End of February...already!

I say almost every week how crazy fast time is passing by. It's like I blink and another month swooshes by. 

This last week was a busy one for me. I don't leave the house often, and when I have to more than a couple of times in a week I feel like I need a full day to decompress. I thank COVID for this new Jenn. I used to love going out and these days I just like being at home. And yet, I want to go out, it's just so exhausting sometimes. 

On Tuesday I got my hair done did. This coloring of the gray hairs gets expensive, but I'm not yet ready to stop. Mom grayed nicely and I'm sure I will too, but I'm not ready. The last time I got my hair done, my stylist wanted to "try something new". I'm normally ok with that because I trust her. This new thing was the same thing I had been doing, just in a different way. It...took...4... hours...! No one needs to be at a salon for that long. 

This time it was a simple base color to get rid of the grays fighting their way to the sunlight. I was only there for 2 hours and that was perfect. 

On Wednesday was dinner club. I took zero photos! Weird I know. It was Sherrie's pick this time. She picked Tipsy Cow in Woodinville. I've been there before and have enjoyed their burgers. 

I've been trying to cut down my carb intake so going to a burger bar is not exactly the best place to go when trying to eat lower carb. I pulled out my tricks from when I was really serious on eating low carb and it worked! I looked at the menu before I went. Choose what I wanted and had a plan to eat it without the bun. And I did it! I really wasn't sure my willpower would stand. I had fries though. And that's okay. 

I've decided in this adventure of eating better that carbs need to be a part of my life. The all or nothing isn't working. If I take them all out then all I want is carbs. So there has to be a balance. I need to learn to live with them in my life in balance to all the healthy stuff. AND I need to give myself some grace for making good choices and bad choices. Being ok with the bad choices is the hardest. In the past I'd fall off the wagon and and that would be it. Diet over. 

We had a great time as usual. Laughing and eating is what our family does best. 

Thursday was another foot doctor visit. It's been two weeks and I followed his instructions - mostly. I was ready to get a scolding from him, and I kinda did. Turns out the boot he gave me to wear at night I haven't been able to wear through the night. It cause my foot to ache beyond belief so I take it off. I usually keep it on for about 2 hours then it comes off. He really wants me to get used to it for the entire night. If I can't then it'll take longer than to heal. The ultimate fix is surgery and I really don't want to do that. 

Two more weeks with stretching and wearing the boot. Cross your fingers it works. 

Friday, Janet and I went wine tasting. I got the passports this year for us and we are trying out best to make sure they get used. This time we went to the Woodin Creek area of Woodinville. We tasted at Rocky Pond, Truth Teller and Ancestry. All had great wines. I came home with 4 more bottles. 

So March is around the corner. It'll be gone in a flash no doubt. We're waiting for snow again tonight and I cannot wait until Spring. I'm very much over winter and the snow. 

Week in Review

A big thing in the scrapbook world is weekly scrapping of what happened that week. That's a lot of scrapping to me and, frankly, my life isn't that interesting to have enough photos to scrap weekly. It's called Project Life and it was a big hit and still is. 

I like to do it a bit different and each week I just journal about what happened that week. Some weeks I can fill a page or two. Some weeks I've got nothing. What's helpful, to me, is that when I do go and scrap some important stories, I can go back to that journal and see what and when. 

This blog is like a journal and I'm trying hard to keep it updated and write every now and then. It's fun to me and I think all three of my readers enjoy it. I hope. 

So what's happening? 

Last week was a birthday week in our family. 

Melanie on the left, me on the right - 1972

Starting with my older sister. She's 4 years older than me and we weren't really close growing up. She lived with the real dad for most of my informative years. We just didn't bond like sisters do. For much of my life I wasn't really fond of her and her me. I felt she treated my mother poorly and I just couldn't accept that behavior and thus like her. I "loved" her because she was my sister, but I didn't like her all the time. 

When mom died our relationship took a turn for the worse. We both grieved and we both took it out on each other. Then we stopped talking. Then something happened and my sister started reaching out. A couple of times a year. Then more. And slowly we started chatting on the phone more. It's been nice. She seems different. Happy almost. And while we'll never be BFFs, I think mom would be happy with the progress we made. So on Feb 14th I wished her a Happy Birthday. 

