dessert plates in the centre of the table were taken down from the dining room wall and hand washed to put away.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I substituted  those for some Christmas plates for decoration.

Oil paintings were substituted for more festive Christmas decorations. This 3_D shadow box is one of my favourites because it was handmade for me.

I used the feather duster to dust down the walls and door frames before I hung the garlands and lights around the door frames.

On the dining room wall looking through the French door into the living room.

On the living room wall (same doorway) looking into the dining room.

I brought out the Christmas dishes from the buffet and changed them out for my everyday dishes. Now I will have to clean off surfaces on tables and shelves to place the remainder of stuff that still sits on my dining table. But at least I have started.

This morning I did not need to cook 5 pounds of any kind of vegetable, but I did have to bake up another batch of doggie biscuits. I got my parcels into the mail, so they will arrive before Christmas.

Day 13 and 14 of my Advent calendar....an eyelash curler and British Rose shower gel.

Daybook: Monday December 12/16

Outside my window.....there is a lot of snow; but it is also mild outside, so it is melting quite quickly. The roads are very wet and slushy.

I am thinking.....of how tired I am feeling today. I woke up at 6 this morning and didn't go back to sleep. I went outside to start clearing the driveway. Shoveling in the fresh air can easily be tiring.

I am thankful.....that my son got up and took over. I am also thankful that my sister was well enough to be released from hospital this weekend, and that she is feeling much better. She still has to take care of herself.

From the kitchen.....I have peeled and diced 5 pounds of turnip and it is now simmering on the stove top. The crock pot has potato, carrots, a tomato, and sliced kielbasa cooking up for dinner. I also have a load washing in the dishwasher.

I am wearing.....yes, a pair of blue jeans, with a black shirt and a pair of slippers.

I am creating.....nothing today. I have mailed out all my Christmas cards. I may attempt to wrap a few stocking stuffers because I don't feel I have much energy to do too much else today. Bummer.

I am going.....to Radiation therapy this afternoon. We will leave approximately at 1:30, which is one hour before the appointed 2:30; and because it is Monday. we will be seeing the oncologist as well at 2:55. On the way home we will have to stop at Shoppers for bread, milk and dog food.

I am hoping.....to get the house cleaned and decorated this week. I would like to start doing some baking next week.

I am hearing.....my dishwasher running.

Around the house.....there is lots to be done. I will do what I can.

One of my favourite things.....is my Advent calendar. It gives me something exciting to look forward to every single day. I also am enjoying my husband's Advent gifts. Although there are only two choices, chocolate or scratch ticket, they are two of his favourite things. He is really going to miss these once Christmas is over. He has won $3 so far, but the promise of winning more is exciting. He has not cashed in his ticket yet because he can't decide whether to buy another ticket or two chocolate bars. *laugh*

A few plans for the rest of the week.....include more visits with Radiation and to get my parcels in the mail. They are packaged, wrapped and addressed, but I haven't driven them over to the post office yet. Must do that.

Here is a picture I am sharing......halfway through Advent. 

Black eye liner pencil

Weekend Happenings

Day 9 was a new slanted end tweezers.

I had so many items on my To-Do list for yesterday, it would make your head spin. All I managed to do was put together two more homemade cards (I thought I was done with those). I have addressed and stamped all of the cards (I hope). Some of them were the store bought variety, but I still managed to make 40 handmade cards to mail out, plus the 15 I sold, makes 55 homemade cards that I didn't think I would have time to make this year. Whew! I washed up and put away all my stamps, and I once again cleaned off my craft room table. I also managed to clear off most of the dining table. It doesn't seem like I accomplished much yesterday at all, but it was huge. My muscles today are sore as proof of the work I did yesterday.

Strawberry lip balm

This morning, as I type this, I am dyeing my hair. It so badly needs it. My Sweetie and I are driving out to Charlestown Lake for a Christmas Drop-in at our good friends' cabin in the woods. They have a lovely log home....the perfect setting for a Christmas affair. She has had her decorations up for weeks now. I don't. But those are my plans for this week. I will clean each room (dining room first) and then put up the decorations, ending with the living room and the tree.

