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.

Daybook: Monday, November 21/16

Outside my window.....there is snow. The sidewalk plow just went by, the highway plow has been going up and down the roadway since yesterday morning when the snow started to fall, and there is a person across the road shoveling out the driveway. I cannot tell if it is a man or woman since they are bundled up so well against the blowing snow. There isn't as much white stuff on the road as there was yesterday because the plows have laid down so much sand and salt, that the pavement is just very slushy and dirty looking right now.

I am thinking..... that this snowy weather came upon us so incredibly fast. On Friday we were enjoying unseasonably warm temperatures of 50 plus degrees Fahrenheit. On Saturday morning when we went over on the Ferry to Amherst Island, none of us could get over how perfect the weather was for the Christmas Craft sale. When we returned at 3 PM, the winds were whipping around us, the sun was gone, and the temperatures had plummeted.

I am thankful for.....my son and his GF for shoveling out the driveway for us. I am also thankful for a nice warm house with enough food here that we don't have to go out today in this weather.

From the kitchen.....the dishwasher is ready to be turned on at 11 AM.  I have some ingredients out on the counter to make a pot of homemade soup in a beef broth. The dog will need more biscuits made this afternoon.

I am wearing.....blue jeans, a pink 3/4 sleeve T-shirt and socks and slippers.

I am creating.....eleven Christmas cards and a "Congratulations on your New Home" card. I have been commissioned to make these cards. As soon as those are finished, I need to get back to making more birthday and Thank you card sets for gifting at Christmas.

I am going..... nowhere today. I will be busy in my Craft Room.

I am hoping.....to finish cleaning my bedroom and Master bath this week. I started yesterday by purging some of the boxes of stuff that have taken up residence in my room. I have packed away our summer wardrobe and have pulled out warmer clothes for the winter. I still need to dust and vacuum and clean the bathroom. If there is time to purge the closet and dresser drawers, I would love to get that done, but it may have to wait for the New Year.

I am hearing.....the television on and the occasional sound of tires on the wet slushy pavement.

Around the house.....I have already sorted the recycling into the outdoor bins and emptied all the wastebaskets into the garbage can outside ready for collection this week. I am catching up with the laundry. I need to get started on cleaning and decorating each downstairs room, but it won't be this week.  Tomorrow or Wednesday, it is supposed to warm up a little bit. If it is enough to melt some of the snow, I will use that day to hang a few outdoor lights and decorations. In the meantime, I will concentrate on making my cards.

 One of my favourite things.....today especially, is a deep purple winter jacket that "Dee" gave me this Spring when my Sweetie and I were driving back from Vancouver. It is really warm, has a detachable hood with fake fur around it, and the price was excellent...free.

A few plans for the rest of this week......include an appointment for my Sweetie with the eye doctor on Wednesday and his appointment with the Urologist on Thursday. I will also have to pick up a few groceries sometime during the week.

Here is a picture I am sharing....

An Update

 I have been Missing In Action for a while now. I have been very busy trying to get ready for Christmas by making some homemade gifts (not as many as I wanted to do), and buying and wrapping gifts for the grand kids Advent Calendars,  and also for my adult children's stockings. My Sweetie as you know has been ill and we are still spending a lot of time going to hospital appointments. You might remember that just before he went into hospital for 12 days around our Canadian Thanksgiving, he had a prostate exam. While he was in hospital, we learned that indeed he did have prostate cancer, but it wasn't until we saw the Urologist shortly after being released from hospital, that we received the grim news that it was very aggressive. That meant more examinations to see if the cancer had already metastasized. The whole body CT scan was to look for cancer in the lymph nodes. The bone scan that was done just last Thursday was to see if the cancer had spread into the bones. Good news. The tests came back clear, so on Tuesday morning we went in for the "mapping" for radiation treatments which will begin in less than two weeks. The radiation treatments will be every day from Monday to Friday for 38 days. They will go right through Christmas and into the New Year. Besides these kind of appointments, my Sweetie has also been trying to keep up with his other regular appointments....blood tests, Renal Transplant, Eye clinics and Heart Failure clinics. A week doesn't go by without at least two or three days at one or both of the two hospitals in town. The wind was knocked out of our sails for about two weeks after receiving the news, but I think we are both ready for the fight now and very hopeful for the treatments to work. 

 Yes I have been busy. Because of the "lost" time, I have been crafting and shopping....a lot. I wanted to buy and wrap some small gifts to send out this Christmas to my adult children and their spouses when I send my grand kids their Advent Calendar gifts. Today I managed to wrap and send by mail two large boxes of wrapped gifts to British Columbia. I was so afraid they would not be getting there by December first, but I was told it would only take 7 days. I heaved a huge sigh of relief. I was also able to transfer money online to my two older grand children (in lieu of Advent gifts), and I sent money to my DIL so she can buy  Christmas gifts for under the tree.