Ward Spaid (Grandpa)

Feb 16th was my Grandpa Spaid's birthday. I loved Grandpa Spaid. He was a kind, gentle man who had the patience of a saint. He died suddenly in 1984 of a aneurism. I remember thinking at that time that I'd miss him and I'd miss getting to know him as I got older. He would have been fun to sit and talk to as an adult. He was born in 1905 and I wish I had the chance to ask him questions and hear about his life. He was Mom's Dad. 

I have some fun memories of Grandpa Spaid that filter to the surface around his birthday. The first, and my favorite, was when we lived in Albuquerque, NM. Grandma and Grandpa lived with us for some time. My sister had a bike that had one of those banana seats on it. Grandpa would put me on the back of the seat and we'd right around the cul de sac we lived on. He'd ride in circles for what felt like hours to entertain me. 

The second was when my sister and I would get shipped off to their house in Azusa, CA for the summer. He was a tinker-er. He'd spend hours in the garage doing what, I don't know. I'd want to be with him and he'd set me at his work bench with some type of wire, and a small hammer. He'd give me a length of this weird wire and tell me it needs to be pounded flat. My grandma later told me he threw out a lot of wire keeping me busy for no reason. 

Ahhh memories. I miss him. 

Dad and I in Madrid Spain - 1986

The last birthday/anniversary is that of my dad and I. He officially adopted me in 1983 and we celebrated that day as my new "birthday." Every year he'd call and every year he'd get me a small gift. It was our special day. When we lived closer to each other we'd go to lunch and just have a day of him and I. 

I could spend pages of memories with dad. He taught me so much and I'm so very grateful that he came into our lives. He wasn't really sure what to do with a teenage girl when he adopted me, but he figured it out. His patience was legendary and his advice always solid - whether I followed it or not. 

He taught me to cook. He taught me to love food. He taught me to enjoy cooking and trying new recipes and especially those of different ethnicities. 

He taught me to love travel. To always be curious about other cultures and above all, respect those cultures and their beliefs. I think this was one of the biggest things I appreciate from him. Learning to love other cultures and travel to see them. 

I miss him too. 

So ... that was the week in birthdays. 

Other things currently going on is me eating better. I went on Metformin a couple of weeks ago to help bring down my A1Cs. I don't have the labs yet, but I'm sure that number is in the diabetic range. 

Metformin has some wicked side effects when you start taking it. I started with 500mg and slowly growing to 2000 mg. But the first week..oh lord. It causes some, um, gastro issues. Let's just say I bought myself some Cottenelle, it's softer. 

Come to find out it also has two lesser know side effects that only impact a small swatch of people. Rapid heart rate and blurred vision. Yay. I had two days of serious rapid heart beat. So much I thought I might be having a heart attack. And no, I didn't go to the hospital. I'm a dope. 

Thankfully those two side effects are gone and now I'm only left with the gastro issues. Which I can deal with just fine. 

I'm up to 1000 mg and it really seems to help with cravings and appetite. I'm not "snacking" as much as I usually do. I've lowered my carb intake to about 75-85 grams a day. My doctor would prefer it be closer to 55, but come on? That's insane. I want to learn to eat and live my life WITH Carbs. I've done pretty good and am down 4.5 lbs in two weeks. That's something. 

And with that, that's really all I've got to update you on. Bored yet? Me neither! If you're still with me, thanks for reading. 

10 YO

 

The little beasties are 10 years old today! Ten!! That happened so fast. 

I can vividly remember when I got them. Pookie had just passed. My niece at the time was fostering mama kitties and had three little kittens of the latest litter left. Two were still available. 

She called and asked if I wanted them. I said no. I wasn't ready. Pookie had only been gone for a week. It didn't seem right. 

Then she sent me photos. Straight to the heart! Those two little pink noses and they looked so adorable and so lovable. 

I still said no. 

Then about a day later I relented and said I'd take them. Only she had just taken them to the pet store to be sold. I made her go back and get them. $85 later I had two kittens. 

Cammie and the kittens, at the time, were in Cle Elum. This meant I needed to drive over and get them. So a week later, off I went to go pick up these two bundles of joy. Paula and Patrick is what she named them. I KNEW I'd be renaming them. 

We got all the way home. I introduced them to the small walk in closet that would be their home for a couple of days. I introduced them to the litter box. And I introduced them to several friends. 

Now here we are, ten years later. 

Two peas in a pod

10YO senior cat vet visit

Snuggle buddies

10 year olds

They're pretty spoiled cats - as cats (or any pets) should be. They have me trained. They annoy the bejesus out of me. And they bring me such joy. I guess I'll keep them.