Today's gift is vanilla chai body gel-lotion

So much continues to happen in our family. My step-dad was to have moved finally into the same Long-term care facility as my mom this past Tuesday; but by then, the home was in quarantine. So he still sits in hospital. My sister in the meantime, was rushed into hospital herself. They have sorted out her meds and she was supposed to have been released home yesterday. She has been advised to stay away from work for at least 3 months. She needs a break, as she has been under a lot of stress dealing with our mother's situation. Closer to home, my son and his GF are hoping to hear this week whether or not they have an apartment for January. I didn't even know they were looking, but I guess they have put a lot of mileage on their new car. Gas prices are only going to rise, so they figure they will save a lot of money by moving into town. The rent on this new place is exceptional and is all-inclusive. They are very excited to be out on their own and I am keeping my fingers crossed for them. As I plan to purge and do a deep-clean in January, this will also work well for us, as I get my rooms back and the extra storage space that I gave up.

We are expecting more snow late in the day. Hopefully, it will be after we get back from our Drop-in and safely back home. Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend. 

Domestic Thursday??

I did nothing for Christmas today.....no making cards, no wrapping presents, no decorating, nothing. Instead, after coming back from the hospital at 11 this morning, I got busy doing up some long neglected housework. I need a good solid month, but since I don't have that much time, I am scrambling to clear away the cobwebs and the dust bunnies so I can toss a few Christmas decorations around. I vacuumed the entrance/computer room, dining room, kitchen and hallway. I have not done the living room yet because my poor Sweetie was resting and had dozed off. The floors also need a good mop as well, but since I have to clean them again after I decorate, I will wait until then. I folded up all the clothes I washed yesterday and put them away.

In the kitchen, I washed a dishwasher load of dishes, cleaned the stove top, took the kitchen compost out to the main composter and sorted through the recycling. I made vegetable stock in the crock pot overnight by using up some of the "peelings" that I keep in the freezer. I am getting quite a stock pile of those. I will freeze the stock in two cup measures to cook with rice or make some vegetable soup. I " found" the bag of free McIntosh apples that we were given about 3 or 4 weeks ago. If I had put them in the fridge, they would have been fine. But I don't have much space in my fridge because two households are using it and it is considered prime real estate. As a result, I had to throw away one whole apple and I had to cut away some spoiled spots on others. I peeled, quartered and sliced the whole lot. I used half of them to make an apple crumble and the other half went into the freezer for later. I am upset with myself for having waited so long to do anything with these apples, but until today, they just were not a priority. It will taste very good though after dinner tonight, which I have decided will be some of the pork chops we were gifted in that box of meat from our neighbour. I still have half of a pasta bake that I made for dinner last night, but that will be better tomorrow when we have a late appointment with Radiation. I will just need to warm it up when we get home.

Still warm from the oven

Day 7 and 8 from my Advent calendar.....a sharpener for the lip liner I received on Day 6 and a bar of coconut soap. Aren't you guys just lovin' this? I know I am. I am carefully putting all the boxes back in the calendar so I can maybe reuse it for someone else.

Party Hearty

Advent calendar Days 5 and 6....a facial sponge and a lip liner.

I am going to be so-o-o beautiful by the time Christmas comes around. I am really enjoying receiving all these luscious gifts every day through December. My Sweetie is really enjoying his as well.....two of his favourite things (chocolate and lottery tickets) He got a scratch ticket from Merry Money and a Santa wrapped chocolate. I have managed to make and send out some out-of-town Christmas cards and continue to work on that.  I may break down today and do some vacuuming and folding up laundry because I can't take the mess anymore. Our Radiation appointment isn't until almost 4 PM this afternoon, so I have a good long stretch of time. I can also take a break by wrapping up a few of the stocking stuffers I have bought so far.

