Snowpocalypse 2021

8:18am

It’s been snowing since around 4pm yesterday off and on. I just went outside with the dog and shoveled in front of the garage, the sidewalk, the front porch and a patch beside the sidewalk for Bitzi to relieve herself. The snow is heavy and wet and slides pretty easily. I came inside because I was pretty sure Bitzi’s  paws and legs and belly were packed with snow and ice. We came inside and I peeled off her sweater and harness and put her in some warm water in the utility sink and dried her off with a towel. Mike is still in bed sleeping. I’m not sure our snow blower is going to handle this stuff. I’ll let him deal with it. 

I have a nice beef roast in the crockpot. I browned it in my cast iron skillet with some olive oil and spices then put it in the crockpot with onion, mushrooms, garlic, celery and a bay leaf. I’m going to make beef barley soup with the leftovers. It’s smelling good. 

9:35

Mike is up now. The guy who is in charge of high school sports just called Mike about some big screw up in a sports story in today’s paper that was the fault of some woman on the night desk. He talks to John a lot more than he talks to me. F sports. Ignore Ignore Ignore

I am waiting to have “ the talk”.

My potato soup, crockpot roast and beef& barley soup turned out really good. Good stuff on a snowy day. 

Waiting for the storm to hit

The sun is shining and it’s cold outside but not nose hair freezing cold. We are supposed to get a big snowstorm of up to nine inches starting this afternoon and continuing until Sunday night. I hope it will be this winter’s last hurrah. I’ve been up for a while and unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher, wiped the counters and stove, fed and took Bitzi outside to pee. Mike just got up and is watching the morning news. He said he’s lost ten pounds. I’ve noticed he’s eating less and reducing his carbs. He’s been on diabetes medicine about five years but never checks his blood sugar and until recently has never watched his carb intake. He also has high blood pressure, high cholesterol, gout and two painful shoulders that surely need replacement surgery. I’m sure he has sleep apnea. He won’t ever listen or go to the doctor. I’m living with an exhausted surly grouch-ass bear. There is no playful puppy left. I hope if he continues watching what he eats things will improve. He never exercises or will go for a walk or swim with me. He’s just stuck at his laptop or the TV all the time. It does zero good to try to talk about it with him. He just gets mad and defensive. It is what it is. No one can change anyone else. They have to want it. He has the kindest heart of anyone I’ve ever known but he also is very gruff. He’s a combination of Lou GrantLou Grant and Andy Sypowicz Sipowicz  a scary  teddy bear. 

I’m going to try to go walk Bitzi as much as I can before the storm hits. I was feeling kind of yucky again last night and my mild sore throat / sinus junk came back. It seems like I’ve been trying to come down with something. I had that horrible digestive ick a couple days ago.

My old friend from high school,Echo,  has yet another skin cancer spot on her back that needs to be surgically removed. She’s had about ten removed so far from all over her body. She used tanning beds for years in her twenties and thirties and now the damage is done. She has had one hell of a time the last several years. 

5 years ago today ( after my stem cell transplant) 

And this morning .....

Moving slowly

It’s midmorning Wednesday. I slept late and still am feeling slow. Yesterday afternoon I started feeling sick at my stomach and between 2-10 had about thirty bathroom trips. I’m not sure what caused it ( maybe these new keto capsules I just started taking) but it was pretty awful. I will be throwing those capsules in the garbage. I feel like a limp dishrag today.I canceled my fitness appointment yesterday and my pool appointment today. I’m going to give it a rest. 

Yesterday afternoon my ex called me and talked for a really long time about his cancer treatment and our kids and grandkids. I’m sure we haven’t talked like that since the mid eighties. It felt pretty surreal. It’s weird how things evolve.

I’m going to go to Kohls and Aldi in a bit and that will be my big accomplishment for the day. 

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

4:57 pm

It’s almost 5pm and still light out so that’s progress! I am still feeling pretty blah and weak today although I’m not running to the bathroom like yesterday. My muscles burn and ache and I’m just taking it easy. 

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

5:50

Aiden Michael Smith was born at 2:45 today. My stepson Casey & his wife Jackie's baby. Mother & baby doing fine. This makes 8 for us. 

My youngest son Alex and his Cassie are expecting a baby in July.

Independence Day

5:30am Saturday, July 4

Mike just left to play an early golf game with a couple friends. They went last week and are trying to make this a weekly early morning thing.I woke up soon after he got out of bed. This morning I’m going to take the dog out for a walk, go out to the garden to water and come home and watch Hamilton on my iPad on Disney +. Mike doesn’t care for musicals so it’s better for me to watch it without him. He mostly likes to watch cop, detective shows, the food network and Shark Tank. We both like Jeopardy and Real Time with Bill Maher and Anderson Cooper 360.Ive been doing a lot of gardening and my flower beds we created last summer are starting to fill in and look more mature. It takes a lot of watering, weeding, fertilizing, deadheading and transplanting but I get such joy and satisfaction from it. I love picking bouquets from my own garden to give as gifts. 

I’m drinking my first coffee now. Bitzi is still sleeping in her crate and the blinds are drawn. All is quiet aside from gentle bird noises outside. I love the stillness and soft glow of mornings. The news reports are saying the COVID-19 virus numbers are rapidly rising again. It’s seems that this awful plague will never end. 

I have volunteered to be one of three reps from my Sun City neighborhood (#3). I’ve talked to the two outgoing lady reps about it. Mostly my rep slot would include setting up two yearly parties / get together events. It doesn’t seem that it would be difficult, so I said I’d do it. I thought it would be a good way to get more involved in my neighborhood and meet more people.it wouldn’t officially start until October. 

