Less Hustle More Coffee

Here it is Friday, and I’m as tired as everything! But still moving forward. It’s been a very fast week.

Eye Appointment: Good News, Bad News

Wednesday morning I had my annual eye appointment. All is well. Not enough of a prescription change to warrant new glasses. I’ll be keeping my artsy glasses for another year. The need for cataract surgery he says is a long way off. And he’s asking me since my eyesight is not critical – for me to step back and go to his partner, an understudy who is NOT an ophthalmologist but an optometrist. He assures me that he knows what to look for in eye diseases such as glaucoma and macular degeneration (the latter runs in our family) and that if I should develop those I would return back to seeing the ophthalmologist. He says that they are doing “share care” with their patience because my doc is doing more surgeries as there is a shortage of opthalmologists with so many baby boomers retiring. He also said the government controlled the numbers because of the training involved and expense. I’m assuming he is referring to government grants – only so many given. We had an interesting conversation about all this. I’m not sure I totally understand the government control part but it had to do with how expensive the training is so I guessed there was only so many grants and no one can afford the training. If I were going to be a doctor of any kind, I’d be an eye doc, but probably would not want to do surgeries. I’d say Optometry would be my thing. I always loved the study of the eyes in science but also liked the ears as well. So ENT would have been an interest. But I was never wanting to do more than 4 years of college. I still got my Masters but it was on my own terms – on line, at my pace (but within doable parameters), and not paid for by me.

I am not sure I want to be seen by an Optometrist when I had made the move to see an Ophthalmologist, but I suppose I will remain under him unless I find another situation I like better. I will keep the next appointment and then consider it after that and make a decision. I had a good Optometrist and left him to go to this other doc because of Mom’s condition and because of my pre-diabetic situation. It was recommended by several as the Ophthalmologists had more training. Life is always changing. And I just can’t take any more change right now. lol. I mean good grief.

My Cooking Night was NOT Successful in My Opinion

My culinary experiences in the kitchen were disastrous Wednesday night. So I’m not going to recommend the recipes. Some of it was my fault. Some not.

The Orange Teriyaki Steak was just “ok”. Mom and George said it was good. But the meat was tough. It was supposed to be George said as the recipe called for a type of meat that was tough. I think it was round steak. It had marinated overnight. And it cooked in the oven bag. The recipe didn’t really have proper measurements – I can say that as it had no measurements at all, lol! So I guessed. The sauce was good though. The cooking degrees and for how long was off. It wasn’t done. I had to cook it 10 min longer and on higher heat.

But the real disaster was when I was preparing the spinach orzo, normally an easy one for me. I’d not tried this recipe but it was seemingly easy.

First off, before I set into cooking Wednesday night, I reached for a bowl by opening the cabinet. A wall of Tupperware fell out onto my face as I looked up and then landed on the counter. ::sigh:: And I noticed a stack of bowls with the heavy bowls sitting on a smaller bowl, all about to topple out. So before I could even start cooking I had to rearrange the dishes in that cabinet. ::double sigh:: I got the Orzo out as George said we had enough for my dish, but it was short by 1/4 cup. ::another sigh:: but I carried on.

Then as I got the ingredients out I noticed George had bought the spinach in a bundle with long stems instead of the nice pre-washed kind in the little box, so I had to stop and rinse it and chop that off. And then when I needed the strainer it was dirty because I had used it to wash the spinach off so I used the smaller one in a hurry. I had to hold it in the sink as it was unsteady for whatever reason. While doing that the steam from the water was so hot and burned my hand and I let it go. I went back to making the sauce and noticed that 1/2 the orzo had spilled into the sink. I cursed at this point. I was not using the now tainted orzo. Mom said use it anyway but NO – none of us need a food borne illness at this point. So I used 1/2 of the orzo which was already less than what was called for. So…..my sauce was made for the entire thing. So we ended up having orzo flavored garlic as a dish. Way too garlicky for that small amount.