During the past weekend, I was out celebrating some festive activities with friends. On Saturday a group of us "crashed" a friend's birthday dinner in Napanee before we all settled in to watch the Santa Claus parade. Her family had reserved a big table in one of the restaurants to take her out to celebrate her birthday. When they walked in, we were already sitting at their table. I enjoyed the roast beef Special. It was prearranged by the family, but a surprise to her. It was a "cards only" birthday party, followed by our favourite Christmas parade. As you can see in the photos, the store fronts downtown are covered in lights, which makes a great backdrop to the floats. The weather was great, our spirits were festive and everyone had a wonderful evening. These are not my photos, but they were taken by the birthday girl's son. Yes, of course I forgot my Blackberry to take pictures. So I am grateful to be able to show you some photos. 

Looking up the street into the downtown area.

We are standing at the end of the route, so you may notice very few lights at this end of the downtown.  Also, there is an empty lot directly across the street from us.

On Sunday I attended another "cards only" birthday lunch in Kingston with a different group of friends. Since it was at noon at a restaurant that specializes in Brunch, I decided I wanted a big breakfast plate. Yum. The next birthday celebration among this group, isn't until February. I drove home to find my son and his GF had just started to string up the outdoor lights. With my help (and OCD supervision), it was finished in record time. And for anyone who is curious, no I haven't gone out to "fix" any of them. I had already put up the evergreen garlands, which I am particular about, and I appreciated very much the fact that everything outside is finished.

I still have not worked on my November goals report.  It might end up being a combined end of year report, seeing as how I am not getting those things on my list scratched off anyways. From here on in, I will just work at getting through Christmas.

Daybook: Monday, December 5, 2016

Outside my window.....there is snow on the ground again. It snowed quite a bit overnight, but the temperatures are rising to 4 degrees Celcius today so may not last long. I have garlands and Christmas lights on my verandah and a four foot lighted Santa in the front garden bed waving to passersby.

I am thinking..... of my Blogger friend Nathalie, who has been quiet for quite some time now but has recently started up again. She is still not receiving comments, but I am so glad and relieved to hear from her.

From the kitchen.....there has not been a whole lot going on. I have not yet started any baking, except for dog biscuits. Do you remember I told you recently that we received some meat from a neighbour who got a delivery of pork and couldn't fit everything in her freezer? She gave some meat to us, and part of that gift was two quarter cut turkeys. I cooked the second one this past weekend, and my Sweetie and I have been enjoying turkey dinners and sandwiches for the past few days. I am making soup broth in the crock pot and will freeze any leftover bits of turkey for later. It is time to cook something else tonight.

I am wearing.....dress pants with a herringbone pattern and a long sleeved white blouse. I believe it may be the same thing I wore last Monday but I assure you that I have been showering and changing clothes, though I often feel there is no time for that.

I am creating....cards and more cards. On the plus side, I sold ALL  15 of the cards to the lady that commissioned eleven, so I made $60. Yay!  Now I can buy some boxed cards to send. *laugh*

I am going.....to radiation therapy this afternoon with my Sweetie, followed by a visit to the radiation oncologist. I hope to still post my end of month goals. I have started a draft but did not have time to work on it this past weekend.

I am hoping.....that my husband does not suffer too terribly from side effects. So far, so good; but it is still relatively early in the treatment.

I am hearing.....the filter on the aquarium. I really need to clean it, but c'est la vie. Everything needs a good cleaning here.

Around the house..... my indoor garland and lights are sitting out waiting for me to hang them. There is not one decoration hung inside yet. I only just got the outdoor lights hung yesterday before I lost the sun.

One of my favourite things.....is sending out cards to the younger members of my family. I am ready to send those out today....grand kids, nephews and nieces.

A few plans for the rest of the week.....include radiation appointments every day. I need to send out my cards, pack up some parcels for mailing out, decorate the house inside and put up the tree, and wrap up the gifts that I have managed to pick up. There will be no "big" gifts this year. Everyone will have a stocking with a gift card and some stocking stuffers to open.