The Christmas Craft Sale on Amherst Island is this Saturday, so tomorrow I will be making ahead some homemade Christmas cards that I promised for the sale. I won't make many of them, but I am glad of the opportunity to see if my cards will sell. After the weekend, the time will be mine to wrap the rest of the gifts that I will be sending out to locations in Ontario, and to make Christmas cards to send out early in December. December will be my month for baking and decorating between radiation treatments for my Sweetie. So I want all the shopping done ASAP. My goals of deep-cleaning may not be realized until Spring cleaning, but I know my friends are okay with that. I am going to have to let some things go this year, and just enjoy the spirit of Christmas with all my loved ones. We will talk later.

My November Goals

The oak tree in my neighbour's back yard is my favourite tree in Autumn

Homemade turkey vegetable soup

Yesterday I busied myself with making cards. I decided that I should keep going making birthday and thank you cards for sets to gift at Christmas. The first thing I had to do was tidy up my crafting table which was covered with the wrappings from the Advent calendars. I had done lots of housework the day before on Domestic Monday, so I was not feeling like continuing along that line again. So crafting cards was an easy choice. I spent most of the day doing that.

I had simmered what was left of the turkey in the crock pot overnight. At eleven o'clock I added some diced onion and celery, some frozen veggies that I brought home last week from Special meals, a container of black beans from the freezer, a few cherry tomatoes and a couple of big handfuls of small shell pasta. I enjoyed a couple of bowls of that for my lunch. Last night's dinner was easy. We had leftovers of turkey and gravy from the night before. I boiled some more potatoes and some burgundy beans from the freezer. I also made an apple crisp for dessert.

After dinner I called my mother. This was the first time I have called since she was moved to the long-term convalescent care home in Fergus. I interrupted a game of cards, so I told her I would call back after 8 o'clock, which I did. She was  very good, and we had a lovely visit. I told her I would be calling her more often, which leads me to my monthly goals.

I have decided that I should make a more concerted effort to keep in touch with family. Today I was in the Craft Room making cards, so I made a "Hello...thinking of you" card for my mom. I keyed a short note on the  computer and printed it out in a large font (my mom is losing her eyesight, so I am hoping she will be able to read this) I told her I enjoyed our conversation. I  talked a bit about what I am doing around the house (some of that is a repeat of what we talked about last night), and what I am making for supper. I mailed it out today, so hopefully she will get it by Friday.

• I need to do a deep clean of my kitchen before I settle down to do Christmas baking in December.

• I need to finish all of my homemade gifts this month.

• I would like to make Christmas cards for the kids; and if I have time, do all my Christmas cards again this year. 

• Since I was unable to do my deep-cleaning in October, I will attempt to clean and straighten each room downstairs before I hang decorations. 

• I would still like to do a deep-clean of my bedroom and bath. 

• I would like to put up some outdoor decorations this month.

• I will try harder to write a goals update each Friday of the month to summarize my monthly goals, money spent, maintenance and preparedness, special projects, crafting and organization. 

There you have it....my goals for November. I am already behind by one week. But at least I have some direction to take.

Domestic Monday and October goals

After I wrote my Daybook, I.....

• washed two dishwasher loads of dirty dishes 

• brought down the upstairs garbage and put it outside in the garbage bin with the kitchen garbage

• sorted through the kitchen recycling and put cans, plastic and glass outside into the blue box

•  cleaned the downstairs kitty litter box

• sorted all the newspapers and cardboard for the gray box and shredded some papers

• added the kitchen compost to the outside compost bin

• cleaned off the dining room table

• vacuumed the computer room, dining room, living room and kitchen, hallway and carpeted stairs

• unpacked a plastic bin containing Christmas table cloths, napkins and runners into a single drawer

• washed two loads of laundry and folded one load from yesterday

• scrubbed the kitchen sink and cleared the drain with baking soda and vinegar followed by boiling water from the kettle

• read some blog posts that I missed from the weekend

• roasted a 1/4 turkey, made cauliflower with cheese and mashed potatoes with gravy and cranberry sauce

• refrigerated all the meat  and put the bones and drippings in the crock pot with water to make soup stock overnight

My October goals:

• spend time outdoors every week pruning shrubs, mowing the lawn and/or pulling weeds 

Since I was still harvesting veggies from my garden as late as October 16th, I was outdoors every week. I mowed the grass once during the month. I have not done much outdoors since the middle of the month. 

• deep clean the dining room

Not done

• deep clean the living room

Not done

• deep clean the master bedroom and bath

Not done

•  spend time every week doing crafts, paying special attention to Christmas gifts 

My Advent calendars are done for the four youngest grand children. The older two will receive money instead. I have been working at making greeting cards to give away as sets for Christmas gifts. 

Because of my Sweetie's illness and consequent 12 days in hospital, I was unable to accomplish all the goals I set out for myself for the month of October. My priority was for the completion of the Advent calendars, which I was able to do. 
Tomorrow I will come up with goals for the month of November.  

Daybook Monday: November 7/16

November 7th?? Are you kidding me. I have already lost a whole week in the month and wasn't aware of it.