I’m trying to protect myself from getting too overwhelmed and freaked out by life these days. I’m watching less news and unfollowing unfriending people and groups on social media. I don’t want to hear / see / read a bunch of negative ridiculous conservative pro- trump swill. I’m just so tired of it. I’m now living in this 55+ community and there are lots of older ignorant brainless conservative pro-Trump stick up their asses types around here. I have to tread lightly and be good at changing the subject quickly. The zombies walk among us! 

Porcupine in my throat

The TV news makes my head throb. I want to watch it but I don’t want to watch it. Reading the paper is kind of the same but usually not as cheesy. Yesterday president Trump commuted the prison sentence of former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich. That didn’t surprise me at all. Trump is just doing things for that flash, shock and publicity. I hope I live to see the day he’s run out of office and locked up for all his crimes.

Tonight is another Democratic presidential debate in Las Vegas, the first one including billionaire former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg. He is the eighth richest person on earth worth an estimated 68 billion dollars. I am anxious to see how he functions at the debate.

I feel like crap this morning. My throat is sore, I’m congested and my eyes have been watering, itching, matting shut and sensitive for weeks. I’m going to the doctor after school today. I just feel like sleeping all the time lately. Part of that is the weather and gloominess every day.

I want to be here....

Yesterday Mike took his mother to the oncologist. Her tumor on the left side is about 2” in diameter. It is mutation PDL1. The oncologist said this cancer type responds well to immune therapy but she has to have tests to make sure it hasn’t metastasized to other organs before treatment is decided. She has to have a brain MRI and a full body PET scan. Once they were done with the oncologist appointment it was too late to schedule the scans so Mike will do that today #cancersucks, #lungcancer, #curecancer. Mike is all too familiar with all these procedures, testing and medical linger from being ny cancer advocate for years.

I need to go to the grocery store again. Mike will stop at the store but he doesn’t shop to cook meals. He’ll pick up an item or two if I ask him but mostly he’ll get himself Gatorade or hot dogs or stuff like that. He doesn’t cook so doesn’t get the meal prep shopping deal. Maybe I can go during my time gap between schools. 

(Temporary Backup) Winter in Chicago far west suburbs

Well I’m not driving down to Lewistown. It started snow sleeting yesterday afternoon and continued most of the night. It’s supposed to be warmer for a while this morning then later the temperature drops and it gets windy and flash freezes all the melted stuff. I made poached eggs egg poacher  and toast for breakfast then put on my insulated leggings, thermal Columbia top winter thermal top and my Ugg furry boots Winter boots  and put my hair in braids to control it. We’re going out to shovel and scrape ice in a few minutes. My throat is sore and my cough is getting worse. I’m going to the pool later and steaming myself in the sauna to open up my breathing. nebulizer

Now it’s snowing hard again! Gotta get our asses out there #midwestwinter, #chicagowinter and get to shoveling and using the snowblower.

Winter in Chicago far west suburbs

Well I’m not driving down to Lewistown. It started snow sleeting yesterday afternoon and continued most of the night. 

 t’s supposed to be warmer for a while this morning then later the temperature drops and it gets windy and flash freezes all the melted stuff. I made poached eggs egg poacher  and toast for breakfast then put on my insulated leggings, thermal Columbia top winter thermal top and my Ugg furry boots Winter boots  and put my hair in braids to control it.

 We’re going out to shovel and scrape ice in a few minutes. My throat is sore and my cough is getting worse. I’m going to the pool later and steaming myself in the sauna to open up my breathing. nebulizer 

Now it’s snowing hard again! Gotta get our asses out there #midwestwinter, #chicagowinter and get to shoveling and using the snowblower.

Puttering around is good for the soul

It’s the middle of the afternoon on Saturday and so far we’ve just had an overcast gloomy day and a little misting of sleet. The media always predicts some ginormous arctic ass kicking end of the world ice age and usually it ends up being hardly anything. My husband is always so much more worried about weather than I am. That’s just his nature. I however enjoy the snow and winter. True I do not like shoveling or dealing with assholes who don’t know how to drive carefully in the snow and ice.

We went out this morning to a couple stores. I wore my Ugg boots and my long quilted coat and gloves. I could have gone on an arctic expedition in that get up. I’ve been doing laundry and cleaning. I put some chili in the crockpot and mixed up a peach cobbler and put it in the oven. It’s good to stay home and putter around and get caught up on things.

I still haven’t heard from my oldest daughter. I guess she’ll contact me when she’s good and ready. My texts and calls have gone unanswered so I’ve given up. I can be a big bitch too. At least my granddaughter has texted me. Sometimes you just have to let things work themselves out an no amount of worry will help. You have to give it to the universe and hope it heals over.

My husband has two bad shoulders that have gradually been getting worse the last couple years. He won’t go see a doctor. He had me get orthopedic surgeon recommendations from two of my friends who’ve had shoulder replacement surgery but he hasn’t done anything about it but complain. I guess he must not feel that bad....🙄. You can only do so much.

My mother would have been 91 today. She died in 93 of malignant melanoma. 

The storm approaches

5:38pm Friday.

I’ve been home for a while. I have spaghetti sauce with meatballs simmering on the stove. The furnace just kicked in -nice since I just got out of the shower and am sitting here in my pajamas with wet hair. Mike isn’t home from work yet so I haven’t boiled the spaghetti noodles yet. This is leftover sauce from several days ago. I doctored it up and added meatballs I made last night.