Here is a picture I am sharing.....Day 3 and 4 of my Advent Calendar. (Vitamin E cream moisturizer and Frosted Berries body lotion)  My Sweetie got a large bag of M & M peanuts and a Bingo lottery scratch ticket. Not a winner, but he keeps on dreaming and hoping.

 

End of Week 1

This was another very quick appointment this afternoon. We got a call earlier in the week from Nephrology cancelling the shots of iron for 3 hours this afternoon. Though my husband's iron is low, his hemoglobin is actually quite good. So they have decided not to put him through the long transfusions. Good. His appointment for radiation was for 2:45, and by 3 o'clock we were leaving the hospital.

I spent the morning putting up more "fake" evergreen garland outdoors. I think my son and his GF are looking forward to helping me tomorrow string the lights outdoors.

Here is one of the three planters that I made earlier in the week, using branches from the yard and some red and gold embellishments I already had. I cut squares of red tulle and tied them onto dowels to stick in the dirt. There is a solar light in the centre to give some light at night. I bought the single gold star from the Dollar Tree.

 

 

When putting up the garland, pieces continued to come off. The garlands are very old and after years of hanging outside in the elements, they are literally falling apart. Normally I throw all of those pieces out in the garbage, but this year there were so many broken pieces, that I decided to do something more constructive with them. I had an equally old wreath form, so I twisted the pieces of greenery around the wires to create a wreath that I could use on the front verandah. When I was at Michael's earlier in the week, I had hoped to pick up some more garlands since they were on sale for 60% off. I had only paid $3.49 years ago for 9 feet. Imagine my shock to discover the regular price on some of the garlands was over $70. I found some for $29.99 and with 60% off, I ended up paying only $12....only $12 for fake greenery. I bought one and will only use it indoors so that it lasts longer. 

Day 2 of my Advent calendar was a new shower pouf to go with the shower gel I got yesterday. My Sweetie got a full sized Coffee Crisp chocolate bar. There is no photo of that because he ate it before I got the camera out. *laugh* 

 

 

 

 

I emailed my sister this morning. She tells me that after writing to our provincial premier and speaking with other heads of government, it seems that she may have got a bed for our step dad in the same long-term care facility as our mother after months of being confined to the hospital in Cobourg. This is great and welcome news. He is supposed to be moved in before Christmas, but I will not be celebrating until he is actually moved there. My sister has been working tirelessly to get them together again in the same facility. I was checking with her to see if I could mail their small Christmas stocking gifts to her, just to make sure that they will be receiving them over Christmas. I am not sure at this point whether we can make the trip to see them at Christmas, as my Sweetie will be only half way through his radiation therapy and he will be going every day except the weekends. 

I will probably do a goals recap sometime this weekend. 

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

I have to wait for my bin of outdoor Christmas lights to come up from the basement, but I have started to decorate the outdoors a bit. I have planted up my 3 front yard planters with branches of yellow and red dogwood that I have in my yard.. I cut smaller branches of Juniper (also from our back yard) to surround the edges of the planter. I used some red and gold embellishments with items I had on hand. I only bought 3 gold stars from the Dollar Tree for this project. I will try and send a photo tomorrow. I have hung some fake evergreen garland across the verandah railing, and I hung my new red metal star wreath on the fence. But before I could hang anything on my fence, I had to cut and remove all the grape vine that had grown along the top over the course of the summer. It looks pretty during the summer and especially the Fall, and it will grow back quickly again come Spring. I also pruned back my hydrangea bush and my clematis vine.

My Sweetie's radiation treatments were to have begun on Tuesday but were cancelled because one of the machines broke down. We still had to go in though because the Assistive Devices unit wanted to see him about his defibrillator and take measurements. I managed to get in a little Christmas shopping afterwards. So on Wednesday, we got in for the first treatment. Because it was the first one, it took a little time because of the explanations and we received some more reference material to read regarding possible side effects and how to deal with them. The Cancer Clinic will only book ahead 3 appointments at a time, and they are all over the day schedule. For instance, yesterday was at 12:05. Today's was scheduled for 10:15, and tomorrow we go in for 2:45 It makes planning anything beyond those 3 days impossible. Weekends are clear however. Although the days are broken up, I have still managed to buy some things, wrap up some of them, and make more cards. I am still getting the dishes and laundry caught up, but I haven't been able to stay abreast of emails and blogs very much.

