08/19/2020, Wednesday

My serene early walk yesterday was just what I needed, in addition to sleeping temperatures in the low 50s ! Though it is getting up to the low 80s during the day, the humidity has been comfortably low. The lawn growth is slowing and garden production is at a high point. After being overrun by squash in the past, herbs, tomatoes, onions and peppers are my predominant crops.

Peps, love the posts from your highly engaged students ! DD, sending some cooler weather your way. Shirl, glad your new monitor is such an improvement ! Ceci... love your knitted chain ! Beats my dish cloths ! Liz... eager to hear your highly anticipated update !

Have a wonderful Hump Day all !

Weight yesterday was 154.8. I feel a slight uptick. Just need to watch my portions and snacking. I've been so hungry. I feel like this is strongly linked to hormones as I tend to have varying degrees of pouch restriction through the month. But still, it's so hard to just rely on that. I like the idea of intuitive eating with a safety net.

Diane O.-I was thinking about your visit to your mother. Did you guys ever decide anything? That's such a tough call. Honestly, I'd probably be a lot more cautious if my grandmother were still alive. She would've been celebrating 90 this October. She missed it by just a year and a few weeks. I've wondered a lot about people with aging relatives. Or I think about my SIL dying alone because they had to get clearance from Rich (which, when he offered to come that night, they denied him and told him to wait for the morning). I guess the trouble is, theoretically the risk extends beyond to just the person you are concerned about. Still, tough call.

I'm having good days and bad days. I feel really bad about bad days because I guess they aren't that bad. Maybe this junk didn't affect some people too much. Rich and I are opposite of those people. We are very social and I guess everything we do tends to involve risk. Who knew?! I desperately miss theater, movies, live music. I wasn't a regular attendee at church but wowie how I want to go back, hear the organ, see a baby baptized! I'm also a planner and there is no date certain for when things will be "okay."

I have planned a trip to Captiva Island in florida for Labor day. My stepdaughter would watch the girls, allowing us a 3 night getaway. It seems really secluded and just like a nice place to shell, lay out on the beach, sip a ****tail, watch dolphins swim by. But of course, being from Oklahoma, we would need to fly, especially on such a short trip. I have several friends who have flown since covid and say it's fine. You're masked up the whole time. Southwest is leaving middle seats empty. But I have this fear of exposing my parents. Trying to decide the risks. My birthday follows that so I would really want to see them, and besides the which part of the reason for us leaving is so we can get our cabinets painted. And therefore would stay with them after. In theory, our plan would be to stay as far away from people as possible. The airplane/port would mean masks but social distancing isn't really possible. The resort would require masks for employees but not necessarily the guests outside. I just reallllly need a break from my kids :(

I've been doing some cooking again! Monday night was a grilled, blackened red snapper with a peach salsa and farmer's market grilled zucchini. Last night I brined thick pork chops and cooked on the grill. For a cost of under $2/lb. and it was FANTABULOUS!! Tonight it s a splurge. Stepkids are coming to dinner so I'm making grilled chicken fettuccine alfredo with fresh fettuccine I picked up at farmer's market. I'll probably eat mostly chicken.

Would you be able to get covid tested when you get back? That might alleviate any worries. And back in the days when I did menstruate I would gain up to 5 pounds leading up to it, then promptly lose it after my period.

Serene walks are excellent for ones frame of mind. Critical in fact I think.

Weight 119.8 after 2 days away!!! Though I did eat on plan yesterday.

Mike and I had a great time. We seem to never stop talking even though he keeps telling me he is usually quiet . And trust me, I am NOT carrying the conversation (he has admitted that). Daughter number 2 is as beautiful as the first. Blonde hair, blue eyes and beautiful smiles. The same for the granddaughter (age 8) who is an absolute hot ticket. Whenever we asked her something she didn't want to answer she would say "we aren't talking about that right now" - LOL. The grandson didn't come as he went to a friends home instead. I am going to Mike's tomorrow to bike and beach with his granddaughter.

In the meantime, 3 of DH's oldest friends (and mine for 40 years) are coming for dinner. DS is cooking. DSD and SIL will also be here and DD is probably coming afterwards to stay for a few days. Oh and 2 other friends are stopping by for a cupcake celebration of the husbands birthday after that. Busy evening!

Have a safe and healthy Wednesday!

I can hear the giddy coming from your post!! How wonderful!

