We had a little snow last night, maybe two inches, but it's too cold to actually snow much. Our high today is supposed to be 12F but I don't think we're going to make it. Tonight, we drop to 0 so it's time to add extra blankets to the bed.
When it's cold like this, our kitties tend to snooze and snooze. Wally, being as photogenic as he is, gets in some pretty cute poses.
Even Chloe snoozes more, and that's saying something for my sweet old girl. Pay no attention to what appears to be a grumpy face. She's quite happy on top of the blanket throne, and it even goes well with her fur.
This may be a TMI post—you’ve been warned! Also no pictures because that would be even grosser.
My recovery from the sinus surgery has been weird to me, mostly because the whole process has been quite different from the previous seven major abdominal surgeries. And while I do recall having my tonsils out quite well, that was also different and done long ago when dinosaurs still roamed the earth.
For the most part, this has been a pain-free recovery. Sure, I was in some pain the first couple of days (and took the pain meds as I’d said I would) but I was done with them three days later. Alas, those meds weren’t done with me.
You can get really bound up from those drugs and so it’s recommended you take an over-the-counter aid to help move things along. But I’ve never really experienced that side effect before so I wasn’t too concerned. Since I was also taking antibiotics (which have the complete opposite effect on me), I didn’t think I would have any problems this time. Boy was I wrong.
By Tuesday, it was clear my gut was in full on shut down mode. By Thursday, I was in so much gut pain that I couldn’t sleep and I kept breaking out in sweat as my gut spasmed. Friday (Christmas) I texted my mother who is a retired RN and pleaded for advice. It was so bad Christmas night that I was 80% sure I had a gut obstruction. As I tossed and turned in bed, and sweated and tried not to puke from pain, I was trying to figure out how the ER would treat me. I’d eaten a bit of food so I’d have to be intubated, only I just had sinus surgery so the NG tube couldn’t go up my nose. Plus I have mesh in my abdomen so I could not for the life of me figure out how a gut obstruction would be fixed—would the mesh just get cut? How would that work?
Saturday was still pretty bad, although I was able to take my mom’s advice and thought that maybe things were improving. By Sunday, I could tell that yes, I would live and my gut wouldn’t need drastic intervention.
Now add in all the irrigation and stuff I had to do. Basically I was a walking bio-hazard site for a couple of weeks. As I’ve mentioned to some friends, I put an ocean up my nose three times a day and I believe I killed an entire sub-continent’s worth of trees with all the tissues I used.
I have my second post-op visit next week. I will be curious to see what my ENT says about how much longer I can expect to have so much gunk in my head, and when I can stop with the ocean up the nose.
Are you familiar with Pepperplate? It's an online recipe tool that lets you import recipes from a whole slew of sites or you can copy & paste your own recipes if you've got them either in soft copy or on a blog (like I do).
Then it will generate a shopping list, based on the recipes you select. You can arrange the shopping list so it matches the order in which you shop.
We just started using it and wow, I'm liking it so far. Although I can't import my recipes from my private recipe site, I was able to copy and paste them. It could not be easier.
I think this will replace Blue Apron for us. We liked the food and we liked trying new recipes, but it was sometimes awkward timing to get three meals' worth of food when really we had time to cook eggs. Pepperplate looks like it will give us some of the convenience we're looking for, without so much overhead.
I finished this bag on Thursday—it’s for a friend who’s having her first baby (a boy) on January 18. She and her husband have decorated his room in a baseball theme so I carried that idea into the bag and on the two burp cloths.
They are both avid Royals fans, and I did look for Royals-specific fabric but couldn’t find any.
Although I pre-washed the denim, I'm still a little worried it might bleed when washed. I warned the parents-to-be, so hopefully they remember to wash it only with dark fabrics and in cold water.
I’m making another bag out of the same exterior fabric but a different lining. This is for a co-worker in India who helped me shop for some things when I was there last month and I want to thank her for it. I'll post those pictures as soon as it's finished. Then I need to ship it to India!
Years ago, my mother gave me a cat calendar for Christmas that was amazing. The pictures were of feral cats taken in Greece and I was entranced by the light and the composition of each month’s picture. To be honest, I’m not even sure when this started although it was before Kent and I started dating—I know this because I framed some of the photos from that first calendar and hung them in the apartment I lived in then.