Today was December first, and my Sweetie and I were allowed to open our Advent Calendars. Mine came from the Body Shop and must have cost a pretty penny. My Sweetie's is a collection of white cotton drawstring bags with treasures inside. Today he got a scratch ticket and I got Spiced Apple shower gel.

Beautiful box from the Body Shop

Numbered boxes inside the covers of the gift

Not a winner, but lots of fun. My Sweetie loves lottery tickets.

 My spiced apple shower gel.

Daybook: Monday, November 28/16

Outside my window.....it is mainly cloudy and mild. The sun has tried to come out and stay out several times, but rain is going to move into our area. Most of the snow from last week is gone and there are still no outdoor decorations out.

I am thinking.....I will get started this week putting up decorations as things settle down a bit.

I am thankful for.....the young Resident in the Transplant clinic this morning who listened to our concerns over the past year. He wrote out a referral to the dermatologist to have lesions looked at on my Sweetie's shoulder and back. He conferred with the doctor in charge for the addition of magnesium tablets to his medications. These had been recommended in the past but nothing was done about it. And he also arranged with the person in charge of giving blood transfusions to call us by this week to arrange times to come in and get the injections until his iron has come up to a reasonable level. This was also suggested before but cancelled with no explanation. My Sweetie has been on 300 units of iron pills 3 times a day for close to 16 months with no change. Before we left, he came back into the room and showed us the three separate sheets to prove that he had done what he said he was going to do.

From the kitchen.....there is absolutely nothing going on.

I am wearing...... blue jeans, a white long sleeved blouse and a  teal blue infinity scarf.

I am creating ......more birthday and thank you cards for gifting.

I am going.....to my brother's and SIL's house in Smith Falls within the hour. We have been invited for dinner when I pick up a wheelchair they have offered to us for use during the Radiation treatments.

I am hoping.....that my Sweetie's transplanted kidney will not suffer too much abuse during the Cancer treatments. It will be hard not to escape any.

I am hearing.....the sound of the blower on our gas furnace pumping warm air throughout the house. The dishwasher is finishing up its cycle, and the TV is turned down low while my Sweetie is having a short nap.

Around the house.....there is lots of housework to be done, but it will have to wait another day.

One of my favourite things.....is seeing my grand kids. We got to do that yesterday, when the two of us drove to Oshawa to meet my daughter and her family at Swiss Chalet for lunch and to exchange Christmas gifts. I gave the kids their Advent Calendars and stocking gifts to their mom and dad. And for the first time, we were also given Advent Calendar gifts to open during the month of December. What a great surprise. The kids had helped to decorate the small gift bags that hold little treasures. I will fill you in on what they are as we open them. So exciting. It was so nice to see them again.

A few plans for the rest of the week.....include an appointment with assistive devices tomorrow afternoon, followed by the first radiation treatment. There will be radiation every day this week, and after Friday's session we will have the first blood transfusion (3 hours for the blood). That will be a long afternoon, but there is nothing on Saturday and Sunday, hospital-wise. I will be attending the night-time Santa Claus parade with a group of girl friends on Saturday. We will have an early dinner in Napanee and maybe do a little downtown shopping before the parade begins.

Here is a picture I am sharing..... an outdoor decoration I bought at the Craft Show last weekend.

End of week goals update

For November, I had hoped to clean my bedroom and Master Bath. I started last Sunday after spending the whole day on Amherst Island the day before. I even managed to purge some things. But I got a phone call at the end of the day asking if I had time to make a "New Home" card, and eleven handmade Christmas cards. This is what I have been doing this week for the most part. Again, I made 18 Christmas cards and let my client pick eleven from the bunch. There will be seven left over, plus the twelve I get back from the Island, will be a good start towards my own collection to send out. I went back to last year's post and read that I made over 60 just for family and friends. I guess I should have started these in July. Ha. 

