Pumpkin Sunrise

  What a glorious week! This photo was taken earlier in the week and all of that beautiful snow in the background is gone. We still have snow in parts of the yard but it's shrinking so fast. Yesterday I wore a spring jacket, I wrote it down as a gratitude. I felt light and free. Today will be a nice day as well and then we go back to cold but not that cold. I love March and how the emergence of springtime begins. Can you believe we change the clocks this weekend? Golly, time is a flying by so quickly. On Monday I received my second vaccine dose and for that I am extremely grateful . I'm on a medicine that lowers my immune system and so I qualified. I was so not well all through the night and most of Tuesday. I had most of the side effects - nausea - fever - chills - aches and pains. By Tuesday evening I felt a bit more like myself. Even though I was miserable, I was very very grateful to be miserable. From all of the intense shivering my lower back pain acted up and I had to d

  Good morning! How has your week been? Overall my week has been a good week. I've been thoroughly enjoying watching the leaves change color around my neighborhood. The oak trees are starting to do their leaf dump, in the next week or so the oak trees will be finished. Autumn goes much too quickly for me! All of the holiday plans in the next coming months are completely undone and I keep trying to think of ways to gather without gathering. Can a fire pit keep you warm outside for socializing in late fall early winter? I don't know. Also if it's raining sleeting or snowing that makes it a little nuts to be outside. If you have any suggestions let me know! always a sunrise photo neighborhood sign I saw my kidney doctor yesterday and she said 'you are too healthy to be in my clinic'. So I'm discharged!  That was quite exciting. I was so upset when I was referred to her back in February, but now I will miss her, she is a kind, patient and caring doctor. I'm in t

  Are you enjoying this fall-like weather?  I have been in heaven.  I even changed the bed comforter to the fall/winter one.  The pool will be closing this week and I cannot get enough of the fall foliage that is emerging.  Thank goodness for Autumn! This past week was a little busy.  After many months of staying at home we were out for the first time in six months to a neighboring city to look for a dress for me to wear to my son's wedding in January.  I tried on five, liked two and picked one.  See - simple.   I honestly do not want to go store-to-store scouring the selections which is what I would have done before the pandemic.  I also didn't want to order online.  All I need are a pair of shoes and that can wait for a few weeks for now. On Saturday I drastically cut added sugar in my diet.  I gave up desserts which was easy after one day but I have been chipping away at the sugar I put in my morning coffee.  I have successfully eliminated 50% and am now trying to cut anothe

This week the weather has decided to give me a much needed break.  I've been enjoying low humidity and mild temperatures that have been rare most of the summer.  I know this reprieve will end soon.  I've noticed some leaves falling, dare I hope that it is an early sign of fall?  I'd like to believe so. This week I've been seeking peace and calmness in my days.  I love when I have a string of easy days where nothing is pressing on my mind, oh to bottle up that contentment! Then of course there are those days when everything is on my mind, I magnify their importance and maybe just maybe I am magnifying in error.  How lucky that every single morning is a personal reset to focus on what matters. This is why mornings are the sacred time of the day for me. This week my husband has put up netting to save the kale and the cabbage from cabbage worms.  It's a battle.  He'll be retiring next Friday and the duties and tasks are in multitudes until that day arrives.  The gar

We celebrated my husband's birthday this week.  He had to work a very long day so it wasn't the best birthday ever, however I bought him a carrot cake roll and that makes all those late working days a bit easier to do.  Spring feels so close I can touch it!  Holly has resumed her perch on the windowsill watching dawn break and the birds tweeting and hopping around.  She is endlessly entertained.  This week when I babysat the preschooler on Tuesday she was naming all the birds.  What amused me greatly was her made up names for every single one.  I would respond 'no that's a robin' and she would say 'no Mrs. Karen it's a cocklebird'.  hm  okay, I'm going to go with that. What I love best about my one day a work week is that it is only one day and it wipes out any other thoughts in my head.  I like the day with the preschooler! Wish me luck, today I have to see a new medical specialist for possibly more medical tests because of a referral

I find it humorous that when I am feeling on top of the world in my physical activity and my dedication to the gym, something humbling happens to reset my confidence.  Yesterday I was in a hurry (always bad) and I tripped over my husband's boots in the garage.  There is an ongoing dispute as to how 'tucked' away they are.  My opinion is if I trip on them they are not tucked away.  Keep in mind these boots have been in the same place for ten years, you would think I would learn.. The good news is I did NOT fall nor did I sprain any delicate ankles.  Also my back is fine.  The bad news is I stumbled and pulled my right back leg muscle that just aches.  Good grief.  I'm hoping this is a quickly resolved strain/sprain since I already feel a lot better this morning.  And I never did take any pain medicine last night.  However it's a slow going day.  Watch where you walk people!  The winds were blustery yesterday and winter has made its appearance once aga

This week I've been listening to my body.  I thought I had allergies but there was a significant plot twist and I'm now convinced that it's a cold.  Grr.  Because of my autoimmune disease, I have a difficult time fighting germs and try my best to avoid getting them. However, the preschooler that I babysit is ultra-generous in sharing ALL the germs.  I hand wash, I hand sanitize and still I get them.  Wednesday I felt under the weather and cancelled the gym to stay home.  I spent the day trying to update my mac to the new IOS.  I drank buckets of hot tea and rested.  Last fall thru this past spring I was ill a lot and on antibiotics (a lot).  I'm all for modern medicine but I tried tried tried to beat this bug on my own. As of today I'm cautiously optimistic that I might have won the war against this germ.  Maybe.  I'm not worse and that is a good thing.  Resting on Wednesday was the perfect solution.  I also spent time resting on Thursday.  My finger

While with my family over the past weekend I spent some time in my sister's garden and snapped many photos.  I'm sharing just a few.  Whenever my sister hosts a holiday, I end up being the lucky one.  She is one fantastic cook and hostess.  Overall the weekend was fun being with family. At the Easter vigil Mass I was thinking of my mom and how she would have loved seeing the kids all grown up and all of us gathering together.  Ah well, time marches on. I had a dreaded dental appointment yesterday and sadly (so so so sadly) what initially was a chipped molar ended up being a cracked molar.  Yup, I had it extracted by my favorite dentist in the whole world right there.  I gave this dental appointment a lot of brain space of worry for many days and now that it's resolved and finished,  my brain is void of anything important except to think of what is soft to eat. My husband was with me the entire time, God bless him.  I couldn't do the same for him with my eyes