Saturday, December 28, 2024

119.8 after appetizers and dinner out last night with extended family.

A nice afternoon and evening yesterday got me out of my funk. We didn't get home until about 9:30 so we were up until midnight - very late for us. We watched a couple of episodes of the rather romantic novel-like show Virgin River. Humboldt County is where you are Diane S, correct? Beautiful scenery in that show.

Today we do laundry and start packing to return to Florida tomorrow. Like all Christmases we have more to take back than we came with (since my gifts for others were shipped here). I may have to leave a few things to take back after the summer as we only have carry-on bags. DH is going to lunch with several of his friends from high school or earlier. I will drive him to one of their homes 1/2 hour from here and on their way back from lunch he will be dropped off to pick up the rental car to get to the airport tomorrow. Likely a shared dinner out tonight to avoid leftovers. I feel like we planned food relatively well to avoid having too much to throw out.

This afternoon I have to return all the stinky anti-rodent stuff to my car (mothballs, peppermint balls, dryer sheets). It did air out enough to be bearable but I can see why it repels the animals. The car was pretty pungent at first.

Have a scintillating Saturday!

Be careful with the mothballs, Liz! "Naphthalene is a carcinogen, can irritate the skin and eyes, can irritate the nose and throat, causing coughing and wheezing, can cause nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps, and diarrhea, can cause confusion, excitement, convulsions, and other neurological symptoms, can cause acute renal shutdown, can cause severe anemia and icterus, repeated exposure to naphthalene can cause liver damage, which can lead to nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, and weight loss, can cause cataracts, especially in workers who are acutely exposed to it, can cause a skin allergy, which can lead to itching and a skin rash. Infants born to mothers who ingested or sniffed naphthalene during pregnancy may develop anemia."

A lovely birthday all around! Today we are meeting Claudia's niece, her husband, and their kids and her niece's mom and stepdad (I think) for lun*****ottonwood. The niece's mom has a horse ranch in Prescott not too far from here and they are here for Christmas from Omaha. I like them all (but haven't met the mom and stepdad) so it will be nice to see them.

Kirby is "so fresh and so clean". Goldens are so incredibly soft when they are clean and sparkly.

Aside from still being full from dinner and having to go eat bbq at 11, things are good here. Hope they are for all of you as well!

The mothballs are only in the engine compartment - peppermint balls inside the car where the seats are. So hopefully only exposure to rodents who try to go there. But boy I didn't realize they were that bad!

It's Saturday, which means no construction is going on in the house for the next two days.

Today I've done only life errands (CVS, Kroger, etc.) and haven't been to a single store that sells paint or faucets or sconces or tile.

It's a warm, cloudy day here. The world feels quieter as folks are decluttering after Christmas and Hanukkah and company is flying or driving back to their own homes. It feels nice to take it a bit easier and exhale. Aaaahhhh!

You have had a busy life of late. Enjoy the relaxation!

Sounds like we are all having some nice moments this holiday week. Things are perhaps not scintillating, but very peaceful here. Except that my Mom seems to have contracted norovirus. My nephew's family had a round of it last week, and in retrospect, maybe should have skipped the Christmas visit. But who can say for sure. No one in our house has fallen sick, so looks like we dodged that bullet.

We did go see A Complete Unknown and enjoyed it a lot. This film and Conclave are 2 of the more satisfying movies I've seen lately. In the interest of not busting through the high end of my weight range, I had some cottage cheese and pineapple before we left, thereby greatly limiting the amount of popcorn consumed. That, and putting the cookies back in the freezer instead of on the kitchen table, helped my weight move into the middle of my range. Feels good.

No big plans today. I am going to clear the dining room table and living room coffee table of Christmas remnants like gifts and special dishes that need to be put away. I have some pants that need to be hemmed, might get to that. But what I am most hoping to make time for is to read a book, perhaps in one sitting today. What a luxury. I have several books sitting in the read pile, but I may start with a Christmas gift: James. It is the Huck Finn story told from the point of view of the enslaved man Jim.

Today is mild (high 30s) and sunny. The snow is melted. This is only the 3rd sunny day this month. It will cloud over tomorrow and be mild (for Minnesota) for the next week. It is so dreary these overcast days. The sun hardly makes it over the horizon, even at noon it can look like dawn instead of high noon. Time to start planning our short February get away and hold tight to the knowledge that I will be free to leave these dark days next winter whenever I want.

Is Minnesota typically overcast in the winter? That would depress me - Massachusetts may be cold and sometimes rainy/snowy but also usually has a fair amount of sunny days in winter (though the sun is low in the sky). Then of course there is Florida where we mostly just complain when it is under 70 (but is usually sunny) LOL.

142.0. Exactly the same. Birthday Hibachi dinner was very good last night. Hoping some of the steady weight is from high sodium.

Christmas gift returned and small grocery shopping trip complete. Looked at dining room tables again and I think I found something I like at a much cheaper price point!

Making the left over crab into crab fettuccine Alfredo tonight. I think we will watch a movie on tv and hit the sack fairly early.

The vertigo returned for DH today. Drats! Unfortunately it is making him anxious and crabby!

Tomorrow we have church and then a dinner out with an old coworker of DH's and his wife. Going out for Mexican which works well for me as I can get my one chicken taco for cheap and still be full. I'm not sure the reduced dose is going to get me to my goal but I also wanted to stock up. I think there may be an option to do some bulk buying from my provider before the compounding ban happens.

I'm sure some of that is definitely sodium weight. Asian food (actually a lot of restaurant food) is notorious for high sodium.

215.9 - Up 1.5 overnight. It's all good though. Great workout, dinner out, and peanut M&Ms at the movies. We saw Nosferatu beause it was one we could get tickets to and Ron REALLY wanted to go to the movies. We went to a later showing and I am paying the price for it today! UGH.... We weren't back home until 12:30 AM. I didn't manage to get into bed until 2:00 as dogs needed time to run about and pee before re-settling into normal late night behavior. 8:00 AM came way too quickly.

I ran off with Blitz to the vet for his collection and then straight on to a 2 hour handling class for Bug. Both dogs (and I) are happy to be home. I am fading quickly, but there is still much to be done!