I told her then that she could just give me the same thing everything for Christmas and I would be very happy. It’s hard to find cat calendars that aren’t stupidly cheesey or overly cutesy but this one was fantastic. And over the years, she’s done exactly that. I think there was one year where she couldn’t find a version, but mostly I’ve been able to hang a calendar of amazing feral cats in Greece on my wall every year.
This year she told me I wouldn’t be getting one, and I’ll admit I was bummed. But what I didn’t know is that while she was in Greece, she had been taking photos of the feral cats there. And she created a calendar for me with those photos, along with some from her sister (the aunt for whom I’m named), and a friend who traveled with my folks.
I love this calendar, not only because of the photos but because of what my mom did. She told me she thought of me the whole time she was there as she was taking those photos. I think this ranks right up there with the most thoughtful and loving gift my mom’s ever given me.
I'll go ahead and use mostly the same questions I’ve used in previous year end reviews.
What did you do in 2015 that you’d never done before? I am now managing a team that’s partly comprised of associates based overseas. That’s a new one as was traveling to India twice as part of being their manager.
Did anyone close to you give birth? As with last year’s answer—yes. We have friends squarely in the kids stage of life so that’s not a surprise.
Did anyone close to you die? No one close to me has died; all’s quiet on that front.
What countries did you visit? Mexico and India. We didn’t take any Crazy Trips™ this year, mostly because we had a lot of expensive home repairs/maintenance this year. Edited to add that we did go to Miami over Memorial weekend, but that wasn't a crazy trip.
What would you like to have in 2016 that you lacked in 2015? Cheesy but true: I lack for nothing and I’m grateful.
What dates from 2015 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? No specific date for me again this year, just a handful of events:
Kent got a new car so now we’re all matchy-matchy with our Volvos. I know, that’s pretty cheesy.
My low frequency hearing loss got worse and I shelled out the cash for a hearing aid.
I had and am recovering from sinus surgery.
Kent started working on his MBA.
I didn’t really sew at all this year. Neither did Kent. We’re both overwhelmed with our jobs and when that happens, the creative hobbies take a hit.
What was your biggest achievement of the year? This isn’t an achievement, but maybe the best thing that happened all year was the unexpected positive outcome of my younger son’s deployment. I’ve always liked and loved my daughter-in-law but in my son’s absence, it seemed as though our relationship got even better and I feel like today that relationship stands fully on its own merit.
Did you suffer illness or injury? Not really, although I guess the sinus surgery sort of counts.
What was the best thing you bought? I got yet another suitcase which seems to be my magical unicorn suitcase. You can read about it here.
Where did most of your money go? Home repair and maintenance. We replaced our HVAC and our dish washer and did some expensive foundation repair.
What did you get really excited about? I’m going to sound so very lame but I was stoked when we ran the new dishwasher the first time. You would be shocked at how very quiet it is.
What book(s) did you love this year? I read Justin Cronin's The Passage: A Novel and The Twelve, the first two books in a planned trilogy. I absolutely loved them and pre-ordered the third book the instant it was available. The City of Mirrors comes out in May and I cannot wait.
What song will always remind you of 2015? Definitely this one
I ran across this video the other day, and was curious if I’d heard many or any of the 48 comments. Much to my—well surprise isn’t the right word, maybe sad resignation is better—I had heard nearly all of them.
I have a story of my own to tell.
In 2011, Kent and I took a short vacation in Negril. This was our second time there and we’d had a relaxing time. We were waiting to catch the commuter flight from Negril to Montego Bay and one of the men who worked at the local airport was making small talk with us.
Somehow it came up in the conversation that we have grandchildren. He was shocked and commented that I didn’t look like a grandmother. I told him that I was and that I’d passed the half century mark and lived every year.
He looked me up and down, and then said “You must have been a goddess when you were young.”
Stop for a moment and consider those words. Never mind the looking up and down (which happens to women all the time and we are expected to either not notice or not mind). Think about the implications of what he said to me.
What I thought (but didn’t say and have regretted ever since that I didn't) is that I’m as much of a goddess now as I was 30 years ago, that being a goddess has nothing to do with age and in fact not much to do with looks.
I know this sort of thing happens all the time. I hear it about my marriage to Kent (he is younger). I'll be clear with you that the cougar comment offends me. I'm not a cougar, I am a woman who happens to be deeply in love with a younger man. No one would think twice about the reverse situation.
I suspect that I'm going to end up being that one woman, the one who got more outspoken as she grew older and realized that some things ought not be said, and some attitudes need to be changed. I'm OK with that.
