Wednesday - a little rain must fall

It's Wednesday and a little rain is falling on us!  Not a storm but a few sprinkles so far with more rain to come later today and tonight.

I hope to use our new Lodge Sportsman Cast Iron Grill today to do hamburgers.  We'll see if the weather cooperates.

I woke during the night and grabbed my phone to secure a grocery pickup time from Walmart next Tuesday.

Yesterday I picked out some rocks and washed them.  I baked them for a couple of hours, then turned the oven off and left them until this morning.  I'm going to paint some rocks later today!  (I love painted rocks!)

Well, I decided against barbecuing burgers on our new grill tonight.  We had burgers from Burger King instead.  I had been putzing around and didn't feel like messing with the grill and trying to avoid the rain showers.

It's now time to relax and put my feet up.

-H

Gorgeous Saturday!

Ahhh, we had a wonderful day!

I decided to do the spring washing of the deck today.  It can be a huge and tiring job...it was last year.  This year I decided to not use the power washer and do the deck railings in sections.  Rick was napping when I got started, so I decided to do a section at a time and if I got too tired, I would just stop at that point.  Well, with my bucket of PineSol water, a microfiber cloth and a small scrub brush, I did all the posts, spindles, stairs and part of the floor that was dirtier than the rest.  I even took the deck box (with Rick's help) to the driveway and gave it a good washing, too!  It looks so nice and it's all ready for the season.  We sat out and relaxed much of the day, then I decided to edge around the rocks that surround the deck.  I got all done that I wanted to accomplish for today and it looks so nice!

Pat and Val (ladies who live on Harvey) happened by and stopped to chat.  I gave each of them a face mask to wear when they need one and they were very appreciative.  Pat is the older lady who always has treats for Sophie.  Val used to work with Jeanette Messino.  We had a nice visit and then Luba came to join in on the conversation.  When Luna learned that I sew, her eyes lit up and when the other ladies left, she asked me to alter a dress for her.  I told her I would rather not do it, too much pressure if things don't work out as planned or desired.  I know she was disappointed, but I just didn't want to do it for her...I feel she wouldn't be happy with the end product and I don't need to deal with that.  It's not easy to say "no", but I handled it well and didn't stammer!  (Val wanted to purchase a mask from me, but I told her I don't do them for money, I do them to give away.)

We are having creamed chicken and biscuits for dinner tonight.  Leftovers are terrific, especially when you can eat them in two meals and not have tons to deal with.

I'm going to have to count up how many masks I've made.  I really don't remember, but I'm thinking I've given away close to 30 or so.  Maybe more.

Bonnie - 2
Cris and Jerry -4
Butch - 1
Rick - 2
Me - 4
Karen - 2
JP - 1
Guenveur and John - 2
Marty - 4
Val and Pat - 2
Rhonda - 3
Amy - 4
Mike & Sue - 2
That's 33 right there.  I'll try to think if there were more and update this list

Wednesday happenings

Here I am, posting on the correct day!!

Today I wrapped and delivered the door banner that I made for my newest great great nephew.  I made it on the day he was born -- April 2, 2020, but I didn't do the label and wash it until yesterday.

With this COVID-19 pandemic and the sheltering at home, we don't get out much.  We walk Sophie and we go outdoors as much as possible, but don't really go anywhere.  Going for a ride in the car is a delight for all 3 of us!!

After dropping off the door banner and sneaking a peek of my new great great nephew through the window, we stopped by McDonalds and got Rick a couple of hamburgers for lunch.  (I had green beans.)

We went for a short walk with Sophie...it was COLD.  The air hurt my nasal passages, so we cut it short.  I thought it was necessary that the lawn get mowed, so I did that.  I'm glad we didn't wait longer, the grass is thick and was long enough that waiting longer would make it harder to mow later.

I was going to do sautéed chicken with green peppers and onions and white rice as a side, but we have decided to order pizza from Dominos for dinner.  Sounds delicious.

We're watching the weather and this unseasonal cold has GOT to stop.  Betsy Kling, our weather gal says that we have nearly 10 more days of this below-average cold, then we should be getting more warmer weather!  TIME FOR SPRING!

Signing off...
-H

Two in one post

I didn't post yesterday and I should have.  It was a busy day for us.

I got hold of the pulmonary doctors office.  Rick and I were waiting for a call from them to schedule Rick for a follow up appointment.  They had no record of him needing a visit.  We got that all straightened out and at noon we had a televisit with one of the docs.  Rick has an appointment with him late in June.  He will also need some tests done and WRH is supposed to be calling us to schedule them.