Yesterday I took a break from making Christmas cards, and began making Birthday cards for gift sets. I had already made twenty cards which were packaged up and shipped out already. But I am needing to make at least two more sets of ten...perhaps 3 more sets. I won't be showing those cards, because they will be gifts for Christmas. My Craft room seems to be getting smaller with all the time I have been spending in there. Tomorrow my Sweetie and I will drive to Oshawa to meet my daughter, SIL, and my two grand kids for lunch somewhere. Oshawa is the half way point between our places. It is also their old stomping grounds. We will give the kids their Advent Calendar gifts and mom and dad will get their stocking gifts. I warned my daughter yesterday that there are no surprises this year. I have just bought the same old, same old toiletries, candy and stuff I usually give. I try to come up with something unexpected every year, but not this year. I have had too much on my plate.

I also wanted to deep-clean my kitchen in time for December baking that needs to be done. I haven't done that yet. It has been enough just to wash dishes, clean off counters, and vacuum the floor occasionally. But there are a few more days remaining until the end of the month.

I hoped also to get my outdoor decorations up....NOT DONE

I wanted to keep in touch more with  family. I mailed out a thinking of you card to my Mom.  I have made another but haven't mailed it out yet. I have not phoned my mom back, nor have I phoned my step-dad. BOO. I have talked to the family out West, my brother and SIL in Smith Falls, and my Dad and "Dee" in Elliot Lake, but all correspondence was initiated by them.

When I went back to my November Post to see what I had hoped to achieve, I read the comment from Bless once again who said she would like to see some goals about my well-being. I am sorry to say that Bless would be somewhat disappointed to learn that I had eaten my breakfast over the kitchen counter this morning while making my homemade BBQ sauce and cutting up the pork ribs for the crock pot. At this time of year I can't even make time to sit down and eat a meal. I just get to feeling overwhelmed by everything that needs to be done. I really have to make time to write on my Blog.

As a result, my weekly goals are kind of sketchy because I have not been writing anything down.

Purging and Organization: I started on my bedroom.

Money spent: I did not post my last grocery shop. But I can tell you that I got some good buys and some free food. I was given a box of meat from a neighbour who couldn't fit all of it in her freezer (chops, ground pork and turkey legs) We were also given a bag full of MacIntosh apples. The ribs I am cooking in the crock pot were an unadvertised special at the grocery store. They were $1 a pound. I bought two huge cryovac packages. We have just finished eating the mashed potatoes and gravy that I froze in smaller portions from the Special Meals dinner that we served a few weeks ago. We have finished eating the potatoes from the garden, but still have carrots left in the fridge that we harvested.

Preparedness and Maintenance: I am making a lot of homemade soups on the weekend that make lunches most days through the week. I made two pizzas last night...one for dinner and one for the freezer. My Sweetie did a load test on our dead car battery and bought a new battery terminal and replaced it which saved us over $100 for a new battery. He will replace a fuel hose on our snow blower which should fix the problem. I mended a long seam on our comforter this week. This should keep the stuffing inside through another couple of washes.

Crafting: Enough said.

My Sweetie had two appointments this past week. He has the beginnings of glaucoma which they will monitor because it is a variety of disease that does not give much warning.
He met with the Urology surgeon who is passing on Rick's file to the Radiology Dept. who will take over his care. He is not a good candidate for surgery. He has his first Radiation this Tuesday, after the assistive devices team has checked over his defribillator.
Monday he will be meeting with the Transplant Team to see how much his transplanted kidney has rebounded since it stopped in hospital. Yes, I go with him to all of his appointments because he is unable to walk very far on his own. I have to use a wheelchair to get him to all places inside the hospital.

Hope my American readers had a lovely relaxing Thanksgiving, and all my readers are enjoying a good weekend.