As far as Covid test, I thought you had to wait a few days after exposure for test but that might not be true. We were initially going on this trip to get out out of house while cabinets painted. Girls were going to stay with grandparents and out of house voila. But grandparents have to work so we're shortening our trip, still staying with them but I'll be watching girls.

Good morning. I have completely shifted to my circadian rhythm, falling asleep at 2am, waking up at 10am. I typically fight this every summer, because it doesn't work well with real life. This week, I'm setting an alarm for 8 am. Still not falling asleep until 2am, so I'm not getting 8 hours of sleep. Hopefully, I'll shift in another day or so.

BB, I feel your pain about wanting to travel etc. So far, Covid has cancelled 4 trips. For the 5th trip, we pivoted, and instead of an ocean beach we did a road trip to Door County. Many parts of the trip were "normal". I did miss browsing in the shops. You should definitely take a break from the kids. If you decide you're not comfortable going to Florida, is there a plush resort hotel near you? Even relaxing by a well landscaped pool while someone serves you drinks with little umbrellas in them could go a long way.

We're coping with Covid pretty well, but we are distracted too, by all my medical stuff. And on good days, we try to be creative about how to socialize. And we're trying new things: DH is biking again, a former passion, and I'm in love with kayaking. Trying not to borrow trouble, but winter could be pretty grim. Theater, and cozy pubs are our staples for surviving a Minnesota winter. Won't be happening this year. Right now, we can eat on patios, gather outside with small groups of friends, listen to music in an outdoor venue ...DD and I already started making plans for cold weather. We are going to cover both the yard and in the house with twinkle lights. We're saving big yogurt containers to use to make "bricks" for an ice bar. We're going to shovel the snow around the fire pit so if it is even somewhat less than deathly cold we can go outside...

Liz, I think you are showing us that it is great planning to live in a location that everyone else considers a vacation destination! Have you and Mike talked about trips to Florida in the winter? If it makes sense to travel there this winter, would he join you?

Diane, is your leg continuing to heal? I think it's awesome that you are planning to RV this fall. I understand camping sites have been very hard to come by this summer, so going in the fall makes good sense.

Today's appointment is with a nurse practitioner who is going to discuss alternates to estrogen with me. I'll have to take medication for years that surpress what little estrogen I still have. I stopped daily estrogen supplements (because of hysterectomy at 42), a couple of years ago, but I was using an estrogen cream a few times a month. Can't use that anymore either. And now we will kill the little bit my post menopause body produced itself. Not here for it. I feel like it could really impact my quality of life, so I am very glad my oncology clinic has a specialist dedicated to this issue.

Mike and I live about 3 hours from each other in Florida (50 minutes here). We have talked tentatively about driving down together then figuring it out over time. He is in a much more upscale place on the ocean and has made comments about how well I would fit in... Still early days (as we keep trying to remind ourselves). Feels like fast-forward dating though because we spend so much time together each time.

When I was seeing David for that month I didn't want to see him as frequently as he wanted and kept ending the dates before he wanted to. It was an indication pretty early on that the attraction just wasn't there.

Back from my appointment, good discussion, and a few creams etc. to try. Also, a recommendation to a store called the Smitten Kitten in Minneapolis. I believe that this will be medical advice that DH will be quite happy to follow.

Another hot day. I'm getting really tired of being told to turn my a/c to 78 (too hot!) and sit in the dark with the shutters closed. Along with social media people bragging about how they're taking one for the team sitting in their 85 degree houses. It doesn't have to be this way and we shouldn't have to suffer for the greater good when good energy policy would have kept us out of this situation. It's a politician-created "emergency" based on poor planning, too much reliance on alternative energy that only works during the day or is at the mercy of whether the wind blows, inadequate energy storage for evenings, closing of nuclear plants that create massive amount of non-polluting energy, and an aging infrastructure that gets no attention while it crumbles around us. There are much hotter states that aren't suffering like we make ourselves do every summer. If creating good friendships and a feeling of belonging wasn't so hard, I'd leave CA. It's a mess. Have I mentioned heat makes me super cranky?

Not much else to report. My knit chain has doubled. Needs to at least double again to hang it. But it's been a nice distraction.

I tried to follow a grilled pizza recipe so I didn't have to heat up the kitchen yesterday and have never burnt food so badly in my life. It was a lump of charcoal. Perhaps the universe telling me I don't need pizza?