The doc did say that walking was wonderful for him and safe to do.  Our weather yesterday was much nicer than anticipated, so we went for two walks.  He had over 5,000 steps on his Fitbit.  That's great.  Since the weather was so nice, there were several neighbors outdoors, so we had the opportunity to socialize.  Bonus!

We sat on the deck and he lit our gas firepit.  It was so nice.  When the evenings are more mild, we will really enjoy having the fire to gaze into.  We have multicolored glass in the firepit and it's so pretty.

We ate up our leftovers for dinner tonight.  Rick finished the meatloaf and I finished the stuffed shells.  I also had green beans and will have them for lunch tomorrow, too.  On Saturday or Sunday I made green beans with bits of ham and onion.  I love the ones they serve at Texas Roadhouse and tried (somewhat successfully) to recreate them.  They were good, not as good as at TR, but I think the difference might be the amounts of salt used.  I didn't add an excessive amount, and I think they do.

We have decided to purchase a self-propelled lawn mower.  With Rick's lung issues, I should do more of the mowing and we thought having a self-propelled mower would help us out a great deal.  Once we decided which model we wanted, finding it became an issue.  The stores are out of stock and it's nearly one hundred dollars to have it delivered to us.  We found one online (same exact model) and they will deliver it for free.  We ordered that today...Tuesday.

I'm going to get busy today and will write more later.  NOT!

I got sidetracked and didn't get back to finish Monday & Tuesday's post, so this will finish up whatever.

I called Buffalo Wild Wings to order wings for dinner.  That place is a mess during this pandemic.  Not only do they tell you your order won't be ready for at least 1.5 hours...and they really don't know that, but they have ready-to-pick-up orders all over the place.  The cashier doesn't wear a mask and the customers are not respecting the markings on the floor for social distancing.  I need to call the manager.  The wings were good, though!

Ok, this Wednesday morning finishes up Monday and Tuesday's information!!!

-H

A little more sunshine today!

Thank heavens!  A little more sunshine and a little warmer (mid to high 40's) today.  Sure makes life a little easier.

Rick and I took Sophie for a little walk.  We went to DePeyster Street and back home; he didn't take his oxygen tank and he should have.  He was wiped out.

I unboxed and brought in the purchases from Amazon that had been in the garage for a week or so to decontaminate.  I had two cases of K-cups, some vitamins, a cover for the gas firepit, a charcoal starter that's chimney style and our new Lodge Cast Iron Sportsman Grill.  Boy is that grill heavy!!  It should last a LONG, LONG time.  Rick and I put it together - not much to that, but it's ready to go when we are ready to grill.

My delivery from Chewy came; it was 4 cases of cat food.  I love having things delivered, it makes things so easy.  The only thing is:  the deck was wet and the delivery person put the box DIRECTLY in front of the door which means I couldn't get out of the door to get the delivery.  GRRRR!!  LOL!

I did a little repair on the house, the corner pieces of the aluminum siding came loose.  It happens now and then.  I took some caulking and hopefully did a good job of repairing them.  There were 3 loose ones.

I made (what I thought was a delicious) dinner.  We had stuffed shells made with Olive Garden meat sauce.  I also made green beans with ham and onion and we had garlic bread.  Rick ate it, but he didn't particularly enjoy most of it.  He what he likes and doesn't like to try new things!  DUH!  I've known this for years, but sometimes I like different things.

We're looking to purchase a new self propelled lawn mower.  Rick's been shopping online and we are deciding what we want to buy.

I FaceTimed with my niece, Kathy.  She was making her first face masks and ran into a snag and didn't know what to do.  I helped her through it.  (Funny thing, she was teaching a friend to make them via FaceTime, too!)

Kelly called...they were going hiking as a family and Indy is going, too.  Nathan doesn't love hiking, but he goes along with the family plans.  Jennifer texted and was asking about snickerdoodles and the recipe.  She remembered Kelly making snickerdoodles when we had a bunch of guys at our house who were waterproofing our basement.  Good memories.

Enough chatter from me for now.  Rick has a movie on and I'm going to watch it with him.

G'night,
-H

Befuddlement

I haven't posted in a while.  My mind is overwhelmed and I don't like it.

