What's on your Thursday Menu, RNYers?

Hi all, happy Thursday!

This week I made up some hand sanitizer as best I could - I was unable to source aloe vera gel so just used the juice, which I knew I could thicken into a gel with xanthan gum. It thickened nicely, but when combined with the ethanol, turned into weird floaty clumps which looked like alien organisms: definitely aesthetically deficient. Chemistry, go figure! So I opted for using vegetable glycerine as a humectant instead. I made some with a sweet, light lemony e.o., some using a beautiful lavender e.o., and some with my favorite mandarin essential oil. I produce and sell many formulas using these and other ingredients, so I had a lot to choose from.

Yesterday I realized that Joanne's Fabric & Crafts is still considered an essential business as they provide the materials for homemade masks. So I masked and gloved up and went in. They were out of non-woven fusible webbing, but I bought a few different patterns of cloth, thread, muslin, and some pipe cleaners. I bought myself a sewing machine over a year ago which I only just unboxed last night. I'll go back on Monday when they expect another shipment of the fusible webbing, but this time I will pay online and have them bring it to the car. The store was full of people including a contingent of 20-somethings who seemed to have zero concept of physical distancing.

I have been walking around the lake late in the evenings. It's just 1.5 miles, but it gets me out and it is refreahing. I'd prefer to have a big dog with me, but such is life. I often don't pass anyone, not even cars. This is a ridiculously sleepy area in the best of times, let alone now. But I try to return home by the time full dark arrives.

I am doing fine weight-wise and am still abiding by healthy high protein, low carb eating.

My surgeon's team called me a week or so to tell me that my surgery was considered urgent enough to be scheduled. Then two days later the doc called me and apologized, saying that it had in fact been put off for now due to the number of COVID-19 patients and the intensity of the virus up here in Seattle. I trust them. It it is what it is. Normally I wouldn't want to wait, but it's a difficult and scary time. I am so impressed with all of the doctors, nurses, EMTs, etc. who are working so hard and so selflessly for all of us. I'm thankful too for the grocery clerks, delivery people, and pharmacists, not to mention folks like the police, the Army Corps of Engineers, etc. I wish I could think of something significant I could do now to help or even just to thank them.

Take care of yourselves, all of you. Stay safe. Love to you all.