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.

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....