Rick is home from the hospital.  His biopsy and plural fluid results were/are good.  No malignant cells.  That's wonderful news and he is doing so well here at home.  Why am I feeling befuddled?

The weather has been unseasonably cold.  We've had snow a couple of times this week - enough that I had to sweep it off the deck -- and today we are supposed to get quite a bit of snow.  It's not supposed to last long, it's a very wet snow that will melt quickly.


Because the weather has been unkind, it's hard for Rick to get out to walk with us (me and Sophie).  He likes to walk, but the cold weather is very hard on him; me...I think that's all the people who have received them, but I also made extras for Rick and me and some to have on hand if someone needs one.  Here's me in my favorite one and the other one is plus he needs to take his oxygen tank along with him.  Once the weather breaks, I think we will be less stressed.

I made face masks to wear when we go out, like the doctor's office, dropping something off at the neighbor's house or anywhere we might be closer than usual to another person.  I made masks for:
Kelly, Scott, Evelyn, Anna, Nathan, Viv, Jennifer, Todd, Hadley, Treva, Cris, Jerry, Butch, Pat V, JP, Guenveur, John, Marty, Marty's husband, Marty's son, Marty's son's wife, Carol, Bonnie, Jim, Rick, the one I made for our neighbor, Guenveur.  Kelly, Scott and Hadley in their protective gear!

Stay safe and hunker down for a while longer!

-H

Thank you, Lord

Today is Thursday and last evening, I got to bring Rick home.  My heart is full.

We have no results from biopsy that was taken on Wednesday, but my honey is home and until we get results, we are hunkering down and resting.  He has a "televisit" with our primary care doctor on Monday.

This week has been torturous for Rick and for me.  For him, his stay in the hospital was more than scary.  Until he got his COVID-19 test results back (negative, thankfully) he was placed on the COVID-19 floor.  Thankfully he was only there for 1 day.

One of his doctors was horrid.  The doctor made Rick believe he was going to die.  When (and if) I see this guy, I am going to give him a "piece of my mind".  His "bedside manner" is severely lacking.  When Rick saw him, he did tell him how this doc made him feel and the man said he didn't know he was percieved that way.

The whole experience, a lot of it because of the COVID-19, was just terrifying for both of us.

-H

Dear Lord, hear my prayers

My dear husband is in the hospital.  He woke up about 12:30 AM and couldn't hardly breathe.  He was having pain from his chest, up to his shoulder and down his back. I called 911 and the paramedics came.  They did a scan of his heart and he was not having a heart attack.  That eased my mind a LITTLE.

The paramedics left after checking him out well and we went into the living room to settle down into our recliners, thinking that position might offer him some relief.  It didn't.  I talked him into going to the hospital, despite the fact that ALL our hospitals have some patients who tested positive for COVID-19.  While talking to the ER person, he said that even though they had some COVID-19 cases, we really needed him to be seen.  So we (reluctantly) went to the ER in the best hospital in our area.

One test lead to more...and more...and more.  Bloodwork showed a high white cell count...infection somewhere.   He was swabbed for the coronavirus(es).  A cat scan showed a mass.  My heart sank. 

I was not supposed to be allowed in the hospital.  When we got there, the staff asked me to go to my car and wait to hear from them via my cell phone.  They gave me the number so I could call them.  In about 10 minutes the young man came to my car and asked me to come in the hospital.  I had my temperature checked, no fever.  I went to his ER room.  A classmate of Jennifer (younger daughter) was our ER nurse.

He was in so much pain.  They gave him morphine.  They had him hooked to oxygen and monitors.  About 8:45 AM they took him to a room on floor 2 -- the floor for covid patients.

I called a few times.  I took his iPad to the hospital along with a card from me, his charging cable and block plug.  I also sent along 4 pieces (with butter) of homemade banana bread.  I went to the ER (the only door open to the hospital) and instructed the package be delivered.  It was!

They changed his medications late in the day.  His COVID-19 test came back NEGATIVE!  Hallelujah!  They moved him off the COVID floor to the 3rd floor.  Tomorrow they are going to do a needle (aspiration?) and he is going to call me after that.

I will deliver his eye drops to the hospital tomorrow.  The nurse said to do the same thing as I did with the banana bread package.

We have quite a road ahead of us, but at least we got on the road.  

God, walk with me and hold me tight.  I need you by my side.

-H

Beautiful Friday!

This morning I made banana bread!  I had enough of the little square ones and offered a couple to the postman.  I wasn't sure he would want them, but he was eager and grateful for his little treat.  (With the Coronavirus, I wasn't sure he would eat them.)