Outside my window.....it is sunny and cold. I still see my petunias alive in my planters and there is still some lavender blooms in the front flower bed. The grass needs cutting, but I don't think I will be getting around to it. It will be covered with snow soon enough.

I am thinking.....that I never got around to writing a blog post on Friday about my goals. I should at least attempt that today, as I feel like I am flying by the seat of my pants. There is so much to do, I don't know where to prioritize.

I am thankful for.....all my friends. I spent Saturday with a lot of them. I went to the Tea Room to celebrate a birthday lunch with a group of long-time friends and then I went over to Amherst Island to do crafting with some more close friends.

From the kitchen.....I have a dishwasher full of dishes to turn on after 11 A.M. I realized this morning that starting November first, the high rates for Hydro have switched to 7 AM to 11AM. The mid rates are now 11 to 5 PM. They have completely switched around, just to keep us on our toes. I took a bag of apple slices out of my freezer yesterday. I will make a pie or some apple crumble. I need to make another pot of soup for the week, and I have a 1/4 turkey defrosting, which I will roast tonight for dinner.

I am wearing..... jeans, gray socks, and a purple polka dot cotton knit top.

I am creating.....cards this week. I need to make greeting cards to gift at Christmas. Also, this past Saturday, I was told that the resident card maker on Amherst Island has moved away from the area. She used to sell her wonderful homemade cards at the gift shop on the Island. With the Christmas Craft sale in two weeks, I was asked if I would please consider making up a few Christmas cards for sale. So I will oblige. It might be the start of a small business (that I never was looking for, but for which a lot of people have encouraged me to try). I will see how the market responds to my work.

I am going......to make plans to get some domestic work done today. It has been so long since I have had any time to vacuum, or fold laundry, or wash down surfaces. I need to make a to-do list and tackle it.

I am hoping.....to get the Advent calendars and small stocking gifts out in the mail to Vancouver this week. I hope to make a huge dent in the housework and my homemade gifts that need to get done.

I am hearing.....my cat Brucie in the same room as I. He seems to be finding it hard to settle down for his nap. I can hear cars driving by on the highway and the hum of the computer.

Around the house.....there is lots of housework that needs doing. My craft room needs to be straightened up before I start making cards again. I have lots of wrapping paper, ribbons, and general wrapping from the Advent gifts that I have finally finished.

One of my favourite things.....this time of year is the annual Island Craft Show and the crafting event that takes place beforehand to make up some gifts for sale.

A few plans for the rest of the week.....center around a 5 hour appointment on Thursday for a bone scan for my Sweetie. It will be another long day.

Here is a picture I am sharing....of some of our crafts we made on Saturday afternoon. We made granola snowmen, lego boxes filled with chocolate, little knit stockings for candy or small gifts (like nail polish or lip balm, etc.) We are selling them with candy. We made the little teapots filled with 3 tea bags in each, candy sleighs, and reindeer soap. 

Advent Calendars

Because I had such a late start to preparing my Advent Calendars, I decided a couple of weeks ago that I would wrap presents for the four youngest grand kids and give money to my two oldest. They might prefer having a few extra dollars at this time of year. I finished wrapping all the gifts by the end of the day yesterday, which only left  three pockets to put in some treats. So this morning I started by getting those ready. The top photo shows granola bars wrapped in white computer paper that I have printed the features of a snowman. The other day while shopping at the Dollar Tree, I bought two pairs of fuzzy green and red gloves. I snipped off a finger to use as a toque and one of the stripes from the mitten part to act as a scarf. I crimped the bottom of the paper sleeve. We will be making some of these at our Crafting extravaganza on Amherst Island this Saturday.

 I had quite a lot of Hallowe'en candy left over, so I used some of it to make up the following Advent treats below. I made these Lego boxes below with cardstock and foam sheets that I punched circles from. Inside are three bite-sized Aero bars.

 My third and final candy treat are three boxes of Smarties (Canadian version of M & M's) wrapped in Christmas scrap booking paper with the letters J-O-Y glued to the tops. I made long boxes just big enough to hold the three candy boxes in a long row. I already had the cellophane pretzel bags, and it turns out they were just big enough to hold my boxes. It was almost like I had planned it. Ha.

There were no medical appointments scheduled today, so I got busy making dog biscuits this morning. I got a load of dishes put away and another dishwasher load done. I washed a huge load of dark laundry which I will throw into the dryer tonight after 7 o'clock. I made a pot of chicken and vegetable soup with the broth I made in the crock pot over the weekend. I am making Shepherd's Pie with some ground meat I bought this week. I am using mashed potatoes and mixed veggies and gravy left over from Special Meals on Sunday. I also brought home some buttered rolls that nobody has eaten, so I have cut all of them to make bread pudding fordessert tonight. Now I am making a list of presents (homemade and otherwise) that I can put together for my adult children. I call these stocking stuffers, as I believe everyone should have a few surprises to unwrap on Christmas morning. I normally just send money. It is amazing what I can accomplish without having doctors to run to during the day. Have a great evening.