Not Feeling Well, iOS Update, and Shooter on the Loose

I was a nervous wreck by the time I got dinner on the table. Nothing had gone well. As dinner was over and I realized how cranky and crabby I was, I just flat didn’t feel good so I went and took my temp and it was 100. I normally get this about once a quarter when I get tired and run down. It’s some kind of undefined autoimmune thing I’ve had for years. I’ve not pushed for diagnosis but have learned to live with it. Sleep and nutrition and supplements and vitamins and rest will help. So I went to my room, sat in the dark and rearranged my iPad apps after the new and big iOS update, which had reshuffled my home page. I stayed up and took an hour to fix it back as I’m geeky like that and want everything to be where I put it!!!

About then we got a text that there was a shooter on the loose on neighborhood streets nearby. By road it was probably two miles, by bird – about a mile. Our neighborhoods backed up. So it was a little concerning. I warned Mom and George who do not get the alerts. Mom takes Fancy out to potty before bed. Soon helicopters were on the edge of our neighborhood. I peeked out the window. It was a little crazy. The neighborhood next to us was on lockdown suggested by police to remain inside. Mount Juliet police is really good. I knew they would catch him and they had him by the time I got in bed. We got the alert that all was good and shooter was in custody.

I got up yesterday morning and although still tired, I felt good otherwise and fever was actually under by a degree which never happens. I went to work and felt fine. I still feel fine but feel more tired today than yesterday. I’ve had some mild pain in my right abdomen but it comes and goes all the time. I told my doc this a few weeks ago and he did not seem concerned if it was not severe and no nausea or vomiting etc. We both laughed that my appendix may be ready to blow. He said there had been a rash of that lately – but mainly from old men in their 70’s but women can certainly experience it as well. We left it at that. It’s not persistent so I’m not worried either, but I have felt it more this week than ever, I’ll just say. But today I kinda feel like a washed out tired. Like my normal tiredness when I need to rest.

Mom’s Wonderfully Southern Meal and Chess Pie

So Mom cooked last night and fixed a wonderful chicken and dressing dish along with mashed potatoes and peas and even a chess pie. It was a LOT of starch and she piled our plates HIGH! I was feeling a sugar/starch buzz going through my body at bedtime and went through a bottle and a half of water over night and many trips to the potty. It was great but my body says “hey you…slow down on the starch would you”. I have to be careful being pre-diabetic that I don’t wake up and find myself having crossed the line.

I had added the apple table cloth for fall. I’m enjoying using the tablecloths in there. I guess we need a Christmas one but enhhhh, we won’t be in there much so I’ll probably just put the grey one back in January.

Big News

So Mom got the call that her “Welcome Home Walkthrough” is Nov 1 and the closing on the house is Nov 5. How about that? So we will be starting to plan from here, rent trucks, vans, etc. So much is still in the air. We don’t have times yet and can’t order appliances yet til we know we’ll have access and someone available for delivery and such. So much to work out but once piece at a time. We don’t have to be in a hurry this time. She doesn’t have to be on a time frame. But we will likely take PTO days to get some things done. The big moves on the weekends but we’ll have to set up utilities and do a few things during the work week. Anyway, time is drawing near!

And I need to get ready and get to work. I also need more coffee to get going this morning. I’m so glad it’s Friday. But work is just really busy.

Weekend plans are formulating. George is going to play golf and Mom and I are going to eat at a place on my bucket list, go to a shoe shop, and get my car washed and then I’m coming home to do laundry, a Canon lesson, KDY55 plans firmed up, and whatever else I can work in.

George and I are wanting to cook up a Julia Child dish Beef Bourguignon together and we have plans to video it. I found the recipe we used years ago. I will share it soon. It was really good. George said it sounded fun. I’m so glad he enjoys doing the videos.

I got to work on the videos yesterday morning. Thursday mornings are a good time to do it. I was further along with it than I thought. Still made good progress yesterday. I still think we are a week or so out. I’ll shoot for the finish by end of next weekend but we’ll see. Life has just been so busy.

More updates tomorrow – might be later tomorrow or even on Sunday. We’ll see. Pray for George as he travels about in KY for this rare golf event. It’s a tournament and he doesn’t usually play. But it’s the best shot of a group of four. He’s the 4th guy and they asked him to please play. He’s stepping in for the guy that ended his life as his son had asked George to please take his spot. So he is going. And he plans to stop at the Amish in Scottsville KY.

Ok I gotta hurry now, I’m about 15 min behind but I could NOT get up this morning and was not willing to budge on my routine. It is what it is.

What are you doing this weekend? TGIF! 🙂