AKathy's "What's For Dinner?" 08/24

Hi, I've been off the board most of the week so I'm sure I've missed some updates. I'm just waiting for some homemade granola to get done baking and then I'm heading out the door to my friend Wendy's. We are going to scrapbook today. I'm going to work on my travelers notebook with my mammoth cave camping trip pictures. Then since Wendy lives right by my dad, I asked Dad if he wanted to go to dinner. So that's my plans for today.

Jeremy surprised me again and last night he booked us a hotel room in Ludington for next weekend. We will do our customary beach sitting but we are also on a recon mission to check out affordable neighborhoods. I'm looking forward to going. Then we will come back and work 4 days and then head for a week of camping in Traverse City.

Happy Saturday!

I’m spending the morning at the hospital with my sister and then I plan to head back home and start a new video game. My parents are coming over for dinner and we’ll either have chili dogs or chicken spaghetti. I’ll see what I feel up to this afternoon.

Hope you all have a great day!

We're going to a friend's annual Summer Pool Party. It is usually very hot but today the high will be in the upper 70's with a 50% chance of rain. I'll be taking pralines and my favorite strawberry/greens salad minus the grilled chicken. They always have a great variety of grilled meats.

DH and I are getting ready to walk ~ hopefully it won't rain on us.

cadoodlebug send some down south. We haven't had rain since June and it's so dry. So many fires have been started. I am ready for the wet cool weather. The heat this year has been horrible.

he's definitely a keeper - have fun!



wow - I've often thought that it would be nice for more doctor's offices to have early, late, and weekend hours. Mine doesn't have weekend but they open at 7am M-TH and stay late until 6, I think a couple of evenings. They close early Thursday and don't see patients on Fridays to account for the longer work days.

leannec - hope you find something fun to do

karenlou - safe travels!

pantsonfire - I do that also - helps with the clutter AND makes me feel less guilty about the days/weeks where I do the minimum cleaning

Saturday is errands day here. DH took the recycling (we don't have kerbside) and I think went to the flea market and thrift stores this morning. We'll do grocery shopping this afternoon as well as drop off a return at the UPS store.

Happy Saturday!  Heading to the hospital for the afternoon and then home for an evening of sewing/quilting.  It's still much too hot to do anything else honestly.  Also need to make some syrup for the hummingbird feeder.   I saw one earlier this week at the flower box, tasting the salvia!  I also have a second feeder that I never got hung in the spring so want to put that up as well.  I always enjoy when they pass through and visit!

Absolutely no clue what dinner will be.   Stopping at Central Market on the way home for fresh produce/fruit and fingers crossed they have a roasted chicken.  Last weekend I was too late and they were out of them!  So it may be roasted chicken, or something else I find there.  

Doing well!  They have found a bed for him on the LTAC floor where he currently is so the move will not be too disruptive.  They need to do a procedure on Monday and then he'll probably be moved by Wed.  He's ready to start getting up and moving more.  Still transitioning from the vent, but he has said every day this week he feels a bit stronger than the previous day.  As long as it is forward movement, it's all good!  

This week has been rough for me as I didn't sleep well a few nights and was really dragging.  DH and I talked yesterday and the new schedule is for me to leave about 4 pm every day and come home.   That gives me time to relax, have a proper dinner and then get to bed at a reasonable hour.  I have also quit rushing to answer phone calls/text messages from the people who routinely check in on us. Now I take care of those responses when it works for me.  I was home yesterday at 2 pm to meet a repairman and didn't go back to the hospital.  A few hours extra at home to relax and work on things around the house did wonders!  DD will go up in the evenings when she can, but we keep telling her she doesn't have to come daily.  She's cut from the same cloth as her mom though!  

**GypsyGirl** , the first rule of caretaking is to take care of yourself first. People want to support you, but you probably want to take breaks from dwelling on this crisis and also you just don't have time to respond to everyone. Have you heard of caringbridge.com? It's a website for people w/serious illness. You can post updates and then people can respond there. That way you aren't texting a bunch of people and answering phone calls and emails. It's a one stop shop for you and might take the burden off of you. People are well meaning and they want to support you, but I think your loved ones also understand that you need time off daily.

I used CaringBridge when I was at my worst, a few years ago. It was very helpful to put it all in one place. It's also nice to know that you aren't alone and that other people want the best for you and your dh.   There were many days where I was too tired to check email or text.  This is just something to think about.

My dh would have gotten a new tv the minute the spot appeared.
Ridiculously in a house of 2 people we have 5 tvs. My dh would have one in every room if I let him. Earlier this summer the main tv was acting up. I insisted on the frame tv that shows art when you aren’t watching it. I was very clear on the height of where it was hung. I measured it and marked it. Dh still hung it where he wanted- too low. I’m trying to let it go.

Happy Birthday to your mom christine58

It’s good to hear you’re taking care of yourself **GypsyGirl**

It’s been a quiet day here. Met one of my bff’s at the garden store to walk around & chat. Heading in for a facial. My skin is so dry.

Dinner is going to be lemon zucchini pasta with salad and broccolini.

Happy Saturday

We have 5 also but one is an old fashioned one in the garage in front of the treadmill.
The big screen one is in the bonus room, next size is in the family room and we both have a smaller one in our respective offices. Makes perfect sense to me. We don't have one in the bedroom though.

Don't get me started about DH's hanging things incorrectly. We have one really nice piece of art that we bought on a lark in Laguna Beach. People (we) do stupid things while on vacation. Anyway, it's a lovely painting but I told DH exactly where it should be hung in the living room. He put it a foot higher and it looks stupid. Of course he used molly bolts so there is no fixing it. Every time someone comes to our home, I feel I need to explain why it's hung so high. On the other hand, if that's the worst thing my DH ever does, I guess I should thank my lucky stars!

we're a single TV household and tbh, if I lived alone, I wouldn't have one at all. I put my foot down when we first got married about NO TV in the bedroom and I'm so glad I did, especially now that DH tends to keep the volume higher. Ours is on a TV stand not wall hung. And it's not on the same wall as the fireplace (that we don't use).


I hope karenlou is getting some sleep - a biking vacation sounds fun and then I think about how much fun it is to do the EIGHT minutes on the exercise bike at PT and nope right out of that idea.

**GypsyGirl** - I'm glad he's doing better and that you're setting some boundaries and taking care of yourself. (((Hugs)))

I don't usually go on my phone in bed but I do sometimes. Dh does most nights though so...

Interestingly - my older kids only have one TV also