It's a gorgeous day!  A bit chilly, but the sun is out and it's warm...just the wind is a little nippy.  We went for a walk on campus, we visited the May 4th Memorial.  Lots of the daffodils were in bloom and the sun was bright.  Sophie LOVED being there, lots of new smells and things to jump over!

It was so chilly on campus, we left and finished our walk in our neighborhood.  We saw our neighbor across the street.  He was outdoors with his daughter doing yard work.  A year ago, we thought he wasn't going to be around much longer.  He is doing so much better now.

After our walk, we ordered Italian food from one of our most-favorite restaurants (and the owner went to school with and grew up in the same neighborhood with Rick.  We got spaghetti and meatballs and a pan of meatballs.  Along with their delicious Italian bread.


We are having Happy Hour.  (Well, I am having happy hour!)  Rick's catching a nap instead.


On another fun and delightful note, I got the most-adorable thank you  note from Hadley.  It was just so special and so  HER.  Made my day.

It's nearly time for dinner, so I'll heat up some spaghetti and butter up some bread and we'll have dinner.

-H

Busy Thursday

Today we had sunshine!  Hurray for sunshine, there is nothing like it to help your spirits lift.

I had ordered from a local restaurant.  They were offering 4 items that they would deliver to your home for free...if you spent $20.  For those $20, I got a quart of homemade tomato soup and half a dozen donuts.  Perhaps a little pricey, but these are strange times.  The soup was good, I had it along with a grilled cheese sandwich for dinner.  (Rick isn't a big fan of tomato soup, so he had leftover hamburger and macaroni that we had earlier in the week.)

I placed an order at Acme for groceries and today was my pickup day.  I pulled into the designated spot, called the store and they brought my groceries out, loaded them in my car and handed me my receipt.  I had this all planned as to how to bring things into the house with as little chance of bringing in COVID-19 as possible.  My strategy is as follows:

1.  I took big Rubbermaid bins to the garage.  I wiped them out with hot water, bleach and Dawn. I drove to the store.

2.  When I got home, I took my bucket of bleach water and wiped my steering wheel, the gear shift, the starter button and the door handle and the handle that I used to pull the door closed.

3.  I opened the lift gate on my car and took the groceries out of the bags, one by one.  I wiped each item off with my solution and placed it in the bin.  Cold things in one bin and everything else in the other bin.

4.  I took each bin into the house and put the items away.  I set the bins outside in the sun and then took my solution of bleach, soap and water and while I had the opportunity, I wiped off the gate to the deck, my door and handles and the doorbells.

I didn't get all the items that were on my list, some things were not available.  No problem, nothing was terribly urgent, just stocking up on needs for the future.

Cooper Everett was born today via Cesarean section.  Ashleigh wasn't progressing with the inducing of labor and when they stepped up the process the baby's heart rate fluctuated.  I am nearly done with his door banner.  I still need to make a label, attach it and wash it.  Then I will drop it off at their house (on the porch). Here's a picture of the banner for his bedroom door.

Last night we ordered an Edible Arrangement of fruit to send to the girls.  Both of them got the fruit today and they called/Facetimed to thank us.

I decided to order a grill from Amazon today.  I am getting a Lodge cast iron Sportsman's grill.  It's small and I hope we will like it.

For day...

-H

April Fools' Day

I had a prank all ready for today!  I have been planning for it since maybe April 2 or 3 of last year!  In lieu of all the coronavirus, COVID-19 all around us, I don't feel very much like playing a prank.  I will save my silliness for next year when, hopefully, the world will be healthier.

Today will hopefully bring my great-great nephew into the world.  My niece is supposed to be at the hospital at 10AM to be induced.

Yesterday I wasn't very productive, so today I'm going to be more focused on goals.  Whether my goal is to read a book, go for a walk or whatever, I'm going to be busier.

Today, I would like to accomplish these things:

1.  Add to my grocery list of things I need from Walmart.  When a slot opens up for pickup, I will have my list ready.  CHECK

2.  Sew (hopefully complete) the name banner for Cooper CHECK, not finished, but quilted and ready to bind.

3.  Do a load of laundry CHECK

4.  Read some of my book

5.  Go for a walk with Sophie and Rick CHECK

6.  Make a tasty dinner CHECK, I made sautéed chicken, green peppers and onions, rice and cauliflower casserole

-H